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Near-death experience Many stories of those who tell of the phenomenon often don’t reflect what we know through Scripture Msgr. Charles Pope 9/16/2015 Question: I read a book by an author who had a near-death experience and claims that God told him that one’s belief system was irrelevant. This seems like New Age indifferentism. Can you comment on near-death phenomena and what this author said?— Bob Tisovich, Ely, Minnesota Answer: Near-death experiences (NDEs) seem to be a rather widely reported phenomenon with certain common features. One has an “out of body” experience with a reported capacity to see oneself...

September 19, 2015 Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Tm 6:13-16 Beloved:I charge you before God, who gives life to all things,and before Christ Jesus,who gave testimony under Pontius Pilatefor the noble confession,to keep the commandment without stain or reproachuntil the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christthat the blessed and only rulerwill make manifest at the proper time,the King of kings and Lord of lords,who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light,and whom no human being has seen or can see.To him be honor and eternal power. Amen. Responsorial Psalm PS 100:1b-2, 3,...

ROME, September 15, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) -- Life and family leaders worldwide are alarmed by a list the Vatican released today containing the names of those who will participate in the upcoming Synod on the Family, including a special list of 45 prelates handpicked by Pope Francis, many of whom publicly support positions contrary to the teaching or practice of the Catholic Church. “The Ordinary Synod has a heterodox agenda and many of the prelates attending it have already shown themselves either supportive of that agenda or unwilling to resist it,” stated Voice of the Family, a group of Catholic laity...

At practically the same time that Barack Obama has decided that the US has to shut its eyes to dissenters in Cuba suffering under the yoke of oppression by the Castros, he plans to offer a lesson in dissent to Pope Francis. Obama has extended invitations for the pontiff’s first state visit to transgender activists, a gay Episcopal bishop, and the leader of a group of nuns that want changes to Catholic teachings on abortion and euthanasia. Needless to say, the Vatican is not pleased with this attempt to lecture Francis on catechesis, as longtime Vaticanista Francis X. Rocca reports...

On the eve of Pope Francis’s arrival in the U.S., the Vatican has taken offense at the Obama administration’s decision to invite to the pope’s welcome ceremony transgender activists, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and an activist nun who leads a group criticized by the Vatican for its silence on abortion and euthanasia. According to a senior Vatican official, the Holy See worries that any photos of the pope with these guests at the White House welcoming ceremony next Wednesday could be interpreted as an endorsement of their activities.

The Church is God’s Lampstand in Dark Times – A Meditation on a Saying from St. Maximus Msgr. Charles Pope • September 17, 2015 • There is a helpful word of reminder given by Saint Maximus the Confessor, one of the Fathers of the Church, who was in the Breviary yesterday. I want to rework the order of what he wrote, if only for the purpose of applying it to the times in which we live. But for the sake of respect, here is the original quote:This Word is most unwilling to be kept under a bushel; it wills to...

<p>Vice President Biden offered a glimpse earlier this week into how the White House, deeply frustrated by the gridlocked and bitter state of American politics, has come to view Pope Francis’s visit to the United States.</p> <p>“The most popular man in the world is about to come to the United States of America,” Biden told a group of Hispanic Americans who had gathered at his residence. “The single most popular man in the world.”</p>

September 18, 2015   Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Tm 6:2c-12 Beloved:Teach and urge these things.Whoever teaches something differentand does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christand the religious teachingis conceited, understanding nothing,and has a morbid disposition for arguments and verbal disputes.From these come envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions,and mutual friction among people with corrupted minds,who are deprived of the truth,supposing religion to be a means of gain.Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain.For we brought nothing into the world,just as we shall not be able to take...

President Obama and Pope Francis may be sympatico on climate change, capitalism, and other far-left issues, but when it comes to the teachings of the Catholic Church, they don't agree on much. The president will put this to the test, because he has invited a pro-abortion nun, a gay bishop, and a transgender female to the White House to meet the pontiff. Pope Francis has shown himself to be tolerant, but isn't this a slap in the face to so publicly challenge Catholic doctrine?

On Being the Adult in the Room Msgr. Charles Pope • September 16, 2015 • In the Letter to the Ephesians, St, Paul has this to say:And [Christ] gave some as Apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the extent of the full stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and...

Did Karl Marx become Pope on March 13, 2013? As the leader of a Church that encompasses the globe, one might expect Pope Francis to be a bit more…spiritual. Instead, he has more than once had recourse to Marxist analysis to explain global events, appearing to see economic deprivation as the cause of all the world’s evils. He did it again in an interview published last Monday, when he opined that the root cause of the refugee crisis engulfing Europe was economic inequality.

September 17, 2015   Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 1 Tm 4:12-16 Beloved:Let no one have contempt for your youth,but set an example for those who believe,in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.Until I arrive, attend to the reading, exhortation, and teaching.Do not neglect the gift you have,which was conferred on you through the prophetic wordwith the imposition of hands by the presbyterate.Be diligent in these matters, be absorbed in them,so that your progress may be evident to everyone.Attend to yourself and to your teaching;persevere in both tasks,for by doing so you will save...

The finalized, complete list of participants in the Synod of Bishops in 2015 was published in today's Vatican Bollettino: XIV General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (October 4 to 25 2015) - List of Participants, 15/09/2015. In addition to the Synod officers (who are all hold-overs from last year's "Extraordinary Synod"), delegates elected by the Bishops' Conferences and the Union of Superior Generals and confirmed by the Pope as Synod members months ago, and ex officio participants (the heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Prefects or Presidents of Curial dicasteries), the final list contains the names of...

Quo usque tandem.... I know, I know… I am borrowing heavily from Cicero here. But it seems to me that the Vatican Catilina is not going to enjoy the rest of his disgraceful pontificate, which we hope will be short anyway. The rather explosive news is now everywhere: a seven-page document gravely accusing Francis of incompetence and tampering with doctrine is being circulated within the Vatican, and has been very fittingly leaked to the press. We do not have the translation, but there can be no doubt that the content is brutal. From what I can see the grievances concern...

"Socci: With Papally-Mandated "Catholic Divorce" destroying a Sacrament, Schism Looms Large on the Catholic Horizon" "Newsweek" recently had a photo of Pope Francis on their front-cover with the headline: “Is the Pope Catholic?”. Subtitle: “Of course he is. You just wouldn’t know it from his press clips.” Indeed, it is a legitimate question, seeing that the Argentine Pope has prayed in a Mosque and said in an interview to Scalfari: “There is no Catholic God.” The anxiety in the Church is now becoming enormous after the 8th of September. In fact with two Motu Proprios on the nullity of marriage,...

ROME — On the eve of a trip to the United States, Pope Francis has called himself a “son of immigrants” and confirmed the point by issuing a blunt warning to any religious orders in Europe that spurn his recent call to open their doors to refugees because they want to make money off their properties instead. Go ahead, the pope said, but be ready to pay taxes just like everybody else. “Some religious orders say ‘No, now that the convent is empty we are going to make a hotel and we can have guests, and support ourselves that way,...

The Challenges Are Many but the Charge Remains the Same: Be Authentically Catholic – A Reflection on a Pastoral Letter of Donald Cardinal Wuerl Msgr. Charles Pope • September 15, 2015 • a> Recently Cardinal Donald Wuerl wrote a pastoral letter to the Archdiocese of Washington setting forth the need to be clear on our Catholic identity. It is entitled Catholic Identity in an Age of Challenge.His essential message is that in an age of conflict and challenge we must be clearly and comfortably Catholic. In the introduction, he states that he does not refer to a merely superficial identity,...

Pope Francis will deliver all but four of his 18 addresses during his forthcoming visit to the United States in Spanish because he is still not comfortable speaking in English, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

If Pope Francis’ Mitis Iudex becomes law it will require, among other things, that arch/bishops personally assess, and in some cases adjudicate, certain kinds of marriage nullity petitions. Now obviously some, perhaps many, prelates will feel (based on their lack of advanced canonical training, and/or their personal indisposition toward juridic work, and/or their concerns for negative implications to their wider pastoral work that having to choose between types of petitions and individual parties in annulment cases will inevitably provoke) inadequate to this task. Already I am hearing, however, that arch/bishops looking to avoid their looming judicial and procedural responsibilities under...

Rorate Caeli just translated an article that appeared in L'Ossevatore Romano on September 8. It was written by Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto, the head of the Commission for the reform of the canonical process--in other words the point man for the recently announced annulment reforms. What he writes is stunning. And chilling. The three main points are these: +The annulment reforms are not merely procedural reforms to introduce more fairness and efficiency in the process, but a full-scale revolution in thought and practice towards the marriage validity question, designed to radically increase the number of annulments. +It is Christ, acting...