Jeanie Hannaman

By Fr. Joachim Heimerl, Stilum Curiae, (Complicit Clergy) - On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the death of Pope Saint John Paul II, the church media outdid each other with tributes and, of course, as in his life, also with criticism. The greatest Pope of the 20th century is laboriously worked over by narrow-minded people... What they didn’t talk about, however, was the huge elephant in the room: what would John Paul II say about his successor, Francis? The interesting thing here is not so much that Francis wants to eliminate the legacy of John Paul II, but rather what constitutes the papacy: continuity in Catholic doctrine and ecclesiastical tradition.

By Father Raymond J. de Souza, National Catholic Register - The fifth word from the cross is the shortest: “I thirst.”... It is the only time that Jesus speaks of his physical pain and suffering. The sufferings were intense. Along the Via Crucis, we mark those three falls of Jesus. The suffering and the pain under the weight of the cross were pushing Jesus down. We know that his passion took an enormous physical toll, because after Jesus had died on the cross, and the report is given to Pilate, he is surprised that Jesus has died so quickly. It was possible for people to hang on a cross for days. The debilitating cruelty of the Passion — the scourging, the crowning with thorns — had already weakened Jesus.