Rome Stories and Traditions

The Pope’s address on Easter and Christmas always begins, “ Urbi et Orbi” - “To the City of Rome and to the World.” The term “Roman Catholic” also suggests that there is something “roman” and something “universal” about the Church. In what sense is the Church “roman” and in what sense is it “global?”

Roman Catholic religion has been for generations a religion that has changed world policies and ideas. Catholicism is a part of the large Christian community, and has been a large part of the ideas in Christianity. Christianity was started through Jewish, and many other religions, all of which can be traced back to the creation of Catholicism. Catholicism is also a worldwide religion because of the persuasion it has with world problems. The Pope (the symbol of Roman Catholicism) is a great world leader, who has little, to no power outside of the Vatican.

The Church today is still very Roman in the art sense. In every church around the world you will see a sculpture of Jesus or a saint that looks like a Roman sculpture made of marble. The Roman art is a large part of the Roman Catholic religion it is how Catholics symbolize their faith, and show beauty, sin, hope, and faith. The faith of Rome also affects the world by trying new ideas and faiths. What I mean by this is if The Vatican decides that they want everyone to wear a toga when attending church, then all of the other churches around the world will do the same.

The world may not be run by the Catholic religion, but it is heavily persuaded by its ideas. A lot of world leaders use the Catholic religion (really the Pope) to make decisions for their country. They will set up meetings with the Pope to discuss current world affairs. It is kind of funny to think that a man who has no power outside of the Vatican can persuade a world leader, who may have power over a whole country. A good example that just happened was the President of Israel. Pope Benedict and Shimon Peres just met up this past month to discuss current affairs. Shimon probably asked what his ideas were on the current affairs. So it goes to show that a man who lives by the laws of the church, can persuade a man of power and justice.

Seeing the Pope this week was a very interesting and spiritual experience. It allowed me to see what religion is all about, and get a good idea on the Catholic ideas. Religion is really not my forte but seeing the Pope and learning about religion is an very interesting topic.