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Peter the Roman conspiracy

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March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
December 31, 2022, 10:08:58 am NilsFor1611 says: blessings
August 08, 2018, 02:38:10 am suzytr says: Hello, any good churches in the Sacto, CA area, also looking in Reno NV, thanks in advance and God Bless you Smiley
January 29, 2018, 01:21:57 am Christian40 says: It will be interesting to see what happens this year Israel being 70 years as a modern nation may 14 2018
October 17, 2017, 01:25:20 am Christian40 says: It is good to type Mark is here again!  Smiley
October 16, 2017, 03:28:18 am Christian40 says: anyone else thinking that time is accelerating now? it seems im doing days in shorter time now is time being affected in some way?
September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
September 14, 2017, 08:06:04 am Psalm 51:17 says: bro Mark Hunter on YT has some good, edifying stuff too.
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« Reply #600 on: February 03, 2015, 07:48:00 pm »

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/30/pope-francis-climate-change-epa-gina-mccarthy
Washington's memo to the Vatican: the pope and Obama are in sync on climate change

Gina McCarthy says pope can convince doubters that ‘science is real’
Obama ‘is aligned’ with pope on seeing climate change as a moral issue

1/30/15



America’s top environmental official has assured the Vatican that the pope and Barack Obama are singing from the same hymnal when it comes to fighting climate change.

In a visit to the Vatican, Gina McCarthy, the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), conveyed a message to the pope that Obama shared his view that fighting climate change was a moral obligation.

“I want him to know that the president is aligned with him on these issues and that we are taking action in the United States,” McCarthy told the National Catholic Reporter ahead of the meeting.

She went so far as to suggest that Obama was “working with the pope” when it came to climate change.

That alliance, between Obama and the pope, followed from the view that leaders have a moral duty to preserve the earth and protect those most at risk from the consequences of climate change, McCarthy said.

“I think the most important thing that we can do, working with the pope, is to try to remind ourselves that this is really about protecting natural resources that human beings rely on, and that those folks that are most vulnerable – that the church has always been focused on, those in poverty and low income – are the first that are going to be hit and impacted by a changing climate,” she said.

EPA officials said McCarthy used the meeting to applaud the pope’s efforts to fight climate change, and to brief the Vatican on Obama’s plan for cutting greenhouse gas emissions that are driving global warming.

“It was really about the efforts the US is taking on climate change and the need for everyone to be involved both domestically and internationally – both to work with the pope and thank for his efforts on this far,” a spokesperson said.

McCarthy did not meet the pope, but was greeted by a quartet of Vatican officials, Monsignor Antoine Camilleri, the undersecretary for relations with states and the ministry’s top environmental official, Paolo Conversi as well as Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the pontifical council for justice and peace, and his director of environmental affairs, Tebaldo Vinciguerra. The four officials will help prepare a highly anticipated encyclical on the environment and climate change, expected to be published in June or July.

On Saturday, McCarthy was due to tour the Vatican’s solar panels, which are on top of the Paul VI hall.

The pope said earlier this month that climate change was “mostly” man-made, and he said he hoped the encyclical and a planned address to the UN in September would push leaders to take more “courageous” actions.

The EPA administrator was born into an Irish Catholic family from Boston.

Her trip to the Vatican, however, was part of a broader mission of putting climate change above partisan politics and persuading the American people to get behind the climate plan.

The pillar of the US climate plan – the first rules cutting carbon pollution from power plants are due to be finalised this summer. But they are under attack from Republicans in Congress and industry, who are trying to block or reduce the emissions cuts.

“One of the challenges that I think we face in the US is that climate change is very often viewed as a political issue,” McCarthy told reporters ahead of her meetings. “And environmental issues are not political.”

She went on: “I think we need to get this out of the political arena and get it back to the arena we work most effectively on: what’s right for our kids, for our families, for public health, and what solutions do we bring to the table that are going to address those?”

Obama has no chance of meeting his emissions reductions targets if those rules are stalled or weakened.

US officials and foreign diplomats believe an attack on those rules would shake international confidence in climate change negotiations heading towards a conclusion in Paris at the end of the year – putting the global effort to fight climate change in peril, along with that of the US.

Over the last 18 months, McCarthy has been doggedly visiting state and local leaders to try to gin up support for the power plant rules. Last week, she visited Aspen to mobilise support from the winter sports industry, which depends on cold weather and snow.

Some conservative sections of the church are opposed to Obama’s power plan.

“Preservation of the environment and promotion of sustainable development? No problem. But climate change and the blundering malicious environment of the UN? No thanks. The pope can do better,” wrote Thomas Peters, a writer for Catholic Vote.
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« Reply #601 on: February 05, 2015, 12:49:20 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/boehner-says-pope-francis-address-u-congress-september-164920021.html
2/5/15

Boehner says Pope Francis to address U.S. Congress on September 24

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday that Pope Francis will address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Sept. 24, marking the first time a pope has delivered such a speech.

The pope is expected to visit Washington, New York and Philadelphia during his trip to the United States. After the trip was announced last year, Boehner said that he had invited the head of the Roman Catholic Church to speak to lawmakers.

"On Sept. 24 His Holiness Pope Francis will visit us here at the United States Capitol. That day, His Holiness will be the first pope in our history to address a joint session of Congress," Boehner told reporters during his weekly press conference.
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« Reply #602 on: February 08, 2015, 09:23:17 pm »

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-08/pope-francis-is-one-of-the-most-skilled-politicians-on-earth?cmpid=yhoo
2/8/15
The Pope Is One of the Most Skilled Politicians on Earth

He’s met with a transgender man, told Catholics not to breed like rabbits and washed the feet of a Muslim woman. While all this may sound like he’s ready to overturn dogma, Pope Francis’s real interest is geopolitics.

In less than two years in office, he’s nudged the conversation away from abusive priests and used the image makeover to wade into conflicts from helping to restore Cuban-U.S. ties to lobbying for a global climate accord. In September, he will become the first religious leader who serves as a head of state to address a joint session of Congress.

“He’s capitalizing on the fascination that he exercises,” said John Wauck, a professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. “He’s gotten the attention of the world and is using it.”

By sidestepping the debate on abortion, gay marriage and sex, Francis has positioned himself for a role in world affairs, from the economic crisis to relations with China, according to Father Thomas Reese, author of “Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church.”

Pope John Paul II was single-minded in the pursuit of ending Communism in the 1980s, and Pope Benedict XVI was a gaffe-prone bookworm fretting over relativism. Francis, by contrast, embraces a broad policy agenda outside Vatican walls.

In an echo of the Obama administration, he is even making his own pivot to Asia. He already has been twice to the region shunned by his predecessor with a view not only to refilling pews but also gaining traction with the rising powers.

Beijing Calling
The challenge for Francis -- who hails from a religious order that proselytized in China in the 16th century -- is how to duplicate his Cuban success with a more formidable Communist foe. The Holy See and the world’s most populous country have been at odds since 1951 over, among many things, the right to ordain bishops.

Francis, who says he’d go to Beijing tomorrow, has a secret corridor with the new leadership for diplomatic messages. There have been small gestures on both sides: Francis didn’t see the Dalai Lama in Rome, a move that would have incensed Chinese authorities. President Xi Jinping allowed Francis to fly over China’s air space, the first time a pope was granted that right.

The road nonetheless will probably be long. To coax a prickly China, the pope would need to abandon Taiwan, which China has long claimed. There is little sign China is willing to stop its practice of naming bishops independently of the Holy See. China has about 12 million Catholics -- three times the number in Ireland -- compared with a mere 300,000 faithful in Taiwan.

Soft Power
There are limits to the reach of papal soft power (PDF) and a trip to China doesn’t appear imminent. By contrast, John Paul II made history less than a year into his papacy when he visited Communist Poland, his homeland, in an act of defiance against the Soviet Union.

When Francis was elected, few pegged him as a policy wonk. Unlike predecessors such as John XXIII and Pius XII who were Vatican envoys, Francis’s background betrayed no such preparation -- though the interest was always there. Eduardo Valdez, an Argentine diplomat who knew the pope when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, said the two of them never spoke of religion, only global politics.

“He was a frenetic reader of international affairs,” Valdez said.

The gap between knowledge and effectiveness may be large. Francis has dived into tough international conflicts including Korea, Cuba and Palestine and not all have gone well.

Pyongyang Silence
His call for reconciliation between the Koreas met with silence from Pyongyang; the day he arrived on the peninsula, North Korea fired missiles into the sea.

Francis did persuade Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and then-Israeli President Shimon Peres to exchange kisses, grab two shovels and break ground for the planting of an olive tree in the Vatican gardens. While he brought attention to the plight of Palestinians by praying in Bethlehem near graffiti that read “Free Palestine,” his visit was overshadowed by a resurgence in violence.

He was much more successful with Cuba, secretly hosting delegations from there and the U.S. and playing a vital role in the prisoner exchanges that led to renewed ties after half a century.

The pope’s international outlook also is evident in the reconfiguration of the College of Cardinals that will pick his successor, which raises the odds the next leader of 1.2 billion Catholics will hail from Asia or Africa.

Conservative Revolt
That reshuffle -- coupled with the removal of critics such as Boston’s Cardinal Raymond Burke from key positions -- has agitated a still-strong conservative wing of the church that would prefer a return to business as usual.

“A number of cardinals are upset,” said Father Gerald Fogarty, a professor of religious studies and history at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “You can’t expect the old guard to take it lying down, and they’ve been around a long time.”

He has announced plans to shrink the bureaucracy that runs the millennia-old church, removed executives at the mismanaged Vatican Bank and told cardinals to abandon their limousines and catch the bus.

At the bank, he’s brought a measure of transparency following allegations of illegal behavior and poor oversight. The bank now publishes an annual report, has closed 2,000 accounts and undertaken a review of 18,000 clients.

Carefully Planned
Drew Christiansen, a former director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace, praised the pope’s openness but added that even though his statements may seem off the cuff, they are in fact carefully planned.

“There is a lot of thought put into his spontaneity,” said Christiansen, who has advised the church in its diplomatic dealings with China. “The overhaul in culture really means that when the pope speaks, people pay attention.”

Not everyone agrees. Traditionalists say he has assaulted doctrine. Some liberals say he is all talk and little substance. His changes inside the Vatican have won him internal enemies, while his expressions of tolerance to gays have earned him, in some quarters, faint praise for coming too late to make much difference: The pope who declined to offer a judgment about homosexuals still isn’t rushing to allow them to marry Church of England-style.
Even so, his charm offensive does seem to be affecting his flock. Church attendance is up, the number of voluntary donations known as Peter’s Pence rose 20 percent and he added 8 million followers to his multiple-language Twitter accounts in a year. His general audiences draw three times the crowd of his predecessor.


Positive Ratings
Unlike Benedict, who got negative ratings for his response to reports of sexual abuse, Francis enjoys a positive image around the world, Pew Research Center polls show.

Forty-four percent of adults polled said Benedict dealt with the church’s scandals poorly. By contrast, a median 60 percent of people surveyed in 43 countries looked upon Francis favorably. Even in the Middle East, where his standing is the worst, more people thought well of him than not.

Born to well-to-do Italian immigrants fleeing fascism, the pope, born Jorge Bergoglio, is the eldest of five children brought up in a middle-class neighborhood in the center of Buenos Aires. His grandmother, Rosa, not only told him stories about the lives of saints but also shaped his views on the excesses of capitalism, teaching him that “burial shrouds don’t have pockets.”

First Visit
Those views have only gotten stronger as he has ripped into “trickle-down economics,” much to the dismay of some potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates. Come September, he’s headed to New York for the United Nations’ annual gathering, then to Congress. It will be his first time ever in the U.S.

If his address to European Union lawmakers in November is any indication, Francis won’t spare the rod at the Capitol. He told Parliament that Europe was “somewhat elderly and haggard, feeling less and less a protagonist in a world which frequently regards it with aloofness, mistrust and even, at times, suspicion.”

On a trip back from the Philippines last month, he quipped he’d love to enter the U.S. from its border with Mexico as a way to honor immigrants.

With Wall Street in his sights, the pope has made clear that corporate greed and income inequality are priorities. He also has said he will issue an encyclical on global warming -- another papal first -- and will use his visit to the U.S. to explain that “it is man who has slapped nature in the face.” He may urge the White House to push for a climate deal in Paris in December.

His focus on getting things done quickly isn’t just because of the many church crises. With one functioning lung and fast approaching 80, Francis has a personal sense of urgency.

“At my age,” he told the Spanish daily newspaper, la Vanguardia. “I don’t have much to lose.”
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« Reply #603 on: February 12, 2015, 10:36:03 am »

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/10/why-pope-francis-speech-will-get-us-legislators-squirming-in-their-seats.html
2/10/15
Pope Francis will have some US legislators ‘€˜squirming in their seats’

Pontiff’s speech likely to critique economic policies advocated by GOP-led Congress that have contributed to inequality

When Pope Francis becomes the first pope to address a joint session of Congress, in September, many Catholic theologians and activists expect that he will focus on rising global economic inequality rather than on the hot-button cultural issues that often dominate U.S. politics.

The pontiff continues to disappoint Catholic women pressing for equality in the church, reproductive rights and allowing birth control, and his recent endorsement of a Slovak referendum to ban marriage and adoption by same-sex couples has dismayed supporters of LGBT rights. But most papal observers don’t expect to see those issues addressed in Francis’ congressional speech. Instead, they predict that the pope will use his critique of the current global economic order to challenge his audience on the role of government in alleviating inequality as well as on immigration and climate change.

The central message of Francis’ papacy has been that “income and wealth inequality in our world is the source of social ills,” said Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobbying group best known for its Nuns on the Bus campaigns challenging income inequality and pressing for immigration reform. “Until we remedy that, we won’t have any sort of real peace or good community.”

Francis’ view on the global economy, say Catholic theologians, is deeply rooted in Catholic social justice teaching that demands care for society’s most vulnerable to promote the common good. Francis’ critique of global capitalism, laid out in detail in his 2013 apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium,” decries the “economy of exclusion.” That phrase, said Meghan Clark, an assistant professor of theology and religious studies in moral theology at St. John’s University in New York, is based on his belief that “we’re in a state in which when someone isn’t ‘useful,’ they simply don’t even exist.”

The pope also uses the phrase “throwaway culture” to describe how people, like consumer goods, are used and cast aside, said Clark. He has used the phrase to critique rampant consumerism, abortion and neglect of the elderly. If he addresses abortion on Capitol Hill, she said, it would likely be through such a lens.

The Rev. David Hollenbach, the university chair in human rights and international justice in the theology department at Boston College, expects Francis to highlight the fact that the United States is “an extraordinarily privileged country with an enormous amount of wealth, especially at the very top.” Hollenbach added that the pope will likely further emphasize that the United States “has a very important role to play in shaping international economic policy in ways that could work to alleviate and advance further the reduction of poverty worldwide.”

Out of 535 members of the current Congress, 164 are Catholic, and 81 of those are Republicans, according to the Pew Research Center. Catholic activists such as Campbell and John Gehring, Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life, a Democratic-leaning advocacy group, have been critical of Republican economic policies, particularly those of House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Paul Ryan, both Catholics.

“The pope is not going to offer detailed policy proposals, but I would expect him to be unambiguous about the moral dimension and the reality that so many are left behind in our global economy,” said Gehring. “Speaker Boehner and the Koch brothers won’t find endorsement of their policies from this pope.”

Some conservative American Catholics have claimed that free market economic policy is supported by the Catholic concept of subsidiarity, which calls for decision-making at the lowest, most local level of government possible. But more liberal theologians say that rather than call for less government intervention, subsidiarity, as part of a broader, holistic Catholic social justice tradition, requires government intervention to alleviate inequality.

Subsidiarity, said Clark, does not mean “smaller government is better.” She argued that was “simply a misreading and a misdefinition of Catholic social teaching.” Instead, “the flourishing of all levels is the priority,” requiring the state to step in if a local community is unable or unwilling to promote economic justice, she said.

She dismissed conservative claims that Francis’ critique of capitalism is drawn exclusively from his experience in Argentina and that he therefore does not understand the American economy. “Pope Francis knows very well what capitalism does and doesn’t do without government interventions,” she said.

 

‘The pope is not going to offer detailed policy proposals, but I would expect him to be unambiguous about the moral dimension and the reality that so many are left behind in our global economy.’

The economist Jeffrey Sachs has argued that Francis’ message is “fundamentally subversive of prevailing attitudes in the corridors of American power, whether on Wall Street or in Washington.” He is the director of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. While Francis is in the U.S., he is expected to attend the U.N. summit on Sustainable Development Goals, which will address eliminating poverty and promoting environmental sustainability.

When the pope addresses Congress, said Gehring, “Plenty of politicians on both sides of the aisle will be squirming in their seats.”

But Francis does see politics as an “honorable vocation,” Gehring added. The pope will likely remind legislators that “public service is about serving the common good, not their own interests or party agendas.”

To some, though, it is anathema that the pope known for meeting the marginalized where they reside would make an appearance in a seat of global power. In The National Catholic Reporter, Michael Sean Winters, a Catholic commentator known for his liberal views on economic issues, wrote that he is “wary” of the pope’s visit. The “optics,” he argued, seem “all wrong, such a specifically political setting, and a powerful one too,” given that the pontiff typically visits “peripheries where Pope Francis is most comfortable and where he has repeatedly said he wants the church to be.”

But Campbell said she hopes the pope will use the occasion to remind the powerful that “governments have a responsibility to ensure that all of their citizens, all of their residents have all the basics they need to live in dignity.”

Francis, she said, “is very clear that the market is just as human as the rest of us and greed enters in. It’s the role of government to check greed,” through regulations covering areas such as banking, food safety, airline safety and other matters.

In the end, said Hollenbach, “Mr. Boehner may regret that he invited him.”
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« Reply #604 on: February 14, 2015, 08:19:01 pm »

http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/02/13/pope-francis-is-poised-to-change-catholicism-forever/
2/13/15
Pope Francis is poised to change Catholicism forever

ROME — Because he’s such a beguiling media personality, Pope Francis says and does lots of things that get spun as revolutionary but really aren’t. Saying Catholics don’t have to breed “like rabbits,” for instance, is irresistible as a sound-bite, but remarkably old-hat as official teaching.

Saturday, however, shapes up as the real deal, perhaps the most revolutionary day so far in Francis’ two-year run.

By creating 20 new cardinals from all around the world on that day, this first pope from the developing world is poised to change Catholicism forever — not in terms of the ideology of left v. right, perhaps, but definitely in terms of the geography of north v. south.

Equally consequential, this is the second consistory of Francis’ reign, meaning the ceremony in which new cardinals are inducted, and it cements impressions that Francis has overhauled the criteria for making these all-important picks.

It used to be that one rose through the clerical ranks and won a job that automatically came with a cardinal’s red hat, such as becoming the archbishop of Venice or Paris or Chicago. Today, however, Francis is skipping over those traditionally entitled venues to lift up eminences from smaller dioceses and essentially random places, literally all over the map.

The consequences of that shift are essentially unknowable, but seem destined to be profound. There’s almost nothing any pope ever does that’s as consequential to shaping culture in the Church as naming its senior leadership, and cardinals are the most important papal selections of all.

In one fell swoop, in other words, Pope Francis is challenging both the Western domination and the clericalism that have long been among the defining features of the College of Cardinals.

By now, Francis has acquired a reputation as more progressive than other recent popes, and so it’s natural for people to wonder if his picks for new cardinals are intended to drive the Church in a particular political direction.

In reality, it’s tough to find a clear ideological pattern in this group of 20, 15 of whom are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote for the next pope.

There are a couple of well-known moderates, including John Atcherley Dew of New Zealand and Ricardo Blázquez Pérez of Spain. Yet there are also conservatives, such as Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who signed a letter backing a constitutional ban on homosexual activity. He was also part of an inter-religious task force in Ethiopia that called homosexual behavior “the pinnacle of immorality.”

In all honesty, it’s unlikely Francis even knows much at the level of detail about the political outlooks or backgrounds of many of these prelates. When he announced their names in early January, it was clear he was unfamiliar with many of them, and some of the cardinals-to-be have already acknowledged that they’ve had almost no rapport with the pope prior to this appointment.

Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga, for instance, told Crux that he’s met Francis exactly once before in his life. That was last fall during the Synod of Bishops, and then only to explain to him where Tonga is located.

Yet if it’s not clear what the impact of these appointments may be politically, it’s fairly obvious in terms of geographic representation.

With this crop, Francis is spreading the wealth in terms of cardinal’s red hats, bringing places into the mix never represented before while bypassing the traditional centers of power.

There are three places that have never had a cardinal that now will have one: Myanmar, Cape Verde, and the Pacific island of Tonga. Even within countries that are long accustomed to having cardinals, Francis has skipped the usual suspects in order to lift up long-neglected secondary venues, such as Agrigento and Ancona in Italy.


There’s only one Vatican official in the mix, French Archbishop Dominque Mamberti of the Apostolic Signatura, and among the new voting-age cardinals, only five are Europeans.

When Francis was elected in March 2013, Africa and Asia each had 9.6 percent of the vote. After Saturday, Africa will have 12 percent and Asia will have 11.2 percent, both of which are essentially all-time highs. Overall, the developing world will now make up almost 41 percent of the College of Cardinals, its highest share ever and significantly up from the 35 percent it represented just two years ago.

All this, of course, is nothing more than bringing the leadership of the Church slightly more in life with its demographic realities at the grassroots. Of the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world today, two-thirds now live outside the West, a share projected to reach three-quarters by the end of this century.

Americans put out by the fact that Francis passed over the United States for the second time in a row in distributing new cardinals might ponder the fact that the 70 million Catholics in the country account for just 6 percent of the global Catholic population, but the 11 US cardinals are almost 9 percent of the college.

As of Saturday, in other words, Catholics everywhere will be living in a bit more of a global village, with a crop of new leaders taking the Church in unpredictable new directions. It may not come with a cool sound-bite, but it’s the stuff of which revolutions truly are made.
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« Reply #605 on: February 17, 2015, 12:54:45 pm »

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/gay-catholics-find-a-new-tone-under-pope-francis-and-from-their-own-bishops/2015/02/16/1ddbba9e-b62a-11e4-bc30-a4e75503948a_story.html
Gay Catholics find a new tone under Pope Francis, and from their own bishops
2/16/15

ROME — On its 15 previous pilgrimages, the Catholic gay rights group New Ways Ministry drew maybe two-dozen people to visit holy sites in places like Assisi and Rome.

This year, the number of pilgrims unexpectedly doubled to 50.

Chalk it up to the so-called Francis Effect, where the pope’s open-arms acceptance is giving new hope to gay and lesbian Catholics who have felt alienated from their church for decades.


What’s been even more surprising is that both New Ways and a similar Catholic LGBT organization in Britain are finding support from the Catholic hierarchy in their efforts to meet the pontiff when they both visit the Vatican on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 18), the start of Lent, the period of penance and fasting preceding Easter.

For example, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, head of the papal household and the top aide to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, responded to New Ways’ request for a papal meet-and-greet by reserving tickets for the group at Francis’ weekly public audience in St. Peter’s Square. It’s not a private meeting — which is tough for anyone to get — but it’s not nothing.

The pope’s ambassador to Washington forwarded a similar request to Rome. Even San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone — point man for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ battle against gay marriage — had written a letter to the Vatican on their behalf.

Last December, Cordileone had a constructive meeting with Frank DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways, and Sister Jeannine Gramick, a co-founder of New Ways and a longtime advocate for LGBT inclusion in the church. But they were still surprised by the archbishop’s willingness to write a letter for them.

Moreover, British Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster sent a warm blessing to a group of LGBT Catholics from London who are joining up with New Ways in Rome. “Be assured of my prayers for each and every one of you,” Nichols wrote. “Have a wonderful pilgrimage. God bless you all.”

“I feel that the positive reaction that we have been getting from the hierarchy is due to the welcoming spirit of Pope Francis, who wants to welcome everyone,” said Gramick, speaking by phone from Assisi, the pilgrims’ last stop before heading to Rome.

“It’s very heartening to people who have felt alienated and rejected for so long, so we are feeling very hopeful.”

Gramick knows about rejection. In 1999, she was silenced by the Vatican for her “erroneous and dangerous” work with gay Catholics. She and the Catholic priest who co-founded New Ways Ministry in 1977 had “caused confusion among the Catholic people and have harmed the community of the church,” said the office headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would later be elected Benedict XVI.

The ministry’s work was called “doctrinally unacceptable.” A year later, Gramick was barred from even speaking of the 11-year probe of her work, an order she refused. As late as 2010, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops referred to New Ways as having “no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church.”

Now, the group is hoping the Vatican will include them among the list of official pilgrimage groups read aloud at the audience. They’d also love to get close enough to the pope to shake his hand and maybe pose for a picture as he passes through the crowds.

If those sound like small steps, LGBT Catholics say they would, in fact, represent a huge leap forward considering how they were treated under the papacies of Benedict and St. John Paul II.

Francis, on the other hand, has clearly shifted the tone of the conversation, even if substantial changes remain elusive.

The shift began with one of Francis’ signature lines, from an in-flight press conference a few months after his election in 2013, when he was asked about whether a gay man could be a priest. “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis famously said.

He even used the English word “gay,” something no pope had ever done, as most bishops prefer the more clinical term “homosexual.”

A few months later, Francis personally responded to an appeal from a gay Catholic group in Florence, telling them he enjoyed and appreciated their letter and assuring them of his blessing.

Then last month, it emerged Francis met with a transgender person from Spain who had written to the pope — with assistance from his bishop — after feeling rejected by his parish because of his sex-change operation. It was a moving moment for Diego Neria Lejarraga, and many LGBT Catholics.

“This man loves the whole world,” he told CNN, referring to Francis. “I think there’s not — in his head, in his way of thinking, discrimination against anyone. I’m speaking about him, not the institution.”

Francis also encouraged discussions of the church’s outreach to gay and lesbian Catholics at last October’s summit of top cardinals and bishops on family life — discussions that produced some remarkable, even unprecedented, praise from church leaders to the faith and witness of LGBT Catholics.

At the same time, Francis has frequently reiterated the church’s teaching that marriage is only between a man and a woman, and he has ripped what he calls the “ideological colonization of the family” by the West, language that refers in part to efforts to promote gay marriage and other issues in developing countries. He has also blasted “gender theory,” which for many is a suspect buzzword of secular culture.

Still, the New Ways leaders and many gay Catholics see real reasons for hope, and not just for themselves.

Since the start of his papacy, Francis has sought to shift the hierarchy’s focus away from what he said is an “obsession” with sexual issues and toward a greater concern for the poor and all those rejected by the church and society, a social justice priority that many gay Catholics also share.

In addition, LGBT Catholics see the shift toward open discussion of a range of topics as good for the church, and themselves.

“While LGBT Catholics hope for changes, they are realistic enough to know that Francis may not make those changes,” said DeBernardo. “But he is doing things that will help their spiritual lives.”

DeBernardo said many gay Catholics are not looking for approval from the church as much an acknowledgment of their existence and a willingness to “treat them as human beings.”

A photo-op or shout-out at Wednesday’s audience might be one such acknowledgement. “We take the long view,” Gramick said, “and every step is progress.”

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« Reply #606 on: February 18, 2015, 10:39:30 am »

http://news.yahoo.com/gay-catholic-group-gets-vip-treatment-vatican-first-150206499.html
Gay Catholic group gets VIP treatment at Vatican for first time
2/18/15

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A prominent American Catholic gay rights group was given VIP treatment for the first time at an audience with Pope Francis on Wednesday, a move members saw as a sign of change in the Roman Catholic Church.

"This is a sign of movement that's due to the Francis effect," said Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, which ministers to homosexual Catholics and promotes gay rights in the 1.2 billion-member Church.

Gramick and executive director Francis DeBernardo led a pilgrimage of 50 homosexual Catholics to the audience in St. Peter's Square.

They told Reuters in an interview afterwards that when the group came to Rome on Catholic pilgrimages during the papacies of Francis's predecessors John Paul and Benedict, "they just ignored us".

This time, a U.S. bishop and a top Vatican official backed their request and they sat in a front section with dignitaries and special Catholic groups. As the pope passed, they sang "All Are Welcome," a hymn symbolizing their desire for a more inclusive Church.

A list of participants released by the Vatican listed "a group of lay people accompanied by a sister" but did not mention that they were a gay rights organization.

"What this says is that there is movement in our Church, movement to welcome people from the outside closer to the inside," Gramick said in St. Peter's Square.

Several months after his election, Francis made his now-famous remark about how he could not judge gay people who are have good will and are seeking God.

But he so far shown no sign the Church will change its teaching that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are.

Last October, bishops from around the world meeting in Rome to debate questions concerning family issued an interim report calling for greater acceptance of gays in the Church.

That passage was watered down in the final version of the report after conservative bishops complained. A second and final meeting on family issues is scheduled for October.

DeBernardo said Catholic gay and lesbian couples and other non-traditional families should be invited to the meeting, known as a synod, to speak to the bishops about their faith and their sexuality.
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« Reply #607 on: February 19, 2015, 03:27:38 pm »

http://www.foxsanantonio.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/coming-soon-pope-francis-plush-doll-10516.shtml#.VOZwlzKvW4N
2/17/15
Coming soon: Pope Francis plush doll



(CNN) - Talk about seizing a holy opportunity!

American toy maker "Bleacher Creatures" is releasing a plush doll of Pope Francis.

The company is best known for similar stuffed toys resembling famous athletes, like Derek Jeter and Tom Brady.

They decided to take advantage of the pope's popularity ahead of his first U.S. visit later this year.

Bleacher Creatures will release the Pope Francis figures in July for about $20 a piece.

The company's CEO says he has reached out to the Vatican about the toy and he hopes to officially partner with the church.
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« Reply #608 on: February 23, 2015, 09:30:30 am »

Correction : N.B.

We are in day 895 of the 1,290 days (ending Maunday Thursday, March 24, 2016 A.D.).  The Three Days of Darkness will occur during that week unto the Sunday of the Judgment, May 8, 2016 A.D., which precedes the First Judgment Sunday of Pentecost, May 15, 2016 A.D.
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« Reply #609 on: February 28, 2015, 05:01:13 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-francis-attacks-throw-away-economic-globalization-142552599.html
2/28/15
Pope Francis attacks 'throw-away' economic globalization

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis launched a fresh attack on economic injustice on Saturday, condemning the "throw-away culture" of globalization and calling for new ways of thinking about poverty, welfare, employment and society.

In a speech to the association of Italian cooperative movements, he pointed to the "dizzying rise in unemployment" and the problems that existing welfare systems had in meeting healthcare needs.

For those living "at the existential margins" the current social and political system "seems fatally destined to suffocate hope and increase risks and threats," he said.

The Argentinian-born pope, who has often criticized orthodox market economics for fostering unfairness and inequality, said people were forced to work long hours, sometimes in the black economy, for a few hundred euros a month because they were seen as easily replaceable.

"'You don't like it? Go home then'. What can you do in a world that works like this? Because there's a queue of people looking for work. If you don't like it, someone else will," he said in an unscripted change from the text of his speech.

"It's hunger, hunger that makes us accept what they give us," he said.

His remarks have a special resonance in Italy, where unemployment, particularly among young people, is running at record levels after years of economic recession.

The cooperative movement in Italy, whose roots go back to 19th century workers' associations, have long had close ties to the Catholic Church, with credit services, agricultural and building co-ops forming an important part of the overall economy.

Pope Francis said they could help find new models and methods that could be an alternative model to the "throw-away culture created by the powers that control the economic and financial policies of the globalized world."

Perhaps mindful of a wide-ranging corruption scandal linked to some cooperatives in Rome last year, he attacked those who "prostitute the cooperative name".

But his overall message was that economic rationale had to be secondary to the wider needs of human society.

"When money becomes an idol, it commands the choices of man. And thus it ruins man and condemns him. It makes him a slave," he said.

"Money at the service of life can be managed in the right way by cooperatives, on condition that it is a real cooperative where capital does not have command over men but men over capital," he said.
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« Reply #610 on: March 02, 2015, 10:31:52 am »

Or better still, on March 25, 2016 A.D. beginning at 3:00PM.
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« Reply #611 on: March 03, 2015, 04:41:14 am »

Or better still, on March 25, 2016 A.D. beginning at 3:00PM.

Does your posts have any meaning to them? If not im just gonna get rid of them
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« Reply #612 on: March 04, 2015, 09:41:34 pm »

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=31322
IGNORING THE VATICAN BILLIONS, POPE FRANCIS AGAIN CALLS FOR GLOBAL WEALTH DISTRIBUTION
3/2/15

THE VATICAN HAS BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN WEALTH AND TREASURE THAT THE POPE NEVER SEEMS TO WANT TO TALK ABOUT

“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Revelation 17:4,5 (KJV)

The Vatican’s treasure of solid gold has been estimated by the United Nations World Magazine to amount to several billion dollars. A large bulk of this is stored in gold ingots with the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, while banks in England and Switzerland hold the rest. But this is just a small portion of the wealth of the Vatican, which in the U.S. alone, is greater than that of the five wealthiest giant corporations of the country. When to that is added all the real estate, property, stocks and shares abroad, then the staggering accumulation of the wealth of the Catholic church becomes so formidable as to defy any rational assessment.”

So image the level of gall it takes for this Pope to refer to money as “the Devil’s dung” when the corporation of which he is currently the head of hoards untold billions of it in stockpiles in Switzerland and around the world. Certainly if he were sincere, don’t you think he would start by immediately giving away a few billion just to show the rules he wants others to follow also applies to the Vatican as well? Evidentially, he does not.

Speaking in Rome, Pope Francis condemned what he called a “throwaway culture created by the powers that control the economic and financial policies of the globalized world.”

But he proposed a solution of sorts, in the form of economic cooperatives that would help spread wealth equally: “Money at the service of life can be managed in the right way by cooperatives, on condition that it is a real cooperative where capital does not have command over men but men over capital.”

He quoted his namesake, St Francis of Assisi, in calling money the “devil’s dung,” according to Vatican Radio. “When money becomes an idol, it controls man’s choices,” he added. “It makes him a slave.”

This is far from the first time the Pope has addressed the condition of the working class in the globalized world; in a speech at the U.N. last year, the Pope asked world leaders to redistribute wealth.
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« Reply #613 on: March 05, 2015, 05:08:40 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/poll-finds-pope-francis-popularity-us-rising-222236876.html
Poll finds Pope Francis' popularity in US rising
3/5/15

Washington (AFP) - Pope Francis' popularity among Americans is rising, six months before his first papal visit to the United States, a public opinion poll released Thursday suggests.

Ninety percent of Catholic Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center said they thought well of the 78-year-old pope -- and that includes 57 percent who held a "very favorable" view of him.

Among Americans of all faiths, 70 percent held a favorable view of the Argentinian-born pope -- the highest level since his papacy began in March 2013.

That compares to 57 percent when he became pope, 58 percent in September 2013 and 66 percent in February last year, Pew recalled.


Only 15 percent of Americans said they didn't like him, while another 15 percent claimed they could not rate him -- way down from 29 percent in March 2013.

"Among most US religious groups, Francis’ favorability rating has risen as more people have gained familiarity with the pope and become able to express an opinion about him," Pew said.

Many regard Pope Francis as a welcome change from his predecessor Benedict XVI, even as American bishops maintain a hard line against abortion and gay marriage.

Pope Francis is to visit the United States in late September to attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He is also expected to address the UN General Assembly in New York and become the first pope ever to speak to the US Congress in Washington.

Pew said it interviewed 1,504 American adults on landlines and cellphones on February 18-22 for its survey, which it posted at www.pewforum.org

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« Reply #614 on: March 08, 2015, 09:42:04 pm »

http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/03/07/whats-really-miraculous-about-pope-francis/
3/7/15
What’s really miraculous about Pope Francis?
PLUS: The pope and the movements, and remembering Cardinal Egan


This week I was in New York for publicity on the launch of my new book, “The Francis Miracle: Inside the Transformation of the Pope and the Church.” Doing the media rounds, most questions I drew were fairly predictable, beginning with the classic American curiosity about whether this pope is a liberal or a conservative.

I was a bit surprised, however, that few interviewers popped a question that seems fairly obvious given the book’s title. It is: “What do you mean, ‘miracle’?”

For Catholics who harbor theological or political grievances with Francis, calling him a “miracle” can seem terribly partisan. Even those with no bone to pick with Francis may find it premature, since he’s been in office only two years and it’s a bit early to be drawing such dramatic conclusions.

Both are perfectly reasonable reactions, but neither actually captures what I mean by a “Francis miracle.”

Instead, the point is that there’s something about this pope that can’t be adequately accounted for in terms of purely human calculations, something that requires a supernatural or mystical point of reference in order to be properly understood.

In a nutshell, the enigma is this: What accounts for the sharp contrast between Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina and Pope Francis today?

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For sure, that contrast is not absolute. During his 15 years as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio was committed to the poor, strove to re-light the Church’s missionary fires, and lived a life of gospel simplicity. All are traits he’s carried into the papacy.

Yet there clearly is a difference in style and personality, because the Bergoglio of Argentina was nobody’s idea of a pop culture sensation.

The cardinal rarely appeared in public and almost never gave formal interviews. When he did have to take the public stage, friends would call him “shy” and critics “boring.” Nobody came away saying he turned the world on with his smile. In fact, it’s hard to find a photo of a beaming Bergoglio taken before his election two years ago.

Neither was he the spontaneous, shoot-from-the-hip sound bite machine the world sees today. He came off as more controlled, more circumspect, always preferring to operate quietly behind the scenes rather than in public view.

When I asked her in April 2013 what she made of the change, Maria Elena Bergoglio, the pope’s only surviving sibling, said jokingly: “I don’t recognize this guy!”


The question therefore presents itself: What happened?

By nature I’m not inclined to look for supernatural explanations of things, and I’m often skeptical when they’re floated. Yet in keeping with the Sherlock Holmes dictum that after you’ve eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, this seems to me one case in which a mystical account is required.

To put the point differently, Francis himself appears convinced there’s a mystical subtext to the kind of pope he’s become.

Here’s an insider account I provide in the book that makes the point.

“Over Christmas 2013, a veteran Latin American cardinal who has known Bergoglio for decades made an appointment to see his old friend in the Santa Marta, the hotel on Vatican grounds where the pope has chosen to reside. (He lives in Room 201, a slightly larger room than the one he stayed in during the conclave that elected him, giving the pontiff enough space to receive guests comfortably).

“The cardinal, who didn’t wish to be named, said he looked at Francis and, referring to the exuberance and spontaneity that are now hallmarks of his public image, said to him point-blank: ‘You are not the same man I knew in Buenos Aires. What’s happened to you’?

“According to the cardinal, this was Francis’ answer:

“ ‘On the night of my election, I had an experience of the closeness of God that gave me a great sense of interior freedom and peace,’ the cardinal quoted the pope as saying, ‘and that sense has never left me.’ ”

In other words, Francis believes he experienced a miracle
.


There’s nothing new, of course, about popes seeing a touch of the divine in the things that happen to them.

Pope St. John Paul II was profoundly convinced that on May 13, 1981, the Virgin Mary changed the flight path of a bullet to preserve his life and his papacy. That was the day of the assassination attempt in St. Peter’s Square, and it also was the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. The pope believed Mary was the reason he survived.

Among other things, that conviction explains why it was always implausible that John Paul would resign, no matter how frail he grew near the end. He believed the Virgin wanted him to continue, and he was never going to wake up one morning and just call it quits.

In similar fashion, it seems unlikely Francis today will heed calls to rein in his free-wheeling public persona in any significant way, given that it’s not the product of a PR war room, but rather what he believes he experienced as an act of God.

Whether his papacy is truly “miraculous,” in the sense of boosting the long-term fortunes of Catholicism in some world-changing way, remains to be seen. There’s no doubt, however, that as Francis views it, his is a mission with a miracle at its core.

Read the introduction to John’s book here.

The pope and the movements

On the subject of whether Francis is a liberal or a conservative, the usual take in the media is that he’s a progressive and thus lukewarm at best, openly hostile at worst, to more conservative forces in the Church.

One such force that’s often perceived as fairly conservative is what Catholics refer to as “the movements,” meaning largely lay-led groups, founded during the 20th century, that came to full flower under the papacy of John Paul II. Major players in that world include Opus Dei, the Neocatechumenate, Communion and Liberation, the Focolare, Schoenstatt, Sant’Egidio, L’Arche, and so on.

Before proceeding, two stipulations are in order.

First, technically not all of these groups are “movements.” Opus Dei, for instance, is a personal prelature under Church law, which is something akin to a non-territorial diocese led by a figure called a prelate, who has the responsibilities of a bishop. In popular parlance, however, they tend to get lumped into the same category.

Second, it’s flat-out false to say they’re all “conservative.” Some, such as Sant’Egidio, lean politically a bit more to the left. Others, such as Focolare, contain a little bit of everything. Still others, such as L’Arche, are impossible to pigeonhole in any ideological sense. Some even have a different political hue depending on what part of the world we’re talking about.

That said, these outfits are generally seen in the Catholic street as leaning collectively to the right, if for no other reason than that they generally take official Church teaching for granted rather than agitating for change.

Given that background, it’s striking that Pope Francis this week showed some love for three of the better-known movements: Focolare, the Neocatechumenate, and Communion and Liberation.


Focolare was founded during World War II by an Italian lay woman named Chiara Lubich and is committed to the ideal of “unity,” especially among Christians and the various religions. Today it’s present in 194 countries and claims more than 100,000 followers.

On Wednesday, Francis held an audience with 60 bishops from 35 countries who describe themselves as “friends” of the Focolare movement. They met in Rome on the theme of the Eucharist, and Francis reminded them that the presence of Christ in the sacrament of Communion, not their own personalities or agenda, is the heart of the matter.

“The bishop is the principle of unity in the Church, but this doesn’t happen without the Eucharist,” he said. “The bishop doesn’t gather people around his own persona, or his own ideas, but around Christ who is present in the Word and in the sacrament of his own flesh and blood.”

Francis offered a special message of solidarity for bishops who came from conflict zones in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine.

And then, speaking to the Focolare generally, the pontiff said he wanted to “encourage you to carry forward your commitment in favor of the ecumenical path and inter-religious dialogue,” and also thanked the Focolare for “the contribution you’ve made to greater communion among the various ecclesial movements.”

On Friday, he met with members of the Neocatechumenal Way, a program of Christian formation founded in Spain in 1964 by two Catholic laity, Kiko Argüello and Carmen Hernández.

It’s known for a high-octane Latin spirituality and a deep missionary drive, and has been controversial both among some Catholic liberals for its deep papal loyalty and some conservatives for its allegedly heterodox liturgical and doctrinal traditions.

Among members, the movement is often known simply as “the Way.”

In a classic Francis touch, the pontiff urged the Neocatechumenate to reach out to the peripheries of the world.

“How much solitude, how much suffering, how much distance from God is in all the peripheries of Europe and America, and in so many cities of Asia!” he said. “How much need the human person has today, in every latitude, to hear that God loves him, and that love is possible!”

Francis then heaped praise upon the movement.

“The Neocatechumenal Way is a ‘true gift of providence to the Church of our times,’ as my predecessors affirmed,” Francis said.

“To see all this is a consolation,” he added, “because it confirms the Spirit of God is alive and working in his Church, even today, and he’s responding to the needs of the modern person.”

Finally, on Saturday Pope Francis met with more than 80,000 members of Communion and Liberation from 47 countries, gathered in Rome to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of their founder, Italian Rev. Luigi Giussani, and the 60th anniversary of the launch of the movement.

The ciellini, as members are called, draw on the works of Giussani to offer a vision of Christian education rooted in a personal and immediate encounter with Christ. Its historical base is in Milan, where it was sometimes seen as an alternative to the center-left Catholic ethos projected by Cardinals Carlo Maria Martini and Dionigi Tettamanzi.

It has a different political vibe elsewhere. In Brazil, for instance, 50,000 members of the progressive Sin Tierra (“Without Land”) movement, which advocates for landless workers, requested to be admitted in 2008.

Communion and Liberation brought friends from other faiths with them to the encounter with the pope, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, as well as representatives of the Orthodox and Muslim traditions.

Once again, Francis was fulsome in his praise.


Giussani’s thought, he said, is “profoundly human and reaches into the deepest yearnings of the human person,” adding that reading Giussani’s books and articles did much good “for me and for my priestly life.”

Francis joined Pope Benedict XVI in referring to Communion and Liberation as “an impulse derived from the Holy Spirit.”

The inadequacy of seeing Francis through the prism of left vs. right should already be clear, but if it weren’t, the specter of this allegedly “liberal” pope cozying up to three supposedly “conservative” movements, all in the span of a few days, ought to drive the point home.

On the other hand, if we begin by seeing Francis in the terms most natural to him, as a missionary and pastor, then his enthusiasm for outfits that encourage laity to see themselves as missionaries in their own walks of life – getting out of the sacristy and into the street, to use a classic Francis expression – makes all the sense in the world.

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« Reply #615 on: March 10, 2015, 09:56:48 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/cardinal-indicates-themes-popes-climate-change-document-215221516.html;_ylt=A0SO80ECrf9UopsAMUpXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzcmRqcnR1BGNvbG8DZ3ExBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDU01FOTA2XzEEc2VjA3Nj
Cardinal indicates themes of pope's climate change document
3/10/15

A Vatican official who helped write a first draft of Pope Francis' upcoming encyclical on climate change acknowledged disagreement over the causes of global warming but said "what is not contested is that our planet is getting warmer" and Christians have a duty rooted in "ancient biblical teaching" to address the problem.

In a speech last week in Ireland, Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said Francis isn't making a political call to arms or an attempt at "greening the church." The pope instead is emphasizing Roman Catholic social teaching that links protecting life with fighting global inequality and preserving the environment, Turkson said.

"For the Christian, to care for God's ongoing work of creation is a duty, irrespective of the causes of climate change," Turkson said, in his address last Thursday at St. Patrick's Pontifical University in Maynooth, Ireland. "To care for creation, to develop and live an integral ecology as the basis for development and peace in the world is a fundamental Christian duty."

The highly anticipated encyclical is due to be released this June or July, and only the pope will determine what the final document will include. Still, Turkson's central role in drafting the statement is prompting many Vatican observers to consider the speech a preview of the encyclical.

Austen Ivereigh, author of the book "The Great Reformer" on Francis, called Turkson's talk a "curtain raiser" for the pope's eventual statement. Michael Peppard, a Fordham University theologian who has been closely watching Francis' statements on the environment, called the speech "a reliable indicator" of the direction Francis will take.

"Cardinal Turkson's talk, given at a pontifical seminary in Ireland, was for the whole church," said Bill Patenaude, a lecturer on Catholic teaching and the environment at Providence College in Rhode Island, and author of the blog Catholicecology.net. Patenaude said Turkson's council has been especially concerned about preparing the church and the public for the encyclical so that it can be properly interpreted, and this speech should be viewed as part of that preparation.

The text of the cardinal's address was posted at the website for the Irish bishops' conference. Citing the Book of Genesis, Turkson said Catholics "are called to protect and care for both creation and the human person."

"Clearly this is not some narrow agenda for the greening (of) the church or the world. It is a vision of care and protection that embraces the human person and the human environment in all possible dimensions," the cardinal said.

Turkson said the pope was "compelled by the scientific evidence for climate change," and the cardinal pointed to the synthesis report of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. That study, released last November, found climate change is happening and it's almost entirely man's fault. Turkson acknowledged disagreement over the panel's findings but said "for Pope Francis, however, that is not the point." The cardinal said Francis was concerned with affirming "a truth revealed" in Genesis 2:15 on the sacred duty to till and keep the earth.

"He is not making some political comment about the relative merits of capitalism and communism. He is rather restating ancient biblical teaching," Turkson said. "He is pointing to the ominous signs in nature that suggest that humanity may now have tilled too much and kept too little."

Turkson argued that regulation alone won't stop global warming. He said a "changing of human hearts" is required and that religious teachings can "help to orient and integrate us as humans within the wider universe, to identify what is most important to us, what we revere, sustain and protect as sacred."
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« Reply #616 on: March 11, 2015, 08:17:42 am »

Pope Francis accepts he may be assassinated

Asks God to make it not hurt since he's 'a real wimp'
Published: 19 hours ago

(DAILYMAIL) — Pope Francis has said he has accepted that he may be assassinated- but has asked God to make sure it doesn’t hurt too much as he is ‘a real wimp’.

Francis said that if fanatics want to kill him, it is ‘God’s will’.

He said: ‘Life is in God’s hands. I have said to the Lord, “You take care of me. But if it is your will that I die or something happens to me, I ask you only one favour: that it doesn’t hurt. Because I am a real wimp when it comes to physical pain.”‘


Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/pope-francis-accepts-he-may-be-assassinated/#mC4C8FWRuoDM2zok.99
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« Reply #617 on: March 13, 2015, 05:24:24 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-declares-jubilee-celebrate-vatican-ii-reforms-165757697.html
Pope declares jubilee in powerful reform signal
3/13/15

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis on Friday marked the second anniversary of his election by declaring a jubilee year that will be interpreted as a powerful signal of his commitment to reforming the Church.

The extraordinary holy year, dedicated to the theme of mercy, has been called to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a groundbreaking Vatican council that transformed how the Church related to the modern world, most notably ending the obligation for religious services to be conducted in Latin.

The jubilee year will begin on December 8 and run until November 20, 2016. December 8 is one of the holiest dates in the Catholic calender as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and is also the date on which the Vatican II council closed in 1965.

Speaking in St Peter's cathedral, the 78-year-old pontiff described the year's start date as being "of great significance, for it impels the Church to continue the work begun at Vatican II."

Vatican II is considered to be one of the defining moments in the history of the Catholic church -- the point at which the clerical hierarchy accepted that some centuries-old ways of thinking and acting had to be jettisoned if the institution was to remain relevant as the sixties began to swing.

- A divided Church -

Fifty years later, the Church is facing a similar set of dilemmas and is beset by divisions over how to respond to them and close the gap between what it officially preaches and how many of its followers actually live their lives in the early 21st Century.

Deep divisions over how the Church should relate to homosexual, divorced and co-habiting believers were aired at an inconclusive, sometimes rancorous, synod of bishops in October-November 2014. They will be revisited when senior clerics re-assemble in Vatican City this October.

Francis, the first pope to hail from Latin America, is regarded by most of the world as having been a huge success in his two years at the helm of the Church.

His easy charm, decisive approach to issues such as paedophile priests and his pleas for a more merciful and worldly approach on questions like homosexuality and divorce have endeared him to a much broader public than his conservative, dour predecessor Benedict XVI could reach.

But he has not endeared himself to everyone within the Church.

The forces of passive resistance and inertia are holding up his efforts to reform the Vatican's bureaucracy and his tendency to speak his mind has caused concern amongst conservative theologians.

They fear his populism may provide cover for an edging away from long-established doctrinal stances, especially on the issues at the centre of the synods on the family.

- A pope in a hurry -

The decision to announce the jubilee may reflect Francis's apparent belief that he is not destined to spend a long time in St Peter's.

"I have a feeling my pontificate will be brief," he told Mexico's Televisa channel in an interview to mark his anniversary. "Four or five years, I don't know. Two years have already gone by.

"It is a vague feeling I have that the Lord chose me for a short mission. I am always open to that possibility."

Francis has hinted in the past that he could emulate his predecessor Benedict XVI, who became the first pope to resign in seven centuries when he stepped down in February 2013.

Intriguingly, when asked if he liked being pope, Francis replied: "I don't not like it," before expanding on his dislike of travelling and his fondness for the comforts and familiarity of home.

Despite that, Francis insisted he did not feel lonely in the top job, although he did confess to sometimes longing for the anonymity enjoyed as the parish priest he once was.

One thing he would really like is to be able to go out of the Vatican one day without being recognised and "go and eat a pizza," he said.
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« Reply #618 on: March 14, 2015, 06:31:45 am »

Pope Francis predicts his tenure will be 'brief'



Hearing confessions to mark his second anniversary as head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis offered a confession of his own Friday: He doubts he'll be pontiff for long.

"I have the feeling that my pontificate will be brief, four or five years; I do not know, even two or three," the 78-year-old Francis said during an interview with Mexican broadcaster Televisa.

"Two have already passed. It's a somewhat vague sensation," he said, according to a Vatican translation from Spanish. "I feel that the Lord has placed me here for a short time, and nothing more."

He compared the feeling to "a gambler who convinces himself he will lose so he won't be disappointed. And if he wins, he's happy."

Does he like being pope?

"I do not mind!" he replied. But Francis said he'd like the job better if he had a little more freedom and anonymity, particularly for one purpose.

"The only thing I would like is to go out one day, without being recognized, and go to a pizzeria for a pizza," he told the interviewer.

Francis had previously said he thought his reign would be only two to three years. He pointed to Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI's resignation in 2013.

"I share the idea of what Benedict did," he said. "In general, I think what Benedict so courageously did was to open the door to the popes emeritus. Benedict should not be considered an exception, but an institution."

He does not, however, think there should be an age — 80, for instance — at which popes should be forced to retire.

The Argentine-born Francis remains enormously popular worldwide. A recent poll showed that 90% of American Catholics approve of him, as well as 70% of all Americans, regardless of their religion or beliefs.

Two years in, Francis sets tone for change in church

"He's changed my faith," Rossella Devivo, who described herself as a lapsed Catholic, told CBS News. "I had absolutely no intention of entering a church, but since he's been pope, I have grown more religious. This is absolutely incredible for me. He has brought me closer to the church."

At Mass Friday, Francis announced a special Jubilee Year, only the 27th such declaration in church history. Starting Dec. 8, the church will focus on forgiveness and mercy.

St. John Paul II declared the last Holy Year in 2000 to mark the start of the third millennium.

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/world/2015/03/13/pope-francis-papacy-anniversary-pizza/70277854/
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« Reply #619 on: March 14, 2015, 02:18:57 pm »

This is just my opinion - but I believe he's not only the last Pope, but also a short stop gap...until the AC gets revealed.

With that being said - not defending the other Popes or anything, but despite his popularity, he like Obama has angered alot of people.
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« Reply #620 on: March 20, 2015, 02:48:14 pm »

Pope set to dine with gay and transgender inmates at a prison in Italy
3/20/15
http://www.thejournal.ie/pope-gay-transgender-inmates-prison-italy-centre-giuseppe-2004174-Mar2015/

POPE FRANCIS IS set to dine with inmates at a prison in Naples, Italy when he visits tomorrow.

Some of these will reportedly be coming from a ward housing gay and transgender inmates, some of whom are infected with HIV.

It has been reported by Religion News that the visit had not initially been on the Pope’s schedule but that he had specifically requested it take place.

The lunch will involve 90 inmates who were selected from a lottery of around 1,900 according to the Vatican Insider website.

After the meal the Pontiff intends to meet with each of the inmates individually.

During his time in the Vatican Pope Francis has previously reached out to the prison population. Last year he washed and kissed the feet of a number of prisoners at a youth offenders unit in Rome.

Two of the prisoners were Muslims and two others were female.

He has also previously stated that he does not believe that any crime deserves the death penalty.

Pope Francis has also made comments welcomed by the LGBT community since he appointment, including his comment of ‘who am I to judge?’ on board of a FLIGHTfrom Brazil in 2013.

He has previously privately met with a transgender man from Spain in the Vatican who had written to him about the rejection he was experiencing in his home parish.

However, he has also previously expressed his opposition to same-sex marriage.
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« Reply #621 on: March 23, 2015, 10:20:49 pm »

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6920624


Pope Francis Credited With Performing 'Miracle' As St. Gennaro's Blood Liquifies

The Huffington Post Posted: 03/22/15 11:49 PM ET Updated: 03/23/15 09:59 AM ET

Pope Francis is being credited with a miracle -- or at least a "half miracle" -- after St. Gennaro's blood liquified in his presence in Naples on Saturday.

The saint's blood is usually dry inside of its sealed glass ampoule. However, after the pope kissed the relic, it began to turn to liquid.

“It is the sign that St. Gennaro loves Pope Francis: half of the blood turned to liquid," Cardinal Crescenzo Sepe, archbishop of Naples, told the cheering crowd, according to Vatican Insider.

“If only half of it liquefied that means we still have work to do; we have to do better," the pontiff replied. "We have only half of the saint’s love.”

The website reports that the blood continued to liquefy until the entire contents of the ampoule had turned to liquid, causing some in the crowd to weep. (More)
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« Reply #622 on: March 28, 2015, 06:16:55 am »

Pope Francis To Visit White House

In addition to his address to Congress, Pope Francis will be visiting the White House during his visit to the United States this September, making him the third Pope in history to stand in the Oval Office.

In a statement released Thursday, the White House announced that President Obama and the First Lady will be hosting the Roman Pontiff to discuss issues of mutual concern, including "caring for the marginalized and the poor; advancing economic opportunity for all; serving as good stewards of the environment; protecting religious minorities and promoting religious freedom around the world; and welcoming and integrating immigrants and refugees into our communities."

The statement also said that President Obama "looks forward to continuing this conversation with the Holy Father during his first visit to the United States as pope."

Though the statement gives off the impression that both the Holy Father and Obama dance to the same beat, the appearance couldn't be further from the truth. When Pope Francis served host to President Obama at the Vatican in March last year, the Obama administration issued a similar statement, saying the meeting mostly consisted of talks about social justice and income inequality while the Vatican sang an entirely different tune.

According to a Vatican press release, Pope Francis raised several "questions of particular relevance for the [Catholic] Church" in the United States, which included "the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life, and conscientious objection."

The meeting in March also concluded with Pope Francis handing President Obama a copy of his Apostolic Exhortation  Evangelii Gaudium ("The Joy of the Gospel"), which contained several passages condemning abortion as evil and criticized public officials for presenting the issue as "ideological, obscurantist, and conservative."

"This defense of unborn life is closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right," Pope Francis wrote. "It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development."

Pope John Paul II planted the flag as the first Roman Pontiff to be greeted at the White House in 1979 under President Carter, followed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 under George W. Bush. Pope Francis will be the third in history. Virtually every President since Eisenhower has met with the Pope at least once.

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/pope-francis-visit-white-house
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« Reply #623 on: April 05, 2015, 06:28:18 pm »

Pope Francis and the new Rome

One Saturday last month, Pope Francis celebrated Mass at Ognissanti (All Saints’) Church in one of Rome’s working-class neighbourhoods. Little known to tourists or art historians, Ognissanti was the site of a momentous event in the modern history of the Catholic Church: Exactly 50 years earlier, Pope Paul VI had gone there to celebrate the first papal mass in Italian rather than in the traditional Latin.

In marking that anniversary, Pope Francis made plain his view of the vernacular Mass, one of the most visible changes ushered in by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The practice still pains Catholic traditionalists who mourn the loss of churchwide unity that came with a common language.

Allowing Catholics to pray in their local languages “was truly a courageous act by the church to draw closer to the people of God,” Pope Francis told a crowd gathered outside. “This is important for us, to follow the Mass this way. And there is no going back … Whoever goes back is mistaken.”

In his two years in office, the pontiff has drawn attention for his unconventional gestures — such as personally welcoming homeless people to the Sistine Chapel last month — but those gestures matter most as signs of the radical new direction in which he seeks to lead the Catholic Church: toward his vision of the promise of Vatican II. Both the acclaim and the alarm that Francis has generated as pope have been responses to his role in the long struggle over the council’s legacy.

For a half century, ordinary Catholics and their leaders have debated, often passionately, whether the changes that followed the council went too far or not far enough. Pope Francis’ immediate predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, devoted much of their pontificates to correcting what they deemed unjustified deviations from tradition in the name of Vatican II.

Now Pope Francis has effectively reversed course. In word and deed, he has argued that the church’s troubles reflect not recklessness but timidity in interpreting and applying the principles of Vatican II, especially the council’s call for the church to open itself to the modern world. “It usually takes half a century for a council to begin to sink in,” says Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. “Now we have a pope who says, ‘Look, we just had five decades of internal debates and controversy about the meaning of Vatican II, and now it’s time to do it.’ And that’s what he’s doing.”

The pope’s vision of Vatican II has translated into a dramatic shift in priorities, with an emphasis on social justice over controversial moral teachings and a friendlier approach to secular culture. This has alarmed those who fear an erosion of the church’s role as the foremost bulwark of traditional morality in the West, particularly amid heated battles over same-sex marriage, bioethics, abortion and religious freedom.

Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council with the avowed intention of bringing “fresh air” into the church. In his opening speech, he called on the church to “make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity” or “condemnations.” More than 2,500 bishops from around the world attended the four sessions, which produced 16 official documents bringing up to date the church’s teachings on, among other things, scripture, worship, religious freedom and relations with non-Catholics.

The changes were dramatic. Rome absolved the Jewish people of collective guilt for the death of Jesus Christ and declared that God’s covenant with them had never been abrogated. Catholics began to hear Orthodox and Protestants described as “separated brethren,” while church leaders spoke of a “fellowship” with non-Christians.

The years following the council brought cultural change to the church, blurring many aspects of Catholic identity. Women ceased to wear veils in church, and Catholics started eating meat on Fridays. Nuns moved from convents to apartments. Interfaith marriage ceased to be taboo. Priests moved from hearing confessions in darkened booths to more conversational settings.

At the same time, the church in Europe and the US saw a steep decline in attendance at Mass and in adherence to traditional morality, with the sexual revolution and the spread of contraception and legalised abortion. A half-century after the council, the population of nuns in the US has declined by more than 70 per cent and the annual number of priestly ordinations by 50 per cent

Popes John Paul and Benedict, who had played key roles at Vatican II, concluded that the church had gone too fast and too far in innovations ranging from the abandonment of religious garb to the acceptance of liberal ideas on sexual morality. In response, they issued the first universal catechism since the 16th century, systematically laying out the church’s fundamental teachings; they censured dissent among theologians and within religious orders; and they reversed moves to expand the role of bishops in the development of church teaching and practice.

They also emphasised the differences between Catholicism and other religions and made it easier to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass. Their efforts were intended to reaffirm the church’s distinctive identity amid what Benedict later called the “spiritual desertification” of secularism.

Pope Francis, the first pontiff to have received holy orders after Vatican II, is very much a son of the council. It took place during his years of study in the Jesuit order in Argentina — he was ordained just four years after it ended — and he enthusiastically followed the proceedings in Rome. On the eve of the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, then-Cardinal Bergoglio identified the main threat to the church: not the encroachment of secular culture but a tendency among Catholics themselves, especially within church institutions, to retreat into ghettos of their own making. The risk, he said, was of “theological narcissism.”

As pontiff, Francis has used the moral authority of his office to push a sharply different agenda, demanding a “poor church for the poor” and excoriating free-market ideologies. He has said that the church should show “mercy” toward divorced and remarried Catholics (whom church law forbids from receiving Communion), flouted liturgical rules to wash the feet of Muslims and women, and received a transsexual at the Vatican.

“This pope is very much a man of [Vatican II],” says Archbishop Blaise J. Cupich of Chicago. “He has an understanding of how the church ought to be positioned at the service of the world, in which we don’t impose but we propose.”

From the moment he was elected, Pope Francis’ folksy manner and disregard for protocol in matters of dress and decorum have reflected his vision of a papacy closer to the people. His public persona has excited curiosity and goodwill, but some believe that his shift in priorities has removed pressure on secular society and political leaders over contentious issues of sexual and medical ethics.

Pope Francis’ understanding of Vatican II was deeply shaped by his background as a Jesuit and an Argentine, according to Austen Ivereigh, author of a recent papal biography, “The Great Reformer.” The Jesuits viewed themselves as occupying the front lines in the application of the council’s teachings, with a particular emphasis on social justice and peace. A 1968 assembly of Latin American bishops adopted a program based on Vatican II that declared a “preferential option for the poor.”

This emphasis has been clear in the pontiff’s public statements. “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?” Pope Francis wrote in 2013. Days later, President Barack Obama cited the passage in a speech on income inequality.

According to Father H. Miguel Yañez, a Jesuit confrère of the pope and a fellow Argentine, Pope Francis takes Vatican II “for granted.” “Instead of arguing about the past … he proposes a new kind of evangelisation that is so radical that we forget about different interpretations and move on,” the Rev. Yañez says. “Francis is more concerned with having a dialogue with the contemporary world … than he is concerned with certain points of tradition that mattered to Benedict.”

The pope’s relative silence on certain widely contested moral teachings has left some worried that these questions are now of secondary importance. The pope roused concerns in summer 2013, for instance, when he told the editor of a Jesuit journal that “we cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods.”

Six months into his papacy, Pope Francis had not yet made a major statement on abortion, not even during his homily at a special Vatican Mass with anti-abortion activists. “I’m a little bit disappointed in Pope Francis that he hasn’t … said much about unborn children, about abortion,” said Rhode Island Bishop Thomas J. Tobin in September 2013. “Many people have noticed that.”

Church leaders have privately complained that the pope’s oft-quoted comment about gay priests — “Who am I to judge?”—has made their job more difficult in upholding church teachings. In November 2013, Catholic legislators in Illinois cited those words to explain their support for a same-sex marriage bill.

Another source of tension is the pope’s approach to church governance, particularly the balance of power between the pope and the world’s bishops. In the late 19th century, the First Vatican Council affirmed the primacy of papal authority, even declaring the pope infallible on select issues. Vatican II aimed to strike a new balance by teaching that the pope shares authority with the bishops under a principle of “collegiality.”

Popes John Paul and Benedict were wary of collective action by bishops, especially on key church teachings. Pope Francis, by contrast, has called for the devolution of more power. “Excessive centralisation,” he has written, “rather than proving helpful, complicates the Church’s life and her missionary outreach.”

Just weeks into his pontificate, Pope Francis established a new body consisting of eight (later nine) cardinals, including representatives from each continent, to advise him on major issues of church governance, including a sweeping reform of the Vatican bureaucracy. “The pope is effectively telling [the bishops and cardinals], ‘I need to hear your voices, not just the voices of the people who live in Rome,’ ” says Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C.

The most ambitious — and disruptive — way in which Pope Francis has promoted collegiality is through the Synod of Bishops, a representative body established by Pope Paul VI in the immediate aftermath of Vatican II. Pope Francis has called a two-part meeting of the synod — the first session was held last fall, and the second will take place this October — to discuss issues relating to the family, including such controversial topics as homosexuality, contraception and the eligibility of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

The synod excited controversy even before its start, when the Vatican sent the world’s bishops’ conferences a questionnaire and encouraged them to seek the views of ordinary Catholics. The bishops’ conference of England and Wales even put the questionnaire on the SurveyMonkey site so that parishioners could fill it out online. Several conferences and individual bishops published summaries of the responses, generating complaints that church teaching should not be fodder for a public-opinion survey.

At the synod’s first session, the pope told the nearly 200 members to speak “without fear” and “to say what one feels duty-bound in the Lord to say.” The ensuing debate, inside and outside the synod hall, was the fiercest the Vatican had seen since Vatican II itself, with sotto voce accusations of heresy and racism and even warnings of schism.

A document issued at the gathering’s midpoint set off a furore because of its conciliatory language toward cohabiting couples, divorced and remarried Catholics, and those in same-sex unions. Australian Cardinal George Pell, the pope’s finance chief, was prompted to denounce the document. “We’re not giving in to the secular agenda; we’re not collapsing in a heap,” he told Catholic News Service.

American Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke went further, telling the Spanish magazine Vida Nueva that the church felt like a “ship without a rudder.” He called on Pope Francis to end debate with an unambiguous restatement of traditional moral teachings, but the pope did not oblige.

“The public image that came across was confusion,” said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia after the synod. “I think confusion is of the devil.” Though he added, “I don’t think that was the real thing there.”

Such tension was very much in the spirit of Vatican II, which aimed to update the pastoral practice of church doctrine, says Cardinal Wuerl, who helped to draft a final document for the synod’s first session that left the most disputed questions unresolved.

“If your starting point is ‘We already have the answers,’ this process becomes difficult to deal with,” says Cardinal Wuerl. But the pope “is saying, ‘We have the revelation, but we don’t have the application for all times; don’t presume that we know everything and that we have every answer.’ ”

Bishops will come together again in early October to resume debate and produce recommendations. Any changes in the church’s approach to family issues will be up to the pope. Yet his word will not be the last.

German Cardinal Walter Kasper is the most prominent advocate of making it easier for the divorced and remarried to receive Communion. He says that most Catholics and their leaders welcome Pope Francis’ opening, but as he told an audience last fall (according to the National Catholic Reporter), a significant minority of bishops feels otherwise. They have been “exercising restraint and pulling their punches,” he said, “in the hope of sitting out this pontificate.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/pope-francis-and-the-new-rome/story-fnay3ubk-1227292712394
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« Reply #624 on: April 05, 2015, 08:29:07 pm »

I believe this was in the Wall Street Journal(which I read in a bookstore out of town yesterday) - yeah, everything he's doing is not just hidden in plain sight, but openly blatant.

Sadly, the Apostate church thinks otherwise.
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« Reply #625 on: April 07, 2015, 08:21:42 pm »

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=32278
WHY IS POPE FRANCIS SELLING THE US-IRAN NUCLEAR AGREEMENT ON EASTER SUNDAY?
4/6/15

“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Revelation 17:4,5 (KJV)

The Catholic Pope claims to be the authorized representative of Jesus Christ here on this earth. The official Catholic Catechism says “For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.” Wow, that’s a lot of power for one man, for a single human being.

So, and I’m just spit-balling here, you would think that someone with that much spiritual power given to him by Jesus Christ, would be preaching a nearly identical message to that which Jesus preached on the earth. Preaching about Heaven and Hell, repentance, salvation, the coming Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God, and so on. Right? Wrong.

Pope Francis made his first public comments about the recent framework for an accord, reached in Lausanne, Switzerland, and aimed at ensuring Iran doesn’t develop a nuclear weapon.

“In hope we entrust to the merciful Lord the framework recently agreed to in Lausanne, that it may be a definitive step toward a more SECURE and fraternal world.”

Pope Francis, in yesterday’s Easter Sunday message, devoted it to preaching the “gospel” of the “great deal” Obama and his minions had made with Iran about curtailing their murderous nuclear ambitions. His message was nearly 100% geo-political in nature and tone, rarely referring to the Scriptures and doing no expository preaching of any kind. Again I ask you, why? I will tell you why.

In the last days, the days we are now living in, the bible says in Revelation 17 that there will be a great combination power that gathers together all spiritual rule over the people as well as all political rule. A one-stop shop, if you will. When the Apostle John was shown this in a vision, he was shocked, dumbfounded, because he knew right away what he was looking at but couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.” Revelation 17:6,7 (KJV)

John is seeing the professing Christian church in the time of the Tribulation, only it is apostate, wicked and filthy from stem to stern. John is seeing the Roman Catholic church, under the rule of the False Prophet and the Antichrist, and exercising complete spiritual and political rule over all the kings of the earth. Now you know why Francis is concerned with politics, the revived Roman Empire is just beginning to open it’s eyes and stretch it’s legs. He is not content with spiritual rule over Catholics, he is beginning the ASCENT to political rule as well.

Pope Francis has made a political plea for passing of Climate Change legislation, has demanded global redistribution of the world’s wealth, and for the first time in United States history he as Roman Pope will address Congress. Do you see it now, or are your eyes firmly switched to the off position?

THE BIBLE CONTINUES IT DESCRIPTION OF THE VATICAN AND ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SYSTEM:

“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Revelation 17:9,17,18 (KJV)

Just for fun, why don’t you spend your next lazy, rainy afternoon with a cup of coffee and the King James Bible. Read Revelation chapters 17 and 18 in their entirety, pray over them and ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the truth. Those two chapters describe in great detail the Vatican, the Catholic Church, and the revived Roman Empire.

Who else do you know whose colors are purple and scarlet, who holds a golden chalice, who claims spiritual rule over the whole world, and whose headquarters sits on 7 mountains or hills?  All that and more are right there in Revelation 17 and 18 in the KJV.

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.” Matthew 24:24,25 (KJV)

Now you know.
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« Reply #626 on: April 12, 2015, 10:14:16 am »

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-church-must-oasis-mercy-not-severe-fortress-155717511.html
Pope: Church must be 'oasis of mercy,' not severe fortress
4/11/15

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday proclaimed a special year of worldwide efforts by the Catholic Church to stress mercy, not severity, saying the institution's credibility was at stake.

At St. Peter's Basilica Saturday evening, the pope listened as a Vatican prelate read from a papal bull, or decree, in which Francis proclaimed an "Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy" Holy Year. The year begins Dec. 8 with Francis' opening the normally closed Holy Door in the back of the basilica and ends Nov. 20, 2016.

"The church's very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love," Francis declared in the 12-page long decree.

"In a word, wherever there are Christians, everyone should find an oasis of mercy," Francis said.

Whether this emphasis on mercy will affect church teaching will likely be closely watched by those feeling excluded by the Vatican, including divorced Catholics who remarry and who want Francis to allow them to receive Communion. Gay faithful are also watching to see how they are welcomed.

Francis said the Vatican's modernizing reforms of the 1960s reflected "the need to talk about God ...in a more accessible way" and tear down "walls which too long had made the Church a kind of fortress," he said. Quoting St. John XXIII, who began the reforms, Francis said the church needed to renounce "arms of severity" for the "medicine of mercy."

In explaining his choice of year of mercy, Francis said that "great historical change" means faithful must renew their "capacity to see what is essential" in the church's mission.

In a new practice, Francis announced that in cathedrals and some shrines worldwide, a special "door of mercy" will stay open during Holy Year. 2000 was the last Holy Year.
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« Reply #627 on: April 24, 2015, 03:35:26 pm »

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/04/22/nuclear_test_ban_treaty_advocate_meets_pope_francis/1138743
4/22/15
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty advocate meets Pope Francis

(Vatican Radio) Among the notables PRESENT at Wednesday’s General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, was the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization, Dr. Lassina Zerbo of Burkina Faso. “Having this General Audience to engage Pope Francis and his ministry in [the push for] banning nuclear test explosions is indeed a privilege,” Dr. Zerbo told Vatican Radio in an exclusive interview following the Audience.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bans nuclear explosions by everyone, everywhere: on the Earth's surface, in the atmosphere, underwater and underground. Negotiated in Geneva between 1994 and 1996, the CTBT counts one hundred eighty-three signatory COUNTRIES, of which more than one hundred sixty have also ratified it, including three of the declared nuclear states: France, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

Click below to Chris Altieri's extended conversation with Dr. Lassina Zerbo of the CTBT Organization

Before the CTBT can enter into force, however, forty-four specific nuclear technology holder countries must sign and ratify. Of these, eight are still missing: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States. The CTBT advocacy leader told Vatican Radio that religious believers have a role to play in making the treaty’s goals a reality, and that Pope Francis is setting an example for religious leaders. “I was touched by Pope Francis thanking me for the work we do to ban nuclear testing, and asking me to pray for him,” Zerbo said. “It’s a solid message,” he CONTINUED. “We need different religious groups to be able to reach out to their followers and get them to understand some of the main issues of this world today, and Pope Francis is doing this, and we expect others to do it.”
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« Reply #628 on: April 24, 2015, 03:45:20 pm »

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/04/22/pope-francis-environment-encyclical-climate-change-moral/25870847/
4/22/15
Pope Francis to promote climate action as moral imperative

As the world celebrates Earth Day on Wednesday, Pope Francis is planning to use one of the highest forms of papal expression — an encyclical — to promote climate action to save the planet as a moral and religious imperative.

In recent weeks, Vatican officials have outlined what the DOCUMENT will say and are choreographing its release — perhaps as early as June — for maximum global impact beyond the Roman Catholic Church's 1.2 billion members.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, who chairs a panel dealing with environmental issues for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the encyclical has "gone to the TRANSLATORS, so it's at the end of its birthing process."

First on the PROMOTIONAL agenda is an April 28 Vatican conference where United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon will be a keynote speaker. The goal is to advance the morality argument that is a theme of the encyclical.

Then on successive days beginning Sept. 23, the pope will visit the White House, ADDRESS a joint session of Congress — the first pontiff to do so — and address the U.N. General Assembly at the beginning of a summit on sustainable development.


"The timing of the encyclical is significant," Cardinal Peter Turkson told a UNIVERSITY audience in Ireland last month. "2015 is a critical year for humanity. ... The coming 10 months are crucial."

The Ghanian cardinal, who heads the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and who helped draft the encyclical, said all events lead to Paris in December, when nations will gather to debate how to SLOW or reduce global warming. He described the core message of the encyclical as "human ecology," arguing that global economic inequality — a theme Francis has frequently raised — is inextricably linked to climate change.

The encyclical will urge that saving the environment is saving humanity, particularly the poorest, who are disproportionately impacted by global warming, Turkson said.

Francis hopes the DOCUMENT will "shape the discussion in Paris," Wenski said.

Climate change activists are ecstatic. "He, along with the Dali Lama and a few rock stars, are the most popular people on the planet right now," said Mary Evelyn Tucker, director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University. "He has moral authority and efficacy."

Skeptics are apprehensive. Pope Francis has fallen into "apocalyptic ALARMISM," Maureen Mullarkey wrote in the conservative Catholic publication First Things in January. He is, she said, "bending theology to premature (and) intemperate policy endorsements."

Climate scientists frustrated that their warnings are not stirring appropriate public concern about dangers to the planet see the encyclical, which will be passed down through Catholic university teaching and parish ministries, as achieving greater penetration than ever in raising awareness. "I think it has the potential to be seismic," said Thomas Lovejoy, professor in the environmental science and policy department at George Mason University.

The document will land as a record number of Catholics declare or consider presidential runs for 2016: Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Chris Christie and Rick Santorum, all whom either disagree with Francis' views in part or entirely.

The White House, which supports STEPS to combat global warming, praised the pope's stance. White House spokesman Frank Benenati said last week that "we welcome the pope's attention and immeasurable influence to this global issue."

Francis will "be a voice on this issue, which will ... take into ACCOUNT the science," said Wenski. "But he'll be a voice of a pastor, a voice that will talk about the poor having first claim on our conscience in matters pertaining to the common good and (how) policies made about climate change will affect the common good."
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« Reply #629 on: May 02, 2015, 05:12:51 pm »

Milan Expo opens as Pope Francis warns it must ‘globalise solidarity’
By Alasdair Sandford | With REUTERS
01/05 18:04 CET

The long-awaited Milan Expo has opened its doors to a big fanfare, a warning from the pope, and clashes between protesters and police in the streets.

For Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, the six-month technological exhibition and global fair is a huge prestigious event.

The Expo bears the slogans Feed The Planet, Energy for Life.

“Today is the start of “tomorrow”, first of all beginning with the contradictions of a planet that needs to be fed, but which witnesses the absurd imbalance of a billion people who CONTINUE to die of hunger and a billion people who suffer from eating either too much or the wrong food,” Matteo Renzi told the OPENING ceremony.

Pope Francis referred to the irony of a global spectacle devoted to sustainable development and feeding the poor, being dependent on corporate sponsorship.

Speaking by televised link-up to the OPENING ceremony, he said:
“The Expo is an ideal opportunity to globalise solidarity. Let us not waste it but rather value it fully.”

An inaugural concert was held on Thursday evening, the eve of opening time of the 2015 Milan World Expo.

More than 140 countries are taking part in the global fair, which organisers hope will attract some 20 million visitors.

For Renzi’s government it symbolises a brighter future, going hand in hand with the battle to modernise Italy’s economy and electoral system.

But there were battles of a different kind on the streets of Milan after the Expo’s opening.

Thick CLOUDS of smoke from burning cars filled parts of the centre of Milan as groups of protesters, their faces masked against the fumes, threw stones and faced off against lines of police in riot gear.

Despite the talk of feeding the poor, a wide range of protesters see the EVENT as a front for big business – and a symbol not of modernity, but of waste and corruption.
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