Voices gathered at the church complex of Santa Maria dell’Anima to discuss chivalry and the virtues.
Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity Cardinal Kurt Koch emphasized, “We must rediscover the dignity of humankind.”
Baron Vinzenz von Stimpfl-Abele, Procurator of the Order of St. George, highlighted, “The importance of hope is underestimated.”
Georg von Habsburg-Lorraine, Hungary’s Ambassador to France, speaking of Blessed Karl, noted, “He got his strength and hope out of prayer.”
And Eduard von Habsburg-Lothringer, Hungarian Ambassador to the Holy See, stressed, “The most important action is prayer.”
Just a stone’s throw away from Rome’s famous Piazza Navona one can find an architectural treasure: Santa Maria dell’Anima. Closely connected to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it houses an important relic of Austria’s last emperor, who ended World War I and was exiled, Blessed Karl.
One of the oldest Orders of Catholic Knights chose the library beneath the Church to host an encounter between their Knights, the Vatican Curia, and Roman society.
Andreas Thonhauser, EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief, asked the panel:
Why are you promoting the concept of hope. What does that mean and what relevance does that have today?
Georg von Habsburg-Lorraine, Hungary’s Ambassador to France:
My grandfather, blessed Karl. He was coming to be Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary in one of the most complicated times possible. In the middle of the First World War. He prayed a lot. He was every day going to mass and he got his strength and his hope out of the prayer and the daily connection he had with God in his very personal way.
The traditional roots of the European Order of St. George go back centuries. It was founded by Emperor Friedrich III of Habsburg-Lorraine and Pope Paul II in Rome in 1469. After World War I the order lived on in various forms until it was fully reconstituted in 2008. To celebrate the Jubilee year, the Order hosted a panel discussion in Rome titled the “Power of Hope.”
In this light, Baron Vinzenz von Stimpfl-Abele shared, “I personally think that the importance of hope is underestimated in our time. It’s very often mixed up with optimism. But the main thing about hope is that it implicates a call for action. So, I think it was of tremendous importance that our Pope put this Holy Year under the motto of “Pilgrims of Hope”, because we are all pilgrims, our whole life is a pilgrimage. But this pilgrimage, you know, gets its sense from having hope.”
The main celebrant of the Mass before and one of the participants to the panel discussion was Cardinal Kurt Koch. He stressed the importance of virtues and chivalric values today.
The Cardinal said, “I think we must rediscover the dignity of humankind. And this is a very big challenge in the societies today, above all, on the beginning and of the end of human life. To define this, to do what is justice in this world and to have the strength from the prayer, I think this is the most important thing for a Christian.”
The Hungarian Ambassador to the Holy See Eduard von Habsburg-Lorraine was also present. He spoke about his most recent books on the values that had guided his family through the centuries. “The Habsburg Way” has been a big success internationally, not least in the US:
“I wrote this book,” he said, “and I began giving interviews to American podcasts. And youtubers. And I spoke to people who felt they understood every line of a book that I wrote the Habsburgs. I remember one conversation with a podcaster and she was like: “You know Mr. Ambassador, I read that chapter where you speak about subsidiarity and I had impressed you spoke to me, to me”. And I thought, wow. When I was young, values were something that I thought were boring. Values is a word that doesn’t mean anything. But in the world where we live today, people rediscover that we need these things.”
Values are important, especially when it comes to the world of politics and diplomacy.
H. E. Neven Pelicarić, Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of Croatia, stated, “I’ve been asked personally a number of times: “A higher diplomat, you must be lying all the time”. No, I never lie. That’s absolutely a concept that you cannot… You cannot be credible if you ever lie. Why you can skirt around the truth: You can say nothing. You can try to evade. But you cannot lie.”
EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief Andreas Thonhauser recalled, “Before we heard in the keynote speech, from Benedict XVI, his encyclical “Spe Salvi,” he made this connection between hope and action. What actions are needed today?”
Eduard von Habsburg-Lothringer responded, “The most important action is prayer and I want to encourage all of you to at least… Even just a little prayer changes your actions very, very strongly.”
Adapted by Jacob Stein
