The Missing Mass Ornament

This article explores the religious celebrations led by Pope Francis at the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, with a particular focus on the extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing on March 27, 2020. It analyzes the media event through three key elements: the absence of a large crowd in St. Peter’s Square, the use of Catholic cult images, and the mediatized emphasis on the pope’s facial expressions and devotional gestures. The article further examines the critical responses to this event, some of which employ the term “retro-Catholicism” to express their concerns. I argue that these critiques go beyond mere personal preference; they represent a broader attempt to delineate the boundaries between what is deemed acceptable in contemporary religion and what is dismissed as outdated tradition, using a set of attributes often linked to backwardness.