The Moynihan Letters

    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 [...]

    Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, 81, recently granted an interview to Paix Liturgique, a French website which focuses on liturgical questions, and, with the archbishop's permission, we have translated the text into English.     The archbishop here takes a very strong position in favor of the old liturgy, arguing that the old rite of the Mass was [...]

    "Gorbachev spent his career trying to save Soviet Communism and the Soviet Empire, but ended up presiding over the demise of both." —British journalist Owen Matthews in the London Telegraph on August 31, speaking about Mikhail Gorbachev, the last premier of the Soviet Union, who died two days ago on August 30, 2022, at the [...]

    "Mother and Teacher of all nations—such is the Catholic Church in the mind of her Founder, Jesus Christ; to hold the world in an embrace of love, that men, in every age, should find in her their own completeness in a higher order of living, and their ultimate salvation. She is 'the pillar and ground [...]

    Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) died in England yesterday at the age of 87. He had a great gift in the effort to bring eastern and western Christians closer together     “We see that it is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery. [...]

    I am too tired, and too sad at heart, to write anything of my own. The words don't come.     I send along two pieces of writing by others, who speak about the great and important things, the spiritual things.     In essence, both essays are a call for a spiritual rebirth of Europe, and of western [...]

    Letter #106, 2022, Tuesday, August 23: Consistory         Rumors are swirling that “something will happen” at the end of August in Rome.     What may that "something" be?     We do not know.     ***     We do know that Pope Francis will preside over a consistory on Saturday, August 27, to create 21 new cardinals.     We also know that [...]