Posts Tagged ‘general audience’
Morning Catholic must-reads
Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his general audience yesterday to two Italian priests who served the needy (video).
The five bishops who conducted an apostolic visitation of the Legion of Christ will present their report to the Pope on Friday.
The US bishops respond to Nicholas Cafardi’s claim that they led the Church into a “cul-de-sac” during the heathcare debate.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach gives a candid account of his audience with Benedict XVI yesterday.
An American mother is hoping Pope Benedict will intervene to prevent the execution of her son by the state of Texas.
John Smeaton and Mulier Fortis continue to question the wisdom of appointing former Labour MP Gregory Pope as deputy director of the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales.
The Vatican has lent its support to a new equities index.
Rome Reports looks at how seminarians at the Pontifical North American College are screened for the priesthood (video).
Writing in L’Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago sums up the first five years of Benedict XVI’s pontificate.
Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, has produced a film about John Paul II’s 1979 visit to Poland.
Gerry O’Hanlon SJ unveils a blueprint for the renewal of the Irish Church.
The Huffington Post publishes an extract from Fr James Martin SJ’s new book, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.
And the bookmaker Paddy Power has sponsored a confessional box in a church in Suffolk.
Today’s Catholic must-reads
Pope Benedict XVI promised “Church action” on clerical sexual abuse at his general audience today (video, official summary).
The Pope has reportedly accepted the resignation of Bishop James Moriarty of Kildare over his handling of abuse.
An English bishop has criticised a Liberal Democrat proposal to “abolish” faith schools as the party enjoys a pre-election surge.
The French Catholic Church has launched a bold appeal for new priests.
Devotees of Padre Pio are in uproar over his “glitzy” new tomb.
A clerical abuse case is causing outrage in Kenya.
The Vatican has confirmed that Benedict XVI will have a busy schedule from May to September.
The Pope preached at the funeral of Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík SJ yesterday (full text, video).
Volcanic ash is making life difficult for British pilgrims who wish to see the Turin Shroud.
The Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin has declined to exhibit a painting of four archbishops of Dublin in hell.
Mark Shea is dismayed that a leading apologist for torture is championing the pro-life cause.
And PR consultant Richard Weiner offers some free advice to the Church.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Benedict XVI returned from Castel Gandolfo for a few hours yesterday to address more than 21,000 pilgrims in St Peter’s Square (video).
Cardinal Sodano has given an interview to L’Osservatore Romano explaining why he made an outspoken defence of the Pope on Easter Sunday.
The New York Times reports on a bishop in Norway who resigned in May after admitting he had abused a boy.
NPR investigates whether the Vatican can be sued in US courts.
Rome Reports defends Benedict XVI’s record on battling sex abuse in the Church (video).
George Weigel attempts to separate truth from falsehood in the abuse scandal.
AP suggests that future popes will be closely vetted following the crisis.
The Pew Research Centre finds that Protestants are more critical than Catholics of the Pope’s handling of the crisis.
The wrong actions of some do not justify the vilification of all, Archbishop Donald Wuerl argues in the Washington Post.
Sholto Byrnes of the New Statesman wonders what has happened to the Catholic Church he grew up in.
Austen Ivereigh is shocked by claims that the Legion of Christ bribed senior Vatican cardinals. His colleague, Michael Sean Winters, isn’t.
Tim Drake speculates on Archbishop Gomez’s priorities as the future head of Los Angeles archdiocese.
Kathryn Jean Lopez clashes with Maureen Dowd over the status of women in the Church.
Ross Douthat wonders why the number of Americans who believe in the Resurrection is falling.
And Westminster Auxiliary Bishop George Stack gives the thumbs up to a new film about a Carmelite community in London.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Pope Benedict XVI said priests are called to be messengers of hope and peace at his general audience yesterday (video).
The New York Times has taken note of critics of its reporting on the Pope and sexual abuse, publishing reports on Fr Thomas Brundage’s testimony in the Murphy case and Cardinal William Levada’s critique of the paper (the cardinal’s full text here).
The New York Daily News, the fifth most-widely circulated daily newspaper in America, has published an editorial defending the Pope over the Murphy case.
The Swiss bishops have admitted they underestimated the scale of the abuse problem and urged victims to come forward.
A Mexican archdiocese has cancelled a mission after 10 young people were murdered, reportedly by drug traffickers.
A Brazilian court has delayed the trial of a rancher accused of ordering the murder of Sister Dorothy Stang.
A new website dedicated exclusively to covering Pope Benedict XVI and the sex abuse crisis has just been launched.
Ross Douthat draws attention to a remarkable graph of the American priestly abuse crisis and defends his interpretation of it.
Fr James Martin SJ urges Catholics not to blame the media for the abuse scandal, while his colleague, Michael Sean Winters, says it’s right to criticise poor reporting.
And, finally, a reminder that all the Holy Week celebrations at the Vatican will be broadcast live on the internet here.
Morning Catholic must-reads
AFP reports that a man verbally abused the Pope at the general audience yesterday. CNS reports that an unidentified man urged the Pope to excommunicate Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden before being escorted out of St Peter’s Square (full text of Pope’s remarks in English, video).
John Allen provides the most thorough analysis yet of Pope Benedict’s struggle to confront child abuse in the Church.
Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds has welcomed the High Court ruling in favour of Catholic Care over gay adoption. America magazine reflects on the ruling.
The Bishops’ Conferences of Scotland, England and Wales have composed a prayer for Pope Benedict’s visit to Britain.
Boston College has received a $20 million gift from the co-founder of a supermarket chain to help train Catholic teachers.
Salon writer Mary Elizabeth Williams concludes that leading exorcist Fr Gabriele Amorth is “NUTS”.
And a canon lawyer explains why Catholics can enjoy pepperoni pizza this Friday.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster has set out the key themes of the pre-election document of the Bishops of England and Wales (video, audio, photos).
Benedict XVI reflected on his hero St Bonaventure at the general audience yesterday (video, full text).
Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, secretary of the Congregation for Clergy, has written a letter to the world’s priests (full text).
A Spanish exorcist has denied claims that there are Satanists in the Roman Curia.
The Vatican Television Centre will begin broadcasting in high definition from October.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has called for a ban on condom advertisements in public places.
Lebanon’s Maronite bishops have appealed for a national dialogue to address the country’s divisions.
The Traditional Anglican Communion has formally requested a Personal Ordinariate for the United States.
New Mexico’s Catholic bishops are not happy with a new food tax which they say penalises the poor.
The Guardian picks up on a new campaign to highlight the racist origins of the abortion movement.
Ignatius Insight publishes the article that was too edgy for the Notre Dame Observer.
No Hidden Magenta says the fuss about the US bishops’ revised guidelines on artificial nutrition and hydration is “much ado about nothing“.
Paul Lauritzen interviews Vatican stargazer Brother Guy Consolmagno (audio).
Carl Olson ponders the difference between atheists and liberal Anglicans.
Anthony Stevens-Arroyo identifies two different types of American bishop.
A website offers a new way to experience the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (video).
And Danielle Bean wonders if full body scans are really an affront to modesty.
Morning Catholic must-reads
Pope Benedict XVI said true conversion prevents us becoming “slaves of evil or at least prisoners of moral mediocrity” at his general audience yesterday (video). He received ashes at St Sabina, in accordance with tradition (video).
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York has a simple message for Lent: “Get back to confession.”
Fr Tom Rosica, head of Salt + Light Television, Canada’s national Catholic television station, has uploaded a series of Lenten meditations to YouTube.
More than one million people have already reserved a place to see the Turin Shroud when it goes on display for the first time in a decade in April.
Pope Benedict XVI must not overlook the suffering of those abused in the care of Church-run institutions in Northern Ireland, an abuse victim there has said.
Paul Inwood, Director of Music and Liturgy of Portsmouth diocese, says the impact of the new English translation of the Mass “is not as upsetting as one might have thought” (scroll down to comments). Meanwhile, Jeffrey Tucker is disturbed by Mr Inwood’s suggestion that he attended a demonstration Mass with the new texts with music.
The BBC hopes that the Pope will appear on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day during his visit to Britain.
No more than 200 people attended the protest against Pope Benedict in London last Sunday, says Fr Tim Finigan.
A father in Chicago could be jailed after taking his three-year-old daughter to a Catholic church.
Andrew Sullivan is appalled by EWTN’s decision to broadcast an interview with a leading apologist for torture (warning: graphic images).
Rob Vischer asks what Catholic legal theory has to say to the Tea Party movement.
And No Hidden Magenta says the Church and controversial ethicist Peter Singer have a surprising thing in common.
Pope Benedict: Follow the example of the Trinity
At yesterday’s general audience Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the theologies of the 12th-century monks Hugh of St Victor and Richard of St Victor.
He said:
Dear friends, authors such as Hugh and Richard of St Victor raise our soul to the contemplation of divine realities. At the same time, the immense joy we get from thought, admiration and praise of the Most Holy Trinity, establishes and sustains the concrete commitment to inspire us in that perfect model of communion and love to build our everyday human relations.
The Trinity is truly perfect communion! How the world would change if in families, in parishes and in all other communities relationships were lived following always the example of the three Divine Persons, where each one lives not only with the other, but for the other and in the other!
Pope proposes ‘friendship between Christian spirituality and art’
Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his general audience today to the great cathedrals of medieval Europe. He also looked ahead to his meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel on Saturday, which he described as “a proposal of friendship between Christian spirituality and art”.
CNS has a good report on the audience, as does Asia News. The trusty Zenit has the full text.
Editor's Briefing 