Franno

Bad time for the pope to pass, Easter Monday and all, no resurrections this year I imagine. Christendom at an all time low some would say.

Not an ardent catholic or anything of the sorts but the church still represents a large part of community rituals in Ireland whether it’s birth, marriage or death. Most of the pivotal events in life revolve around the church and regardless of any imagined human hierarchies, the pope does represent something meaningful for large swaths of humanity. I have a bizarre memory of being down the country in a relatives house around the time he became pope and seeing a post on Facebook about him being young , went something along the lines of “young pope franno “ with an image of fran from love/hate and being a gullible child, having never seen love/hate or the news apparently i went through several years believing that the pope was in fact a shaggy haired 35/40 year old. A living breathing testimonial to the power of misinformation on the internet some might say.

Anyway, seems like a harbinger of things to come. The old ways dying in the face of a new world and all that. How much longer will papal events be relevant and headlines? How long before the idea of the church is nothing more than a couple of paragraphs in the annals of human history. All ideas, systems, organisations and organisms have an expiry yet these religions seem incredibly pervasive. I distinctly recall walking through the Vatican, St Peter’s basilica and the long hallway to the Sistine chapel not so long ago and wondering what on earth possessed these people to pour such life and soul into the tip of a paintbrush or the head of a chisel. It cannot all have been based on commission, though that was surely part of it. There was something sacred about it, not because it represented god or gods or anything like that but because it represented unadulterated commitment to something bigger than humans and yet still from the minds and bodies of humans. I recall the rooms painted by Raphael, literally floor to ceiling, almost photographic with the shading and detail. I discussed with the person I visited with on several different occasions before and after the event why I thought modern art was a joke compared to those particular styles and pieces of work. Of course art evolves and is subjective etc but there is something to be said about an art exhibition in which one of the pieces is a sheet of paper with 4 vertical lines on it and an entire wing of a castle(what is the Vatican even?) which contains dozens if not hundreds of detailed paintings of people, perfectly shaded, their clothing creasing and folded as if in a photograph, painted hundreds of years ago with god knows what type of instruments by a single chap and probably a few assistants. What did they use as paint even? Clearly I’m ignorant on all things art but still, there wasn’t an easons with acrylics for 20 quid back then, I’m sure the process of getting paint itself was a little more arduous than a trip to the blanch centre. Maybe some equivalent market stalls or maybe handmade by them themselves, they liked it a certain way or whatever, again brute ignorance. Why did they do it though? Nothing better to be at maybe. Was there some divine energy working through them, knowingly creating images that would awe people for hundreds of years to come or was it just an odd quirk of biology, brain chemistry, timing and luck that two contemporaries came together to create a lasting legacy (at the behest of the pope at the time of course) and quite literally paint their names into history. Strange times indeed.

I wonder did franny boy ever just wander around on a quiet evening, after the tourists and private tours all left, with a cup of tea or glass of wine and a candle maybe, slippers shuffling along the hallways, pondering what possessed these people to create such works, was it in fact the Holy Spirit or just human talent and dedication. Did he wander into the Sistine chapel and stare up at it as surely millions of others have now, picking out his favorite bits or spotting some flaws he hadn’t noticed before. He surely had more time than anyone to soak it up, I’m sure he knew details nobody else knew of, facts only the residents of such a place would be acquainted with. Did he feel the spirit or did he attribute it to human will. Did he believe the lads laying bricks for the basilica were under the impression they were doing gods work or were they just exchanging their time for a salary and continued existence. Bit of both probably right. I also wonder did he really believe in god in the Christian sense or where his final thoughts and prayers went, was there doubt towards the end or regret or some sort of last minute bargaining with allah or shiva or something like this, a final Hail Mary to the heavens, pardon the pun.

Thank you for reading, not anything major happening here really as you can tell, never an eventful period of time when pondering the pope is occurring.