From that notorious pagan, St. Francis of Assisi:
"Praised be you, my Lord,
through our Sister, Mother Earth,
who sustains us and directs us
bringing forth all kinds of fruits
and colored flowers and herbs."
Cdl. Mueller: " In one of its paragraphs it speaks of ‘Mother Earth’: but this is a pagan expression. The earth comes from God and our mother in faith is the Church. We are justified through faith, hope, and love, not through environmental activism."
"Some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world...Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting."
--Pope Francis, 2013
Minutes before Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed Supreme Court rules 5-3 to throw out ballots in Wisconsin that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive after. 80,000 ballots were counted in primary that arrived after Election Day but were postmarked by then
“All these good Christian people that are supposed to be such good Christian people, the last thing we're supposed to do is to judge one another.”
Dolly Parton backs Black Lives Matter: 'Our little white asses' aren't the only ones that matter
Jesuits got us covered:
"When I asked how he had made the decision to run for President, he brightened, and said that, though he wasn’t a Catholic, he made use of the 'Ignatian process of discernment'."
Pete Buttigieg’s Quiet Rebellion
Cardinal Cupich praises Simone Biles, defends her from attacks by her fellow Catholics like Raymond Arroyo:
"The callous dismissal of the suffering of Simone Biles is typical of a mindset that pounces on the weaknesses of others..."
Close papal advisor says this crisis can help advance the reform Francis has been pushing--and blasts the "pseudo-Catholic-American media networks" that are pushing "hate" and "fake news." Says Francis draws strength from the conflict, sees it as sign his reforms bother many.
Già vedo che questa triste vicenda del “comunicato Viganò” - che ha fatto tanto danno alla gente, alla Chiesa - alla lunga potrà avere effetti positivi sulla Chiesa stessa...
I'm pleased to announce the publication of my new book:
"THE CURRENT POPE"
It's a series of profiles of all the people who think THEY are actually the Pope.
Warning: It's very long.
"I don't know if physical, psychological or spiritual, but he is a brother of ours with a problem. I would like to conclude with a prayer for him, our brother who is suffering, poor man. He was yelling because he is suffering...Do not be deaf to the need of this brother."
A man tried to interrupt the General Audience this morning, protesting against masks in Church, saying "Masks are not of the Church of God", and that the Pope is not a king. Pope Francis responded "I would like to end by praying for him, our brother who is suffering, poor thing"
Accused of improper conduct while a priest of Harrisburg, Fort Wayne-South Bend’s +Kevin Rhoades “exonerated;” DA states that after investigation, the “allegation was without merit”:
Ross Douthat’s column this week on Vatican II occasioned a lot of eye-rolling by Catholics who are used to his “just-so story” of Catholicism—assertions with little foundation but lots of flourishes. Still it is good to push back on some of his more questionable claims…1/21
The Second Vatican Council “poses a continuing challenge, it creates intractable-seeming divisions, and it leaves contemporary Catholicism facing a set of problems and dilemmas that Providence has not yet seen fit to resolve,” writes
@DouthatNYT
.
Before Sinead O’Connor disappears from the timeline I think it’s important in honoring her legacy and also getting the history and dynamic of the Catholic clergy abuse scandal to clarify a few things... 1/17
Thanks to the WaPo for running this piece of mine about the context of the Pope's recent criticism of conservative American Catholics. Two points that are key, and new:
1) Rome, led by Francis, is the engine of reform and evangelization not the US Church. That's novel. Plus...
“They got angry, but let’s move on, move on,” the pope said.
Translation: In the Catholic Church of the future, those who go backward are likely to be left behind.
By
@GibsonWrites
This is a priest who ridicules the history and legacy of lynchings of black people among other things yet he spews hate with impunity, and his bishop in Wisconsin does nothing. And he is a star speaker at the Union League Club. What is going on.
The Wisconsin priest who claims "you cannot be Catholic and be a Democrat" continued to tout his message at a talk in Chicago this month, where he appeared to violate the city's quarantine order and addressed an indoor crowd not wearing masks.
My report:
ICE is feeding Muslim detainees pork at its Krome detention center in Miami and its chaplain dismisses this basic, deliberate dignity violation by saying “it is what it is.”
In case you actually think there is a “civil war” in the Catholic Church because of a splinter faction of rich American conservatives, tune into coverage of
@Pontifex
in Africa. The world, and Catholicism, is a big and diverse place, and not just the U.S.
I don't think I've ever seen something quite so fearless from a world leader. Pope Francis just walked into a crowd of young Madagascans to try and be close to them. They pressed very close, all trying to have a moment to touch him.
#PopeInAfrica
#MartinGugino
, the 75 year old man knocked to the ground by police in Buffalo, is a longtime peace activist and volunteer at the Catholic Worker, a movement dedicated to justice and peace, founded by Servant of God Dorothy Day, who also took to the streets to advocate for justice
A Catholic president leading the defense of American democracy would have shocked the Protestant establishment of old.
So many Catholics opposing Biden and supporting authoritarianism ought to shock the Catholic establishment of today.
A few thoughts on the “implications” that
@DouthatNYT
sets out here:
First, Francis has been quite consistent in his approach from the start of his pontificate, as has the conservative reaction against him. Read the coverage of 2013-15 ...
1/18 (God help you all)
Cardinal Ouellette’s letter blast against Viganò is also a rather pointed rebuke to those US bishops who immediately vouched for Viganò over and against Pope Francis despite the obvious disparity in character and credibility between the two.
So Sinead O’Connor was ahead of her time not in denouncing the church’s abuse of children—everyone knew about that—but in denouncing the culture of silence that would require decades to change. It is still an ongoing task, arguably the most important task. 17/17 FIN
So Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote me a letter ... Really.
Not about the day's headlines, but endorsing our
@FordhamNYC
conference marking +Avery Dulles' centenary--a theologian whose thought is so relevant to today's debates.
More info here:
For much of US history American Protestants argued that Roman Catholicism was incompatible with democracy.
Now Roman Catholicism is a bulwark against a Protestant-led Christian Nationalist threat to US democracy.
History is funny. Especially religious history.
NEW: As Pope Francis arrived in democracy's birthplace, he sounded the alarm that democracy is under threat across the globe, as authoritarian leaders fueled by populist and nationalistic interests are on the rise.
My
@NCRonline
report from Athens:
The shift from Pope as Chief Doctrinal Officer to Pope as Chief Evangelizer seems to encapsulate the tectonic shift to a more pastoral, missionary church envisioned by Vatican II.
Highlighting the missionary identity of the church,
#PopeFrancis
himself will be prefect of the new Dicastery for Evangelization. He will be assisted by two pro-prefects, one focused on traditional "mission lands" and the other on evangelization in general.
A wonderful actor who grew up in the Southern Baptist church and was rejected by that church because he was gay--as so many churches do. But he never rejected the church, or its culture, and often spoke about it at the 2021 release of his gospel album:
Leslie Jordan, an actor, writer and singer best known for his roles in “Will & Grace,” “American Horror Story” and “Hearts Afire,” has died. He was 67.
I guess Elon Musk banned Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi from Twitter too. Otherwise they'd have been first to stand up to Musk's barring of reporters right?
"We have a liturgical rite for the ordination of women deacons that is 400 years older than the earliest liturgical rite for marriage," says
@GDemacopoulos
at
@CRCfordham
panel on women deacons. "Let that sink in."
Cardinal Bernardin's "consistent ethic of life" speech at Fordham 40 years ago was a landmark in American Catholicism--yet he was blasted for it by the emerging culture war wing of the church.
Bernardin was proved right.
On 9/26, come hear version 2.0:
On the subway today an older white woman comes up to a young Black man who is deep into a thick biography of Bob Fosse.
“Are you a dancer?” she asks.
“No,” he says. “A choreographer.”
“Oh wonderful,” she says. “I danced for Fosse.”
She told her story, and he loved it.
At some point a Catholic has to believe that a Council (or synod) is at some level a work of the Spirit and not simply a partisan campaign pitting one agenda against another. That is literally un-Catholic and leads only to cynicism, and bad takes. FIN
The Vatican's daily newspaper (
@oss_romano
) marks the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Capitol insurrection, labeling it "a direct blow to the heart of American democracy."
Today is "Spy Wednesday," the day during Holy Week when Christians recall the bargain that Judas made to betray Christ for 30 pieces of silver, which is $59.99 in today's currency.
2) American Catholic conservatives don't just disagree with the Pope, or dissent, as liberals did (and still do). Because they made papalolatry a red line they are now trapped with a pope they don't like. So they can't be dissenters; the Pope must be so wrong he is a heretic.
Pope John Paul II in his hospital bed on May 19, 1981, six days after he was wounded in an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square.
The pope insisted he be photographed and the photo published, to convey the reality and undercut myths and confusion.
Good for +Stowe. Every bishop should do this. I'm not sure why any unvaccinated priest or deacon should even be allowed in public ministry. It's endangering the welfare of the flock and the witness of the Catholic Church.
The announcement that Pope Francis has ordered a rewrite of church teaching to declare the death penalty inadmissible was something he long telegraphed, as I wrote in Sept. 2015 for
@RNS
From Ukraine's Vatican embassy:
"According to intelligence data, the Russians are preparing an air strike on the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv.
The Cathedral of the 11th century, is pearl of Ukraine.
We appeal to the Russians - Do Not Commit the Crime!!!"
This is beyond disturbing: A holier-than-thou Catholic has sawed off the head of a statue of Mary in the Linz cathedral in Austria because he or she believed that the depiction of Mary in the act of giving birth was "blasphemous."
UPDATE:
The Hero responsible got in touch with me and has just told me the following: "I did it first and foremost for the Mother of God!"
So let us pray to God through the intercession of Our Lady: Protect this man, O Lord, and continue to guide him!
#catholicchurch
#mary
So this holier-than-thou “orthodox” Catholic priest turns out to be a child abuser. Shocked? Not! Pope Francis regularly diagnoses this problem, and we see the pathology play out too many times:
#PopeFrancis
' critique of trickle-down economics using a glass as metaphor. The idea, he says, is that the glass will fill & overflow, trickling down benefits to the poor. But what really happens, he says, is that as the glass fills, it just keeps growing & the poor get nothing
1) The Novus Ordo IS the Latin Mass
2) The Tridentine Rite was “canceled” 50 years ago by a Council.
3) The Novus Ordo will not “act” as a replacement. It IS the Mass. The older rite was an exception.
Pope Francis today, in ceremony honoring two veteran television and print journalists, publicly thanked journalists for reporting about “what is wrong in the Church, for helping us not to sweep it under the carpet, and for the voice you have given to the victims of abuse.”
Pray and give thanks for the health of Pope Francis, an 84 year old Jesuit who underwent an operation on July 5.
But also remember this 84 year old Indian Jesuit who died the same day. His story is a modern martyrdom:
Why Father Stan Swamy had to die
Cardinal Turkson sparks outrage in native Ghana over LGBT comments
Turkson, a longtime Vatican official, breaks ranks with bishops of his home country by telling the BBC he's against the African country's plan to criminalize homosexuality
An Alabama Baptist friend sends this photo of a relief operation, and asks, “How does Critical Race Theory explain 3 white churches and a black church helping clean up a Mexican trailer park devastated by a tornado?”
Recently, I made the decision to go home. There is of course so much more that went into this decision and that I plan to share in the future.
But for now, praise be to God for His gentle, but relentless guiding of my heart toward Truth.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do
#Pope
: "I was very saddened to hear, right here, a sarcastic comment about that pious man who brought the offerings with feathers on his head. Tell me: what difference is there in having feathers on your head and the three-cornered hat worn by some officials of our dicasteries?"
Texas is not overwhelmed by refugees. We are a big State. Aren’t we! Comprehensive immigration reform is urgent. Our leaders are doing sick actions without doing little about the issue. The problem is not the refugees, it is leaders that cannot accept: we are one with humanity.
Whoopi Goldberg says she has waited almost eleven years to meet the Pope. On Oct. 12 she finally managed to do so and utter the words she’s been holding onto for so long. Simple words: “Thank you”.
Actress and activist Whoopi Goldberg discusses the importance of striving to respond to Pope Francis’ appeal for hope, love and inclusion to heal our broken world.
What a BS story. ONE: Is this a problem? PPP loans were intended for these employees. TWO: Protestant churches, synagogues and mosques got loans at the same rate. So?
More than 12,000 Catholic churches in the U.S. applied for PPP loans and 9,000 got them
The Diocese of Green Bay has added a clause to its education policy manual that prohibits the use of pronouns and wearing clothes that do not align with a person’s biological sex.
I suspect +Strickland is daring Rome to act against him in hopes of becoming a "martyr" and rightwing rallying point. He has been supporting a Chicago priest challenging ++Cupich and the Pope on the Latin Mass and today is backing an anti-vaxx Vermont priest against +Coyne.
It’s actually the Denver archdiocese which makes the insanity here understandable.
PSA: This is NOT Catholic teaching. God did not create women wearing a skirt as the distinctive physical attribute of their gender.
But I appreciate that apparently boys can wear skirts…
A Catholic school tells girls they can’t wear shorts or pants as part of the uniform b/c they need to “embrace the gender God has given them at birth.” Then
@ArchofDet
manipulated a PF quote to support it? Are y’all serious?
One of the architects of the rightwing Catholic media machine has been expelled by the Vatican from a scandal-plagued religious community facing accusations of sexual and psychological abuse and financial malpractice --->
Among those expelled from the Sodalitium of Christian Life: Alejandro Bermudez, who served as executive director of Catholic News Agency from its founding until April 2022.
The outcry over Pope Francis’ move to curb the use of the Tridentine Mass stands in inverse proportion to the popularity of the old rite. This is a splinter not a schism. You wouldn’t know that from the coverage of this controversy...
Latin Mass Hysteria
Also, contrary to what is often claimed, this nostalgia-trip Latin Mass Catholicism is NOT growing; it is propped up by wealth and influence in elite church circles, and by rightwing resentment:
There's a lot of noise on Twitter and in the MSM about Pope Francis' restrictions on the old Tridentine Latin Mass--this
@GibsonWrites
column shows what a small and Anglo-centric slice of Catholicism we are talking about.
Like many of those who present themselves as uber-Catholic, Mr. Butker is often wrong about Catholic tradition and teaching, most egregiously here on the "deicide" charge against the Jews.
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker gave a sexist, antisemitic speech in which he falsely claimed Congress “passed a bill where stating something as basic as the Biblical teaching of who killed Jesus could land you in jail."
Watch:
Pope Francis is just being honest about how things actually work in the Catholic Church, and thereby is making the church more credible and effective.
This is not “liberal” or “conservative.” It is mercy and the Gospels.
A rousing performance of 'Fairytale of New York' was given by Glen Hansard and Lisa O'Neill at the funeral of Shane MacGowan in Nenagh, Co Tipperary. The performance was greeted by cheers inside and outside the church |
You forgot a quote:
“Over the pope as expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there stands one’s own conscience which must be obeyed before all else, even if necessary against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority..."
--Joseph Ratzinger
BREAKING: Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas will reject refugees, making it the first state to decline resettlement under Trump executive order. Governors of 42 states have said they will allow more refugees.
"He never lived in a place that had more than a bed, chair, dresser...People would be jarred to know how simple of a life he lived."
Wonderful tribute to Bishop Tom Gumbleton by
@robinrome
La Croix International:
One is that despite efforts to denigrate her and her actions in denouncing church abuse during her 1992 SNL appearance or even, as in Rick's case, to deny that she was addressing clergy abuse let’s be clear: she was talking about clergy abuse. 2/17
Benedict’s last Christmas homily focused on migrants and refugees and making space for them as we should for God.
Somehow when Francis says it, it’s heresy.