The Catholic Weekly 5 July 2020

14 5, July, 2020 W orld catholicweekly.com.au Now it’s Netflix, Stan and VatiVision VATICAN OFFICIALS ex- pressed their support for a new video-on-demand ser- vice aimed at adding religious programming and content to the already jam-packed field of video-streaming services. During a news conference in the Vatican announcing the launch of “VatiVision,” the new streaming site, Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicast- ery for Communication, said the platform will allow people to “access content of quality and value that would be oth- erwise unobtainable, lost or forgotten.” “For this reason, I am hap- py that VatiVision will also distribute some content made in collaboration with Vatican Media,” he said. Despite its name, Ruffini said that VatiVision is an inde- pendent initiative and that the Vatican is neither funding the service nor does it have any say in what content will be made available. The video-streaming site, which was developed by the Italian media distribution company Vetrya and produc- tion company Officina della Communicazione, features religious-themed program- ming as well as movies, doc- umentaries and series related to art and culture. Unlike other video-stream- ing sites, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or HBO Max, the VatiVision platform will not have a monthly payment plan for its service. Instead, it adopted a video-on-demand structure akin to Apple iTunes and Google Play where users can either rent or purchase programs. VatiVision will launch in It- aly 8 June and will eventually expand to other countries in Europe and Asia, as well as North and South America. It will be available as an app on Apple, Google Android and Samsung for smartphones, tablets and smart TVs. - CNS CARDINAL PHILIPPE Bar- barin, who retired from the Archdiocese of Lyon, has left his see to serve as a convent chaplain and envoy for the pope. In a radio interview, he thanked Catholics for helping the church survive his convic- tion and acquittal on charges he ignored sexual abuse by a local priest. “I’m contented and happy to be embarking on some- Saint Joan hits 100 Cardinal becomes chaplain Although she died in 1431 Joan of Arc has only officially been a saint for a century THIS YEAR, the church cele- brates the 100th anniversary of the canonisation of St Joan of Arc, a 15th-century peasant who is one of the most endur- ing female symbols in West- ern culture. For several decades, she was associated with the French nationalist right. However, her image now tran- scends political divisions. In Orleans, south of Paris, Joan of Arc is hailed as the lib- erator of the city. Statues, ho- tels, a church, a house, a high school, and shops are named after her. A square is named after Domremy, her native village. St Joan was born around 1412. At the age of 13, she repeatedly heard voices that gave her the mission to liber- ate France from the English invader in the Hundred Years’ War. ¾ ¾ Clemence Cireau Cardinal Barbarin during his trial in 2019. PHOTO: CNS/EMMANUEL FOUDROT, REUTERS Introduced to the court of the Dauphin Charles VII, the teen was sent in 1428 to the siege of Orleans with a supply battalion, where her arrival brought a new energy. She took the initiative to write a letter to the British or- dering them to leave Orleans. A week after her arrival, the British lifted the siege. She then persuaded the Dauphin to go to Rheims, in Burgundy territory, to be crowned king of France. Wounded while trying to liberate Paris, Joan of Arc continued to fight locally, but without as much success. In 1430, she was captured by the Burgundians at Compiegne and was sold to the British for 10,000 pounds. They took her to Rouen and entrusted her to Bishop Pierre Cauchon of Beauvais, one of the French advisers to the dual monarchy. Condemned for heresy, she was burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, at the age of 19. Joan of Arc has been sub- ject to numerous political reclamations since the 15th century. But at the end of the 19th century, she took on a mythical dimension. France’s socio-political evolution paved the way for themyth of “a lay saint,” some- one not seen as a political fig- ure. It was in this context that the Bishop of Orleans filed a request for canonisation before Pope Pius IX in 1869. Shortly thereafter, France was defeated by Prussia and lost the border region of Al- sace-Lorraine. “The elite then used her im- age as a heroic and martyred figure: Joan, the good (daugh- ter of) Lorraine, symbol of na- tional unification and patron saint of the lost provinces. She became the patron saint of the invaded, the one who resisted, a national heroine,” explained Olivier Bouzy, a medieval his- torian and scientific director of the Joan of Arc Centre in Orleans. She then became the object of friction between Catholics and French Republicans. “Quite paradoxically, she served as a link for the French, who could still unite around her, as long as they didn’t ex- press what she embodied for everyone,” said Bouzy. Joan was canonised in May 1920. The French Republic then decided to devote a festival to her as well, on the second Sunday of May. In 1922, she became the secondary patron saint of France, after Mary. Since the end of the 19th century, both the left and the right wings have been appro- priating the figure of Joan of Arc. The left sees in her a daugh- ter of the people burned by the church and abandoned by the king. The right sees her as a saint, defender of the monarchy. During World War II, General Charles de Gaulle adopted the Cross of Lorraine as a symbol of the French Re- sistance. It was not until the late 1980s that the nationalist right, led by the National Front, appropriated her im- age as a symbol. Every 1 May, Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the National Front, organised his own celebration of Joan of Arc. However, Bouzy said that since 1999, he has seen “a new impetus, thanks to the impressive regenerative pow- er of the myth” and the will- ingness of politicians of all stripes to retake Joan of Arc as a symbol. He even sees a re- newed interest among French Catholics. “Moderate French Catho- lics distanced themselves from her in the second half of the 20th century because they did not want to be associated with the extreme right,” said Bouzy. The historian said Joan of Arc now has a variety of cul- tural meanings. She has be- come a feminist symbol: in the Anglo-Saxon world, she’s an LGBT figure, while in Japan she’s a manga heroine. “Her image now carries a wide range of messages,” said Bouzy. - CNS ¾ ¾ Junno Arocho Esteves thing new and joyful at this return to calm after the tem- pest,” Cardinal Barbarin told the Lyon-based Radio Chre- tienne Francophone. “As an archbishop, I had an incredible amount of ad- ministration, official business and financial affairs to deal with, as well as national and international meetings. But my true vocation is as a priest, and I’m now able to rebuild the foundations of my priest- ly life.” On 1 July the cardinal was to take up residence with the Little Sisters of the Poor at Saint-Pern, in northwest- ern France, after celebrating a farewell Mass in Lyon’s St John Baptist Cathedral. In late May, he returned from the Holy Land, and he said Pope Francis had asked him to conduct future peace missions to the Middle East. In March 2019, Cardinal Barbarin received a suspend- ed jail sentence for failing to report abuse accusations against Bernard Preynat, a former French priest who was jailed for five years for assault- ing at least 75 boys between 1971 and 1991. Although Cardinal Bar- barin’s suspended sentence was overturned in January by the city’s appeal court, the pope accepted the cardinal’s resignation on 6 March. - CNS Quite paradoxically, she served as a link for the French, who could still unite around her, as long as they didn’t express what she embodied for everyone.” Olivier Bouzy A statue of St Joan of Arc sports a mask on 11 May to encourage others to wear facial coverings during the coronavirus pandemic. PHOTO: CNS, KATIE SCOTT, CATHOLIC SENTINEL