Catholic Church

By Dan Hitchens, First Things - I have spent what feels like years parsing these much-debated Vatican documents, checking the exact translation of Italian words, badgering learned canonists and theologians for comments, comparing one sentence with another... in the era of Pope Francis, such “controversial” statements are generally less statements than black holes... A black hole, according to NASA, is “a great amount of matter packed into a very small area—think of a star ten times more massive than the Sun squeezed into a sphere approximately the diameter of New York City.”

By Robert Morrison, Remnant Columnist, The Remnant - ... Fiducia Supplicans, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith approved the blessing of same-sex unions. The dicastery’s prefect, Cdl. Víctor Manuel "Tucho" Fernández (says)... “As with the Holy Father’s above-mentioned response to the Dubia of two Cardinals, this Declaration remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage, not allowing any type of liturgical rite or blessing similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion. The value of this document, however, is that it offers a specific and innovative contribution to the pastoral meaning of blessings..."

By John Zmirak, The Stream - Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Nudge-Nudge, Wink-Wink... Does the pope’s maneuver here sound familiar? It’s the same one Bill Clinton used to trash the U.S. military’s sound, historic practice of banning homosexuals. Clinton gave his plan the modest-sounding moniker, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”... In other words, Clinton didn’t yet have the cultural juice to entirely endorse homosexual servicemen ... Francis seeks a similar transformation of the Roman Catholic Church.

By David F. Forte, The Catholic Thing - “Put Christ back into Christmas,” we are told, often from the pulpit. “Take time out to pray and meditate upon the Advent season.  Don’t be distracted by all the shopping advertisements.”  All well and good.  But I would also argue the contrary.  It’s in the noise of the Christmas season that we find Christ. Mary and Joseph and the Magi sought not to escape from the commotion, the drama, and “noise” surrounding the great moment. They traveled into it.