(Crux. John L. Allen Jr.).
A classic “tree falling in the forest” moment recently unfolded on the Vatican beat, meaning that an important decision was rolled out without any fanfare whatsoever, so much so that one might almost wonder if it really happened at all. That decision was to revitalize the traditional papal title “Patriarch of the West,” which had been suppressed under Pope Benedict XVI in 2006, but which now appears to be back.