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From Martini To Bergoglio. Toward a Vatican Council III The synod of last October was supposed to be about young people. And instead in concluding it, Pope Francis said that “its first fruit” was “synodality.”In fact, the most surprising paragraphs of the final document - and also the most contested, with dozens of votes against - were precisely the ones on the “synodal form of the Church.”Surprising because synodality was practically never talked about, neither in the preparatory phase of the synod, nor in the assembly, nor in the working groups. Only to see it appear in the final document,...

It is the Decision of the Holy Spirit and Us – On the Council of Jerusalem and the Catholicity of the Early Church By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn the first reading at today’s Mass is recounted the Council of Jerusalem, which scholars generally date to around 50 A.D. It was a pivotal moment in the history of the Church, since it would set forth an identity for the Church that was independent of the culture of Judaism per se, and would open wide the door of inculturation to the Gentiles. This surely had a significant effect on evangelization in the early...

Istanbul (AsiaNews) - On his return from Jerusalem , where he met with Pope Francis at the Holy Sepulchre, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, has revealed an important appointment for unity between Catholics and Orthodox: a gathering at Nicaea in 2025, where the first real ecumenical council of the undivided Church was celebrated. Speaking exclusively with AsiaNews, Bartholomew says that together with Pope Francis "we agreed to leave as a legacy to ourselves and our successors a gathering in Nicaea in 2025, to celebrate together, after 17 centuries , the first truly ecumenical synod, where the Creed was...

Multiple foreign corporations that have bypassed or attempted to bypass United States and European Union sanctions against Iran are funding the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank chaired by defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel. One council sponsor, Italian oil company Eni, has vehemently defended its trade with Iran, saying it was “proud” of its cooperation with the regime. “Given the existence of foreign pressures, implementation of most projects in Iran is challenging and complicated,” Eni’s Executive Vice President Guido Michelotti told reporters during a 2011 visit to Iran. “Yet, we have always been interested in cooperation with the Iranian side...

Stacy Lynne educates We Are Change Colorado about the International Council on LOCAL Environmental Initiatives. An arm of the United Nations Agenda 21 and how they are using "GREENWASHING" to take over America

An American Politburo has materialized before our eyes. Yes, our Congress is the result of a two-party system (those Rs and Ds) and, on the surface, doesn't fit very well with the one-party USSR system, but, let's look at those little pesky things called facts. Administrative actions are already replacing legislative acts as the primary governance mechanism. Just examine the number of regulations emanating from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, etc, etc. Unelected officials (unaccountable to the citizenry) all around this land are producing laws we must abide...

Featured Term (selected at random):CHURCH The faithful of the whole world. This broad definition can be understood in various senses all derived from the Scriptures, notably as the community of believers, the kingdom of God, and the Mystical Body of Christ. As the community of believers, the Church is the assembly (ekklesia) of all who believe in Jesus Christ; or the fellowship (koinonia) of all who are bound together by their common love for the Savior. As the kingdom (basileia), it is the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies about the reign of the Messiah. And as the Mystical Body it...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

This article was written in response to a letter received from a Roman Catholic who was of the opinion that the Roman Catholic Church was the one who gave the Bible to the people. While I do not question his beliefs in Christ, I do take issue with his opinions on the Bible. Everything said in this article addresses topics he made statements on in his rather long letter to me. Please read it in light of this. Note: This article is also pertinent for those who are unaware of evidences backing up where and how we got the New...

A Timeline of Catholic Church history1-500 A.D. This timeline is researched and prepared by Suzanne Fortin Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. Other Timelines: Timeline of  how the Bible came to us  All Popes back to PeterTimeline of Catholic/Orthodox Church relations  AD Event 20s *c. 29 AD Our Lord's Resurrection. The First Pentecost. St. Peter preaches in Jerusalem and converts three thousand people, creating the first Christian community. 30s *c. 35 Saul of Tarsus has an apparition of Jesus Christ and is converted to Christianity. *c. 39 St. Peter baptizes Cornelius. This event marks the beginning of the missionizing to the...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq, Nov. 3, 2008 – The soldiers of Company C, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, a mix of armor and infantry, assumed responsibility for the majority of southern Baghdad’s Risalah community, an area made up of 12 neighborhoods and home to about 250,000 people, in October 2007. Army Staff Sgt. Herbert Smitley checks an Iraqi identification card during a late-night patrol Oct. 28, 2008, in southern Baghdad’s Risalah community. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent Williams   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The company’s third deployment to Iraq took the soldiers to...

part one of three For document sources noted, see Abbreviations Contents IntroductionSecond letter of Cyril to Nestorius - approvedSecond letter of Nestorius to Cyril - condemnedpart two Third letter of Cyril to Nestorius - approved Twelve Anathemas Proposed by Cyril and accepted by the Council of Ephesus The judgment against Nestorius Synodical letter about the expulsion of the eastern bishops (et al.) Definition of the faith at Nicaea [6th session 22 July 431]part threeDefinition against the impious Messalians or Euchites Resolution : that the bishops of Cyprus may themselves conduct ordinations Formula of union between Cyrill and John of Antioch...

INTRODUCTION This council opened on 19 June in the presence of the emperor, but it is uncertain who presided over the sessions. In the extant lists of bishops present, Ossius of Cordova, and the presbyters Vitus and Vincentius are listed before the other names, but it is more likely that Eustathius of Antioch or Alexander of Alexandria presided. (see Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ed. Norman P. Tanner S.J.) The bold text in the profession of faith of the 318 fathers constitutes, according to Tanner "The additions made by the council to an underlying form of the creed", and...

It's still a jolt for some people to realize this, but the Bible did not fall down out of the sky, leather-bound and gold-monogrammed with the words of Christ in red, in 95 AD.  Rather the canon of Christian Scripture slowly developed over a period of about 1500 years.  That does not mean, of course, that Scripture was being written for 1500 years after the life of Christ.  Rather, it means that it took the Church some fifteen centuries to formally and definitively state which books out of the great mass of early Christian and pseudo-Christian books constituted the Bible....

Last week, I outlined the problem of the age: the incompatibility of Islam with a multicultural West that hides away inconvenient history and disturbing doctrine under layers of political correctness. Without stripping them off to examine the problem, all we get is a lot of wishful thinking. Historian Niall Ferguson, writing in the London Telegraph on the intensifying "Muslim colonization" of Europe, has decided that such "demographic shifts" are not "invariably a bad thing." After all, seven centuries of jihad-imposed dhimmitude for infidels in Muslim Spain gave us the Alhambra, or something. It's that pesky "ideology" of conquest that follows...

Regionalism - dealing with public policy issues on a level that goes beyond city or county boundaries but is smaller than the state as a whole - gained an official toehold in the 1960s and 1970s with the reorganization of major state agencies along regional lines and the creation of multi-jurisdictional umbrella organizations ... (snip) Regional "councils of governments" that had hitherto been mere gatherers of information and debating forums began exerting some real influence, especially in the transportation field and thus indirectly on land use patterns. As they did, local politicians began jockeying for influence within those COGs, as...