Discovered Mathias Cormann

Thursday, June 24, 2021.

I read Mathias Cormann: A tale of two lives, the beautiful story about Mathias Cormann whom I remember from solfeggio lessons as a friendly and calm class mate. It is heart-warming to read about somebody who shares two important things with me: (1) being born in Eastern Belgium and (2) having left their birth country with the plan to not return.

One little sentence makes me stop reading and start writing this blog post: “The Catholicism with which Cormann grew up reflects the deep conservatism of the German-speaking region of eastern Belgium.” I’d say that faith culture in Eastern Belgium is rather the opposite of “conservatist”. I’d guess that most Catholics in Eastern Belgium would deeply agree with the clear words about conservatism and traditionalism spoken by Pope Francis in yesterday’s General Audience: Papst Franziskus warnt vor selbsternannten Glaubenshütern.