A Guest Essay by Willem Jacobus Cardinal Eijk Archbishop of Utrecht This chapter is taken from Eleven Cardinals Speak on Marriage and the Family ©2015 Ignatius Press. It is reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. Editor’s Note: Through the gracious assistance of a reader, we were given permission to re-print this text from the so-called “Eleven Cardinals Book”, issued…
My article – regarding the dilemma created for Catholic lawyers related to whether or not the local ordinary’s permission is required before seeking a civil divorce – has received a reply from the internet’s pre-eminent canon lawyer, Edward Peters. Since I am not a canon lawyer, I welcome any correction from a competent authority (and blogmeister Dr.…
We live in an age of demagoguery, where would-be petty tyrants grasp at power from behind the stalking horses of “oppressed” or “powerless” surrogates. We must “help the kids” or “save the planet” or do something-or-other for the peripheral groups of people who live at the margins of society. (Or is that the marginalized groups…
Among the more controversial paragraphs from Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia (AL), 298 seems to be a real ideological Rorschach test. Some people see the problem with it, and some don’t (or choose not to). Since it has come up several times in various online discussion, I’d like to try to break it down in the hopes…
(Image: Screenshot of the papal interview as it appears [with Google translation] in Zeit Online) Today, 8 March, the German newspaper Die Zeit published an interview with Pope Francis which was conducted at the end of February at the pope’s residence Casa Santa Marta in Rome. In this somewhat lengthy interview, the pope speaks about…
There are coming to us now different reports about Pope Francis’ Santa Marta homily of today which are very troubling. He mentions the Pharisees’ question about divorce and whether it is permitted and then comments on the reaction of Our Lord (Mark 10:1-12), as follows: Jesus does not answer whether it is permitted or not. He…
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat recently published a widely circulated commentary on the recent fall-out from Amoris Laetitia entitled, “The End of Catholic Marriage”. In it, he argued persuasively that if Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on marital love comes to be generally interpreted and applied as liberally as it has been in the Diocese…
The following guest editorial was submitted by a reader who works in the office of Marriage and Family Life of a US diocese. With retributive action already having been taken against several of the signatories of the theological censures against Amoris Laetitia, we have agreed to publish this essay anonymously. I would like to begin…
A (Fictional) Letter Recently Written by Erasmus of Rotterdam – a Trusted Friend of St. Thomas More – Concerning the Confusion Worse Confounded Surrounding Amoris Laetitia and Its Own Ambiguities Dr. Markus Büning Dear College of Cardinals, High Senate of the Roman Church, Your Eminences, I allow myself now, after all, to comment on the…
We received the following statement of support for the four cardinals’ dubia this morning. It has been signed by various pastors, theologians, and scholars from around the world. As Catholic scholars and pastors of souls, we wish to express our profound gratitude and full support for the courageous initiative of four members of the College…
Rorate Caeli has released a translation of a remarkable interview, originally published in 2008, with Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna. In it, he references correspondence he had with Sister Lucia, the principal visionary of Our Lady at Fatima: Q. There is a prophecy by Sister Lucia dos Santos, of Fatima, which concerns “the final battle between…
