Angels, demons, and Cardinal Sean O'Malley

I have to admit, Cardinal O'Malley's new titular church, Santa Maria della Vittoria, is a blogger's dream.

First of all, it's directly, and I mean directly, across the street from Santa Susanna, the church that belonged to the last three cardinal-archbishops of Boston, but that O'Malley can't have because it now belongs to Cardinal Bernard F. Law for life.

Second of all, it's featured prominently in Dan Brown's bestselling novel, "Angels and Demons,'' and is a popular spot on the "Angels and Demons" theme-tours that now show tourists Roman sites mentioned in the book.

Let me stipulate up front: the church is completely lovely. It was closed when photographer David Ryan and I stopped by yesterday at midday, but the cheerful rector, Rev. Stefano Guernelli, was kind enough to let us in anyway. The church is more like a chapel, with pews that might be able to seat 100 worshipers, and every surface is covered in baroque painting and sculpture. The most famous object, and the one that intrigued Dan Brown because it is often viewed as sexually charged, is Bernini's sculpture of St. Theresa of Avila in Ecstasy.

The church is overseen by Discalced Carmelite friars -- who, given their sudden Boston connection, proudly pointed out that there are at least four houses of Carmelites in the Boston archdiocese. A few of the enterprising friars took it upon themselves to just show up at the apostolic palace on Friday so they could introduce themselves to O'Malley and give him a guidebook to the church; on Saturday the cardinal repaid the favor, stopping by to visit a few hours after we were there.

"The friars were very, very friendly, and I was very moved by the fact that young St. Theresa (of Lisieux) had actually gone to that church and prayed there,'' he said, referring to Theresa of Lisieux, a 19th Century Carmelite nun who is now a popular saint often called the Little Flower. "Of course, the baroque statues and paintings are magnificent. They have a nice shrine to St. Francis there too.''

I asked O'Malley whether he had read "Angels and Demons," or Brown's even bigger bestseller, "The Da Vinci Code.'' To my surprise, the cardinal has read both novels -- he says they were sent to him by his sister. He said the plots are "outrageous," in terms of their fictionalizing of Christian history, and the endings poor -- "I wouldn't give them an A as literature,'' he said, but he was obviously intrigued to know what all the fuss was about. (The U.S. bishops' conference has actually posted a web site debunking "The Da Vinci Code,'' in anticipation of the May 19 release of the film.)

I then asked the cardinal what he made of the "Angels and Demons" connection to his new church, and this was his response:

"I think it's silly,'' he said. "But if it brings people to see the church, hopefully, being in a holy place, and in a place that is beautiful, hopefully it will be a religious experience for them. For us as Catholics, we believe that the beauty of the church, and the church music, is a way of lifting our minds to God's beauty.''

(I have not actually read "Angels and Demons" -- "The Da Vinci Code" was enough for me -- but in my effort to be a responsible beat reporter, today I swung by la Feltrinelli, an Italian bookstore with an English-language section, to pick up a copy, and I plan to read it on the flight back to Boston.)

At some point, O'Malley will have to return to Rome to formally take possession of the church, as the ritual is known, and then he will be responsible for protecting its finances and spiritual life in some way, although not for overseeing it on a day-to-day basis. He said he doesn't know when the possession-taking will be, but that it might be September, or the next time he needs to be back in town. The ceremony is usually accompanied by pomp and parties; it's not clear how O'Malley, who isn't much for that sort of thing, might modify that tradition.

(Rev. Stefano Guernelli in the sanctuary.)