One of the titles by which we address Our Blessed Mother in the Litany of Loreto is Mirror of Justice (Speculum Iustitiae). The title reminds us that we see in Mary the image of how to live in obedience to God’s law and so grow in the likeness of Christ, that is, grow in the…
CNA—At a congressional hearing on Thursday, Nov. 30, members of Congress and human rights activists urged Nicaragua dictator Daniel Ortega to immediately release imprisoned Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who they said is being mistreated and possibly tortured. U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Hearing The hearing, which was held by the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Global…
Word on Fire—Now that I’ve had a bit of time to readjust to my normal rhythm and to think through the rather extraordinary experience of the last month in Rome, I would like to share some impressions of the Synod on Synodality, even as I will endeavor not to violate the pope’s request that we…
In his sixth pastoral letter on male spirituality, Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour says that “fatherhood is expected of all men, whether biological, natural, or spiritual.” In the Oct. 12 letter titled “The man of God is a man for others: Some themes in men’s spirituality,” Mansour, said that there are “some worrisome trends” in the…
LifeSiteNews—The following is the official English statement from Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary of Astana, Kazakhstan, in response to the news that Pope Francis has removed Bishop Joseph Strickland from his Diocese of Tyler. “The one charge which is now sure to secure severe punishment is the careful keeping of the traditions of the Fathers.” These…
CNA—Beginning Aug. 4, 2022, Rolando Álvarez, the bishop of Matagalpa and the apostolic administrator of Estelí in Nicaragua, was prevented from leaving his residence by the Nicaraguan police. Two weeks later in the middle of the night, the police broke into the residence, abducted him, and took him to Managua, where he was held under…
CNA—Just days before the Synod on Synodality kicked off its first round of meetings at the Vatican, a letter from Cardinal Joseph Zen was leaked to media, voicing serious concerns to cardinals and bishops worldwide about the gathering in Rome, and advocating for changes to the synod process as well as spirited discussions of the…
Following a report that Pope Francis and Vatican officials held a meeting earlier this month to discuss requesting the resignation of Tyler, Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland, the prelate said on Wednesday he has not been contacted by the Vatican about such matters. In addition, Strickland said if Pope Francis were to remove him from office…
CNA—Addressing a packed audience of approximately 1,000 on the campus of Harvard University on Sunday, Bishop Robert Barron offered those in attendance a window into the “Catholic intellectual tradition” by emphatically proclaiming: “The glory of God is man fully alive!” The founder of the Catholic media apostolate Word on Fire, Barron is one of the…
Cardinal-elect Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, recently spoke with ACI Mena, CNA’s news partner agency in the Middle East, about increasing attacks on Christians by Israeli extremists, his hope for Christians in the Holy Land, and his surprise at being named a cardinal by Pope Francis. How widespread are the recent attacks against…
(full text follows) The Role of Canon Law In the period immediately preceding the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and, even more so, in the post-Conciliar period, the Church’s canonical discipline was called into question at its very foundations. The crisis of canon law had its origin in the same philosophical presuppositions which were inspiring a…
The full text reprinted below of Denver Archibishop Samuel J. Aquila’s new pastoral letter on the Eucharist, issued August 4, 2023, to mark the second year of the National Eucharistic Revival and the Parish Year. (bold added by CBJ for readability) “I am the bread of life … For my flesh is true food, and…
CNA, CBJ—The Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops has completed a formal investigation of Bishop Joseph E. Strickland and the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, according to multiple media reports and confirmed by EWTN News. Apolstolic Visitation The inquiry, known as an apostolic visitation, marks a rare though not unprecedented intervention by Rome into a U.S. diocese and…
“Love for his wife as mother of their children and love for the children themselves are for the man the natural way of understanding and fulfilling his own fatherhood. Above all where social and cultural conditions so easily encourage a father to be less concerned with his family or at any rate less involved in…
Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco wrote a masterful summary of the history of violence against Catholics in the U.S., including felony crimes committed recently in San Francisco and other cities. Vandals get off with a misdemeanor charge for defacing a statue as police looked on. Below are clips of the original story that…
In October of 2020, a group of protestors trespassed on Mission San Rafael, a Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of San Francisco and desecrated and toppled a beloved statue of St. Junipero Serra. The crime was witnessed by the police, caught on videotape. Five were arrested and charged with felony vandalism. Today in court the…
“The time is sure to come when people will not accept sound teaching, but their ears will be itching for anything new and they will collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then they will shut their ears to the truth…” (2 Tim. 3:4,5) The Apostle Paul issued that…
As precursor to a film on The Camino, below please find a conversation with four bishops who have walked The Camino many times — Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico. Together, along with moderator Kathryn…
As we begin this season of Lent, I want to remind each of us that mercy is at the heart of the Gospel message, of the essential importance that forgiveness plays in our lives, and how crucial it is for our country right now. Those of us who have received the mercy of God play…
In the heart of Rome, in the middle of the Tiber River between the neighborhood known as Trastevere to the southwest and the Ghetto to the northeast, there sits an island connected to the mainland by a bridge on either side. The bridges were built in ancient Roman times, and still stand and are used…
