Many are ready to give a polite nod of some sort to Jesus of Nazareth. Most honor him as a great moral teacher. Many even confess him as Savior. But the Incarnation of the Eternal God? Second person of the Holy Trinity? God can’t be one and three at the same time. Such a notion is at worst illogical, at best meaningless. “This was all invented by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 313 AD,” scoff a motley crew ranging from the Jehovah’s Witnesses to the fans of the Da Vinci Code.
The Trinity dogma is not the result of poetic fantasies or of philosophical elucubrations. Nor it is a rational theological formulation that offers the pretext of saying that it is a mystery so detached from our lives that more than one Christian feels quietly authorized to ignore it. The Mystery of the Trinity is a great mystery which surpasses our minds but speaks deeply to our heart because it is, in its essence, nothing but the explication of the profound expression of Saint John: “God is love” (1 Jn 4: 8,16). If God is love, he cannot be loneliness in himself.
Since the pontificate of Blessed Paul VI, the Ordinary form of the Roman Rite has been without one of the “greatest octaves” which critics argue has led to a detrimental effect on the Church’s liturgical life.
On the Monday after Pentecost in 1970, so the story goes, Blessed Pope Paul VI rose early and went to his chapel to celebrate Mass.
Instead of the red vestments he expected, green ones were laid out for him. He asked the Master of Ceremonies, “What on earth are these for? This is the Octave of Pentecost! Where are the red vestments?”
With the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Francis denounces violence affecting women’s role and advocates the defense of their rights.
As North Korea continues to step up its provocations, South Korean president Moon Jae-in has commissioned a special emissary to the Holy See to ask Pope Francis to assist the reconciliation process on the peninsula.
Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea (CBCK) president Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-jong met with Pope Francis on May 26. He said he “had been sent by the South Korean president (Moon Jae-in) to request Pope Francis’ support for the process of reconciliation between the two Koreas".
The new Conference on Ethnic Minorities marks a first agreement on decentralization: for the Church, 2017 will be “the Year of Peace”
The peace process in Myanmar is moving forward and the country is heading towards a federal system: "After 50 years of centralized government, dominated exclusively by the Burmese ethnic group of Buddhist religion, decentralization represents a good solution that would improve the country”, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo Says in a conversation with Vatican Insider.
The leader of the Sudanese bishops’ conference is expressing hope that Pope Francis will still travel to South Sudan at some point in the future, and is calling on people in the country to work for peace there in order to ensure the pontiff is able to safely visit.
Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, president of the bishops’ conference for Sudan and South Sudan, said in a statement Tuesday that his group and all South Sudanese “were eagerly awaiting for the historic event of the visitation of His Holiness Pope Francis.”
Increasing memberships to the fossil fuel disinvestment movement. Protecting the Creation can change finance. The black list of most polluting companies
On June 1, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI approved a decree of martyrdom from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, concerning the heroic death of Bl. Franz Jägerstätter, a devoted husband and father of three young daughters who was beheaded on August 9, 1943, for refusing to enlist in the German army. He persisted in his conscientious objection despite pleas from his parish priest, bishop, friends and neighbors to not do so. Bl. Jägerstätter explained his reason, "Everyone tells me, of course, that I should not do what I am doing because of the danger of death.
Stories of coexistence between believers in Christ and Islam followers. Here is how in Cotonou, child victims of traffickers are welcomed, protected and cared for.
Children stripped of their childhood, exploited, mistreated, abused - whatever their skin color, their professed religion, the country of origin – are everybody’s children. When women and men - whatever background, culture, faith - decide to join together and work together to heal their wounds, to restore their smile and future, an undeniable work worth of our being “human” is in force.
