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The Instrumentum laboris of last June 21st, 2015, offers all the elements to [help us] understand what is at stake at the upcoming Synod. The first consideration is about method. Paragraph 52 of the Relatio Synodi of 2014 did not receive (as did paragraphs 53 and 55) the two thirds qualifying majority necessary in the regulation norms for approval, but was inserted into the final document nonetheless. It was an obvious forcing, which confirms the plan to open the doors to the divorced and remarried, despite the opposition from a consistent body of the Synod Fathers, and above all, despite...

Good entry at One Peter Five on the disastrous approach the Synods on the Family seem to be taking towards the topic of divorce and remarriage. I very much agree with the author below that many modernist Synod fathers and their advisers seem to believe that divorce is just something that happens to people, like getting the flu, and that the Church owes it to those people to not ostracize them for such an unfortunate accident. There is almost no recognition of the evil of divorce in and of itself and the moral culpability of souls who fall into it...

Catholic Expert: Pope’s New Encyclical Denounces Radical Environmentalism SAN DIEGO (June 18, 2015) — A Catholic expert said today that the news media and other observers are misinterpreting Pope Francis’s new encyclical on environmentalism, Laudato Si.“Some in the media are portraying the encyclical as if Pope Francis is a secular environmentalist, when in reality the encyclical is sharply critical of environmental ideologies that don’t recognize mankind’s unique place in creation,” said Jimmy Akin, senior apologist for Catholic Answers, the largest lay-run apostolate of Catholic apologetics and evangelization in the United States.Akin said the Catholic Church’s longstanding teaching on caring for...

About every other week, I confront popular pluralist notions that have become a large part of the way Americans think. For example, pluralists contend that no one religion can know the fullness of spiritual truth, therefore all religions are valid. But while it is good to acknowledge our limitations, this statement is itself a strong assertion about the nature of spiritual truth. A common analogy is often cited to get the point across which I am sure you have heard — several blind men trying to describe an elephant. One feels the tail and reports that an elephant is thin...

On Losing Our Life to Find It – A Meditation on a Paradox Taught by the Lord Msgr. Charles Pope • August 12, 2015 • In the Gospel of Mark, there is a funny story about Peter that speaks to the paradox of losing one’s life only to find it more abundantly:Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who...

Did the Patriarchs Really Live to Be 900 Years Old? Perhaps, but Here’s Why We Do Not Msgr. Charles Pope • August 11, 2015 • I sometimes get questions about the remarkably long lives of the patriarchs who lived before the great flood. Consider some of their reported ages when they died: Adam 930Seth 912Enosh 905Jared 962Methuselah 969Noah 600Shem 600Eber 464Abraham 175Moses 120David 70 How to understand these references? There are many theories that have tried to explain the claimed longevity. Some try to introduce a mathematical corrective, but this leads to other pitfalls such as certain patriarchs apparently begetting...

Purgatory The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a "purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven," which is experienced by those "who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified" (CCC 1030). It notes that "this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1031). The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27) and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still...

What Is the Math of Spiritual Goods and Why Is The World Such a Deadly Place Without It? Msgr. Charles Pope • August 10, 2015 • In an increasingly materialistic and secular world, a deadly math has set up. It is deadly because it has rejected the spiritual math of God and of spiritual goods.What is meant by “spiritual math”? It is a math that recalls that spiritual goods, in themselves, do not admit of division and subtraction, but only of multiplication and addition. Rather than diminishing, spiritual goods grow when shared. And this is a critical math never to...

Within the Christian faith, there is a significant amount of confusion regarding what happens after death. Some hold that after death, everyone “sleeps” until the final judgment, after which everyone will be sent to heaven or hell. Others believe that at the moment of death, people are instantly judged and sent to their eternal destinations. Still others claim that when people die, their souls/spirits are sent to a “temporary” heaven or hell, to await the final resurrection, the final judgment, and then the finality of their eternal destination. So, what exactly does the Bible say happens after death? First, for...

Last week, I told you about Archbishop Blase Cupich from Chicago – about his rather unfortunate track record as a Catholic prelate, his discomfort with the Traditional Mass and the pro-life movement, and how that uneasiness doesn’t extend to pro-abortion politicians. I then told you about how Archbishop Cupich drew direct moral equivalency between dismembering the unborn alive and then selling their body parts and far less serious evils like lack of health care, racism, and unemployment. As I was writing (and to be honest, re-writing, since my initial reaction was a bit more…visceral than my internal editor thought prudent),...

Humility is Hard – A Meditation on Some Aspects of Humility Msgr. Charles Pope • August 9, 2015 • 0 Comments Pride is our most pervasive and serious sin; humility is its antidote and the foundation of our spiritual life. And as the remedy to our most deep-seated pathology, it must be strong medicine. Humility is hard to swallow and has a lot of things it needs to work on.Let’s consider humility under a number of headings.I. The Foundation of Humility – Indeed, humility as a foundation is a good image, since by it we bow toward the earth or...

"Earlier this year, I had the privilege of attending the Ligonier National Conference in Orlando, Florida. One of the speakers was Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. She proceeded to give one of the best gospel presentations I have heard. This was more than a change of lesbianism to heterosexuality, but a true Jesus-encountering and life-altering experience marked by total transformation. Her memoir The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert is outstanding and is the free audiobook of the month for August. -Todd Hoyt, eChristian"

Lagos – The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Adewale Martins on Tuesday praised President Muhammadu Buhari for dissociating Nigeria from same sex marriage. Martins, who spoke at the 3rd anniversary of his ordination and installation as the Archbishop of Lagos held at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos, said that Buhari’s rejection of same sex marriage on behalf of Nigeria indicated that he was a responsive leader. “About a week ago, the President won the applause of most Nigerians when during his visit to the United States he made it clear that Nigeria considers same sex union as contrary to...

Communism is the most logical and extreme form of Socialism, outcome of the revolutionary theory of Karl Marx. The underlying philosophy is materialistic and determinist; the social order evolves through economic struggles between the classes in the direction of the violent revolution and a dictatorship of the proletariat, to be followed by a "withering away" of the state and the substitution of a society where ownership of all things is common, where all will work voluntarily, and all take freely of goods produced according to his needs. As well as the abstract theory of Communism there must, since 1917, be...

“Purgatory shows God’s great mercy and washes away the defects of those who long to become one with Him.” – St. Josemaria Escriva When is the last time you heard a homily on purgatory? If your parish is like most, it’s been a very long time. Getting more personal, when is the last time you prayed for the Holy Souls? If you’re like many Catholics, the answer is not recently. The souls in purgatory are too often forgotten by Catholics, and I fear this is often out of a misguided desire not seem medieval (as if that were a...

Church Fathers: The Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas By Thomas Van | Aug 19, 2014 The Didache One of the most important sources from the age of the Apostolic Fathers is “The Lord’s Teaching through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations,” commonly referred to by its short name, the Didache (Greek for “teaching”). While the Didache was lost until the mid-19th century, it was known to and quoted by the Fathers Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and St. Athanasius, the latter of whom recommended it for the instruction of catechumens. Indeed, the importance of the Didache is such that some...

On 30 July 2015, the journal Vatican Insider (of the Italian newspaper La Stampa) reported on the recent interview made by the current editor of Civiltà Cattolica, Father Antonio Spadaro, S.J., with the Swiss Dominican, Cardinal Georges Cottier. In it, Cardinal Cottier criticizes the expression “remarried divorcees” as being “too generic” and as too often inadequately “applied in fundamentally different situations.” He also says: “In rigorism there is an innate brutality that goes against the gentle way God has of guiding each person.” In the interview – which will appear in the next issue of the Jesuit periodical – Cardinal...

The developments in Europe are accelerating. One statement after another shows how high-ranking bishops and prelates are now publicly opposing the traditional moral teaching of the Catholic Church, which is based upon the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. First, on August 1, the Archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Heße, came out and defended publicly a liberal attitude toward homosexual couples and “remarried” divorcees. As the official website of the German Bishops' Conference, katholisch.de, reports: Even though he [Archbishop Heße] is still somewhat hesitant concerning the “homo-marriage,” Heße also says: “But when these people seek to be close to us, then we...

Church Development Msgr. Charles Pope 8/7/2015 Q. Do you think the apostles would recognize the simple and humble Church they had, compared with the pompous and ceremonial Church of today? — J.F., San Diego, Calif.A. Here’s a reply from Msgr. Charles Pope: Well, I am not so sure. It’s kind of like asking if Orville and Wilbur Wright would recognize the simple wooden and cloth plane they flew, compared with the modern jetliner of today. To some extent they certainly would see the basic structure, but they would also marvel at all the magnificent developments that their simple idea ushered in.  It would...

On Marriage and the Family : “We Have to See the Manifold Ways of How People Live Together” - Archbishop Heße Calls For More Realism in the Moral Teaching on Sexuality The Archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Heße, has called upon his Church to have more realism with regard to the moral teaching on sexuality. “We have to look upon the manifold ways and forms of living in which people live, as they now exist,” said the 48-year old to the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger on Saturday. He, “of course,” also sees “same-sex couples entering the Metropolitan Cathedral of Hamburg, and nobody asking...