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Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, who authored one of the essays in "Christ's New Homeland - Africa". Credit: Bohumil Petrik/CNA Vatican City, Oct 2, 2015 / 06:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ten prelates from Africa have stood up against a pastoral approach to new challenges to marriage and the family that would effectively modify the Church's doctrine, by writing essays for a book meant to be a “contribution to the Synod onf the Family by African pastors.” This is the subtitle of Christ's New Homeland – Africa, published this week by Ignatius Press, and which features...

Q: Why do you call the upcoming October event the “Synod of Surrender”? A: The thrust of the 2014 Synod, as well as the 2015 Synod Working Document, appears to re-orient Catholics towards some sort of change in moral teaching. We see an effective surrender, by highly placed Churchmen, to various aspects of contemporary moral permissiveness. Q: How can you say that change is in the works? A: Because of the principles on which the Synods are based. The Final Document from the 2014 Synod (the Relatio synodi) opens with what has been called the “interpretive key”[1] that gives the...

Opening Session of the Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican on Oct. 6, 2014 Vatican City, Oct 2, 2015 / 10:57 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As the synod’s schedule and methodology were rolled out ahead of its launch this weekend, some novelties came along with it, such as no midterm report and a heightened emphasis on the small groups. Set to take place Oct. 4-25, this year’s ordinary synod will reflect on the theme “Jesus Christ reveals the mystery and vocation of the family” and will gather 279 cardinals, bishops and representatives from all over the world....

(Vatican Radio) The Ordinary General Synod of bishops on the family, which opens in the Vatican this weekend, will be structured in a more “dynamic” way to allow greater participation of all its various members. Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, held a press conference on Friday to announce the major changes to the three week meeting which will be discussing the theme “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the modern world.” Philippa Hitchen reports….270 bishops from across the globe, 75 auditors and experts, lay and religious, and 14...

The Vatican says Pope Francis’ meeting with Kim Davis “should not be considered a form of support of her position.” Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk who became a grassroots conservative hero after refusing to issue gay marriage licenses, was one of “several dozen” individuals invited by the Vatican ambassador to meet with Francis at the embassy in Washington last week, said spokesman Federico Lombardi. “The Pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular...

A parish is in uproar after a crematorium's cross was taken down and stuffed in a cupboard to avoid offending non-religious visitors. Around 40 per cent of funeral services held the crematorium are non-Christian so it was decided that the cross should be kept in a storage cupboard rather than behind the alter. It will be brought out of the cupboard and put up on the wall for services at Accrington Crematorium in Burnley, Lancashire, only when requested.

The last temptation of Christ may not have occurred in the desert when Satan confronted Jesus. In the biblical book of Matthew, Christ goes alone into the desert and fasts for 40 days. While he is starving, the Devil confronts and tempts him: “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Christ answers, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The Christian church, both Catholic and Protestant, has faced a similar temptation to turn stone into bread in the form of socialism....

"The absurdity of the Synod organisers, including the pope, simply writing final documents for a Synod weeks in advance of the bishops even arriving in Rome, seems to be the final message. They no longer feel any need to hide their intentions..." The “good bishops” are not going to help us at the Synod. This is something we have to get used to right now, the weekend before the show starts. Every day I see in commboxes around the internet hopeful exclamations like, “Oh, but Archbishop Whosits is going to stand up to them.” Or, “Cardinal Youknowwho,” or “that guy...

Pope Francis made a powerful statement by meeting with gay marriage dissenter Kim Davis. But imagine how much more powerful it would have been had the meeting been public, rather than private. Pope Francis has come and gone. His five-day sojourn in America started with a visit to Washington, D.C. (including speaking to a joint session of the U.S. Congress), continued in New York City (including a speech to the U.N. General Assembly) and concluded with a World Congress of Families in Philadelphia. What should one make of this historic visit? The mass appeal generated by the pope's visit,...

The Vatican has clarified the details of the Pope's meeting with Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who spent six days in jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Vatican deputy spokesman Father Thomas Rosica said the audience, which included several dozen other people, didn't amount to an endorsement. "The Pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis, and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects," Rosica said. The session, on September 24 in Washington, sparked a...

On diluted Christianity, the rapid spread of Islamization, new “European values”, hatred for true Christianity, and where it all may lead. Bishop Pitirim of Dushanbe and Tadjikistan     “Comfortable Christianity is not wanting to carry your cross.” —Your Eminence, what are the “comfortable Christianity” and “pink Christianity” you talk about in your sermons that we publish on our site [Pravoslavie.ru]? Could it be said that comfortable Christianity is the spiritual illness of our times? —What did the Lord say? Take up your cross and follow Me. This is the meaning of Christianity. Comfortable Christianity is, first of all, not wanting to...

The organizers of New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade have announced the approval of another "gay rights" group to participate in next year's march through Manhattan. The group, known as the Lavender and Green Alliance, is an LBGT activist organization that claims to celebrate "Irish LGBT culture." Following a vote Tuesday by the parade's board of directors, an invitation was extended to the group to take part in the 2016 festivities. This marks the first time in the parade's 253-year history that an independent homosexual group has been allowed to march in the parade under its own banner. Last...

Homosexuality is per se outside of the topics of discussion at the Synod convened to discuss matters of the family. But in fact it was present in a powerful way in the debates themselves. According to the media hype, the dominant leanings in the Catholic world are for a radical change in the doctrine and practice of the Church, with the full acceptance of the practice of homosexuality and with the blessing of unions between persons of the same sex. But there are also others who want to take a new path with respect to the pastoral ministry to homosexuals...

I have been a lesbian activist since I was a teenager when I was expelled from my all-girls school for being a lesbian. Unlike some, I see no conflict between my sexual identity and my identity of faith. I attend Mass every Sunday. As I have watched Pope Francis since his arrival in America and especially in my own city, Philadelphia, the confluence of my lesbianism and my Catholicism has only been strengthened.

I begin this letter with a clarion call and clear charge to you, my sons and brothers in Christ: Men, do not hesitate to engage in the battle that is raging around you, the battle that is wounding our children and families, the battle that is distorting the dignity of both women and men. This battle is often hidden, but the battle is real. It is primarily spiritual, but it is progressively killing the remaining Christian ethos in our society and culture, and even in our own homes.The world is under attack by Satan, as our Lord said it would...

The catholic Left are desperate to silence the so-called “culture warriors”, especially to squelch Catholics who uphold clear Catholic teaching in the public square.You may have heard that during his visit to these USA Pope Francis is reported to have met privately with the “culture warrior” Kim Davis, the Christian, non-Catholic, county clerk in Kentucky who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  She went to jail for a time rather than knuckle under.We don’t know for sure what Pope Francis said in this private meeting, but Davis didn’t say that the Pope told her to stop fighting.  She wasn’t disappointed afterward.  Quite the opposite,...

You want to know one reason why so many Christian marriages end up in divorce? Ronald Reagan once quipped that the trouble with his political opponents, “is not that they are ignorant. It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” Well, I’ve had a bee in my bonnet for years over something that far too many of my fellow Christians believe in that just isn’t so. I speak, gentle listener, of the whole “soul mate” nonsense, especially when it comes to finding a husband or wife. Let me be perfectly clear: No matter how many ads for Christian...

September 29, 2015, Tuesday — Kim and Francis “For there is not any thing secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come to light.” —Luke 8:17“Holy Father, you visited the Little Sisters of the Poor and we were told that you wanted to show your support for them and their case in the courts. And, Holy Father, do you also support those individuals, including government officials, who say they cannot in good conscience, their own personal conscience, abide by some laws or discharge their duties as government officials, for example in issuing...

ROME – If anyone suspected that Pope Francis didn’t really mean the strong words he spoke on religious freedom last week in the United States – that he was phoning it in, while his real concerns were elsewhere – claims that he held a private meeting with Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis certainly should lay that suspicion to rest. The meeting was first reported by Robert Moynihan of Inside the Vatican magazine. A Vatican spokesman said Wednesday, “I do not deny that the meeting took place, but I have no comments to add,” which, in effect, is a way of...

Answering a question about the Synod and annulment reform, Pontiff says the door to divorce is closed Those who fear that the Church is about to allow divorced Catholics to remarry can take heart by something Pope Francis said on his way back to Rome from the United States.The Pope’s words might also reassure those worried that his recent motu proprio Mitis Iudex reforming the annulment process will weaken the sanctity of the marriage bond.“Marriage is indissoluble when it is a sacrament. And this the Church cannot change. It’s doctrine. It’s an indissoluble sacrament,” the Pope told reporters during an...