De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

When was the last time this happened? Rome reports offers us this video of the historic meeting of Pope Francis with Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI which took place today at Castel Gandolfo at about 12.15 pm local time. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said it was “a moment of profound communion”. We can see in the video Benedict offering the place of honour to Pope Francis when they arrive in the chapel. However, Francis responded “we are brothers” and wanted them to share the same kneeler—what a beautiful gesture! The two popes then went to the library where their private meeting began around 12:30pm. It is the place where popes usually receive important guests at Castel Gandolfo. Their meeting lasted 45 minutes. Pope Francis gave Benedict a beautiful icon known as Our Lady of Humility. You can see how ornate and beautiful it is—hopefully this will prove demonstrative that Pope Francis does understand the value of beautiful things. Benedict had...

I suppose it is only natural that after such a wonderful papacy as that of Benedict XVI, during which all those who know and care about the Apostolic faith felt truly safe and nurtured, that change is going to be unsettling. Of course this could not be more accurately related than through my own personal disquiet when Cardinal Bergoglio, unknown to me, stepped out onto the balcony after the Conclave. Our house was full, and I had been so animated about the process, every eye turned to me for exuberance at the choice made by the Conclave. Instead of joy they found uncertainty, worry, nervousness. Very quickly, I set to the task of finding out a little more about this man who is now our Pope, and my heart began to rise. He is erudite, he has integrity, but most importantly, he literally oozes faith. Despite our relative ignorance, there has been a real division evident over the last few days between a kind of triumphalism of more liberal factions in the Church, those who typi...

Let them, as fathers in Christ, take care of the faithful whom they have begotten by baptism and their teaching.(186) Becoming from the heart a pattern to the flock,(187) let them so lead and serve their local community that it may worthily be called by that name, by which the one and entire people of God is signed, namely, the Church of God.(188) Let them remember that by their daily life and interests they are showing the face of a truly sacerdotal and pastoral ministry to the faithful and the infidel, to Catholics and non-Catholics, and that to all they bear witness to the truth and life, and as good shepherds go after those also,(189) who though baptized in the Catholic Church have fallen away from the use of the sacraments, or even from the faith. ~ Lumen Gentium 28. OK I defended Cardinal O'Brien, I pleaded that we didn't know the circumstances, I thought we should have held off until we knew what was going on. But if this report in the Herald Scotland is at all ac...

Welcome to this, the thirty-fifth of my reflections on the theology of the Sunday readings at Mass. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I sincerely hope that this reflection will inspire you. You might find that it answers a few questions you may have, but most of all I hope that it will show you how fantastic Sacred Scripture is and perhaps enable you to share some of my love and passion for the Bible as you begin to comprehend how layered and multi-faceted it is, and what a carefully considered part of the Mass the readings are. If you want to know how these posts came about, please read my first post in this series  here . I would like to think this regular blog would be a great help to anyone who reads at Mass, to enable them to foster a deeper understanding of the message they are trying to impart to the congregation. There are several different ways to read this post. I would suggest the first thing to do is to look at the relevant  ...

Welcome to this, the thirty-fourth of my reflections on the theology of the Sunday readings at Mass. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I sincerely hope that this reflection will inspire you. You might find that it answers a few questions you may have, but most of all I hope that it will show you how fantastic Sacred Scripture is and perhaps enable you to share some of my love and passion for the Bible as you begin to comprehend how layered and multi-faceted it is, and what a carefully considered part of the Mass the readings are. If you want to know how these posts came about, please read my first post in this series  here . I would like to think this regular blog would be a great help to anyone who reads at Mass, to enable them to foster a deeper understanding of the message they are trying to impart to the congregation. There are several different ways to read this post. I would suggest the first thing to do is to look at the relevant...

Habemus Papam! I've spent an rather exciting evening in front of the t.v. watching, first the white smoke issue from the chimney and then waiting to see who had been elected. I was completely shocked, I hadn't even considered that it might be Jorge Bergoglio, the self-effacing Jesuit from Argentina. Now I feel somewhat underwhelmed, having spent the last few weeks praying for Scola as my adopted Cardinal, and reading about Ouellet, Tagle, O'Malley. Then someone I haven't even heard of is elected: who is this man? When he came out onto the balcony I was a bit perplexed that he was not wearing the papal mozzetta and that he took off the papal stole immediately after giving the blessing. I was worried because it felt like an immediate repudiation of the liturgical return to signs and symbols which had been one of the hallmarks of Pope Benedict XVI's reign. I felt a bit panicked. However, after a couple of days of reading everything I can about Pope Francis, ...

Welcome to this, the thirty-third of my reflections on the theology of the Sunday readings at Mass. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I sincerely hope that this reflection will inspire you. You might find that it answers a few questions you may have, but most of all I hope that it will show you how fantastic Sacred Scripture is and perhaps enable you to share some of my love and passion for the Bible as you begin to comprehend how layered and multi-faceted it is, and what a carefully considered part of the Mass the readings are. If you want to know how these posts came about, please read my first post in this series  here . I would like to think this regular blog would be a great help to anyone who reads at Mass, to enable them to foster a deeper understanding of the message they are trying to impart to the congregation. There are several different ways to read this post. I would suggest the first thing to do is to look at the relevant...