But --- excuse me, I take it back --- I am perhaps being irony-deficient. A more charitable interpretation would be, perhaps you forgot your /s/
Count Piccolomini said what motivated him to participate in the Acies Ordinata event was his “wish to reiterate my and our fidelity to the Pope, the Catholic Apostolic Roman Church and its eternal teaching.”
Is it not true that there will be Catholic officials there whose desire is to thwart the pope's agenda???
You've got the Count there to show his fidelity to the pope...And he says this:
Asked about the symbolic significance of praying at the foot of Castel Sant’Angelo, he said “this castle saved the lives of more than one pope in the past, and its name indicates our wish to invoke the whole celestial militia to defend the Catholic Church.”
What, he's praying at the Castle that protects popes to protect another pope, or this time praying against the pope at the castle that protects popes???
Another participant whose presence leant great symbolic weight to today’s event was Rodolphe Pfyffer von Altishofen from Luzern, Switzerland. His family provided eleven commanders for the Pontifical Swiss Guard, the armed force charged with protecting the pope.
And why honor this guy since his contribution is being a member of the family that protects popes??? Isn't that why he's there, to carry on the tradition???
I don't see where my assumption is so bizarro...