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Thinking machines that are being built in a 50-square-mile speck of dirt we call Silicon Valley by a few hundred men (and a handful of women) who write in a language only they and computers can speak. And whether we understand what it is they are doing or not, we are largely left to the whims of their creation. We don’t have a say in the ethics behind their invention. We don’t have a say over whether it should even exist in the first place. “We’re creating God,” one AI engineer working on large language models (LLMs) recently told me....

[Catholic Caucus] Crocodile: Diocese Presents Conformism as "Courage"Until June 4, a large crocodile is hanging in the baptistery of San Giovanni Battista Church in Cremona. The church is a masterpiece of Lombard Romanesque-Gothic architecture, reports MessaInLatino.it.The figure was created by Maurizio Cattelan in 2019 and is called "Ego". Cattelan explained that crocodiles are protagonists of rituals, religions, magical beliefs and urban legends.Cremona Diocese considers the exhibition of 'Ego' in the Baptistery a "courageous [= conformist] choice", calling Cattelan "one of the most appreciated and controversial [= approved by the oligarchs] artists in the art world".Courage would have been to put...

Gonzalez, who became the center of an international custody battle at 5 years old, was nominated Sunday to Cuba's National Assembly. Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban national whose precarious boyhood arrival in the U.S. in 1999 prompted a fierce international custody battle, is set to become a lawmaker. Gonzalez was nominated by his local municipal assembly on Sunday to serve in Cuba's National Assembly... Gonzlaez was en route to Florida with his mother when their boat capsized on Thanksgiving 1999 and she and other migrants drowned. The boy's fate thereafter became a flashpoint in U.S.-Cuba relations. His father, a waiter named...

Argentine Diocese Apologizes for Prayer to PachamamaThe posting of the prayer drew massive pushback on social media, leading to its deletion. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The Diocese of Venado Tuerto’s Caritas branch apologized Tuesday for having posted on its social media a prayer to Pachamama, an Andean deity. “The pachamama is a symbol of fertility, of the earth and the sacredness of life. It is a myth full of spiritual meaning (that) can be used to advantage,” said the now-deleted Aug. 1 post. “Some religious festivals have a sacred meaning and are occasions for gathering and fraternity. These are...

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ( 2 Timothy 3:1-5)There is a heresy which has encompassed the entire world in the last 100 years, which comprises as a great a threat to the Truth of the gospel...

In Biden's speech, St. Augustine's deep warning about misdirected unity in love of the wrong thing becomes the spiritual equivalent of “c’mon, man.”Yesterday’s remarks from Joe Biden were what we thought they would be: a lot of talk about unity, and a lot of condemnations of other Americans along the way. The unity talk went over just as expected, with Republicans rolling their eyes. Of course there was unity on that dais in Washington, with a thousand of America’s elites — nearly all of them already vaccinated, but wearing masks to send a message — guarded by tens of thousands...

Pro-life Catholic scholars: Coronavirus is not the work of an angry ‘Mother Earth’ 'It is immensely sad that Pope Francis should have encouraged this worldview by speaking of the 'earth having a fit' or being angry,' the group has said. April 17, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – The John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family wishes to communicate that Catholics and all reasonable men and women must beware the infiltration of a pagan, earth-centered New-Age sentiment subtly making its way into certain levels of our culture. The present-day proponents of the primitive belief in an “Earth Goddess” have advanced their...

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.( Exodus 20:4-6)The Second Commandment is not a prohibition against...

Man who threw Pachamama in Tiber fires back after prof says he ‘damaged’ Catholicism Alexander Tschugguel said he remains “convinced that Christ’s saying will always be true, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’” VIENNA, Austria, February 7, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Alexander Tschugguel, the young Austrian founder of the Saint Boniface Institute who threw the Amazon Synod’s Pachamama idols in the Tiber river last October, has fired back after a professor of dogmatic theology accused him of falling behind the Second Vatican Council. “I’m convinced that Christ’s saying will always be true, ‘No one comes to the...

[Catholic Caucus] De Mattei: A comment chronology of the pagan Pacha Mama events which the Angels and Saints are far more outraged about than we are When it ends, the Amazon Synod will go down in history as the Pacha Mama Synod. Who is Pacha Mama? She is the Earth Goddess, a pagan divinity venerated by the Synod Fathers gathered in Rome over these past weeks. The image of  Pacha Mama [first]made its appearance in the Vatican Gardens, on October 4, on the eve of the Amazon Synod. During a ceremony led by an Indian woman of the Amazon, in...

Pope Francis asked forgiveness Friday from Amazonian bishops and tribal leaders after thieves stole indigenous statues from a Vatican-area church and tossed them into the Tiber River in a bold show of conservative opposition to history’s first Latin American pope. Francis insisted that the carved wooden statues of naked pregnant women were brought to the Vatican for display during his Amazon synod “without any intention of idolatry,” undercutting conservative claims that they were symbols of pagan, idolatrous worship. He said carabinieri police had found the so-called Pachamama statues unharmed in the Tiber, and would consider letting the Vatican display them...

If you want a window into the crisis the Catholic Church faces, look to the Amazon Synod now underway in Rome. The synod made headlines this week when two anonymous operatives entered the Santa Maria in Traspontina Church near St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome early Monday morning, removed at least three pagan fertility statues from the side altars, and threw them into the Tiber River. They videotaped the whole thing and issued a statement saying faithful Catholics “are being attacked by members of our own Church.”Why were pagan fertility statues—idols, really—on display in a Catholic Church in the first...

Four angels and the Virgin Mary mark the spot where the Communist used to stand. “We used to get drunk next to the Lenin,” a 45-year-old mechanic named Volodymyr said as he passed by. “Now it’s a sin to drink there, I guess,” his friend Yulia said. Five years after the start of Ukraine’s pro-Western revolution, the once-ubiquitous figure of Vladimir Lenin has been eradicated by law. So have other symbols of the Soviet era — gone from the country’s squares, streets and buildings. But Ukrainians are still searching for meaning — and identity — in the spaces left behind....

Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. (Jeremiah 2:19-20)Jeremiah 2 and 3 continue the same themes as Hosea; Jahweh as the rejected husband, Israel as the promiscuous...

"Good job at being racist and homophobic, American Idol." Those aren't my words, but they're the sentiments of plenty of fans after Sunday night's Disney-themed episode. After last night's votes were tallied, four of the show's minority contestants found themselves in elimination contention. Ada Vox, a drag queen, Jurnee, an openly gay and black contestant, Michelle Sussett, an immigrant from Venezuela, and Dennis Lorenzo, an African-American male, received the least votes after their performances. Jurnee was the only one to escape elimination. These four contestants were in the bottom because this is "Trump's America," according to some upset viewers.

Pope Francis celebrated and preached at the Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Holy Thursday morning. He addressed the concelebrating priests on the themes of the closeness of God and the closeness that priests should have to their people. This priestly closeness is “an attitude that engages the whole person.” He praised street priests “who are ‘close’, available, priests who are there for people, who talk to everyone.” Closeness, he believes, is “the key to mercy” and “also the key to truth.” Further, “truth is not only the definition of situations and things from a certain distance, by abstract...

Roman Catholicism teaches that Jesus instituted the Mass at the Last Supper. According to Rome, Jesus actually turned the bread and wine into his physical body and blood. Since that time, whenever the priest says the same words Jesus said at the Last Supper, the bread and wine of the Mass miraculously turns into the actual body and blood of Christ. While the outer appearance of the bread and wine remain the same, supposedly the inner essence - the substance - changes to Christ’s body and blood and remains that way as long as the bread and wine remain “incorrupted.”...

Memphis mother Erica Shead said she was angry after her 10-year-old daughter Erin, told her Wednesday, she wasn’t allowed to write about God for a school assignment. “It was so cute and innocent. She talked about how God created the earth and how she’s doing the best she can,” said Shead. Shead said Erin was told she can’t use God as an idol for the assignment.

In Lebanon, at an altitude of approximately 1,170 meters in Beqaa valley stands the famous Baalbek or known in Roman times as Heliopolis. Baalbek is an ancient site that has been used since the Bronze Age with a history of at least 9,000 years, according to evidence found during the German archaeological expedition in 1898. Baalbek was an ancient Phoenician city that was named by the name of the sky God Baal. The name ‘Baal’ in the Phoenician language meant ‘lord’ or ‘god’. Legends abound around Baalbek with some of them mentioning that Baalbek was the place where Baal first...

Starring Patty Duke (The Miracle Worker), Sean Astin (Rudy, Forever Strong), and Erin Bethea (Fireproof), Amazing Love: The Story of Hosea follows four teens who embark on a weekend camping trip with their youth group leader, Stuart (Astin), and his wife (Bethea). When an outsider, Ashley, unexpectedly joins Steve, Carrie, Cooper, and Gameboy, the materialistic and self-involved young woman's bad attitude leads to a confrontation with Carrie.