Fr Bux on St Augustine and the Church's catholicity

The Fides press agency published a dossier of St Augustine-related texts (in Italian only, alas) to accompany the Roman Pontiff's visit to Pavia this past weekend, including this essay by Father Nicola Bux on St Augustine and the catholicity of the Church which is quite good...

Telegraph is 0 for 4

Mr Nick Pisa at the Telegraph (although I grant that he is repeating what most of the media have reported and is consequently not alone in his errors) maintains the Telegraph's 'losing record'  in its reportage from Rome: four articles since I've been keeping track, four...

A good theologian joke

A barzelletta from Giulio Meotti's essay that appeared in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, noted at Papa Ratzinger Blog.  There's a joke going around the Vatican.  The progressive Swiss theologian Hans Kung reaches Paradise and discusses his theories with St...

Mitre-wearers are not good secularists

Father Robert Araujo, S.J., at Mirror of Justice reminds us of Thomas Nast's caricature of mitre-wearers, back in the day. 

"It can happen"

Diogenes very amusing this morning: the first lesson at today's Mass is from the Acts of the Apostles, chapter six. 

A ticket to the Olympic Games for the Pope

This is a pretty gesture, sure, but I cannot think of any circumstances that would permit Benedict XVI to actually attend at the 2008 Olympics: if only from the point of view of the potential public relations disaster.  Every news agency in the West would suddenly recall...

Those awful Cristeros, rebelling against the blessed secular government

I don't know much about Miss Mexico's now redesigned dress for the Miss Universe pageant but the Independent's concern about her gown and its evocation of the Cristeros seems rather off, somehow.  I expect that there is a fair case to be made that one oughtn't use...

The Fathers and the Liturgy

The Fathers of the Church and the celebration of the Liturgy are at the center of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate, says Fr Federico Lombardi, S.J., who is director of the Press Office of the Holy See:  “Two particular aspects call come to mind.  First of all, the...

A comment not to be lost

From Le Forum Catholique today: "Really, the missals used in the ED abbeys mix the larger part of the '62 missal with a sauce from the '65 and a sprinkling of the '69."

Disquiet at Benedict XVI's second anniversary

Christian Terras, yesterday at Golias, took the two years of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate into review and is not enthusiastic.  Beginning by admitting Joseph Ratzinger's obvious intellectual and theological gifts, and rightly refusing to ascribe to him any simple...

Signs of progress

'Columcille' at Fumare reports from a "lecture given by members of the ICEL committee working on the new missal"; I'd love to see more information about this.

I remember being told that this debate would never happen

At Secondhand Smoke, Wesley J. Smith notes the tragic case of a mother who murdered her newly-born infant: no one answering the poll he includes at this point defends the act in any way whatever but we all know that there are in fact those among our fellow citizens who would...

Should the Roman Pontiff suppress ermine-trimmed vestments?

The Italian Antivivisectionist League at the University of Pavia, where the Holy Father will visit on the 22nd, have issued a press release (that La Stampa has dignified by taking notice of) calling on his Holiness to give up the use of ermine to adorn the pontifical...

George Bush at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast

President Bush attended and addressed the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast earlier this morning at the Washington Hilton.  The AP dispatch  (the one at the New York Post now, at least) noted Mr Bush's invocation of the 'culture of life' and his intention to veto...