Cesare De Agostini Discusses Church History and Gossip at Rotary Luncheon
Does gossip also circulate among the «Princes of the Church»? It might happen now; gossip has become a media profession spanning from traditional print media to open internet spaces.
Speaker at the Rotary Luncheon
Now Cesare De Agostini – guest speaker Thursday evening at the Rotary Club luncheon – can run the risk of near homonymy with the ubiquitous and internet-savvy Roberto D’Agostino, but he certainly operates in much different waters, no doubt about that.
However, while on Thursday evening he discussed his «Eminenti & Eminentissimi», published by Piemme, as a speaker at the Rotary Club luncheon, a subtle thrill, if not of the forbidden, then certainly of the discoveries, crept into the audience.
Journalistic Style and Biographical Analysis
De Agostini has managed never to shed his guise of a good journalist, even when donning the robe of a historian or chronicler of history. Throughout his presentation, he held his audience captive as he isolated specific categories of behavior through significant samples, comparing them contrastively: wealth accumulation versus Franciscan poverty, displays of purple versus deliberate rejection of the perspectives of the Triregno, careerism of the nomenklatura, and theological astonishments.
The biographical portraits in the volume number over a hundred, and the author, reaching the highest levels, could not avoid the demands of synthesis: yet recognizing the elected does not abandon reflection on the man’s substance and presence.
Discussion and Notable Names
President Guido Stuani then opened the debate, which remained at a very high level regarding theological and conciliar themes, also without sacrificing the taste for anecdotes and personal testimonies, when the names of Archbishop of Palermo, Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini (who was from San Benedetto Po), and Cardinal Antonio Poma, bishops of Mantua and later Archbishop of Bologna, were brought up.
And then other familiar names: Sergio Denti, Franco Mambrini, Eteocle Vecchia, Luigi Longhi, Claudio Righi, priests who entered cardinal orbit as valuable satellites.