Today, the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, is also the 70th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s ordination to the priesthood. It seems a propitious a day to deal with questions that pepper my inbox. Questions about Benedict’s resignation. The … Read More →
I’ve been pondering lately. One needs to do this out of love. Ponder, comes from Latin pondus, “weight”. Hence, I am weighing things. Augustine famously wrote, amor meus pondus meum… my love is my weight. In Augustine’s time, gravity was thought to … Read More →
In 2013, on this day 11 February, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, Benedict XVI announced that he would abdicate. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about his resignation. There were several strange events that preceded his announcement. … Read More →
From a reader… QUAERITUR: I have become increasingly convinced by those who say that Pope Benedict XVI purposefully performed an invalid resignation of the papacy. Does this belief potentially place me in a state of serious sin? I do not … Read More →
Five years ago today, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would abdicate, effective 28 February. My posts on that day. HERE Lightening struck the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. The Feast then, as today, of Our Lady of Lourdes. I … Read More →
Where were you four years ago. This is the fourth anniversary of Pope Benedict’s announcement that he would abdicate. My blog that day HERE You might also remember that on 11 February 2013 lightning struck St. Peter’s Basilica. The photo from Agence … Read More →
One of you readers – only one – seemed perplexed that I mentioned the 3rd anniversary of Pope Benedict announcing his resignation and the 3rd anniversary of the actual abdication of the papacy, but I didn’t write about the 3rd … Read More →
Three years ago today, Pope Benedict XVI abdicated. My posts from that sad, remarkable day, HERE. For your interest and edification, Benedict’s Last Official Speech.
Today is the 2nd anniversary of one of the saddest days I can recall in the life of the Church. Benedict XVI announced his resignation. At first, I didn’t believe it. Then I watched the video. The Catholic Herald has … Read More →
Some people are suggesting that Benedict XVI’s resignation wasn’t legal and that he is still Pope. I wrote about that HERE. From CNA: Benedict XVI affirms validity of his resignation Vatican City, Feb 26, 2014 / 03:47 am (CNA).- Today … Read More →
Italian journalist Antonio Socci has opined HERE that perhaps Benedict XVI’s resignation was not canonically valid. Kindly put, this is a stretch and a half. Let’s see what he has to say. The first part of his piece is mostly … Read More →
Benedict XVIreturned today to Vatican City after his sojourn at Castel Gandolfo. He will live in a building in the gardens behind San Pietro which also houses some religious. Here is a shot of the helicopter with Benedict.
Some lighter fare… though with a serious point. In Spanish: The Vatican prohibits the use of Twitter during the Conclave. “Let me in! I’m not Twitter, I’m the Holy Spirit!” And, from ZENIT, a recent photo it seems of His … Read More →
Over at Catholic Vote (thanks Tom Peters for the link about the Cool Kid’s Conclave and I hope everyone will go read your information about the March for Marriage), there is a good examination of some fantasy literature in the … Read More →
I’ve gotten a couple score emails today already about the fact that there was a minor earthquake centered near Castel Gandolfo, where Benedict is now resting. It must mean something, right?!? Hey! Earthquakes happen around Rome. Always have, and always will … Read More →
I am sure an official translation will come out soon, if not already, but I wanted to savor the last official words of Pope Benedict XVI. I did my own, below. The last off-the-cuff remarks at the window at Castel … Read More →
The Holy Father is leaving the Apostolic Palace to go to Castel Gandolfo. Some images… Our final view of Pope Benedict XVI as Roman Pontiff. UPDATE: The doors are closed.
From a reader in the combox under another entry: I propose that for Benedict’s new coat of arms, he should keep the keys but remove the mitre and pallium, replacing them with a white galero with 21 tassels. I have … Read More →
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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
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“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
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