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Washington D.C., Nov 6, 2014 / 08:41 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In the wake of an intense Synod on the Family, a leading voice supporting admission to Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics said different sides on Church debates should not use Pope Francis' words to bolster their own agenda. Speaking at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 6, Cardinal Walter Kasper aimed to explain Pope Francis and his pontificate. The emeritus president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity spoke as the recipient of the 2014 Johannes Quasten Award. In attempting to understand the Pope,...

Featured Term (selected at random:IMMOVABLE MOVER God as the ultimate cause of all motion or change in the universe, himself remaining unchanged. The term used by Aristotle and later by St. Thomas Aquinas, i.e., motor immobile, where motor means the one who changes, and immobile is unchangeable. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Faith Brings Comfort, But Not at First – A Reflection on a Teaching by Peter Kreeft By: Msgr. Charles Pope For ongoing education and spiritual growth, I am always reading. One of the books I am currently reading is Peter Kreeft’s Angels and Demons. As most of you know, I have often expressed concern that angels have been sentimentalized and even trivialized. Most people’s conception of angels is far from what the Bible describes! If you have read Peter Kreeft, you know that very few people can express things as well as he does. Thus I would like to give you...

Forgive me, Lord, if I use your words for an admonitory parable. You said to the Pharisees, “What man among you, having a hundred sheep, and learning that one of them has wandered into the wilderness, will not leave the ninety nine and go after the lost sheep? And when he has found it, will he not call his friends and say, Rejoice with me, for I have found the sheep that was lost?” That is why you came among us, to call sinners back to the fold. Not to pet and stroke them for being sinners, because that is...

They are coming for the Doctrine. 1600+ years ago, when noxious Arian heresies were proposed to a group of bishops, they bishops didn’t just politely sit their awaiting their turn to vote, they did not wait for a mid-term report to be released, they went on the attack, to the extent of St. Nicholas breaking Arius’ jaw. They would not listen to the heresies (as Saint John advised), pandemonium broke out in the hall (in the presence of the Emperor of all the civilized world), and the orthodox bishops stormed out. I pray our bishops get some of the zeal...

In June of this year, the largest Presbyterian denomination in America voted to allow their clergy to perform same-sex “marriages” within the church, thus joining the ranks of other Protestant denominations, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Episcopalian Church, and United Church of Christ.This “evolution” of theology and “modernizing” of church doctrine is a trend that I predict we’ll continue to see in non-Catholic Christian circles for years to come, and not just with marriage. Today, nearly all Protestant denominations support and even advocate the use of artificial birth control, and many allow at least some level of support for...

Featured Term (selected at random:VINCIBLE IGNORANCE Lack of knowledge for which a person is morally responsible. It is culpable ignorance because it could be cleared up if the person used sufficient diligence. One is said to be simply (but culpably) ignorant if one fails to make enough effort to learn what should be known; guilt then depends on one's lack of effort to clear up the ignorance. That person is crassly ignorant when the lack of knowledge is not directly willed but rather due to neglect or laziness; as a result the guilt is somewhat lessened, but in grave matters...

Why Did Christ Humble Himself in the Face of Evil? By: Msgr. Charles PopeEarlier this week we read the magnificent hymn from Philippians, which sings of the Humility of Jesus:Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,Who, though he was in the form of God,did not regard equality with Godsomething to be grasped.Rather, he emptied himself,taking the form of a slave,coming in human likeness;and, found human in appearance,he humbled himself,becoming obedient to death,even death on a cross (Phil 2:5-8).Why this incredible humility? The Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, had always enjoyed His Father’s love...

Editor’s note: it is not our standard practice to publish excerpted content from another publication as one of our features. In this instance, however, we believe that the significance of the post-synodal interview with Bishop Athanasius Schneider warrants the full attention of our readers. In an interview with the Polish magazine Polonia Christiana, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Kazakhstan, offers strong criticism of the proceedings of the recent Extraordinary Synod on Marriage and Family, which he predicts “will remain for the future generations and for the historians a black mark which has stained...

Breaking: Pope to host international conference on complementarity of man and woman By Joshua Mercer Big news, just announced by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:Rome, November 3rd, 2014.On November 17-19, 2014, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will host a colloquium in Vatican City, in cooperation with the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, on the subject of the Complementarity of Man and Woman in Marriage. It is a global, interreligious meeting featuring representatives from 14 religious traditions and 23 countries. The colloquium will...

Featured Term (selected at random:NERO The dissolute, corrupt Emperor of Rome who ruled from A.D. 54 to 68 and ended his life by suicide when the Roman Senate replaced him on the throne and sentenced him to death. Nowhere in the New Testament is Nero mentioned by name, although the Caesar" referred to in Acts 25 is Nero. When Paul was on trial before Porcius Festus, he stood on his rights as a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar for justice (Acts 25:1-12). He was released after Agrippa heard his defense (Acts 26:1). Later, however, in A.D. 65, Nero was...

Dr. Holly Ordway Growing up, Holly Ordway was convinced God was little more than superstition, completely unsupported by evidence or reason. She later attained a PhD in literature, traveled the country as a competitive fencer, and became a college English professor, none of which left room for God.But one day a smart and respected friend surprisingly revealed he was a Christian. That sent Holly on a search for the truth about God, one that weaved through literature, aesthetics, imagination, and history. It culminated in 2012 when she entered the Catholic Church.Holly recounts her probing journey in a new memoir, Not God's Type:...

Traditions of a Global Flood by John D. Morris, Ph.D. * Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (1 Corinthians 1:20) One of the strongest evidences for the global Flood that annihilated all people on Earth except for Noah and his family has been the presence of flood legends in the folklore of people groups from around the world. And the stories are all so similar. Local geography and cultural aspects may be present, but they all seem to be telling the...

The Road to Hell is Paved With…Indifference. A Meditation on a Warning by Jesus By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe Gospel from today’s Mass (Tuesday of the 31st week of the year) features the familiar Lucan version of the parable of a certain man (in the Matthew version (Mat 22:2), Jesus calls him a king) who gave a banquet. But when all was prepared and the servants were sent out to fetch the invited guests, many of them made excuses, preferring not to come:The first said to him,‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it;I ask you, consider...

The recent Synod on the Family, part one, created confusion among many people from the moment it was announced. In addition, not everyone knew that “the Extraordinary General Assembly would be followed by an Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2015, on the same topics.” The events this past October were nothing more than round one on Catholic doctrine, pastoral leadership, and subjects related to the family. But what also became clear is that some of the topics addressed by the bishops at the synod are more than a little contentious. Among these are the questions...

Featured Term (selected at random:BIBLICAL UNIVERSALISM The anti-nationalist teaching of the Hebrew prophets that God's salvific will included other nations, and not only the people of Israel. This is particularly true of the prophet Jonah. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Why Did Paul Get Arrested at Philippi, and What Can a Sometimes Timid Church Learn From It? By: Msgr. Charles PopeThere is a story of St. Paul’s arrest, beating, and imprisonment at Philippi that serves as a kind of metaphor for the radical nature of true Christianity and why it so perturbs many in this world. The Christian faith, its message, and the transformation it can effect can be very unsettling to a world that figuratively and literally “banks on” sin. Let’s consider this lesser- known story of Paul and see what it ought to mean for us if we take the Christian...

Featured Term (selected at random:DOUAY BIBLE The sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English translation of the Bible, begun at the English College, Douai, Flanders. The college was later moved to Reims, where the New Testament was completed and published. The Old Testament translation was issued some years later, when the college returned to Douai. The translation, which sought for accuracy rather than literary style, was made from the Latin Vulgate, careful[ly] compared with the original Hebrew and Greek. It was mainly the work of Gregory Martin (d. 1582). In the eighteenth century it was considerably revised by Bishop Challoner (1691-1781) and until...

A post Satan did not want published? But Here it is anyway: In These Dark Days, the Church Needs Her Men to be Men By: Msgr. Charles PopeThis is a post that Satan apparently did not like. When I posted it last Thursday, the Server of the Archdiocese (literally) burnt up within an hour or two of posting. And while things are slowly coming back online, the post you are about to read could not be found in the archive file, anywhere. Thanks be to God some intrepid readers (at dclatinmass.com) had saved the post which I had not had...

Coming Wednesday Cardinal Raymond Burke was supposed to celebrate an old-rite Mass in the Vienna parish church of St. Leopold which belongs to the very rich monastery of Klosterneuburg. But the Mass was cancelled. The provost of Klosterneuburg, Father Bernhard Backovsky has personally forbidden the local pastor to allow the Cardinal to celebrate.