Pope leads Via Crucis with young people in torch-lit St. Peter’s Square
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — For the second year in a row, Pope Francis led the Way of the Cross from St. Peter’s Square rather than Rome’s Colosseum because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Torches dotted a long pathway winding from the stage set in front of St. Peter’s Basilica leading down the square, surrounding the ancient […]
Pope Francis on Easter: Christ’s wounds are the ‘seal of his love for us’
May those who suffer take refuge in the wounds of Christ, and through them, receive the hope which does not disappoint, Pope Francis prayed on Easter Sunday. In his Urbi et Orbi blessing April 4, the pope said the witnesses of Christ’s resurrection “report an important detail: the risen Jesus bears the marks of the […]
Lebanon’s Maronite patriarch, Bechara Cardinal Rai, criticizes Hezbollah with “unusually direct” comments in leaked video…
At the risk of compromising the appeasement efforts aimed at facilitating the formation of a new government, Lebanese media on Thursday broadcast a leaked video in which the top Christian leader openly criticizes the Shia Hezbollah movement, accusing it of harming the country by dragging it into regional conflicts.
A priest begs forgiveness for withholding the Holy Eucharist: “We abandoned you”…
Balm for the soul. After I returned from a beautiful Holy Thursday Mass and Adoration last night, I received a text from a local friend who attends a parish across town. I couldn’t fully process what I just read, but, hoping against hope, I quickly opened the attached link and went to the homily. It […]
Nuns vs. guns, CNN vs. truth, and a ‘happy’ Good Friday…
It is, for me, one of the purest consolations of the Triduum that, whatever personal sins are weighing on me, and whatever it is in the world that tempts me to despair, the awful majesty of the crucifixion and the seismic, cosmic rupture of the power of death rendered by the reality of the resurrection […]
What happened with the Lord on Good Friday?
The events of this early Friday morning are tightly packed. In the space of three or four hours, Jesus is sent to Pilate, then to Herod, then back to Pilate, questioned, condemned to die, and led out to be crucified by 9:00 AM. The events begin around 6:00 AM. Early in the morning, the chief […]
The painting that almost turned Picasso back to Catholicism…
Picasso was more than perhaps the greatest artist of the 20th century; he was also one of its most notorious atheists. Despite this, there is one theme that seems to show a different side to him. Over the years he drew or painted around 50 scenes of the Crucifixion. This was not much for a […]
Catholic leaders welcome move to ditch ‘Maryland, My Maryland’ (Catholic Review (Baltimore))
The Confederate battle song became Maryland’s state song in 1939.
Pope Francis: Easter Message Urbi et Orbi [To the City and the World]: video, full text (Vatican Press Office)
“Dear Brothers and Sisters, a good, happy and peaceful Easter! Today, throughout the world, the Church’s proclamation resounds: ‘Jesus, who was crucified, has risen as he said. Alleluia!’ The Easter message does not offer us a mirage or reveal a magic formula. It does not point to an escape from the difficult situation we are […]
Pope pleads for easing of ‘severe restrictions’ on Catholics attending Mass
Pope Francis has used his traditional Easter message to pray for an end to restrictions in some parts of the world that have banned Catholics from worshipping together at the most important feast in the Christian calendar. The Pope’s prayer – delivered in his urbi et orbi address from St Peter’s Basilica – comes as […]