If nothing else, the pontificate of Pope John XXIII was optimistic in mindset. When asked why he called the Second Vatican Council, John allegedly replied, “I want to throw open the windows of the Church so that we can see out and the people can see in.” At his opening address for the Council, he then derided critics who…
Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Archbishop Emeritus of Brussels, Belgium, has died today at the age of 85. He was a member of the Sankt Gallen Mafia and despite having been caught trying to suppress the testimony of an abuse victim in his diocese, a friend of Pope Francis, who claims to have “zero tolerance” for such behavior.…
LIGEN, Germany, March 14, 2019—Issues of celibacy and “sexual orientation” will receive clarification within a “binding synodal path” in Germany, says Cardinal Reinhard Marx in remarks to katholisch.de after the conclusion of the spring conference of German Bishops, Thursday. Emphasizing the need for more “theological discoveries while integrating modern humanities”, he added that the intimate…
After a deeply controversial guilty verdict in a child sexual abuse case stemming from decades-old allegations, Cardinal George Pell has been sentenced to six years in prison on on five counts of abuse of minors. He will be eligible for parole in 3 years and 8 months. Pell has maintained his innocence throughout the trial,…
One of the big questions that has been routinely asked me by non-Catholic friends and family is, why become Catholic, especially now? It would seem that my conversion comes as a predicament due to its timing, given all the scandals. To most, it seems as if it’s quite obvious for everybody to avoid the Catholic…
RELATED LINKS: Pope Benedict’s Abdication Statement (Vatican Website) Interview With Pope Emeritus About Validity of His Resignation (1P5, La Stampa) Pope Emeritus Interview With Peter Seewald on Question of Forced Resignation (1P5, National Catholic Register) Pope Emeritus Letters to Cardinal Walter Brandmüller (1P5, Bild) On Questions of a Limitations of a Pope’s Powers/Power to Abrogate Canon…
Author Martin Mosebach, who is not a fan of interrupting sacrosanct actions, suggests in The Heresy of Formlessness that the priest’s sermon metaphorically rends the liturgical garment in two. Mass begins with what is sacred, gets abruptly disconnected by human speech from the sermon, then resumes with the sacred mysteries. As Mosebach explains, “when the…
Every Ash Wednesday, I feel as though I were attending a funeral Mass. You would think someone had died — and this joyless expression lingers on for many of us until Easter. For years, I held that same expression — that is, until I read The Rule of St. Benedict. Many people have an aversion…
As being the continuation of “true Israel,” the Catholic Church was also structured in a hierarchal fashion. This structure was practical for the purpose of maintaining basic order in worship, as Israel had been practicing from the beginning. This structure was particular in that Jesus gave His apostles (especially the Twelve) similar authority as He…
Ask a believing Jew, and he will tell you that Jesus Christ is not the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures. Moreover, he will provide you with the proper contexts and meanings of the passages on which the “misunderstanding” supposedly turns. The fact that there are interpretations of the Hebrew Scriptures that do not support the…
What kind of people must we be, if God is permitting this man to destroy the Catholicity of the Church, to the degree to which it is possible to destroy the Church? The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church, but that doesn’t mean that the enemy cannot inflict overwhelming damage in his…
