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Browsing News Entries

Browsing News Entries

Characters of Hope: Well-Read Catholics Reflect on Inspirational Protagonists

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Cardinal Müller weighs in on Islam and secularism, upholds Second Vatican Council (Catholic Herald)

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, who served as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 to 2017, said in a new interview that “since the 18th century, Islam has been regarded—by the philosophy of deism and of ‘natural religion’—as an ally in the struggle against Christianity.”

“Even today, it is instrumentalized by the so-called fighters against ‘Islamophobia,’ who hope that this religion will eventually secularize itself and ultimately tolerate—against its own truth—the atheistic woke anthropology,” Cardinal Müller added.

Stating that “there is no way around recognizing the Second Vatican Council as the 21st ecumenical council of the Catholic Church,” Cardinal Müller added:

The foolish talk of a “sede vacante” of the Chair of Peter, calls for a revision of the Council, and the claim that the Lefebvrists are the last bastion of true Catholicity must finally come to an end. Even if they are right to place their finger on the wounds inflicted on the Body of Christ by self-appointed reformers in the style of Modernism, there is never a justification for distancing oneself from the Catholic Church—even though the Church is a mixture of saints and sinners, as St Augustine emphasised against the strict and self-righteous Donatist sect.

Hong Kong cardinal sees AI as gift from God; Vatican prefect advises caution (Vatican News)

Cardinal Stephen Chow, SJ, of Hong Kong preached that “I think AI is not from the devil. AI comes from God.”

The prelate made his remarks during the opening Mass of a December 10-12 gathering organized by the Office of Social Communications of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. Cardinal Chow added, “I pray that this meeting will help us, liberate us, and inspire us to work with AI to achieve the blessings God intends for us.”

Addressing the bishops and other participants in the gathering, Paolo Ruffini, the prefect of the Dicastery for Communication, offered a more cautious approach. He “cautioned against deepfakes, unverifiable sources, algorithmic filtering, and the opaque logic by which digital platforms shape information flows,” Vatican News reported.

Appeals court rules against abortion clinic buffer-zone law (Religion Clause)

Citing the right to freedom of speech, a federal appeals court has sided with Florida Preborn and four sidewalk counselors in their lawsuit against a buffer-zone ordinance enacted by the city of Clearwater.

In its decision, the court noted that the “buffer zone applied to most pedestrians, forbidding entrance to a 38-foot stretch of public sidewalk (28 feet of which cross the clinic’s driveway) during business hours.”

Vatican cardinal says new 'Chapel of Liberation' exhibit is not about liberation theology (L'Osservatore Romano (Italian))

The prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education said that “Chapel of Liberation,” a new exhibit in his dicastery’s contemporary art museum, is not about liberation theology.

In a December 10 speech introducing two exhibits by Brazilian artist Jonathas De Andrade, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça said that the artist shows “strength of prophetic aspiration,” as well as “the opportunity and complexity of the Church-World dialogue, religion and secularization, mystical dimension, and political commitment.”

“Jonathan de Andrade’s aim in ‘The Chapel of Liberation’ is not to validate a particular aesthetic or create a monument to a specific theological movement—namely, liberation theology, because monumentalizing is freezing time in an image—but rather to make us reflect on the social responsibility of Christians today, which will have different expressions than those of yesterday,” the cardinal added.

Christian archaeology can contribute to ecumenism and evangelization, Pope tells pontifical institute (CWN)

Pope Leo XIV received faculty and students of the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology on December 11, the 100th anniversary of its establishment by Pope Pius XI, and said that Christian archaeology is its own specific discipline that can contribute to ecumenism, diplomacy, and evangelization.

Leading Polish bishops meet with Pope, say papal visit is needed (Polish Episcopal Conference)

During a papal audience that took place yesterday, the officers of the Polish Episcopal Conference invited Pope Leo XIV to visit Poland—a visit that the bishops described as “eagerly awaited and needed.”

The Pope, in turn, said that “he already has a lot of things on his calendar in 2026 and 2027, but that he will take [the invitation] into consideration,” according to the episcopal conference.

The Pope and the prelates also discussed Church-state relations, the sexual abuse crisis, and the current activities of the Polish episcopate.

Vatican publishes 82 homilies of Benedict XVI (Vatican News (Italian))

Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the Vatican publishing house, has published Dio è la vera realtà [God Is the True Reality], a collection of 82 previously unpublished homilies by Pope Benedict XVI.

The Pontiff delivered the homilies both before and after his resignation, between 2005 and 2017; all were delivered during Ordinary Time.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Pope Benedict’s private secretary and current apostolic nuncio to three Baltic nations, spoke at yesterday’s presentation of the book.

Papal praise for Kazakhstan's contribution to building peace, interreligious dialogue (The Astana Times)

Pope Leo XIV received Mäulen Äşimbaev, president of the Senate of Kazakhstan and head of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, in an audience yesterday.

Pope Leo XIV “commended Kazakhstan’s contribution to global peacebuilding,” The Astana Times reported. “According to him, Kazakhstan’s initiatives in interreligious dialogue reflect an important ‘commitment to peace and global well-being,’ and he reaffirmed the Holy See’s support for the congress and its mission.”

Äşimbaev also delivered an official invitation from the nation’s president to visit the central Asian nation.

Pope, leading Italian rabbis discuss need to combat anti-Semitism (Comunità Ebraica di Roma)

Pope Leo XIV received Riccardo Di Segni, the chief rabbi of Rome, and Rav Alfonso Arbib, chief rabbi of Milan and president of the Assembly of Rabbis of Italy, in an audience yesterday.

Pope Leo and the rabbis discussed the urgent need to combat anti-Semitism, according to the Jewish Community of Rome. The community described the “reciprocal respect” during the meeting as “profound.”