“I wanted to be a priest like our parish priest. It wasn’t until I was 23 years old, after I’d graduated from seminary in Nancy, that I decided to become a Franciscan...” You were born in 1941. Do you have any memories of the Second World War? Archbishop Jean-Pierre Grallet: My first memory dates [...]
Queen Elizabeth recently signed into British law new legislation allowing same sex marriage. The date was July 17, after the law passed the House of Commons earlier in the week. The queen is the titular head of the Church of England, which ironically officially opposes homosexual marriage. Defenders of the British monarchy were very quick to [...]
The recent National March for Life in Rome was marked by two unprecedented events, the first one being the Pope, in this case Pope Francis, who took everybody by surprise and came down the Via della Conciliazione from St. Peter’s Square to mingle with the cheering pro-life crowd. “I greet all the participants in the March [...]
Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Good evening to you all. It is a pleasure to participate in tonight’s special dinner in the magnificent environs of the Casina Pio IV, in order to celebrate the work of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, an organization which exists to witness to the unique and immeasurable good of human life, [...]
The World Meeting of Families in Milan was one year ago. What were the results? Monsignor Jean Laffitte: It was a very significant event from a spiritual point of view, as well as in a social and ecclesiastical perspective. More than 1 million people had come to pray with the Successor of Peter and had the [...]
They are the “Veilleurs,” that is, the “Watchers,” silent and peaceful vanguards of a larger mass movement: Manif pour tous, born in France last January to defend the family against the new “Taubira” law (named after the politician who proposed it), which allows same-sex couples to “marry” and adopt children. This law passed in France on [...]
Speaking to journalists for about 80 minutes on his July 28 flight back to Rome from World Youth Day in Brazil, Francis was startlingly candid on many issues, but his remarks on homosexuality, priests with homosexual tendencies, and a “gay lobby” in the Vatican raised the most eyebrows. The Pope’s remarks were quickly reported in hundreds [...]
Pat Morse and Pope John Paul II “The level of commitment required is determined by the value of the prize we seek.” —George “Pat” Morse, on the effort needed to prepare for death. From the moment of our birth, we are moving inexorably toward the most important event in our lives: our “Death.” [...]
LITURGY: TWO EVENTS IN ROME The last week of June was marked by two events focused on the liturgy: the “SACRA LITURGIA” international symposium at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce (Holy Cross) from June 25 to 28, 2013, formally ending with participation in the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis the following day for the Feast [...]
A man for whom faith and family were not just important, but everything: such a man was George “Pat” Morse, who died on June 19 at the age of 96. He was for many years the associate editor of this magazine and author of a “Reflections” column that was widely read and influential. I have three [...]