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Let's stay with this rebirth. What is the Church supposed to be? What kind of body is she meant to be? Her nature is always specified as being apostolic and catholic. What does that mean? Apostolic signifies the horizontal cross-connection of the Church through all the ages. She is first of all fixed to the historical origin in the eleven men whom Jesus chose (eleven were left, plus Matthias, who was elected to the office). This is not just some mythology or other, an invented piece of ideology, but is truly anchored in the historical events concerned with Jesus...

Pope Benedict / Joaquin Navarro-Valls Rome, Italy, Sep 25, 2009 / 03:28 pm (CNA).- Joaquin Navarro-Valls, who was the Vatican's official spokesman for 22 years, said in an interview that the Church currently has one of the brightest popes in history, and that one of the most unique aspects of Benedict XVI is his confidence in the rationality of individuals.  Navarro-Valls, who worked for almost two years with Benedict XVI, was interviewed by the Spanish daily El Mundo about his work at the Vatican and some aspects of the two Popes he served under. Speaking about Benedict XVI, he...

Did Penn & Teller Set a World Record for Most Falsehoods in One Show? Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League, has said, "Penn & Teller's Nazi-like assault on Catholicism that took place on August 27 will go down in history as one of the most vile, obscene programs ever aired in any nation." However, will the show also go down in history for airing the most number of lies, falsehoods, and misleading statements in a single half-hour show? Not counting credits, the guilty episode runs less than 26 minutes. Here's a lie-by-lie list of the falsehoods that Penn Jillette...

Pope Benedict XVI has sacked two Vatican officials over the readmission of a British Holocaust-denying bishop to the Roman Catholic Church. He also abolished the Vatican department responsible for the lifting of the excommunication of Richard Williamson, who is one of the leaders of the Society of St Pius X. The rehabilitation, in January, threatened to undo decades of work to heal rifts between Catholics and Jews. The German-born Pope was forced to apologise to Jewish leaders and atoned by visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel in May. The incident made Pope Benedict, one of the most admired...

In the last few decades, the matter of the right way to celebrate the Liturgy has increasingly become one of the points around which much of the controversy has centred concerning the Second Vatican Council, about how it should be evaluated, and about its reception in the life of the Church. There are the relentless supporters of reform, for whom the fact that, under certain conditions, the celebration of the Eucharist in accordance with the most recent edition of the missal before the Council–that of 1962–has once more been permitted represents an intolerable fall from grace. At the same time,...

In an action that spoke far louder than words, Pope Benedict yesterday walked out of an interfaith meeting in Jerusalem after the chief Islamic judge of the Palestinian Authority launched into an anti-Israeli diatribe. The pontiff, on his first day in Jerusalem, did not realize at first that Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi, speaking in Arabic, was condemning the "crimes of the Jewish state" and accusing Israel of having "slaughtered women, children and senior citizens." But as soon as he was told the nature of the sheikh's tirade, he stood and left the meeting, which took place at Notre Dame church, before...

THE Pope will be given unprecedented security when he arrives in Israel tomorrow because of fears that his brief enrolment in the Hitler Youth as a boy of 14 could trigger an assassination attempt by Jewish zealots. The Israeli government has ordered Shin Bet, the domestic security service, to take command of the visit. Four Audi armoured cars have been imported from Germany and security chiefs have banned the use of the familiar glass-sided “Popemobile” except for a short journey in Nazareth. In Jordan yesterday, on the first stage of his middle eastern tour, the pontiff held a meeting with...

A couple of weeks ago, two of my priest friends and I went to see the new movie, Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise.  The movie presents the true life story about a large-scale conspiracy within the German army to assassinate Adolf Hitler.  The heroic German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg led the coup.  The assassination attempt on July 20, 1944, failed because the detonated bomb only injured Adolf Hitler.   Colonel von Stauffenberg and the other conspirators were arrested and executed for treason.  Now, of course, they are honored as heroes who tried to stop the madness of Hitler.Unbeknownst to most people is...

San Francisco Mayor Newsom and the Board of Supervisors have shown nothing but contempt for the First Amendment rights of Catholics. Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, in the heart of San Farncisco's gay Castro community, was vandalized over the weekend by opponents of Proposition 8, the California resolution passed by voters in November that rejected gay marriage. Swastikas were painted on the church and the names Ratzinger (referring to Pope Benedict XVI) and Niederauer (the San Francisco Archbishop) were scrawled besides the Nazi symbol. In the wake of Proposition 8, innocent persons have been assaulted, churches have been vandalized, a...

Capitalism Italy's anti-globalist finance minister claims that Pope Benedict made a 1985 "prophesy" of this year's market drop. What he really said was not clairvoyant, but self-evident: Economic freedom demands ethics."Capitalism begins with giving," George Gilder declared in "Wealth and Poverty," the 1981 book often described as the Reagan administration bible. "Not from greed, avarice or even self-love can one expect the rewards of commerce, but from a spirit closely akin to altruism. . . . The investor must give his money, offer his goods, freely, depending on the voluntary willingness of others to respond with creative efforts of their...

"Yet Joseph did not attend activities, and as he recalls in Milestones, a sympathetic teacher in the high school in Traunstein allowed him to qualify for a reduction in tuition even though he did not have the mandatory Hitler Youth registration card." see also change.gov for Obama's service plans.

Pope Benedict XVI / Msgr. Georg Ratzinger Rome, Sep 30, 2008 / 10:58 am (CNA).- In an interview by Andrea Tornielli for the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, Pope Benedict XVI’s brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, revealed several unknown details from the childhood of the Pontiff, such as when he said one time that Benedict would be a good name for a pope, and that he never attended Hitler Youth meetings he was obliged to sign up for.During the interview in Ratisbona, Germany, Msgr. Ratzinger said his brother was “a lively child, but not an earthquake. I remember him as always...

div class="noticia_lead_imagen_container"> Castelgandolfo, Aug 22, 2008 / 01:57 pm (CNA).- Today Pope Benedict XVI thanked his brother Georg Ratzinger for having always been his companion, for being “a benchmark of confidence” and for helping him to accept his old age “with serenity, humility and courage.”The Holy Father spoke during a ceremony presenting his older brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger with the honorary citizenship of Castel Gandolfo, the Italian town south of Rome, where the Pope’s summer residence is located.Benedict XVI revealed that “since the beginning of my life, my brother has not only been a companion, but also a trustworthy guide...

(ANSA) - Bressanone, August 4 - Pope Benedict XVI managed to dodge journalists and crowds during his first outing in the mountains near his holiday retreat in Bressanone, in Italy's northern Alto Adige region, Vatican sources revealed on Monday. After celebrating the traditional Angelus service on Sunday in Bressanone's cathedral, the pope and his elder brother Georg, who is keeping him company on his holiday, visited the neighbouring village of Sant'Andrea. They were spotted at the village's tiny cemetery, praying at the tomb of Catholic missionary Anton Agreiter, a dear friend who died in 2003. Benedict, 81, had kept indoors...

On September 15th the paperback edition of Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth (featuring a new index) will be available from Ignatius Press. The Jesus of Nazareth Study Guide will also available on the same date. Here is the description: This easy-to-use companion study guide helps the readers who approach Joseph Ratinger/Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth without the benefit of extensive theological or biblical training. The goal is not to replace Benedict’s book but to make it more accessible, more fruitful for the average reader—whether lay, religious, priest or deacon Designed for individual study or for group/parish discussion, this guide...

Castelgandolfo, Jul 23, 2008 / 08:15 pm (CNA).- Having returned from his visit to Australia for World Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI has moved to his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. After three days of rest, he will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki on Friday and travel to the northern Italian town of Bressanone the following day.In Bressanone, a German-speaking town near the Italian border with Germany, the Pope will stay with his brother Father Georg Ratzinger in a medieval seminary from July 28 to August 11. According to ANSA news agency, a grand piano has been...

ROME, MAY 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- If you want to understand Joseph Ratzinger, the man and the Pope, the starting point is the love of God, affirmed a cardinal who has worked closely with him. Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, gave an inside look at the personality of Benedict XVI when he participated Tuesday in the book launch of "Benedictus," by Giuseppe de Carli. "The key to the person and the ministry of Benedict XVI is the love of God," the cardinal said, affirming that the Pontiff's first encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est," "represents the particularity...

NEWS: August 19, 2003 Bird’s Eye View of the News Atila Sinke Guimarães RATZINGER, A TOOTHLESS LION - For the last 20 years Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and Fr. Robert Nugent, SDS, have been two leading American religious stars in the Catholic “ministry” with gays and lesbians. Their innovative progressivist positions on the topic have generated a lot of publicity, so I don’t need to remind my reader who they are. On July 13, 1999 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued to both Sr. Gramick and Fr. Nugent a formal condemnation along with a permanent prohibition to...

[This article by Jim Akin is a good companion to the previous post about Arch-Tame Wuerl. Jim is director of apologetics and evangelization at "Catholic Answers" and is a contributing editor of This Rock. --PP] Abortion Is the Black Hole of Moral Issues A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia but votes...

Vatican City, Apr 25, 2008 / 10:08 am (CNA).- This week the Italians took their turn at showing their affection and respect for the Pope by hosting a classical music concert in honor of his third anniversary and birthday. Benedict XVI thanked the choir and the orchestra for sharing the gift of music with people. Music, he said, has a spiritual value because it can “infuse hope into the human soul.” The concert was offered by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, who met with the Pope for 15 minutes beforehand. The meeting was characterized by the Vatican as...