pope francis

Dear Holy Father… He is Coming!

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TO His Holiness, Pope Francis:

 

Dear Holy Father,

Throughout the pontificate of your predecessor, St. John Paul II, he continually invoked us, the youth of the Church, to become “morning watchmen at the dawn of the new millennium.” [1]POPE JOHN PAUL II, Novo Millennio Inuente, n.9; (cf. Is 21:11-12)

…watchmen who proclaim to the world a new dawn of hope, brotherhood and peace. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Address to the Guanelli Youth Movement, April 20th, 2002, www.vatican.va

From Ukraine to Madrid, Peru to Canada, he beckoned us to become “protagonists of the new times” [2]POPE JOHN PAUL II, Welcome Ceremony, International Airport of Madrid-Baraja, May 3rd, 2003; www.fjp2.com that lay directly ahead of the Church and the world:

Dear young people, it is up to you to be the watchmen of the morning who announce the coming of the sun who is the Risen Christ! —POPE JOHN PAUL II, Message of the Holy Father to the Youth of the World, XVII World Youth Day, n. 3; (cf. Is 21:11-12)

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 POPE JOHN PAUL II, Novo Millennio Inuente, n.9; (cf. Is 21:11-12)
↑2 POPE JOHN PAUL II, Welcome Ceremony, International Airport of Madrid-Baraja, May 3rd, 2003; www.fjp2.com

The Tragic Irony

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(AP Photo, Gregorio Borgia/Photo, The Canadian Press)

 

SEVERAL Catholic churches were burned to the ground and dozens more vandalized in Canada last year as allegations surfaced that “mass graves” were discovered at former residential schools there. These were institutions, established by the Canadian government and run in part with the assistance of the Church, to “assimilate” indigenous peoples into Western society. The allegations of mass graves, as it turns out, have never been proven and further evidence suggests that they are patently false.[1]cf. nationalpost.com; What is not untrue is that many individuals were separated from their families, forced to abandon their native tongue, and in some cases, abused by those running the schools. And thus, Francis has flown to Canada this week to issue an apology to the indigenous people who were wronged by members of the Church.Continue reading →

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 cf. nationalpost.com;

The Agitators – Part II

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Hatred of the brethren makes room next for Antichrist;
for the devil prepares beforehand the divisions among the people,
that he who is to come may be acceptable to them. 
—St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Church Doctor, (c. 315-386)
Catechetical Lectures, Lecture XV, n.9

Read Part I here: The Agitators

 

THE world watched it like a soap opera. Global news incessantly covered it. For months on end, the U.S. election was the preoccupation of not only Americans but billions across the world. Families argued bitterly, friendships fractured, and social media accounts erupted, whether you lived in Dublin or Vancouver, Los Angeles or London. Defend Trump and you were exiled; criticize him and you were deceived.  Somehow, the orange-haired businessman from New York managed to polarize the world like no other politician in our times.Continue reading →

What If…?

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What’s around the bend?

 

IN an open letter to the Pope, [1]cf. Dear Holy Father… He is Coming! I outlined to His Holiness the theological foundations for an “era of peace” as opposed to the heresy of millenarianism. [2]cf. Millenarianism: What it is and is Not and the Catechism [CCC} n.675-676 Indeed, Padre Martino Penasa posed the question on the scriptural foundation of an historic and universal era of peace versus millenarianism to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: “È imminente una nuova era di vita cristiana?” (“Is a new era of Christian life imminent?”). The Prefect at that time, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger replied, “La questione è ancora aperta alla libera discussione, giacchè la Santa Sede non si è ancora pronunciata in modo definitivo”:

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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 cf. Dear Holy Father… He is Coming!
↑2 cf. Millenarianism: What it is and is Not and the Catechism [CCC} n.675-676