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Every bishop is called to be “a servant of communion” working tirelessly to overcome divisions so that differences become a treasure and not a source of conflict, Pope Francis has said. The Christian community should be “like a great mosaic in which every small piece joins with others as part of God’s one great plan”, the Pope said yesterdat as he celebrated the feast of Ss Peter and Paul and bestowed the pallium on 34 archbishops from 19 countries. snip Pope Francis said that when he gave the archbishops their palliums as a sign of communion, it was not a...

An interfaith gathering in London to pray for peace has been pronounced a welcome first by the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. The event, held at Westminster Cathedral Hall on 13 June, was the highlight of a four-day visit by the cardinal, who told The Tablet that the gathering was uniquely British and "beautiful". The London gathering was inspired by the Day of Prayer for Peace convened by Pope John Paul II in 1986 at Assisi. Representatives of nine religions delivered prayers and reflections in their own tradition, then placed a pot of white...

It’s ironic to me that my recent article, “Fifty Years Later—Vatican II’s Unfinished Business,” has provoked anger among many traditionalists, because for most of my priesthood I have angered liberals who consider me an arch traditionalist. Nevertheless I want to respond to those traditionalists who include both the SSPX and my fellow Catholics still fully united to the Church. I assure you of my prayers and support for your passionate defense of Church practices through the ages.Nevertheless, I stand fully by my article and support the Second Vatican Council, called by one pope, John XXIII, and brought to a close...

“Freemasonry, Vatican II and 1960” By John Salza Consecration Now Conference Rome, May 13, 2011 There is a body of clear and compelling testimony from the likes of Cardinal Pacelli (future Pope Pius XII), Fr. Fuentes, Fr. Alonso, Fr. Schweigl ,Cardinal Oddi, Cardinal Ciappi, Fr. Malachi Martin, and even Cardinal Ratzinger (the future pope Benedict XVI) that the Third Secret of Fatima, not yet revealed by the Vatican, predicts a spiritual crisis in the bosom of the Church. In this presentation, I am going to elaborate on this theme, by demonstrating that this crisis is nothing less than a world...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Two popes prayed together Friday at the Vatican, one Catholic and one Orthodox, in a sign of improving ties following the election of new leaders for both churches. Pope Francis welcomed the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, Pope Tawadros II, in the first such meeting at the Vatican in 40 years, saying his visit "strengthens the bonds of friendship and brotherhood" between the two churches. The Coptic and Catholic churches split in the fifth century over theocratic differences. Christians comprise about 10 percent of Egypt's population. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt counts...

(CNS/Paul Haring) By Cindy WoodenCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While some Catholics would like to undo the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, others basically are trying to build a monument to it rather than fully live its teachings, Pope Francis said. In his homily April 16 at an early morning Mass in the chapel of his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, Pope Francis said Christians must struggle with the temptation to tame the Holy Spirit. "To speak plainly: The Holy Spirit annoys us," he said. The Spirit "moves us, makes us walk, pushes the church to...

Recently there has been some vigorous discussion around the question of the Council, continuity and rupture. Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI shared his own reflections on this subject, which has been published on the Vatican Radio website here: Pope Benedict's Last Great Master Class: Vatican II, as I saw it. The entire address can be read over there, but I thought I would publish the following excerpts which should be of particular interest to NLM readers: ... we went to the Council not only with joy, but with enthusiasm. The expectation was incredible. We hoped that everything would be renewed, that...

MARYKNOLL, NY, November 21, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has canonically dismissed Roy Bourgeois from the priesthood because of his public dissent from the Catholic Church’s teaching on the ordination of women. Bourgeois’ dismissal was announced by the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, also known as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, in a Nov. 19 statement. As a Maryknoll priest during 2008, Bourgeois participated in a mock ordination of a woman and a simulated Mass at a Unitarian church in Lexington, Kentucky. The radical feminist group Roman Catholic Womanpriests staged the ceremony....

To be deep into history, John Henry Newman wrote, is to cease to be a Protestant. Put another way, to be deep into history is to become stronger in the Catholic faith—something we are all called to do in this Year of Faith.To make that journey into the history of our faith is to discover anew its most basic tenets. Who was Jesus really? How can God be three persons in one being? What is the proper role of the Church in salvation? And how does Mary fit into all this?These questions, and many more, were raised and answered in...

On the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council "An Event of Light That Shines Forth Even Until Today" VATICAN, OCTOBER 10, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today in St. Peter’s Square. On this Eve of the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, the Holy Father dedicated his reflection to the importance of rediscovering the conciliar documents. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, We have arrived at the eve of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and the beginning of the Year of Faith....

The modern history of the Catholic Church has rarely followed the historical arc imagined for it.In the early 19th century, the Church in France was awash in Jacobin-drawn blood, and the Church throughout Europe was reeling from two papal kidnappings by Napoleon. No one imagined that, in the decades just ahead, Catholicism would flourish in the new United States and that the Church’s mission to sub-Saharan Africa would begin in earnest, led by new religious orders founded in the aftermath of the French Revolution.In 1870, when Piux IX retreated behind the Leonine Wall and became the “prisoner of the...

Pope Benedict leads Corpus Christi procession in Rome on June 7, 2012. Rome, Italy, Jun 7, 2012 / 05:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI says the Second Vatican Council did not reject Eucharistic adoration outside of Mass, including the Corpus Christi procession that he led this evening in Rome. “One unilateral interpretation of the Second Vatican Council has penalized this dimension, restricting in practice the Eucharist to the moment of celebration,” the Pope said during his homily for the Feast of Corpus Christi on June 7. “In this case, the accentuation placed on the celebration of the Eucharist acted...

 Traditionalistsby Sebastian R. FamaThere are a number of Traditionalist groups who reject the Second Vatican Council and the changes that followed. They consider those who have accepted the changes to be what they call "The Conciliar Church." They somehow imagine that members of this "Conciliar Church" are no longer Catholic and that they themselves are the loyal remnant. Traditionalists are well aware that ecumenical councils have always spoken with authority. They try to get around this by claiming that Vatican II was a pastoral and not a doctrinal council. A pastoral council, they contend, can teach error and thus does...

Just mentioned by Andrea Tornielli for La Stampa: Lefebvrists: the positive response has arrived 17.09.2012 (1900 GMT - 2100 Rome) The Superior of the Society of Saint Pius X has signed the doctrinal preamble proposed by the Holy See, even if with some slight modifications ANDREA TORNIELLI CITTÀ DEL VATICANO The response of the Society of Saint Pius X has arrived in the Vatican and it is positive: according to the informal information gathered by Vatican Insider, Bishop Bernard Fellay would have signed the doctrinal preamble that the Holy See had proposed last September as a condition to reach full...

There was something awful about the year 1968.I was but a lad at the time, merely seven or eight years of age, but almost everything on the T.V. terrified me. Terrible reports from Viet Nam, (where my father was at the time), the Tet Offensive nightly reports of death and casualties (was my daddy one of the ones killed?). Riots and anti-war demonstrations in America’s cities and college campuses. The first stirrings of militant feminism. A second hideous year of hippies with their “summer of love” nonsense, which was just an excuse for selfish, spoiled college kids to get high,...

DETROIT, Michigan, December 23, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - For many years faithful Catholics have wished that bishops would take strong action to correct the myriad of Catholic persons and entities who, while claiming to be Catholic, act against the faith, especially regarding issues of Catholic morality. Catholic pro-abortion politicians, Catholic hospitals that perform clandestine abortions and sterilizations; Catholic universities that constantly violate the faith in many ways, Catholic newspapers and magazines that have been challenging Church teachings and authority for years, all come to mind. Now, today, news broke that the Archdiocese of Detroit has called on someone to stop using...

Bishop Bernard Fellay, the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX), said it in his sermon of December 8: the Roman proposals are at each time more interesting, but in their formulations there remains a point with a bitter taste, that demands before everything else the concession that Vatican II is consistent with the Tradition of the Church. Following the declarations of His Swiss Excellency, pressure mounts, minds are enkindled. Now that the familiar sirens wave anew the red flag of definitive schism, that vaticanist Tornielli lets himself be taken by feeling - by imagining...

From Our Store: Essays in Apologetics, Volume I (eBook) What is finally emerging as the sticking point between the Vatican and the Society of Saint Pius X is the question of the assent owed to the Second Vatican Council. This is now the subject of an important essay in L’Osservatore Romano by one of the key negotiators for the Vatican, the vicar general of Opus Dei, Msgr. Fernando Ocariz. Note that there is a link to the full text at the end of our news story, which itself includes substantial quotations.I hate to say I told you so, but Msgr. Ocariz...

Q. Why is the Doctrinal Preamble that Cardinal Levada delivered to you on September 14 still surrounded by so much secrecy, both on the part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and by the Society of St. Pius X? What is this silence hiding from the priests and faithful of Tradition? A. This discretion is normal for any important proceeding; it ensures the seriousness of it. It so happens that the Doctrinal Preamble that was delivered to us is a document which can be clarified and modified, as the accompanying note points out. It is not a...

St. Pius X Society superior general Bishop Bernard Fellay Rome, Italy, Nov 29, 2011 / 01:16 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X says he will inform the Vatican “in the next few days” that they cannot give the doctrinal reassurances required of them to advance reconciliation with the Catholic Church.“It is true that this Doctrinal Preamble cannot receive our endorsement,” said Bishop Bernard Fellay on the society’s website, Nov. 28. However, Bishop Fellay said his understanding is that the document is “not a definite text” and that it “can be clarified and...