Penultimate of a series of 5 minute daily podcasts for the Octave of Christmas.
Today Card. Bacci keeps us very sober.
Fr. Troadec takes us into three degrees of humility.
Yesterday’s podcast HERE
The wonderful Benedictines of Gower Abbey have beautiful Christmas music albums.
Caroling at Ephesus
Here’s an interesting stat from the Holy See. HERE
2025 in numbers: Over 3 million faithful visited the Vatican
Data released by the Prefecture of the Papal Household shows that over 250,000 people attended papal audiences and liturgical celebrations in the Vatican in the period to April. Following the election of Pope Leo XIV in early May, nearly three million faithful took part in Masses and ceremonies.
By Vatican News
In 2025, 3,176,620 people were present for papal audiences and liturgies in the Vatican.
That’s according to figures disclosed by the Prefecture of the Papal Household, which include General, Jubilee, and special audiences; liturgical celebrations; and the recitation of the Angelus.
Between January and April, there were a limited number of events held in the Vatican, due to Pope Francis’ ill health. 262,820 people visited the Vatican in that period: 60,500 for the eight General and Jubilee Audiences in that period, 10,320 for the special ones, 62,000 of the faithful going to Masses, and 130,000 attending the Angelus.
Numbers since Pope Leo’s election
Since Pope Leo XIV’s election to the papacy on May 8, 2,913,800 visitors have been recorded. 1,069,000 of the faithful attended the 36 General and Jubilee Audiences, with 148,300 participating in special audiences.
In addition, data shows that 796,500 attended liturgical rituals, while 900,000 were in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus. Attendance at the recitation of the Marian prayer was highest in December, as 250,000 went to pray the Angelus with the Pope.
The largest number of faithful attending both liturgical celebrations (nearly 200,000) and General and Jubilee Audiences (about 295,000) was recorded in October.
Papa Ratzinger died on 31 December 2022.
I was privileged to have known him well before his election. His loss is a personal loss.
Apart from his contributions as a priest, prefect and theologian, two of his accomplishments as Pope stand out for me.
Summorum Pontificum – This monumental document sparked the beginning of a liturgical renewal in the Church, as one can tell from how some still fear and still fight it.
Anglicanorum coetibus – earned for Benedict justly to be known as the “Pope of Christian Unity”. In one gesture he did more for Christian unity than pretty much everyone else with all their talk and dialogue.
Shall we see his like again?
Clearly not.
For example, it is likely that, soon, the Pontiffs elected will have no life experience from the time before the Second Vatican Council. They will certainly not have personal experience of WWII. It is highly unlikely that they will have close to the intellectual and cultural formation of a Joseph Ratzinger.
Benedict’s passing is the end of an era in many respects.
Right now we are in an era of eroding identity, doctrine and praxis, endless obsession with process over concrete results, and even bullying of those who simply want the faith and prayer life of our forebears.
That didn’t start with his death.
Pray for him. While I am confident that through his final sufferings and unquestionable reception of the last sacraments and Apostolic Blessing, Joseph Ratzinger now enjoys the Beatific Vision, it is nevertheless good to pray for him and to commit him to God’s mercy, particularly on an anniversary of death.
Finally, consider your own death and judgment, which is inevitable.
May we all have the grace of a death which is “provided” for, that is, with access to the last sacraments and Apostolic Blessing. In the meantime we should be making good examinations of conscience and regular confessions of all mortal sins in both kind and number. Kind and number.
Please, go to confession.
Holy Mother Church offers the possibility to gain two plenary indulgences, one on 31 December to thank God for the graces received during the year and one on 1 January to invoke the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the new calendar year.
Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, #26
A plenary indulgence is granted to the Christian faithful who, in a church or in an oratory, are present in a recitation or solemn chant of:
1° the hymn Veni Creator … on the first day of the year, imploring divine assistance for the whole of the coming year…
2° the Te Deum hymn, on the last day of the year, in thanksgiving to God for the favors received in the course of the entire year.
Conditions for a Plenary Indulgence from the Apostolic Penitentiary, Prot. N. 39/05/I
In addition to the indulgenced act or “good work” (recitation or solemn chant of the hymn Veni Creator/Te Deum hymn on the due day) the usual following conditions must be observed for those who want to gain a plenary indulgence:
1. State of grace at least when performing the indulgenced act;
2. Complete detachment from sin, even venial sin;
3. Confession (within 20 days before or after the indulgenced act);
4. Communion (within 20 days before or after the indulgenced act);
5. Prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff (left to the choice of the faithful, e.g. Our Father & Creed).
A plenary indulgence can be gained only once a day. One sacramental confession suffices for several plenary indulgences, but a separate Holy Communion and a separate prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions are required for each plenary indulgence.
What is an indulgence?
An indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment remaining for sins whose guilt has already been pardoned. It is granted to a properly disposed Christian who fulfills the conditions established by the Church. As the minister of redemption, the Church exercises its authority to dispense the spiritual treasury of Christ and the saints. Any Catholic in the state of grace and not under canonical penalty may gain an indulgence through the Church’s provision.
Indulgences rest upon the doctrine of the communion of saints: all who are united to Christ in grace—those in heaven, the souls being purified in purgatory, and the faithful on earth—share a supernatural solidarity. The merits of Christ, together with the superabundant merits of the saints, form a common spiritual treasury. From this treasury the Church, particularly through the Pope and the bishops, applies what is needed to remit the temporal effects of sin.
What does this mean? 2. Complete detachment from sin, even venial sin;
I wrote about this HERE
As a bonus, waaaaay back in 2006 my good friend Fr. Tim Finigan had a clear explanation of being detached from sin and the disposition you need to gain indulgences. HERE
A series of 5 minute daily podcasts for the Octave of Christmas.
Bossuet to Troadec.. he shoots…. he SCORES.
Exuperantius!
yesterday’s podcast HERE.
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance, utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
White to move and mate in 6.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE
The St Thomas Aquinas Seminary (SSPX) in Dillwyn, VA just posted their annual Christmas concert, including Gregorian chant, polyphony, bluegrass, a barbershop quartet, a string ensemble, and traditional Spanish folk songs honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. Absolutely tremendous. pic.twitter.com/qcqFQ5foAR
— Mason-Dixon Latin Mass Society (@MDLatinMass) December 30, 2025
?NBC Primetime, December 29, 1967:
— On ‘Star Trek,’ Captain Kirk must cope with a creature known as a tribble, which reproduces at amazing speed pic.twitter.com/510z4M3xbr
— RetroNewsNow (@RetroNewsNow) December 30, 2025
Magnus drops the queen, loses on time and slams the table ?#RapidBlitz #NorwayChess pic.twitter.com/KHVwM5azN1
— Norway Chess (@NorwayChess) December 29, 2025
End of year… give some help.
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Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance, utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
TODAY’S WORDLE: 4
Magnus Carlson won the 2025 FIDE World Blitz Chess Championship, but he stumbled on Day 1 of the BLITZ Championship. Leading in Blitz are Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Fabiano Caruana with six rounds left in the Swiss portion. The drama! My guy Wesley So is presently #8. He is a Blitz beast.
Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor while he was filming Becket pic.twitter.com/ktC1iof2fX
— Benedict Kiely (@benedict_kiely) December 29, 2025
White to move and mate in 4.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
End of year giving? Causes I trust.
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Holy Church considers many Old Testament figures to be saints.
Today when you open your trusty copy of the 2005 Martyrologium Romanum you will find, just below the St. Thomas Becket, this interesting entry:
2. Commemoratio sancti David, regis et prophetae, qui, filius Iesse Bethlehemitae, gratiam invenit ante Deum et oleo sancto a Samuele propheta unctus est, ut populum Israel regeret; in civitatem Ierusalem Arcam foederis Domini transtulit ac Dominus ipse mox ei iuravit semen eius in aeternum mansurum esse, eo quod ex ipso Iesus Christus secundum carnem nasciturus esset.
You readers can come up with your renderings of the Latin original, either in a smoother version or perhaps in a slavishly literal way.
Changing tracks slightly, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art there is a series of paintings of Old Testament figures, including King David. These are elements from an altar piece by Florentine painter Lorenzo Monaco (known also as Piero di Giovanni +1422).
Moses is at the top left. Next to him is Abraham. Below him on the bottom right is Noah with his ark.
By thy way, since I took that photo, the paintings have been rearranged… in case you go looking.
Here is David, holding a psaltery. Greek psallo means “to pluck”. While there are also bowed psaltery, this one is plucked by the fingers rather than bowed or struck with a pick or plectrum.
When you get the audio guide at the Met and listen to experts talk about the works, sometimes you get a sample of period music. In this case, you get to hear some music played on a psaltery.
You can hear, below, a sample of a plucked psaltery in a Medieval Lament for Tristan, which would have been in vogue at the time the painter was working on the altar piece.
Listen as you do your translation!
And, just for fun… here is another image of a psaltery bunny from a late 13th c. French manuscript. He even had the audience moved to sorrow.
And a psaltery cat!
A series of 5 minute daily podcasts for the Octave of Christmas.
I rant for a while about St. Thomas of Canterbury, and Church and State and … shepherds.
Yesterday’s podcast HERE.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
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A Daily Prayer for Priests
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