Hypothesis: A Rescript That Would Authorize Communion
Issued by the bishop, on the behalf of a divorced and remarried member of his diocese, after a careful examination of his case according to the norms promulgated by the pope. This is the proposal of an...
View ArticleHomilies and Gregorian Chant for Advent
A guide to the season of preparation for Christmas. With the best of the preaching of Benedict XVI and with links to all the liturgical chants of the upcoming Sundays and feasts Read more... The post...
View ArticleA Jubilee By Popular Acclaim
Mercy for all except the hierarchical Church, too closed-off and backward to deserve the pope’s forgiveness. But in the meantime two cases with uncertain outcomes have exploded: the trial of Balda and...
View ArticleThe Next Synod Is Already in the Works. On Married Priests
In mid-February Pope Francis will go to Chiapas, where hundreds of deacons with their wives are pushing to be ordained as priests. And in the Amazon as well the turning point seems to be near. It was...
View ArticleMorning Catholic must-reads: 10/12/15
The Vatican has strongly defended Cardinal Gerhard Müller after German media claimed that investigators had discovered €20,000 in cash at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Archbishop...
View ArticleThe Other Chiapas. Indigenous Clergy Yes, But Celibate
From myth to facts. In the Mexican diocese that Francis will visit in February ordinations to the priesthood are blossoming again, while the campaign for married priests is wilting. A letter from the...
View ArticleIt’s Liftoff for the New Procedures for “Failed” Marriages....
The Vatican first keeps alive and then abrogates the efficient system of regional tribunals introduced in Italy by Pius XI. Also in danger is civil recognition of the new sentences. The criticisms of a...
View ArticleIndulgences and Purgatory? Francis Has Mothballed Them
They were constituent elements of all the jubilees. But not of this one. The pope isn’t talking about them anymore, as if they would overshadow the absolute primacy of mercy Read more... The post...
View ArticleSynod and homosexuality. The word of St. Paul, uncensored
Sandro Magister on his blog notes that the Mass readings this week are of St. Paul whom Dew wants to put away and Rosica praises him for it.Do these men have no fear of...
View ArticleSynod. The “Conspirator” Who Does Everything in the Light of Day
He is Timothy Dolan, one of the thirteen cardinals of the letter to the pope. A living example of that “parresia,” that candor of word and thought, so desired by Francis Read more... The post Synod....
View ArticleMorning Catholic must-reads: 19/10/15
Francis expressed “great concern” about “the situation of tension and violence that afflicts the Holy Land” at yesterday’s Angelus (full text). The Pope said that “ambition and careerism are...
View ArticleNapier, the Voice of Truth on the Letter of the Thirteen Cardinals
It took this South African archbishop to clarify in public the true reasons for the letter, which he signed with the others. It all started with the 2014 synod and the maneuvers of some to force its...
View ArticleMorning Catholic must-reads: 21/10/15
Pope Francis urged Catholics to “pray that the Church will uphold and strengthen the promise of the family” in his address at today’s general audience. Russian airstrikes in Syria are creating a...
View ArticleBut the Synod of the Media Has Already Toppled the Real One
It doesn’t matter how it actually ends. World public opinion has already formulated its verdict. With the help of many churchmen Read more... The post But the Synod of the Media Has Already Toppled the...
View ArticleLetters from the Synod: October 24
NEWS…from and about Synod 2015 Today’s Schedule: In the morning, the Synod fathers will hear a revised draft of the Synod’s final report, constructed in light of yesterday’s general assembly debate and...
View ArticleMorning Catholic must-reads: 23/10/15
Work on the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona has entered its final phase (video). India’s Catholic bishops have urged their government to promote “inclusive education”. Pope Francis has praised Matteo...
View ArticleSynodal Church. But the Pope Will Decide Everything
The word “communion” doesn’t even appear in the synod-approved text concerning the divorced and remarried. But in practice everyone is already doing whatever he wants. The spirit matters more than the...
View ArticleMorning Catholic must-reads: 28/10/15
Catholics and Jews have gone from enemies to friends, Pope Francis said at his general audience today on the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate (full video). A mortar shell has landed on a Catholic...
View ArticleKasper vs Ratzinger, the Unending Dispute
Francis reignited it and the synod has not resolved it. In the paragraphs on the divorced and remarried the word “communion” isn’t there. But the pope could introduce it himself, by authority Read...
View ArticleSynod of Discord. Toward a “De Facto Schism” in the Church?
Dominican theologian Thomas Michelet lays bare the ambiguities of the synodal text. Which has not brought unity but has papered over the divisions. The conflict between “hermeneutic of continuity” and...
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