Cardinal Vingt-Trois of Paris has said that the press reaction to the Holy Father’s comments on AIDS and condoms in Africa is really pay back for the success he had in France.
Some words of wisdom…
The more vigorously the primacy was displayed, the more the question came up about the extent and and limits of [papal] authority, which of course, as such, had never been considered. After the Second Vatican Council, the impression arose that the pope really could do anything in liturgical matters, especially if he were acting on the mandate of an ecumenical council. Eventually, the idea of the givenness of the liturgy, the fact that one cannot do with it what one will, faded from the public consciousness of the West. In fact, the First Vatican Council had in no way defined the pope as an absolute monarch. On the contrary, it presented him as the guarantor of obedience to the revealed Word. The pope's authority is bound to the Tradition of faith. … The authority of the pope is not unlimited; it is at the service of Sacred Tradition.
Joseph Ratzinger in The Spirit of the Liturgy
“I must refute any calumnies that have originated in certain parts of the press, or from certain ultramontanist circles and Vaticanisti, and this anonymous group of false “friends” around the Holy Father who have questioned my loyalty. All my life as a priest, theologian and bishop, I’ve worked for the Kingdom of God and his Holy Church. And to present me as an enemy of the Successor of St. Peter is completely crazy and unjust.”
Outstanding. Informative. Moving. - Fr. Z
CLICK and say your Daily Offering!
"We as Catholics have not properly combated (the culture) because we have not been taught our Catholic Faith, especially in the depth needed to address these grave evils of our time. This is a failure of catechesis both of children and young people that has been going on for fifty years. It is being addressed, but it needs much more radical attention... What has also contributed greatly to the situation is an exaltation of the virtue of tolerance which is falsely seen as the virtue which governs all other virtues. In other words, we should tolerate other people in their immoral actions to the extent that we seem also to accept the moral wrong. Tolerance is a virtue, but it is certainly not the principal virtue; the principal virtue is charity... Charity means speaking the truth. I have encountered it (not speaking the truth) many times myself as a priest and bishop. It is something we simply need to address. There is far too much silence — people do not want to talk about it because the topic is not 'politically correct.' But we cannot be silent any longer."Raymond Card. Burke
Coat of Arms by D BurkartMy CHALLENGE COINS for my 25th Anniversary of Ordination (26 May 1991) arrived.
I'll make a number of them available for exchange and in gratitude to special benefactors.
I listen to your voicemails: I don’t call back, but I listen.
You have three options:
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265Help Monks in Wyoming (coffee) and Norcia (beer)!
出る杭は打たれ!-
Without you, there is no blog.
There is a subscription form at the bottom of this page! -
Aedificantium enim unusquisque gladio erat accinctus.
- Nehemiah 4:18
"Where priest and people together face the same way, what we have is a cosmic orientation and also in interpretation of the Eucharist in terms of resurrection and trinitarian theology. Hence it is also an interpretation in terms of parousia, a theology of hope, in which every Mass is an approach to the return of Christ."Joseph Ratzinger - The Feast of Faith
"In those situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty. ... If all Catholics are obliged to oppose the legal recognition of homosexual unions, Catholic politicians are obliged to do so in a particular way, in keeping with their responsibility as politicians." CDF 2003
One of the most dangerous errors is that civilization is automatically bound to increase and spread. The lesson of history is the opposite; civilization is a rarity, attained with difficulty and easily lost. The normal state of humanity is barbarism, just as the normal surface of the planet is salt water. Land looms large in our imagination and civilization in history books, only because sea and savagery are to us less interesting. — C. S. Lewis For contemplation…
"One of the few things in life you can be absolutely sure about is that, if Management tells you it doesn't like your Tone, you are getting something right."
"Latin is a precise, essential language. It will be abandoned, not because it is unsuitable for the new requirements of progress, but because the new men will not be suitable for it. When the age of demagogues and charlatans begins, a language like Latin will no longer be useful, and any oaf will be able to give a speech in public and talk in such a way that he will not be kicked off the stage. The secret to this will consist in the fact that, by making use of words that are general, elusive, and sound good, he will be able to speak for an hour without saying anything. With Latin, this is impossible."- - Giovanni Guareschi
Support them with prayer and fasting.
Click for Car Magnets
Help the Sisters. They have a building project. Get great soap (gifts, etc.) while helping REAL nuns!
Great data SIM and device
for travel.Some OBLIGATORY reading…
God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith by Robert Card. Sarah
Buy it. Get one for your parish priests.
UK HERE
Leave Voice Mail for Fr. Z
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS020 8133 4535651-447-6265Yes, Fr. Z is taking ads…
For example...
-
A great hymnal…
Mystic Monk Coffee also has TEA!
Because it matters what children read…
I carry one of these super-strong rosaries in my spare mag pouch! The Swiss Guards have them too!
Because you don’t know when you are going to need to move fast or get along without the supermarket…
My wish lists
Main Wishlist
Kindle Wishlist
Audio Wishlist
Ham Radio List
NEW
PLEASE RESPOND. Pretty pleeeease?
Loading ...WDTPRS POLL
Loading ...Fr. Z’s stuff is everywhere
Help support Fr. Z’s Gospel of Life work at no cost to you. Do you need a Real Estate Agent? Calling these people is the FIRST thing you should do!
They find you a pro-life agent in your area who commits to giving a portion of the fee to a pro-life group!
Reading and gift ideas!
He also said that condoms can be tolerated if one ***cannot** or doesn’t want to be chaste. One cannot gives death ughhhh…
He also said that condoms can be tolerated if one ***cannot** or doesn’t want to be chaste. One cannot gives death ughhhh…
Comment by V
That’s like banks saying that bank robbers should keep their tires well inflated for the sake of safety and good gas mileage.
Metaphorical pygmies.
But see what real pygmies did to show their love for the Holy Father. They travelled to the apostolic nunciature in Yaounde where Benedict was staying, built a grass hut in its grounds and gave him the gift of a turtle. It’s a pygmie sign of respect, apparently.
Metaphorical pygmies.
Comment by C.L.
If you’re referring to me, I would point out that I used a simile not a metaphor.
Good for you, RBrown! LOL!
No, I was referring to the critics of the pope mentioned in Father’s post. Now, however…
How Cardinal 23’s attitude contrasts with the FSSP French District, who issued a statement valiantly defending the Pope against his attackers. [Perhaps you didn’t smoke that the Cardinal was defending the Pope.]
A turtle. How delightful! I’m rather fond of turtles. Who isn’t?
The Church is like the noble turtle – a little slow perhaps, but a sure bet for eventual victory!
Sorry father, didn’t actually read the article, just (mis)interpreted it from your statement.
I disagree with the opinion that because the French faithful gave a great welcome to our Pope, the media is more after him. They are ALWAYS after him/
It is forgetting that when pope JPII came in France, people were asking to annull their baptism!!! ( that shows the degree of catechism in my country!!!). They made a big fuss about pope JPII coming to prayer on Doc. lejeune tomb. I remember banners promoting condoms, so as we say in france, “ce n’est pas d’hier.”
The media are like in the US, they show an anti catholicism rampant!
That cardinal Vingt Trois seek to understand the hatred against the pope, I can understand. To me he is barking at the wrong tree. The communists are in the street Sunday afternoon to sell condoms. It is the result of poor catechism, and anti catholicism militant. The French clerge is not up to the job.
I know I was taught that the Pope is in Rome out of touch, we have to apply his general teaching to our daily life ( meaning…you can pick and choose) by the way I was not taught about venial and mortal sin…
I still didn’t hear one french Bishop defending the teaching of the pope. Except FSSP and the Vendee politician De Villiers who quallified Juppe, kroutchner and the others of “obsedes de la capote”.
we even have the “priest of the Gang” (le pretre des loubards): Guy Gilbert who said “when my guys are f**** like beavers I have to give them condoms!!!!” yes, on TV Figaro.
France what have you done of your baptism!!!!
“I’m rather fond of turtles. Who isn’t?”
I’m not. They look slimey and evil.
Rorate Caeli reports (http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2009/03/43-of-french-catholics-wish-to-see.html) that many French Catholics are very much against this Pope and what he stands for and want liberalisation of abortion etc. The sample, though, is small (600+).
“According to an Ifop poll for the Journal du Dimanche, 43% percent of French Catholics desire the departure of Pope Benedict XVI who has been widely criticized after his recent statements about condoms. If 54% want him to remain in the Vatican, 83% of the Catholics of France believe that the Church must change its discourse and its positions on abortion to reflect changes in society. According to the survey which is to be published on Sunday, they also want the Church to change its discourse and its positions on homosexuality (69%), remarriage for the divorced (77%), and contraception (85%).
The survey was conducted from March 19 to 20 among a sample of 620 Catholics representative of the French population aged 18 and over, following the remarks of the pope.”
No wonder they have barely 4% practising Catholics. France is utterly divided between outstanding traditional Catholics – wonderful institutions such as the Benedictines at Fontgombault, Le Barroux etc – and rank modernists and a dreadful hierarchy since the 70s who have all but succeeded in destroying the Church.
Here you can see the communist of Act up on the ground yelling “le pope it is the forbidden, the condom is life” ( that’s what I could make up)protected by the police in front of Notre Dame de Paris, then you see and hear the French youth having more guts than most, singing to our Lady, they wear a hand that says” don’t touch my Pope” ( it is after a campaign against racism in france “touche pas a mon pote” “Don’t touch my buddy”
http://www.fdesouche.com/articles/31504
The youth singing are the hope of France.
Then go here
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=19978542&postID=8882270756998475755
and scroll down to Father Demets’ comments.
And pray for France.
that story in English here.
Send a letter to the Vatican. Benedict needs support right now. All the Vatican is getting right now is whining from the secular humanism crowd, which gets in the newspapers and likes having protest rallies.
Address:
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Apostolic Palace
VATICAN CITY
It costs $.94 in postage to send a letter.