May 2, 2017, Tuesday “The Lord softens those with hard hearts, those who condemn all who are outside the law.” —Pope Francis this morning in his homily in the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, his residence in Rome (Vatican Radio, May 2, 2017) — “The Lord softens those with hard hearts, those who condemn all [...]
May 1, 2017, Monday Reading today, I came across a brief passage from the conversation between Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and German writer Peter Seewald, part of a book which was published in September 2016 as Last Testament. (Here is a link to the book, the passage in question is from pages 240-241.) It is a [...]
April 23, 2017, Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday "Christian liturgy is a liturgy of promise fulfilled, of a quest, the religious quest of human history, reaching its goal. But it remains a liturgy of hope. It, too, bears within it the mark of impermanence. The new Temple, not made by human hands, does exist, but it is [...]
April 15, 2017, Holy Saturday From Norcia to Chieti During Holy Saturday, on the Vigil of Easter, silence. Time to stand apart. To stand aside. To divest of all, thoughts, hopes, judgments, even fears. To divest, to unclothe, as did Francis of Assisi, before the bishop of Assisi in 1207, when he gave back everything to [...]
March 27, 2017, Monday -- A Communist Ecumenist? Zyuganov on the Split between Eastern and Western Christianity I have been trying to drive home one fundamental point for more than 20 years now, both in the pages of Inside the Vatican magazine, and in the work of the Urbi et Orbi Foundation which seeks to "build [...]
March 19, 2017, Sunday -- Meet an Extraordinary Man This Week in Washington D.C. Meet an Extraordinary Archbishop this Week in Washington D.C. "His name is Thaddeus" An extraordinary archbishop got on an airplane today in the the former East bloc to fly to Washington D.C. He will land in D.C. tonight. His name is Thaddeus [...]
February 28, 2017, Tuesday -- "Not flesh and blood" "Francis received in audience this morning... - H. E. Abp. Guido Pozzo, Titular Archbishop of Bagnoregio, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei..." —from the official Vatican Press Office Bulletin of February 27, 2017, that is, yesterday (link); Archbishop Guido Pozzo, the head of the Vatican's Ecclesia [...]
February 24, 2017, Tuesday -- Pilgrimage Toward a Hidden God Pilgrimage Toward A Hidden God A powerful contemporary intellectual movement today called “transhumanism” hopes the human race can be developed, improved, “transcended.” Christians share part of this hope, but by means of an entirely different process… By Robert Moynihan Each man desires to know his true [...]
February 7, 2017, Tuesday -- The New York Times and Steve Bannon "Vatican Traditionalists See Hero in Trump Aide." —Headline of a New York Times front-page article today (link) which argues that "Vatican Traditionalists" see US President Donald Trump's top aide and "strategic advisor," the Irish American Catholic and former Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon, as [...]
February 6, 2017, Monday -- Posters against the Pope "Ah, Franky [referring to Pope Francis using a Roman dialect form of Francis which suggests great familiarity], you've put Congregations under supervision, removed priests, decapitated the Order of Malta and the Franciscans of the Immaculate and ignored Cardinals... But where in all this is your compassion?" —Words [...]