01x04 - The Saint Next Door

[bunniefuu]

Good morning.

A magistrate was k*lled in Sicily,

Rosario Livatino, 38 years old.

The ambush took place this morning

shortly before 9:00 a.m.

One moment

The Mafia is back again

k*lling a magistrate in Agrigento.

The K*llers chased him

off the road, sh**ting.

He was struck by a hailstorm of b*ll*ts.

Rosario Livatino was an esteemed

and devoted magistrate

of impeccable behavior.

My cousin, Rosario, had two faiths,

one in Christ and one in the law.

He dedicated himself entirely

to fighting organized crime, the Mafia.

Rosario gave his life for justice

and for the God he believed in.

In a cathedral in Sicily,

close to where Judge Rosario Livatino

was m*rder*d,

an extraordinary ceremony is taking place.

In the name of the Father

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you.

One of the Vatican's

most senior cardinals, Marcello Semeraro,

is blessing Rosario Livatino

as a martyr of God.

Judge Livatino died

forgiving his K*llers

like Jesus.

The will to eliminate this magistrate

was motivated by the fact that

being a practicing Christian,

he was not corruptible.

Cardinal Semeraro then reveals

something completely unexpected.

He declares the shirt Livatino wore

on the day he was k*lled

to be the Catholic Church's

latest Holy Relic.

Whilst old relics

connect the faithful to the past,

this shirt has been chosen

to inspire new faith.

Here it is,

the family chapel.

Here's Rosario, his parents,

Aunt Rosalia, Uncle Vincenzo,

and then above, the grandparents.

That morning, I had gone to university.

On my way back from the university,

I was still in the car,

a lady stopped me, a neighbor.

"They k*lled your cousin."

What did I feel when

when I heard the news, what? A void.

A dull emptiness.

An absence that stays with you.

Those are scars.

He and I became closer

when my grandmother died.

We were both movie fans.

We were both passionate about literature.

He was like a brother to me,

he was always the one looking out for me.

Rosario traveled down this road

every single day at the same time.

He was like a Swiss watch in this respect.

His work was important,

it was fundamental,

but he found himself in things

bigger than himself.

He didn't want security because

he didn't want there to be other deaths.

He did not want orphans or widows.

Rosario was fully aware

that his work could make him a target.

Which did make him a target.

On a quiet September morning in 1990,

Judge Rosario Livatino leaves the home

he shares with his parents

and drives to work.

Suddenly, he finds his car

is being blocked in

from the front and side.

Bleeding from his shoulder,

Judge Livatino stops the car and runs.

He stumbles, falls to the ground,

and cries out, "What have I done to you?"

The mafioso replied

by sh**ting the judge twice in the mouth

to silence him forever.

The sh**ting

probably started here.

This is the shrine dedicated to Rosario,

in memory of Rosario.

And here is where I come to pray.

Pray for us, Rosario. Intercede for us

because we need God's help

in this very difficult land

for this life that gives us so much pain.

This shrine

commemorates Judge Livatino's death,

but his holy relic is destined

to fulfill a more profound

and enduring role for the church.

Modern relics are a really good way

to demonstrate the importance

of the Catholic Church

as a living, breathing, evolving

constant part of the lives

of so many communities.

For me, it is a huge responsibility

to be the custodian of a relic.

Rosario's shirt was kept for a long time,

almost 30 years by Caltanissetta's Court.

To spare the parents the pain

of seeing the blood on the shirt,

it was never given to them.

It's a classic, elegant shirt

from the 1980s/'90s.

The brown is from the blood

that sprung from his body

when he was shot.

For me, the connection is personal.

Rosario Livatino

has become part of my life.

I come from the same town

as some of Rosario Livatino's K*llers.

When he was m*rder*d,

I was only nine years old,

but those were the years

of the Mafia feuds,

so we all grew up in a climate of fear.

He was returning home

after a dinner with friends

when he was attacked by gunmen.

The ambush

was carried out in Valderice,

a town a few kilometers from Trapani

where the magistrate owns a holiday home.

In the 1980s,

the Mafia m*rder*d

dozens of innocent people in Sicily.

The magistrate was found

riddled with b*ll*ts in his Golf.

The deputy prosecutor

was shot at least 20 times.

Undisturbed, the K*llers fled.

The Mafia controlled

almost every aspect of Sicilian life

and lawmakers were a particular target.

There were

killings everywhere at the time,

in the squares, by the beach,

to send people a strong message

and spread fear throughout the population.

But Rosario was fighting for humankind,

trying to eliminate

what isn't good for men.

Rosario Livatino is a testimony

that holiness is within reach.

Actually, like Pope Francis would say

these are "the saints next door."

Rosario died like Jesus did

for the salvation of mankind.

The Mafia k*lled

one of its fiercest opponents

on that September day,

but the m*rder was a turning point

in the history of the church.

Three years after his death,

close to where Livatino was shot,

Pope John Paul II held a mass

on national television.

He became the first pope

to publicly denounce the Mafia.

People of Sicily.

In the name of this Christ

crucified and risen,

of this Christ who is life,

I'll say to those responsible, convert.

One day, God's judgment will come!

Pope John Paul called Livatino

a martyr for justice.

It was a large part of the modern

project of the Vatican,

which emphasizes very strongly

that everyone can be a martyr.

Everyone has holiness within them,

and everyone can enact holiness

and be holy even when they're living

their ordinary lives.

The Vatican's

search to identify modern holy figures

was then reinforced

by Pope Francis himself.

The Church needs

everyday saints.

They're all the living blood

of the Church.

They are the witnesses

who carry the Church forward.

This call for everyday saints

is in turn creating

more modern-day relics.

There's actually

a whole department in the Vatican

that's called

the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints,

which is devoted to figuring out

who's going to be a saint

and what is going to be a relic

or what constitutes a relic.

The task

of the Dicastery of the Causes of Saints

is to declare new relics

in the name of the Holy Father.

Relics lead us back

to stories of holiness.

Stories of men and women

who let themselves be held by God.

We need relics because without memories

we would not have hope.

Belief in the power of relics

is as old as faith itself,

but in recent times,

the Vatican has used

the power of the media

to help amplify

the global reach of its relics.

It's 9:43.

There's the Pope's helicopter.

The crowd are going crazy.

A relic believed

to be the actual image

of Christ's face

at the moment of resurrection

became headline news in 2006.

The world's press was captivated

by one man's visit

to a small town in Italy.

When the helicopter arrived,

I went out of the house

and it went right over, above my house.

It was very emotional.

Here is Joseph Ratzinger,

Pope Benedict XVI,

he's passing right in front us

just meters away,

making his way to see the Holy Face

He arrived, he got off the helicopter.

He did this tour. It was extraordinary.

The meaning of my visit

is to show that I, along with you,

am trying to get to know

the face of the Lord.

We had the opportunity

to see him through the giant screens,

we saw everything.

So, we had the chance to see this Pope

kneel before the Holy Face.

Not only do we have the Holy Face,

we also have the Pope now.

If the Pope has come,

who is the representative

of Christ on earth,

it means that the Holy Face is important.

It is something great.

It's a matter of pride for us

to have it here in Manoppello.

It sent a clear message

to the world

that the true face of Christ

was in Manoppello.

Worldwide interest

on this relic grew a lot

about it being a miraculous image,

that it was the face of Christ

at the moment of resurrection.

You want

the pope coming to visit your object

just like you want the president

to come and visit your town

or to come and endorse you.

This lent the veil some credence.

Pope Benedict brought this

mysterious veil to the world's attention

but left Manoppello

without ever declaring it to be a miracle

or the actual face of Christ.

Its authenticity is highly contested.

Many people are convinced it's a fake.

Clearly, all this is a story.

It must be understood exactly as a legend.

Roberto Falcinelli

is one of the only art historians

to be allowed access to study the veil.

My involvement in researching

the Holy Face started in 1989.

I have been dealing for many years,

since 1978, I believe,

with the Shroud, this Veil,

and the Veil of Manoppello intrigued me.

You see this transparent image,

the appearance changes

slightly with the light.

The fabric's characteristics

can be beguiling.

I started taking some photos,

infrared photos, ultraviolet photos,

micro and macro photography.

Looking at the photos I realized

that there is pigment on the veil,

there is color.

And so this was a confirmation for me.

We are talking about a painting.

A painting?

No, I can't hear it.

Imagine what happened

when the word "painting" was said

in front of us, Manoppellesi.

Well, that was not appreciated.

It's like a minefield.

The studies I did on Manoppello

created issues for me

as I found myself going against

a number of faithful believers.

So much so that

when I then arrived at the shrine,

I found them all waiting for me.

Let's just say it was all

a bit embarrassing.

A Christian should say,

"Well, we are all brothers,

we must all love each other."

But the word "painting" is not

something that should even be considered.

We know that is the true face of Christ,

otherwise the Pope would not

have come to Manoppello.

The pope may have

graced Manoppello with his presence,

but the Vatican chooses not to dwell

on the issue of authenticity.

It never responded to Falcinelli's claim.

Let's say that

the attention to authenticity with relics

is considered a serious matter,

but it is not considered an absolute.

The object itself

is not the most important thing,

but the reality that it represents.

Whatever the Vatican says,

debates still rage about what the veil is

and what it's made from.

One woman is convinced

it's a precious fabric

that dates back to the time of Christ.

The Jesus

of Manoppello, I have to say, it's byssus.

Byssus is the silk of the sea.

A gift from the ocean. A gift from God.

Byssus is a very rare,

special material.

It's also known as sea silk.

It derives from a marine mollusk,

bivalve mollusk, like a big mussel,

and this particular

kind of mollusk is large

and it has hairy, long strands.

These are harvested

and then they're woven

into a very precious cloth.

Chiara Vigo is the world's

leading expert on byssus.

My family has been

working with byssus for 28 generations.

I was handed a spindle when I was five

and I am now 68.

Chiara was so intrigued by the veil,

she had to see it for herself.

When I looked

at the Veil of Manoppello,

I didn't have to think about it much.

It's made of a very thin fabric

that may have been part

of a very high-status outfit.

Jews that lived

in the Middle East during antiquity

at the time of the Romans

used to make fabric out of byssus.

It was used for spiritual rituals.

The clothing, it is a very special fabric.

Byssus would be a very expensive fabric,

and so it would only be accessible

to very wealthy people.

And the gospels say

that Joseph of Arimathea,

who is stated to be a very wealthy man,

wrapped Jesus' body in fine linens.

They could be referring to sea silk

as the finest possible fabric.

The enigma

of what the veil is made from

continues to draw people to it.

But advances in science and technology

in the last 50 years

have increased the opportunity

to search for answers.

One case in particular,

linked to another burial cloth,

made headlines around the world.

The Shroud of Turin.

For centuries, millions have worshipped it

as the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.

The Shroud appears

to show a blood-stained image of Christ.

And for centuries,

it has been treated as a holy relic.

The Turin Shroud

has this sort of relationship

with the Veil of Manoppello,

they're similar objects.

And it held people's imagination

because this cloth will have been in touch

with the dead body of Jesus

as he goes through the resurrection.

In 1988, developments

in carbon dating technology

led to an outcry

for the Shroud to be tested,

and Pope John Paul II took a bold step.

Pope John Paul II

has approved further tests

to learn more about

the mysterious Shroud of Turin.

Scientists from three countries

performed radiocarbon dating tests

on three small swatches of the cloth.

They concluded that

the flax from which the linen was created

was harvested somewhere between

1260 and 1390,

and therefore was definitely

a medieval creation

and did not date to the time of Jesus.

Scientists now think it's fake.

It couldn't be the burial cloth of Christ.

What about the actual scientists

who say that it's not true?

Does it affect you? Is it important?

Um I just go on my faith,

and that's all that a person can do

is just have faith that it is.

It's the true Shroud.

It's the burial cloth of Christ.

And that's it.

It can't be anything but true.

The Vatican's reaction

to the conclusions of the testing

were to largely ignore them.

Because the testing of the Shroud of Turin

was great for its reputation.

It probably made it more famous

than it had ever previously been.

All publicity is good publicity.

If people are talking

about your veils and your grails,

then they are talking about you,

and they love that.

Pope John Paul

continued to venerate the Shroud,

sending a clear message

that it remained

as important as ever to the Vatican.

Pope Benedict visited in 2010.

The Shroud is an icon written in blood.

And Pope Francis

came three years later.

I, too, place

myself with you before the Holy Shroud.

It is as if it were releasing

a powerful energy.

Since tested,

every time the Shroud

has been on public display,

millions have come to see it.

It comes to a point when

the object itself is just so charismatic

and has such an aura

and such a magnetic pull,

the people would just go

just to experience

what all the fuss is about.

In Manoppello,

the controversy surrounding its own veil

seemed to have little effect

on what the faithful believe.

I believe in miracles.

For me, that's the face

of the Risen Christ.

Almost every day,

I go in front of the Holy Face.

I feel immersed in peace,

serenity and tranquility.

The kind that a good father should give.

So when I look at his face,

I'm in safe hands.

In 2004, I was at a campsite,

I was on holiday.

And while I was sleeping

I saw the Holy Face

which was coming towards me.

It was moving back and forth,

just like a heart that beats.

Then I got so scared,

and I woke with a jolt in a sea of sweat.

I asked the Lord,

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"Will anything good happen to me?"

Two days later

I had a cardiac arrest.

My heart stopped for five minutes.

I was defibrillated,

and my heart started to beat again.

The doctors couldn't explain

what happened.

I'm certain the Holy Face intervened.

I think that the Lord guided the doctors

who resuscitated me.

Many people even today will feel

they have experienced

miraculous events around relics.

Relics attain a spiritual energy,

which gives them the power

to perform some kind of miracle.

Think when it comes

to miracles and relics,

there's no smoke without fire.

How you explain the miracles,

that's up to science, it's up to debate,

but I think the fact that it happens

around these objects and these relics

is probably undeniably

I mean, it's just been

too much of human history

that they've been talked about

and that this association has been made.

Tales of miracles

linked to relics

have long been passed down

from one generation to the next.

In the digital age,

these kinds of stories

spread around the world in seconds.

A valley woman declared completely blind

says she can now see

after coming in contact

with some religious relics.

She says a miracle occurred.

God does exist.

You just have to have faith.

We like to share

things that matter to us.

That can be an exponential viral effect.

I think with Manoppello,

people have seen something

that they find incredible.

And they think this is amazing,

and they want to go and tell

everyone that they meet.

Many pilgrims arrive at this holy place.

They come convinced

that they are meeting Christ.

They come really from all over the world.

The main goal of our initiative

must be to make

the Holy Face of Manoppello

even more well-known.

I've seen the whole world

arriving in Manoppello.

We are talking of the Philippines,

of the New Zealand,

of the Kirzmenistan.

I feel very proud of the fact

that it is better known in the world.

It means that, thanks to the Holy Face,

the name of "Manoppello"

is becoming more famous.

The thing that sometimes surprises me

is people who don't know

the Veil of Manoppello,

who do not live a life of faith,

find themselves in front of the image

and really encounter the face.

Its look touches them,

and they feel changed in a way.

You will see people cry

and people fall to their knees,

because this is a real confronting

of the perceived reality

of everything they have believed

for their entire lives.

Our Father who art in Heaven,

hallowed be Thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth

as it is in Heaven.

Every time I hold the relic in my hands,

it sends a shiver down my spine.

A thousand thoughts go through my mind

about how, despite all the difficulties

that we encounter in life,

holiness is within reach.

On one hand,

relics can be considered old and obscure,

but a bloodied shirt

with two b*llet holes

speaks to a teen,

without the need for words.

By bringing this relic to the people,

we hope to change

the mentality of this land,

to change people's hearts

and bring hope.

Don Gero

takes Livatino's shirt on pilgrimages,

using it as a PR tool.

And it's gaining global attention

on YouTube.

We have been everywhere around Italy.

I spend the whole time thinking about

how I can treat Rosario's shirt

as a missionary tool

to bring a message

that speaks to everyone forever.

The Vatican,

arguably the world's original influencer,

is now exploiting

all forms of social media

to ensure its message reaches

a new generation of believers.

The most famous relic of all,

Christ's Crown of Thorns,

will itself soon be unveiled

for a new generation.

In 2019, the fire that ripped

through Notre-Dame

meant that the crown

was almost lost forever.

Shock at the news spread across the world,

leading people to donate

nearly a billion dollars

to help rebuild its home.

Now, in a rare glimpse

behind its closed doors,

the cathedral is coming back to life.

I hope we will be

at Notre Dame Cathedral once again.

And in the framework

of this renewed cathedral,

we will be a home in which this Crown

of Thorns can takes its rightful place.

Because I know that the faithful

will flock and rediscover it.

People today have this crisis of faith.

But at the same time,

I think that this crisis

opens up an extremely important place

to the search for meaning.

Relics are invitations

for us to come closer to Christ.

We walk towards the Crown of Thorns

as if we were walking towards Christ,

as if we were walking towards the Cross.

Holy relics

can help connect people to God.

When you're in front of the Crown,

you feel like God is watching us.

They spread the word.

These are difficult times,

but the relic brings

a moment of real hope.

And invite us

to belong to something

bigger than ourselves.

It changes you, it changes your life.

Deep inside,

I believe the Holy Face saved me.

Relics still matter to people.

They matter because people want

to have faith, they want to believe.

They want to believe

that if they are in contact with something

that is considered to be holy

by the church,

that they too will be able

to get the redemption

or the healing that they are looking for.

Faith is about engaging with

everything that we

can't know about reality.

So, relics are perfect

for engaging with faith

because by their nature,

they're mysterious.

And they engage with the aspects of life

that we can't understand fully.

My cousin, Rosario,

was the closest thing

I ever had to a big brother.

When I look at the relic,

it is as if he and I were together again,

were meeting again.

His shirt reminds me

that death is not the end

but a door we walk through

to reach the house of God.