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Cardinal Walter Kasper, a close influence on Pope Francis, says it is up to parents to decide how many children to have ahead of global gathering of Roman Catholic bishops to discuss the family A leading reformist Cardinal close to Pope Francis has hinted at the possibility of a reinterpretation of the Roman Catholic Church’s blanket ban on artificial contraception. Cardinal Walter Kasper said it was “the responsibility of the parents” to decide how many children they should have. He also said that so-called natural family planning, which is promoted by the Church as an alternative to contraception, also...

In which Teófilo reflects about two recent developments in the Church, the onslaught against the Culture of life, the words of Pope Francis, and the five non-negotiable moral teachings of the Church, and the letter Teófilo wrote to Pope Francis a year ago. Brethren: Peace be with you. As you know, I am and always will be a faithful son of the Church and servant of the current Successor of Peter. That loyalty is based upon faith and it is unconditional. I make no excuses for disobeying Pope Francis or any Pope whatsoever, even when he speaks as a personal...

Joe Six-Pack will be brief.

Got Zeal? An excellent collection of quotes on the utter necessity for zeal for the salvation of souls. Remember these quotes when you hear anyone say that proselytism is “solemn nonsense”, or that they have no desire to convert a person or persons to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, outside of which there is no salvation. St. James the Apostle: “He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way will save his own soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins” (St. James 5, 19-20). St. John...

A leading reformist Cardinal close to Pope Francis has hinted at the possibility of a reinterpretation of the Roman Catholic Church’s blanket ban on artificial contraception. Cardinal Walter Kasper said it was “the responsibility of the parents” to decide how many children they should have. He also said that so-called natural family planning, which is promoted by the Church as an alternative to contraception, also has an “artificial” element. His comments in an interview with The Tablet, the Catholic weekly, are likely to reopen debate about one of the most contentious areas of Catholic teaching just weeks before a special...

The Pope believes that World War Three had already begun. But unlike WWI and WWII that happened all at once, the current war is happening in stages - this he said during a private meeting with a congregation of Jewish leaders headed by Ronald S. Lauder on Sept 17 at Pope's house in Santa Marta.Speaking during the World Jewish Congress press conference, Lauder had quoted the Pope to highlight the significant point of discussion that came out of the meeting. He said that the Pope compared the current attacks against Christian to the plight suffered by the Jews in the...

Pope Francis has been a breath of fresh air for many Catholics seeking greater liberty and a growing concern for conservative Christians who take issue with his comments about homosexuality and other cultural issues. But the pontiff's latest statement is sparking an uproar from believers around the world. Pope Francis sent a tweet Tuesday that absolutely violates the truth of Scripture: "The Christian who does not feel that the Virgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphan," Pope Francis tweeted. As of the time I wrote this column it had been retweeted about 4,000 times and many of...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis has ordered a review aimed at simplifying the Church's procedures for annulments, the Vatican said on Saturday, a move that could make it easier for Catholics to end marriages. A statement said Francis had appointed an 11-member commission of canon lawyers and theologians to propose reform of the process, "seeking to simplify and streamline it while safeguarding the principle of the indissolubility of marriage". An annulment, formally known as a "decree of nullity," is a ruling that a marriage was not valid in the first place according to Church law because certain pre-requisites, such...

Pope Francis celebrates Mass in Mother Teresa Square in Tirana, Albania, Sept. 21. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. Tirana, Albania, Sep 21, 2014 / 03:45 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During Mass at Mother Teresa square as part of his one-day trip to Albania, Pope Francis recalled the country's vicious history of anti-religious persecution, saying it is now ready for the Gospel to flourish. “Recalling the decades of atrocious suffering and harsh persecutions against Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims, we can say that Albania was a land of martyrs: many bishops, priests, men and women religious, and laity paid for their fidelity with their lives,”...

Father Federico Lombardi gives a press briefing in Tirana, Albania. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA. Tirana, Albania, Sep 21, 2014 / 06:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a press briefing Sunday the Vatican's spokesman downplayed worries over Pope Francis' safety in Albania, also noting that Muslims gathered in an important Tirana mosque to pray for the pontiff's visit. Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, told journalists that the Sept. 21 papal visit has been welcomed with joy by all the Albanian religious communities. On why Pope Francis did not stop the popemobile as he often does to greet children...

DERVEN, Albania (AP) — The one-room, stone church of St. Nicholas has sat on the top of a hill here since the 16th century, destroyed three times and rebuilt in a testament to the Catholic presence in this region that dates to St. Paul. Its latest incarnation, however, is particularly poignant: 15 Muslim families chipped in to help rebuild it in a sign of the remarkable coexistence that exists in Albania between Christians and Muslims. Pope Francis will highlight this interfaith harmony when he makes a one-day trip to the Balkan nation on Sunday, holding it up as a model...

As reported by the Associated Press and a growing number of secular media outlets, the appointment of the Bishop of Spokane, Blase Cupich, 65, as the next Archbishop of Chicago is set to be formally announced by Rome. It is worth noting that the "National Catholic Reporter" is celebrating the appointment of this "good model for how bishops should conduct themselves in the public square" with an article (to which we will not link here) based on the very real actions and tone that he set as Bishop of Spokane -- on the issues of homosexual "marriage", on evangelization, on...

A new book with articles by prominent churchmen is about to be released worldwide in severak kanguages (in English by Ignatius Press, under the title "Remaining in the Truth of Christ"), with important articles strongly defending all aspects related to the traditional Catholic doctrine on family and marriage, and the integrity of Blessed Sacrament, words that come from Our Lord Himself. This is how Ignatius Press describes it: In this volume five Cardinals of the Church, and four other scholars, respond to the call issued by Cardinal Walter Kasper for the Church to harmonize “fidelity and mercy in its pastoral...

With the Vatican’s Synod on the Family fast approaching and Pope Francis’ call to the Catholic Church to be a “field hospital for sinners” more focused on mercy than rules, lots of people are looking for hints at what the gathering of bishops will urge at the extraordinary synod next month. A wedding of 20 couples in St. Peter’s Square, some of whom cohabited prior to marriage, has CBS News hailing the “progressive Pope,” who’s progressively progressive. Or something: Many had been living together prior to getting married, which is forbidden in Catholicism. Some even have children.But none of...

Irish Central reports: "Pope Francis continues to amaze. He married 20 couples on Sunday in Rome several of them “living in sin” having had children outside marriage. 'The people getting married on Sunday are couples like many others,' the diocese of Rome said in a statement. 'Some already live together, some already have children.' The Pope said marriage was 'real life, not some TV show.' In marrying them he he kicked away one of the bulwark beliefs of the sex-obsessed hierarchy in the old church, the belief that sex outside marriage was a heinous and immoral act. All of us...

A single mother, people who have been married before and couples who have been living together "in sin" were married by Pope Francis in a taboo-challenging ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday. In another signal of the openness of his papacy, Francis asked to marry 40 people from different social backgrounds who would be a realistic sample of modern couples. It comes three weeks before a major synod of the Catholic Church will discuss the divisive issues of marriage, divorce and conception.

Pope Francis warns 'piecemeal' World War III has begun Saturday, 13 Sep 2014 | 7:06 AM ET Reuters Pope Francis said on Saturday the spate of conflicts around the globe today were effectively a "piecemeal" Third World War, condemning the arms trade and "plotters of terrorism" sowing death and destruction. "Humanity needs to weep and this is the time to weep," Francis said in the homily of a Mass during a visit to Italy's largest war memorial, a large, Fascist-era monument where more than 100,000 soldiers who died in World War One are buried. The pope began his brief visit...

I reviewed several articles describing last night's Crux kickoff. Cardinal O'Malley hasn't been this gaga in a room full of powerbrokers moral relativism since Ted Kennedy's funeral. He made several startling revelations. First of all, he and Pope Francis are in constant communication by fax around the clock. Whooh-boy. Carol is calling in some chits to get her hands on that number! Cardinal O'Malley indicated that Pope Francis is looking in every corner of the world to find voices of cafeteria Catholics who discredit 2000 years of Catholic saints and theologians and help put them in charge of the Vatican....

Pope Francis has just reminded us that, "God 'walks with the righteous and the sinners.' He walks 'with everyone, to arrive at that encounter, the final encounter of man with Him.'" (See here). Once again, it is what Pope Francis does not say that is troubling. Yes the weeds continue to grow among the wheat until Jesus returns. Yes, we are all sinners. But the notion that I can live as I wish, committing one sin after another, and that this is somehow "okay" because Jesus "walks with me" is erroneous. It is presumption. The Catechism of the Catholic Church...

The latest to call for a radical change in the Church's practice and doctrine on marriage is the Belgian bishop of Antwerp, Johan Jozef Bonny. He did so in early September with a thirty-page memorandum in multiple languages, which he also sent to Pope Francis. Because the presumed support of Jorge Mario Bergoglio is inevitably part of the arguments of the cardinals, bishops, and theologians who are calling for the change, which would mean granting Eucharistic communion to the divorced and remarried: a key argument of the synod of bishops on the family set to have its first session in...