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    Pope Leo XIV this morning as he left Rome on a flight to Ankara, Turkey — the first foreign trip of his pontificate. Behind him stands his spokesman, Press Office Director Matteo Bruni.     Below, the Pope receives a pumpkin pie, baked by American Vaticanists living in Rome: Elise Allen and Cindy Woodward     Letter #86, 2025, [...]

    Professor John M. Rist. The brilliant Catholic British historian of theology contacted me about my letter on the "filioque" question and proposed that I read his essay on the role of St. Athanasius at the 1st Ecumenical Council of Nicaea... I decided to send his paper out to you. This is the second of three [...]

    Professor John M. Rist. The brilliant Catholic British historian of theology contacted me about my letter on the "filioque" question and proposed that I read his essay on the role of St. Athanasius at the 1st Ecumenical Council of Nicaea...     Letter #88, 2025, Tuesday, November 25: Rist, #1     A British Catholic professor of historical theology, [...]

    Maximino Caballero Ledo, a Spanish layman, is the Prefect of the Vatican's Secretariat for the Economy      Letter #87, 2025, Wed, Nov 26: The status of Vatican finances... improving     Today Vatican journalist Anna Artymiak sent me this report on the Vatican's finances, following the release today of the 2024 consolidated annual budget, which shows a small [...]

    Pope Leo XIV this morning at his regular Wednesday General Audience in Rome. He spoke about the virtue of hope. He leaves Rome tomorrow for Turkey on his first Apostolic Journey as Pope outside of Italy     Letter #86, 2025, Wed, Nov 26: On hope     Vatican journalist Anna Artymiak today sent me this report on Pope [...]

    A typical family dinner scene in America on Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November, and customarily includes a turkey as the main course...     Letter #85, 2025, Wed, Nov 26: Leo on Thanksgiving     I am advised by my colleague, Anna Artymiak — a young Polish journalist who [...]

    Letter #84, 2025, Tuesday, November 25: Filioque     Is it possible that a word in the Catholic Creed — the word is "filioque" which means "and from the Son" — might be quietly "dropped" in order to help make more possible the reunion of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, divided since 1054?     We Catholics have used [...]

   Letter #83, 2025, Tuesday, November 25: "One flesh," #6, last footnotes     The Vatican today issued a document on the sacral character of marriage entitled Una caro ["One flesh"]. In Praise of Monogamy.     In my previous letters, I sent the full text in English, in three parts, and then the first 150 footnotes.     Here below, the [...]

    Letter #82, 2025, Tuesday, November 25: "One flesh," #5     The Vatican today issued a document on the sacral character of marriage entitled Una caro ["One flesh"]. In Praise of Monogamy.     In my last letter, I sent the 3rd and final part of the full text in English.     Here below, the 256 footnotes to the entire [...]

    Letter #81, 2025, Tuesday, November 25: "One flesh," #4     The Vatican today issued a document on the sacral character of marriage entitled Una caro ["One flesh"]. In Praise of Monogamy.     In my last letter, I sent the 2nd part of the full text in English.     The third and final part of the text is below. [...]