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Germany’s new foreign minister has urged the Palestinians “not to tear down bridges,” an apparent reference President Mahmoud Abbas’ contentious relationship with the U.S. and political rival Hamas. Heiko Maas spoke Monday, after meeting with Abbas and the Palestinian foreign minister. Maas says the new German government remains committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Trump administration has refused to make such a commitment. …

PopeWatch: Obvious Posted on Monday, January 8, AD 2018 by Donald R. McClarey Phil Lawler, who has a book out about Pope Francis next month, has a telling anecdote that he relates at Catholic Culture:  How popular is Pope Francis? With the public? With bishops and priests? With young seminarians? Ask different people, and you’ll get different answers. It’s hard to gain an accurate reading.But here’s a remarkably revealing clue, nearly hidden in a feel-good story about an American seminarian, Nick Sentovich, who is a 3rd-year student at the North American College in Rome, “and like all third-year seminarians, he was...

White Double of the First Class with Privileged Octave of third Order BEFORE MASS.—The merry-pealing Bells have wakened us up, echoing to us the sweet burden of our Matin-Song, and inviting us to come once more and adore our Jesus, and assist at the Mass of the Day, which we call the Third Mass: Christ is born unto us; come! let us adore! The sun is shining in the east—not, indeed, as he will in his summer’s pride—still, brightly enough to tell us that his triumph over winter has begun. Now, we say, the day will grow longer! Under...

White Double of the First Class with Privileged Octave of third Order THE OFFICE OF LAUDS is finished: the Canticles of joy are ended, wherewith the Church thanks the Eternal Father for his having made to rise upon us the divine Sun of Justice. It is time to offer up the second Sacrifice, or, as it is called, the Mass of the Aurora. In the first, the Church celebrated the temporal Birth of the Word according to the flesh. In this, she is going to honor the second Birth of the same Son of God—a Birth full of grace...

White Double of the First Class with Privileged Octave of third Order IT IS NOW TIME to offer the Great Sacrifice, and to call down our Emmanuel from heaven: He alone can fully pay the debt of gratitude which mankind owes to the Eternal Father. He will intercede for us on the Altar, as he did in his Crib. We will approach him with love, and he will give himself to us. But such is the greatness of today’s Mystery, that the Church is not satisfied with only once offering up the Holy Sacrifice. The long-expected and precious Gift...

Police in Ontario, California, said on Saturday they received information "regarding the abuse of a kitten by a young man," and had identified a 16-year-old suspect, but would not be disclosing his name, due to his age. The cat, which police described as a "small kitten" in a press release posted to Twitter, suffered a fractured leg. "The kitten and its owner have been located," police said. "The kitten survived the incident but did suffer an injured leg. The Inland Valley Humane Society is assisting with the investigating and care of the injured animal." In a statement Monday, the Ontario...

Catholics are often unaware just how biblical the Sacred Liturgy is. The design of our traditional churches; the use of candles, incense, and golden vessels; the postures of standing and kneeling; the altar; the singing of hymns; priests wearing albs and so forth are all depicted in the Scriptures. Some of these details were features of the ancient Jewish Temple, but most are reiterated in the Book of Revelation, which describes the liturgy of Heaven. The liturgy here on earth is modeled after the liturgy in Heaven; that is why it is so serious to tamper with it. The Book...

The unity of the Church would be “destroyed” if bishops’ conferences, not the Vatican, had the final word over translations of liturgical texts, said Cardinal Gerhard Müller in a recent interview.  The former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith expressed reservations in an interview with Passauer Neue Presse published Wednesday about Pope Francis’s recent liturgical reform that allowed bishops to oversee and approve translations. “The ultimate authority in the case of doubt cannot lie with the Episcopal Conferences, which would destroy the unity of the Catholic Church in faith, confession and prayer,” the cardinal said, as...

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas - At least 27 people have been killed and 30 people have been injured in a mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. A witness reported seeing the as-yet unidentified man walk into First Baptist Church and began shooting around 11:30 a.m. Sunday. Wilson County commissioner Albert Gamez Jr. told a CNN reporter that the gunman fled in a vehicle after the shooting and is now dead after a brief pursuit. Some survivors were taken to Brooke Army Medical Center via medical helicopter. Their conditions are not known.

Early this year, the blogger "Fra Cristoforo" on Anonimi Della Croce posted about the development of an "Ecumenical Mass" for Catholic and Protestants to celebrate together. The blog is now back with a new address and the rumour has actually gained some credibility.  We wrote about the latest on this blasphemous matter in a story by Marco Tossatti. Now, in his blog, Stilum Curae, Tossatti goes even further in describing the unrestrained influence of a lay Italian "liturgist," Andrew Grillo, who is involved in a major way, in the process, Grillo is a professor at the Pontifical Academy of Saint...

The letter with which Francis recently contradicted and humiliated Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the congregation for divine worship, is the latest proof of how this pope exercises his magisterium. When Francis wants to introduce innovations, he never does so in clear and distinct words. He prefers to open discussions, to set “processes” in motion, within which the innovations are gradually affirmed.The most glaring example is “Amoris Laetitia,” for which contrasting interpretations and applications are in fact given, with entire episcopates lining up on one or the other side.And when he is asked for clarification, he refuses. As in the...

It’s not what U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren can do for Marty Walsh, it’s what Marty Walsh can do for Elizabeth Warren. That is what’s behind Warren’s endorsement of the Boston mayor over Tito Jackson, a fellow Democrat — and an African-American — in Boston’s upcoming mayoral election Nov. 7. Walsh, seeking a second term, did not and does not need Warren’s support. He is a shoo-in over Jackson, a Boston city councilor who has run an underfunded and underenergized campaign that never got off the ground. Walsh will bury Jackson. Warren does not bring many votes to Walsh in Boston...

Does TV Mass 'count'? The Church teaches that missing Mass is a grave sin, but there are reasons obligation wouldn’t apply Msgr. Charles Pope 1/4/2017 Question: I am 87 years old, live in a retirement community and can no longer drive. I attend the Mass that is offered here once a month and receive holy Communion when it is distributed each week by extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. I watch Mass on TV. But someone told me that I am not meeting my obligation to go to Mass by watching it on TV. They say it doesn’t count. Is this...

Deadly rampages are happening more often and claiming more American lives. Here's how the US changed. http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-41474594/las-vegas-how-us-mass-shootings-are-getting-worse

On January 13, Robert González Nieves, archbishop of San Juan, revealed Pope Francis’ role in Barack Obama’s pardon of terrorist mastermind Oscar Lopez-Rivera. Speaking from the Cathedral of San Juan, Nieves announced that although the Holy Father made no public statement of his involvement, he had indeed worked behind the curtain on behalf of the unrepentant, bloody-handed Lopez-Rivera. The archbishop was pleased to say: “I know that there have been efforts made through diplomatic channels. The pope is very aware. We are grateful to the Holy Father for his support.” Papal complicity in this politically charged act received little notice...

Pope Francis today issued new instructions for the approval of liturgical texts, rebalancing the relationship between the Vatican and local bishops’ conferences in favor of greater local control. The pope's order, issued in a motu propio titled “Magnum Principium,” reverses the trend in recent years toward greater Vatican control over the texts used in the Mass. “In order that the renewal of the whole liturgical life might continue,” Francis wrote, “it seemed opportune that some principles handed on since the time of the [Second Vatican] Council should be more clearly reaffirmed and put into practice.”Editor's note: This story is developing and will...

Astronomers find evidence of enormous black hole one hundred thousand times more massive than the sun in a gas cloud near the galaxy’s centre If confirmed, the black hole will rank as the second largest black hole ever seen in the Milky Way after the supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A*. An enormous black hole one hundred thousand times more massive than the sun has been found hiding in a toxic gas cloud wafting around near the heart of the Milky Way. If the discovery is confirmed, the invisible behemoth will rank as the second largest black hole ever...

If the grand altars, with all their gold and statues and size, are at their core outward signs of inward devotion, what does it say about plain altars that more resemble a table than a temple? For most of the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history, it has been known for its magnificent churches. In the popular psyche, the stereotypical Catholic church has high, arched ceilings, statues of saints, massive crucifixes, incense that seems to pour from the walls, and gilded, beautiful, and (sometimes) obnoxious altars.There is perhaps no better example of this than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the Vatican itself,...

Although it is only August, my choir is planning our music for the Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). It is a bilingual Spanish/English service. We have an abundance of songs available in Spanish, of course. However, we need two or three songs in English. For the past two years, we have used "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman" and "Holy is His Name," but we're tired of those! Does anyone know of any songs in English about Our Lady of Guadalupe, or even fairly close thematically? I looked last year, but all I found was something for children using...

Sources inside the Vatican suggest that Pope Francis aims to end Pope Benedict XVI’s universal permission for priests to say the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. While the course of action would be in tune with Pope Francis’ repeatedly expressed disdain for the TLM especially among young people, there has been no open discussion of it to date. Sources in Rome told LifeSite last week that liberal prelates inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith were overheard discussing a plan ascribed to the Pope to do away with Pope Benedict’s famous...