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ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE - Pope Francis said Tuesday that the latest round of financial scandal at the Vatican is actually a success story, because the situation was revealed thanks to an internal Vatican probe, which he said demonstrates that new controls are working. The pontiff also called both owning and deploying nuclear weapons “immoral,” saying that point should be added to the Catholic catechism, and suggested that it might be time to re-think the veto power wielded by a handful of countries in the United Nations Security Council. His comments came during an airborne news conference on the return...

Tonight's topic at 9:00 EST, "Technology & War in the Ancient World," & Q&A on anything afterwards. Free, but register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIuduCuqDsrG9eef4TQ2p4BcWHQS8IaaHZ_

I found this letter while looking for other things. The premise of the letter that Pontus Pilot supposedly wrote, is to inform the Emperor, Caesar Tiberius, about the incident that happemned in his Province of Judea. He elaborates how there was some trouble with the Religious leaders over a certain Prophet of their God. Concerned about the affairs of his Province, he sending a messenger to Jesus with a letter. The letter invites Jesus for a private talk with he Roman Governor, Pontus Pilot Jesus obviously jumps at the chance to meet the Roman Governor. Well, after Pilot meets...

An ITN analysis finds a State Department employee with the same name as a person at the center of accusations of election hacking was one of only ten employees to graduate the National Defense University with an advanced cybersecurity degree. A man by the name of Stefano Serafini is accused of being one of the individuals that facilitated the hacking of the presidential election on Nov. 3. That hack allegedly switched votes electronically from President Trump to Joe Biden and took place at – among other sites – the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy. Those allegations, made by Maria Zack...

Posting for discussion. Not sure who these folks are. Leonardo S.p.A (formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica) is the Italian MIC Defense contractor ... ... that used its Military Satellite uplink to load it’s vote changing software in Rome ... ... and transfer it to the Frankfurt/Barcelona servers.👇 https://mobile.twitter.com/killaudeepstate/status/1346610420178587650?s=21 And audio file here. Save while you can. https://vocaroo.com/1e976QE4oDoy

HUNDREDS of birds found dead on a street in Rome on New Year's Eve were scared to death by fireworks, animal rights campaigners have claimed. It comes after a ban on fireworks in the city, introduced to protect people, animals, and heritage sites, went largely ignored.... ...The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says that there is "little evidence to suggest that fireworks harm wild birds or affect their conservation status".

People who fail to heed the past, doom the future. Likewise, those who ignore the present, as if they have no responsibility for their actions to those who come after, may change the course of history. That history may be one not wanted, or deserved, by those who inherit it. An event in 9 A.D., in a dark German forest, probably didn’t seem like much on the global scale. When three Roman legions were destroyed by German tribes in Teutoburg Forest, it was a tragedy for sure. Nearly 20,000 were dead, an amount hard to imagine killed in only a...

A fast-food eatery — or thermopolium — discovered at Pompeii has been completely excavated, helping to reveal some top dishes of the ancient Roman city. The site is about 18 miles southeast of Naples, Italy. Luigi Spina/Archaeological Park of Pompeii ================================================================== Ever wonder what a 2,000-year-old fast-food restaurant might look like? Well, new photos from researchers might give you an idea. Archaeologists said on Saturday they excavated a complete thermopolium — a Roman food counter — in the ancient city of Pompeii. Researchers are analyzing the findings to create a more complete picture of the daily life — and diet...

What we love does not always make sense. In ancient Roman myth Aeneas had a clear duty to found a new city in Italy but exhaustion and the need to rest from storms and war forced him to dally in Carthage and break Dido’s heart. He couldn’t please everyone. Now the world sees a clear proven template for democracy and freedom. For a long time we have rightfully believed that America was founded and defined by: The Constitution. The Declaration Of Independence. The Gettysburg Address. But now some people in the great big family that is the Democrats see the...

On December 2, Christians commemorate Saint Bibiana, a Roman martyr of the 4th century AD. Unfortunately, the facts about Bibiana's martyrdom are few as the surviving account of her passion is considered unreliable, recorded as it was centuries after her death. We know for sure that Bibiana was an early martyr as a shrine was built for her in Rome which exists to this day. Sadly, the present-day Church of St. Bibiana sits adjacent to the Termini train station in a shabby section of Rome, complete with graffiti, even on the exterior walls of the Church itself. We know that...

Oops. Vatican’s McCarrick report catches Pope Francis taking ‘tiny liberties with the truth’Archbishop Viganò had run into McCarrick as he came out of an audience with the Pope, and seeing the Nuncio, he said to him with a big smile in a triumphant tone: “He is sending me to China.”November 27, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Dear friends and enemies of Stilum Curiae, now that the din of the McCarrick Report has died down a bit – the report written by the Secretariat of State ad usum Delphini – I will softly allow myself to glean from a few details, which however...

The Roman Catholic bishop of Orange County is suing a former charity administrator for libel, an escalation in the prelate’s dispute with influential church philanthropists who have complained to the Vatican about his firing of a nonprofit board. Bishop Kevin Vann and the Diocese of Orange’s chief financial officer are seeking a retraction, financial compensation and punitive damages from the ex-administrator for an email in which they contend she gave a “false narrative” that suggested that charity funds might be used to cover clergy sex abuse claims. The Superior Court suit filed earlier this month is the latest development in...

I wrote this article two years ago. Due to the recent news of Pope Francis supporting gay marriage and a place for practicing homosexuals in the RCC, I felt that it was a good time to bring this piece out once again. I have edited this down to a shortened version, but (as always) will publish the links, so that those readers who wish to read articles in their entirety may do so. A warning to readers: prepare to be shocked and sickened. I apologize here for some of the content from St. Sebastian’s Angels. Sometimes I think that God...

Oldest Roman body armour found in Germany Archaeologists have discovered the oldest and most complete Roman body armour at the site of the  Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in Kalkriese, Germany. Before this find, the earliest known examples of Roman lorica segmentata — iron plate sections tied together — were found in Corbridge, UK, and date to the 2nd century. Those were fragments. The Kalkriese armor is a complete set, and includes an extremely rare iron collar used to shackle prisoners.More than 7,000 objects have been found at the Kalkriese battlefield site, from weapons to coins to items of everyday...

Otober 14, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Bishop Athanasius Schneider has expressed grief over Pope Francis’ latest encyclical Fratelli Tutti, noting that it “lacks a clearly supernatural horizon,” misrepresents St. Francis, and furthers the theological confusion Pope Francis created with his Abu Dhabi statement.   Reflecting on the time of St. Francis where the saint was called by Christ to rebuild the Church, Archbishop Schneider says, “Today the Church of Rome finds herself in a similar situation of spiritual collapse, due to the spiritual torpor of a majority of the Shepherds of the Church, the excessive absorption of the Pope himself in temporal affairs, and...

How accurate are these 21st century recreations? Voshart is the first to admit this is a creative project more than a historical one. He tells Smithsonian Magazine the results are “my artistic interpretation”. On Medium he writes the images are “more art than science”. “Sculptures and busts were idealized images of the emperors” states archaeologist Jane Fejfer from the University of Copenhagen. Referring to Emperor Augustus – the first to rule the Empire from 27 BC – AD 14 – she outlines how “mass-produced models were sent out to local workshops around the kingdom, which they then carved the portraits...

Today, September 3, is the feast of Pope Saint Gregory the Great on the modern calendar. This great pope who is simultaneously considered the last Father of the ancient Church and the first of the medieval Church, has featured frequently on this blog (see his rebuke of the bishops of Dalmatia and his ponderings on Purgatory, in particular). I had not previously looked into Gregory’s early life, however, and falling as it does in the mid-6th century which is right in my wheel-house, I figured I would do a little research. It seems that the earliest Vita of Gregory was...

In his book, 'How Should We Then Live?', Francis Schaeffer describes the background and culture that brought about the totalitarian rule of the Caesars this way: “Before the days of Caesar, the senate could not keep order. Armed gangs terrorized the city of Rome and the normal processes of government were disrupted as rivals fought for power. Self-interest became more significant than social interest, however sophisticated the trappings. Thus, in desperation the people accepted authoritarian government.” Sound familiar? In America, we’re now seeing a near-complete breakdown of law and order that differs from past episodes in at least two ways....

A New Jersey detention officer who allegedly wrote on Facebook that a 5-year-old boy fatally shot in North Carolina “should’ve ducked” has been suspended, county officials said. Rome Smith, who works at the Cumberland County Juvenile Detention Center, wrote on Facebook Friday about the Aug. 9 shooting that killed Cannon Hinnant as the boy rode his bike outside his family’s home, a screenshot shows.

A new study suggests the Mediterranean Sea was the warmest during the Roman Empire than any other time in the past 2,000 years The research, published in Scientific Reports, notes the Mediterranean was 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) warmer "than average values for the late centuries for the Sicily and Western Mediterranean regions.