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Whom Should We Invoke? How do we Get Spiritual Water?
As reported today (30 January 2012) by the Vatican Information Service, Benedict XVI is reported yesterday to have stated: Let us trustingly invoke Most Holy Mary that she may guide our hearts always to draw from the well of divine mercy, which liberates and heals our human condition, filling it with all grace and benevolence,…
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To Whom Should we Entrust Baptized Infants?
I realize a lot of my friends who read my blog are baptists. For the sake of discussion, assume with me that infants of believers are to be baptized. Benedict XVI recently baptized XVI babies in the Sistine chapel. Vatican Information Service (VIS) reports (January 9, 2012) that: The Pope concluded by entrusting the newly…
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Hans Küng and the Roman System
Hans Küng is not allowed to teach “Catholic theology,” but he remains with the Roman communion, apparently teaches ecumenical theology at the University of Tübingen, and is still a priest (i.e. he has not been defrocked). Unlike most priests, he has been invited to the pope’s summer palace and corresponds occasionally with the pope. However,…
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Ratzinger vs. Hitler
The Pope went on: “In this place, remembrance must also be made of the ‘Kristallnacht’ that took place from 9 to 10 November 1938. Only a few could see the full extent of this act of contempt for humanity, like the Berlin Cathedral Provost, Bernhard Lichtenberg, who cried out from the pulpit of St. Hedwig’s…
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Contrasting Ecumenism
“For this reason”, the Pope added, “I am very grateful to our Protestant brothers and sisters who have made it possible to hold this highly significant meeting in the convent where Luther began his theological journey, to pray … and talk together about our responsibility as Christians today. I am delighted to be able to…
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God Just Wants to Make You Happy, Says Pope
Benedict XVI said: When the Blessed Virgin rescues us from plight, “with a mother’s tenderness, she wants to make us understand that our whole life should be a response to the love of our God, Who is so rich in mercy. ‘Understand,’ she seems to say to us, ‘that God, Who is the source of…
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Guess Which of These Popes is German and Which is Not
“Luther’s thinking, his whole spirituality, was thoroughly Christocentric:” Benedict XVI “Moreover, because the preceding errors and many others are contained in the books or writings of Martin Luther, we likewise condemn, reprobate, and reject completely the books and all the writings and sermons of the said Martin, whether in Latin or any other language, containing…
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What Makes us Sons of God?
Joseph Ratzinger (aka Pope Benedict XVI) is quoted by the Vatican Information System (VIS) as saying: The fundamental gift you are called to cherish in the faithful entrusted to your pastoral care is that of divine filiation; in other words, the fact that everyone participates in Trinitarian communion. Baptism, which makes men and women ‘children…
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Primacy of the Word or the Eucharist?
[I]t is the primacy of God which we must, first and foremost, restore in our world and our lives, because it is this primacy which allows us to rediscover the truth of who we are; and it is in knowing and following the will of God that we discover our own good. (Benedict XVI, according…
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Prayers for the Dead and Marian Intercession
“I pray that, through the intercession of Mary Immaculate whom he so greatly venerated, the Lord may welcome this faithful pastor of the Gospel and the Church into His Kingdom of eternal joy and peace”, the Pope concludes. (Vatican Information Service, 5 September 2011) Notice that here the Pope is explicitly requesting Marian intercession for…