Tributary Empires — Towards a Global and Comparative History

Bibliographic Data

ID20064374
AuthorsPeter Fibiger Bang (0000-0001-6028-0911, University of Copenhagen), C A Bayly (University of Cambridge)
Year2011
Pages1-17
Publication date2011-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueTributary Empires in Global History (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan UK (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/9780230307674_1
OpenAlexW2486365812
ISBN9780230307674
LanguageEN
Citations received6

It was Friday and the month was April, Anno Domini 2005, when these words sounded from the platform in front of St Peter’s. Myriads of faithful mourners had massed into Rome and now crowded the Square and the broad avenues leading up to the Vatican to participate in the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Unprecedented numbers were listening in on radio or watching television broadcasts around the globe. Spoken in sombre, dignified, yet slightly artificial Italian by Cardinal Ratzinger, soon-to-be Pope Benedict and leading the service, this prayer initiated a carefully orchestrated series of commendations of the deceased bishop of Rome to his Heavenly Father. Alternating with rhythmically repeated chants of the Latin phrase te rogamus, audi nos (‘we beg you, hear us’), were select representatives of the congregation praising the virtues and good offices of the former pope, each in his or her own tongue. French, Swahili, Philippino, Polish, German and Portuguese accumulated into a virtual cacophony of voices. Earlier during the mass, sections had already been heard in English and Spanish in addition to the leading languages of Latin and Italian. No one was to doubt that the Catholic Church was truly universal.2

Art · German · Globe · Literature · Classics · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · History · Psychology

Tools

Open DOILibgen