Jeanie Hannaman

By Father Raymond J. de Souza, National Catholic Register - The greatest pre-conclave homily was preached by St. John Paul II in 1978, on the Gospel where Christ asks Peter three times, ‘Do you love me?’ — the same Gospel heard in churches around the world this Sunday... On the Sunday before the conclave begins, a good many cardinals will visit their “titular churches” in Rome. This Sunday they will have a Gospel text that should inspire their preaching as they ready themselves to elect a new pope... The assigned reading for this Sunday is John 21:1-19. Jesus asks Peter three times to profess his love, and three times confers upon him the mission of caring for the entire flock — “feed my lambs, tend my sheep.” ......

By Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Crisis Magazine - Now that the papacy of Jorge Mario Bergoglio is behind us, it is worth not only assessing his papacy but also the papacy itself. While conservative Catholics criticized Francis’ doctrinal ambiguity, his watered-down moral teaching, and his support for compromised prelates, it is only fair to ask ourselves what his motivations were.

By Larry Chapp, Catholic World Report - I am not a prophet, but I imagine that the biggest frustration of the classical prophets of Israel was sensing deeply the judgment that was coming, but when they announced this to their contemporaries were condemned as fanatics and alarmists. As Jesus said, judgment will come upon the complacent suddenly and surprisingly, as in the days of Noah... But I am more haunted these days by another statement from our Lord, especially as the cardinals assemble to decide the immediate future of the Church: “When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Lk 18:8).