Germany

Letter #49, 2016: Again, Russia….

July 29, 2016, Friday -- Again, Russia... Earthen Vessels.... "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves." —2 Corinthians 4:7 "As light was the beginning of the first creation; so, in the new creation, the light of the Spirit is his [...]

Letter #44, 2016: The Three Positions

May 16, 2016, Monday -- The Three Positions (And Now Four) On Amoris Laetitia The text below is the Editorial in the May edition of Inside the Vatican, which is just out. (To obtain a copy of the issue or to subscribe for one or more years, click here. We welcome new subscribers, of course. If [...]

Letter #43, 2016: In the Footsteps of Pope Benedict

May 13, 2016, Friday -- In the Footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI... Blessed Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima... "In terms of what we today can discover in this message [the message of Fatima], attacks against the Pope or the Church don't come just from outside the Church. The suffering of the Church also comes [...]

Is the “Progressive” German Church a Church in Decline?

Bavarian bishops walk in procession to the Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers near Bad Staffelstein, Germany (CNS photo/Daniel Karmann, EPA) On November 20, noting that only 10 percent of German Catholics attend Mass every Sunday, Pope Francis said: “One can truly speak of an erosion of the Catholic faith in Germany” Pope Francis [...]

Letter #37, 2015: Out of Germany

September 18, 2015, Friday — Out of Germany The danger of a division in the Roman Catholic Church -- of a schism -- is being "mentioned" increasingly in press reports on the eve of October 4-25 Bishops' Synod on Marriage and the Family in Rome. Now, an article in German which calls on the Catholic Church [...]

The Pope on Scholarship and Religious Dialogue

Pope Francis tells scholars that Christians and Muslims need to study each other’s faith and values and “draw near each other on tip toes” without “raising dust”. Education about one’s own faith and the faith of others is the most effective antidote to interreligious violence, Pope Francis told participants in a conference on Catholic-Muslim scholarship and [...]

Marcello Pera, on his friendship with Joseph Ratzinger

Italian Senator Marcello Pera with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Though not a Christian believer, Pera agreed with Ratzinger that Europe needs to rediscover its Christian soul or risk losing all. Who is Marcello Pera? A seventy-one-year-old Italian philosopher and politician, known for his friendship with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, which began during Pera’s years as president [...]

"Justice Is Freedom for Mankind"— Benedict XVI in Germany

On September 22 in Berlin, the German pontiff, who had been born in 1927 and grown up after 1933 under National Socialism, gave a profound reflection on the sources of law. The tensions of that moment — a German native speaking to the government of his country, a Catholic Pope speaking to a secular legislature, a [...]