Holy Week is beginning and there will be several additional liturgical celebrations in the Vatican in the coming days. Due to his continuing recovery, it is unclear how much Pope Francis will be able to participate in the celebrations this...
Several years ago I gave a talk about the Presentation of the Lord that included a reflection Cardinal Ratzinger. I just happened to stumble across it again yesterday and it struck me in a new way this Holy Week. Ratzinger...
After a visit in late February to Gemelli Isola Tiberina Hospital and undergoing diagnostic tests, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis was “still feeling unwell,” but planned to preside over Holy Week liturgies nevertheless. On February 29, the Pope’s schedule...
“The God who is with us, is the God who abandons us.” These words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer are so ironic. The God who is with us, who stands in solidarity with our human realities of pain and suffering, is the...
Greetings from Florence, Italy, where my family is spending the Triduum following a visit to Rome. As I mentioned before, the highlight of the trip was my family meeting Pope Francis following his General Audience on Wednesday, April 6. We...
When I was in high school, I spent a horrible week consumed by doubt that God is a good God. A trusted community member abused a child of a family that I cared about and this abuse caused deep and...
Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, the Preacher to the Papal Household, did not mince words during his homily on Good Friday this year. “Fraternity among Catholics is wounded! Divisions between Churches have torn Christ’s tunic to shreds, and worse still, each shredded...
When one thinks of the threads of continuity across the last three papacies, perhaps one of the most overlooked—yet uniquely influential—is Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap., who has served as Preacher to the Papal Household since his appointment by Pope...
“Jesus was lifted high on the cross in order to descend to the abyss of our suffering. He experienced our deepest sorrows: failure, loss of everything, betrayal by a friend, even abandonment by God. By experiencing in the flesh our...
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