War and peace, not all popes are the same
The same call to lay down arms, but with a different approach depending on pope situation. From the "suicide of civilised Europe" (Benedict XV) on the Great War, to Pius XII's attempts to avert the Second World War, to Francis' current attitude. The Daily Compass interviews Professor Massimo de Leonardis on the role of Popes in the times of war during the 20th and 21st centuries.
Pope Francis’ many errors on China in Reuter’s interview
In his interview with Reuters, Pope Francis blesses the agreement with China for the appointment of bishops and exalts Cardinal Casaroli's Ostpolitik in the 1960s and 1970s, taking it as a model. But that diplomatic experience was a failure for the Church and the same is happening with China.
Vatican finds way to approve contraception and assisted fertilisation
The publication of a volume which collects the proceedings of a conference organised by the Pontifical Academy for Life is the occasion to open a new 'process' aimed at changing Catholic morality: the legitimisation of contraception and its counterpart, artificial insemination, is in the sights. Monsignor Paglia: “This is how we advance theological bioethics”.
Pelosi’s Communion in the Vatican undermines US bishops
The Speaker of the House visited the Vatican and received Holy Communion during the papal Mass, in open defiance of Bishop Cordileone, who had personally forbidden her Communion for her open support of abortion.
American bishops 'cold' about new pro-Lgbt cardinal
Pope Francis' decision to make Bishop Robert McElroy a cardinal continues to cause debate across the Atlantic. The US Bishops' Conference coldly dismisses Francis' decision, which is instead praised by Father James Martin, who calls the new cardinal a "friend of the LGBTQ community".
The Vatican opens up to 'LGBT families’
At the press conference for the presentation of the World Meeting of Families (Rome 22-26 June), the concept of an "Amoris Laetitia family" was used in opposition to the natural family, to clear the way for an approach that welcomes any form of union, homosexual first and foremost. It is a decisive break from what has always been the Church's teaching.
"This is why Freemasonry and the Church are incompatible".
There are about six hundred documents, approved by the Popes, condemning Freemasonry, in any form. Freemasonry "denies in principle the value of revealed truth", rejecting all faith in the dogmas taught by the Church. The religious indifferentism of Freemasons is characterised by "a deistic conception", incompatible with the Catholic conception. The Daily Compass interviews Father Zbigniew Suchecki, one of the leading experts on the complex relationship between the Church and Freemasonry.
German Church, the strengths of a weak faith
It is important to recall some parts of the interview given by Msgr. Georg Bätzing, president of the German Bishops' Conference. Of course, ecclesiastical celibacy, the ordination of women priests, and homosexuality are also mentioned. But, as Benedict XVI said, these are points on which the German Church shows all its weakness.
Charles de Foucauld, the "little universal brother”
Today, on May 15, an original apostle of the Gospel is proclaimed a saint in St Peter's Square. He burned with the desire to make "his" Jesus known and loved, living among the Touareg people in the Algerian Sahara,: "I reside here, the only European... Happy to be alone with Jesus, only for Jesus". The long hours each day before the tabernacle: "The Eucharist, it is Jesus, it is all Jesus".
Bux: “Only the proclamation of the Gospel produces true and enduring peace”
The ecumenical relations crisis between the Holy See and the Patriarchate of Moscow due to varying positions regarding the war in Ukraine: “it is the failure of an ecumenism based upon highly publicised encounters attempting to diminish the significance of our differences. John Paul II, on the other hand, focused upon establishing the roots of various cultures and traditions in order to insist upon the unity found in their origins: Christ and His Gospel”. “The work of the Church is not to fight for the environment or for peace, but rather to evangelise, because only Jesus can change a person’s heart. And if their heart is changed, the world will be changed”. The theologian Monsignor Nicola Bux speaks out.
Müller: A Consistory to proclaim peace comes from God
“Every war is the offspring of original sin; the weapons of Christians are prayer and the proclamation of the Gospel of Peace”. “It is absurd that Putin would call himself Christian, then give orders to kill other individuals - the very image of God; and it is inconceivable that a Christian Church become an instrument of Nationalism”. “Providing assistance to Ukraine is one issue, but to use it for other political interests is an entirely different issue”. “The sending of arms is an extremely delicate question. A point of equilibrium must be found in order to avoid an escalation, as well as the possibility that Putin threaten other countries”. So speaks Cardinal Gerhard L. Müller, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in this Daily Compass interview.
There is Schism within the Church: we are simply not permitted to acknowledge it
The German Synod has provided us with a pretext for returning to the discussion of the looming Schism within the Church, but over the past years, both the Magisterium and theology itself have evolved in such a manner that the confine between that which is true and immutable and that which is unacceptable, has been breached. The China-Vatican agreement, the alteration of the Catechism regarding the death penalty, the abolition of ‘intrinsic evil’ in Amoris Laetitia, are all three, decisive passages which threaten the intrinsic Truths upon which the Church was founded.
