Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. After years of doctrinal confusion and disciplinary inconsistency, prominent cardinals are clearly growing restive about the leadership of Pope Francis. Today Cardinal George Pell issued a highly unusual public statement, calling for a Vatican rebuke to two other prominent prelates whose public statements have suggested a “wholesale and explicit rejection” of Church teachings on sexuality. And on the same day, a prominent Italian journalist made …
Author: Manuel Xavier
Blessed Imelda Lambertini
Feast day – May 12 Patron of a fervent First Holy Communion Blessed Imelda offers a charming study in child sanctity. It was on the occasion of her fifth birthday that Imelda asked her pious parents if she also could receive communion. She already possessed a love of Christ, but she was far too young. With an understanding of what communion really means, she wondered aloud: “Tell me, can anyone receive Jesus into his heart and not die?” At the early age of nine, she entered the Dominican convent near Bologna. The one great desire of her life in those …
Explaining the Trinity
by TIM STAPLES • 6/20/2014 Recently, I had an extensive discussion with a Muslim about the Trinity. His problem with the Trinity was not so much with biblical texts, and obviously so, because he did not accept the Bible in the form it is in today as the word of God. Though I must say that he was remarkably interested in looking at what the New Testament had to say about the topic. His main problem was conceptual. And I find this to be generally the case with folks who reject the Trinity. They either think Christians are claiming there are three Gods (which …
Remembering the 21 Coptic Martyrs
Charles Lewis is a freelance Catholic writer in Toronto. The horrific murders on a Libyan beach are seared into public memory — and the men’s faith continues to inspire. The photo was taken in the middle of February 2015 along a beach in Libya. There are 21 men in identical orange jumpsuits being led to their place of execution. Behind each is a man dressed in black, right hand on the back of their captive’s neck, as they move them along to what will be their final moments on earth. All the men, but one, were Coptic Christians from Egypt. The …
Because It’s Hard
Robert Royal is editor-in-chief of The Catholic Thing and president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His most recent books are Columbus and the Crisis of the West and A Deeper Vision: The Catholic Intellectual Tradition in the Twentieth Century. By a providential set of circumstances, I recently visited the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Take the kids to Disney World, if you will. But the Space Center has the right stuff. Real stuff. It features John F. Kennedy’s speech in 1962 at Rice University, a year before he was killed, committing America to go to the moon. But why, …
Benedict’s Mea Culpa
Stephen P. White is executive director of The Catholic Project at The Catholic University of America and a fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI nears the end of his long and extraordinary life, the tussling over his legacy has already begun in earnest. In his native Germany, the “Synodal Way” appears intent on erasing fifty years of magisterial interpretation of the Second Vatican Council – a reading for which Joseph Ratzinger is as responsible as anyone saves, perhaps, St. John Paul II. The Synodal Way is a sort of referendum …
Child Custody’s Gender Gauntlet
Writer, Author: IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters (2020). Named to “Best Books” lists by the Economist, Times of London philosophicalinvestigations@protonmail.com Before she decided to strip him of all custody over his son, Drew*—before determining that he would have no say in whether Drew began medical gender transition—California Superior Court Judge Joni Hiramoto asked Ted Hudacko this: “If your son [Drew] were medically psychotic and believed himself to be the Queen of England, would you love him?” “Of course, I would,” the senior software engineer at Apple replied, according to the court transcript. “I’d also try to get …
Are Diplomatic Relations Between the Vatican and Beijing on the Horizon?
The appointments leave two Vatican diplomatic missions that deal closely with China with no top officials, prompting the question of whether the Holy See is changing its diplomatic strategy. VATICAN CITY — According to Vatican sources, the establishment of diplomatic relations with Beijing is not on the horizon, despite what some recent appointments might suggest. On Jan. 31, the Vatican said that Msgr. Arnaldo Catalan, its representative in Taiwan, was being posted to Rwanda, where he will serve as apostolic nuncio. Days later on Feb. 5, Msgr. Javier Herrera Corona, head of the Holy See Study Mission in Hong Kong, was named apostolic …
Valentine’s Day Catholic Love Connection: 15 Quotes on the Beauty of Marriage
Alyssa Murphy is the Register’s Managing Editor of Digital Assets. Starting her career on the airwaves in San Francisco, she has worked in all facets of media. Alyssa enjoys writing and covering stories that inspire and uplift. Register readers may be familiar with her voice from EWTN radio’s Morning Glory. Alyssa currently lives in New Jersey just outside Manhattan with her husband Andrew and young daughter, Annabe Marking St. Valentine’s Day and National Marriage Week, Catholic thought leaders and writers discuss the sacrament and what they have learned sharing in this sacred union between husband and wife. Love is in …
Our Lady of Lourdes, Pray For Us!
Kelly Marcum studied International Politics at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and received her M.A. from the War Studies Department at King’s College London. She is the founder and President of Gratia Plena Institute, an organization dedicated to teaching high school girls about the Catholic vision of authentic femininity. Her writing has been featured in The American Conservative, The Federalist, The Washington Examiner, and Catholic Exchange. She lives with her husband and children in Virginia. “For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.” — ‘Song of Bernadette’ Our Lady of Lourdes was the first …