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(ANSA) - Vatican City, February 10 - The economy needs ethics to survive the recession, Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday in a return to a recurring theme in his addresses focusing on the need to rethink the global economy along moral lines. ''The global financial crisis has impoverished no small number of people,'' he stated during a general audience at the Vatican. Underscoring the need to put ''people back at the center of economic decision-making,'' the pope said ''a new code of business ethics'' was required to usher in the transformation. As an example, he pointed to the figure of...

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican denied Tuesday that it leaked documents that led to the resignation of a prominent Catholic editor, intervening in a tale of ecclesiastical intrigue that has dominated Italian headlines for weeks. The Vatican No. 2 issued a statement saying reports that Vatican officials leaked the documents were false and that Pope Benedict XVI himself "deplored these unjust and insulting attacks" that were "defaming the Holy See." The statement — unusual in its line-by-line denial of unsourced rumors — was confirmation that what had been a strictly Italian church scandal had reached the highest echelons of power...

Sometimes you just don't appreciate all you have and all that has been given to you. Sometimes it takes another to challenge your thoughts, beliefs and preconceived notions, in order to make you see that which has been sitting right under your nose all along. God sometimes uses others, and even their own errors and misconceptions, to wake us up to His presence and the Truth He has preserved for us in His Roman Catholic Church. Throughout college, in all my pre-med courses, I was constantly taught the Darwinian dogma, that we are all the products of the blind...

Salvation of the Soul 65. What precisely do you mean by the saving of one's soul? The meaning of that requires a brief analysis of man. Man consists of body and soul. The body is material and perishable; the soul is spiritual and imperishable. But the soul is the real you. It is the soul which knows and loves, is happy or miserable. Now as the soul is immortal, it enters at death into an eternal state, whether it be one of supreme happiness, or of direst misery. By "saving one's soul" I mean going from this world in the...

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has released a statement on Climategate. In a previous blog , AT readers were promised an update on Gingrich's then pending statement on Climategate. Here it is: "On the climate change scandal by Newt Gingrich Two stories have broken in the past few days that should give Congress further pause before it ever again takes up energy tax legislation that justifies the destruction of millions of American jobs based on the supposed urgency of meeting the challenge of global warming. Emails obtained by hackers from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit...

<p>CINCINNATI (AP) -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is praising President Barack Obama for showing political courage on Afghanistan.</p> <p>The Georgia Republican said Wednesday that Obama's plan to send 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan is the right step, and that Tuesday's speech at West Point showed the president was facing reality.</p>

Golly, I wonder what the reaction in the comments to this bon mot will be. Gingrich sees the Massachusetts as a boost for his party, but also as a renunciation of go-it-alone by either party, and thinks Republicans would be “clever” to pass a series of relatively non-controversial measures with “huge bipartisan majorities.” That said, he thinks many Republicans disdain Pelosi so much they simply won’t go along with anything with the speaker’s name on it, even if it serves the party’s larger interests. “If you are a House member in the [GOP] caucus, I suspect we are about to...

Gingrich: I was wrong to endorse Scozzafava By Eric Zimmermann - 02/01/10 03:42 PM ET Newt Gingrich says he regrets endorsing Dede Scozzafava in the hotly contested primary for the NY-23 congressional district in November. Scozzafava was criticized by many national Republicans for being too liberal. She eventually dropped out of the race and endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, who eeked out a victory. "She turned out to be a huge disappointment, and she turned out not to be frankly a loyal Republican," Gingrich told an interviewer in New Hampshire this weekend. The former speaker added that conservatives who criticized his...

Catholic Biblical Apologetics Apologetics without apology! What does the Roman Catholic Church teach about ...? ... and why? This website surveys the origin and development of Roman Catholic Christianity from the period of the apostolic church, through the post-apostolic church and into the conciliar movement. Principal attention is paid to the biblical basis of both doctrine and dogma as well as the role of paradosis (i.e. handing on the truth) in the history of the Church. Particular attention is also paid to the hierarchical founding and succession of leadership throughout the centuries. This is a set of lecture notes...

Says That Doctrine Is Live-Giving, Not ProhibitingVATICAN CITY, FEB. 5, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is urging prelates to call Catholics to complete fidelity to the magisterium, presenting Church teaching as a message of hope rather than a series of prohibitions. The Pope stated this today in an audience with the bishops from Scotland who are in Rome for their five-yearly visit. He underlined the need to focus anew on lay apostolate" so as to give "strong impetus to the task of evangelizing society." The Pontiff added, "That task requires a readiness to grapple firmly with the challenges presented by the...

In his message for Lent, Pope Benedict XVI cautions against a purely secular approach to achieving justice in society. While Jesus "surely condemns the indifference that even today forces hundreds of millions into death through lack of food, water and medicine," the Holy Father writes, nevertheless "distributive justice does not render to the human being the totality of his due." Man seeks for something much more-- for salvation-- which can only come through Christ and his Church. The Pope's annual message takes its title from St. Paul's letter to the Romans: "The justice of God has been manifested through faith...

Newt Gingrich, who converted to Catholicism last year, plans to share his conversion story with business executives at a Catholic conference in California this weekend. The former Speaker of the House has participated in various Catholic forums recently, fueling speculation that began with his conversion in March that he intended to develop a base of support within the Catholic Church for a run for president in 2012. The conference, in Dana Point, Cal., is being held by Legatus, a group of Catholic business executives. The group is honoring former President George W. Bush, who is to receive the group’s Cardinal...

Catholic Biblical Apologetics Apologetics without apology! What does the Roman Catholic Church teach about ...? ... and why? This website surveys the origin and development of Roman Catholic Christianity from the period of the apostolic church, through the post-apostolic church and into the conciliar movement. Principal attention is paid to the biblical basis of both doctrine and dogma as well as the role of paradosis (i.e. handing on the truth) in the history of the Church. Particular attention is also paid to the hierarchical founding and succession of leadership throughout the centuries. This is a set of lecture notes...

A Catholic college in California has named its Vanessa Bedient and Molly Reidelberger Scholarship for Excellence in Poetry after a Planned Parenthood director and a longtime Planned Parenthood volunteer. Mrs. Bedient “served as the director of Planned Parenthood in Santa Barbara, where her two children were raised, and later in San Francisco,” according to the web site of St. Mary’s College of California. “She loved literature and the arts, and was the soul of goodness.” Ms. Reidelberger, in turn, “volunteered at Planned Parenthood for 15 years.” According to the college’s web site, Dr. Shawny Anderson, the college’s Associate Dean for...

A visionary from the Philippines, Duke Puntalangit,  warns that the Fatima chastisements will begin this year 2010.  According to the visionary, the Middle East crisis will eventually result into an all out war in that region, afterwhich,  a revolution originating from Russia, will engulf Europe.  This series of events will cause chaos and bloodshed in all major cities in Europe, the global economy will plunge deeper, consequently giving the window of opportunity for Russia and China to execute militarily against Europe and the US.   Puntalangit warns that mankind has entered a point of no return and that the chastisements...

This is Matt: We here at CMR have been huge fans of Erin Manning who blogs over at And Sometimes Tea. And so we wanted to have Erin write over here once a week for the next month as a guest blogger. I think CMR could use some female perspective - other than Patrick's. So enjoy Erin's post. Heeeeeeerrrre's Erin!!!!!!! Last week, I read that the Diocese of Phoenix had decided to strengthen their marriage preparation requirements. Instead of six months of mostly lay led marriage preparation classes, the diocese now requires nine, to include mandatory NFP classes and some...

Sitting in the Great Room A of the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. forty minutes before Cardinal Schnborn's much anticipated lecture, two young college women, almost looking over their shoulders, were deeply engaged in a hushed conversation of the still touchy subject of Medjugorje. The conversation ended quickly as Cardinal Schonborn, accompanied by a Dean of Catholic University and the Austrian Ambassador to the United States entered the room, but make no mistake, the presence of Medjugorje continued to loom large. After a brief and pleasant introduction, Cardinal Schonborn, standing behind a modest podium,...

Click image for trailer. The Catholicism Project

Catholic Biblical Apologetics Apologetics without apology! What does the Roman Catholic Church teach about ...? ... and why? This website surveys the origin and development of Roman Catholic Christianity from the period of the apostolic church, through the post-apostolic church and into the conciliar movement. Principal attention is paid to the biblical basis of both doctrine and dogma as well as the role of paradosis (i.e. handing on the truth) in the history of the Church. Particular attention is also paid to the hierarchical founding and succession of leadership throughout the centuries. This is a set of lecture notes...

I was in need of some spiritual guidance yesterday in mass. Somewhere along the way these past few months I’ve let grow within me some apparent childish mid-life crisis, and in recent weeks have been a public arse to people at work, friends I’ve known for more than a decade, members of my family, and people who visit my other blog. I prayed for peace and guidance and, most importantly, forgiveness, acknowledging to God that I need to do a lot more listening and a lot less talking. Imagine my shock when, listening, I heard the lector ask me, along...