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Tagged: Pope Francis

We cannot make ourselves holy

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently released a document “On Certain Aspects of Christian Salvation.” This document is concerned with what it calls neo-Pelagianism and neo-Gnosticism. Concerning the former it says: “A new form of Pelagianism is...

Scalfari and Divine Recklessness

«Considering those who shamefully call Pope Francis a “lost shepherd,” I’m reminded of Tolkien’s line: “Not all those who wander are lost.” It seems to me that any “wandering” Pope Francis does reflects Luke 15:4-7.» — David Wanat A few days...

The Church’s Dark Hour

Just one week ago, Jesus Christ entered triumphantly into Jerusalem. The crowd cheered Him up by saluting Him with palms and hosannas. The environment was one of optimism. It seemed like the messianic kingdom was at hand! It was, indeed,...

Confusion – now about hell – is the hallmark of Phil Lawler

In an online article he published yesterday, Phil Lawler claims that Pope Francis is causing confusion over hell. Here is Lawler’s exact quote: Pope Francis cannot deny the existence of hell without directly contradicting the teaching of the Church. But...

The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich

As an American it is difficult at times to think beyond the Right/Left, Capitalist/Socialist dichotomy that permeates our economic and political landscape. This often makes it difficult for Catholics on either side of the aisle to understand what the Church...

Trust on a Cliff

In 1972, I spent 40 days in a hermitage a mile from Christ in the Desert Monastery, in Abiquiu, NM. (“Hermitage”? Please translate into standard modern English.) That is, I went camping with a friend for a couple of weeks,...

Blurred lines – much ado about nothing

When I wrote my 3-part series “Was Pope Benedict forced to resign?”, I was able to gather a lot of evidence showing how the Pope Emeritus has a positive opinion about the reigning pontiff. So, imagine my contentment when, just...

The JP2 atomic bomb

“There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the...

Benedict’s letter: The saga continues

First, an apology is in order. When we launched this site, one of our stated intentions was to let stories unfold in their entirety before posting our commentary. When the original story of Benedict’s letter was published, I jumped the...

The Mystery of Benedict’s blurry text

What I am about to propose, for those of you who might be interested in a plausible explanation, is a hypothetical scenario that might explain the missing paragraph from the original news reports on Pope Emeritus Benedict’s letter, as well...

A Tale of Two Humilities

“There is more value in a little study of humility and in a single act of it than in all the knowledge in the world.” — quote attributed to St. Teresa of Avilla Shortly after Pope Francis’ election, an awful...