Free Republic

Pondering the Great Reversal Announced in Scripture Msgr. Charles Pope • April 12, 2016 • One of the strong traditions of Scripture is of the great reversal that will one day come for many. I have often been sobered by it when I consider how blessed I have been in this life. I have also been consoled by it when I struggle to understand why some people in this world seem to suffer so much more that I do, or others do.Life seems a very uneven proposition if we only look at this side of the equation. Only God...

It’s a somewhat obscure apocalyptic novel, much overlooked since its publication in 1907, and yet it comes with a recommendation that just about any best-selling author would covet: the spiritual leader of the whole world says it’s a good read. And not just the current pope, the previous one too.Pope Francis raised eyebrows in 2013 and again in 2015 when he recommended Robert Hugh Benson’s Lord of the World to the faithful as a book that depicts a “globalization of hegemonic uniformity.” Similarly, then-Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, referred to the Universalism depicted in Lord of the...

The Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo “almost certainly covered the cadaver of the same person.” This is the conclusion from an investigation that has compared the two relics using forensics and geometry.The research was done by Dr. Juan Manuel Miñarro, a sculpture professor at the University of Seville, as part of a project sponsored by the Valencia-based Centro Español de Sindonología (CES) (The Spanish Center of Sindonology).Transparency acetate on three-dimensional model used in the investigation of Juan Manuel Miñarro . LINTEUM The study thus supports what tradition has held for more than two millennia: that the...

April 13, 2016 Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 8:1b-8 There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem,and all were scatteredthroughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria,except the Apostles.Devout men buried Stephen and made a loud lament over him.Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the Church;entering house after house and dragging out men and women,he handed them over for imprisonment. Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.Thus Philip went down to the city of Samariaand proclaimed the Christ to them.With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what...

The sole survivor of an Islamic State (Isis) massacre of nuns by gunmen in an retirement home in Yemen has provided a first-hand account of the killings. Four Catholic nuns and 12 other people were killed on 4 March when gunmen stormed the retirement home run by a charity established by Mother Teresa. The report began: "Isis dressed in blue came in, killed guard and driver. Five young Ethiopian men (Christian) began running to tell the Sisters Isis was here to kill them. They were killed one by one. They tied them to trees, shot them in the head and...

The Passion of Anger and the “Miserable Truce” of the Modern Age Msgr. Charles Pope • April 11, 2016 • Here in the Western world, we live in a culture that tends to treat anger as taboo. A common tactic to unsettle an opponent today is to accuse him or her of being angry. It is amazing how easily humiliated and/or defensive an adversary can become in response to such an accusation. Yes, it is remarkable how quickly the one accused of anger can feel the need to resort to denials such as these: I am not angry! (Note...

April 12, 2016 Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 7:51—8:1a Stephen said to the people, the elders, and the scribes:“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears,you always oppose the Holy Spirit;you are just like your ancestors.Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one,whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.You received the law as transmitted by angels,but you did not observe it.” When they heard this, they were infuriated,and they ground their teeth at him.But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit,looked...

Eradicating Poverty Is Not a Gospel Value – A Reflection on a Teaching by Cardinal Sarah Msgr. Charles Pope • April 10, 2016 • The eradication of poverty is an oft-stated goal of the modern, liberal West. President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s pronouncement of a “war on poverty” so imprinted this notion in the Western mind that it has become almost axiomatic. It is now a fundamental pillar in the thinking of almost every person (and organization) in the Western world, from the religious pew-sitter concerned for the poor to the most secular humanist bent on a utopian vision. Poverty...

April 11, 2016 Memorial of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr Reading 1 Acts 6:8-15 Stephen, filled with grace and power,was working great wonders and signs among the people.Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,Cyreneans, and Alexandrians,and people from Cilicia and Asia,came forward and debated with Stephen,but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.Then they instigated some men to say,“We have heard him speaking blasphemous wordsagainst Moses and God.”They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes,accosted him, seized him,and brought him before the Sanhedrin.They presented false witnesses who testified,“This man never...

This morning was my "big moment". I woke up at 4:50AM and dragged my tired, exhortation-weary self into the shower to get ready to go on national television for the first time. I was invited to go on Fox & Friends -- "the most-watched program on cable television between 6am - 9am ET" -- to talk about Amoris Laetitia. I had a scheduled "hit" at 7:40AM, and they were sending a car for me at 6AM to take me to DC. I got dressed. I had my coffee. I said my morning prayers. The car showed up early, the black...

Mortal sin is replaced with social sin and the door to Communion for the divorced and remarried is opened: the real sin is ignoring the poor Antonio Socci 'Libero' April 9, 2016 Was Cardinal Kasper right when he announced “the great revolution” a month ago? With the Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris laetitia is Bergoglio overturning the Magisterium of the Church, thus putting himself above the words of Christ and God’s commandments? With words he says he is not changing doctrine. But with facts he has today opened up to something that until now has been forbidden by Holy Scripture and the...

April 10, 2016 Third Sunday of Easter Reading 1 Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41 When the captain and the court officers had brought the apostles inand made them stand before the Sanhedrin,the high priest questioned them,“We gave you strict orders, did we not,to stop teaching in that name?Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teachingand want to bring this man’s blood upon us.”But Peter and the apostles said in reply,“We must obey God rather than men.The God of our ancestors raised Jesus,though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.God exalted him at his right hand as leader and...

Who knows our sin? While Scripture could be taken to mean saints in heaven are aware of details of our sin, it is unlikely Msgr. Charles PopeMarch 27, 2016 Question: Do the souls in heaven know our sins, or is that knowledge reserved to God alone?— Peter Tate, Long Beach, California Answer: We are in the realm of speculative theology when it comes to answering questions like this. However, it does not seem to pertain to God’s justice that he would reveal our sins to others (even the saints in heaven), especially our more hidden sins. We are not...

The promulgation of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia by Pope Francis marks the conclusion of a synodal process that has been dominated by attempts to undermine Catholic teaching on matters relating to human life, marriage and the family, on questions including, but not limited to, the indissolubility of marriage, contraception, artificial methods of reproduction, homosexuality, "gender ideology" and the rights of parents and children. These attempts to distort Catholic teaching have weakened the Church's witness to the truths of the natural and supernatural order and have threatened the well-being of the family, especially its weakest and most vulnerable members. The...

April 9, 2016 Saturday of the Second Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 6:1-7 As the number of disciples continued to grow,the Hellenists complained against the Hebrewsbecause their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said,“It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table.Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men,filled with the Spirit and wisdom,whom we shall appoint to this task,whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayerand to the ministry of the word.”The proposal was acceptable to the whole community,so...

Pope Francis put his shoulder to the doors of the Catholic Church and shoved them open a little wider Friday, calling for the church to be more tolerant in practice while not changing any official doctrines. He urged priests around the world to be more accepting of gays and lesbians, divorced Catholics and other people living in what the church considers "irregular" situations. "A pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws ... as if they were stones to throw at people's lives," Francis writes in a sweeping paper outlining his stance on family matters. He...

Pope Francis, who has long revealed his liberal positions through interviews, came out on Friday in an official statement calling on Catholics to be more accepting of homosexuals as well as divorced Catholics. While he didn't change official church doctrines in his paper, which is an "apostolic exhortation" instructing Catholics on how to live, the pope paved the way for a serious shift in the Catholic church away from central tenets of the faith. "A pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws...as if they were stones to throw at people's lives," he wrote in the...

He called for divorced and remarried Catholics to participate more fully in church life. But he closed the door on gay marriage. He quotes Jorge Luis Borges and Jesus Christ. There is an entire chapter on love. But more than anything, Pope Francis’s long-awaited document on family life, released Friday by the Vatican, amounts to an exultation of traditional marriage while recognizing that life, in his own words, isn’t always “perfect.” Yet rather than judging, he commanded, the church should be a pillar of support.

The Whole Gospel, Please – A Reflection on a Popular Gospel Verse Msgr. Charles Pope • April 7, 2016 • The Gospel proclaimed on Wednesday of this week included the familiar John 3:16. So familiar is this verse, that many hold up signs or have bumper stickers that simply say, “John 3:16.”For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (John 3:16).It is indeed a beautiful verse, but I would argue that many use it inauthentically by pulling it out from...

I was recently at a party where the topic of religion and abortion came up. A Christian minister overheard the discussion and abruptly interjected: “Abortion is a private and sensitive issue. Whatever your position on abortion, Sunday services are not the place to talk about the subject. We can’t let politics get in the way of preaching the Gospel.” Maybe you agree with this minister. The Shockwaves of Abortion There have been nearly 60 million abortions since 1973. Does the silence of the church communicate compassion to those who experienced an abortion? Is it sensitive and respectful to avoid addressing...