Author: Manuel Xavier

These saints witnessed Christ’s sacrifice, and on Good Friday of all days, they deserve our attention – Thomas Craughwell. Of Christ’s eleven surviving apostles and who-knows-how-many disciples and followers, only a tiny handful had the courage to stand at the foot of his cross. There was the Blessed Virgin Mary, of course, and St. John the Apostle and his mother St. Mary Salome, St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Mary Cleopas, the mother of the apostle St. James the Less. Not an especially strong turn-out. But there were a few other saints who witnessed Christ’s sacrifice, and on Good Friday of …

“What are you?” a construction worker demanded quizzically of a cassock-wearing priest, as he passed a job site near a hospital. The priest looked at his interlocutor and hesitated; the undercurrent of contempt was perceptible. Deciding to take the question at face value, he responded peaceably: “I am a priest.” “And what,” the man inquired flippantly, “does a priest do?” The cassocked one answered seriously, “A priest is one who primarily offers sacrifice.” “Birds? Little dogs?” suggested the wise guy. The priest laughed. “No, not birds. The Catholic priest offers the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.” The man’s tone lost its edge. “But …

COMMENTARY: May this Holy Week be one whose reenactment, even in these days of shuttered churches, be a time of renewed gratitude for the gift of Christ. Regis Martin There are two things that can safely be said about the pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II. One, that here was a man steeped in the love of God and love for the Church, which he governed for 27 years with wisdom and courage. Two, that his many years spent as Vicar of Christ were similarly steeped in a great deal of paper. The result, of course, has been a …

The Cardinal Was Wronged’: Pell Acquittal Exposes Flawed Australian Legal Process Observers say that the unanimous ruling by the country’s highest court constitutes a scathing indictment of the fundamentally unjust proceedings that led to the cardinal’s wrongful conviction and imprisonment. Edward Pentin Cardinal George Pell is enjoying his first days of freedom at a Carmelite monastery in a Melbourne suburb after serving 409 days in solitary confinement for a crime of which the Australian High Court has now unanimously ruled he was wrongly convicted. In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, the court of seven justices overturned decisions by two lower courts that …

Pope Francis is praying for those who are persecuted by an unjust sentence. He did so shortly after news broke that Australia’s High Court acquitted Cdl. George Pell of sex abuse. Without mentioning Pell’s name in his homily at Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday Francis said, “I would like to pray today for all the people who suffer an unjust sentence because of aggressive persistence [against them].” A Vatican press release the same day was more specific: “The Holy See, which has always expressed confidence in the Australian judicial authority, welcomes the High Court’s unanimous decision concerning Cdl. George Pell, acquitting him of the accusations of abuse …

A chronological list of key events in the life of Cardinal George Pell George Pell: A Timeline: A chronological list of key events in the life of the Australian cardinal, including details of his financial reforms as well as abuse allegations, charges and eventual conviction, and the grounds upon which he is appealing his conviction. Early Years 1941 George Pell is born in the Victorian town of Ballarat to an Irish Catholic mother and a non-practising Anglican father.  1960 Pell begins studying for the priesthood at Corpus Christi College in Werribee. 1966 Pell is ordained by Cardinal Grégoire-Pierre Agagianian, an Armenian Catholic and …

Dear Friends, For some time now, we have been in combat against the spread of the coronavirus, COVID-19. From all that we can tell – and one of the difficulties of the combat is that so much about the pestilence remains unclear – , the battle will yet continue for some time. The virus involved is particularly insidious, for it has a relatively long incubation period – some say 14 days and some say 20 days – and is highly contagious, much more highly contagious than other viruses we have experienced. One of the principal natural means to defend ourselves …

ON JAN 16, 2016 Day of Recollection Sovereign Military Order of Malta Thomas Aquinas College Ojai, California 16 January 2016 Introduction It is a pleasure for me, as Cardinal Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, to meet you today and later to offer the Holy Mass for you. I express my deepest gratitude to all who have made possible our time together today. There are two preliminary observations which I regarding the topic of divine mercy which dominates so much our speech in the Church today. Pope Francis has just published a book which is being distributed in …

2017 Fatima Centennial Summit “Heavenly Solution to Our Modern Day Crisis” Irving Convention Center Irving, Texas 7 October 2017 The Virgin Mother of God appeared to the three shepherd children at Cova da Iria near Fatima in 1917, at a time when the world was in a terrible crisis, a crisis which threatened its very future, a crisis which, in many and frightening ways, continues to threaten the future of man and of the world. It is a crisis which has also infected the life of the Church, not, of course, touching the objective reality of Christ’s life in the …