The sartorial splendor of truth

The good sisters of America may have a whole new quality of life matter to ponder after a perusal of some photos unearthed by the troublemakers at the National Catholic Reporter of Cardinal Franc Rodé, Prefect of the Congregation for the Religious, at a March ordination of six new deacons for Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest at the institute’s mother house in Gricigliano, Italy, near Florence.

The good cardinal appears decked in all his 18th (16th? 15th?) century finery. No Georgetown sweatshirts he! Thee? Rodé, of course, is the man charged by Pope Benedict to conduct the Apostolic visitation of U.S. women religious congregations. I am encouraged to learn, from John Allen’s interview in the same NCR issue, of how Vincentian “simplicity and humility is still part of his spirituality.”