The Nativity, Marconi, and a painter named Christus
One of the most interesting paintings of the birth of Jesus is by Petrus Christus, a member of the 'second generation' of Flemish painting. The subject of an exceptional transaction, it was the first painting in history whose photograph was transmitted by Marconi cable from England to America.
Blasphemy and Blindness of The Mind
Following unbelief, there are two more vices which work against faith: blasphemy which is to deny God what is due to Him and to attribute to Him what should not be; blindness of the mind, on the other hand, is the impediment of intellectual vision, and it can be either a punishment or a sin.
World Day of Peace: where’s the substance?
Poverty, migration, environmental degradation, and climate: for some time now the messages for the World Day of Peace have focused on contingent themes, with the serious risk of entangling the Church in partisan political visions at war with each other.
The father, formidable antidote to dysfunction and crime
An article in the Washington Examiner draws attention to the role of the father, who is crucial for the discipline and success of children. And irrefutable studies underline the importance of the father figure and therefore of a stable marriage in reducing suicide rates, drugs, school drop-outs and a range of disorders among young people. What are politicians waiting for to take note of this and reverse the course?
After abortion, Ireland gets ready for euthanasia
Media and intellectuals have started a campaign in Ireland to introduce "assisted dying", as "necessary". It’s a case of déjà vu. And the Church immediately becomes a target, due the value it gives to suffering and its network of hospices that house the dying.
Vaccines for children: Church leaders in conflict
The recommendation to vaccinate children aged five and over, originally contained in the Documents of the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAL), had been removed at the last minute by the Secretariat of State, but has resurfaced in an agency release and press conference. Even the Italian bishop’s newspaper Avvenire, challenges the Secretariat of State.
The first nativity scene was the living one by St Francis
We are in the Christmas period with its the nativity scene. Traditionally, nativity scenes were animated. They have an 'inventor', St Francis of Assisi, who re-enacted the Nativity in a cave in Greccio, immediately after his return from the Holy Land. A Franciscan pontiff, Nicholas IV, commissioned Arnolfo di Cambio to create the first inanimate nativity scene.
Vices contrary to faith
Faith can be weakened or destroyed by vices, which are divided into three groups. General unbelief, heresy and apostasy are the three categories of the first group and consist of resistance to preaching about faith or contempt for this preaching. This is an important issue because today those who don’t believe, who have doubts, are considered virtuous.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light
Christmas is an event of light, it is the feast of light: in the Child of Bethlehem the primordial light once more shines in humanity’s heaven and dissipates the clouds of sin. The radiance of God’s definitive triumph appears on the horizon of history in order to offer a new future of hope to a pilgrim people.
Ancient Mass, another axe in the answers to the dubia
The Congregation for Divine Worship has published the Responsa ad dubia on the interpretation of Traditionis Custodes: further restrictions, with respect to Pope Francis' motu proprio, on the Sacraments, an ultimatum for those who do not want to concelebrate, and the centralisation of decisions (to the detriment of the bishops). In short, they want to bury the traditional Latin Mass.
