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Articles
Leo, Francis and Tradition on the Death Penalty
Late this past month, the pontiff, upon leaving Castel Gandolfo, the papal retreat on Lake Albano near Rome, took time to take a few questions from the media. An American journalist asked for his views on...
Articles
If Christianity Recedes, What of Human Dignity?
“No power on this earth can destroy the thirst for human dignity.” – Nelson Mandela
Since the inception of Western civilization, the concept of human dignity has been that value most cherished by those who...
Articles
A Pope Out of Africa?
With the demise last month of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis I, there began immediate speculation about who next would serve as the Vicar of Christ.
The process of choosing the new pope – the...
Articles
The Nativity Fast in the ‘Advent’ of the East
(On this memorial of the Eastern saint, John of Damascus, here is a reflection worth pondering on the ascetical practices of the Eastern rite. We of the West may not be called to such,...
Articles
The Synod on Synodality How Will it Affect the Church?
“...a new vision that overturns established practices.” – Synod on Synodality
The words above may well come back to haunt the Church. This past week in Rome the Vatican concluded years of gatherings by bishops,...
Articles
Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider: A Catholic Conscience and Credo
Born in Kyrgyzstan under Soviet repression, to intensely devout Catholic parents, the future Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider was essentially raised in the Catholic underground. His parents, who had been prisoners in the Gulag, would...
Articles
Benedict XVI: An Apologia for a ‘Smaller Church’
“I had studied Ratzinger's writings in advance and especially his diagnoses of the times. And I was somewhat stunned to see that Ratzinger's analyses of the development of society had been largely confirmed. In...
