Pope Francis was elected as successor of Peter and bishop of Rome on March 13, 2013. He chose to be installed on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19 2013. Thus, his very first homily as Pope was on the role of Saint...
Message of Synod on the Eucharist "Living Bread for the Peace of the World" October 23, 2005 [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']V[/dropcaps]ATICAN CITY, OCT. 23, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the final message of the 21st Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist, approved Friday at...
Salvation history is the story of a journey. Abram goes from civilization to the desert, Moses from the Pharaoh’s palace to a mountaintop. The people of Israel repeat Moses’ journey, and then are led through the desert to the Promised Land. All these journeys have a...
Here St. Ambrose comments on the biblical theme of God as Our Refuge (Pslam 45) and emphasizes God's incomparable goodness for which we must thirst as if deer longing for fountains of water....
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he Churches of the East are worthy of the glory and reverence that they hold throughout the whole of Christendom in virtue of those extremely ancient, singular memorials that they have bequeathed to us. For it was in that part...
To Our Venerable Brethren, All Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World, in Grace and Communion with the Apostolic See. Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he God of all Providence, Who in the adorable designs of His love at first elevated...
This excerpt from Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, paragraph 25, explains the authority of the Magisterium or Apostolic teaching authority of the Church and the way in which Catholics are bound to submit to that authority....
On Baptism Tertullian Early Church Father [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='65' color='' background_color='' border_color='']C[/dropcaps]HAPTER 1 Introduction. Origin of the treatise. Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life! A treatise on this matter will...
This Lenten and Holy Week meditation on Psalm 45 and the contemplation of beauty represents a message that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) sent to a meeting of the ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation in August 2002. The group was meeting in...
The infinite mercy and goodness of God are revealed in the parables of the lost coin, the lost sheep, & the Good Samaritan. St. Maximus the Confessor says these prove that Jesus Christ goes to any lengths to seek us out when we have...