Source: Crux High-ranking US Jesuit: Married priests would be healthy for the Church By Michael O’Loughlin National reporter A high-ranking US Jesuit says he wouldn’t be surprised if Pope Francis ushers in an era of married priests in the Roman Catholic Church, and says having the conversation would be “healthy” for the Church. “I used to say, ‘Well, it will change but probably not in my lifetime.’ And then Pope Francis came along, and what I see him doing is opening the avenues for discussion,” the Rev. Michael Garanzini, chancellor of Loyola University Chicago and the secretary for higher education…
Browsing: Catholic Church
Source: Vestnik Kavkaza Not long ago, Pope Francis called on Catholics to participate in politics, calling it “one of the highest forms of love, as its aim is taking care of the global welfare.” According to katolik.ru, the Pope also stressed that participation in politics was a kind of martyrdom, as it demanded faithfulness to the ideal of the global welfare and bearing a heavy cross of disappointments and sins. “Can a Catholic be involved in politics? Of course, he should do it. Should a Catholic interfere in politics? He should do it!” the Pope believes. The Russian Orthodox Church…
Source: First Things by David Gelernter Not for many generations has the Church amassed as much prestige as it has under John Paul II and his successors. They underline (or have so far) the formidable quality of church leadership. Since John Paul II’s elevation in 1978, no nation on earth has been led better. That prestige ought to be used in an important cause, and one where it will matter. There is a desperate cause right under the pope’s nose. What is he doing in the Philippines and South America at a moment when, throughout Europe, Christianity is dying?… Read…
Source: Armenpress YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 3, ARMENPRESS. From January 2431, the 12th meeting of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches was held in Rome, Italy. The theme of the Theological Dialogue referred to the Ecclesiastical councils, entitled “Historical Development of Ecclesiastical Councils and Theology”. The Information Services of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin informed “Armenpress” that attending the Joint Commission from the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church were, His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America; His Grace Bishop Hovakim Manukyan, Primate…
Source: Vatican Radio Pope Francis will bring the curtain down on the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with a Vespers service, Sunday evening, in Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, formerly known as the Octave of Christian Unity, is traditionally celebrated over eight days, from Jan 18th to 25th, around a common theme, and involves Christian communities and Churches across the world, including the Catholic Church. The Week ends with the Jan. 25 feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Representatives of Orthodox and Anglican Churches will be present…
Source: Alteteia “Now we see it is not in any way true” that the Pope wants to subjugate the Orthodox Churches. by JOHN BURGER A leading Orthodox theologian has said that Pope Francis’s words while visiting Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in Istanbul “represent a big step forward.” While speaking at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Istanbul’s Phanar district Nov. 30, Pope Francis said that in the context of the efforts being made to achieve full communion with the Orthodox Churches, the Catholic Church “does not intend to impose any conditions except that of the shared profession of faith.” “Coming…
Source: Aleteia The Vatican’s ecumenical default positions badly need re-setting. by GEORGE WEIGEL In his tireless work for Christian unity, St. John Paul II often expressed the hope that Christianity in its third millennium might “breathe again” with its “two lungs:” West and East, Latin and Byzantine. It was a noble aspiration. And when he first visited Orthodoxy’s ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople in 1979, perhaps the successor of Peter imagined that his heartfelt desire to concelebrate the Eucharist with the successor of Andrew would be realized in his lifetime. It wasn’t to be, but not for lack of trying on John…
Source: The Tablet by Una Kroll The Mother Church of the Anglican Communion agreed to allow women to be consecrated as bishops in England on Monday, 17 November 2014, although some daughter Anglican Churches have had women bishops since 1989. How do I, once an Anglican woman priest, now a Catholic laywoman, feel? I am happy for the Anglican women clergy in England; their witness to their vocations has been fully recognised. My hope for this outcome began in 1947 when I was 21 and a student, although I was mute about my own call until 1970, when I began…
Source: Vatican Insider Synod on the Family: “La Civiltà Cattolica” undusts a forgotten chapter in history. Despite their proclamations in defence of the indissolubility of marriage, the Tridentine Fathers decided not to exclude the possibility of second unions in old “Greek rites” practiced in the Greek islands that were under the dominion of Venice ANDREA TORNIELLI VATICAN CITY It is a little known chapter of history which Italian Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica has decided to cast light on in the issue that will be out once the Synod on the Family begins. Journalists revealed the content of this issue…
Source: Vatican Insider Divisions among the Orthodox Churches are delaying the process of theological dialogue with the Catholic Church on the issue of primacy. The Amman session led to another dead end GIANNI VALENTE ROME Dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches is showing no signs of progress. The latest plenary session of the mixed Commission created to deal with the theological obstacles that stand in the way of full communion between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Commission’s members – 23 Catholic delegates and two delegates representing each of the 14 autocephalous Orthodox Churches – met in the Jordanian…
Source: MENAFN – AFP (MENAFN – AFP) The crisis in Ukraine is undermining reconciliation efforts between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church and has shown up Pope Francis’s inability to make his peace message heard in the conflict-torn country, analysts said. Francis has called for dialogue in Ukraine – as he does for conflicts around the world – but the Vatican has kept a distance and did not take a position on Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March or subsequent hostilities in the east of the country. The pope was faced with an impossible task, with the Russian Orthodox…
Source: Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy by Metropolitan Nicholas (Hatzinikolaou) of Mesogaia and Lavriotiki CLICK HERE for the text of the Encyclical. [subscribe2]