Dossier: how Polish secret service agents blackmailed priests
To understand certain accusations against the late Cardinal Gulbinowicz and other Polish prelates, one must reread history. The communist regime fought all its opponents with physical or psychological persecution. The Polish secret service prepared dossiers on every priest. In the 1970s roughly 1,000 officials worked for the sole purpose of monitoring the Church, which was perceived as an enemy of the communist system. Only a few priests (about 10%) collaborated with the communist authorities. Those who resisted or "caused trouble" faced being killed.
Barluzzi, an architect-mystic. The Gaudí of the Holy Land
Antonio Barluzzi, who passed away sixty years ago today, was the mind and hand behind some of the most renowned churches constructed by the custodian Franciscans in the Holy Land. During the course of forty years lasting until 1958, his designs and plans became more than a dozen churches built in the Holy Sites, and these included the ones of the Transfiguration, the Flagellation, the Beatitudes, and the Basilica of All Nations.
Pfizer vaccine, questionable efficacy at the expense of safety
The new Pfizer vaccine is hailed for its excellent efficacy. This does not mean it is without problems which require attention, also because they are too dangerous to be ignored. First of all, haste: the lack of data on safety could mean some minor cases of Covid were overlooked. Data on the asymptomatic disease rate are also lacking. The two deaths after vaccination arouse perplexity, not for the number, but because the causal link is not explained, ie how and if the correlation with the vaccine was excluded or if it was the trigger of these deaths. But the most serious aspect of the study is that it was decided to stop the research prematurely, that is without deciding to monitor the adverse effects of the vaccine. But, privileging (questionable) efficacy over safety is unethical and unscientific.
A clever way to impose an Amazonian liturgy
The Roman Missal in the Zairean rite is the first one to be enculturated and lends itself to becoming a precursor to a future Amazonian rite. There are two risks in this undertaking: introducing pagan elements and producing a new liturgy inspired by the objectives of Church politics as opposed to the Church’s mission. On this matter, Benedict XVI warned, "A liturgy is not born by means of decrees."
Tour of chocolate-producing monasteries
In the 19th century, once the ecclesiastical diatribes on the legitimacy of drinking chocolate during the Lenten period had subsided, the monasteries began to produce it. Handcrafted and on a small scale, but of great quality. From the Abbey of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament, in Frattocchie, Lazio, to the Bridgettine monastery of Amity, Oregon, we discover some of the most sought-after products, the fruit of a world that combines work with prayer.
Catholics and government "Fight over right to attend Mass" in Ireland
Even if Masses in Ireland have just resumed after a six-week ban imposed by the government, some bishops and laity have accused the government of acting unconstitutionally. To avoid further attempts to impose new closures, an appeal has been made to the High Court. The sentence is now in the waiting.
The Green Madness tries to destroy the Netherlands
We are publishing the article written by Hugo Bos, “The Green Madness Trying to Destroy the Netherlands”. This article highlights the data of the ecologist ideology in Holland. It is an extract from the XII Report on the Social Doctrine of the Church of the Observatory Cardinal Van Thuân recently published by Edizioni Cantagalli, Siena.
Hong Kong, Jimmy Lai risks jail in fight for freedom
Jimmy Lai has been arrested again. He is a Catholic businessman and media mogul who now risks 14 years behind bars for opposing the Chinese Communist regime. Robert Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, is convinced: "Jimmy Lai is being persecuted for his ideas on human liberty, including that of the press, of enterprise and of religion". Far from being a lost cause, according to Sirico it is "smouldering embers" that could be rekindled also in mainland China.
"Certain that it will arrive, we await the birth of light"
In Piero della Francesca's “Madonna del Parto” we find the meaning of Advent: Mary is certain of the baby she is expecting, the Son of God. There is no-one better than the Virgin Mary to personally accompany us in this period of waiting which focuses on the unique, indestructible -and also previously unavailable- link between life and death, between time and eternity.
Child abuse exposed in the documentary “Transhood”
It seems like a nightmare, instead it is reality: today children can be encouraged, as young as 3 or 4 years old, to think that they belong to the opposite sex of their biological one, thus endorsing, rather than reducing, the confusion deriving from problematic situations. This is what a documentary reveals that follows the lives of five children from 4 to 15 years of age: a rainbow propaganda that, if watched carefully, shows how the innocent are so brainwashed, that it also records the remorse of one of the mothers.
The Church’s love-hate disputes over chocolate
Pius V’s terse judgement on the “drink of the gods”; the arguments on the prohibition or acceptance of this food during fasting; the idea that it is an all-Catholic food (coffee is supposed to be Protestant); the Jesuit missionaries’ taste for it; and the debate at the Council of Trent. Finally, the chocolate eggs and cribs of our days.
- THE RECIPE: CHOCOLATE AND CANDIED ORANGE CAKE
