Shakespeare at the Vatican, 1964

Shakespeare and Mercy at the Vatican, 2016

“…In the 1964 Shakespeare commemorative performance at the Vatican The Merchant of Venice"s trial scene was performed in its entirety and Portia"s speech on mercy −a preamble to set up Shylock"s punishment− was, therefore, wholly contextualised. The 1964 RSC performance of the trial scene −which Boitani describes as leading to a dead end of contradictions ("un vicolo cieco di contraddizioni" (2018a))−, emphasised, not just Portia"s words on mercy, but the play"s questioning of Christian mercy, and was mostly welcomed by a Council that vigorously debated the conversion of the Jews, Christian mercy and the Church"s responsibility in Nazi persecutions (Cerezo, 2015). However, in 2016, Catholic readings of Portia"s lines on mercy did not reveal their contradictory nature and, by taking them out of context, read them just as a reflection on God"s compassionate blessings and the bidirectional and reconciliatory nature of mercy.…”

“…145-164 Print ISSN: 1578Online ISSN: 1989-6131 This article participates in this current critical debate on the intersection between Shakespeare and religion from a different perspective by stressing a mostly neglected issue: the Catholic Church"s reception of Shakespeare during the twentieth and twentyfirst centuries. The relevance of that reception has been primarily noted in a study devoted to the ecumenical and diplomatic implications of the first Shakespeare performance at the Vatican on 12 November 1964 during the celebrations of the 400 th anniversary of Shakespeare"s birth and third phase of the Second Vatican Council (Cerezo, 2015). This pray for the Special Session of the United Nations on Disarmament to be held from 7 June to 10 July and portrayed a world "disfigured by war and violence" which, however, was "long[ing] for justice, yes, but for justice filled with mercy" (para.…”