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A newly released document from the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Christian Unity promotes the upcoming January 18-25 ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’ with the theme ‘Reconciliation: The love of Christ compels us.’ Encouraging commemorations in all dioceses of the world, the Pontifical Council notes the theme is drawn from the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. In 2017, it says, “Lutheran and Catholic Christians will for the first time commemorate together the beginning of the Reformation.” The text also states that “Catholics are now able to hear Luther’s challenge for the Church of today, recognizing him as a ‘witness...

Inventor of Christianity? On December 17th, the anti-Catholic Italian journalist Eugenio Scalfari, to whom Pope Francis talks regularly, revealed in La Repubblica how Francis answered the question which saint he prefers. Francis said, “The first is obviously Paul. He is the one who constructed our religion.” Lutheran theses coincide with what happened in the first centuries: At the end of his article, Scalfari writes, "In the early centuries of Christianity, the sacraments were celebrated directly by the faithful and the priests only served.” Scalfari continues, “Francis agrees on these Lutheran theses that coincide with what happened in the first centuries."...

"Why hasn’t the pope responded to the cardinals?" >>The pope doesn’t give binary answers to abstract questions. But that does’t mean he hasn’t responded. His response is to approve and to encourage positive pastoral practices. A clear and obvious example was his response to the Buenos Aires area bishops, when he encouraged them and confirmed that their reading of Amoris Laetitia was correct.<< >>In other words, the pope responds by encouraging, and indeed loves to respond to the sincere questions put to him by pastors. The ones who really understand Catholic doctrine are the pastors, because doctrine does not exist...

While Pope Francis continues his silence, the Jesuit General has commented on the Dubia (doubts), the controversial post-synodal Letter Amoris laetitia of four cardinals Brandmüller, Burke, Caffarra and Meisner. On 14 October, Arturo Sosa Abascal was selected 31 Superior General of the Jesuits. The Venezuelan Jesuit has now entered into the public for the first time and does so with a defense of Pope Francis, who also belongs to the Jesuit Order. So far, the new "Black General", as the Father General of the Jesuits is also called, has only been known for statements from the distant past. This includes...

A week after the election, the Huffington Post published a blog entry in which Progressive Christians suggested what like-minded Christians should do in order to “take back their faith.” Still reeling from the election in which Donald Trump was elected president, several progressive Christians pondered the necessary steps to draw a stronger contrast between their brand of kindhearted progressive Christianity, and the kind of conservative, evangelical Christianity that helped elect Donald Trump. The responses were predictably representative of left-wing Christianity, which centered on re-emphasizing social justice issues and identity politics as the “loving,” compassionate, anti-Trumpian counterpart to the hate-filled Christianity...

In an exclusive interview with America, Cardinal-designate Blase Cupich shared his hopes about what the new Trump administration and incoming Republican Congress can do about the nation’s deep divide following one of the most contentious elections in U.S. history. He also shared some thoughts on the upcoming Catholic bishops’ plenary assembly in Baltimore next week. The archbishop of Chicago was in Rome for a meeting of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, which selects candidates to be bishops in countries across the globe, including North and South America, and was a panel member at the presentation of a new book of...

#PopeFrancis prays Holy Spirit will "help us rejoice in the gifts that have come to the church thru the Reformation" Well, what are theses gifts? +A depleted protestant Bible +Ecclesial Communities, lacking Holy Orders and therefore the Holy Eucharist and the means to Grace. +The elevation of an individual theologian over the whole Catholic Tradition. and a decided break with that Sacred Tradition. We can add into the mix the massacre of peasants, anti Jewish pogroms, the rise in witch trials, the growth of superstition, the beginning of German nationalism. The Reformation was welcomed by European princes because it placed...

We’ve been hearing a lot about Martin Luther lately. Earlier this year, Lutherans received communion at St. Peter’s Basilica. Then there was the chocolate Luther on display at the Vatican, part of a Lutheran pilgrimage leading up to the Reformation celebration in Lund, Sweden, which Pope Francis is attending. As a former Lutheran myself, this is all very unexpected. I was under the distinct impression that Martin Luther was not regarded favorably by the Church. (“The Pope is the Antichrist” thing; the excommunication bit.) When my husband wanted to become Catholic and I (emphatically) did not, I dreaded Reformation Sunday....

Pope Francis’ visit to Sweden from Monday 31 October to 1 November is certainly an important step forward on an ecumenical journey that is not easy. This is especially true given the main reason for the visit: the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and the 50th anniversary of the beginning of a dialogue between Catholics and Lutherans. But, besides these considerations regarding the exceptional nature of this step, is must be acknowledged that the visit fits perfectly into a process that began with the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Partly because of his experience in Buenos Aires, Francis...

The Vatican announced this week that Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich has been selected to be Pope Francis’ successor after the 79-year-old pontiff hits the age of retirement next year. Cupich told worshipers yesterday that he was “so very grateful and humbled by the news that he would be given the opportunity to wreak havoc upon the Church while wearing white.” Cupich, 67, will receive his “white hat” in Rome on December 18, 2017, the day after Pope Francis turns 80. Cupich’s succession to the papacy also means he will have his choice of who will succeed him in the future....

According to Vatican News Service, a common declaration has been issued bearing the signatures of both “HIS GRACE JUSTIN WELBY” and “HIS HOLINESS FRANCIS” proposing to send “out on mission together 19 pairs of Anglican and Catholic bishops from countries around the world.” The document is precisely what one might expect in this post-conciliar age of radical ecumenism; namely, a grave offense against Christ and an embarrassment to the faithful. It’s more than that, though; it’s yet another indication of the faith, or lack thereof, of its signatories. Welby blesses francisThe text refers, not only to the heretic layman Justin...

Last Thursday, the 13th of October, marked the beginning of the 100-year anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, yet Bergoglio, instead of honouring Our Lady, honoured Martin Luther by taking part in an audience (in the Vatican) where a statue of the German heretic and schismatic was exposed as if he were one of the saints. For that matter, Bergoglio is the Pope who, for the first time in two thousand years, has wanted the profanation of the Sacraments! If this is not an abomination – what is? Hence 2017 starts off in this manner ... what else is it...

The Catholic prelate Pope Francis recently appointed both as a cardinal and the head of the Vatican's new centralized office for laypeople says he considers the pontiff's apostolic exhortation on family life inspired by the Holy Spirit and plans to make it his department's guiding document. Speaking in an NCR interview Thursday, Cardinal-designate Kevin Farrell said he has a hard time understanding why some bishops have reacted negatively to Amoris Laetitia ("The Joy of Love.") "I honestly don't see what and why some bishops seem to think that they have to interpret this document," said Farrell, the head of the...

The recent announcement that Pope Francis has chosen seventeen new cardinals has already raised much concern and debates among Catholics. The decision to select Archbishop Jozef de Kesel of Brussels, Belgium to be now a cardinal seems especially to have become a matter of controversy. An interview published in Cologne, Germany on 10 October on the website Domradio.de concerning Archbishop Jozef de Kesel himself has already received much attention. For example, the Austrian website Kath.net, as well as the Dutch website Katholieknieuwsblad.nl, have already reported on this interview given by Domradio’s journalist and specialist in theology, Jan Hendrik Stens. Stens...

In a pithy tweet on Saturday, a prominent South African cardinal rebuked German Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s claim that the Church should “apologize” to homosexuals. “God help us! Next we’ll have to apologise for teaching that adultery is a sin! Political Correctness (PC) is today’s major heresy!” Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier tweeted. Napier posted his tweet in response to African pro-life and pro-family activist Obianuju Ekeocha, the founder of Culture of Life Africa, who tweeted an Irish Times article about Marx’s comments. Marx, the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, said that up until “very recently” the Catholic Church had been “very...

Kleinjung: Too much beer … Holy Father, I wanted to ask you a question. Today you spoke of the gifts of the shared Churches, of the gifts shared by the Churches together. Seeing that you will go in I believe four months to Lund for the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the reformation, I think perhaps this is also the right moment for us not only to remember the wounds on both sides but also to recognize the gifts of the reformation. Perhaps also – this is a heretical question – perhaps to annul or withdraw the excommunication of...

After nearly 50 years of discourse between the Catholic and Anglican communions, the official dialogue body wants to fine-tune how it studies the differences and similarities between two churches which both call themselves Catholic. “ARCIC III hasn’t proved itself yet,” Sir David Moxon, Anglican co-chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, told The Catholic Register following an ecumenical evensong on Pentecost Sunday. This third stage of the dialogue has been meeting since 2011, but has yet to publish a major document. It is currently studying how the Church arrives at moral teaching. The official dialogue sponsored by the Vatican and...

4) What does the document say regarding Cardinal Walter Kasper’s proposal to give Holy Communion to some who are divorced and civilly remarried after a “penitential period.” Nothing. This proposal is not brought up. 11) Does the document foresee any possibility for sacramentally absolving and giving Communion to people who are civilly remarried if they are not living as brother and sister? It does.

The Catholic and Lutheran Churches have issued a joint prayer thanking God for the "insights" received through the Reformation. The service has been devised by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation in advance of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation next year. The first jointly developed liturgical order is based on the report "From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017". The Common Prayer, which can be adapted to suit local customs and preferences, is led by two presiders, one Catholic and one Lutheran, with two readers, again one Catholic...

The Conciliar "method" beloved of Cardinal Kasper and his Comrades was a wicked one. We know it came "from evil" because His Eminence plainly admits that it was tailored to avoid the simple "si, si: no, no,'' demanded by Our Lord in Matthew 5:37. Marked by verbosity, ambiguity, and deceit, we have suffered the rotten fruits of this 'progressive' methodology for fifty dismal years: half-a-century of strife and destruction that has exhausted everyone but the Modernist ideologues, whose levelling lust is never sated. Buoyed by a papacy of their wildest dreams, and Kasper's assurance that it has "inaugurated a new...