Reigning from 1198 to 1216, Pope Innocent III was one of the most influential and important popes of his era. He granted Francis of Assisi and his small band of followers permission to found the Order of Friars Minor; he convened the Fourth Lateran Council which, among other things, dogmatically defined the doctrine of transubstantiation;…
What is Purgatory? Culling directly from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other documents, Wikipedia authors explain as follows: The Catholic Church holds that “all who die in God’s grace and friendship but still imperfectly purified” undergo the process of purification which the Church calls purgatory, “so as to achieve the holiness necessary to…
Do you want to make a real difference in the world, in your life, and be a super-hero “force for good” this week? You can do it, in spades. And it’s not difficult! As a practicing Catholic, you can gain special indulgences for the faithful departed any time, but especially during the first eight days of…
Vatican City, Oct 29, 2019-CNA– An Italian dermatology hospital and two senior cardinals are at the center of a burgeoning financial scandal involving a Vatican bank, the U.S.-based Papal Foundation, and millions of euros from misallocated government grants. The events concern the financial collapse of the Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata (IDI), an Italian hospital. According to…
Almost 130 years ago, Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Rerum Novarum. In this text, he defended the well-being of workers and made the Catholic Church’s position on work clear: Work and working people have a fundamental dignity that all societies are bound to respect and serve. “No man,” the pope wrote, “may with impunity…
In a recent First Things article titled “What is Economics For,” Senator Marco Rubio explains how the teachings of the Catholic Church on the dignity of work and workers can rebuild the American economy. Rubio begins his article by quoting Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum: “Work and working people have a fundamental dignity that all societies are bound to respect and…
It is time for us to look at some of the things influencing good, God-fearing people in the United States and to identify what is holding them back from taking action to accomplish an objective or preventing them from being people who don’t just know their faith but live their faith outwardly. Two of these…
A confidential report from the Vatican’s anti-corruption authority shows that the Secretariat of State has used about $725 million, most of which came from the pope’s charity fund, in off-books operations. Italian weekly L’Espresso published a report Oct. 20, revealing information from three confidential Vatican documents, one of which is a report from the pope’s…
CNA—Oct 21, 2019—Northern Ireland’s devolved legislature failed Monday to block a change to the region’s law imposed by the British parliament. As a result, both abortion and same-sex marriage will now be legal in the region. Same-sex marriages are expected to begin taking place in Northern Ireland by February 2020, while the new abortion law…
A professional baseball clubhouse might not be considered a particularly religious place today, but one chaplain says the Catholic priesthood is needed—and desired—as much as ever there. “When I walk in the [clubhouse], they kind of light up a little bit,” Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, a chaplain to the Washington Nationals professional baseball team, told CNA.…
CNA—The writings of newly-canonized St. John Henry Newman offer important reflections for contemporary society on freedom of conscience and the duty to search for truth, said a leading figure in international religious freedom. “Newman prefigured the Church’s 1965 Declaration on Religious Freedom, Dignitatis Humanae,” said Thomas Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute. Farr, who…
Last week’s canonization of Saint John Henry Newman will have universal influences that I trust will include our own parish. It should be remembered that his achievements, for the most part, hardly seemed successful at the time. He might even be called a patron saint of the disappointed. Newman was so nervous in his university…
CNA—A federal judge struck down the so-called “transgender mandate” on Tuesday, vacating an Obama-era requirement that doctors perform gender-transition surgeries upon request. Judge Reed O’Connor of the North District of Texas—who had issued a preliminary injunction on the transgender mandate at the end of 2016—struck down the mandate Oct. 15 in the case of Franciscan Alliance…
CNA—It is important to consider what we are willing to die for, Archbishop Charles Chaput reminded students and faculty in a speech at the University of Notre Dame on Friday. “It’s a good thing, a vital thing, to consider what we’re willing to die for,” Chaput said in a lecture given to the Constitutional Studies…
If Warren Buffet hadn’t conquered his fear of public speaking, he may never have become the billionaire we admire today. He was “terrified” of public speaking and took specific steps to overcome his fear. He took the Dale Carnegie course and today, his certificate is the only “degree” that he displays in his office. He…
CNA—The recent raid of Vatican offices is connected to an investigation into charges that Vatican money financed the development of luxury properties in London, and led to a windfall for the Vatican’s investment managers, according to an Oct. 14 report from Financial Times. According to Financial Times, Vatican police and prosecutors are investigating the possibility…
It’s been 10 years since the Great Recession ended. Yet, despite robust economic growth and low employment over the past two years, births in the United States have continued to plummet. Before the Great Recession, the fertility rate—the number of children women have on average during their lifetimes—had been on the rise. But once the…
Washington D.C., Oct 7, 2019-CNA – The Archbishop of Washington, D.C. exhorted Supreme Court justices to “rejoice” in the Holy Spirit at the annual Red Mass on Sunday in D.C. In his homily, celebrant Archbishop Wilton Gregory noted that “Saint Luke wrote the passage that we just heard saying that Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.”…
Earlier in 2019, the very sharp and prayerful Cardinal Joseph Zen, Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, was interviewed by Raymond Arroyo on the World Over. The interview is clear, frank and very helpful in understanding the truth about Catholics in China, and the consequences of the China-Vatican arrangement. In case you missed it, we bring…
Kaunas, Lithuania, CNA – One of the newest cardinals of the Church says he drew strength from the Mass and the Blessed Virgin during the decade he spent in a Soviet prison camp in Siberia. Sigitas Tamkevicius, archbishop emeritus of Kaunas, Lithuania, was elevated to the rank of cardinal in the Oct. 5 consistory. As…
