#2 Father Jean-Marc Fournier A Catholic priest in Paris, France “We Need Tangible Signs of Faith” Every year since 1803, even during the Nazi occupation, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has held a Christmas Mass — except for this Christmas, because of the historic fire that ravished the Cathedral in April 2019. The fire of Notre [...]
#7 Viktor Orbán The president of Hungary is controversial, but steadfast “Why haven’t we Hungarians disappeared?... The key to our survival was the adoption of the Christian faith.” “Hungarians account for 0.2 percent of the world’s population. Is there any point in a nation of this size taking a stance and standing up for a cause? [...]
Top Ten from 2019 We bring you in the January issue of Inside the Vatican the incredible story of a beautiful Russian opera soprano, Svetlana Kasyan. (To obtain a copy of the print edition, call our US office at 1-800-789-9494). We have come to know Svetlana personally since she sang at a Concert for Peace in [...]
#8 Katie Ascough, Niamh Uí Bhriain, Cora Sherlock Three female Irish activists chose to make a stand for life in their once deeply-Catholic country, despite much resistance, even backlash, from their peers. “We may have lost a battle, but our cause will never be defeated." On January 1, 2019, abortion services became available in Ireland for [...]
#9 Vincent Guo Xijin Bishop in China “I am ready to face the persecution” Until 2018, Bishop Guo was the ordinary of the Diocese of Mindong, located in the southern province of Fujian. However, with the signing of the “provisional agreement” between the Vatican and China in September of 2018, which resulted in Pope Francis lifting [...]
"O Salutaris Hostia, Quae caeli pandis ostium!" ("O Saving Victim, opening wide The gate of heaven to man below!") —A hymn in praise of Jesus Christ, composed by St. Thomas Aquinas, writing in the 1200s. Aquinas says the work of Jesus Christ was, through his sacrificial death, to open the gates of Heaven (eternity) to man. [...]
"For a long time I have held my peace, I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in travail... They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in graven images, who say to molten images, 'You are our gods.'” — The Prophet Isaiah, 42:14 and [...]
"The glory of God is man alive, but the life of man is the vision of God." — St. Irenaeus, Against All Heresies, c. 180 A.D. in Lyons, France "The 'living man' intended by Irenaeus is Christ himself, in whose life we believers contemplate the Father's glory revealed in the Son." —Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon, in an [...]
Top, a moment from the controversial fund-raising event in Vienna's Cathedral of St. Stephen on Saturday, November 30. The figure in the center of the top photo, and in the lower photo, is Austrian singer Thomas Neuwirth, also known as Conchita Wurst. Neuwirth is an Austrian recording artist and "drag queen" known for his stage persona Conchita Wurst. He uses masculine [...]
Join Us On Giving Tuesday! Dear Friends, I hope everyone had a joy-filled Thanksgiving day weekend with their family and friends. My family gathered with my father to give thanks for our many years together. It is now the evening of "Giving Tuesday." The day was established in 2012 to focus [...]
