News

By Matthew J. Ramage, Ph.D., Catholic World Report - In this reflection, we’ve examined one particularly powerful and often underappreciated way by which creation mirrors the Logos, which is to say through the Paschal Mystery woven into the fabric of the universe. Having drawn wisdom from both of “God’s two books” and highlighted some tangible examples from nature, it is clear that suffering and death not only play a pivotal role in nature but moreover point to something deeper about God’s design by which we may be led to eternal life. ....

By Fr. Jeffrey Kirby, The Catholic Thing - The early Christians knew the power of the Gospel and the immense opportunity for eternal life that was being offered to humanity by the Lord Jesus. They wanted to proclaim the liberating message of the Lord to all the world with the hope that all might be saved in Jesus Christ... The early Church knew they had something that was unparalleled, unmatched, unequaled, and unrivaled by anything in our fallen world. They knew the Gospel to be a “pearl of great price,” as the Lord Jesus told them .....

By Peter Kwasniewski, Crisis Magazine - In many ways, the clarification published by Cardinal Fernández on January 4, 2024, is even worse than the original document it purports to clarify, the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans of December 18, 2023... Fernández doubles down on the idea of “non-liturgical blessings,” but this frankly makes no sense. A priest is a minister of God who, when he makes the sign of the cross over someone or something, is doing a religious, ministerial, efficacious, and, yes, ritual act. ....

By Peter Pinedo, Catholic World Report, Catholic News Agency - Nine bishops from France have instructed priests in their dioceses that they may bless homosexual individuals but should refrain from blessing same-sex couples... The Archdiocese of Rennes, which is led by Archbishop Pierre d’Ornellas, issued the statement on Jan. 1 on behalf of the bishops from the Ecclesiastical Province of Rennes... “In our society where marriage has been trivialized by becoming a notion of civil law which ignores the founding specificity of sexual difference, we have the mission to affirm in a prophetic way,” the bishops said, “the great beauty of the design of God who created the human being, man and woman.”