How do you talk to people who think you hate them? That was the question top Catholic thinkers were discussing at Benedictine College last weekend, and the three answers they came up with were simple, powerful and important. Leave aside that it is crazy for them to think we hate them. People hate smoking but [...]
Damien Thompson at the Telegraph is reporting that concerns have emerged for Pope Emeritus Benedict’s apparently rapidly fading health. Thompson writes: I think all of us were distressed by the fragility of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI when we saw him greet his successor, Pope Francis. The footage was almost too painful to watch. Now, according [...]
“Behold, a faithful and prudent steward, whom the Lord set over his household.” – Entrance Antiphon, Joseph, Spouse of Mary, March 19 Dear Benedict, Emeritus Pontiff; There is so much to thank you for after your decades of service to the Church, but today, on your name day, the feast of St. Joseph, we owe [...]
This morning, like most everyone else in the Catholic world, I’m living my life half focused on my own duties and responsibilities, and half focused on a somewhat wobbly camera shot of an old smokestack on a Vatican roof. That smokestack has become just about the most important thing in my world today, and [...]
In certain Catholic circles, there has been no small amount of alarm over Pope Emeritus Benedict’s abdication, and the possible circumstances that precipitated it. Those who have always looked to Benedict as a dauntless pillar of strength in a very tumultuous period for the Church found it suspicious that he would step down from his [...]
EDITOR’S NOTE: CV is happy to include a new entry in our “Five Questions” series. This interview features author, columnist, television host and former presidential speechwriter Colleen Carroll Campbell, who spoke with CV’s Stephen Kokx about her new book My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir. We hope you find this a helpful addition to our [...]
Jesse Jackson secured his induction into the liberal hall of fame last week when he told attendees at Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez’s funeral that Chavez “fed the hungry, lifted the poor, raised their hopes and helped them realize their dreams.” Jackson’s speech, however, wasn’t the only sign of American support at the funeral of a man deceased [...]
The Chair of St. Peter is empty. And the period of sede vacante has begun. Now we wait for the College of Cardinals to select the 266th successor of St. Peter. While the papal conclave won’t begin until sometime between March 9 and 11, Cardinal Angelo Sodano just announced that the College of Cardinals will [...]
There is no pope. There is no pope. There is no pope. The phrase didn’t occur to me as the bell of St. Benedict’s Abbey tolled over and over again for 10 minutes starting at 1:00 pm (8:00 pm in Rome) to mark the resignation of the Pope. The phrase occurred to me when the [...]
The chair of Saint Peter is now vacant. And now we call him His Holiness Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus. Benedict XVI has been a faithful shepherd of the Church for the past eight years. In his own humble way, he has carried on the much-needed work of faithfully defining and implementing the often misunderstood teachings of [...]
