"It was thought that, after the Council, sunny days would come for the history of the Church. Nevertheless, what came were days of clouds, of storms, of darkness, of searching, of uncertainty.” —St. Pope Paul VI, on June 29, 1972, speaking about the disappointed hopes of many Catholics in the years following the Second Vatican [...]
Madonna and Child (also called Madonna of the Book, because there is a book in the lower left of the complete painting, link), by Sandro Botticelli, 1483 The Story of Mary A blessed Advent to all, and best wishes to all family members, that this season will be filled with hope and [...]
“Lebanon now is suffering.” —Pope Francis on the papal plane on November 6, 2022, as he returned from his November 3-6 trip to Bahrain (link) “Dear Lebanese friends, I greatly desire to visit you and I continue to pray for you, so that Lebanon will once more be a message of peace and fraternity for [...]
“And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” —Jesus, Gospel of Mark 3:25 "To believe in Christ means to desire unity; to desire unity means to desire the Church; to desire the Church means to desire the communion of grace which corresponds to the Father's plan from all eternity. Such is [...]
Above, the late Marie Czernin with Pope St. John Paul II on March 29, 2002. She had written a meditation for the 14th Station of the Via Crucis in the Colosseum that year, the stations recalling the death of Christ on the Cross. And John Paul II greeted her Thirty days have now passed since [...]
Our age is an age which wishes to “eliminate God, not only from the present and the future, but also from the past,” a prominent archbishop wrote last year. But fidelity to God, and His Truth, is the key to our happiness... “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, [...]
Above, Marie Czernin with Pope St. John Paul II on March 29, 2002. She had written a meditation for the 14th Station of the Via Crucis in the Colosseum that year, the stations recalling the death of Christ on the Cross. And John Paul II greeted her Two days ago, on October 28, in Vienna, [...]
Budapest's Chain Bridge and St. Stephen's Basilica Letter #114, 2022, Tuesday, October 11: Budapest I am writing from Budapest, Hungary, where I have spent several days, and had several long and fruitful meetings which have given me much hope. *** In the Sermon on the Mount, which many commentators see as an outline [...]
Today I am sending out a brief but heartfelt and important statement written by Cardinal Francis Arinze on a recent decision of the Flemish bishops regarding a special blessing for same-sex couples which the cardinal wishes to reach the general public. Arinze's brief statement concerns the report that the Flemish bishops' conference, defying a prior [...]
Today, again on Marco Tosatti’s website Stilum Curae, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò published a meditation on the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorated by a feast day today in the Church. (link) It is a brief reflection on some of the “dolors” (sorrows) that the Church is now experiencing, as the Archbishop relates them to [...]
