Sunday Times 2
‘Angels exist but they don’t have wings’
A Catholic Church official has said angels do exist – but that they ‘do not have wings or look like cherubs’.
Father Renzo Lavator, an ‘angelologist’, said the heavenly beings, which are ‘back in fashion’ thanks to New Age religions, are in fact more like shards of light.
‘You do not see angels so much as feel their presence,’ he said at a conference on angels in Rome. ‘They are a bit like sunlight that refracts on you through a crystal vase.’
The Vatican official, an 'angelologist', said: 'You do not see angels so much as feel their presence' (Reuters)
Speaking at a conference in a lavishly-frescoed Renaissance palace in Rome, he added: ‘I think there is a rediscovery of angels in Christianity.’
The senior clergyman was taking part in a debate this week on angelic art by the Fondazione Archivio Storico, an Italian art foundation, and was held in the Vatican-owned Palazzo della Cancelleria.
‘Following the cultural history of angels is following the history of humanity, or at least of our civilization,’ the organisers said.
‘Angels have helped drive religious and philosophical thought and have given birth to sublime forms of poetic and artistic expression,’ they said.
The Catholic Church's Father Renzo Lavator official has said that angels do exist but do not have wings (©CC BY 2.0 'Ethiopian Angel' by A.Davey)
Mr Lavatori said the popularised image of angels is a necessary result of their being ‘back in fashion’ but is dismissive of all the angel art around Christmas.
‘There is space for that, but you have to understand that these are not real representations. Angels do not have wings or look like cherubs,’ he said.
The widely-published Catholic clergyman is also a ‘demonologist’ and says angels are more needed than ever because increasing secularisation and materialism in society have left an ‘open door’ for the devil. ‘There is a lot more interference from diabolical forces. That is why you see queues of people outside the exorcists’ offices in churches,’ he said.
‘Pope Francis talks more about the devil than about angels and I think rightly so. But it’s still early, he will get round to the angels too.’
© Daily Mail, London