Pope Francis biographer, fellow @campionoxf, ✍️ #TheGreatReformer #WoundedShepherd #LetUsDream. #FirstBelongToGod + Smallholder #LaudatoSi: 🐑 🐓 🐝🪴🌳🥬🍅🧄
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12 years on, people ask: how can we follow the path the Pope is calling us to? For parishes, communities and the curious, I have written a retreat “with” Francis, based on the Ignatian Exercises which shaped him. In English, español, français, italiano and português.
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Happening now: praying for Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square. Cardinal Parolin presides.
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Gosh. An Episcopalian bishop spoke with parrhesia — apostolic courage — to Trump and Vance. She named the truth their policies deny. Their expressions of fury and discomfort suggest she nailed it.
Wow. A bishop just called out Trump and Vance to their faces at church.
“The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. May I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those whose children fear their parents will be taken away.”
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The Pope’s road to recovery is astonishing. Whether due to the power of prayer, his family DNA (his grandmother Rosa lived to 92), his strong will, or the extraordinary medical care he has received— or a combination of all these God’s gifts—it is a marvel. Deo Gratias.
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Pope after Mass at Regina Coeli: “During Mass I strongly felt the spiritual presence of Pope Francis accompanying us from heaven.”
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Here’s a crib scene you don’t see often: Joseph taking the baby to allow Mary to sleep.
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*Very* unusual for a pope to do this. Magisterial in tone and form (numbered paragraphs, quoting papal teachings) and targeted (referring to Trump policies and Vance’s justifications), this letter is meant to leave no doubt about where the Church stands. vatican.va/content/francesco…
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50 priests have died of Corona in Italy: the youngest 45 yo, the eldest 104 yo. Most were active, and died serving the people, without funerals. Pastors who smelled of their sheep, who died for and among them. corriere.it/cronache/20_marz…
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Pope Leo’s motto “In Illo uno unum” are words of Saint Augustine in a sermon on Psalm 127 to explain that “although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one.”
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I’m hearing that Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, who was slated to give the cardinals their pep talk after the extra omnes, went on for 50 minutes rather than his allotted 15.
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The Holy Family parish in Gaza which Francis called every night without fail to encourage and be close to them, ring their bells now every night at the same time he used to call, in remembrance of him. 🥲
Las campanas de la parroquia de #Gaza suenan ahora todos los días a las 8 de la noche (7 de Italia) para recordar los llamados diarios que durante un año y medio les hizo el papa Francisco (video de @PGabRomanelli
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Benedict XVI warned
of the hermeneutic of discontinuity. A classic example are those today celebrating this image of Leo XIV supposedly ‘restoring tradition’. Yet Francis sat in exactly the same way & place when visiting St Paul’s Outside the Walls. (It’s the cathedra.)
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Leo XIII wows us with strong voice, beautiful singing, linguistic dexterity and powerful call for peace in the world and vocations in Church. And in a departure from tradition, all delivered from the loggia of St Peter’s, not the apostolic palace.
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Here in Rome now, and the news is a bit more hopeful: that the Pope is sitting up, and not needing assistance with oxygen. Waiting on the afternoon briefing.
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They complained Francis’s teaching wasn’t clear. So Leo was crystal clear. The teaching he will follow is that of Francis.
In largely programmatic talk with Cardinals, Leo doesn’t waste time, affirms “complete commitment to the path that the universal Church has now followed for decades in the wake of the Second Vatican Council,” which “Pope Francis masterfully and concretely set it forth in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.” (Full Text)
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In Mexico, the most Catholic of countries with the most secular of states, the President is quoting slabs of Fratelli Tutti deploring neo-liberal trickle-down economics. JD Vance, take note.
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We need more of this from brave pastors. Future generations will look back and ask, where was the Catholic Church when American fascism rose to power?
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11pm Rome: the faithful continue to pour into the Basilica to pay their respects. Vatican says 90,000 so far. Will stay open all night until tomorrow night. Even in death, Francis is with his people.
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Pope Francis told couple he married: “Don’t have your wedding rings so tight that they torture you, but not so loose that they fall off”.
Papa Francisco les preguntó si todavía querian casarse, ellos le dijeron que sí y el Papa les dijo: “Las argollas no las usen apretadas para que no los torturen, pero tampoco tan sueltas que se les puedan caer” 👰🏼🤵🏻🥂✈️🇻🇦 @CNNChile
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You mean as opposed to Francis, who always sat in exactly the same place at St Paul’s Outside the Walls?
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Pope Francis did not go back to the Santa Marta from hospital, but to Santa Maria Maggiore, to give thanks to Our Lady. (This is an old photo). He has prayed before the Salus Populi Romani icon so often, that it’s reckoned to be the place most visited by a pope in history.
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So simple, so small and so discreet that were it not for the crowds heading for it and the spotlight over it you’d easily overlook the tomb of #Franciscus
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Leo smartly turns the tables. They want to know how dare a senator who is pro abortion receive an award for a lifetime service of migrants? He reminds them that one who is against abortion yet pro death penalty is not pro life either.
Here’s the video of the Pope responding to Card. Cupich granting Sen. Richard Durbin a church honor. 10 U.S. bishops have condemned the honor, given Durbin’s record on abortion. Pope Leo does not seem disturbed by the honor. Video: EWTN.
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Uffff. “Therefore, I resign. Not only do I resign, I encourage others to resign from the Knights of Columbus. I stand with my archbishop in this controversy. He was right." ncronline.org/news/opinion/p… via @ncronline
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“Friends I want to be clear with you … In the Church there is room for everyone, for EVERYONE, and no one is superfluous — for the one who makes mistakes, for the one who falls … REPEAT AFTER ME: EVERYONE!! For me, for you ….” #JMJ2023
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12 years ago, Pope Francis took to the see of Peter with a powerful proclamation of humility, mercy, joy, and utter confidence that God loves us. He captivated the world. And almost all he has done as pope these past 12 years has been designed to help the Church do the same.
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Tonight’s report — prolonged asthmatic episode, needing oxygen and a blood transfusion, and the Pope in pain — comes as a shock. But the doctors yesterday warned there would be days like this. Let’s hope tomorrow is better. It’s a lot for an 88 yo to endure. Please pray for him.
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When the pope, the Vatican, moral theologians have all made clear that vaccinations are not only morally licit but demanded by the common good and fraternity, for a bishop to claim the precise opposite is a public act of repudiation of the communion to which he claims to belong.
The archconservative Catholic bishop of Tyler, Texas, on Covid-19 vaccines and mandates: "To coerce someone, to mandate that you do something that you know is immoral — you know, that's what people have died for in the past...."
rumble.com/vnnifh-people-mus…
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Benedict XVI told bishops at the time of his 2007 Summorum Pontificum that it would be reviewed if it created problems.
Francis has consulted the bishops of the world and they say it has. What was meant to foster unity has been used to sow division and opposition to Vatican II.
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Solidarity with Bishop Alvarez, a pastor of the people in Nicaragua and now unjustly imprisoned by its government.
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What a stunningly prayerful way to honour the Word of God. #sinodoamazonico
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The other “Two Popes”: the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires celebrating Mass with the then Prior General of the Augustinians.
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Gosh. All he had to say was: “Such sad news. Usha and I are praying for his recovery. Whatever our political differences, we are brothers in Christ.”
🚨 JD VANCE NAILS IT ON BIDEN'S CANCER DIAGNOSIS: "We really do need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job [...] I don't think that he was in good enough health. In some ways, I blame him less than I blame the people around him."
"You can separate the desire for him to have the right health outcome with the recognition that whether it was doctors or whether there were staffers around the former president, I don't think he was able to do a good job for the American people. And that's not politics. That's not because I disagreed with him on policy. That's because I don't think that he was in good enough health."
"And why didn't the American people have a better sense of his health picture? Why didn't the American people have more accurate information about what he was actually dealing with? This is serious stuff."
"This is the guy who carries around the nuclear football for the world's largest nuclear arsenal. This is not child's play."
"And we can pray for good health, but also recognize that if you're not in good enough health to do the job, you shouldn't be doing the job."
💯 @JDVance
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Pope to impose sanctions on Cardinal Raymond Burke, including removal of his Vatican privileges (monthly salary, big apartment) following years of the cardinal attacking, accusing and undermining the authority of the pope to whom he promised obedience. corriere.it/cronache/23_nove…
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RIP Fr Gustavo Gutiérrez, Peruvian shanty town priest and later Dominican friar, prophet of the poor, whose Theology of Liberation in 1971 reshaped contemporary theology. He has died aged 96 in Lima. larepublica.pe/politica/actu…
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The U.S. Catholic right seems very muddled. Why was it not alright for the Church to honour a pro-abortion senator for his defense of migrants, but ok to honour a free-speech advocate who favoured the death penalty and opposed gun control? 🤔🤷♂️
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Pope concludes Mass. Jesus appears.
Just after the Pope's Mass concludes, the camera cuts to this priest who wins the crowd instantly! '"Wow" says the person on stage! 😂 #PopeinIndonesia
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Better news from Vatican this evening. Pope is “apyretic”, that is, without fever, suggesting that the treatment is kicking in. Condition “stable”. He has been doing some work, which is probably not what the doctors meant by “absolute rest”. He asks for our prayers.
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One cannot help but imagine that Cardinal Newman, a famous opponent of papal infallibility, would delight to be canonised on Oct 13 by a pope who admits mistakes, calls himself a sinner, dislikes being put on a pedestal, & has restored the role of conscience. #Newmansaint #Newman
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Vatican announces that @Pontifex account on X will shortly be rehabilitated as official account of Pope Leo XIV. So you can forget all those others pretending to be.
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For the world’s richest nation suddenly to slash 90 per cent of its lifesaving aid to the poorest people of the world is — let us use the word accurately, giving it the proper weight of its true meaning — *demonic*.
Yesterday, Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts.
Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressional mandated. They've saved millions of lives. 🧵
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The news from Rome remains worrying, if not (yet) alarming. We pray for Pope Francis, for the treatment to be effective, for the team dedicated to him. We pray for his serenity and comfort, that he experience God’s tender touch. 🙏🏽
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To be buried not as a man of power and prestige but as follower of Christ, one who was given the shoes of the fisherman to walk with us.
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News this morning is simply that Pope Francis has had an uneventful night and has rested. We can assume his situation remains critical. We’re expecting another medical briefing tonight. Beautiful portrait by @Raul_Berzosa.
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Well that didn’t take long. The self-described devout Catholic VP accuses his bishops of being motivated by money, not morality, over migration. ncronline.org/news/vice-pres…
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Delighted to announce that Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, the great English Dominican preacher and the Gandalf of the Synod, will be made a cardinal on 8 December.
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“Humanity needs the charismatic figure of Pope Francis to continue living, for he tirelessly proclaims an end to war and hatred, & announces the power of love among all, peace and social friendship. He is a beacon guiding us towards a good end for humanity. May God preserve him.”
A humanidade precisa que a figura carismática do Papa Francisco continue viva,pois não se cansa de proclamar o fim da guerra,do ódio e anunciar a força do amor entre todos,a paz e a amizade social.É um dos faróis a nos orientar para um fim bom para a humanidade. Deus o conserve.
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Traditionalist disapproval of displays of the Pope’s vulnerability and fragility is a tell.
BREAKING: Pope Francis made a surprise appearance in St. Peter's, Vatican earlier today appearing very disheveled.
But footage from @messainlatino shows Francis dressed very poorly, without clerical garb or zucchetto
He went to pray at St. Pius X's tomb
blog.messainlatino.it/2025/0…
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What tosh. Every cardinal I’ve spoken to says they need more time to get to know other. In the end they’re only starting one day later than regulations allowed, and four days before they had to. The conclave is expected to last the usual two days. Do not trust Arroyo’s fictions.
BREAKING: Conclave to begin May 7th. The Cardinals set the date at their Congregation meeting today. The delayed start suggests that the Cardinals are asserting their authority over the Vatican insiders who were hoping for an expedited Conclave.
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July 2024 @BishopBarron deplores opening scene of Paris Olympics as “gross mockery” of Church, and calls on us to resist its hostile agenda. May 2025, he laughs off Trump’s gross mockery of the Church as a “bad joke” and refuses to call on him to remove his post. Go figure.
"It was a bad joke. I wish he hadn't done it." Bishop Robert Barron responds to the AI-generated image of President Donald Trump as the new Pope, shared on social media by the White House.
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Spanish and Italian polls show 70-80% support among Catholics for “continuity” with Pope Francis.
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"Francis represented something increasingly rare in international affairs: a global figure who wielded significant influence without controlling a single weapon or economic sanction.” inkstickmedia.com/pope-franc…
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It wasn’t cold. It’s 5 mins from his €8000 p/month apartment, where he remains despite undermining the pope at every turn. Vatican officials were asked to attend; 27 cardinals did. He went to pray, which is not an act of charity for a priest.
If you’d like to know what Christian charity looks like. It looks like this. Cardinal Raymond Burke was one of the only American Cardinals braving the cold to pray a rosary for Pope Francis last night. This after the Pope removed him from his apartment, cut his salary, and publicly ridiculed Burke during his own health battle. What a beautiful witness he offered us all.
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Prayers are being asked for the famous theologian of the poor, Peruvian Fr Gustavo Gutiérrez OP, who at 96 is ailing. I had the joy of meeting him in October 2019 at the Vatican, where we were both speaking at a conference on the Puebla meeting. A great, holy man.
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Delighted that @UniofOxford will finally have a Cardinal, and that the white-robed Dominicans of @BlackfriarsOx will have a dash of scarlet among them.
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The popular devotion has begun: people gently queuing to file past the Holy Saturday tomb of #Franciscus
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“What Mr. Vance gets wrong is that the point of Christian teaching is to expand, even transform, our order of loves. If our explanations of Christianity do not build up this double love of God and neighbor,’ then we have failed to understand Christianity.“ americamagazine.org/faith/20…
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Pope Leo XIV today: “, I would like to assure you of my intention to continue Pope Francis’ commitment to promoting the synodal nature of the Catholic Church.” Couldn’t be clearer. vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/e…
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Asked on Italian television what his favourite TV programs were as a young man, Pope says: ”I’ll let you into a secret. When I was young we didn’t have television.”
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Even in the USA, centre of the right-wing opposition to Francis, his popularity among Catholics remains close to 80%. Confirms yet again that while resistance is well-funded and vicious, most Catholics see it for what it is, and Francis for what he is. news.gallup.com/poll/548345/…
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Many things are said of Pope Francis, but seldom the truest thing: He is a spiritual master with deep knowledge of the ways of the Spirit and its enemy; and a great teacher, who shows us, simply and practically, how to follow the first and reject the second. From today’s homily:
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So great to have a pope who, off-script, slips seamlessly from Italian into Spanish and English, and ends by blessing in Latin. In an age of me-first nationalism, Leo shows us what diversity in unity means.
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“The Vatican listed the audience with the Rev. James Martin among the pope’s daily activities, in a sign that Francis wanted it publicized ... [T]he implicit message was a public vote of confidence in Martin’s ministry.” @nwinfield on @JamesMartinSJ apnews.com/4be4ce9c8133432bb…
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It is offensive to the Christian communities in the world who are hounded, harassed, even killed for their faith, to use “persecution” to describe regulations of the pre-V2 Mass that existed under Paul VI and John Paul II which were restored by Francis at the request of bishops.
NEW: Cardinal Burke says he has already spoken to Pope Leo XIV about future of Latin Mass.
“It is my hope that he will put an end to the persecution of the faithful in the Church who desire to worship God according to more ancient usage of Roman rite, this persecution from within the Church.”
Comments at @latinmassuk conference in London
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Holy See position on Ukraine: “Our point of departure is the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. What the Ukrainians may wish to negotiate or what they are prepared to concede is their affair, their business, and we need to support them.” americamagazine.org/politics…
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To the persecuted Christians of Iraq Francis has just given one of the finest homilies of his pontificate on the Beatitudes.
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Huge applause for Pope after he approves document following vote, commends it to People of God. No apostolic exhortation needed. Spirit has spoken to Church.
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Delighted to announce that Pope Francis has given me a wide-ranging interview on living under Corona crisis which will be published tomorrow morning by @The_Tablet in the UK and @commonwealmag in the US, and freely available on those sites from 06:30 London (07:30 Rome).
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Cardinal Czerny: when people accuse Francis or Leo for being Marxist when they are teaching the Gospel, the problem is not the popes’; the problem is the person accusing them.
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For some it has been a great shock to discover that Pope Leo believes in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
On the Durbin award, the Pope's "seamless garment" statement was disappointing.
But even by the logic of the Pontiff's own statement, he should oppose giving Durbin the honor.
The Pope's statement suggests that some other unnamed politicians should not receive Catholic awards. We can argue about that some other time. Today the question is about Durbin.
substack.com/@philipflawler/…
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There has been plenty of speculation about how the Pope would be taken back to the Santa Marta — ambulance? helicopter? — but it turns out: the little white Fiat, of course. With him in the front seat.
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One of the nastiest, most vicious and ideologically driven hit-pieces from the militant right I have seen in a conclave. The cardinals will see this for what it is, and ignore it.
On the eve of the conclave, Cardinal Tagle's critics say he gambles too much, and is embedded with gambling families across Asia.
But without receipts, it's hard to say whether it will make a sound in the conclave.
lanuovabq.it/it/tagle-il-car…
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Even in death, the pathetic attacks continue. The latest is to claim that the removal of a doorway into a closet for candlesticks to create a tomb for a much loved pope is somehow an act of architectural vandalism. Oh and its simplicity is “performative humility”. Oh pulheeze.
The Price of Humility: The Destruction of a Massive Doorway from the Early 17th Century in Saint Mary Major
rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/20…
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Once, Christians died for refusing to countenance emperor worship. Now, schismatic Catholics flock to the emperor’s palace to worship him.
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Leo knows how to lead a horse - and to ride one. If he rides Proton and others at Castelgandolfo, where he swims, and where there is already a white Spanish thoroughbred, we’re looking at a very active 70 year old.
A Polish man has donated a purebred Arabian horse to Pope Leo XIV ahead of the weekly General Audience, saying he was inspired by the photo of the Augustinian Pope on horseback in Peru.
Proton, a purebred Arabian, was given to the Pope by Andrzej Michalski, owner and founder of the Michalski Stud Farm, in Kołobrzeg-Budzistowo, Poland.
vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/…
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This is one of the hardest things for successful people in performance-driven western cultures to grasp.
Pope: The Lord does not work miracles with those who consider themselves righteous, but with those who know themselves needy. He is not attracted by our goodness; that is not why he loves us. He loves us just as we are. w2.vatican.va/content/france…
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I get the need to be hardline: to be prophetic, to be a sign of contradiction. What I don’t get is why you would choose to be absurdly selective. Why not death penalty, gun control, dehumanising of migrants? Why not be hardline about the Gospel?
NEW: Amid the growing calls among conservative Catholics to deny Biden Communion, @ArchCordileone has released a new letter calling for public figures who support abortion to be barred from the sacrament.
my @NCRonline report: ncronline.org/news/people/pe…
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Pope tells 70 young prisoners during half-hour visit this afternoon to Regina Coeli prison that he likes to do what Jesus did on Holy Thursday each year: to wash their feet . “This year I can’t,” he told them, “but I want to be close to you”. photo: Vatican.
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Another cardinal goes down over abuse — and on the eve of the publication of the McCarrick report. Francis is deadly serious about eradicating abuse from the Church.
Card. Henryk Gulbinowicz of Wroclaw, Poland, banned from public ministry, using bishops’ insignia and future honorary funeral, Nunziature in Poland announced today following sex abuse and abuse of power investigation. He is told to donate to st Joseph Fund helping victims.
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An 86 yo pope is flying 9 hours across east Asia to bring the closeness of God to a tiny number of people in the world’s largest landlocked country. Let’s pray for him, for the noble people of Mongolia, and for great fruits from this bold mission.
The long route that will take #PopeFrancis from Rome to Ulaanbaatar (which will include the pope flying over China).
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On the day that disgraced Bp Strickland stood up at USCCB mtng to denounce @JamesMartinSJ for receiving into the Church a gay man in a relationship, Pope Leo warmly received a gay couple, smiling and nodding when they praised Fr Martin for his ministry.
NEW: During a Vatican audience, a prominent same-sex couple told Pope Leo XIV they were married.
The pope responded with overwhelming kindness — and a conversation about the day’s Wordle.
This quiet moment may signal something bigger: the kind of Church Pope Leo intends to build.
Here's the full story: thelettersfromleo.com/p/pope…
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Pope tells 1.5m young people: “I want to look each of you in the eye and tell you: do not be afraid …. Shine with the light of Christ. Listen to Him that you too might be light to the world. And be not afraid, for the Lord loves you and walks by your side.”
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Cardinal Schönborn, editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, on Trump and rise of national populists: "Loyalty and faith, trust and security, and above all the weaker, poorer and defenceless are falling by the wayside. Is that what we want?" english.katholisch.de/artike…
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“My experience with Francis’s pontificate was like riding a dragon — exhilarating, inspiring, jarring, terrifying, life-changing …. I don’t think we discuss Francis’s unrelenting boldness nearly enough. Francis was bold. I miss that. I miss him.” wherepeteris.com/from-one-po…
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Friends: I have some happy news: a rather special book, out Dec 1 in English and Spanish and other langs.
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Said in front of world leaders: “People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten.” @JustinWelby
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True, but turns out (surprise!) that US Catholics schooled for years to believe that the Church only cared about abortion are bewildered. Wait till they hear about nuclear arms, just wage, death penalty, ecology & other planks of Catholic social doctrine. religionnews.com/2025/01/27/…
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