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On Peter, the Apostle "Impetuous Generosity Does Not Safeguard Him" VATICAN CITY, MAY 24, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave at today's general audience in St. Peter's Square. The Pope dedicated his talk to the theme "Peter, the Apostle." * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, In these catecheses we are meditating on the Church. We have said that the Church lives in people and because of this, in the last catechesis, we began to meditate on the figure of the individual apostles, beginning with St. Peter. We saw two decisive stages of his...

Profile of St. Peter "Occasionally Naive and Fearful, Yet Honest and Capable of Repentance" VATICAN CITY, MAY 17, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave at today's general audience, which he dedicated to the spiritual journey of "Peter the fisherman." * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters: In the new series of catecheses we have tried to understand above all what the Church is, what the Lord's idea is about this new family. Then we said that the Church exists in people, and we have seen that the Lord entrusted this new reality, the Church,...

A former bartender at John A. Gotti's social club testified yesterday that the club had hot-pink walls and an elaborate buzzer system and that a crucial prosecution witness — a turncoat mobster who claims that he made plans in the club to carry out a kidnapping Mr. Gotti had ordered — was never there. The bartender, George DiBello, suggested that the witness, Joseph D'Angelo, would surely have noticed the unusual décor of Our Friends Social Club, in Ozone Park, Queens, if he had been there, as he claimed in his testimony. Was there anything unusual about the décor of the...

On Feast of Chair of St. Peter "A Privileged Sign of the Love of God" VATICAN CITY, FEB. 22, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's address at today's general audience, on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters! The Latin liturgy celebrates today the feast of the Chair of Peter. It is a very ancient tradition, witnessed in Rome since the end of the fourth century, which renders thanksgiving to God for the mission entrusted to the Apostle Peter and his successors. "Cathedra" literally means the established seat of...

Vatican's Evolutionists By Rafael Brom Catholics should wonder why Vatican constanly issuing a stout defence of Charles Darwin's Fraudulent Communist Religion "Theory of Evolution". Now we have Vatican's high ranked Cardinal claiming that the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly. Looks like that 150 million martyrs who were tortured and killed by communists since 1917 in the name of "Theory of Evolution" did not read their Bible correctly. I am sure that Vatican's Evolutionists will one day declare St. Peter as the First Communist...

November 18, 2005Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time Psalm: Friday 49 Reading I1 Mc 4:36-37, 52-59 Judas and his brothers said,“Now that our enemies have been crushed,let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.”So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion. Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month,that is, the month of Chislev,in the year one hundred and forty-eight,they arose and offered sacrifice according to the lawon the new altar of burnt offerings that they had made. On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles...

"And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear ..."1 Peter 1:17, KJV "Peter, that place was awful!" Hillary said. "And the furnace in that law library needs serious work. It just reeked of burning sulfur. But thank you, Peter, for getting me this hearing." "All rise!" the bailiff cried out. "This may take a while," Peter whispered to Hillary. "Look at the size of this place!" Hillary gasped. "And what are those, those things, that are standing up?" "Those are all...

June 29, 2005Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, ApostlesMass during the Day Psalm: Wednesday 29 Reading IActs 12:1-11 In those days, King Herod laid hands upon some members of the Church to harm them.He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword,and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jewshe proceeded to arrest Peter also.—It was the feast of Unleavened Bread.—He had him taken into custody and put in prisonunder the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.He intended to bring him before the people after Passover.Peter thus was being kept in prison,but prayer by...

June 28, 2005Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, bishop and martyr Psalm: Tuesday 29 Reading IGn 19:15-29 As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, "On your way!Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here,or you will be swept away in the punishment of Sodom."When he hesitated, the men, by the LORD's mercy,seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughtersand led them to safety outside the city.As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told:"Flee for your life!Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain.Get off to the...

A fresco in the catacomb of Marcellinus (left), and Peter, ivory figure (right) JUNE 2ST. MARCELLINUS AND ST. PETER These two saints are mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass. They were widely honored and prayed to by the early Christians. The feast of these two martyrs was included in the Roman calendar of saints by Pope Vigilius in 555.Marcellinus was a priest and Peter assisted Marcellinus in his ministry. Both were very brave in the practice of their Christian faith. They served the Christian community with great self-sacrifice. During the persecution of Diocletian, many Christians were killed....

June 2, 2005Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time Psalm: Thursday 25 Reading ITb 6:10-11; 7:1bcde, 9-17; 8:4-9a When the angel Raphael and Tobiah had entered Media and were getting close to Ecbatana,Raphael said to the boy,"Tobiah, my brother!"He replied: "Here I am!"He said: "Tonight we must stay with Raguel, who is a relative of yours.He has a daughter named Sarah." So he brought him to the house of Raguel,whom they found seated by his courtyard gate.They greeted him first.He said to them, "Greetings to you too, brothers!Good health to you, and welcome!"And he brought them into his home....

Am I the only who thinks it's miraculous that we could all watch the workings of one of the world's oldest religions, live on worldwide TV? Seeing Pope Benedict XVI's appearance before the throng at St. Peter's Square, I thought about the continuity of the Roman Catholic Church, reaching back almost 2000 years -- and how the new Pope's debut was, in effect, an open-air mass, a religious rite available to any and all global villagers. Of course, those electronic villagers could cheer, or jeer, the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger according to their wont. For his part, when the just-elected...

ST PETER'S CHAIR AT ROME Feast: January 22 [See Phaebeus, de Cathedra in qua St. Petrus Rome sedit, & de antiquitate et praestantia solemnitatis Cathedrae Romanae. Romae 1666, 8vo., also Chatelain, Notes on the Martyrology, p. 326] St Peter having triumphed over the devil in the East, pursued him to Rome in the person of Simon Magus. He who had formerly trembled at the voice of a poor maid now feared not the very throne of idolatry and superstition. The capital of the empire of the world, and the centre of impiety, called for the zeal of the prince...

February 22, 2005Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle Psalm: Tuesday 11 Reading I1 Pt 5:1-4 Beloved:I exhort the presbyters among you,as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christand one who has a share in the glory to be revealed.Tend the flock of God in your midst,overseeing not by constraint but willingly,as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.Do not lord it over those assigned to you,but be examples to the flock.And when the chief Shepherd is revealed,you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Responsorial PsalmPs 23:1-3a, 4, 5, 6 R (1)...

Dedication of the Basilicas of St Peter and St Paul Optional Memorial: November 18Like St. John Lateran Basilica, the dedication of the Basilica of St. Peter's and the Basilica of St. Paul's dates back to the time of the Emperor Constantine. He had begun the construction of this Basilica after building the Lateran Basilica. After Constantine's death his son's completed the work as well as the work of St. Paul's Basilica which is today Saint Paul Outside the Walls St. Peter's was built over a pagan cemetery which had become a burial place for Christians including Saint Peter himself...

November 18, 2004Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time Reading IRev 5:1-10 I, John, saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne.It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice,"Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?"But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earthwas able to open the scroll or to examine it.I shed many tears because no one was found worthyto open the scroll or to examine it.One of the...

June 29, 2004 Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, apostles Old Calendar: Holy Apostles Peter and Paul Veneration of the two great Apostles, Peter and Paul, has its roots in the very foundations of the Church. They are the solid rock on which the Church is built. They are at the origin of her faith and will forever remain her protectors and her guides. To them Rome owes her true greatness, for it was under God's providential guidance that they were led to make the capital of the Empire, sanctified by their martyrdom, the center of the Christian world whence...

New church founded By Cara Eastwood rep4@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Episcopalians seeking a more conservative church might find refuge in a new, as of yet unaffiliated group founded by a veteran in the Episcopal denomination. The Church of St. Peter, Apostle and Confessor will begin meeting Jan. 18, and the Rev. H. W. "Skip" Reeves is eager to plow new ground with his congregation. Initial attendance, estimated between 75 and 150 people, will be comprised mainly of Episcopalians who stopped going to church after last year's controversial appointment of a gay bishop. "I'm the last person...

June 29, 2003Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, ApostlesMass during the Day Psalm: Sunday Week 29 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Reading II Gospel Reading IActs 12:1-11 In those days, King Herod laid hands upon some members of the Church to harm them.He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword,and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jewshe proceeded to arrest Peter also.–It was the feast of Unleavened Bread.–He had him taken into custody and put in prisonunder the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.He intended to bring him before the people after Passover.Peter...

John Paul II Tells Why He's Traveled So Much "I Heard the Echo of Jesus' Command: 'Go Into All the World'" VATICAN CITY, JUNE 12, 2003 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II says his propensity for travel began with an inspiration he felt at the very start of his almost 25-year pontificate. "Right from the day I was elected as Bishop of Rome, Oct. 16, 1978, with special intensity and urgency I heard the echo of Jesus' command: 'Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all of creation,'" the Pope told a gathering today at the Vatican. "I thus...