A sub-category of News.
In the aftermath of the emperor’s parade in his birthday suit made, supposedly, of the invisible cloth that only the most noble souls could appreciate, there was a great silence in the palace. The emperor had called his chaplain to his chamber and asked him, “Did you see the new suit of clothes that was…
It seems as if, once Christmas has passed – BAM! – it’s over. Trees are at the curb, decorations come down, music on the radio goes back to whatever it was. However, Holy Church gives us an Octave to rest within the feast of the Nativity itself and contemplate it from different angles, including the…
While current scholarship is unclear on the matter of St. Ignatius of Antioch ever having been to Rome before going there to die, there is no doubt whatsoever regarding his great love and esteem for the city. Not the pagan side of the place, of course, that being the reason for his martyrdom, but the…
The Pope knew. The Vatican knew. They knew that Tucho “Heal Me with Your Mouth” Fernández was also the author of the erotic text Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality. And then he was appointed to be in charge of the doctrinal purity at the Office Formerly Known as Holy. The new doctrinal chief continues to…
Three hundred and fifty years ago, on January 12, 1674, one of the greatest Italian composers of the 17th century, or rather “the Master of Musical Europe,” suddenly died in Rome: Giacomo Carissimi. The Jesuit Athanasius Kircher, a scientist and theologian who taught at the Roman College (the future Pontifical Gregorian University), praised him thusly…
It is cause for great happiness that we learn, in an end-of-year retrospective, that Adam Lucas, fellow writer at Crisis, has accepted the wisdom of the Church’s teaching on the marital debt. However, he still takes issue with one aspect: he seems to propose changing the name. In a recent article entitled “From Marital Debt…
I have a joke for you that goes like this: the head of the DDF—the office formerly known as Holy—and Joel Osteen walk into a bar and draft a document and it is called Fiducia Supplicans. I know you are rolling on the floor laughing; or more likely, you are wondering when I am going…
Above: Vatican City – April 16, 2015. Pope Francis meets with the bishops of Kenya who are on their ad limina visit in Rome, Italy. © L’Osservatore Romano. In the ongoing controversy regarding same-sex blessing, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar has released a response to Pope Francis and Tucho “Spirituality and…
One of the expressions we hear most in recent years is “pastoral.” “Pastoral reasons” are used to justify some initiatives in the ecclesial sphere, as we have seen in Fiducia supplicans. “Pastoral motifs” are also behind many changes in liturgy and sacred music. It almost seems that pastoral care has become a sort of passepartout…
If the great tree of truth were suddenly to topple, taking down the beautiful and the good with it, what would be left? Once the three transcendentals have fallen to the ground, is there anywhere in the forest where hope might reappear? Or would that be the end of everything? Only if there is no…
