By Erik Zygmont
ezygmont@CatholicReview.org
Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori presented Pope Francis with a special gift Dec. 17, and it couldn’t have been at a more opportune time.
“It turned out to be the Holy Father’s birthday,” the archbishop said in a telephone interview from Rome with the Catholic Review.
The gift, a wooden cross made from the Maryland Liberty Tree – a 600-year-old tulip poplar in Annapolis that was auspiciously named in the days leading up to the American Revolution – is a tribute to religious freedom from a place first settled by Catholics fleeing persecution.
The cross and two others, fashioned by woodwright Thomas Brown and gilded by David Weisand, were blessed March 25 at a Maryland Day program in Baltimore. Each cross has a six-panel storage box – also made by Brown – representative of the cabinetry of the 1660s and with a black crackle mahogany and burnished gold leaf finish by Jacqueline Moore.
Archbishop Lori said that the pope listened intently as he received the gift on his 79th birthday.
“I had the opportunity to explain who gave it to him, namely the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Maryland,” Archbishop Lori said, “and of course the significance of the cross and the armoire, what it was made of, what it represented, and who else received a cross, namely the Prince of Wales and the church at St. Mary’s City (the reconstruction of the 1667 St. Mary’s Chapel in historic St. Mary’s City).”
Presenting the cross, the archbishop said, was the “perfect segue” into a conversation about religious freedom with the pope.
L’Osservatore Romano Photo
“I thanked the Holy Father for his wonderful words about religious freedom in the United States,” Archbishop Lori said. “We spoke as well about the persecution of Christians in various parts of the world, but especially in the Middle East.”
“I think the Holy Father once again affirmed the work that’s going on in our country regarding religious freedom,” the archbishop added, “but at the same time we spoke a lot about the persecuted Christians who are very near and dear to the Holy Father’s heart, and of course we talked about the persecution of other religions and minorities as well.”
The archbishop noted that Muslims overseas are in some cases persecuted by other Muslims for holding to different tenets to faith, while here in the U.S. support has been voiced for, he said, “proposals to deny Muslims entry into the United States precisely as Muslims.”
On Dec. 10, Archbishop Lori told Catholic News Service that such proposals raise “great religious freedom alarms.”
His Dec. 17 audience with Pope Francis lasted approximately 20 minutes and was shared by Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, which the archbishop serves as chaplain.
“Carl Anderson spoke of the wonderful work of the Knights of Columbus, both at home and abroad,” he said.
Archbishop Lori also put in a word for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, including “the evangelization program underway, and about the pastoral letter, ‘A Light Brightly Visible.’ We talked also about the efforts of the community to come together to address the tension in the city and its long-term systemic problems.”
It was not the first time he had met personally with Pope Francis, but “it’s always a rare and treasured opportunity,” Archbishop Lori said.
Also see:
Follow Christ on the path of forgiveness, not vengeance, pope says
Archbishop Lori says proposals to restrict religion raise ‘alarms’alarms’
