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With all due respect, Pope Benedict XVI either lives in an alternate reality or needs better PR handlers. His comments over the weekend to U.S. bishops about the sex abuse of children showed a continued disconnect with the church’s mishandling of this ongoing scandal. The pope referenced the church’s “conscientious effort” to confront sex abuse by priests. Uh? Perhaps the pope meant to say conscientious cover-up. No institution has done more to deny and downplay the sexual abuse of young boys than the Catholic Church. No institution has done more to discredit victims and protect pedophile priests than the Catholic...

VATICAN, November 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – One of the highest ranking cardinals in the Vatican has said that the United States is “well on the way” to the persecution of Christians. Cardinal Raymond Burke Cardinal Raymond Burke, former Archbishop of St. Louis and now the head of the Vatican’s highest court, told Catholic News Agency that he could envision a time when the Catholic Church in the U.S., “even by announcing her own teaching,” is accused of “engaging in illegal activity, for instance, in its teaching on human sexuality.” Asked if the cardinal could even see American Catholics being arrested...

I have now watched all four parts of this series presently on EWTN ( despite EWTN) and have found truly edifying, a most wonderful production all aspects except a the minute allusions to post Vat2 “pontificate”(s) and the like. A traditionalist/conservative of ANY stripe should be able to watch this except for a couple winces. I found particularly moving Part I devoted largely to St. Mary Magdalene. Part III has much on the Vendee counter-revolutionary battles, a real eye-opener for me. It also includes a couple minutes of a Tridentine Rite taped just for the series. Repeat: there are rare...

Reading Francis Beckwith's interview with David Neff in Christianity Today, reminded me of how idyllic the Roman church can seem in the minds of those who embrace it (Click here: Q&A: Francis Beckwith | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction). But then this news report appeared today which gives a much different picture of the supposed glories of Romanism (Click here: Pope to canonize first Brazilian saint - Yahoo! News). All discussion of justification, the authority of Scripture, and reciting the Creed aside, the Pope is heading to Brazil to canonize Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao, a Franciscan monk...

Last Friday, Rev. Robert Jeffress, the Dallas pastor who introduced Gov. Rick Perry at the Values Voter Summit, spoke derisively about the Mormon faith of Mitt Romney, making the case that “Mormonism is a cult.” Two days later, he chided Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism as “false religions.” Last year, Rev. Jeffress said the Roman Catholic Church was the outgrowth of a “corruption” called the “Babylonian mystery.” He continued, “Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn’t come from God’s word. It comes from that cult-like pagan religion. Isn’t that the genius of Satan?” Catholic League president Bill...

(CNSNews.com) - Bantering with the audience at a fundraiser in St. Louis yesterday, President Barack Obama bragged about a new regulation, proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services, that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has denounced as an “unprecedented attack on religious liberty.” "Darn right!" an audience member at the fundraiser shouted as Obama described the regulation. “Darn tooting!” Obama said back. The proposed regulation, designed to implement part of Obamacare, will require all private health plans in the United States to cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives--including those that cause abortions—without charging any fees or co-pay....

The Vatican has accused the BBC of an ‘act of enormous foolishness’ for dumping the terms BC and AD in case they cause offence to non-Christians. The Roman Catholic Church also severely criticised the ‘senseless hypocrisy’ of Britain’s public service broadcaster for using a false respect for other religions to purge Christianity from Western culture. ‘It is by now very clear that respect for other religions is only an excuse, because those who wish to erase every trace of Christianity from Western culture are only a few secular westerners,’ said a front page editorial in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official...

(CNSNews.com) – Will same-sex marriage ceremonies be allowed at the Catholic Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point? “The answer is ‘no,’” said Taylor Henry, director of public affairs and media relations for the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and spokesman for Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who certifies all Catholic chaplains for the armed services. “Holy Trinity is an actual Catholic parish, unlike the non-denominational chapels that are found on other military installations, and the only services held there are Catholic services. The Catholic Church does not perform the sacrament of matrimony...

Conflict between Pentagon and Catholic military chaplains brews over ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ Published: 5:06 AM 06/07/2010 | Updated: 5:04 PM 04/26/2011 By Paul Conner - The Daily Caller Bio | Archive | Email Paul Conner   (From left) Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the U.S. military, Pope Benedict XVI, and then-President George W. Bush during the Popes 2008 visit to the United States. The archbishop for the U.S. military spoke out for the first time against the effort to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” setting up a possible conflict between Pentagon brass and the 285 Roman Catholic priests who...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TivVcfSBVSM

An elderly priest on the Acadian Peninsula has been barred from performing church services in the Bathurst diocese after he made remarks about homosexuals and women who have had an abortion. Rev. Donat Gionet, 85, gave the sermon at the Roman Catholic church in Saint-Léolin while replacing the regular parish priest late last month. He stands by the comments he made in Saint-Léolin, a village of about 730 people located about 50 kilometres east of Bathurst. Reached in Caraquet on Wednesday, Gionet declined an interview but did provide a written statement. In a letter written in French that he provided...

Dolores Hope supported Catholic causes Bob Hope's widow was a lifelong Catholic. By Catholic News Service   Dolores Hope (right) was responsible for the conversion of her husband, Bob, to Catholicism. She died Sept. 19 at the age of 102. By Catholic News Service LOS ANGELES — Dolores Hope, a lifelong Catholic who was the widow of comedian Bob Hope and an entertainer in her own right, died Sept. 19 at age 102 at her home in Toluca Lake outside of Los Angeles. A family spokesman said she died of natural causes. "Dolores Hope was a Catholic of deep and...

Wow. This definitely represents a significant escalation of tone and includes the threat of consequences if the Obama administration does not, as this letter from Archbishop Timothy Dolan to the President calls for, “push the reset button� on their multipronged efforts to undermine marriage and treat Catholics who believe in marriage as bigots.Abp. Dolan is careful to point out that his opinion represents the view of the bishops conference: The Justice Department‟s move [to undermine DOMA], in addition to other troubling federal decisions occurring recently, prompts me yet again to register my grave concerns. The content of this letter reflects...

An elderly priest on the Acadian Peninsula has been barred from performing church services in the Bathurst diocese after he made remarks about homosexuals and women who have had an abortion. Rev. Donat Gionet, 85, gave the sermon at the Roman Catholic church in Saint-Léolin while replacing the regular parish priest late last month. He stands by the comments he made in Saint-Léolin, a village of about 730 people located about 50 kilometres east of Bathurst. Reached in Caraquet on Wednesday, Gionet declined an interview but did provide a written statement. In a letter written in French that he provided...

Dear Mr. President: I write with a growing sense of urgency about recent actions taken by your Administration that both escalate the threat to marriage and imperil the religious freedom of those who promote and defend marriage. This past spring the Justice Department announced that it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court, a decision strongly opposed by the Catholic Bishops of the United States and many others. Now the Justice Department has shifted from not defending DOMA-which is problem enough, given the duty of the executive branch to enforce even laws it disfavors-to actively...

"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken….” A Reflection on the Sin of GossipBy: Msgr. Charles Pope One of the more under-rated categories of sin are the sins of speech. There are many ways we sin, but perhaps the most common way is by speech. Too easily, almost without thought, do we engage in gossip, idle chatter, lies, exaggerations, harsh attacks, uncharitable observations and remarks. With our tongue we can spread hatred, incite fear and maliciousness, spread misinformation, cause temptation, discourage, teach error,...

When Joseph Ratzinger became pope in 2005, Catholics in Germany joyfully celebrated the first German pope in almost 500 years. Since then, the euphoria has turned to disappointment and disillusionment. Benedict XVI's visit to Germany this week will do little to heal the deep divide between conservatives and reformers in the German Church. One thing is already clear: The two men will be all smiles when they meet. Sticking to the Rules Benedict is scheduled to arrive at Berlin's Olympic Stadium at 6 p.m., where he will celebrate mass and meet with Berlin's openly gay Mayor, Klaus Wowereit. Will the...

In 1974, a Trabant -- an old East German car -- was chugging through the Thuringian countryside, a province in the communist German Democratic Republic.In its passenger seat sat Professor Joseph Ratzinger and at the wheel was Father Joachim Wanke, then an assistant at a local seminary -- the only one in the GDR.The two priests, writes Rainer Erice, a journalist for the German radio station Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk Thüringen (MDR), were on a harmless sightseeing tour, taking in the historic cities of Jena and Weimar. It was a moment of relaxation during Father Ratzinger's short visit to East Germany, the...

Many readers of the New York Times no doubt believe that Pope Pius XII was "Hitler's Pope." John Cornwell's bestselling book told them that, and it's been reaffirmed by Garry Wills, Daniel Goldhagen and other writers since. It's been said so often in fact that most well-read liberals know it for a certainty. The only trouble is: it isn't true. Not only does it contradict the words of Holocaust survivors, the founders of Israel, and the contemporary record of the New York Times, but even John Cornwell, the originator of the phrase "Hitler's pope," has recanted it saying that he...

Bob Russell EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (CBS 2) – He says he can’t take it anymore.A gay choir director at a Catholic Church in New Jersey has quit his job because he says the priest is making his work environment hostile.But does he have a case?St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in East Rutherford is where Bob Russell has been the choir director for decades. On Thursday, however, the 55-year-old was taking boxes into the parish to pack up his belongings.“Felt that I was put into a position that I had to resign my job because of my sexuality,� Russell told CBS...

Michael Voris is the favourite talking head of the Catholic Taliban, that motley crew of traditionalists who believe in way-out stuff like “abortion is evil” and “Jesus rose on the third day”. He runs his own online TV station in Michigan and has hair so unreal it could be miraculous. In an age when the average priest seems to get the life – and the theology – sucked out of him at seminary, Voris speaks with clarity and humour. This is the man who dismissed liberal nuns as Marxists “embracing lesbianism”, “yoga” and “witchcraft”. He became a viral sensation after...

(snip) As far as I know there is no “Guide to Catholic Comboxes for Anti-Catholics” but I thought it would look something like this: 1) If the writer of a Catholic blog has raised the specter of something being immoral (like say abortion), the angry comboxer must bring up the sex abuse scandal as a way of discounting anything or everything any Catholic writer says about anything.... 2) Anytime a conversation actually starts where something might be learned it’s always helpful to accuse the Pope of being a Nazi... 3) In the 21st century it’s become commonplace to accuse opponents...

VIENNA — There is open rebellion among the clergy of Austria's Catholic Church. One highly placed man of the cloth has even warned about the risk of a coming schism as significant numbers of priests are refusing obedience to the Pope and bishops for the first time in memory. The 300-plus supporters of the so-called Priests' Initiative have had enough of what they call the church's "delaying" tactics, and they are advocating pushing ahead with policies that openly defy current practices. These include letting nonordained people lead religious services and deliver sermons; making communion available to divorced people who have...

This is a religious vanity post I suppose. I am a Christian raised mainly Baptist with some attendance at other denominations. I have, in the course of my life, had a couple of experiences of the intercession of the Holy Virgin for my help and Protection. I have also witnessed the Mass a few times as an outsider and felt drawn away from my Protestant identity. The order and sense of Apostolic succession appeals to me in the Church as opposed to the churches. However, my main point of confusion now is whether to draw close to the Roman Catholic...

The news outlets CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and Newsweek have come under fire by Philadelphia’s incoming Archbishop, for a lack of “trustworthiness” where matters of religious faith are concerned. According to Archbishop Charles Chaput, the media do not “provide trustworthy information about religious faith. ” His comments were made Wednesday during an address on religious freedom before some 10,000 pilgrims at the Catholic World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain. Archbishop Chaput told the group of young faith-goers, “in the United States, our battles over abortion, family life, same-sex ‘marriage,’ and other sensitive issues have led to ferocious public...

Madrid - Pope Benedict XVI warned in a speech to more than one million pilgrims in Madrid that marriage is between a man and a woman and cannot be dissolved... "The Lord calls many people to marriage, in which a man and a woman, in becoming one flesh, find fulfilment in a profound life of communion," he told the young pilgrims. A Vatican spokesman said on Sunday as many as 1.5 million pilgrims had gathered to hear the pope. Marriage was a project for true love, deepened by sharing joys and sorrows, and marked by "complete self-giving", said the pope....

A married Roman Catholic priest from Burnley has said he believes the church is correct to prefer single celibate clergy in their parishes. Father Paul Blackburn is the most recently ordained priest into the Salford Diocese. He is married with three children. A former Anglican minister, Father Paul embraced Catholicism after growing dissatisfied with the direction the Church of England was taking on some moral issues. He said single priests are better placed to serve God by giving their entire life to his ministry. "Whatever the church decides about the future shape of ministry there will always be a need...

From a reader: Why do these liberals and people like in the LCWR stay in the Church?  Wouldn’t it make sense for them to go to the Anglicans?  They could be wymynpriests there and do all the crazy stuff they like instead of forcing it on faithful Catholics. Good points.  And you may remember my facetious post about Romanorum coetibus.I have often pondered this very thing.  If they are so unhappy with the present state of things, why not just go?But I think we have to change our lens when we look at them.  They see themselves as righteous agents...

SALTILLO, August 12, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Raul Vera López of the Diocese of Saltillo, Mexico, will be meeting with Vatican officials in late August or early September to discuss his affiliation with a homosexual organization that embraces the “gay” lifestyle and condones homosexual relationships. The diocese’s spokeswoman, Maria Arriaga, confirmed the meeting yesterday to the French Press Agency (AFP). The bishop will travel to Rome to “respond to questions that they will ask him about the work that he carries out currently with the community of San Aelredo,” Arriaga told the agency. She added that “up to now, this...

FARGO, North Dakota, August 11, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Church should seek the conversion of pro-abortion politicians, but if they remain obstinate they should be expelled from the Church, says Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo. The Bishop proposed in an interview with Catholic World Report this week that Bishops should take their cue from the Gospel of Matthew in handling pro-abortion politicians. “Our Lord tells us to speak to the person, and then take two or three others with us if he does not change,” he said. “If he still does not change, the Church can speak to him,...

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has rejected an appeal from Baltimore’s Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, who urged him not to promote same-sex marriage out of “mere political expediency.” Responding to a personal letter from the archbishop, O’Malley—who is Catholic—said that he felt a moral obligation to change a law that produces an “unjust result.” Archbishop O’Brien wrote to O’Malley in July, warning him not to endorse a measure “that so deeply conflicts with your faith, not to mention the best interests of our society.” In his reply, the governor said that he has “a public obligation to try to change that injustice.”...

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on new survey data profiling Catholicism:All we ever hear from the wild-eyed critics of the Catholic Church, including the dissidents within, is that the Church had better "get with it" and change its teachings on abortion, homosexuality and women's ordination. Yet it is precisely those religious institutions that are the most liberal on these issues—the mainline Protestant denominations—that are collapsing. Not so the Catholic Church. Indeed, its numbers are going north while the mainline denominations are going south.The latest findings by the "Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership" project, a collaborative effort with Georgetown University's...

June 11, 2011 saw one more parade to glorify the vice of homosexuality. Dubbed, Europride or Eurogaypride, it was held in Rome, once known as the Eternal City, the center of Catholicism. The expression, “homosexual pride” summarizes the essence of the homosexual ideology. Let us see how.Pride and revolt against God Sin is a revolt against the order established by God and, therefore, a revolt against the Creator Himself. The more this revolt becomes manifest, the greater is the sin. Man can sin out of weakness and feel shame for his sin and desire to make amends; or he...

In a decision reminiscent of the Catholic Church’s refusal to hold a funeral mass in 2005 for openly gay businessman John McCusker, Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Little Italy has canceled a funeral mass scheduled this Thursday morning for openly gay businessman John Sanfilippo, owner of the SRO Lounge, a popular gay cocktail bar. Sanfilippo died on Friday, June 24. City Commissioner Nicole Murray Ramirez, a friend of the Sanfilippo family, talked to his partner of 30 years, Brian Galvin. “The Sanfilippo family and Brian are, of course, devastated and are trying to get the mass in another...

China's state-controlled Catholic church says it wants to quickly ordain at least 40 bishops, a move likely to further aggravate tensions with the Vatican. The official Xinhua news agency quoted Yang Yu, spokesman for the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, as saying more than 40 of the country's 97 dioceses were without a bishop. The report said Church leaders agreed at a recent meeting that the church would strive to select and ordain bishops at those diocese without delay. Tensions between Beijing and the Vatican have been high since an official church gathering in December which, the Vatican says, bishops...

Betrayal -- that's what living a cafeteria lifestyle means, so it's hard to feel too sorry for proud, self-proclaimed "cafeteria Catholic" Maria Shriver who is experiencing the reality of betrayal from her cafeteria husband. In 2008, Shriver told the world, via the Washington Post's religion blog, that she chooses what she wants from Church teaching: "Even though I consider myself a Catholic in good standing, I disagree with a lot of the teachings of the Church....I don’t believe that if someone’s divorced they shouldn’t get Communion; I don’t believe that people who are gay shouldn’t be accepted into the...

Arizona's immoral, un-American law Most Americans (61%) support Arizona's controversial anti-immigrant law (Arizona SB 1070), even though they think it is likely to discriminate against Latinos and Latinas who are not undocumented immigrants. Favoring injustice against anyone is immoral: when directed against U.S. citizens, that attitude is also un-American. So what does Catholic America think about an immoral, un-American law? Sadly, most people supporting the Arizona measure have not read the legislation. I know that the legal issues will be scrutinized and argued in courts. The two key matters concern A) jurisdiction and B) biased enforcement. Arizona's lawmakers think they...

Public expressions of piety at civic events may tell us something about a culture, but they rarely disclose geopolitical ambitions or strategic designs. One exception to that general rule of religion and public life took place this past February, in Kiev, capital of Ukraine—an exercise in hardball politics under the veil of public piety that was, in fact, a harbinger of danger for religious freedom, for Ukrainian democracy, and for the future of Europe. Prior to Ukraine’s two previous presidential inaugurations, an ecumenical and interreligious prayer service had been held at the Church of Holy Wisdom in the Ukrainian capital,...

Following an Arizona bishop's condemnation of an abortion that occurred at a local Catholic hospital, prominent Catholic leaders from around the globe are voicing their support for the prelate, writing that they “stand in solidarity” with him amid fierce criticism from the media.On Friday of last week, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix publicly condemned an abortion that took place late last year in the city's St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. The mother was 11 weeks pregnant and was seriously ill with pulmonary hypertension, the Washington Post reported. An ethics committee which included doctors and hospital executive Sr. Margaret...

The pope made his comments in an address to diplomats in his yearly assessment of world events. The main theme of the address was the environment and the protection of creation. "To carry our reflection further, we must remember that the problem of the environment is complex; one might compare it to a multifaceted prism," he said. "Creatures differ from one another and can be protected, or endangered, in different ways, as we know from daily experience. One such attack comes from laws or proposals which, in the name of fighting discrimination, strike at the biological basis of the difference...

Wednesday December 9, 2009 Moral and Mental Pollution from the Media "Harden Hearts and Darken Minds": Pope Benedict By Hilary White, Rome correspondentROME, December 10, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - While the world's leaders are meeting in Copenhagen to talk about the problem of "climate change," Pope Benedict XVI has addressed the problem of moral pollution through the media. Speaking on Monday at an annual ceremony near Rome's Spanish Steps for the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the pope said that pollution of society's moral environment is as dangerous to the human person as pollution of the natural environment. The pontiff...

LONDON (CNS) -- The Catholic bishops of England and Wales said they could be at risk of prosecution under a proposed law unless they accept women, sexually active gays and transsexuals as candidates to the priesthood. They made their claims in a briefing for Catholic members of the House of Lords, Britain's upper political chamber, ahead of a scheduled Dec. 15 debate on the Equality Bill, which aims to stamp out discrimination in the workplace. The bishops said the bill defines priests as employees rather than officeholders. Under the terms of the bill, the church would be immune from prosecution...

The writer Andrew Sullivan sits across the table from you on Chris Matthews' Hardball praising gay-marriage as a symbol of the homosexual community's desire to join the mainstream. He is a Catholic, conservative in many things, and a highly articulate spokesman for his point-of-view. What do you say? The requisite conservative on pundit panels usually falls back on citing heterosexual marriage's 5,000 year history as society's basic building block. Marriage has always been between a man and a woman. 65% of the American people are against homosexual unions. Etc. That's not going to get it. It's a way of brushing...

Do you wonder why 2008 election data shows that the majority of Catholics voted for Barack Obama even though his record as Illinois state senator proves him the most pro-abortion candidate who ever ran for president? Perhaps one answer is that on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, millions of Catholics will again be putting in their church's collection plate their annual donation to what the pre-printed envelope calls "Campaign for Human Development: The Catholic Church working to end poverty and injustice in America; We'll turn your dollars into hope for the poor of our nation." The generous Catholics who respond to...

Cardinal James Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, delivered a lecture on Thursday saying that the future under President-elect Obama will echo Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane. Criticizing Obama as “aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic,” he went on to speak about a decline in respect for human life and the need for Catholics to return to the values of marriage and human dignity. Delivered at the Catholic University of America, the cardinal’s lecture was titled “Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II: Being True in Body and Soul,” the student university paper The Tower reports. Hosted...

Although a week has passed since California voters overturned that state's Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, the state has felt numerous aftershocks as gay rights activists have mounted large-scale protests directed at supporters of Prop 8, specifically the Mormon church. ... Demonstrations outside Mormon temples were reported over the weekend throughout California and more are anticipated nationwide. The Mormon church, however, is not the only Prop 8 supporter coming under criticism for its role in the controversial election, as Catholics and Evangelical churches have seen protests, as well. An estimated 10,000 gay-rights protesters gathered in San Diego, Calif. outside...

Fresh off of his election victory, President-elect Barack Obama is already facing a fight from another opponent – the Catholic Church – on the issue of abortion. "Anytime someone like him, someone with his position [on abortion] is elected to a major office, it increases the difficulty for us," Ed Mechmann, of the NY Archdiocese, said. Mechmann says that at their annual meeting this week, the nation's Catholic bishops are discussing how to tackle Obama's support of the Freedom of Choice Act. That act, which currently stands before Congress, seeks to overturn the 2003 legislation signed by President Bush that...

<p>In an address delivered on October 17, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput stated that ''Prof. Douglas Kmiec has a strong record of service to the Church and the nation in his past. But I think his activism for Senator Barack Obama, and the work of Democratic-friendly groups like Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, have done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress pro-lifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn.''</p>

Some of you will remember my recent decision to become a Catholic. I suppose I should be surprised it ended getting derailed into a 'Catholic vs. Protestant' thread, but after going further into the Religion forum, I suppose it's par for the course. There seems to be a bit of big issue concerning Mary. I wanted to share an observation of sorts. Now...although I was formerly going by 'Sola Scriptura', my father was born and raised Catholic, so I do have some knowledge of Catholic doctrine (not enough, at any rate...so consider all observations thusly). Mary as a 'co-redeemer', Mary...

THE 95 THESES by Martin Luther 1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent" (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.3. Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.4. The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true inner repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of...