In 1862, the French poet Charles Baudelaire wrote that “The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist.” The quote was paraphrased –somewhat more famously, perhaps — in the 1995 film The Usual Suspects, as “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” Over the course of…
Image: Osnabrück, St. Peter’s Cathedral The official website of the German bishops, Katholisch.de, reported on 2 June that the Diocese of Osnabrück and of Mainz (the home diocese of Cardinal Gerhard Müller) will not ordain any priests this year. As Katholisch.de writes: The number of priestly ordinations in the Catholic Church in Germany seems obviously…
Image: screenshot of Catholic News Service video. The words that the sovereign Pontiff delivered yesterday, 4 June, in Saint Peter’s Square on Pentecost Sunday seemed to me to be very interesting. He addressed all Catholics and said: “For this to happen, we need to avoid two recurrent temptations. The first temptation seeks diversity without unity.…
Little things we do every day can transform our lives. Over time, these little things become habits. Good habits change us for the better; bad habits, for the worse. In past articles, I’ve encouraged daily mental prayer, the Rosary, and other prayer habits that can be practiced throughout the day. Today, I’ll continue this theme…
Certain sensationalists have been blowing up social media over the past hour with breathtaking reports of a “Vatican City Bombing” and descriptions of a huge explosion and fire at the Vatican itself. Admittedly, pictures and video coming from Rome depicting billowing black smoke are dramatic: @Emergenza24 @rep_roma @romatoday @ilmessaggeroit @reuters_italia @YouReporter #incendio #Battistini #Roma #Live…
Belgium, Landscape The Belgian bishops have recently (on 24 May) issued a Pastoral Letter in Dutch and in French where they, too, give their consent and support to the post-synodal exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, thus joining the ranks of the German and Maltese bishops’ conferences, as well as some Argentine, Italian, and U.S. bishops. The significance…
At a May 24 event presenting his new book, Cardinal Sarah reflected on suffering, on silence, and on the invasion of a godless humanism into the heart of the Church's liturgical life.
If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. – Sun Tzu, Art of War I keep trying to think of a movie scene to illustrate my point, but I’m grasping at straws. It’s such a common theme – the underdog who manages to keep prevailing despite all odds, the superior foe shaking a clenched…
Guest Essay | by Andrea Chamberlain Four years ago my husband decided to start asking God in prayer to “know the truth”. At the time we were fully modernized nominal Catholics disinterestedly attending the Novus Ordo Mass every week in the cry room (when we could find one). We were simultaneously as certain of our salvation…
And why speak I of the world to come? Since here this mystery makes earth become to you a heaven. Open only for once the gates of heaven and look in; nay, rather not of heaven, but of the heaven of heavens; and then you will behold what I have been speaking of. For what…
It’s driving me crazy. We have this technical glitch that has been happening over the past couple of weeks, and no matter what we try, we can’t seem to find what’s causing it. You’ve probably seen it. It’s a database error that comes up every so often when you load our website. It’s either a…
