Last week, the Vatican released a new magisterial (= authoritative teaching) document about “economic and financial issues” (Oeconomicae et pecuniariae quaestiones, the opening words and thus title). Co-signed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the office for “Integral Human Development” (Vaticanese for social justice), it is a synthesis of...
Back in February of this year Pope Francis gave the Church a new feast day. Every year the day after Pentecost is now the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. Cardinal Robert Sarah, the head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, has urged priests to make...
«For me it is a “sign of the times” the fact that the idea of the mercy of God should become more and more central and dominant — starting from Sister Faustina, whose visions in various ways reflect deeply the image of God held by the men of today and their desire for...
The Sorrowful Mysteries 1 – Jesus is praying in the garden at Gethsemane From General Audience (May 25, 2016): Assailed by looming anguish, Jesus prays to the Father to deliver him of this bitter cup of the Passion, but his prayer is pervaded by trust in the Father and he entrusts himself entirely to...
Catholics who are alive in Christ know that “in hope we are saved.” We know and trust that God is working, even in what appears to be chaos, to bring salvation to the world. The beginning of Lumen Gentium contains this beautiful passage: When the work which the Father gave the Son to...
«When asked: “Is the principal figure in the vision the Pope?”, Sister Lucia replied at once that it was. She recalled that the three children were very sad about the suffering of the Pope, and that Jacinta kept saying: “Coitadinho do Santo Padre, tenho muita pena dos pecadores!”(“Poor Holy Father, I am very sad...
The division among certain Catholics that began with the election of Pope Francis and became pronounced upon the public release of the four cardinals’ dubia continues to widen. Catholics, many of whom were close allies during the pontificates of St John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, find themselves looking across an unbridgeable...
«I don’t know how it happened, but I saw the Holy Father in a very big house, kneeling by a table, with his head buried in his hands, and he was weeping. Outside the house, there were many people. Some of them were throwing stones, others were cursing him and using bad language....
«The Pope is the guardian of dogma and of morals; he is the custodian of the principles that make families sound, nations great, souls holy; he is the counsellor of princes and of peoples; he is the head under whom no one feels tyrannized because he represents God Himself; he is the supreme...
“The Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer,” writes St John Paul II in the opening paragraphs of Rosarium Virginis Mariae. “In the sobriety of its elements, it has all the depth of the Gospel message in its entirety, of which it can be said to be a compendium....
Francis is the Pope of the Catholic Church, but at this unique point in our history, we have a Pope Emeritus too. Sure, the old Benedict cardboard cut-outs have been taken down, but they haven’t been thrown away. They’ve been hiding in a back closet for five years, ready to come out for...
Pope Francis often speaks about the Blessed Virgin Mary. Not only among Catholics, but to the world at large. Frequently, His Holiness invokes her intercession and encourages Christian devotion to her. Among western Catholics, there is no devotion to Mary more popular than the Rosary. Therefore, it proves fruitful to look at Pope...
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