Secret and closed societies are governed by signs and codes. Outsiders need to interpret and decode these to understand what is going on in these societies. It is said that the first sign of the thaw in Sino-US relations, missed by many, occurred when the famous American, Edgar Snow, was invited to sit on the podium during a celebration to mark the anniversary of the Chinese Revolution. That small gesture, coming from the heart a closed society, was designed to convey a myriad of meanings. Similarly, the removal of Trotsky from a picture of himself standing next to V.I. Lenin was a clear indicator that Trotsky had, under the regime of Josef Stalin, lost his place in the pantheon of the Russian Revolution. The Vatican, at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum from communism, is also a closed and secret society. It is, however, a closed and secret society with its own arcane rituals. The Roman Catholic Church is imbued with signs and symbols, all pregnant with heavy meaning and significance. Thus, the otherwise simple fact that some of the witticisms of Oscar Wilde have been included in a collection of maxims, aphorisms and epigrams meant for Christians, can be read as a possible sign of other changes in the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church.

Oscar Wilde was known for his irreverence for all established institutions. He was born into an Irish Protestant family but was never known to be particularly pious. In De Profundis, he wrote, “Religion does not help me. The faith that others give to what is unseen, I give to what one can touch, and look at.’’ Late in life, with death beyond his means staring him in the face, he converted to Roman Catholicism. Nobody has been able to explain what made Wilde do this. Maybe he thought the Catholic last sacraments would absolve him of the rather bohemian and dissolute life he had led. Despite accepting Wilde into its fold, the Roman Catholic Church has never really recognized him. The Vatican’s rigid orthodoxy prevented it from acknowledging Wilde, who made no secret of his homosexuality. It is in this context that the appearance of Wilde in a Vatican collection assumes a certain significance, especially as the compiler of the volume is the head of protocol in the Vatican, Father Leonardo Sapienza.

It is safe to assume that Father Sapienza’s inclusion of Wilde has the papal nod. It is, in fact, more than an inclusion. Father Sapienza, in fact, pays handsome tribute to Wilde as a writer of powerful prose who was endowed with a dazzling intelligence. These qualities, the head of Vatican protocol said, were more important than Wilde’s sexual proclivities. This sudden openness on the part of the Vatican is a revelation. It is not unreasonable to see this as a small but significant breach in the fortress. It is a sign of change.