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Trust me, I know that it is hard to write accurate, easy-to-read articles about complicated Vatican theological documents. This is especially true when dealing with materials focusing on very nuanced issues that continue to cause behind-the-scenes debates among Catholics. It's even harder to write informative, catchy and, yes, accurate headlines for these kinds of stories. This brings me to a recent New York Times report that ran with this headline: "Vatican Says Catholics Should Not Try to Convert Jews." The problem with that headline is that it is simplistic to the point of being inaccurate -- that is, if the...

Couples struggling with fertility attribute 'miracle babies' to where Mary supposedly first nursed JesusTucked away behind Nativity Square, not far from the Church of the Nativity that, according to Christian tradition, marks the spot where Jesus was born in the manger, is the Milk Grotto. This is the location where, according to another tradition, Mary nursed the Infant Jesus and where a few drops of her milk fell onto the rocks, turning the soft limestone from its original yellowish-brown hue to a creamy white. In a tradition dating back centuries - possibly even to the earliest Christians - women and...

Moscow, December 15, Interfax - First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Metropolitan Hilarion consecrated the Orthodox church of St. Matrona of Moscow in Miami (Florida, the USA). "The new church has become the biggest not only in Florida, but on the whole Southeast coast. It can house about 700 people," parishioners told Interfax-Religion. The city mayor and other American officials participated in the opening ceremony. The main shrine of Russians Abroad the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God was brought from New York for this occasion. The parish was established in 2011, parishioners celebrated...

This video I sing A-Capella, “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior”, written by William H. Doane, is covered by me, o7jimmy.

The Vatican office that handles the interpretation of canon law was caught by surprise when Pope Francis issues the rescript putting his reform of the annulment process into effect, according to Vatican journalist Andrea Gagliarducci. Gagliarducci reports that the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts was not prepared to answer journalists' questions about the Pope's annulment reforms last week. Officials at that office-which is entrusted with canonical questions-were apparently unaware that the Pope had already signed the canonical instrument enacting his reforms.

The Council of Cardinals-- the body established by Pope Francis in 2013 to consider curial reform and assist him in the governance of the universal Church-- concluded its twelfth meeting on December 12. Pope Francis and all of the Council's members attended each of the meeting's sessions, which began on December 10. Following the conclusion of the meeting, Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Holy See Press Office, said that the Council "emphasized the importance of the Holy Father's discourse of 17 October, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod...

SALT LAKE CITY — He wears a long beard and a long, black cassock wherever he goes, which often produces stares from inquisitive onlookers. “People were welcoming … curious about who I was because of what I was wearing, but weren’t afraid to have a conversation,” said Rev. Father John Mahfouz. He wears the traditional, ascetical garb of the Orthodox Christian Church which he says has helped him, his wife and young children fit in in Salt Lake City. “We feel that this is a good place to raise a family,” Father Mahfouz said. “So, we’re very happy.” On Sunday,...

Passion's newest release has brought widespread excitement and noteworthy sales as Passion: Even So Come debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Christian Albums Chart and No. 11 on Billboard's Top Albums Chart, along with landing in the top 20 on two additional Billboard Charts.

I was once riding in a shuttle-bus with a number of older folks on the way from an airport. They noticed that I was a priest and started asking questions about it. "Do you do all of the priest stuff?" "Yep." "Even the Confession thing?" "Yeah. All the time." One older lady gasped, "Well, I think that that would be the worst. It would be so depressing; hearing all about people’s sins." I told them that it was the exact opposite. There is almost no greater place to be than with someone when they are coming back to God. I said, "It would...

BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut, December 11, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - Another U.S. city has officially introduced open homosexuality into its St. Patrick's Day parade. And again, the Catholic diocese is continuing to stand by the parade. The committee for the Stamford, Connecticut, parade announced its choice of state Supreme Court Justice Andrew McDonald as its 2016 grand marshal November 22. McDonald is openly gay, his biography on the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch Website closing with the statement, "Justice McDonald and his husband, Charles, live in Stamford." The local Catholic diocese has indicated it has no issue with the move to have the...

The Church of England is set to signal to members that speaking openly about their faith could do more harm than good when it comes to spreading Christianity. Stark new research findings being presented to members of the Church's ruling General Synod suggest that practicing Christians who talk to friends and colleagues about their beliefs are three times as likely to put them off God as to attract them. The study, commissioned privately by the Church of England and a coalition of other Christian groups, also found that four in ten British adults did not even think that Jesus was...

CHICAGO, December 11, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich has proved himself again the leading American exponent of the German school of theology, telling an ABC interviewer that it was up to divorced and remarried Catholics and homosexuals to decide for themselves if they took Holy Communion, not their priests or bishops. The archbishop also reaffirmed his general opposition to Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law, which requires ministers of the Eucharist to withhold Communion from those who are "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin." The canon has been relevant most prominently in relation to pro-abortion Catholic...

The Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews released a text Thursday highlighting the unique relationship between Jews and Christians, underscoring the irrevocable character of God’s covenant with the Jewish people, and urging Christians to work together with Jews to combat “all manifestations of racial discrimination against Jews and all forms of anti-Semitism." The text was released to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the declaration issued in 1965 by the Second Vatican Council, which marked a watershed in Jewish-Christian relations. In language unusual in its day, Nostra Aetate stated that "God holds the Jews most dear," stressed...

During their recent ad limina visit in Rome, the German bishops heard a message from Pope Francis that could have come straight from the mouths of Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI (here). While the bishops had not, or only grudgingly, accepted it from the latter two, they seemed enthusiastic when spoken by our current Pope. He told them they should decentralize the Church and be wary of its progressive institutionalization, something Pope Benedict called for during his famous Freiburg speech in September 25, 2011. At the time, his message was dismissed and was falsely interpreted as...

A new Catholic university has opened in Erbil, an Iraqi city of 1.5 million that is capital of the autonomous region of Kurdistan. Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda said in July that the university, which will welcome 250 students per year, is "a way of fighting back against Daesh [the Islamic State] and saying we [Christians] are not going to go away."

*** According to him, mass media wins over the Church in a struggle for human soulsMoscow, December 9, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia urges all healthy forces of the society to unite for spiritual revival of the country. "It is very important that all healthy forces of the society today unite for the true revival of Russia. The Church, science, art, culture, education, sport - all these things should work for strengthening spiritual foundations of our person," the patriarch said on air in his program The Pastor's Word on The First Channel. "We should revive the...

In mid-February Pope Francis will go to Chiapas, where hundreds of deacons with their wives are pushing to be ordained as priests. And in the Amazon as well the turning point seems to be near. It was all written down in the agenda of Cardinal Martini by Sandro Magister ROME, December 9, 2015 - While waiting for Pope Francis to rule on communion for the divorced and remarried, which two synods discussed and split over, there is already a glimpse of the theme of the next synodal session: married priests. The selection of the theme is up to the pope,...

South Korea's Catholic Church announced on Monday it had reached agreement with North Korea to send priests there on "a regular basis," seeking an opening in a country with a long history of tight religious control, AFP reported. The agreement, which should see priests leading services in Pyongyang on major holy days from next year, followed a visit to the North Korean capital by South Korean bishops last week. The announcement by the Catholic Bishop's Conference of Korea (CBCK) came at the end of a 4-day visit to North Korea by a delegation of 4 bishops and 13 priests, on...

Two Poles and one Italian were killed by Shining Path guerrillas in 1991Three European missionary priests killed by Shining Path terrorists in Peru in 1991 have been beatified. According to Associated Press, 30,000 people attended the beatification ceremony for Franciscans Fathers Michal Tomaszek and Zbigniew Strzalkowski of Poland and Fr Alessandro Dordi of Italy in a stadium in Chimbote, in northern Peru, on Saturday. Italian Cardinal Angelo Amato presided over the ceremony and there were representatives from all of the dioceses of Peru and groups from Poland and Italy. Father Zbigniew, 32, and Fr Michal, 30, were killed on August...

The Holy Door in St Peter's Basilica will be opened on Tuesday morningBenedict XVI will attend the ceremony for the opening of the Holy Door in St Peter's Basilica tomorrow, marking the start of the Jubilee Holy Year of Mercy. Pope Francis invited his predecessor to attend the ceremony, which will take place in the Atrium of the Basilica on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The Holy Year of Mercy will end on November 20, next year, The Solemnity of Christ the King. Tomorrow's celebration will also mark the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council,...