Seven is a biblical number. Like forty, three and eight, it carries a weight beyond its numerical value. It signifies completion. God rested on the seventh day. The Hebrew word for seven, sheva, is closely related to the word for oath, shevuah, and the two are at times used interchangeably. Seven therefore conveys covenantal completeness, the sense of time brought to its fullness.
It is now seven years since what can well be described as an annus horribilis for the Catholic Church. Those who were inclined to follow Church life in the late 2010s will remember it as a year when the Church could do no right.
