“Acriter et fideliter.” With courage and faithfulness. This is the ancient motto of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, and the words well describe the life and character of the late Gregor Volken, vice-commandant of the corps, who served four Popes for 38 years and two months, making his one of the longest services in the history of [...]
Cardinal Dominik Jaroslav Duka, OP, 69, was born in 1943 in Hradec Králové, Bohemia (now Czech Republic). Today he is the 36th archbishop of Prague. He was ordained on June 22, 1970, at the age of 27. In 1972, he made his solemn profession in the Dominican Order. In 1975, the Communist regime deprived him of [...]
Brief talks with some Synod members on the new evangelization: Cardinal Erdo, Father Carrón, Cardinal Pell, Cardinal Wuerl Cardinal Péter Erdö: “I think that this has been a very fruitful Synod” The mission is to proclaim Christ, says Cardinal Peter Erdö of Budapest, Hungary. All the baptized are called on to bear witness to the [...]
Dear Brothers and Sisters, These words, which the new Cardinals are soon to proclaim in the course of their solemn profession of faith, come from the Niceno-Constantinopolitan creed, the synthesis of the Church’s faith that each of us receives at baptism. Only by professing and preserving this rule of truth intact can we be authentic disciples [...]
The 2012 Synod of Bishops on the “new evangelization” met for three weeks in October and presented a list of propositions to the Pope... Benedict XVI leads a meeting of the Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization on October 8.(Galazka photo) Despite the growth of secularism, increased hostility toward Christianity and sinful [...]
Pope Benedict’s book on the childhood of the Messiah in the Gospels is arriving in bookstores now. The Gospels are “true history” and not a pure theological construction, the Pope writes. The book release at the Vatican on November 20. Pope Benedict has finished his extraordinary trilogy on Jesus with publication of the third [...]
Vatican calls on re-elected Obama to “acknowledge demands arising from religious communities” regarding “the natural family, life, and religious liberty itself” The day after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, hailed his election as a “choice that unites,” exemplifying America’s ability to “overcome fractures and divisions that until only recently [...]
The Pope reflected on Christ’s role in history during a homily for the Feast of Christ the King on November 25 in Rome. Many seek to de-throne Christ, but he does now and will forever rule, the Pope said. Who is our “king”? Who is the “ruler” of our lives? Whose commands bind us? Whose words [...]
June 21, 1959.First Communion of Wanda Poltawska’s daughter Catherine. Wanda is on the left, Father Karol Wojtyła is in the center in dark glasses, and, on the right, Wanda’s husband, Andrzej Półtawski, with his mother.(Photos from Poltawski family’s archive) Interview with Doctor Wanda Półtawska, friend of Blessed John Paul II. What did the school [...]
On November 24, Benedict XVI appointed six new cardinals from the US, Lebanon, Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia and India, in a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica. Nigerian Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, 68, of Abuja, receives the red biretta from Benedict XVI U.S. Archbishop James M. Harvey, 63, former prefect of the papal household, speaks [...]