Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/627675
14 THIS week, the Commission ap- pointed by former Archbishop Paul Cremona to inves-tigate the alleged 'miracles' associated with Angelik Caruana – who claimed, among many other things, to be in direct communion with the Virgin Mary – finally reached its verdict. Echoing Malta's top forensic in- vestigator, Anthony Abela Medici, and forensic pathologist Albert Cilia Vincenti, the Commission headed by University lecturer Fr Rene Camilleri likewise conclud- ed that there was nothing 'divine' about Caruana's claims at all. The forensic examiners had proved, through DNA testing, that the blood which Ca-ruana claimed had been 'wept' as tears by a mi- raculous statue, was his own. Simi- larly, tears of 'oil' turned out to be everyday kitchen oil. It had separately been observed that the 'apparitions' of Our Lady at Borg in-Nadur seemed always to serve a specific purpose: the Bless- ed Virgin was not merely 'appear- ing' to Angelik Caruana; she was using him as her mouthpiece, to issue 'messages' aimed at the Mal- tese faithful. Fr Camilleri himself observed this week that "the Church could not afford to ignore this situation; Our Lady was giving out very spe- cific instructions." The Church did not, in fact, ig- nore Angelik Caruana… but it cer- tainly took a long time to reach a conclusion that had already been spelt out in 2009. Why did it take so long for the Church to come to such an obvi- ous decision? "You may be right that the church shouldn't have taken that long to decide on an issue when from the forensic side there was a foregone conclusion," Camilleri replies. "As I see it, however, the issue was not simply reducible to DNA testing. I think the fact that the blood on the miraculous statue was Mr Caruana's own and the oil was everyday kitchen oil were not sufficient to close the experience of Borg in-Nadur. "Way back four or five years, the then Archbishop Cremona had set up a Commission to prepare a re- port and had also commissioned Psychiatrist Mark Xuereb to report back to the church on the phe- nomenon as a whole. Considering that half way through since these reports were commissioned Arch- bishop Cremona resigned, and Archbish-op Scicluna took over, and that these reports were only very recently officially pre-sented, one in November and the other in December, one understands that it took that long." At the same time, the experience with Angelik Caruana also under- scored an apparent communica- tions problem affecting the Church as a whole. Following the publica- tion of those reports, Archbishop Scicluna described cases such as Angelik's as 'a carica-ture of faith'. Yet Angelik himself, not to men- tion his several hundred followers, clearly sees things differently. At a glance, this seems to portray a gulf of perception between the Church as an institution, and the grass- roots that make up the Church's flock. Similar symp-toms of this divide can be seen elsewhere. The recent controversy surrounding the Mgarr festa auction seemed to pit the former parish priest against his parishioners, over a 'tradition' that at a glance appears equally medieval. It would seem that, while the Church as an institution is trying to move beyond the superstitious trappings of its belief system, a size- able chunk of its members want to turn the clock back instead. Would Fr Camilleri agree that this incident has also exposed ten- sions between the Church's mes- sage, and the way it actually filters down to the faithful? "Since its inception the church has always had serious conflicts between the intellectu-al side of doctrine and the popular faith of the people. Particularly starting from the first centuries, which were marked by heresy and de- fections from the Christian com- munity, the church as an institu- tion always sought to formulate its doctrine as precise-ly as it can: adopting a high flown philosophi- cal language, reducing theology as main-ly speculation and rendering faith as merely doctrine." For the illiterate masses, he goes on, faith was simplistically lived and popular religi-osity flourished. "From a theological standpoint, there is so much we do in our churches and in our lit-urgies that strictly speaking is a 'caricature of faith'. For many people, church- goers included, religion can easily remain on the level of superstition. Without sounding too simplistic, that explains why many just leave in the name of reason. Yet at grass root level that remains the truth with which we need to come to terms. "In a certain sense, it is a com- munication problem. How many people read and grasp the encycli- cal letters of Popes or even a pasto- ral letter by the Archbishop that is read out in churches? People have been generally brought up not to think about their faith, but simply to assent. To think was a sin, at the time of the Inquisition. So this explains how people flock in hun- dreds wherever a 'phenomenon' crops up. Because people want to see. That was the main attraction in the Angelik story: there was something to see, and people were curious." And yet there may have been more to the attraction than mere curiosity. One of Ange-lik's 'mira- cles' was to 'cure' two patients of their terminal cancer. The patients went on to die within a few weeks. Without going into the specifics of these two cases, this illustrates a well-known danger associated with self-styled visionary healers, such as Angelik claimed to be. It is possible that people might forgo potentially life-saving medi- cal treatment in favour of bogus 'cures', with fatal results. From this perspective: is the Church doing enough to protect these vulnerable people from ex- ploitation at the hands of people who cite the same Church's reli- gion as their inspiration? "In all fairness, and to the best of my knowledge, Angelik never posed as a miraculous healer. But yes, I understand, people even in this day and age are so vulnerable in their solitude and can even be gullible where faith is concerned. Again, this is the religion we always projected in people's lives. Particu- larly in times of turmoil and sick- ness, people become very vulnera- ble. Religion in such circumstances can be very promis-ing. This can surely have its positive side. But it can also be very alienating…" At the same time, this vulnerabil- ity to exploitation seems to have a long history within the Church. Angelik's experience calls to mind the issue with Padre Pio, who en- joys nationwide veneration in Malta. Evidence had emerged in his own lifetime that Pio's stigmata were self-inflicted, and the Church had initially dismissed the man as a fraud. Yet Pope John Paul II went on to beatify him anyway. Does this indicate that the Church is a prisoner of such superstitions? That it is so con-cerned with the possibility of losing its influence, that it allows and even endorses clearly fraudulent claims? "I would not say the church is a prisoner of superstitions. These experiences, you men-tion Padre Pio and here we have the Angelik case, can easily be considered as deviant from the point of view of the institution. You have a simple man – or it can be whoev-er – at- tracting people and having a cer- tain ascendancy on them. "In an age when people are leav- ing the flock and when the insti- tution, priests included, have to earn their credibility with people, it surprises me how people can be lured in such a manner, to com- mit themselves to go regularly on a hill which probably they had nev- er heard of, to say the rosary and pray and hear messages allegedly coming from heaven. This may be ridiculed in this day and age. But it happens here and else-where and it has always happened. It should make us think." One of the things it makes me think about – or at least question – is the actual identity of the Cath- olic Church. This apparent clash of millennial cross-currents is not limited only to issues of faith-heal- ers and fraudulent mystics. There is also an apparent divi-sion within Catholics over secular issues. One example would be the Church's teachings on contracep- tion, which are disregard-ed by a large number of Catholics… who do not necessarily consider themselves any less Catholic as a consequence. Another would be divorce: a majority defied the Church by voting 'Yes' in the 2011 referendum; but it doesn't follow that the same majority is no longer Catholic. The Church, in brief, seems con- tent to accept as members people who have conflicting and often incompatible views. Doesn't this create an identity problem for the Church? How can two so com- pletely different world visions – the secular, pro-divorce condom-using Catholic, and the followers of An- gelik Caruana's Marian mysticism – be equally represented under the banner of 'Catholicism'? "But within Catholicism there are so many different churches! There is always the of-ficial church, with its doctrine and with the way it still perceives reality from the doc-trinal standpoint. Then there is the other church, the church of the people, who see the institution from the standpoint of their needs, and just that. Interview By Raphael Vassallo maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 JANUARY 2016 For whom the Church Not remaining silent does not mean that the church always has something to say. Wis- dom is first and foremost needed to discern when to speak, and when not to OUTSPOKENNESS People have been generally brought up not to think about their faith, but simply to assent. To think was a sin, at the time of the Inquisition. So this explains how people flock in hundreds wherever a 'phenomenon' crops up. Because people want to see. ANGELIK