Every year, the Vatican receives a nativity scene (or presepe), donated from a region of Italy, for their traditional Christmas display. In 2020, the Abruzzo region lent its Presepe Monumentale, a work of art produced from 1965 to 1975 by the Istituto d’Arte F.A. Grue—now the Liceo Artistico F.A. Grue—a high school in...
“[T]he manger makes us think of the animals that find their food there. Here, in the Gospel, there is no mention of animals; but the meditation, guided by faith, reading the Old and the New Testaments in correlation to each other, did not take long to fill up this lacuna, reporting itself to...
The lack of the unity in the Church in recent years has given rise to more than just a penchant for irrational scientific beliefs and moral dogmatism. It has also allowed the sin of vainglory to flourish and find new outlets to express itself in our increasingly partisan, emotive atmosphere. This sin inevitably...
Being pope carries no age requirement. Pope John XII is believed to have been 18 years old when he ascended to the papacy in 955. On his 84th birthday, our current pope wears orthopedic shoes and uses a cane at times. Pope Francis is now the same age as Pope Saint John Paul...
On December 12, 2020, an open letter signed by a handful of bishops asserted that the Church’s moral justification (based on the principle of “remote material cooperation”) for licitly receiving a Covid-19 vaccination produced or tested using fetal cells is inadequate. The letter stated: Now more than ever, Catholics categorically cannot encourage and...
The year 2020 has revealed much division among Catholics in the United States. Members of the Church—clergy, hierarchy, and laity—demonstrated numerous rifts in their incongruent and contradictory responses to three significant lighting rods: the coronavirus pandemic, racial injustice, and the US presidential election. Certainly, there is a legitimate diversity of opinions and preferences...
Last Saturday, the Vatican unveiled this year’s nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square. Like we have seen so many times during this papacy, a controversy erupted over the artistic decisions made by Vatican personnel. Yes, the presepe is carved in a modern style that may not be to everyone’s liking. But more importantly,...
Today, December 13, 2020, marks the 51st anniversary of Pope Francis’s ordination to the priesthood in Buenos Aires. He has often reflected on priestly ministry and vocation, and his reflections reveal a life of prayer and closeness to Jesus which have sustained his priestly life. “An abyss separates the priest from the religious...
Today, on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I was reflecting on Our Lady’s role in bringing us together as a Church, and as a comforter—someone who is with us and reassures us when we are wounded and divided. Today’s rally in Washington, in which many prominent Catholics took part (including Archbishop...
“But be careful. It does not pay to be clever – to continually postpone a serious evaluation of one’s own life, taking advantage of the Lord’s patience. He is patient. He waits for us, He is always ready to give us grace. We may be able to deceive people, but not God; He...
Yesterday, Bishop Rick Stika of Knoxville, TN, posted on Twitter that he had “Received a letter from Cardinal Sarah informing me that, according to a circular letter issued on August 15th, with the approval of the Holy Father, the local bishop can prohibit the reception of Communion on the tongue in “times of...
My previous posts on the third chapter of Vatican II’s Dei Verbum (see here, here, and here) focused on the extent to which the Bible may contain historically-inaccurate statements. That was a largely theoretical discussion; as much as it vexes people who crave a “false certitude” that everything in the Bible is factually...
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