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Rome, Italy, Nov 12, 2014 / 11:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A priest who met and exchanged zucchettos with retired pontiff Benedict XVI last week marveled at the former pope's joy, mental clarity and good health. “We were so, so enthused by the joy in Benedict, (by his) his serenity. He's a man at peace, at peace in the will of God for him today, which is to pray for the Church,” Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo told CNA Nov. 7. Benedict XVI is like a wise grandfather, he said, pointing out how as “a tender man who is full of humility,” the...

He was called the “Father of Jesus Rock.” Everyone who was an Evangelical or Pentecostal Christian in the 1970s knew who he was. He wrote such songs as “I Wish We’d All Been Ready,” “U.F.O.,” “One Way,” “I Am a Servant,” and “Righteous Rocker, Holy Roller.” He was the one who lamented playfully, “Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?” He had brilliant lyrical and musical gifts. He could hold audiences in the palm of his hand, easily making them roll with laughter, rock with praise, or be quiet and thoughtful.His name was Larry Norman — and he...

Marco Tosatti, more and more a guy to follow in the Italian press for analysis of churchy things, has a piece at La Stampa about Card. Pell and how things are going in the Curia. I don’t have time to translate the whole thing for you right now, but here is a sample: How annoying Pell is …There are those in the Curia who are seeking to de-legitimize the straightforward Australian Cardinal, head of the Secretariat of Finance, underscoring his brusque and direct character. Also, because of his speeches and the Synod on the family. But perhaps there are other...

Bishops from across the United States take part in the USCCB's 2013 Fall General Assembly in Baltimore. Credit Addie Mena/CNA. Baltimore, Md., Nov 11, 2014 / 08:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted Tuesday on several committee leadership positions, also considering several liturgical proposals and moving forward with a New York canonization cause. At their fall general assembly in Baltimore, Md., on Nov. 11, the bishops elected Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans to be the new conference secretary. They also picked new chairmen-elect for several other committees. After serving for one year as chairman-elect,...

Listers, the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta has a long and rich history. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta or “SMOM” for short, traces its origins to a crusade-era hospital in the Holy Lands charged with caring for not only Catholics but for Jews and Muslims as well. The Order was further charged with the military defense of those hospitals – especially for the poor and suffering inside – and for Catholic pilgrims. While other military orders faded as their military purpose was no longer needed, the Order of Malta...

The upcoming “Humanum” conference in Rome, sponsored by the CDF, will seek to offer clarification on issues debated at the recent SynodIn golf, a “do-over” is a called a “mulligan”. At the Vatican, might it be called a “post-synodal conference”? October’s Synod on the Family proved disappointing to many. Fraught with controversy and confusion, some believe church leadership missed an opportunity to propose clear and effective doctrine. Reportedly, bishops raised their voices. One pounded his fist on his desk in disgust. But a year out from next fall’s summit, some Vatican leaders are already trying to retake important ground, seeking...

America's Catholic bishops came together Monday to project an image of unity, after a Vatican meeting on the family unleashed an uproar over the direction of the church. Last month's gathering in Rome on more compassionately ministering to families featured open debate — alarming many traditional Catholics, who argued it would undermine public understanding of church teaching. Pope Francis encouraged a free exchange of ideas at the assembly, or synod, in contrast to previous years, when such events were tightly scripted. At a meeting Monday in Baltimore, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, signaled there...

Brother Andre Love, a Benedictine monk, sits in the church after praying at the Mount Angel Abbey on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014. Love, a former tattoo artist, still has tattoos on his hands, arms and neck. Six years ago, Mount Angel Abbey's serene hilltop campus shook, as leather-clad Bobby Love rolled in on his motorcycle. Love removed his helmet revealing pierced ears and a mop of dreadlocks. With tattoos on his hands, arms and neck, he looked like an extra on "Sons of Anarchy" not a someone attending a retreat for those who might become Catholic monks. "One of...

TEOLO, Italy — Scattered around the steel table of a monastery in the Veneto region of Northern Italy are manuscripts, one with green, red and intensely blue medieval miniatures of dragons, another adorned with ornate leaves culminating in golden flowers. A monk gently lays an off-white leather book on the table, and opens it at a long letter A drawn in red ink, the start of a paragraph in gothic letters. “I never thought I would have had these in my hands,” said the Rev. Pierangelo Massetti, responsible for the restoration laboratory at the Praia Abbey, near Padua. “St. Francis...

1) You learned how to spell with this song: [video] 2) You survived a Fear Factor inspired eating game. 3) You’ve been to Mexico for a mission/service trip. 4) You’ve given your “testimony” to a large group before. 5) Your public prayers are filled with “Father God” and “just…” 6) You learned just enough on the guitar to lead worship songs with 4 chords.

Background: On Nov. 8, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had removed Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of the strongest pro-life and pro-family voices in the Catholic Church, from his position as the prefect of the Vatican’s Apostolic Signatura. Cardinal Burke has instead been named patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a largely ceremonial role. For the past 6 years, Cardinal Burke has served at the Vatican, after he was called there by Pope Benedict, heading up the highest court of the Catholic Church. Among Cardinal Burke’s many actions in defense of the truths of life and family has...

Cardinal Raymond Burke. Credit: Bohumil Petrik/CNA. Vatican City, Nov 8, 2014 / 08:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After six years serving as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, Cardinal Raymond Burke has been appointed as Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Cardinal Burke, 66, confirmed publicly in October that Pope Francis informed him of the move. The American prelate was appointed as chief justice of the Catholic Church’s highest court in 2008 by Benedict XVI. Previously, he headed the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Mo. and the Diocese of La Crosse, Wis. The Order of Malta is...

The Holy See Press Office announced on November 8 that Pope Francis has named Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, as the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. Archbishop Mamberti replaces Cardinal Raymond Burke, who has served as prefect since 2008. Born in Morocco in 1952, Archbishop Mamberti was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Ajaccio (France) in 1981. He earned degrees in civil and canon law and represented the Holy See as apostolic nuncio to Sudan (2002-06), apostolic delegate to Somalia (2002-04), and apostolic nuncio to Eritrea (2004-06). In 2006, Pope Benedict appointed him the...

Excluding women ‘unacceptable’ says priest due to report to pontifical council Spanish priest Fr Pablo d’Ors, a consultant to the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, yesterday said he was “absolutely” in favour of opening up the priesthood to women. Speaking in a candid tone that appears to take its cue from the frank debate at the recent Synod of Bishops, Fr d’Ors told Italian daily La Repubblica: “Am I in favour [of the ordination of women]? Absolutely, and I am not the only one. The reasoning which claims that women cannot become priests because Jesus was a man and because...

On November 4th Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke presented in Vienna the German edition of the book “Remaining in the Truth of Christ” that collects articles of five Cardinals. A video recording of the presentation will be published on Gloria.tv tomorrow. The gathering was organised by “Una Voce Austria”. In his presentation Cardinal Burke explained, that the book is a response to the idea of Cardinal Walter Kasper, who has “argued in favour of a change in what has been the constant teaching and practise of the Church” concerning marriage. Kasper has – so Burke - asked for dialogue and the...

Christians are already divided by so many things, yet we seem to insist on creating more divisions amongst ourselves. I think this is one division we should work to eliminate. Here are some reasons why. It divides otherwise healthy congregations. Many churches have been frightened by the mega-church message that says if you aren’t doing contemporary worship, your church will die. Of course, there are many examples that prove otherwise. And many churches with only contemporary services are closing, also. This doesn’t have to happen to a traditional church. But since nearly all mega-churches are decidedly contemporary, the message seems...

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke emerged from the recent, tempestuous Extraordinary Synod on the Family as a champion of orthodox Catholic sexual morality just as Pope Francis has removed him from the Church’s most senior canon law posting. However, if you sit across the Church leadership’s widening cultural gap from the former archbishop of St. Louis, as Alicia Ambrosio, producer and host of Vatican Connections on Canada’s Salt and Light Television, evidently does, you see him as stuck in “an ivory tower” cut off from “the messiness of life” that homosexual Catholics contend with. Now a testimony from one of...

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke emerged from the recent, tempestuous Extraordinary Synod on the Family as a champion of orthodox Catholic sexual morality just as Pope Francis has removed him from the Church’s most senior canon law posting. However, if you sit across the Church leadership’s widening cultural gap from the former archbishop of St. Louis, as Alicia Ambrosio, producer and host of Vatican Connections on Canada’s Salt and Light Television, evidently does, you see him as stuck in “an ivory tower” cut off from “the messiness of life” that homosexual Catholics contend with. Now a testimony from one of...

A woman who has been excommunicated after claiming to be ordained as a Catholic priest has said that she regularly participates in liturgical ceremonies with Benedictine monks in Austria. Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger showed a reporter from the Daily Telegraph photos in which she was shown leading congregations at Catholic churches in Austria, joining a Catholic priest in a funeral procession, and presiding over a ceremony at the altar of the Kremsmunster monastery. Asked whether Catholic priests have been disciplined for joining her in ceremonies, Mayr-Lumetzberger replied, “No, never once.” Meet the female priest defying Catholicism for her faith (Daily Telegraph)

Father Rutler discusses spiritual realities behind the decision to close 55 churches.Catholics in dozens of parishes in New York City and several other counties that make up the Archdiocese of New York learned the sad news that the church where they have been worshiping will be closing. As part of a major reorganization, Cardinal Timothy Dolan announced the results of a study aimed at saving badly-needed funds and shifting churches and priests to areas outside the city where the Catholic population is growing. One well-known parish that was spared the axe is the midtown Manhattan Church of the Holy Innocents,...