Pope highlights God's humility in entering history
In his Jubilee Year cycle of catecheses on 'Jesus Christ, Our Hope', Pope Francis, still suffering from bronchitis, focused this morning on the birth of Jesus and the visit of the shepherds. He emphasized God's humility in entering history. He also prayed for "penance for peace".
Francisco Otamendi-February 12, 2025-Reading time: 3minutes
The Pontiff has dedicated the catechesis of the Audience This morning in the Paul VI Hall at the birth of Jesus, with a meditation that underlined "the humility of God in entering history".
At the beginning, he reported that "with my bronchitis, I still can't read, but next week I will be able to", so except for his words in Italian and Spanish, his reflection for the pilgrims was read in several languages by the priest Pierluigi Giroli, from the Secretariat of State.
"May paths of peace be found."
At the end of catechesis in Italian, before reciting the Our Father and giving the Blessing, the Pope encouraged two general considerations, asking for prayer and penance for peaceThe day after tomorrow (14th), we will celebrate the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the first propagators of the faith among the Slavic peoples. May their witness help you too to be apostles of the Gospel, leaven of renewal in personal, family and social life".
Reflecting on peace, the Holy Father recalled "so many countries that are at war", and encouraged: "Let us pray for peace, let us do everything for peace, we were not born to kill, but to make people grow. May paths of peace be found. May your daily prayer be, please, to ask for peace, for the martyred Ukraine that suffers, think of Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, North Kivu, South Sudan, please, let us pray for peace, let us do penance for peace".
Signs of the Messiah's humility
"In our catechesis today" (based on Luke 2:10-12), "we contemplate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, who enters history by becoming our companion on our journey," the Pope began his reflection.
"He Himself, from the womb, was always on the way. First, from Nazareth to the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah - in the Visitation -; then, from Nazareth to Belen to fulfill the census. This shows the humility of God, who does not evade or undermine the structures of the world, but illuminates and recreates them from within."
"Another sign of the humility of the Messiah is that he is not born in a palace, but in a place destined for animals. He does not manifest himself in clamor, but in silence; he does not impose himself, but offers himself."
Shepherds, "recipients of the most wonderful news in history".
The Pope also stressed that God chooses shepherds "to be the recipients of the most wonderful news that has ever resounded in history: the shepherds, simple and humble people, are the first to receive this good news. The long-awaited Savior is born for them, to be the Shepherd of his people. They welcome him with grateful wonder and, as they set out to meet him, their hearts are filled with joy and hope".
Francis encouraged: "Let us ask the Lord for the grace to go to meet them promptly and simply, like shepherds, announcing to all the hope and joy of the Gospel".
Jubilee, a time of spiritual renewal
As for his words to the pilgrims of different languages, perhaps those addressed to the English-speaking pilgrims, and then to the Chinese-speaking pilgrims, can summarize his speeches.
"I wish that the Jubilee of hope may it be for you and your families a time of grace and spiritual renewal. I invoke upon you all the joy and peace of the Lord Jesus," he said to the pilgrims from England, Northern Ireland, Malta, Sweden, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United States, with special mention to "the seminarians of the Pontifical Irish College, assuring them of my prayers for their preparation for the priesthood".
"I cordially greet the Chinese-speaking people. Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you to work for a just and united society. My blessing to all!" he said to the Chinese-speaking people.
"Discerning in weakness the strength of the Child God."
Finally, the Pope made two requests. First, that "we too may ask for the grace to be, like the shepherds, capable of wonder and praise before God, and capable of guarding what He has entrusted to us: our talents, our charisms, our vocation and the people He places at our side".
And secondly, "let us ask the Lord to know how to discern in weakness the extraordinary strength of the Child God, who comes to renew the world and transform our lives with his hope-filled plan for all humanity".
The lives of 27,438 people have been changed thanks to the Friends of Monkole Foundation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, financing health care for poor families through the Monkole Maternity and Children's Hospital and its three medical clinics on the outskirts of Kinshasa (the country's capital).
Since its establishment in 2017, they have helped more than 150,000 Congolese in vulnerable situations, mostly women and children, and last year the volunteer doctors of Friends of Monkole provided more than 2,000 hours of training. Currently, this foundation carries out 13 projects focused on improving the health and educational quality of people.
"Friends of Monkole" in 2024.
Among the 2024 projects, the Elikia Project (which means "hope" in Lingala) for uterine cancer screening in women stands out. Thanks to the work of Dr. Luis Chiva, head of Gynecology at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, and his teams of volunteers, 1,200 women have been treated and 8 women have undergone surgery for serious cancers. With the Rickets Project they have attended 79 children and with Forfait Mamá they have supported the birth, control and follow-up of 56 premature babies.
They also promote the Primary Care service, serving 25,400 people in 2024. With the Dentistry Project, thanks to the work and solidarity trips of the stomatologist Ignacio Martínez, 103 children, adolescents and elderly people without resources were attended.
Thanks to the hip depranocytosis project, 27 young people have been successfully operated on, in which the work of Dr. Víctor Barro and his team of volunteers has been fundamental.
The Agricultural Training for Women Project has had a significant impact on the lives of 40 women market gardeners from the COMABOK Cooperative, improving both their productive capacity and their resilience to climate change.
In addition, Amigos de Monkole has been able to provide schooling to 30 children from small orphanages by granting them scholarships. They have also promoted the Child Nutrition Project in Kimwenza, taking care, together with the missionaries of Christ Jesus, of 253 children with serious nutritional problems. They have also granted scholarships to 12 young girls from the Monkole Hospital Nursing School so that they can study nursing at the ISSI school.
Upcoming projects
In 2025, the foundation continues to promote these projects and is launching another one for the empowerment and professional training of vulnerable women in the municipalities of Mont-Ngafula and Selembao, in Kinshasa. The aim is to benefit 230 women young peopleparticularly those in vulnerable situations between the ages of 16 and 22.
Regarding the current conflict in the D.R. Congo, Enrique Barrio, president of the foundation, points out that "we are aware of the delicate situation that the D.R. Congo is currently experiencing and we hope that peace and stability will return to the east of the country as soon as possible. "We continue to work on the ground and will continue with all our projects in Kinshasa, which is just over 2,500 kilometers from Goma," he adds.
There are many, more than those who left, who today have also had their heroic minute living the spirit of Opus Dei. Others of us have turned off the alarm clock and turned over in bed..., and nothing happens.
February 12, 2025-Reading time: 2minutes
I didn't want to get up. My body said no and that time I decided to listen to it and no. I did not get up when the alarm clock rang. I didn't live the heroic minute, the one that has become so famous. And nothing happened.
No one scolded me, nor did they do violence to me... I didn't even confess not to do it; because it is not a sin to be lazy one day. Because that's what it is, the fall of a day.
The truth is that I get up at 6:30 a.m. to play sports. I also try to do prayer in the mornings, but my lack of diligence that day could have been more terrible for the committed athlete than for the average Christian, whether or not he or she is of the Opus.
Once again, this institution of the Church is once again the dessert theme.
And I am not saying that there are not those who have felt abandoned, hurt (and not without reason) within the Work, or the Carmelites or the Camaldolese.
Sin is so terrible: the wounds it leaves - in oneself and in one's neighbor - are uncontrollable. As Pope Francis says: "sin always cuts, separates, divides". The people whom, throughout our lives, with or without intention, we have treated or judged badly, often do not manage to heal their wounds and for this reason, we must always ask for forgiveness. To them if we have the possibility, and above all and always, to God.
I know many people of Opus Dei, who continue and live every day happy and content. Celibate and non-celibate. Who mortify themselves (yes, because that is the common patrimony of the Church) and who mess up. Of those I know in Opus Dei, there are a few who I sincerely dislike - why should I deny it -, and there are many others whom I can count among my most loyal friends.
I also know many people who left Opus and left the institution calmly and peacefully. Others did not.
Other people, whom I also love, were hurt because they lacked explanations and understanding; because they really did not have a vocation and some did not understand that dedication is always to God and not to their works, as Cardinal Van Thuan said; because they lived differently and the sensitivity of some and - at times - the rigorism of others clashed..., for a thousand reasons. Because there are always reasons: to persevere, and to give up.
And I have seen, among many of those people who left the Work and those who live its spirit on a daily basis, a posture of dialogue, of healing, of reparation if necessary, that has put in order many ideas and healed wounds in their hearts. Not a few of these people have even returned to live their Christian life following the teachings of St. Josemaría Escrivá.
There are many others, more than those who have left, who today have also had their heroic minute living the spirit of Opus Dei. Others, like me, have turned off the alarm clock and rolled over in bed..., and nothing happens.
Director of Omnes. Degree in Communication, with more than 15 years of experience in Church communication. She has collaborated in media such as COPE or RNE.
My spiritual journey began in Sufism, with its unconditional love and longing for union with God. However, it was in Christ that I found the fullness of that all-transforming love.
Cyrus Azad-February 12, 2025-Reading time: 3minutes
I want to tell you a story. The story of a journey in search of light, that light that calms the restless heart and that for centuries has guided mystics and sages. A journey that began with a spark of curiosity and ended with a discovery that changed everything. A path of spiritual transformation, in which Sufism revealed to me its deep connection with Christianity.
Since my childhood, Sufism has been part of my life. This mystical stream of Islam, based on love and the search for union with God, always seemed to me different from orthodox Islam. Its spirit of surrender, its constant yearning for truth and its insistence on the annulment of the ego reminded me deeply of the life of Christ and his teachings.
It is no accident that many historians trace the roots of Sufism back to the earliest Christian communities in Syria and Egypt, and even to the Essenes. The word "Sufi" shares the same root as "sophia," wisdom, a term that resonates with the early Christian tradition. And it is not only in the etymology that we find this relationship, but also in the way Sufis seek truth: through love, detachment and contemplation of divinity.
The Sufism teaches that the way to God is absolute love and the annihilation of self in order to be reborn in Him. This concept finds its parallel in the Christian idea of "dying to self" in order to live in Christ. Sufi poets such as Rumi and Attar described this process as a journey through different stages of purification, similar to the experiences of Christian mystics such as St. John of the Cross or St. Teresa of Avila.
The great Sufi poet Farid al-Din Attar spoke of the "Seven Cities of Love," a spiritual path that begins with seeking and culminates in the annihilation of the self. Each stage, from desire for God to poverty and renunciation, resonates with the spiritual journey of Christian saints.
The stages
"Talab" - Desire, Seek: The beginning of the path, where the seeker transcends worldly desires and begins his search for truth.
"Eshgh" - Love: The greatest and most fearsome stage, where love for God consumes the seeker and transforms him.
"Ma'arefat" - Knowledge: The knowledge of God and truth, which drives the seeker away from immorality and brings him closer to divine contemplation.
"Bi Niazi" - Not Needing: The renunciation of worldly desires without expectation of reward, seeking only the nearness of God.
"Tawhid" - Oneness: The deep understanding of God's oneness and total surrender to Him.
"Heirat" - Surprise: A state of awe and contemplation in which the seeker is confronted with divine grandeur.
"Faghr and Fana" - Necessity and Annihilation: The culmination of the journey, where the seeker completely renounces self and merges into the love of God.
In my own search, there was a moment when I felt that something was missing. I knew that Sufism brought me closer to the truth, but a question remained latent: where to find the ultimate source of that Love that transforms everything? As if by fate, my studies led me to Jesus of Nazareth, and there I found the answer. Sufism had prepared my heart, but in Christ I found the fullness of that love I had been searching for.
Benedict XVI's resignation was the expression of an act of profound humility, demonstrating that, despite his immense authority over millions of people, his greatest commitment was to the example of Jesus. In a world where few are willing to cede power, he, clothed with the highest spiritual authority as Pope, decided to step aside. This gesture led me to a profound reflection: I understood that my love for him had to be translated into action and commitment. It was then that I had absolute clarity: I had to be baptized in his name and become a child of God, accepting the gift of his sacrifice with gratitude and faith.
Sufism, with its tireless search for God through love, is the expression of Islam that comes closest to the heart of Christianity. And in my case, it was the bridge that led me to Him.
The martyrs of Abitinia and St. Eulalia of Barcelona, witnesses to the faith
Today the Church celebrates the 49 holy martyrs of Abitinia or Abitina, today's Tunisia, caught in the Eucharist in defiance of the imperial prohibition. One of them answered before dying: "Sine dominico non possumus" (without Sunday we cannot live). Barcelona commemorates Saint Eulalia, virgin and martyr.
Francisco Otamendi-February 12, 2025-Reading time: < 1minute
At the closing of the XXVI Italian Eucharistic Congress in Bari (Italy), in May 2005, Benedict XVI recalled the scene. It was the feast of Corpus Christi. The Pope said: "It was significant, among others, the answer that a certain Emeritus gave to the proconsul who asked him why they had transgressed the severe order of the emperor. He answered: "Sine dominico non possumus"; that is, without gathering in assembly on Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist we cannot live. We would lack the strength to face the daily difficulties and not succumb".
After atrocious tortures, St. Saturninus and 48 other martyrs of Abitina, recorded in the with their names in the Roman Martyrology, they were killed. "Thus, with the effusion of blood, they confirmed their faith. They died, but they conquered; now we remember them in the glory of the risen Christ. On the experience of the martyrs of Abitina we too, Christians of the 21st century, must reflect," Pope Benedict suggested.
"We need this bread to face the fatigue and weariness of the journey. Sunday, the Lord's Day, is the propitious occasion to draw strength from him, who is the Lord of life", continued the Papa. "To participate in the Sunday celebration, to feed on the Eucharistic bread and to experience the communion of brothers and sisters in Christ is a necessity for the Christian".
Saint Eulalia was a young Christian girl of the 4th century who lived in Barcelona, and did not renounce her faith during the persecutions of the emperor Diocletian. As a consequence, she was subjected to severe tortures and is buried in the crypt of the cathedral, dedicated Santa Cruz and Santa Eulalia, who is co-patron saint of the city. On the other hand, the feast of the Virgen de la Merced, patron saint of the city. diocese of Barcelonais celebrated on September 24.
Identity and mission of the Church: interview with Giulio Maspero
How does the Christian community reflect the God it worships? Why can't the Church be reduced to a mere human institution? These are some of the questions to which Giulio Maspero, dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, provides answers.
How does the Christian community reflect the God it worships? How does the history of the people of Israel relate to the mission of Christians, and why can the Church not be reduced to a mere human institution?
In a conversation with Fr. Giulio Maspero, we explore some of the spiritual, anthropological and juridical foundations that characterize the community of believers. A member of the council of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, he is professor of Dogmatic Theology and dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Rome. Pontifical University of the Holy Cross of Rome.
Professor, let's start with the concept of identity of a religious community. How does the Church reflect the divinity it worships?
- Every religious community identifies itself according to the deity it worships. In the case of the Church, the deity is the God of Jesus Christ, so that, in order to understand what the Church is and what its mission is, we must start from the mystery of this triune God. Unlike the pagan deities, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is unique, transcendent and creates from nothing out of love. This Trinitarian communion is the model that the Church herself is called to reflect in her life and action.
How can we adequately understand this God who is one but also triune?
- It means recognizing that God, being Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is perfect and absolute communion. Man, created in God's image and likeness, participates in this divine life. The Old Testament shows the progressive awareness of the Jewish people of their relationship with God, which culminates in Jesus Christ. The Church is born precisely from the encounter with the Triune God who, in Jesus, gives himself definitively, offering us to be his friends and members of the Mystical Body which is the Church herself.
Where does the history of the people of Israel fit into this discourse?
- Israel is the people called to live the relationship with the one God, discovering little by little the depth of the covenant. After moments of crisis and exile, it has become aware of the value of belonging to a Creator who loves his people.
With the advent of Jesus, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is fully revealed as Trinity: Christianity is not limited to inheriting an earthly monarchy, but welcomes and spreads the possibility of participating in the divine Life open to all. The Church is the prolongation of this love story, where the baptized enter into a profound relationship with the triune God.
It is often stressed that the Church cannot be reduced to a merely human or political structure....
- Indeed, the Church is not a political institution like the Davidic monarchy of the Old Testament, nor is it a mere building or the Vatican State. It is the People of God, the Body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit: three images that speak of the richness of the Trinitarian communion that generates it. The main bond is not juridical, but spiritual: every Christian, by the BaptismThe Church of Jesus Christ, comes into contact with the living God and with all brothers and sisters in the faith.
Obviously, the Church, in the course of two thousand years of history, has equipped herself with structures and rules to make this communion visible and operative, but its origin and its strength lie in the living encounter with the Risen One.
Where does its universal, i.e., "Catholic", character come from?
- It derives from the fact that God is the Lord of all times and places, so that the Church, as the People of God, is destined to bring together people of all cultures, ages and backgrounds. This is already announced in the Scriptures, from the Old to the New Testament: the whole of human history is seen as the progressive encounter between God and man.
The Gospel is not simply a set of words written in a book, but the very presence of Christ dwelling in his community, especially in the sacraments, the liturgy and mutual love. Hence the Church's vocation to be a sign of this unity of God with humanity.
What sources would you recommend to those who would like to know more about the nature and mission of the Church?
- There are three main references. First, the life of the Church itself, with the sacraments, the liturgy and the witness of the saints, which concretely express its reality. Secondly, Sacred Scripture, in particular the Acts of the Apostles, where we find the Church of the origins. Thirdly, the Magisterium of the Church, which includes the documents and the Catechism.
Here are three examples of texts: "The Church Our Mother," by St. Josemaría Escrivá; the Acts of the Apostles, which we find immediately after the Gospels; the Catechism of the Catholic Church; and the Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium" of the Second Vatican Council. In my opinion, these sources, combined, help us to grasp the Church as a living communion in continuous dialogue with the Lord and with humanity.
Specifically, how can the institution dialogue with today's world?
- The Church is the place where every person is invited to personally encounter the Risen Christ, becoming his friend and sharing his divine life. It is, therefore, a reality that touches the deepest dimension of the person, but which also translates into real and concrete relationships of communion.
In the course of time, this encounter has resulted in a definite structure and identity, despite the limitations and difficulties of human history. In the end, however, what remains crucial is the presence of the Risen One: it is He who makes it possible and impels it to serve the world, announcing the good news to every people and generation.
St. Teresa of Calcutta enters in the General Roman Calendar
The Holy See has announced that the free memorial of the holy foundress of the Missionaries of Charity will be included in the General Roman Calendar and celebrated on September 5.
"The Supreme Pontiff Francis, welcoming the requests and wishes of Pastors, religious, and associations of the faithful, and considering the influence exerted by the spirituality of St. Teresa of Calcutta in many regions of the world, has decreed that the name of St. Teresa of CalcuttaThe decree signed by the Pope and released today by the Holy See highlights the inclusion of the memory of the saint of Calcutta in the General Roman Calendar and her free memory to be celebrated by all on September 5".
St. Teresa of Calcutta joins the latest additions to the Roman Calendar such as Saints Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus or St. John of Avila.
The Episcopal Conferences must now translate, approve and, after confirmation by this Dicastery, publish the texts corresponding to this memoir and include them in the Calendars and Liturgical Books for the celebration of Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.
The decree issued by the Vatican highlights the "testimony of the dignity and privilege of humble service" of Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, who stands as an "icon of the Good Samaritan" and "never ceases to shine as a source of hope for so many people who seek comfort in the tribulations of body and spirit".
Teresa of Calcutta was beatified in 2003 by St. John Paul II to whom she was united by a deep and sincere friendship, and canonized in 2016 by Pope Francis within the Year of Mercy. Her feast day is celebrated on September 5, the date of her death. dies natalis.
The Peruvian bishop who multiplied by 4 the number of priests in his diocese in 13 years
Monsignor José María Ortega, Bishop of the Diocese of Juli in Peru, explains that the first task he undertook after his appointment was to get to know and care for priests. Thanks to his work, he has managed to increase the number of priests in his diocese fourfold in just thirteen years.
P. Manuel Tamayo-February 11, 2025-Reading time: 3minutes
Monsignor José María Ortega is the resigned bishop of Juli. He was the first Peruvian priest to be ordained in Yauyos and, in 2006, he was appointed bishop prelate of Juli. This prelature, located in the Peruvian puna at 4,000 meters above sea level next to Lake Titicaca, is one of the poorest areas of the country. For 13 years, Monsignor Ortega dedicated his life to serving these communities, facing challenges and leaving a legacy of faith and hope. Today he shares with us his experience and the fruits of his labor in this land of contrasts and extreme beauty. We spoke with him about his experience at the head of the prelature.
What is the territory you were assigned to like?
- The prelature of Juli was erected for the indigenous Aymara race, who live in five provinces and six districts of the Puno region, around Lake Titicaca. It is a very cold and destitute area.
What did you find at the Prelature when you arrived? What struck you most?
- What struck me most was the poverty, both material and spiritual. There were religious, but they had not been looking for vocations or training priests for the jurisdiction for more than 50 years. However, the previous bishops had left six Aymara priests, natives of the area.
How did you plan your work upon arrival? What was the first thing you did?
- The first thing was to take care of the five Aymara priests, since one of them was sick. I knew I needed to gain their trust, since I was from abroad and they were expecting a native bishop. I then focused on seeking vocations, visiting schools and dealing with young people. Inspired by St. Toribio de Mogrovejo, I decided to go all over the prelature to get to know it well.
How was the people's reception and did you encounter any difficulties?
- Yes, there are always difficulties. At the beginning, some authorities and those in charge of municipalities were reluctant, but the simple people, when they saw me celebrating Mass and explaining the sacraments, were happy. Little by little, I gained their trust. I remember a town called Quilcapunco, at 4,800 meters above sea level, where at first they did not open the church to me, but the people finally forced the person in charge to open it. That night we celebrated Mass, and the people were happy.
If there were only six priests, how was the formation of new priests? Was a seminary established?
- It was not easy, but with the help of two priests from Yauyos, Fernando Samaniego and Clemente Ortega, we started touring schools and talking to young people. We did not talk to them directly about vocation, but we showed them our work as priests. We played soccer with them and that is how we gained their trust.
Three years after my arrival, we started the major seminary, and after seven years we had the first ordinations. When I left the prelature, there were 24 ordained priests and 3 deacons, totaling 33 priests.
How was the experience with the women weavers in the region?
- It was an initiative that came later. I contacted friends in Spain, like Adolfo Cazorla, who helped improve the women's weaving. They taught them to perfect their art without losing their culture. This improved their economic and family situation. Today, these women have presentations in Lima and Madrid, and they are very grateful. The association created by these women artisans brings together 300 women from the Peruvian Altiplano, belonging to 21 communities.
What are the fruits and achievements of those years of work?
- I was bishop in Juli for 13 years, from 2006 to 2019. From the spiritual point of view, I left a seminary with 17 major seminarians and 14 minor seminarians. I erected new parishes, going from 17 to 26, all served by priests. We also improved the parish houses.
Materially, we helped improve crops and trout farming in Lake Titicaca, which raised the economic level of the families. All of this was possible thanks to the help of institutions such as AdveniatThe Italian Episcopal Conference and Caritas of Spain.
What message would you give to those who follow your work in the prelature of Juli?
- May they continue to dream and work with hope. As St. Josemaría Escrivá used to say, "dream and you will fall short". The sowing we have done will bear fruit, and good things will come for the Prelature.
The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is celebrated on February 11. The story began in the 19th century when little Bernadette Soubirous received a visit from the Virgin Mary. To her questions about who she was, the Virgin replied: "I am the Immaculate Conception". Today is the XXXIII World Day of the Sick.
Today the Church commemorates the Virgin of Lourdespatroness and protector of the patients. In 1858, the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes. Since then, millions of pilgrims have flocked to the shrine to pray, reconcile with God and bathe in the spring water.
For this World Day of the Sick, in the Jubilee Year 2025, the Pope has written a Message. The Pontiff concludes by calling Mary 'Health of the Sick', as in the Rosary, and with the prayer Sub tuum praesidium (Under your protection, we take refuge). We review below the key points of the apparitions and the history of the shrine.
Bernadette's childhood
Bernadette was born on January 7, 1844 in the Boly mill in Lourdes. In 1854, the family began to face difficulties due to bad harvests. In addition, there was a cholera epidemic. Bernadette contracted it and carried the after-effects throughout her life.
The economic crisis led to the family's eviction. Thanks to a relative, they were able to move to a 5×4 meter room, a dungeon in a former prison that was no longer used due to unsanitary conditions.
Bernadette could neither read nor write. Because of her family's poverty, she began working as a maid at a very young age, in addition to taking care of household chores and her younger siblings. Eventually, she and one of her sisters began collecting and selling scrap metal, paper, cardboard and firewood. Bernadette did this even though her health was very fragile due to asthma and the after-effects of cholera.
The first appearance
It was on one of these occasions, when Bernadette, her sister and a friend went out of town to get firewood, that the first apparition took place. It was February 11, 1858, and Bernadette was 14 years old (all the apparitions took place in this year, making a total of eighteen). The place they were going to was the grotto of Massabielle.
The girl later recounted that she heard a rustling wind: "Behind the branches, inside the opening, I saw at once a young girl all white, no taller than me, who greeted me with a slight nod of her head," she later said. "From her right arm hung a rosary. I was afraid and I stepped back [...] However, it was not a fear like the one I had felt at other times, because I would have always looked at her ('aquéro'), and when you are afraid you run away immediately. Then the idea of praying came to me. [I prayed with my rosary. The young woman slipped the beads of hers, but did not move her lips. [...] When I had finished the rosary, she greeted me with a smile. She withdrew into the hollow and suddenly disappeared" (the textual words of Bernadette and Our Lady are taken from the website of the Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes and from the official website of the sanctuary).
Our Lady's Invitation
The second apparition, which took place on February 14, was also silent. The girl sprinkled the Virgin with holy water, the Virgin smiled and bowed her head, and when Bernadette finished praying the rosary, she disappeared. Bernadette told her parents at home what was happening to her and they forbade her to return to the grotto. However, an acquaintance of the family convinced them to let the girl return, but accompanied, and with paper and a pen so that the unknown woman could write her name.
Thus, Bernadette returned to the grotto, and the third apparition took place. At the request to write her name, the woman smiled and invited Bernadette with a gesture to enter the grotto. "What I have to say need not be written down," she said. She added: "Would you do me the favor of coming here for a fortnight?". Later, Bernadette would say that it was the first time someone had called her "you". "He looked at me like a person looks at another person," she said explaining her experience. These words of the little girl are currently written at the entrance of the Cenacle of Lourdes, a place of rehabilitation for people with different addictions, especially drug addictions.
Bernadette accepted the invitation, and Our Lady added: "I do not promise you the happiness of this world, but that of the next. Between February 19 and 23, four more apparitions took place. In the meantime, the news had been spreading and many people accompanied Bernadette to the grotto of Massabielle. After the sixth apparition, the girl was interrogated by Inspector Jacomet.
The spring
The first appearances, seven in all, were happy ones for Bernadette. During the five subsequent ones, which took place between February 24 and March 1, the girl seemed sad. Our Lady asked her to pray and do penance for sinners. Bernadette prays on her knees and sometimes walks around the cave in that posture. She also eats grass at the direction of the lady, who tells her: "Go and drink and wash in the fountain".
In response to this request, Bernadette goes three times to the river. But the Virgin tells her to return and points out the place where she must dig to find the spring to which she refers.
The girl obeys and indeed discovers water, from which she drinks and with which she washes herself, although, being mixed with mud, she gets her face dirty. People tell her that she is crazy for doing these things, to which the girl replies: "It is for sinners". During the twelfth apparition, the first miracle took place: at night, a woman washed her arm, paralyzed for two years due to a dislocation, in the spring and regained mobility.
Immaculate Conception
In the apparition of March 2, Our Lady entrusted her with a task: to ask the priests to build a chapel in that place and to go there in procession. In obedience to this command, Bernadette went directly to the parish priest. The priest does not receive her very warmly and tells her that, before granting her request, the mysterious woman must reveal her name. Bernadette would never say that she had seen the Virgin, since the woman she was talking to had not told her her name.
On March 25, the girl went to the grotto at dawn, accompanied by her aunts. After praying a mystery of the rosary, the woman appears and Bernadette asks her to tell her name. The girl asks her name three times. On the fourth time, the woman replied: "I am the Immaculate Conception". The Virgin never spoke to the girl in French, but in Bernadette's native dialect, and in this language are written the words under the carving of the Virgin of Lourdes that is currently placed in the grotto: "Que soy era Immaculada Concepciou" (I am the Immaculate Conception).
This term, which refers to the fact that Mary was conceived without original sin, was unknown to Bernadette, and had been proclaimed a dogma of faith only four years earlier by Pope Pius IX.
Recognition of apparitions
Bernadette went to the parish house to give an account of what had been transmitted to her. The priest was surprised to hear that term on the girl's lips, and she explained that she had come all the way repeating the words so as not to forget them. Finally, on July 16, the last apparition took place.
The Church officially recognized the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1862, only four years after they concluded, and while Bernadette was still alive.
After the apparitions, she entered the community of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers as a novice in 1866. She died of tuberculosis in 1879, and was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1933, on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Sanctuary sites
The sanctuary has some key places to visit on any pilgrimage. The Masabielle Grotto is one of the most important places of the sanctuary. Mass is currently celebrated in the largest part of it. Located in the place on the rock where Mary appeared, there is a figure of the Virgin that was made from Bernadette's description.
"She was wearing a white dress, which came down to her feet, of which only the tip was visible. The dress was closed at the top, around her neck. A white veil, which covered her head, descended down her shoulders and arms to the floor. On each foot I saw that she had a yellow rose. The sash of her dress was blue and fell to just below her knees. The chain of the rosary was yellow, the beads were white, thick and very far apart.
The figure is almost two meters high and was placed in the grotto on April 4, 1864. The sculptor was Joseph Fabisch, a professor at the Lyon School of Fine Arts. The place where the girl stood during the apparitions is indicated on the floor.
The water of Lourdes, places, processions
The spring that nourishes the fountains of Lourdes and the pools springs from the Massabielle grotto, and it is the one that was discovered by Bernadette at the indication of the Virgin. The water has been analyzed on numerous occasions and contains nothing different from the waters of other places.
The tradition of bathing in the pools of Lourdes stems from the ninth apparition, which took place on February 25, 1858. It was on that occasion that Our Lady told Bernadette to drink and wash in the spring. In the following days, many people imitated her and the first miracles took place, which have continued to this day (the last one approved by the Church dates from 2018).
The water from the spring is also used to fill the marble pools, located near the grotto, where pilgrims immerse themselves. The immersion, during which one is covered by a towel, is done with the help of volunteers from the Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes.
In winter, or in pandemic season, full immersion is not possible. Access to the water and bathing are completely free. Many people also choose to take a bottle filled with water from the Lourdes spring, which is easily accessible at the fountains next to the grotto.
In total there are 17 pools, eleven for women and six for men. They are used by approximately 350,000 pilgrims a year.
Places where Bernadette lived
In addition to the sanctuary, in Lourdes you can visit the places where Bernadette was: Boly mill, where she was born; the local parish, which still preserves the baptismal font in which she was baptized; the hospice of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, where she made her first communion; the old parish house, where she spoke with Abbot Peyramale; the "dungeon" where she lived with her family after the eviction; Bartrès, where she resided as a child and in 1857; or Moulin Lacadè, where her parents lived after the apparitions.
Processions
A very important event of the sanctuary of Lourdes is the Eucharistic procession, which has been held since 1874. It takes place from April to October every day at five o'clock in the afternoon. It begins in the meadow of the sanctuary and concludes at the Basilica of St. Pius X.
Also relevant is the torchlight procession. This has been celebrated since 1872, from April to October, every day at 9:00 p.m. The custom arose from the fact that Bernadette often went to the apparitions with a candle. The custom arose from the fact that Bernadette often went to the apparitions with a candle.
After the apparitions, three basilicas were built in the area. The first was the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, which Pope Pius IX made a minor basilica on March 13, 1874. Its stained glass windows depict both the apparitions and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
Basilicas and churches
There is also the basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, in Romanesque-Byzantine style. The basilica contains 15 mosaics depicting the mysteries of the rosary. The crypt, which was the chapel built at the request of the Virgin, was inaugurated in 1866 by Monsignor Laurence, Bishop of Tarbes, in a ceremony at which Bernadette was present. It is located between the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary.
There is also the Basilica of St. Pius X, a subway church of reinforced concrete built for the centenary of the apparitions in 1958.
Finally, there is the church of St. Bernadette, built on the site where the girl saw the last apparition, on the other side of the Gave River, since she could not enter the grotto that day because it had been fenced off. The church was inaugurated more than a century later, in 1988.
U.S. Sunday Mass attendance returns to pre-pandemic levels
Face-to-face attendance at Sunday Mass in U.S. Catholic churches has returned to pre-pandemic levels, although barely a quarter of the nation's Catholics attend Mass weekly.
The Center of Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University has noted in a February 5 post on his blog Nineteen Sixty-four research study that attendance at the Sunday Mass on a face-to-face basis has increased to 24 percent since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic was declared in May 2023. That rate has been maintained through the first week of 2025.
From the start of the pandemic closures in March 2020 through May 2023, attendance had averaged 15 %. Prior to the pandemic, average attendance was 24.4 %.
Mark Gray, CARA's director of polling and editor of the blog, told OSV News that attendance figures recently released by the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, had underscored a trend he and his colleagues had identified.
Not a direct measurement, but an approximation.
"It's something I became aware of, and when the Diocese of Arlington released its October attendance figures ..., I thought, all right, I'm going to go ahead and put this (data) out there," Gray said, referring to an annual count of Mass attendance conducted by many U.S. dioceses.
Gray, who is also an associate research professor at Georgetown University, and his colleagues have relied on data from their various national surveys, along with Google Trends queries that, he said, "allow us to see variations in how often people search" for certain terms that "would correlate with Mass attendance."
"It's not a direct measurement, but it's an approximation," explained Gray, who also noted that the drop in data does not take into account those who resorted to live-streamed and televised liturgies during pandemic closures.
Analysis of the figures
"We've also analyzed those numbers," he said. "We can alter search terms and Google Trends to different queries. We've done that in the past, and we saw that about the same percentage of Catholics participated in Mass during closings, if you included viewing on TV or online. And then we have surveys about attending Mass in person, and watching it on TV or online."
Gray said the Mass attendance data "almost looks like a more straightforward distribution once you include the TV and Internet figures" during pandemic closures.
He also noted that the pandemic closures were 'a local situation' in which some areas "opened...quickly" and "others remained closed for much longer."
Ash Wednesday, the third day of highest attendance
But since "this last Christmas in 2024, things have gone back to normal," he noted.
Some Masses during the year generally reflect "spikes" in attendance, Gray said. Christmas, Easter and Ash Wednesday are the most attended liturgies.
"We're always interested in Ash Wednesday," since "it's probably one of the most unusual days," Gray said. "It's not a day of precept, but it's the third highest Mass attendance historically, according to the data," he said. "And it also has probably the highest turnout of young adult Catholics."
Gray added that "if there is ever a time when the Church needs to reach out to young adult Catholics, Lent and specifically the Ash Wednesday it's time. So it's always a good barometer to see what the activity is like during that period, because it gives you a little insight into the future of the next generation of Catholics."
In the framework of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, February 11, the terms and conditions of the sixth call for applications for the Harambee Guadalupe Scholarship Program for women scientists from sub-Saharan Africa, which will remain open with a 45-day application period at www.harambee.es.
This program, created in 2019 in memory of the Spanish scientist Guadalupe Ortiz de LandázuriThe Foundation, which was beatified that same year, provides mobility grants to women from sub-Saharan Africa so that they can broaden their scientific horizons during research stays outside their country.
The objective of this initiative, according to the vice-president of Harambee ONGD, Ramón Pardo de Santayana, is to promote leadership and give visibility to African women in scientific, technological and humanistic research, promote equality in the academic field and help complete scientific and technical training and specialization.
Harambee Scholarships
A total of 25 women scientists have already enjoyed the scholarships, with research projects supported by Harambee ONGD. Seven have been established by the Chair of Sustainable Chemistry of the UNED with funding from the City of Puertollano.
Nigeria, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Uganda, D.R. Congo and Senegal are the places where the woodcocks come from. Among them, the Nigerian biologist Brakemi Egbedi, has arrived in Vigo in early 2025 to research on obtaining marine collagen from fishery by-products at the Institute of Marine Research CSIC.
Prestigious Spanish researchers make up the scientific committee that evaluates the applicants and selects those with the best curriculum among those who meet the requirements, among which is the commitment to return to their country. Harambee ONGD is an international solidarity initiative that promotes, through cooperation and communication, development in sub-Saharan Africa by supporting educational projects for the promotion of women, maternal and child health and food security. As well as the dissemination in the rest of the world of the values and qualities of African culture.
Young people from Israel, Palestine and the United States met in Rome to discuss the need to seek peace. All of them gave their testimonies, starting from the horrors of October 7, 2023.
This meeting was made possible by an interfaith event organized by the Scholas Ocurrentes Foundation.
Now you can enjoy a 20% discount on your subscription to Rome Reports Premiumthe international news agency specializing in the activities of the Pope and the Vatican.
From February 7 to 9, 2025, the Spanish Episcopal Conference held at the Madrid-Arena pavilion the Vocations Congress under the theme "Who am I for? Assembly of Mission Callings". For three days, about 3,000 people from different ecclesial realities - dioceses, religious congregations, lay movements and new communities - gathered to reflect on the Christian vocation in all its forms.
The congress was inaugurated with a message from Pope Francis, who recalled that every vocation is born of the love of God and is sustained by generous self-giving. Cardinal José Cobo, Archbishop of Madrid, encouraged the participants to allow themselves to be surprised by the call of God, who always invites us to go out of ourselves. Archbishop Luis Argüello, president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, stressed in his speech that it is not only a question of asking ourselves 'for whom I am', but of making our life a concrete response to God's call.
An ambitious bid to address a key topic
The organization of this congress has been an ambitious commitment on the part of the Spanish Church, which has approached the topic of vocations with a great investment in means and logistics. The choice of the Madrid-Arena pavilion, a venue with a capacity for thousands of attendees, reflected the magnitude and importance of the event.
The congress responded to the need to promote a renewed vocational impulse at a time when the Church is facing great challenges in the transmission of the faith and the accompaniment of those who feel a special call from God. With a varied and dynamic program, the Episcopal Conference has sought to generate a lasting impact on the country's vocation ministry.
A Congress structured in four itineraries
The event was organized around four major thematic itineraries: Word, Community, Subject and Mission. These axes served as a guide for the reflections, testimonies and activities, offering an integral vision of the Christian vocation.
Word: The seminar has deepened our understanding of how vocation is born and nourished by listening to God through Scripture and prayer.
Community: the importance of accompaniment and community life in the vocational journey has been addressed.
Subject: the focus has been placed on the personal identity of each believer and his or her process of discernment.
Mission: vocation has been highlighted as a call to dedication and service within and outside the Church.
64 training workshops
Within these itineraries, the participants took part in a total of 64 workshops designed to deepen their understanding of different aspects of vocation. These spaces, led by experts, priests, religious and committed lay people, have included testimonies of people who have discovered and embraced their vocation in various ecclesial realities.
In addition to the workshops, the Congress offered moments of community prayer, spaces for adoration, vocational testimonies and liturgical celebrations, culminating with a sending Eucharist presided over by Bishop Luis Argüello. In his concluding remarks, the president of the EEC recalled that vocation is always a response of love to a God who calls us to serve with joy.
Blessed are those who mourn: my time at Almendral College
It was only one year, but it was the first in my journey as a priest. I say goodbye to the Almendral School of La Pintana, where I was working as chaplain during the year 2024, and I take this opportunity to share his most exciting memories.
Micro 286 is moving fast. A shy sun has not risen high enough to provide warmth. A yawn escapes me as I look out the window. We go around areas with low houses and warehouses; then we leave the city flanking wide uncultivated lands, garbage here and there, homeless people with their cardboard houses; we ford the toll of the southern access to La Pintana and finally enter the El Castillo population. No news. There are stray dogs roaming the streets, work continues to fill holes in the asphalt, drug trafficking sleeps. My destination is the street La Primavera, more specifically, the Almendral school.
Between March and December 2024 I got to work there every Thursday and Friday. I could have been assigned to one of the other initiatives that Opus Dei supports on the same street: a little further down the street is the Nocedal school (for boys), the rectoral church of St. Josemaría (huge and colorful) and an activity center for families. I worked in a school for almost a thousand girls and, in four words, what a way to learn!
The commune
La Pintana is a lively dragon during the day, but dangerous at night. It was often in the news that such and such a neighbor had been murdered. According to the report of the National Prosecutor's Office, in the year 2023 there were 26 murders in the commune (that is, it was the ninth with the ninth highest number of homicides in the country). But nobody touches the schools of the Nocedal Foundation; on the contrary, the people take care of them and thank them to the point of tears.
At first I was warned to be careful. A few years ago, a Spanish priest was arriving at the Nocedal school in his car and got lost. Apparently, the street that was indicated by the Waze was occupied by the fair, so he decided to roll down the window and asked a young man:
-Do you know how I can get to St. Josemaría Rectory Church?
-Sure, let me see your cell phone and I'll let you know.
The priest held out his arm with the device, the young man received it gently and then fled into one of the narrow passages in the area. He did not return.
But the anecdote of the Spanish priest is in the past. Now worse things are happening. There are weapons, men who offer drug to children, crazy bullets. On one occasion, while talking with an 8th grade class in chapel, the topic of how to choose the ideal person to marry came up. I proposed a case: "You like a boy and one day you find out that he smokes marijuana, what would you think? Then a student asked, with her yellow tie a little loose and a frown on her face: "Father, I don't understand. So marijuana is bad?".
I was moved. That weed is in the girls' usual landscape, yet this was the first time they had heard anything to the contrary. But I wasn't moved by that, I was moved by something deeper: I realized that these girls were experiencing something as basic as it was absent in their day-to-day lives, conversation. We dialogued: they asked questions, exchanged ideas, thought, and we learned together. Gritty efforts if you live in a neighborhood where loud music, loud music, the Tik Tok or shouting.
I was being handed an important question on a platter: "So marijuana is bad?". A unique moment; now, would I be able to convince that little girl to stay off the drug for good?
It occurred to me to ask her back, "What do you think?". She put her hand to her chin to think and replied genuinely confused, "I don't know. In my passage a lot of people buy. And the other day my aunt told me that smoking once in a while was good for your health." I looked at the others and offered the floor. Several had similar anecdotes. The bell was coming, so I announced a change of plans for the catechetical program: "The next class will not be about the Sacraments. We'll be talking about marijuana." The class went out for recess. I felt challenged. In the next session I could not improvise, I had experienced the passion, the need to teach something.
The school
Many students prefer to stay late for extracurricular activities in order to delay going home. Their alternative is to lock themselves in their room and spend the evening watching Tik Tok. I know because I saw the consequences.
On one occasion an 8th grade girl fainted during Mass. Her teachers and classmates took her to the infirmary on a stretcher. When I went to see her, she was gone, because her mother had come to pick her up. I asked. The nurse wanted to explain to me what had happened, but she couldn't find the words. I guess she didn't want to hurt me. A young teacher understood the situation and put me in context: "Father, this is not the first fainting spell we have had. This child probably didn't eat breakfast, nor did she eat last night. And perhaps she has been eating very little for several days...". I was surprised, since the school offers breakfast to all students who need it. To my bewilderment, she continued: "Let's see, Father. These girls come to school in the morning and they are fine here. But when they go home in the afternoon, since they can't leave the house much, they spend three or four hours surfing the Internet. Tik Tok. And then come the fashions. Now there are many who have the idea of losing weight. The problem is that the method they use is to stop eating. That's why they faint.
There is a lot to do and hands are missing. I can attest that the teachers' work is difficult and hidden. These girls need much more help than the school can give them, because they come with big problems from home. Once when I went out to the playground during recess, I started talking to a group of students in the third grade and I took the opportunity to ask them about their projects. One told me: "To study nursing"; another one, "I'm not sure"; and a third one, "the only thing that interests me is to reach the age of majority so I can leave home".
On another occasion, I was in the chapel telling the 4th grade students about the miracle of the wedding at Cana, and when I said "then Jesus transformed the water into wine, that is, into grape juice", a girl exclaimed with a smile: "Ah, my dad says that every night, he says he is only going to drink a little bottle of grape juice". Some classmates smiled. Others did not. Innocence is a short-lived treasure.
Something that has always struck me is that in all the classes there are cheerful girls, and others are crushed. In some of them their yellow uniforms shine, but in others it seems that even their faces have faded to gray. A former student of Nocedal gave me his theory: when night comes, it is not so easy to sleep, because there are noises, or shots are heard and the mother enters the daughters' room to make sure that they have been thrown to the floor. In any case, even if they have slept regularly, or in the morning they may skip breakfast, the girls go back to school happy. They like it. There they find friends, the teachers treat them well, they learn Nursing and Administration, eventually they plan a future. If they are lucky, they begin to dream.
The optimism radiated by the people who work at Almendral is striking. Since 1999, the teachers have not only been teaching their classes, but they also make an effort to talk personally with each student. For the 2024 Confirmation, for example, four students chose the same teacher as their godmother. As for the assistants, many proudly tell you that they have daughters studying in this or that class, or that they are already in university.
Now a nice anecdote, although a bit insolent. I was at the door of the chapel, greeting the students passing by during recess. Many little girls say they want to "say hello to Jesus", or simply come to make the sign of the cross with the holy water (sometimes they even wash their faces). Suddenly, a little girl about six years old comes running up and stares at me.
-Hello? -I asked.
-Hello," she replies, in a shy voice.
-Do you have any questions?
-Yes.
-Dale, ask with confidence.
-Father?
-Yes, tell me...
-How did his nose get so big?
Silence. I shuffle through the options. In the end I decide to think he's just been given a lecture on Pinocchio.
-Don't worry, I've always had this nose.
-Ah, thank you!
And she ran to the backyard to continue playing with her friends.
On another occasion, I was in the same place, next to the life-size statue of St. Josemaría. Like him, I am always in my cassock. Two girls were entering the chapel close together.
-Welcome," I said.
They both gasped, as if a ghost had appeared to them in the house of terror.
-Oh, Father, we thought St. Josemaría had risen from the dead!
Nostalgia
What Almendral School does is colossal. Many girls I met there live with serious problems, but the school offers them an oasis and a launching pad. It gives them the opportunity to enter higher education (88% of the students manage to enroll). It is hard for me, but this 2025 I will stop going to La Pintana. That is why I wrote this article, as a small tribute to the teachers and assistants who are training all these young promises: they have to face all the hustle and bustle of training, and they manage to keep smiling in the midst of a hostile climate. They are the great heroines of this whole story. Thank you for teaching me so much, God bless you.
Lawyer from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Licentiate in Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome) and Doctorate in Theology from the University of Navarra (Spain).
Juan Luis Lorda was honored at the School of Theology of the University of Navarra on his 70th birthday. In his lecture, the professor made a tour of the"wonderful intellectual heritage" of Christians.
Speech at the academic conference on Theology, humanism, UniversityThe event was held at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarra on January 17, 2025, on the occasion of his upcoming retirement.
Memories and commemorations
We start the Jubilee Year 2025. And we can put together some ideas, going through other years 25.
In 225 (1800 years ago), Origen wrote the Peri archéThe first systematic attempt at theology. He had purchased a Hebrew manuscript, found in a jar, with which he was to begin the Hexapla. Thus began the work of theology in dialogue with human thought and with the Holy Scriptures.
In 325 (1700 years ago), the Church celebrated the Council of Niceawhich gave rise to a great Creed and defined the place of the Son of God with the term "Son of God". homoousios. It was possible thanks to the protection of Emperor Constantine. The first phase of Christianity began.
In 425 (1600 years ago), St. Augustine was writing the last books of The City of Godon human history where divine history takes place. In barely a hundred years, it was observed that the Christian message was not enough to revitalize the old empire. The West, moderately Christianized, would fall with the barbarian invasions and another world (the Christian nations) would be born after a long period of gestation. The East, on the other hand, would last a thousand years more, until it was subdued by Islam (1453).
In 1225 (800 years ago), St. Thomas Aquinas was born. We owe him the basic structure of Catholic theology, which comes from the Summa. And many other insights. Although the story is not usually well told. What triumphed around 1220 were the Sentences of Peter Lombard, which defined theology for more than three centuries. The Sum later triumphed. In 1526, the Dominican Francisco de Vitoria won a professorship and substituted the Sentences of the Lombardy by the Summa Theologica as a basic book for the study of theology. In addition, he promoted the Law of Nations.
In 1525 (500 years ago), Juan Luis Vives, fed up with university scholasticism (by writing De disciplinis) and far from Spain (where his father was burned for Judaizing in 1524), he was in England with Thomas More, studying precisely The City of God. That year, Luther married Catherine of Bora. And King Henry VIII, who had merited the pontifical title of Fidei defender for opposing him (1521), he planned to divorce Catherine of Aragon, which would end up splitting the Anglican Church (1534).
In 1825 (200 years ago), John Henry Newman was ordained as an Anglican priest, started as a guide for university students, and began to study the Fathers and the Arian controversy, about which he would write an excellent book. He also began to study the legitimacy of the Anglican Church as a third way between Protestants and Catholics. This would lead him to the Catholic Church. In addition, he lived through the liberal secularization in England, the beginning of the end of the Christian nations forged in the Middle Ages, as the modern democratic and pluralistic state developed.
The events of 1925
There are a lot of interesting things that happened 100 years ago.
In 1925, Maritain, a convert to the faith, to Thomism (and to political traditionalism), published Three Reformers. Luther, Descartes, Rousseau.but in 1926, with the condemnation of the L'Action (an unhealed wound), he went from nostalgia for (and vindication of) the Ancien Régime to the defense of the rule of law. He developed a philosophy of the person and of the state inspired by Thomism. And he considered how to live in a Christian way in a democratic and pluralistic society, especially in Integral humanism (1937). He will greatly influence Dignitatis humanae of the Second Vatican Council.
In 1925, Guardini had already set in motion his great dedications. He was helping the young people of Rothenfels, he had published The spirit of the Liturgy (1918) and the Self-training lettersand prepared Letters on Lake Como (1926), reflecting on the change of epoch and its Christian demands; he would rethink it in The decline of the Modern Age (1950). In addition, he had been a professor for two years. Weltanschauung (1923) rereading Kierkegaard, Dostoyevski, Pascal, Saint Augustine...
In 1925 Von Hildebrand (aged 36), organized circles on love. Inspired by faith, he dealt with spiritual affectivity (the heart) and its response to values. In addition, in those years he courageously defended other professors in the face of growing Nazi pressure at the German university.
In 1925, her colleague and friend, Edith Stein was working to form religious vocations in Speyer and was concerned about Heidegger's atheistic drift. They had been, almost at the same time, Husserl's assistants, and while Heidegger lost faith, Edith Stein found it. Thus, they originated two divergent metaphysics. Heidegger summarized it in Being and time, 1927. Edith Stein in Finite and eternal beingpublished posthumously, after his death in a concentration camp (1942). In its last part, he points out what is missing in Heidegger's metaphysics. Tragically parallel lives. It will be worth remembering in 2027.
In 1925, the Saint Serge Institute of Orthodox Theology was founded in Paris by a group of Russian thinkers and theologians, expelled in 1922. They left with the clothes on their backs. It was the turn of others to premiere the Gulaj Archipelago (1923). Saint Serge made patristic and Byzantine theology present live in Paris, and this is how De Lubac, Congar and other Catholic theologians came to know it. He gave identity to modern Orthodox theology and marked its red lines before Catholicism and Protestantism.
In 1925, De Lubac, in a Jesuit novitiate in England, read Rousselot (The eyes of faith1910) and Blondel, and was introduced to the Fathers. And Congar began his theological studies at Le Saulchoir (then in Belgium), with Chenu, who had proposed a new curriculum. These ferments would shape the theology of the twentieth century.
In 1925, Chesterton published The everlasting manThis is a brilliant and highly topical work, which struck a chord with C. S. Lewis and led to his conversion. In two parts, it vindicates the Christian deployment in history and the unique religious value of Jesus Christ in the face of modern "Arian" ("Unitarian") or pan-religious tendencies.
In 1925, St. Josemaría was ordained and began his priestly work, which, with God's inspirations, led him to found Opus Dei. His mission was not academic, but he shed much light on how to be a good Christian in the world. In addition, he had a marked humanistic disposition with his appreciation for the fruits of human labor, language, culture and study, education and virtues, civic and social responsibility.
What can we take away from all this?
First of all, we should be amazed and grateful for such a vast and beautiful patrimony, the fruit of so many Christians in dialogue with their times and with the Scriptures (with revelation). There is nothing so rich and coherent in the intellectual universe. Suffice it to recall the dominant communist ideology of the last century (and to read The drama of atheistic humanism de De Lubac). Today transmuted into culture wokewhich promises to be as ubiquitous, arbitrary (and suffocating) as communism was. Epidemics or intellectual covid.
The Gospel, in dialogue with every epoch and incorporating the legitimate fruits of the spirit, produces around it a Christian humanism. It helps us to understand ourselves. And it is a field of encounter (and evangelization) with all people of good will.
Thus we have an idea of God, which connects with the mystery of the world and with our deepest aspirations (we can no longer believe in other gods). And a rich and exact idea of the human being, of his spirit and development. And of his mysterious wound (brilliantly expressed in the 7 deadly sins). And of his end, happiness and salvation in Christ (way, truth and life, cfr. John 14,6). And it should be emphasized that the Rule of Law, with Human Rights, which is the legal framework of our societies (and our defense against the new tyrannies) is also the fruit of this Christian humanism, and today it is in danger amidst materialistic simplifications and ideological whims.
A new context
In its Introduction to Christianity (1967), Joseph Ratzinger warned that the Church is moving from ancient Christian societies to fervent minorities (a process that may take centuries). The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th and 6th centuries. And since the end of the 18th century, a secularization drive (partly legitimate) dismantles the Christian nations forged in the Middle Ages. And it turns us into a minority, which must carry out as a leaven the mission that the Lord has asked for: "Go and evangelize all nations". (Marcos 16, 15).
Many things have changed since our Faculty of Theology was founded in 1964. At that time almost 700 priests were ordained in Spain each year, and now there are just over 70. And a few months ago, a process of unification of the Spanish seminaries was initiated. A revision of the ecclesiastical studies will probably follow, because it is felt that they do not correspond to what the times demand: they do not sufficiently encourage the faith of the candidates and do not prepare them for the mission.
The German synodal journey has revealed the inadequacy of a strictly academic theology (with many means), perhaps too aseptic if not problematic, which has failed to nourish the faith of the ecclesiastical structures it has formed.
Unresolved issues in theology
The subject of theology, by definition, is God. But God revealed in history and fully revealed in the Son. Today, a new Arianism wants to turn Jesus Christ into a good person. Chesterton warned in The eternal man and C. S. Lewis, when he posed his famous "trilemma" (see on Wikipedia).
Jesus Christ, the Son, has revealed to us the truth and beauty of God's love, manifested in his complete self-giving. This personal love (person to person) constitutes the Trinitarian union, through the Holy Spirit, and extends to the communion of saints. If Jesus Christ is not homoousiosA solitary God remains locked in his distant and veiled mystery. "No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has revealed Him to us." (John 1, 18).
And we are left without the way of salvation, which is Jesus Christ. We need to renew and make the message of salvation meaningful for our contemporaries. The Gospel of Christ's love saves us from the meaninglessness of the world and of history, from our moral failures and those of humanity, from death and sin, which is the deepest and most mysterious thing. And what our contemporaries feel the least.
For this reason, we also need a believing reading of the Bible that makes clear the History of Revelation, of the Covenant and of Salvation, which culminates in Christ (cf. Letter to the Hebrews 1,1). And do not limit yourself to punctual exegesis, which disperses the attention. The detailed philological study is only a previous task (which does not need faith, nor does it kindle it).
Clarifying the causes of the post-conciliar crisis
The current internal debate in the Church calls for a fair and profound diagnosis of what has happened in order to understand the deep reasons for the crisis and to react accordingly.
It is necessary to review the confrontation of scholastic Thomism of the 1940s with the nouvelle theologie. It arose amidst many misunderstandings and was quite foreign to the true thought and disposition of St. Thomas. But it is in danger of being prolonged.
In addition, there are two philosophical areas where the legacy of St. Thomas requires developments (which he would make). The relationship with the sciences, which is expressed in the Philosophy of Nature and in Metaphysics. Gilson claimed it in the last pages of The philosopher and theology.
Also the relationship with political thought. In short, discernment on modernity: the legitimacy and value of the rule of law, with human rights and religious freedom. This thread comes from Francisco de Vitoria. It is taken up by Maritain and many others. The Second Vatican Council assumes it and originates, by reaction, the schism of Lefebvre.
The theology of the 19th (with Newman, Scheeben, Möhler and others) and 20th centuries (with so many interesting authors) is, without a doubt, a third golden age, together with patristics and scholasticism. And it is necessary to synthesize and incorporate it. The difficulty lies precisely in its richness and variety, and in the limits of what can be taught.
We also need a revision of Liberation Theology, which discerns the past and projects itself into the future. Because it runs the risk that the preferential option for the poor, the most noble and Christian thing it has, becomes an illusory revolutionary nostalgia or an inoperative rhetoric. Political and moral (and theological) efforts are needed to build just societies with Christian inspiration.
We have an immense heritage to inspire us and to engage in the evangelizing dialogue that we are engaged in today.
Alvaro, a master of "making a mess": although ALS took away his movement, he never lost his ability to make a racket, spread smiles and live with an unwavering love for life. His legacy is a hymn to joy and faith, even in the most difficult moments.
Álvaro was a troublemaker. He always was, even before he was ill. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) robbed him of his movement, but not of his ability - to paraphrase Pope Francis - to "make a mess". Tell that to Don Enrico! To record the videos of his weekly homilies - entitled "The Gospel to the sick" - with the help of his friends Mariano and Marco, he would prepare the best "location" and the whole set for the staging, without taking into account that later the parish priest would go crazy looking for the image of the Madonna that had been moved or the blue chasuble without which he could not celebrate Mass.
He was determined to redecorate the hall attached to the church where he spent most of the day receiving people and asked a friend to give him a painting. You had to see the faces of the other priests when the lady showed up with Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss". On another occasion, when a kind parishioner offered to bring her something from southern Italy, she did not think of anything better than asking for "sanguinaccio", thinking it would be similar to Spanish blood sausage, without suspecting that the good woman would have to deal in the black market because the sale of this macabre pork product has been forbidden since 1992.
I can't forget when I went to see him in the middle of the Roman "ferragosto" and, when I asked him what he wanted me to bring as a snack, he asked me for some olives stuffed with anchovies. The illness, as we can see, did not spoil his appetite.
Hands up whoever went to visit him and found that he had given an appointment at the same time to two other people. Or whoever was left wandering the aisles of the church because an unexpected friend had arrived for a confession or a consoling chat.
Last November 1st I went to the hospital where he was admitted for a medical operation and he asked me to give him a ride pushing the chair on the terrace. It was forbidden, but we both had fun with that little prank. He was then able to contemplate the green meadows surrounding that hospital and the horizon line, while the sunlight and the breeze hit his face.
When he couldn't enjoy them in nature, he used to watch videos on YouTube of Turkish shepherds walking through the mountains with their flocks, or drone shots of Noja, the village on the Cantabrian coast where he spent the summers of his childhood.
Alvaro was in love with life. In the homily he preached to his family on his 57th birthday, in 2021, he told us: "Love is the center of Christianity. We must love. We must love life. It was a preaching made flesh. And not just any flesh, but patient, which adds even more merit to his capacity for enjoyment. At times it was not easy.
The last season, when ALS was already affecting his speech and breathing capacity, he had a harder time smiling. He even had his dark night. But he did not give up. He told his sister, who went to visit him in Rome from Madrid, fourteen days before he died: "I am tempted to let myself die, but I ask God for the grace to cling to life to give Him glory with my illness as long as He wants".
Surely the most monumental tangle was to ask his brothers to bring his mother, ill with Parkinson's disease and recently convalescent, to the Eternal City last July, to say goodbye to her. He asked if there would be an 1% chance of making that trip happen, and to that 1% they "hung on". The ability to raise a ruckus either comes from the cradle or becomes contagious.
Don Santiago, who has devoted himself body and soul to caring for him in recent months, in a message to the family written last Christmas, said that "as Alvaro has dedicated himself to making life difficult and giving himself to others, he is now reaping, in the affection of the people, a little of the fruits of what he has sown".
The cabin of the Marx Brothers
Mariano, who in addition to being a "filmmaker" of Alvaro's homilies is also a cardiovascular surgeon, commented that as a doctor it was difficult for him to accept the fact that his friend's illness had no cure. So he set out to make him smile, as the best alternative therapy. He and Marco more than achieved this goal the last time I saw Alvaro. The parish hall that morning was the closest thing to the Marx Brothers' stateroom: first Angelina, a nurse, arrived, accompanied by a podiatrist to give him a pedicure and manicure.
Alessandro, another nurse, came to start the IV, improvising an IV drip with an upside-down hanger attached to a cassock hanger. Veronique, a new caregiver, who was on duty, tried to help by moving the oxygen cylinder.
Another parishioner and friend, Giuliana, kept her company while recording the scene with her cell phone. Then Mariano and Marco arrived with the fixed idea of cutting her hair. Marco handed him the clippers while Mariano held the respirator. In the background we could hear The Barber of Seville. Giovanni, the sacristan, burst in with a mirror and placed it in front of Álvaro so he could see how it was looking. There we found his sister with her husband and cousin, not believing our eyes.
Anyone who had seen us from the outside would have thought we were crazy. But that day we robbed God of a piece of heaven, of that heaven in which Álvaro would enter -through the big door- just two weeks later. From there he will continue doing what he did best here on earth: a big mess. Surely Don Enrico has some advice to pass on to St. Peter. By the way, we got a Monet landscape to replace the Klimt.
Timothy McDonnell: "Music is a companion to liturgy".
Professor and choir director Timothy McDonnell explains in this interview with Omnes the close relationship between Gregorian chant and the Catholic liturgy, two aspects he asks today's Catholics to delve into in order to enjoy and protect the treasure received by the generations that have lived in the Church over time.
Timothy McDonell is the director of Sacred Music at Hillsdale Collegewhere he directs the University Chapel Choir. Previously, Dr. McDonnell directed the graduate program in Sacred Music at The Catholic University of America. In addition, he was the choirmaster of the Pontifical North American College Choir at the Vatican before returning to the United States in 2008.
Thanks to his academic and professional work, Timothy McDonnell has deepened his understanding of the close relationship between Gregorian chant and the liturgy Catholic. Such a relationship that one cannot be understood without the other, so the director of sacred music encourages Catholics to restore Gregorian chant to its special place in the liturgy and to recognize its legacy.
How would you define Gregorian chant in musical and spiritual terms? What makes it unique within the Catholic liturgical context?
- This brings us to the heart of the matter, because all sacred music is special and reserved for sacred purposes. But Gregorian chant in particular has some special characteristics that I believe make it especially suitable for the Catholic liturgy and reflect the spirituality of this liturgy.
Among the characteristics I would list is directness, because Gregorian chant is a simple musical form, with only one musical line. So it has a certain simplicity, but at the same time it is a very refined music. It is music that has taken centuries to be created, but it retains that directness and simplicity in its expressiveness.
The other thing I would mention would be that it comes from a tradition, which I think is very important in a religious context because the premise of religion is that there is a transmission, that we pass on from Christ and his mission given to the apostles.
This idea of a musical tradition in the Church is a kind of symbol of that process of transmitting the treasure. And so music itself is a kind of metaphor for tradition in musical terms. For example, the different modes or tonalities in which Gregorian chant is composed are derived from ancient formulas for reciting and singing the Psalms.
And the third point I would make is that the liturgy itself is designed and coordinated perfectly with liturgical chant. Gregorian chant always refers to something outside of itself: to the liturgy, on the one hand, and to Sacred Scripture, on the other. So it is profoundly biblical music. In a way it embodies the chant of Scripture.
What has been the most profound influence of Gregorian chant on the evolution of the Catholic liturgy?
- The liturgy has gradually changed over time. This is an important idea because the liturgy and its music grew together. To give an example, between the seventh and ninth centuries Gregorian chant was composed by the clergy responsible for the creation of our liturgical calendar.
These clerical musicians chose liturgical texts, which themselves suggested a melodic content. In other words, the melody emerges from the text. And so when this changes the text, there is an influence on the liturgy.
The Second Vatican Council brought significant changes in the liturgy. How do you see the relationship between Gregorian chant and the liturgical reforms of that period?
- This is an incredibly important point. In fact, it is perhaps the most important consideration in terms of music and liturgy in our time. For if music is something that is passed down from generation to generation like a treasure, we have to understand liturgical reforms in the context of the reception of that treasure. So if we stray too far from what we learn from the musical treasure of the Church in the way we pursue liturgical reform, there's going to be too much of a disconnect with our tradition.
I think it is crucial that we understand that music provides us with a context in which to understand all the other ritual changes that have taken place. And I can give a couple of positive and perhaps negative examples of this.
There has been, for example, a process of recovery in the liturgy of the Divine Office around the hymns of the Divine Office. Because in the 17th century, there was a revision of the hymns that changed the original hymns, and all the texts were recreated. And we lost something very important because of those changes.
After the Second Vatican Council something wonderful happened, and that was that those hymns were restored. And so they became the official hymns of the Divine Office. This is a positive example where the recovery has taught us something about our past and we have had a kind of restoration.
But these things were not taken especially seriously by the generation that followed the Second Vatican Council and there was a lowering of ideals. And I think that was partly because of practical circumstances. There was a loss of energy and vigor to pursue that.
Now, the good news is that in the younger generations there is a growing interest in finding the energy to do what the Council called for with regard to restoring Gregorian chant and making it a central mode of prayer for the whole Church.
On the other hand, it should be noted that the prayer of the Mass has been made shorter in the reformist liturgy, yet the music is sometimes too long. So here is a case where music and liturgy are not compatible in a certain way. This is a challenge we have to face.
Another challenge in this regard is that there is a kind of politicization of the objectives of the Second Vatican Council. There is a "progressive" and a "conservative" side. This is something that the Council was not looking for, but people decided to politicize the liturgy and turn it into a political matter, instead of being the vessel of truth from which we learn our faith. However, I am hopeful that we will return to this idea that music is a companion to the liturgy and we can listen to this received tradition as we look at the prayer of the Church.
Do you think that this debate we have now in the Church about the Novus Ordo and the traditional Mass is going to affect prayer in the Church and Gregorian chant within the liturgy?
-There are many criticisms in this regard. There are those who think that those who support the traditional Mass are stuck and unrealistic. Honestly, I don't think that's what motivates people who come to the traditional Mass. I think in this rite they hear the voice of the Church in a special way and it moves them in a way that the Novus Ordo does not.
Anyway, I think that the Church is the same voice all the time. There is no yesterday, there is no tomorrow, there is only a now in which the Church is praying, it is Christ who prays today through the liturgy. He is here now praying with and as the Church, because he is the head. If we keep this in mind, perhaps the debate about past, present and future could calm down a bit.
As for this issue having an effect on prayer, Pope Benedict XVI had a very good idea on the subject when he said that the old form has to inform the new form in the liturgy. These two things have to be seen as compatible and not in opposition.
The music itself is a link between the Novus Ordo and the tradition. If we decide that we need a totally different music for a new liturgy, we will have lost some connection to this idea that we received the liturgy from the ancient Church.
Now, Gregorian chant is not as old as the prayer of the apostles, that is true. We don't really know where it comes from or when it begins. However, there are several theories that claim that Jewish prayer formulas influenced its development. Knowing this, if you could hear the way the apostles, who were Jewish, prayed, wouldn't you want to know more about it?
As an expert in this field, what challenges does Gregorian chant face in the context of the contemporary Church?
- During the last century and a half we can observe a kind of hatred for the past. I even think that some Catholics have realized that we should not be especially attached to the past, because then you are not living in the present and you are not facing the real challenges of our day. This inordinate attachment is not healthy, but neither is it healthy to feel hatred towards the past, because it is essential to understand who you are and where you come from.
In terms of liturgy and sacred music, the most important thing in understanding the liturgy is its history. And what is the history of the liturgy? The history of music. You have to know them together because music and liturgy were the same thing, they didn't develop independently.
In the 20th century this idea that music and liturgy are two different worlds took root. But historians show us that this is false and that one cannot understand the history of liturgy without understanding the history of music.
For all this, we have to lose the fear that if we look at our past we will somehow fail in our present. It is not a rational fear. If I do not understand and value the past, that history we have mentioned, I have nothing to carry forward. Therefore, I am forced to constantly invent reality.
We cannot forget that religion connects us with the past, we cannot be religious without carrying the past with us.
With this challenge in mind, we need to know that Gregorian chant is not only ancient, but regenerates over time. It is not stuck, but evolves. It is essential that musicians understand this idea and make it part of their education.
What steps can be taken to preserve the practice of Gregorian chant within the liturgy?
- I think it is important to recognize that Gregorian chant has multiple levels. There is a congregational level and then there is a more developed level, in which the congregation can participate but which requires more practice. Above that, there is a level of Gregorian chant that is reserved for more experienced people.
For me this is a beautiful thing, because it reflects the liturgy itself. In the liturgy there are things that only the "experts", the priests, can do. That is, liturgy is hierarchical, just like music.
What happened is that at the time of the Reformation that hierarchy was broken. Therefore, in order to move forward we have to recognize that Gregorian chant is hierarchical, just like the liturgy, and that is why we need specialized musicians. We also need to promote the practice of chant in the congregation so that they can sing things like the Credo, the Kyrie Eleison or the Agnus Dei.
Another aspect to consider about which there are different opinions is the openness to sing in the vernacular language. I think it is possible to translate musical pieces into other languages, but it takes a lot of discipline not to lose the original beauty.
St. Josephine Bakhita, patron saint of trafficking victims
On February 8, the Church celebrates St. Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese woman enslaved as a child who, after her liberation, consecrated herself to Jesus Christ as a Canossian nun in Italy. She is the patroness of Sudan. Today she is invoked in a special way, as it is the 11th World Day of Prayer and Reflection against Human Trafficking. It is also the feast of St. Jerome Emilianus, patron of orphans.
Francisco Otamendi-February 8, 2025-Reading time: < 1minute
Born in Darfur, Sudan, in 1869, she was abducted by slave traders when she was still a child and sold in African markets, cruelly mistreated as a child, and then sold in African markets. slave. Bakhita, whose name means Fortunate, was freed by an Italian merchant, and through a married couple who were friends of his, already in Italy, she met Jesus, was baptized and professed as a Canossian nun for 51 years. The inhabitants of Schio, where she lived and died, discovered in their "little mother morenita" a great inner strength, based on prayer and charity.
In its Message for the XI World Day of Prayer and Reflection against Hunger and Poverty Human TraffickingPope Francis, who also dedicated to him a special message of thanksgiving, which takes place today, Pope Francis, who also dedicated to him a catechesis in 2023, he wrote: "Together - trusting in the intercession of St. Bakhita - we will succeed in making a great effort and creating the conditions so that trafficking and exploitation be outlawed and that respect for fundamental human rights always prevail, in the fraternal recognition of our common humanity".
Saint Bakhita pardoned to the traffickers, and forgiveness set her free, Pope Francis wrote. Thanks to the message of reconciliation and mercy Josephine Bakhita was beatified and named "Universal Sister" by St. John Paul II in 1992. In the ceremony St. Josemaría Escrivá was also beatified. St. Josephine Bakhita was canonized by St. John Paul II in October 2000. The Italian director Giacomo Campiotti directed the film Bakhita.
Pornography fosters a culture of self-indulgence and instant gratification, often at the expense of the well-being of others. Many users are drawn into a pattern of consumption that prioritizes personal satisfaction over meaningful attachments.
Bryan Lawrence Gonsalves-February 8, 2025-Reading time: 5minutes
In today's digital age, pornography is more accessible than ever. It is presented as harmless entertainment, a form of self-expression or even an educational tool. However, beneath this appearance lies a deeper reality: pornography is not just adult entertainment, but an industry based on the exploitation, degradation and commodification of human intimacy. It alters perceptions of relationships, distorts expectations and fuels social detachment from authentic human connection.
Impact of pornography
Pornography fosters a culture in which individuals become objects of gratification rather than worthy individuals with inherent value. A young woman I met a few years ago, whose name I will not mention for reasons of privacy, shared with me her experience with a addicted partner to pornography. "I always felt like I was competing with an unattainable ideal," she says. "It made me question my worth."
The effects of pornography go beyond mere entertainment; they disrupt real-life relationships by creating unrealistic expectations and eroding trust. It reinforces canons of beauty unattainable and unrealistic sexual behaviors, leading many to feel inadequate in their relationships. Coupled with media-driven representations of perfection, it cultivates dissatisfaction and self-doubt, causing people to compare themselves to artificial standards rather than embrace real human connections. This influences social interactions, shaping expectations of appearance and behavior in ways that can damage trust, relationships and even mental health.
In addition, research suggests that excessive pornography consumption alters brain function. As is the case with substances addictiveThe drug triggers the release of dopamine, creating a dependency that translates into a need for more extreme content. This desensitization affects the ability to establish genuine emotional connections, leaving users feeling empty despite temporary gratification.
Overconsumption creates unrealistic expectations of intimacy, making authentic relationships seem unsatisfying by comparison. This creates a cycle in which personal relationships become strained, trust is eroded and authentic connection is replaced by digital gratification.
On a social level, pornography fosters a culture of self-indulgence and instant gratification, often at the expense of the well-being of others. Instead of valuing mutual love, respect and emotional intimacy, many users are drawn into a pattern of consumption that prioritizes personal satisfaction over meaningful bonds.
A silent epidemic among young people
More and more teenagers are getting into pornography before they fully understand human intimacy. Take, for example, the case of a high school student who, through a simple Internet search, stumbles upon explicit content. Lacking the emotional maturity to process what they see, they absorb unrealistic depictions of relationships in which domination, aggression and objectification are normalized. Over time, this shapes their expectations, leading to problems in their own interpersonal relationships.
Schools and parents may struggle to address the problem. While education focuses on responsible Internet use, many overlook the need to discuss the psychological and emotional impact of pornography. Without guidance, young minds adopt skewed perceptions of relationships, often believing that what they see on the screen represents reality. For example, adolescents who consume large volumes of explicit content may begin to view relationships through a transactional lens, expecting instant gratification without emotional connection. This distancing can make it difficult for them to establish healthy, meaningful relationships in the future.
In addition, the accessibility of pornography through smartphones and social networks means that even those who do not actively seek it out may be exposed to it through advertisements, pop-ups, or links shared by peers. Parents who assume their children are immune to this type of exposure often underestimate the pervasiveness of explicit content on the Internet. Without parental guidance, young people may turn to peers or unreliable sources of information, further exacerbating the problem.
One concrete step to address this crisis is to encourage open dialogue in families and schools. Parents who establish clear, age-appropriate conversations about privacy and respect help children develop a healthy understanding of relationships before they encounter harmful content.
Schools can integrate media literacy programs that teach students to distinguish between real-life relationships and the distorted representations seen in pornography. When teens gain knowledge, they are better prepared to navigate digital spaces responsibly and critically evaluate the media they consume.
The ethical cost: behind the scenes of the industry
The pornography industry is not limited to the production of consensual adult content, but is a multi-billion dollar enterprise with a dark undercurrent. Reports of coercion, trafficking and exploitation within the industry emerge frequently. Many people enter the industry in financial distress, while others are manipulated into performing on terms they never agreed to. In some cases, artists suffer long-term trauma and struggle with psychological repercussions long after leaving the industry.
Behind the scenes, some people, especially vulnerable young women, are lured with false promises of economic security and career opportunities, only to find themselves trapped in exploitative contracts. Others are forced to participate through threats or blackmail. Beyond direct exploitation, the industry has been linked to the dissemination of non-consensual content, such as revenge porn and leaked materials. The rapid dissemination of explicit material through digital platforms has made it almost impossible for some victims to reclaim their dignity and privacy once their images are circulated without consent.
Breaking the Cycle: A Call to Awareness
While society increasingly recognizes the harms of pornography, real solutions require proactive engagement. Education plays a crucial role: teaching young people dignity, respect and authentic love. Open conversations in families, schools and faith communities can help people understand that true intimacy is based on trust, not objectification.
In addition, digital accountability tools, such as Internet filters and screen time management, offer practical ways to limit exposure. Support groups and counseling provide a path to recovery for those struggling with addiction, offering hope that change is possible.
At bottom, the fight against pornography is a fight for human dignity. A society that respects people does not condone their commodification. Just as we reject exploitation in other forms - human trafficking, child labor or abuse - we must also challenge an industry that profits by reducing people to objects of desire.
Change is possible, but awareness must come first. Counseling, support groups and family support are valid ways to overcome pornography addiction. It is possible to regain self-esteem, repair relationships and rediscover the beauty of authentic human connection, but to do so, awareness of pornography and its problems must be raised.
The impact of pornography is far-reaching, affecting minds, relationships and even social structures. The challenge before us is not only to resist temptation, but to foster a culture that values authentic love, respects human dignity and promotes relationships based on mutual care and respect. By addressing this issue head-on, we take a crucial step toward restoring the sacredness of intimacy and human connection.
Fragility is our strength: a lesson from Giovanni Allevi
For Giovanni Allevi, emotion is the language through which we communicate with sincerity, undressing ourselves without fear of showing ourselves fragile and defenseless, because it is in fragility where our strength lies in a world dragged by reason towards extreme competitiveness.
Allevi is a musician who, when he ends up exhausted on stage after having given his all in a piano concert, while listening to the applause of the audience, he pats the instrument with his thanks, as if not taking credit for what happened on stage.
I happened to run into him on a flight. I had him in front of my seat and I recognized him because his curly black lion's mane was sticking out of the back of his seat (he's a very tall guy). I couldn't resist my curiosity and I don't know how I did it, but I found myself chatting with him. I told him that I admired his talent and listened to his music. At the time, he would have been about 50 years old, but he seemed much younger in dress and dynamism.
A special sensitivity
The feeling he gave me was that of a normal guy, active, nervous, creative, charming, kind, an artist. Giovanni Allevi was coming back from MadridHe told me he was fascinated by the city, to record for a television program. It did not escape my notice that he was carrying one of those cell phones that were no longer in use (the ones that only serve to call and receive calls). I could not resist asking him the reason for this choice and his answer was beautiful: "I am a musician and I compose, I need inner silence. The electronic sound and the images on the screen distract me from my goal: inspiration. The music. I was shocked, but I understood the answer perfectly. I remember that he communicated with me with words, but also with his soul, I could understand very well what he wanted to say even though he didn't speak much.
When we arrived at Malpensa airport in Milan, everyone went their own way to pick up their bags. I was with my three young children and I was making sure that none of them got lost in the crowd. Suddenly, I saw a tall man with curly black hair approaching me to say goodbye: Allevi. He told me that I had beautiful children, I think he, at that moment, was missing his own. I was shocked, because I thought that celebrities rushed through airports so as not to be recognized by the masses. When, for professional reasons, he was away from his family, he felt a slight sense of guilt, like any good father. He compensated by living intensely the moments he spent with his children and dedicating some of his compositions to them.
Famous people -I also believed before that meeting with the musician- did not say goodbye to people they met casually an hour ago on an airplane trip. I noticed in him a great sensitivity that must be consubstantial to being a composer. I understood that he listens to silence and fills the space with melody.
Diagnosis
About two years after this meeting I learned from the media that in the summer of 2022, Giovanni Allevi announced that he was suffering from a tough disease: multiple myeloma. It is an incurable disease and his survival is between 3 and 4 years. The disease he suffers from has a serious prognosis because only 3 percent of patients are still alive after 10 years. He has a cancer that has led him to be admitted to the Milan Tumor Institute to receive the appropriate therapy. The musician recognizes that he is "heroically getting out of hell". This is a very expressive way of communicating what he is going through: multiple myeloma cells are abnormal plasma cells that accumulate in the bone marrow and form tumors in many bones of the body. He must be in a lot of pain: he has trouble maintaining the correct posture while playing the piano and his hands are shaking.
Giving up music
Giovanni Allevi is 55 years old, married to a pianist who is also his manager, Nada Bernardo, and they have two children: Giorgio and Leonardo. Of his private life not much more than this is known. Despite his fame, he has always kept well away from selling his intimacy. As a musician he only offers his gift, music.
Now, tormented, with wounds and nightmares, his hands tremble... and, in his low hours, he also has to give up the greatest thing he has inside: music. When he feels a little better, he offers a concert to his audience. Life has hit him in body and soul, but he is happy when the piano is waiting for him.
She has an instagram account (you can tell she has been advised she should have one) and recently wrote to her followers, "My condition confirms to me that there is a world made of humanity, gentleness, authenticity and courage."
Fragility and music
A very special being, to whom life had prepared a hard test that he is bearing with courage. In addition to the gift of music, we now discover his great ability to show pain without fear. Allevi thinks that, as a composer, it is his music that he can offer us. He is aware of having received a gift, a gift: music. The same gift that now gives him hope and encouragement to LIVE. It seems to me that this Italian musician is an example that the gifts received are to serve and relieve others.
Fortunately, in music there are no winners or losers, only the desire to share emotions and experiences. For the pianist, emotion is the language through which we communicate with sincerity, undressing ourselves without fear of showing ourselves fragile and defenseless, because it is in fragility where our strength lies in a world dragged by reason towards extreme competitiveness.
Opus Dei responds to the accusations of the docuseries "Heroic Minute".
Opus Dei categorically rejects the approach of the MAX docuseries "Heroic Minute: I also left Opus Dei". According to the Work's communiqué, the production "does not represent the reality of Opus Dei", but presents the facts "in a biased way".
Opus Dei has published a press release to respond to the accusations made in the MAX docuseries "Heroic Minute: I also left Opus Dei".
The platform defines this documentary as an investigation in which "women who formed part of the Opus Dei tell their experiences for the first time, denouncing the psychological, religious and economic abuses they have suffered". As the trailer explains, "Heroic Minute" promises to uncover, through the testimonies of thirteen women from diverse backgrounds, the "manipulation", "pressure" and "demands" that members of the prelature systematically suffer.
Recognition of errors by Opus Dei
Faced with these accusations, Opus Dei begins its communiqué by apologizing for the occasions in which members of the Work have caused "pain in others" and admitting that "the criticism of former members has facilitated an institutional reflection to improve and change ways of doing things".
Likewise, Opus Dei accepts some errors that it has tried to improve in recent years: "failures in the discernment processes; too demanding standards for living the vocational commitment; lack of sensitivity to understand the weight that this requirement meant for some people; eventual shortcomings in the accompaniment during the process of leaving.
The bias of "Heroic Minute".
However, the Work categorically rejects "the approach that the docuseries assumes", since it "does not represent the reality of Opus Dei", but rather presents the facts "in a biased way", pointing to the Work "as an organization of evil people whose motivation is to do harm".
This bias has also been denounced by some critics of the series, who doubt that an authentic journalistic investigation can be carried out based on the testimonies of 13 celibate women, which, taking into account the number of members of Opus Dei, do not even represent 10 % of the entire Work. An example of this is the published review by Ana Sánchez de la Nieta in Aceprensa.
False accusations in "Heroic minute".
The proof that the accusations are false, the statement continues, can be found both in the teachings of St. Josemaría and in "the experience of thousands of people who live or have lived an experience of fullness and development in Opus Dei, as a path of encounter with God in everyday realities."
Other accusations pronounced in "Heroic Minute" and rejected by the organization are "recruitment", "reduction to servitude" and "abusive system to manipulate people". The Work explains in the communiqué that "these statements are a decontextualization of the formation or vocation freely chosen by some women" and that it is all part of "a narrative" constructed by some people known for trying to present an image of Opus Dei "alien to an approach of faith and Christian commitment."
Healing protocols
In spite of everything, the Work understands that "any process of disengagement, when there is a personal commitment lived with intensity, generates pain and suffering. For this reason, it reiterates that "currently the majority of people who leave Opus Dei do so in an accompanied way, without severing the relationship".
The organization also explains in the communiqué the "healing and resolution protocols aimed at receiving any negative experiences that may have occurred, asking for forgiveness and making amends in appropriate situations".
Lack of dialogue on the part of the production company
Finally, Opus Dei denounces that during the four years in which MAX has been working on "Heroic Minute", "the production company did not contact the information offices of the Work, neither in Rome nor in Spain or in other countries". Only at the end of the recording did they ask for the intervention of the Prelate or an authorized person in conditions that, according to Opus Dei, "were not the usual ones for a series of these characteristics".
Faced with this situation, the Work "declined to participate in what was a product created from a previous framework and with a bias that only wanted to be confirmed". Opus Dei, therefore, points out that there was "no prior expressed desire for dialogue" on the part of the producer and complains that they were only offered "the possibility of a reply at the last moment".
Pope's February video: "God continues to call young people even today".
This is the central message of the Pope's prayer intention in the video for the month of February 2025: "God continues to call young people even today". The theme of the intention is entitled "For Vocations to the Priestly and Religious Life". In the video, the Pope shares his personal story.
Francisco Otamendi-February 7, 2025-Reading time: 2minutes
"When I was 17 years old," Pope Francis points out in the video message made by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network in collaboration with Vatican Media and archdiocese of Los AngelesI was a student and I worked, I had my projects. I didn't think at all about becoming a priest. But one day I entered the parish... and there was God waiting for me! begins by saying Pope Francis.
Open 'The Pope's VideoThe photos of his youth - at school, in the family, in church - then give way to scenes from the daily life of today's young people: times change, but the Lord's ability to speak to the heart of those who seek him does not change.
"Sometimes we don't listen to it."
"God continues to call young people today as well, sometimes in ways we never imagined. At times we did not hear it because we are very busy with our things, with our projects, even with our Church things."
"But the Holy Spirit He also speaks to us through dreams, and he speaks to us through the concerns that young people feel in their hearts," the Pontiff continued. "If we accompany their journey, we will see how God does new things with them. And we will be able to welcome his call in ways that better serve the Church and the world of today."
And the Pope encourages: "Let us trust in young people! And, above all, let us trust in God: because He calls each one of us! Let us pray that the ecclesial community will welcome the desires and doubts of young people who feel the call to live the mission of Jesus in life: be it priestly life or religious life".
"God calls each one".
"The challenge, then, is that of trust in young people, in their ability to contribute significantly to the Church and to the world. In fact, in the video Pope Francis invites us to hope in young people and, above all, in God, 'because He calls each one of us,'" encourages the World Prayer Network.
"Our God is a God who takes seriously the lives and gifts of young people," said Archbishop José H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles. "The mission of the Church," continues the bishop of the largest U.S. diocese, who contributes to the production of this video with the professionals of his digital team, "is to walk with young people to help them grow in their faith and work to transform this world into the Kingdom that God wants for his people.
"Examine one's vocation with freedom and respond with courage."
On the other hand, the international director of the Pope's World Prayer Network, Fr. Cristobal Fones, S.J., recalls that "trust in young people is essential to encourage them to freely examine their own vocation and to respond to it with courage. An approach to vocation ministry that truly values dialogue and accompaniment also accepts and welcomes the concrete concerns, questions and aspirations of the young person as an important component of the vocational process".
"Moreover, the Pope tells us that, through the words of young people-sometimes even challenging or questioning-God can also indicate new paths for today's Church, and even offer us an occasion for our own conversion."
The Pope's prayer intentions for the month of January was "For the right to education: Let us pray that migrants, refugees and those affected by wars may always see their right to education respected, education necessary to build a more humane world".
The Holy See definitively approves the statutes of Regnum Christi
After five years, the Holy See has definitively approved the statutes of Regnum Christi. From the headquarters of the general direction of the federation they affirm that "this approval represents a recognition by the Holy See that gives solidity and stability to the Federation".
After five years, the Holy See definitively approves the statutes of Regnum Christi, which were presented in 2019 by the Federation and had been on trial since then.
From the headquarters of the general management of the organization, they affirm in a press release that "this approval represents a recognition by the Holy See that gives solidity and stability to the Federation".
These statutes are the result of a long journey of renewal that began in 2010. Aware that it was necessary to express more clearly the charism of the organization, the Federation began a process of deepening its spirit. Thus, on May 31, 2019, the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life canonically erected the Regnum Christi Federation and approved "ad experimentum" its statutes.
The statutes of Regnum Christi
Among the changes presented in 2019 were greater participation of the laity and new measures to prevent cases of abuse within the organization. However, the most significant change took place in the definition of the canonical structure, with the aim of finding a figure "that expresses the spiritual unity and apostolic collaboration of all, promotes the identity and legitimate autonomy of each consecrated reality, and allows the other faithful of Regnum Christi to belong to the same apostolic body in a canonically recognized way," as they explained in 2019.
For this reason, the statutes approved in 2019 state that "the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, the Society of Apostolic Life Consecrated Sisters of Regnum Christi and the Society of Apostolic Life Consecrated Laity of Regnum Christi are linked to each other through the Regnum Christi Federation".
The Holy See points out that all these changes are intended to help the members of the Federation "to promote the common charism and to foster collaboration in view of the mission entrusted to them by the Church".
Blessed Pius IX, Pope, and St. Richard of Wessex, layman
On February 7, the Catholic saints' calendar celebrates Blessed Pius IX (1792-1878), the longest-serving Pope in the Catholic Pontificate, 31 years and 7 months, perhaps second only to St. Peter. St. Richard of Wessex, father of holy evangelizers of Germany.
Francisco Otamendi-February 7, 2025-Reading time: < 1minute
The years during which Pius IX governed the Church were years of great political turmoil in Italy. In 1848 he had to go into exile in Gaeta while in Rome the Roman Republic of Mazzini was established, which declared the fall of the temporal power of the Pope. In 1850 he was able to return to Rome, and years later he faced the consequences of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Earlier he had reconciled with the Protestant monarchies of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Blessed Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, worked to preserve the Papal States, which he lost; he promulgated the encyclical 'Quanta cura' with the famous 'Syllabus errorum', proclaimed the dogma of Immaculate Conception (1854) and convoked the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), where papal infallibility as Pastor of the universal Church in matters of faith and morals was defined. His brother Gabriel declared that John Mary considered himself to be "simply a priest"He also became archbishop, cardinal and pope. He was beatified in 2000 by St. John Paul II together with St. John XXIII.
As for St. Richard of Wessex, it is appropriate to cite the Englishman in this way, because there is another Richard in the saints' calendar, such as Bishop Richard of Wyche (April 3). Richard of Wessex was a man of prayer and the father of three sons who accompanied him in pilgrimage After his death, miracles were recorded at his tomb. A son of yours joined St. Boniface and became the first bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.
Pope urges bishops to publicize marriage nullity process
In the traditional audience to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Judicial Year, Pope Francis pointed out that, on the occasion of the latest reform, he urged the bishops to make the faithful aware of the abbreviated process of marriage annulment. Moreover, it is important "to ensure that the procedures are free of charge". The reform seeks "not the nullity of marriages, but the celerity of the processes".
Francisco Otamendi-February 7, 2025-Reading time: 5minutes
The inauguration of the Judicial Year of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota was the main act of the Holy Father last Friday, when he received at audience the prelate auditors, officials, lawyers and collaborators of the Tribunal, presided over by its dean, the Spanish archbishop Monsignor Alejandro Arellano Cedillo.
Before the speech of the Pope, he delivered a few words of greeting Monsignor ArellanoIn them, he recalled that "on Christmas Eve, after opening the Holy Door and giving the starting signal for the Jubilee Year, you firmly addressed the whole world: set out without delay to 'rediscover lost hope, renew it in us, sow it in the desolations of our time and of our world'".
"Sowers of hope".
"Holy Father," added the dean of the CourtWe feel directly challenged by the challenges of the present and the future, aware that the Roman Rota, as the Tribunal of the Christian family, is only a 'flap of the mantle' of the Church; nevertheless, it seems to us that it is not foreign to our hope that, by the touch of that mantle, through the administration of justice, wounded persons may find peace, in order to foster tranquillitas ordinis in the Church.
In this line, the dean said, among other things, that "this is our desire: to be sowers of hope for all wounded families, far from the Church or in difficulty, who have lost hope in justice, in mercy, in the love of God that resurrects man and restores his dignity".
Clarify the marital situation
The inauguration of the Judicial Year of the Court of the Roman Rota "gives me the opportunity to renew the expression of my appreciation and gratitude for your work. I cordially greet the Dean and all of you who serve in this Tribunal," the Pope began.
"This year marks the tenth anniversary of the two Motu Proprio 'Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus' and 'Mitis et Misericors Iesus', with which I reformed the process for the declaration of the nullity of marriage. It seems appropriate to me to take advantage of this traditional occasion to meet with you to recall the spirit that permeated that reform, which you applied with competence and diligence for the benefit of all the faithful".
The aim of the reform was to "respond in the best possible way to those who turn to the Church to clarify their marital situation (cf. Speech to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, January 23, 2015).
That the faithful are aware of the process and the gratuity
"I wanted the diocesan bishop to be at the center of the reform. Indeed, it is up to him to administer justice in the diocese, both as the guarantor of the proximity of the tribunals and of vigilance over them, and as the judge who must decide personally in cases where nullity is manifest, that is, through the 'processus brevior' as an expression of the solicitude of the 'salus animarum,'" the Pontiff continued.
"For this reason, I have urged that the activity of the tribunals be incorporated into diocesan pastoral care, charging the bishops to see to it that the faithful are made aware of the existence of the 'processus brevior' as a possible remedy to the situation of need in which they find themselves," the Pope noted. "It is sometimes sad to note that the faithful are unaware of the existence of this path. Moreover, it is important 'that the gratuitousness of the procedures be assured, so that the Church [...] manifests the gratuitous love of Christ by which we have all been saved' (Proemium, VI)."
Tribunal: well-trained and qualified persons
In particular, Francis specifies, "the bishop's concern is to guarantee by law the constitution in his diocese of the tribunal, staffed by persons - clerics and laity - well trained and suitable for this function; and to ensure that they carry out their work with justice and diligence. Investment in the formation of these workers-scientific, human and spiritual formation-always benefits the faithful, who have the right to have their petitions considered with attention, even when they receive a negative response."
Concern for the salvation of souls
"Concern for the salvation of souls (cf. Mitis Iudex, Proemium) has guided the reform and must guide its implementation. We are challenged by the pain and hope of so many of the faithful who seek clarity about the truth of their personal condition and, consequently, about the possibility of participating fully in the sacramental life. For so many who 'have lived an unhappy marital experience, the verification of the validity or otherwise of marriage represents an important possibility; and these people must be helped to travel this path as smoothly as possible' (Address to the participants in the Course promoted by the Roman Rota, March 12, 2016)".
"To favor not the nullity of marriages, but the celerity of the processes."
The recent reform, the Holy Father concluded, "also wished to favor 'not the nullity of marriages, but the celerity of the processes, no less than a just simplicity, so that, because of the delay in the definition of the sentence, the hearts of the faithful who await the clarification of their state may not be oppressed for a long time by the darkness of doubt' (Mitis Iudex, Proemio)" (Mitis Iudex, Proemio)".
Indeed, "in order to prevent the saying 'summum ius summa iniuria' ('Excessive right, excessive injustice') (Cicero, De Officiis I,10,33) from occurring as a result of overly complex procedures, I have abolished the need for the trial of double conformation and have encouraged more rapid decision in cases where nullity is manifest, seeking the good of the faithful and wishing to bring peace to their consciences".
All this, the Pope noted, "requires two great virtues: prudence and justice, which must be informed by charity. There is an intimate connection between prudence and justice, since the exercise of prudentia iuris aims at knowing what is just in the concrete case' (Speech to the Roman Rota, January 25, 2024)".
Discernment work
"Every protagonist in the process approaches the conjugal and family reality with veneration," the Pontiff stressed at the end of his reflection. "Because the family is a living reflection of the communion of love that is God the Trinity (cf. Amoris laetitia, 11). Moreover, spouses united in marriage have received the gift of indissolubility, which is not a goal to be attained by their own efforts, nor even a limitation on their freedom, but a promise of God, whose fidelity makes human beings possible".
"Your work of discerning whether or not a valid marriage exists," the Pope told the prelate auditors, "is a service to the salus animarum, for it enables the faithful to know and accept the truth of their personal reality. Indeed, 'every just judgment on the validity or nullity of a marriage is a contribution to the culture of indissolubility, both in the Church and in the world' (St. John Paul II, Speech to the Roman Rota, January 29, 2002)".
In concluding, Pope Francis invoked upon all, "pilgrims in spem, the grace of joyful conversion and the light to accompany the faithful to Christ, who is the meek and merciful Judge. I bless you from my heart and I ask you, please, to pray for me. Thank you.
Cardinal Tolentino praises friendship in the face of ambiguous use of "love"
The Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, noted the "inflation of the word love" in today's society, to the detriment of friendship, which is "an inexhaustible path of humanization and hope," on the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas at the San Damaso Ecclesiastical University.
Francisco Otamendi-February 7, 2025-Reading time: 4minutes
In a act presided over by the Archbishop of Madrid and Grand Chancellor of the San Dámaso Ecclesiastical UniversityCardinal José Cobo, and presented by the Rector of the corporation, Nicolás Álvarez de las Asturias, the Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça praised friendship as a necessary asset for the academic community.
On the celebration of the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Cardinal Prefect of Culture and Education at the Holy See, pointed out that "the University would fulfill its mission well if one day it were remembered by those who were formed there, not only for the quality of teaching and research that they found, but also for the beautiful friendships that began there".
However, the reflection of the Portuguese cardinal, a poet as well as a theologian, went further, and constituted a diagnosis of today's society, with regard to the words love and friendship, under the title 'In Praise of Friendship: Rediscovering a Necessary Good'.
Centrality of reflection on friendship
"I hope you will not find it strange that I have chosen friendship as my academic argument, when there would seem to be a thousand more urgent and pertinent issues to propose to a university community in this historical and cultural period of accelerated change," he began.
"In St. Thomas the centrality of reflection on friendship is evident, to the point of asking whether perfect beatitude in glory does not also require the company of friends. But the very history of the University would not be understood without the idea of societas amicorum".
"Massive use of the vocabulary of love": consequences.
The Cardinal went on to note that "it seems that our era only knows how to speak of love. As we witness the inflation of this word, its expressive force is clearly diminishing and it seems to have been hijacked by a monotonous and equivocal use. We know less and less what we are talking about when we speak of love. But this does not constitute a brake".
With the same word, he added, "we designate conjugal love and attachment to a sports team, relationships between relatives and those of consumption, the deepest individual aspirations, but also the most frivolous. Everything is love. It is not by chance that the magnificent poetry of W.H. Auden, which the last century chose as one of its songs, is summed up in the question: 'The truth, please, about love'".
In his opinion, as he explained to a large audience at San Damaso, "the danger presented by the massive use of the vocabulary of love is that of losing ourselves in the indefinite, drowning in the limitlessness of subjectivity: we do not really know what love is; it is always everything; it is a task without limits; and this inextricable totality, all too often, is consumed in a disillusioned rhetoric. Friendship is a more objective, more concretely designed form that is perhaps more possible to experience."
The same is true in the "religious universe".
"In the religious universe, unfortunately, the situation is not much different," Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça continued. "The term love suffers from an excessive use that does not always favor realism and the deepening of the paths of faith. The reference to love is dissipated in homilies, catechetical discourses, moral propositions: a path so varied that its meaning is diluted."
"We have become accustomed to hearing the call to love, receiving it or reproducing it without much knowledge. I am convinced that an important part of the problem lies in the absence of reflection on friendship."
"Friendship, a path of humanization and hope".
His argument continued in the same vein, skeptical of the indiscriminate use of the word love, and praising friendship. "We ambiguously call 'love' certain affective relationships and practices that would gain greater consistency if we thought of them as modes of friendship. Friendship is a universal experience and represents, for each person, an inexhaustible path of humanization and hope."
Later, he quoted Raïssa Maritain, wife of Jacques Maritainwho composed a kind of autobiography recounting the personal experiences of his friends. "And it is true: friends are our best autobiography. But not only that: they expand it, they conspire to make it luminous and authentic (...). Friends bear witness to our heart that there is always a way".
"Friendship is nurtured by the acceptance of limits."
"Friendship does not contain that pretension of possession that, many times, is characteristic of an exaggeratedly narcissistic love. Friendship is nourished by the acceptance of limits," added the cardinal. "Perhaps the great difference between love and friendship lies in the fact that love always tends toward the unlimited, while in friendship we face limitations lightly, we accept that there is a life without us and beyond us."
The Vatican Prefect for Culture and Education mentioned in his lecture Pope Francis. "It is of vital wisdom to embrace boundaries as multiple aspects and links of the same truth, according to what Pope Francis first enunciated in Evangelii gaudium and has often reiterated in his pontificate: 'The model is not the sphere, where every point is equidistant from the center and there are no differences between one point and another. The model is the polyhedron, which reflects the confluence of all the partialities that in it maintain their originality' (EG n. 236)".
Universities, activate as "laboratories of hope".
In conclusion, he cited the recent note on Artificial Intelligence that his Dicastery has prepared together with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which reminds us that "human intelligence is not an isolated faculty, but is exercised in relationships, finding its full expression in dialogue, collaboration and solidarity. We learn with others, we learn thanks to others" (n. 18).
The document exhorted Catholic and ecclesiastical universities to become active "as great laboratories of hope at this crossroads of history." "I believe that we will achieve this best if we do it together, as masters of the friendship that constitutes a concrete expression of hope," he concluded.
I have been in Spain, the most Catholic country in Europe, for two years now, and I am confused by the eagerness of some people to turn the Liturgy into something that, in their view, reminds me of my Protestant childhood in a rented room in the neighborhood library.
I was born in St. Petersburg in 1994. In those years, in the most culturally "western" city of post-Soviet Russia, being "weird" was very common. My family was also "weird": we were fervent Protestants.
The community we frequented was a mixture of Evangelicals and Baptists. Every Sunday we had a meeting in a neighborhood library building. We sang, prayed, listened to sermons and talked with our peers, evangelized by American and English pastors.
Protestant liturgy
The "liturgy" of these meetings was quite simple: first, we hung large signs with the words "Jesus" and "God is faithful" on the walls of the rented assembly hall, then a musical group came on stage - it was their service to the community - with drums, bass, acoustic guitar, violin, flute and keys.
The lyrics of the songs were projected right there. The lyrics were simple, understandable for everyone and motivating, sometimes they even made us cry, either from joy or from feeling like forgiven sinners in the hands of God. They often played world hits of Protestant pop groups translated into Russian. Sometimes we clapped along with them.
Then came the meditation of the Word led by one of the pastors, the moment of "giving peace", - about 5-10 minutes a little uncomfortable, in which we asked ourselves how we were doing and if everything was going well -, followed by a symbolic remembrance of the Last Supper.
There were also retreats (retreats): weekends in cottages spent in silence, praying together, studying the Scriptures and many other activities. Thanks to this Protestant community many people began to read the Bible daily, to address Jesus in their own words and "not to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ" (cf. Rom 1, 16).
Traditional" Christians
About the more "traditional" Christians, such as the Orthodox and Catholics, if mentioned at all, it was said that their ways of doing things were obsolete, did not respond to the needs of contemporary society and often preferred their archaic rituals to a living relationship with God.
A special comparison was made with the whole Orthodox tradition, the dominant Christian confession in Russia. They criticized the "idolatry" towards icons, long rites in an incomprehensible language (the Liturgy is celebrated in Church Slavonic), the strange clothing of the clergy and old women who scold you if you do not cross yourself when you enter the church or, if you are a woman, when you enter wearing pants or without covering your head. Most of these criticisms, besides not having much real foundation, are nothing more than isolated and punctual events, which have been taken to the extreme and have become stereotypes among people who have not spent a minute to be interested in the why of the things we Christians do.
Conversion to Catholicism
My family converted to Catholicism thanks to my father's intellectual restlessness when I was fourteen years old. My father became interested in early Christian history and one day he took us - my mother, my younger brother and me - to a nearby church. Besides not having to learn Bible verses by heart, being a recent convert from Protestantism, it is unnecessary to relearn how to pray; that same Jesus with whom you had spoken earlier in your personal prayer is in this box that Catholics call the Tabernacle. More than a conversion, it is an encounter.
From this encounter, all the "complexity" and "archaism" of the Liturgy - both Roman and Byzantine - began to seem to me a requirement of common sense. There, before the living Christ, one could not sing the same songs or do the same as in the Protestant community: everything I had done before, all the "modernity" and "clarity" of Protestant worship seemed inadequate. The presence of the living God demanded not "modernity", but "eternity"; not the "understanding" of language, but the "mystery", because God, being eternal, is something more than "modern", and being Mystery, is much more than one can understand.
The "temazos
I don't know what drives certain pastoral decisions, but I suppose that to someone who has encountered God in a Catholic temple, it is strange to see the Alpha and Omega hidden behind a sign - composed in "a current and understandable language" - of the pop genre. As if God cares more about fashions than people.
It seems that there are musical genres whose form is inseparable from the event to which they are dedicated. For example, singing "Cumpleaños feliz" or "Las Mañanitas" only makes sense in the context of the event for which they are intended. However, Mexicans would not think of changing their birthday song - either because it might be "difficult for others to understand" or because it is considered "old-fashioned". It is curious that something similar does not happen with music intended for events such as Mass, an event that has a much deeper meaning in the lives of Christians than a birthday.
I have been in Spain, the most Catholic country in Europe, for two years now, and I am confused by the eagerness of some people to turn the Liturgy into something that, in their opinion, reminds me of my Protestant childhood in a rented room of the neighborhood library: some signs, a stage, a backing entrance song, a sweet melismatics that touches the feelings, but does not help to order them; a "temazo" that says nice things, but whose genre condemns it to monopolize the limelight. "It's what people like. It attracts young people." That's what they used to say in my beloved Protestant community.
The authorYakov Druzhkov
Linguist and translator, PhD in philology from the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (Moscow).
On February 6, the Church celebrates St. Paul Miki and 25 companions martyred. After the arrival of St. Francis Xavier in Japan (1549-1551), Paul Miki, a Jesuit, was the first Japanese religious to be martyred. With him were crucified in Nagasaki two other Jesuits, six Franciscans and 17 lay people, some of them Spaniards.
Francisco Otamendi-February 6, 2025-Reading time: < 1minute
Saints Paul Miki (1564-1597), Juan de Goto and Diego Kisai are the first Jesuits who gave their lives to imitate the crucified Lord in Japan. Miki came from a well-to-do family near Osaka, and became a Christian when the family's conversion took place. At the age of 20 he enrolled in the Azuchi seminary, taken by the Jesuits, and two years later he entered the Society. He spoke very well and succeeded in attracting Buddhists to the Christian faith. He was only two months away from ordination when he was arrested.
St. Francis Xavierhad sown Christianity in Japan since 1549. He himself converted and baptized a good number of pagans. Later, entire provinces received the faith. It is said that in 1587 there were more than two hundred thousand Christians in Japan. This growth provoked reticence in some authorities, who feared that Christianity was the first step of Spain to invade the country.
They expelled the missionaries from Japan and the persecution intensified, ending with the crucifixion near Nagasaki of the Jesuits, Franciscans and Tertiaries (26) in 1597. The Franciscan saints were Pedro Bautista, Martin De Aguirre, Francisco Blanco, Francisco de San Miguel, Spaniards, Felipe de Jesus, born in Mexico, not yet ordained, and Gonzalo Garcia. The remaining 17 martyrs were Japanese, several catechists and interpreters. From the cross, Pablo Miki pardoned his executioners and delivered a sermon inviting people to follow Christ with joy.
Cardinal Lazzaro You and Prelate Ocáriz, on the centenary of St. Josemaría's ordination
On March 27 and 28, the centenary of the priestly ordination of St. Josemaría, founder of Opus Dei, which took place on March 28, 1925, will be celebrated in Saragossa. After the Archbishop of Saragossa, Msgr. Carlos Escribano, Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, and the Prelate of Opus Dei, Prelate Fernando Ocáriz, among other participants, will take part in the celebrations.
Francisco Otamendi-February 6, 2025-Reading time: 3minutes
St. Josemaría Escrivá was ordained a priest on March 28, 1925 in Saragossa, in the church of the Seminary of San Carlos, by Bishop Miguel de los Santos Díaz Gómara.
One hundred years have passed, and on the occasion of the centenary of his ordination to the priesthood, a series of events will take place in the Aragonese capital, in which will participate the Cardinal Lazaro You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, and the Prelate of Opus Dei, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz.
About the program of eventsthe organizers, the Alacet Priests' Library, with the collaboration of CARF Foundation and Omnes, inform that first of all, the academic act will take place on Thursday 27th, which is reported below.
Eucharist, prayer vigil
At its conclusion, at 7:00 p.m., a Eucharistic concelebration will take place in the Basilica del Pilar for the priests who wish to attend.
Afterwards (8:00 p.m.), a prayer vigil for vocations will be held for seminarians, young people and families in the church of the Royal Seminary of San Carlos Borromeo, presided over by the Cardinal Lazzaro You.
On March 28, the anniversary day, there will be a solemn Eucharistic concelebration, also in the church of the Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo, in thanksgiving for the fruits of priestly holiness. Afterwards, a fraternal meal will be held in the Throne Room of the Archbishop's Palace.
Centennial stamp.
Academic event
The academic ceremony on the 27th will begin with welcoming remarks by Archbishop Carlos Escribano, Archbishop of Zaragoza, who currently presides over the Episcopal Commission for the Laity, Family and Life of the Spanish Episcopal Conference.
Cardinal Lazzaro You, in addition to being Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, is also a member of the Dicasteries for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; for Bishops; for Evangelization; for Culture and Education; and of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses. At the conference he will speak on the holiness and mission of the priest.
Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz, born in Paris in 1944, has been prelate of Opus Dei since January 2017. He is a physicist and theologian, consultor to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith since 1986 and to the Dicastery for Evangelization since 2022. In 1989 he joined the Pontifical Theological Academy. He will speak in Zaragoza on the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the priest.
Other speakers
Before, José Luis González GullónThe panel discussion will focus on St. Josemaría's seminary and ordination years. In the afternoon, there will be a round table discussion on the universal heart of the priest: from East to West, passing through the rural world.
The following will participate at the table Esteban AranazJorge de Salas, a priest from the Diocese of Tarazona, a missionary in China; Jorge de Salas, a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei living in Sweden, judicial vicar of the diocese of Stockholm; and Antonio Cobo, a priest of the Diocese of Almeria in the Alpujarra.
Golden jubilee of priesthood in 1975
St. Josemaría celebrated his Golden Jubilee of priesthood on March 28, 1975, a year before his death in Rome. In mid-January, before crossing the Atlantic on a catechetical trip to America, he addressed a letter to the faithful of Opus Dei in which, as he transcribes Andrés Vázquez de Prada in his biography, he told them:
"I ask you to be very united on that day, with a deeper gratitude to the Lord - it is Good Friday this March 28 - who has pushed us to participate in his Holy Cross, that is to say, of the Love that does not set conditions".
St. Josemaría He also asked them: "Join me in adoring Our Redeemer, truly present in the Holy Eucharist, in all the Monuments of all the churches of the world, on this Good Friday. Let us live a day of intense and loving adoration".
In marriage, complaints are often not reproaches, but requests, which invites us to be strong and fight the complaining attitude, more typical of pettiness than of sanity and positivity.
The Catechism of the Catholic ChurchIn its No. 1808, it states that "Fortitude is the moral virtue that assures firmness and constancy in the pursuit of the good in difficulties. It reaffirms the resolution to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude makes one capable of overcoming fear, even of death, and of facing trials and persecutions. It enables one to go so far as to renounce and sacrifice one's life to defend a just cause (...)".
Are we born strong or do we become strong? Rather the latter, especially in the case of human beings, who come into the world absolutely dependent on others for their survival. It is as one acquires experience of life - that is why it is a virtue, that is, a good operative habit - that one becomes strong.
We are interested in emphasizing what is stated in the above-mentioned point: the one who, having contracted a marriage, seeks the good, wants to preserve it in its authenticity and beautydoing whatever it takes to keep your marriage fresh, no matter what it takes, and becoming strong enough to face setbacks.
In prosperity and in adversity...
In the rite of canonical marriage, the future spouses commit themselves to remain faithful to each other in prosperity and adversity; in other words, they assume that their marriage will be difficult, that there will be suffering, but that they will still be faithful to their commitment of love.
In marriage storms appear, but after the storm clouds the sun reappears. That is why when sailors see the winds coming, they prepare themselves to fight against adversity with all their strength, because they know that they will always win in the end and the sea will become calm again; they sail against all odds in the hope that they will find a peaceful, navigable sea.
The same thing happens in marriage: after a setback, well managed, comes the overcoming, and that is where one recognizes the fruit of fidelity to the yes given at the time of contracting it; and that is where one recognizes the beauty of corresponding to love even at the cost of life's setbacks, putting effort and trust, hoping.
Unity and communication
The strength of marriage lies in its unity, in the fact that the spouses feel that they are a single reality. For that reason it is convenient to share - to communicate - the difficulties as if the problem of the other one was also with you. Ask him/her about its meaning, about what it represents, and try to put yourself in his/her place.
We may be able to make sounds, but communicating goes much further. We need to know how to express our ideas without hurting others, describing our point of view, starting with "I" and ending with "we", and expressing our feelings and affections.
Active listening, even more important and necessary than speaking, requires an apprenticeship: paying and maintaining attention, and making sure that the other feels listened to and taken into account. This is difficult, and it is often necessary to "do violence to oneself", from a position of strength, to achieve it.
In marriage it is important to learn to listen to feelings. Focus on what the spouse feels rather than what he or she says. In the sentence "John -a son- is unbearable; I can't take it anymore!", the important thing is not "John is unbearable", but "I can't take it anymore"; and before addressing John's problem, you have to empathize with your spouse's feeling: "You are right: there is no one who can stand it" What can we do?". And that exercise usually requires effort.
Respect, understanding, and care for the little things.
Respect is essential in itself. To take into account the questions and approaches of others, giving them at least the same value or more than one's own ideas. Not to impose one's thoughts, nor to transform one's opinions into dogmas.
Always prioritize the spouse. It is the one who gives meaning to the very existence of the marriage and of each of the spouses. Not to put the desires of others before those of one's own spouse, being prudent, and of course never taking sides against him or her or limiting oneself to "being neutral". Try to put yourself in the other's place. What it means to him or her. That costs...
Taking care of the smallest details of living together, with the constant sacrifice that this requires. We all know that the greatness of things is in the details. On the other hand, if you are careful with the small gestures, you will be preparing yourself for more challenging challenges, and that in marriage finds its space and is a guarantee of fidelity, which is happiness.
Serenity and good humor
Arguing in married life, which will sometimes be necessary, should always be done with serenity: it is appreciated by oneself and by the spouse with whom one has argued. It is a matter of applying a balance between reason and heart, something that often requires effort.
If a spouse feels a strong emotion, it is best to let it flow without manipulating it and, when it has subsided, confront the cause of the disagreement.
And in any case, to laugh a little at life, without dramatizing, without absolutizing excessively. Laughing "with" and not "at" unites much more than we think. But sometimes it is difficult and it is necessary to make an effort to achieve it.
It has been proven that verbal complaints weaken us and infect others with negative attitudes. It is better to look for something positive and not to insist on things that do not provide solutions or do not help to lift our spirits.
Even so, when one hears complaints from one's spouse, one had better think that, in marriage, complaints are often not reproaches, but requests, which, again, invites us to be strong and fight the complaining attitude, more typical of pettiness than of sanity and positivity.
On the 300th anniversary of Kant's birth, we review some lesser-known facets of the first and most important representative of criticism and precursor of German idealism, courageous defender of freedom against political and religious powers.
The recent biography by Manfred Kuehn (2024) reveals a Kant little known to the general public and who was an excellent host and devoted friend. Associated with the Enlightenment, he witnessed the birth of the modern world, and his thought is both an expression of a fast-paced era and a way out of its aporias, becoming one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe and universal philosophy.
Kant's life spans almost the entire 18th century. His coming of age witnessed some of the most significant changes in the Western world-changes that still resonate today. It was the period during which the world we live in today originated. Kant's philosophy was very much an expression of and a response to those changes. His intellectual life reflected the most significant speculative, political and scientific developments of the time. His views are reactions to the cultural climate of his time. English and French philosophy, science, literature, politics and manners formed the fabric of his daily conversations. Even events as relatively distant as the American and French revolutions had a definite impact on Kant, and thus also on his work. His philosophy must be viewed in this global context.
Immanuel, who later changed his name to Immanuel, was the son of Johann Georg Kant (1683-1746), a master saddler in Königsberg, and Anna Regina Reuter (1697-1737), daughter of another saddler in the same city. Kant was the fourth child of the couple, although when he was born only a five-year-old sister survived. On the day he was baptized, his mother wrote in her prayer book, "May God keep him according to His Promise of Grace to the end of his days, for the love of Jesus Christ, Amen." The name imposed seemed to her to be a very good omen. This prayer was not only the expression of a pious longing, but it also responded to a real desire and expressed a very deep feeling. Of the five siblings born after Kant, only three survived early childhood.
Education received
The great philosopher always kept a deep appreciation for the education received from his parents, mainly through his life example. His family was affected by professional quarrels between different guilds: "... in spite of them, my parents treated their enemies with such respect and consideration and with such firm confidence in the future that the memory of this incident will never be erased from my memory, even though I was only a boy at the time".
Years later, his friend Kraus wrote: "Kant once remarked to me that when he looked more closely at the education in the house of a count not far from Königsberg... he often thought of the incomparably nobler training he had received at home from his parents. He was very grateful to them for that, adding that he had never heard or seen anything indecent in their house."
Kant had only good things to say about his parents. Thus, in a letter from later in his life he wrote: "Both my parents (who belonged to the artisan class) were perfectly honest, morally decent and disciplined. They did not bequeath me a fortune (but neither did they leave me debts). And, from the moral point of view, they gave me an absolutely superb education. Every time I think of this I am overcome with feelings of the most intense gratitude.".
His mother died at the age of forty, when the future philosopher was only 13 years old and was deeply affected. She died infected by the illness of a sick friend whom she cared for on her deathbed. Kant wrote years later that "her death was a sacrifice to friendship." When his father died in 1746, a nearly twenty-one-year-old Immanuel wrote in the family Bible: "On March 24 my dear father has left us with a peaceful death... May God, who did not bring him many joys in this life, allow him to share in eternal bliss.".
Kant and religion
Kant's parents were religious people strongly influenced by Pietism, a religious movement within the Protestant churches of Germany that was largely a reaction to the formalism of Protestant orthodoxy. Pietists stressed the importance of independent Bible study, personal devotion, the exercise of the priesthood among the laity, and a faith embodied in acts of charity. It usually involved insistence on a personal experience of radical conversion or rebirth and disregard for worldly success, which could often be precisely dated. The "old self" had to be overcome by the "new self" in a battle fought with the help of God's grace. Each believer was to form in his environment a small church of "true Christians.", different from the formal church that may have strayed from the true meaning of Christianity.
About the religious ideas of his parents, which would appear as the "demands of sanctity" in Kant's second "Critique," he also wrote: "Even if the religious ideas of that time... and the conceptions of what was called virtue and piety were not clear and sufficient, people were really virtuous and pious. One can say as many evils as one likes about pietism. But the people who took it seriously were characterized by a certain kind of dignity. They possessed the noblest qualities that a human being can have: that tranquility and gentleness, that inner peace which is undisturbed by any passion. No need, no quarrel could enrage them or make them anyone's enemy."
Education of children
In his "Lessons on Pedagogy" (1803) he will leave good ideas for the moral education of children, who must be taught the common duties towards oneself and towards others. Duties based on "a certain dignity that the human being possesses in his inner nature which dignifies him in comparison with all other creatures. It is his duty not to deny this dignity of humanity in his own person".
Drunkenness, unnatural sins and all kinds of excesses are for Kant examples of that loss of dignity by which we place ourselves below the level of animals. The action of "groveling"-drawing in compliments and begging for favors-also places us below human dignity. Lying should be avoided, for it "makes human beings the object of general contempt and tends to rob the child of his or her self-respect.", something that everyone should possess. And when a child avoids another child because he is poorer, when he pushes him or hits him, we should make him understand that such behavior contradicts the right of humanity.
In his "Metaphysics of morals".(1785) offers the example of a man who abandons his project of dedication to an activity that pleases him "immediately, though reluctantly, at the thought that if he were to pursue it he would have to omit one of his duties as a civil servant or neglect a sick father", and that in so behaving he was testing his freedom to the utmost degree.
Kant was horrified when he recalled his school years at the Collegium Fridericianum and, with some exception, said of his professors that "they would be incapable of lighting a fire with a possible spark of our mind about philosophy or mathematics, but would prove very good at putting them out.". Kant recognized that "it is very difficult for every individual to get out of that minority of age, which has almost become his nature... Principles and formulas, mechanical instruments of rational use - or rather abuse - of his natural endowments, are the shackles of a permanent minority of age"..
Faced with the rigorism of his teachers, he wrote in his lessons on anthropology that playing cards "cultivates us, tempers our spirits and teaches us to control our emotions. In this sense it can exert a beneficial influence on our morality.". Because of several unpleasant experiences with soldiers in his city, his concept of the military establishment was not very high.
In his work "The Only Possible Argument in a Demonstration of the Existence of God".(1763) Kant ends by stating that "it is absolutely necessary to be convinced that God exists; but that His existence has to be demonstrated, however, is not equally necessary.". And in his "Observations on the sentiment of the beautiful and the sublime".(1764) comments that "Men who act according to principles are very few, which is even very convenient, because these principles easily turn out to be wrong, and then the harm that results from this goes so much further the more general the principle is and the firmer the person who has adopted it" (1764).. Kant thought that at the age of forty the definitive character was acquired and he thought that the first and most relevant maxim to judge the character of a person is that of truthfulness with oneself and with others.
In a famous passage from the "Critique of Practical Reason".(1788)Kant says: "Two things fill the mind with admiration and respect, ever new and growing the more frequently reflection deals with them: the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.".
He was an enthusiastic supporter of the French Revolution, which he saw as the first practical triumph of the philosophy that had helped to create a government based on the principles of an orderly and rationally constructed system. In his work "Religion within the Limits of Mere Reason."(1794) states that it may happen that "the person of the master of the only religion valid for all worlds is a mystery, that his appearance on earth and his disappearance from it, that his eventful life and his passion are pure miracles... that the very history of the life of the great master is itself a miracle (a supernatural revelation); we can give to all these miracles whatever value we wish, and honor even the envelope... which has set in motion a doctrine that is inscribed in our hearts...".
In 1799, when his weakness was not yet very evident, Kant affirmed to some of his acquaintances: "My lords, I am old and weak, and you must regard me as a child... I am not afraid of death; I shall know how to die. I swear to you before God that, if I feel death approaching during the night, I will join my hands and exclaim God be praised. But if an evil demon were to stand at my back and whisper in my ear: You have made human beings unhappy, then my reaction would be very different.". On February 12, 1804 Kant died at 11:00 a.m., two months short of his 80th birthday.
Being a man with errors, like everyone, St. John Paul II admired him for his defense of the dignity of the human person (never using the person as a means). He was an upright man and truly concerned about the foundations of morality. His most criticizable aspect is his gnoseology, which served as the basis for later subjectivism, although he himself was probably never a subjectivist, as is evident from some of his most famous sentences.
Listening and acting. Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Joseph Evans comments on the readings for February 9, 2025 which corresponds to the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)
Joseph Evans-February 6, 2025-Reading time: 2minutes
There is a clear theme of call in today's readings. The first reading offers us the extraordinary revelation of God's glory that the prophet Isaiah received in the Temple of Jerusalem in the eighth century B.C.
The second reading speaks to us of the appearances of the risen Jesus to his disciples after the Resurrection, principally to the apostle Peter (Cephas). Finally, the Gospel gives us the first miraculous catch of fish, which for Peter was like a revelation of the power of Christ.
However, in spite of the extraordinary character of these episodes, they were also very ordinary. Isaiah was exercising his priestly activity. Peter and his companions were performing the most mundane of tasks: mending their nets.
Jesus enters his boat. He does not ask their permission. Once in it, he complicates Peter's life, asking him to "to move it away from the ground a little". It was only a small request, which interrupted the apostle's work. But it had a decisive effect: it forced Peter to listen. Jesus forces Peter to leave his work to listen to his preaching. Christ meets us and calls us in the midst of our work. But we too need to stop working to listen, to hear and reflect on the word of God.
After having listened to Jesus, the latter can issue Peter a challenge: "Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.". Christ always challenges us to get out of the shallow waters of our comfort and mediocrity.
Peter had had a fruitless night. But he had faith. His own failure did not discourage him. "Master, we have been struggling all night and have gathered nothing; but at your word, I will let down the nets.". Anyone trying to win souls for Christ will know this feeling. But a soul of faith does not give up. True to Jesus' command, it casts its nets again and again. Finally, such a great catch is caught that it brings with it the good problem of being temporarily unable to cope with so much abundance.
Before this miracle, Peter is overwhelmed. The power of God in Christ leaves him feeling totally sinful, as Isaiah had felt sinful at the sight of the divine glory. "Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man.", he says. To which Jesus replies: "Fear not; from now on you will be a fisher of men.". In other words, precisely because you recognize your unworthiness, I call you to the apostolate. The humble acceptance of our misery does not disqualify us from serving Christ. Rather, from this awareness, Our Lord calls us.
The Visitation of Mary and the Magnificat at the center of the Pope's catechesis
During today's Audience, Pope Francis encouraged us to place ourselves "in the school of Mary," who in the Visitation feels the impulse of love and goes out to meet others. He also considered the Magnificat of Our Lady as a "song of redemption" and urged us to pray also for "the displaced people of Palestine".
Francisco Otamendi-February 5, 2025-Reading time: 3minutes
With a cold that prevented him from delivering the catechesis, having to leave the speech to an official of the Secretary of State, Pier Luigi Giroli, Pope Francis has resumed in the Audience This Wednesday the theme that will be developed throughout the Jubilee Year, 'Jesus Christ, our hope'. The reflection was based on the Gospel of St. Luke (1:39-42), with the title: "And blessed is she who believed" (Lk 1:45).
In a Paul VI Hall packed with pilgrims, the Pope's meditation focused on the Visitation of Our Lady to her cousin St. Elizabeth, the second joyful mystery of the Rosarioand in the Magnificat.
The Pontiff encouraged us to ask today "the Lord for the grace to know how to wait for the fulfillment of all his promises; and may he help us to welcome Mary's presence in our lives. By placing ourselves in her school, may we all discover that every soul that believes and hopes 'conceives and begets the Word of God' (St. Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel according to St. Luke 2:26)".
For priests and consecrated men and women, and for the displaced people of Palestine
In his greeting to the Polish pilgrims, the Pope encouraged them "to pray for priests and consecrated men and women who carry out their ministry in poor countries, and to pray for the priests and consecrated men and women who work in the poorest countries of the world. war-tornespecially in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Democratic Republic of Congo. For many, this presence is proof that God always remembers them".
At the end, addressing the pilgrims in Italian, Francis again asked for prayers for "the martyred Ukraine, Israel, Jordan, so many countries that are suffering, and for the displaced people of Palestine. Let us pray for them," he prayed.
Requests to pilgrims
The Successor of Peter asked the French-speaking pilgrims to "follow the school of Mary, cultivating a heart open to God and to our brothers and sisters"; to the English-speaking pilgrims, his wish that "the Jubilee be for you an occasion of spiritual renewal and growth in the joy of the Gospel"; to the English-speaking pilgrims, his wish that "the Jubilee be for you an occasion of spiritual renewal and growth in the joy of the Gospel"; To the German-speaking faithful, "may we too bring Christ to the men and women of our time"; to the Spanish-speaking faithful, who, like the Poles, made their presence felt, he asked them to "raise to God the song of the Magnificat, like Mary, recalling with gratitude the great things he has done in our lives".
The Pontiff exhorted the Chinese-speakers to "always be builders of peace"; the Portuguese-speakers to "learn from her the availability to serve those in need"; and the Arabs to "bear witness to the Gospel in order to build a new world with meekness, through the gifts and charisms they have received".
Adherence to Christ while visiting the tombs of the Apostles
Before praying the Our Father and giving the final blessing, the Pope personally read two other prayers. First, "I hope that the visit to the tombs of the Apostles will inspire a renewed desire for adherence to Christ and Christian witness in your communities.
In conclusion, he said: "As the Apostle Paul exhorts us, I urge you to be joyful in hope, strong in tribulation, persevering in prayer, and attentive to the needs of your brethren (cf. Rom 12:12-13).
Mary, the impulse of love
In his catechesis, and using the Virgin Mary as an example, the Pope encouraged the following go out to meet of others. "This young daughter of Israel does not choose to protect herself from the world, she does not fear the dangers and judgments of others, but goes out to meet others. When a person feels loved, she experiences a force that sets love in motion; as the Apostle Paul says, 'the love of Christ possesses us' (2Co 5:14), it impels us, it moves us."
"Maria She feels the impulse of love and goes to help a woman who is a relative of hers, but also an elderly woman who, after a long wait, welcomes an unexpected pregnancy, difficult to cope with at her age. But Our Lady also goes to Elizabeth to share her faith in the God of the impossible and her hope in the fulfillment of his promises".
The Magnificat
The massive presence of the Easter motif, the Holy Father commented, "also makes of the Magnificat a song of redemption, which has as its background the memory of Israel's liberation from Egypt. The verbs are all in the past tense, impregnated with a memory of love that enkindles the present with faith and illuminates the future with hope: Mary sings the grace of the past, but she is the woman of the present who carries the future in her womb".
The Church celebrates on February 5 St. Agatha (Agatha), patron saint of Catania. She was a Christian martyr during the persecution of Emperor Decius (3rd century), after defending her virginity and her faith. Her name appears in the Roman Canon together with Felicity and Perpetua, (Agatha), Lucia, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia...
Francisco Otamendi-February 5, 2025-Reading time: < 1minute
Born into a Christian family, Agatha decided at a young age to consecrate herself to God, took a vow of virginity and received from the Bishop of Catania the red veilsymbol of the consecrated virgins. This represented her commitment to live a life of purity and service to God. The story of St. Agatha takes place between Catania and Palermo, which dispute her birthplace.
Coinciding with the persecution of Decius against the Christians, the proconsul Quincianus took notice of her beauty. When rejected, she was tortured with the tearing of her breasts and mutilated. Her prayers were heard and according to tradition, she was comforted with the apparition of St. PeterWhen Quinciano ordered that Agueda, wrapped only in the red veil of the bride of Christ, be burned in burning coals, an earthquake prevented it. She died in the cell.
The minutes of the martyrdom that a year later, there was a great eruption of the volcano Etna, and the lava flow was heading towards the city of Catania. Many people went to the tomb of Agatha to ask for her intercession, and her veil was placed in front of the river of lava. Miraculously, the lava stopped. Her relics are preserved in Catania, in the cathedral dedicated to her. The feast of St. Agatha is an institution in the city, and its primitive cult. It is named in Prayer I- .Roman Canon.
Altruism and culture of care: a response to the anthropological crisis.
A conference at the University of Holy Cross, March 6-8, will explore the relevance of altruism and the culture of care. Professor Francesco Russo explains some specific aspects in this interview.
In the context of a contemporary world marked to a large extent by individualism and anthropological crisis, the next academic proposal of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross - its XXVth Congress of Studies-will be dedicated to altruism.
This act, which is part of a three-year research project on the culture of care, aims to explore the role of altruism in human existence, beyond reductionist interpretations that link it to simple acts of charity or utilitarian calculations.
The activity, which will take place from March 6 to 8, will include contributions from philosophers, neuroscientists, physicians, sociologists and economists, and is intended to take place within the framework of the cultural and educational challenge to which Pope Francis has often referred, inviting a profound rethinking of the relationship between the individual and the community. In this framework, OMNES interviewed Prof. Francesco Russo, Professor of Anthropology of Culture and Society and member of the conference organizing committee.
Why was this topic chosenfor the congress?
- Because philosophy is not alien to its sociocultural context and today everyone agrees that we live in a society sick with individualism. That is why it is important to reflect on altruism in order to understand its role in human existence.
Philosophical reflection is necessary because it cannot be reduced to a superficial gesture of charity, nor can it be framed in what is called "effective altruism," according to a vision that derives basically from utilitarianism or egocentrism in search of mere emotional well-being. Altruism is the essential link between the self and the you, and is an essential human trait, involving compassion and empathy.
Can you also explain this broader link to the so-called "culture of care" and how this can be a response to the anthropological crisis?
- The anthropological crisis to which you refer was pointed out in 2009 by Benedict XVI and recently highlighted on several occasions by Pope Francis. Faced with the problems to be confronted, political or sociological or economic solutions will not suffice if we do not realize that the identity and specificity of the human person are at stake. On Veritatis GaudiumPope Francis, in n. 6, invited scholars, in particular universities and ecclesiastical faculties, to become aware that "what is emerging before our eyes today is 'a great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge that will entail long processes of regeneration'".
For this reason, in the research project promoted by the Faculty of Philosophy of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, we have involved 14 researchers from ten European and American university institutions to help re-found the culture of care, which constitutes the deep vocation of the human person, as Pope Francis himself recalled in his Message for the 2021 World Day of Peace: the care of the human being and its flourishing in the different dimensions of existence (such as, for example, relationships, the environment, the common good, the artistic heritage, the sacred).
Is a dialogue between philosophy and the humanities on these issues possible?
- Dialogue is not only possible, but indispensable. Indeed, the conference will be attended not only by philosophers, but also by neuroscientists, physicians, sociologists, educationalists and economists. This interdisciplinarity is reflected not only in the main papers, but also in the forty or so communications that will be presented.
The human sciences, particularly neuroscience, are advancing considerably, but they do not capture the person in his or her corporeal-spiritual integrity: we are not just a biologically complex organism governed by a highly specialized brain. Otherwise, pain, freedom, compassion for others, dedication to others, the very search for the truth about our human condition and the meaning of our actions would remain without explanation or meaning. The rigor of science and the holistic vision of philosophical anthropology can and must confront and dialogue.
You mentioned compassion and empathy - is there still a place for these feelings in today's technologized society?
- As for the sentimental sphere, the omnipresence of technology accentuates illiteracy, because it does not help us to understand, express and recognize our own and other people's feelings. On the other hand, compassion and empathy do not only involve the emotional plane, in the sense that they go beyond a passing state of mind. On the contrary, they are two existential attitudes that imply an openness of heart to the needs of others, an awareness of our constitutive relationality and a willingness to seek the good of others.
I like to emphasize that, providentially, the conference coincides with the Jubilee of Volunteering; we only realized this once the dates were set and we saw in it a confirmation of what I have mentioned: altruism is inherent to human nature, even if individualistic culture blurs its features and scope.
Singing is key in the worship of God, expressing faith and dedication. The Church has always valued it as a means of praise and transmission of faith.
February 5, 2025-Reading time: 2minutes
If there is one thing the Word of God encourages us to do, it is to sing: "Sing!
The saved people sing and dance. It does so in the middle of the desert, when Mary, the sister of Moses, encouraged to sing "to the Lord, exalted conqueror". Dance David "with all their enthusiasm, singing with zithers and harps, with tambourines, sistrums and cymbals."Mary intones a rhythmic psalmody, the Magnificat, at the gates of Elizabeth's house; Christ himself laments the unbelief of the people with a musical comparison: "we have sung to the sound of the flute and you have not danced.".
– Supernatural music is intimately linked to the deepest human emotions and there is God. Worshipping God with songs and dances shows this total surrender of man: that movement that is born from the depths of the heart and manifests itself physically.
It is not in vain that music is said to be the language of the angels, created for the eternal adoration and praise of God. God sings and creates; he creates by singing and there are those who imagined the creation of the world as a musical composition following the powerful image of C. S. Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia.
Men and women of all times have sung of their deepest aspirations and desires, their clearest loves, their beginning and end. The Church too, as the people of God, has sung of the center of his love since its origins: "the musical tradition of the universal Church constitutes a treasure of inestimable value which stands out among other artistic expressions, mainly because sacred chant, united with words, constitutes a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy". affirms the Sacrosanctum Concilium.
In a masterful, and not uncontroversial, article by Marcos Torres published in Omnes on October 9, 2024, the author points out how "to such an extent has religious music been important in the transmission of the truth of the contents of the faith, that the Church through apostolic succession has always taken care to discern and verify the concrete expressions and forms of the various musical creations.". Expressions ranging from liturgical music, proper to the celebration of the Eucharistic sacramental mystery, to the new musical movements linked to adoration (worship).
Music, as a profoundly human and divine expression, is a privileged vehicle to worship God and transmit faith, to incarnate love and to love the God who became man and who, surely, also danced and sang.
Mali, Congo and Nigeria: the current situation of the Church in Africa
The Church in Africa is going through a time of great dynamism and challenges. While the continent is experiencing significant growth in the number of faithful, it is also facing difficulties such as violence against Christian communities, poverty and political instability in various regions.
The Catholic education system in Mali faces serious threats due to the increase in jihadist violence in the country. Extremist groups have attacked and destroyed schools, especially in the northern and central regions of Mali, forcing the closure of numerous educational centers. This situation jeopardizes the education of thousands of children and young people, and severely affects local Christian communities.
The Catholic Church, through its educational institutions, has played a crucial role in promoting peace and coexistence in Mali. However, growing insecurity hampers its work and threatens to dismantle the Catholic educational system in the country.
Peace project for Congo
The National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) and the Church of Christ in Congo (ECC), which brings together 64 Protestant and evangelical denominations, have signed the "Social Pact for Peace and Coexistence in the Congo". Democratic Republic of the Congo and in the Great Lakes Region". This agreement seeks to restore peace in the country's eastern provinces, affected by more than 30 years of violence and the presence of numerous armed groups, many with foreign support. The pact is inspired by the African concept of "Bumuntu", which promotes empathy, mutual respect and solidarity, fostering social cohesion and rejecting exclusion and violence.
To implement the pact, CENCO and ECC will form thematic commissions on peace and social cohesion, charged with drafting a National Charter for Peace and Harmony. In addition, an "International Conference for Peace, Co-Development and Co-Existence in the Great Lakes" will be convened.
The risk of being a priest in Nigeria
In Nigeria, Catholic priests have become "soft targets" for kidnappers. The belief that the Church is a wealthy institution is reinforced by observing the vehicles some priests drive, leading criminals to assume that by kidnapping them, the Church will pay a substantial ransom. Kidnapping has become a lucrative business, and priests are seen as vulnerable targets with access to financial resources.
While religious hatred may also play a role in these kidnappings, economic factors play a crucial role. The rector of the seminary, Father Raymond Olusesan Aina, regrets the violence that Christians and Catholics in particular face in NigeriaThe company's mission is to provide a service to the people, noting that many have suffered and even lost their lives because of their faith, particularly in the northern part of the country.
As Mercedes Temboury Redondo argues, the theological error of the Inquisition consisted in trying to force the conversion of the defendant through a legal process.
Mercedes Temboury Redondo, PhD in Modern Spanish History and tireless researcher of the Spanish Supreme Inquisition and its suffragan courts in the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, in the funds of the National Historical Archive of Spain, presents in this extensive volume which we now comment on a synthesis of his research.
The Unknown Inquisition: The Spanish Empire and the Holy Office
AuthorMercedes Temboury Redondo
Editorial: Arzalia
Language: English
Number of pages: 496
The angle of vision of this work and its objective coincide in offering a synthesis of the Inquisition from the perspective and interests of the Spanish Empire in Europe, Asia and America during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The black legend
This vision attempts to illuminate the dark points of the black legend fabricated especially by Juan Antonio Llorente, the last Secretary of the Supreme Inquisition who went into exile in France in the 19th century and lived off the publication of the "secret" papers he had taken from the archives.
In fact, it has been many years since the Pope St. John Paul II provided the necessary light to understand the origin and theological errors of the Spanish Inquisition. On March 12, 2000, in an impressive ceremony at the Vatican in front of a 12th century crucifix, the Holy Father, surrounded by his cardinals of the Curia, asked forgiveness for all the sins of all Christians of all times and, especially, for the use of violence to defend the faith.
Indeed, Roman law affirmed, and as such passed on to the Church the principle: "de internis neque Ecclesia iudicat". Of internal things neither the Church can judge, only God knows the interior of man.
Theological error of the Inquisition
The theological error of the Inquisition consisted, therefore, in trying to force the conversion of the accused by means of a juridical process. As is the common doctrine of the Church, and as the New Testament and Tradition state, only the grace of God can open the soul to conversion: "No one comes to me unless the Father draws him" (Jn 6:40). Therefore, only persuasion and prayer and penance and good example can stir souls to repentance and rectification.
As all those who have exercised spiritual direction or spiritual accompaniment know well, when a person is sincere in the Sacrament of Penance, with that gift comes the gift of contrition and the soul can regain the peace of God's mercy. To catch a person in the lack of coherence of faith and life and attempt repentance only leads to hardening of the heart and wounded pride.
Indeed, the studies that we have carried out on the subject and that we have published in many articles and monographs on the "theological error of the Inquisition", shed this light: the objective of the inquisitorial process was to objectify the theological error in which the defendant had fallen and then seek conversion under pressure: the Judaizing heresy, the apostasy and return to Islam of the new convert, the denial of the sins established by the positive divine law. The inquisitors usually had a good heart and knew that they had to give an account to the Supreme Court of their rectitude of intention and to God who is the Lord of consciences, that is why so many files are preserved and so prolix.
Spiritual and legal finesse
Evidently, this was a mistake for which we must ask forgiveness because, even if only a single process had taken place, we should already repent and rectify. It is necessary to return to trust in God who will move the soul to conversion and in man who can repent and rectify before the good example and happiness of other Catholics: "If your brother sins against you, go and correct him alone with him. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. If he does not listen, then take with you one or two, so that any matter may be made firm by the word of two or three witnesses But if he will not listen to them, tell it to the Church. If he will not listen to the Church either, consider him a pagan and a tax collector" (Mt 18:15-17).
On the other hand, our author's analysis is full of juridical finesse, thanks to which she demonstrates that the procedural system of the Inquisition protected the defendants from the temptation to seize the assets of the accused or to be condemned for false accusations or to resolve problems of enmity or litigation in the villages. In fact, as the author demonstrates, the complex legal system yielded impressive results: most of the trials ended in the acquittal of the accused because they were not really heretics but people with a lack of elementary Christian education. A few were indeed condemned for heresy, but, upon repentance, they were given medicinal sentences. And only a very few were condemned to death. As Jaime Contreras has already shown in his Inquisition database, only 1.8 % were handed over to the secular arm.
Evidently, only an inquisitorial process would be enough to ask forgiveness for having violated conscience, even if it is argued, as the author does, that the inquisitorial process saved us from events such as: the 50,000 Huguenots murdered in France on the night of Saint Bartholomew, August 23-24, 1572; the 500,000 witches burned in Germany in the Lutheran trials without papers; the death of Michael Servetus by Calvin simply to compensate for the offended divine justice and the martyrdom of the Jesuit Edmund Edmund Servetus.000 witches burned in Germany in the Lutheran trials without papers; the death of Michael Servetus by Calvin simply to compensate the offended divine justice and the martyrdom of the Jesuit Edmund Campion and many other Catholic priests in England because the Anglican inquisitorial court considered them guilty of death for celebrating the Catholic Mass as that would be high treason to Queen Elizabeth, head of the Anglican Church.
A new vision
In reality, this work is a new vision of the Inquisition taken from the reading and research of many files taken from the National Historical Archive and other archives consulted. The author has focused especially on the second life of the inquisitorial process. That is, from 1511 to 1833. In this period, the Inquisition should have disappeared since it had been created for the processes against judaizers and these practically disappeared during this time.
Indeed, it is understood that the aim of this book is to demonstrate that the Inquisition worked above all at the service of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of the Spanish Empire at a time of close union between civil and ecclesiastical power when the unity of the faith was capital for the renewal of the Church after Trent and the expansion of the Spanish empire in America and Asia.
Pope prepares document to help Church promote children's rights
Pope Francis is preparing a document addressed to children and focused on children's rights, he confirmed on February 3 at the end of a summit on the subject held at the Vatican.
At the end of a Vatican summit on the rights of children, the Pope Francis announced that he would publish a papal document dedicated to children.
He described the February 3 summit, held in the frescoed halls of the Apostolic Palace, as a kind of "open observatory" in which the speakers explored "the reality of childhood throughout the world, a childhood that unfortunately is often wounded, exploited, denied."
Some 50 experts and leaders from around the world, who shared their experience and compassion, he said, also "elaborated proposals for the protection of children's rights, considering them not as numbers, but as faces."
"Children are watching us," he said, "to see how we are doing" in this world. The Pope said he planned to prepare a papal document "to give continuity to this commitment and promote it throughout the Church." The audience applauded the Pope and his brief closing remarks and gave him a standing ovation.
Promoting and defending children's rights
The one-day summit of world leaders, entitled "Love and Protect Them," discussed several issues of concern, including children's right to food, health care, education, family, leisure time and the right to live free from violence and exploitation. It was organized by the newly created Pontifical Committee for World Children's DayEnzo Fortunato, presided by the Franciscan Father Enzo Fortunato.
Among the guests were Nobel laureates, ministers and heads of state, leaders of international and non-profit organizations, senior Vatican officials and other experts.
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said in his speech: "The threat of ecological devastation - encompassing the climate crisis as well as the biodiversity crisis - is a terrible burden that we are imposing on our children.
He praised the Pope for stressing that "the spiritual crisis we face comes in part from the willful blindness that prevents so many from seeing the way our economic system is leading us toward exploitation of both people and the planet, at the expense of our moral values and the future of children."
Know the problems, know the solutions
"Those in power today must change our thinking; and our new thinking must lead to profound changes that transform our current systems of economics and politics, ushering in a more just and ecological system that places environmental and social justice at the center of our plans and efforts," Gore said. "We have all the solutions we need."
India's Kailash Satyarthi, co-winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize and an activist who campaigns against child labor in India and advocates for the universal right to education, said in his talk that while he trusts everyone's concern for children, he also feels ashamed.
"I'm embarrassed because we are failing our children every day. I'm ashamed to hear all these facts and statistics that I've been hearing" and talking about for the last 45 years," he said.
"We know the problems, we know the solutions," he said, but so far it has all remained rhetoric and words.
Compassion for children
The world's problem solvers "are not really honest (with) those who suffer the problems," he said, when they lack any sense of "moral responsibility and moral accountability."
"The solution lies in genuine feeling and connection" with each child as if he or she were one's own, he said. Only when people feel genuine compassion will they feel "the sincere urge to act urgently."
"We have to combat this threat (of child labor and poverty) and all other crises through compassion in action. We have to create a culture of problem solving. Let us globalize compassion because they are all our children," Satyarthi said.
This article is a translation of an article first published in OSV News. You can find the original article here.
In the middle of Christmas time, on January 4, Pope Francis dedicated an address to an important group of Italian Catholic educators, based on what he called "the most important and most important of the Italian Catholic educators". Pedagogy of God. With quick strokes he outlined a program for Christian-inspired education. A program that we could call pedagogy of hopeand that illuminates our path in the Jubilee year.
"¿What is -Francisco wondered. God's educational method?"And the answer was: "It is that of proximity and closeness". The trinomial that he usually repeats resounded in the background: closeness, compassion and tenderness. And this may lead us to ask ourselves: how should we Christians deal with a pedagogy of hope?
The curtain opens on the divine pedagogy: "Like a teacher who enters the world of his students, God chooses to live among men in order to teach through the language of life and love. Jesus was born in a condition of poverty and simplicity: this calls us to a pedagogy that values what is essential and places humility, gratuitousness and acceptance at the center.".
In contrast," the Pope explains, "pedagogy that is distant and distant from the students is neither useful nor helpful. In fact, Christmas teaches us that greatness is not manifested in success or wealth, but in love and service to others.
The pedagogy of God
"God's -he shelled out- is a pedagogy of gift, a call to live in communion with Him and with others, as part of a project of universal fraternity, a project in which the family occupies a central and irreplaceable place.".
Let us note how this orientation resonates with the main chords of Francis' teachings, whose center is communion with God and with people. And which leads to praising and thanking him (Laudato si'(the gift that has been given to us in the Heart of Christ (Dilexit uswho loved us). Such is the horizon of Christian proclamation (Evangelii gaudiumof the joy of the Gospel). A proclamation that implies, in fact, the project of a universal fraternity (Fratelli tutti, all siblings), in which the family plays a nuclear role (Amoris laetitiathe joy of love).
For this reason, he continues, God's pedagogy is "an invitation to recognize the dignity of every person, beginning with the discarded and marginalized, as shepherds were treated two thousand years ago, and to appreciate the value of every stage of life, including childhood. The family is the center, let us not forget it!"
The Declaration of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith should be mentioned here, Dignitas infinita (April 8, 2024) which underlines the value of human dignity, easily recognized by the believer, since God loves every human being with an infinite love and "...".thereby conferring infinite dignity" (Fratelli tuttiThe expression is from John Paul II, Message to the disabled16-XI-1980).
With regard to the family, and in order to invite communication in the family, the Pope stops to recount an event. On Sunday, someone was eating in a restaurant. At the next table there was a family, the father and the mother, the son and the daughter, each one attentive to his cell phone, without talking to each other. This gentleman got up and told them that since they were a family, why didn't they talk to each other. The result is that they sent him on his way and went on with what they were doing....
Our hope, the engine of education
In the second part of the speech, Francis placed himself in the the way of the jubilee we are beginning. With the Incarnation of the Son of God, the hope has entered the world.
"The Jubilee -noted- has much to say to the world of education and schools. In fact, 'pilgrims of hope' are all those who are searching for meaning in their lives, and also those who help young people to walk this path.".
That's right. A parenthesis. In the Global education pact that Francis has been proposing, and whose launch was interrupted by the pandemic, the issue of the address occupies a central place (cfr. Instrumentum laboris(2020) In outlining the general lines of the educational task we need today, Benedict XVI is quoted in his Letter to the diocese and city of Rome on the urgent task of education (21-I-2008) when it states: "There is talk of a great 'educational emergency', confirmed by the failures in which very often end our efforts to form solid people, capable of collaborating with others and giving meaning to their lives.".
In fact, the increasing numbers of suicides among young people only confirm this urgency (in 2023, a study showed that in Spain, suicide is the leading cause of death in young people and adolescents between 12 and 29 years of age).
Let us continue with Francis' speech. He maintains the evidence that education has to do in a central way with hope: the hope, supported by the experience of human history, that people can mature and grow. And this hope sustains the educator in his task:
"A good teacher is a man or woman of hope, because he or she is committed with confidence and patience to a project of human growth. His or her hope is not naïve, it is rooted in reality, sustained by the conviction that every educational effort has value and that every person has a dignity and a vocation that deserves to be cultivated.".
In this regard, the Pope expresses his pain when he sees children who have no education and who go to work, often exploited, or who go to look for food or things to sell where there is garbage.
Small and big hopes
But, he asks, "How can we not lose hope and nourish it every day?"
And he advises: "Keep your gaze fixed on Jesus, teacher and companion on the way: this allows you to be truly pilgrims of hope. Think of the people you meet at school, children and adults.".
It was already said in the Bull for the convocation of the Jubilee: "Everyone hopes. In the heart of every person nestles hope as a desire and expectation of the good, even in ignorance of what tomorrow will bring." (Spes non confundit, 1).
This is an argument that had already appeared in the encyclical Spe salvi (cf. Benedict XVI, nn. 30 ff.): there are the small or greater human hopes (which everyone has, in relation to love, work, etc.), depending also on the times of life. And then there is the hope proclaimed by the Christian faith: "the greatest hope that cannot be destroyed even by frustrations in small things or by failure in events of historical importance." (n. 35).
Well, Francis says: "These human hopes, through each and every one of you -educators-, can find Christian hope, the hope that is born of faith and lives in charity.". He adds: "let us not forget: hope does not disappoint. Optimism disappoints, but hope does not disappoint. A hope that surpasses all human desire, because it opens minds and hearts to life and to eternal beauty.".
How, then, can this be done in schools or in Christian-inspired colleges?
An incisive and articulate proposal
Here is the proposal of Francisco: "You are called to elaborate and transmit a new culture, based on the encounter between generations, on inclusion, on the discernment of the true, the good and the beautiful; a culture of responsibility, personal and collective, to face global challenges such as the environmental, social and economic crises, and the great challenge of peace. At school we can 'imagine peace', that is, lay the foundations for a more just and fraternal world, with the contribution of all disciplines and the creativity of children and young people.".
Let us note some elements of the proposal. First of all, the Christian educator does not fly over human hopes in order to take a shortcut to the only important thing, which would be Christian hope. To understand this would be a mistake. Christian hope assumes human hopes, whether personal or social, as long as they are true, good and beautiful, even if some of them can be considered as more small by its scope or duration. "Christian hope assumes all hopes". that we have today, such as peace, although its achievement may seem difficult or distant.
In the second place, the great Christian hope, on this path of assuming the smallest - if we want to speak in this way - human hopes, is making a new culture, to be "a culture of personal and collective responsibility".precisely through education. But this requires an effort, in the personal and social field, in the direction of encounter, inclusion, ethical responsibility.
Third, teaching, not only at the university level but also in schools and colleges, needs the interdisciplinarityThe work of bringing together the different subjects of the curricula so that each one contributes its best in dialogue with the others, thus enriching education and helping students in their personal growth.
In its apostolic constitution Veritatis gaudium (2017), on that anthropological or cultural basis of interdisciplinarity, Francisco proposes a further step: the. transdisciplinarity, understood "as the location and maturation of all knowledge in the space of Light and Life offered by the Wisdom that flows from the Revelation of God". (cfr. 4 c).
Fourth and last, all of it asks, from school or college, discernment and creativity. First, in the teachers, in their minds, in their work, personally and as a team. And then, they must teach the students these fundamental attitudes: to discern the true, the good and the beautiful; and to encourage their creativity. And not to lose themselves in useless imaginations or daydreams, but to "laying the groundwork" of a more just and fraternal world; for a more just and "meeting the challenges" both personal and global.
Hope is not mere utopia
Someone might ask: aren't these too many goals? Isn't this educational project proposed by Francis somewhat utopian, perhaps attractive, but unattainable in reality?
And just before this question, at that moment, it is when our hope is testedthat of each educator. And, before that, that of each family. And, afterwards and at the same time, that of each educational center.
So we could say or tell them, or tell us: you have (have) so much hope, you will have (will have) so much engine, for your (or your) educational task.
For the rest, the Pope does not abandon realism. He says: all of this (imagining peace with realistic dreams) will not be possible if the school allows the "wars"between educators or the bullying Then peace would be unimaginable, as would be all the dreams of education.
The end of the speech is near. What is important in a school or college is not the building, but the people. By its very nature, the educational task involves a path and a community, a place for the testimony of human values.
This was known to the great promoters and educators of educational institutions in which those who listened to the Pope that day were working. Those of us who are now reading this speech know it and wish to take advantage of it to continue in the educational field or to regain new impetus.
Francis knows this well. And he offers, in conclusion, a few pieces of advice or suggestions that, in their apparent simplicity, deserve to be meditated upon and worked on. They appeal both to the "educational passion" and to the responsibility and discernment of educators and school administrators.
They are condensed in this paragraph:
"Never forget where you come from, but do not walk with your heads turned backwards, lamenting the old days. Think rather of the present of the school, which is the future of society, in full epochal transformation. Think of the young teachers who are taking their first steps in school and of the families who feel alone in their educational task. Propose to each one your educational and associative style with humility and novelty".
Francis encourages us to work together on the path of hope: "Hope never disappoints, never, hope never stands still, hope is always on the way and keeps us going".
In search of the theological foundation of sacred and liturgical music
The approach to music must be theological and liturgical. If this perspective had been adopted from the beginning, many historical problems could have been avoided, and the spiritual fruits in the world would have been greater.
Some time ago, while preparing a conference on sacred music, I remembered a biblical episode that always strikes me for its power: the song of the People of Israel after crossing the Red Sea. That scene, recorded in the book of Exodus, shows us a response of amazement and gratitude in the face of God's saving intervention:
I will sing to the Lord, glorious is His victory... My strength and my power is the Lord, He was my salvation.(Ex 15:1b-18).
This moment is not only a historical account, but also a theological key. In the face of the ineffable - the love of God, his wonder to save the people - words are not enough. It is then that song emerges as a language capable of expressing what the moment demands.
Are we losing the sense of the ineffable?
To illustrate the lecture, I wanted to find out how classic films about Moses had depicted these moments. My surprise was great: many omitted the song, focusing on the wonder of the open water, blurring the reaction of the people. This led me to ask myself a question: are we losing the ability to recognize the ineffable?
We live in a culture that seems convinced that everything can be said, explained or defined. But reality reminds us again and again that there are things that escape our words: how to describe the color yellow to a person born blind? How to explain the sound of a trumpet to a deaf person? Even in matters as human as love or friendship, words fall short.
Music as a language
So, if we are unable to grasp what surrounds us with ordinary language, how can we put into words the mystery of God, the love he has for us, our fear and gratitude? Moreover, how could we truly dialogue with Him if we refuse to deploy all the capacities that He Himself has imprinted in our nature to do so?
Let us think of the liturgy. It is the privileged place where God speaks to us about Himself, not only with words, but also through signs, gestures, colors, smells and, of course, music. The liturgy that Jesus Christ has given us has a profoundly dialogical character: it wants to be an encounter between Him and us. And St. Augustine, despite the personal dilemma he had with music because of its Neoplatonic roots, tells us: "Singing is an expression of joy and, if we consider it more attentively, it is an expression of love" (Sermon 34).
A fundamental point, of another order: if it turns out that Jesus Christ himself and his disciples sang at the Last Supper, who could claim any objection against liturgical chant?
Up to this point, everything seems beautiful and coherent. But then, what is happening in our parishes today?
Music, beauty and mystery
First of all, the 'Music'. What is a topic like this doing in such a serious theological journal as Omnes? The question is not obvious and deserves consideration. Joseph Ratzinger considers it 'music of faith', because it proceeds from faith and leads us to it. This alone would be enough to justify the place of sacred music in theological reflection.
However, when we speak of 'liturgical music', his words take on even greater weight. Commenting on the Second Vatican Council - "sacred song, united with words, constitutes a necessary or integral part of the solemn Liturgy" (Sacrosanctum Concilium112), Ratzinger points out clearly: music itself is liturgy. Therefore, the answer is given: we speak of music in Omnes -of certain music, of course- because we speak of theology.
Beauty', which also has much to say in this area, will be dealt with later. As for 'Mystery', we will focus our reflection mainly on liturgical music, without neglecting to illuminate what it can bring us about sacred music in general. In this way we will be able to go deeper with greater clarity.
Dialogues... impossible?
After twenty-one centuries of Church history, liturgical music remains an unresolved issue in many places. The problems are obvious and can be observed with a simple test: ask the opinion of two or three people from the same parish about the music of the Mass. Chances are, if the conversation is not handled tactfully, the discussion will end in conflict.
Then a question arises: why don't the musician and the liturgist talk to clarify things? Although the idea seems logical, today, in many cases, it is impossible. The reason is clear: the content of such a conversation should be theological and liturgical, but the theology necessary to support it is not yet sufficiently elaborated.
An illustrative example
Imagine a conversation between a liturgist and a musician:
- Liturgist (L): I need you to compose something for the offertory at Sunday Mass.
- Musician (M): All right, what do you want me to say my music?
- L: I don't know, something nice, you know!
- M: Wait, I know about music, but I'm asking you what my music should express in this Sunday's offertory. That's something you should tell me.
- L (mumbling): These musicians... always complicating everything!
The conversation ends in stalemate because neither has the tools necessary to move forward. The musician seeks meaning and purpose; the liturgist cannot articulate it. And it's not ignorance on the part of a particular liturgist. Proof? Liturgical books use expressions such as, "Sing here a chant. appropriate". In more favorable cases the indications go as far as proposing the text of a psalm, as an example. And the music? When is it 'appropriate'? Or is the music neutral and not says nothing? These are the questions we urgently need to address in order to build a fruitful dialogue.
A question of deep roots
The lack of communication between musicians and liturgists is not superficial; it has deep roots. Let us remember that the liturgy is not simply a human event: it is a divine gift, given at the price of the Cross. Its proper configuration does not depend solely on good intentions; it requires us to recognize that its true work is carried out by the Holy Spirit, even if He wants to count on our collaboration. Here, precisely, lies the heart of musical activity within liturgical chant.
Two reflections help to better understand this point. First, let us consider how difficult it would be to make a minimal change in the text of the Eucharistic Prayer. Now let us contrast this with the ease with which, at times, the chanting of the Mass is improvised or trivialized, even in solemn celebrations. Not to mention the unusual offers available on the internet for the music of a Catholic marriage....
The second reflection comes from an experience lived in the beloved American continent. In a theology faculty, I was trying to explain these arguments about the need for a theological development of liturgical music. At first, it seems that I was not clear, because a professor commented: -So, what you are looking for is the style of liturgical music, right?
This commentary gave me the opportunity to clarify a fundamental point: the focus is not on styles or instruments. It is in the theological foundations.
Beyond taste and style
A serious theological development is needed on a subject that always seems to slip through our fingers. Bringing music to this depth opens to the freedom, richness and depth of the Mystery of God. Without this perspective, any discussion of liturgical music ends up reduced to personal taste or the possibility of using violins or guitars. In fact, this tension is not new: more than a millennium ago, something similar was already being debated, albeit in other forms.
The pontifical Magisterium has left many indications, but theological development is still insufficient. The questions, at times, are surprising: what does it mean that Gregorian chant is "supreme model of all sacred music" (St. Pius X, Motu proprio Among the applications, 4)? At other times, the questions are essential: what must a piece of music have in order to be called liturgical?
Towards a new era
This theological development is necessary and requires the joint effort of theologians and liturgists, musicians, musicologists and philosophers. It is an open and active question, for all this volume of study must end in the composition and performance of a music, which is liturgical.
What we want to convey is that we are witnessing an important novelty: an epistemological path is opening up that invites us to a new era in our work. This is the program that we wish to propose in these lines and in successive contributions: these paths and ways that allow scholars of subjects that have traditionally been considered disparate to work together, but which are not, because they say of God and they say to God in the liturgy.
A theological question (I). The music says
Therefore, the approach to music must be theological and liturgical. If this perspective had been adopted from the beginning, many historical problems could have been avoided, and the spiritual fruits in the world would have been greater.
We would like to focus on one key idea: music. says. To skeptics, the communicative impact of music may seem debatable. However, when economic interests are involved, the issue is immediately recognized. Just think of how music is used strategically in advertising or cinema to convey specific messages. To illustrate this, we recommend these publicly accessible videos, which are eloquent examples:
The task of conveying that musical message belongs to the art and craft of the composer. That is where the potential dialogue between musician and liturgist begins, provided both are willing and clear about their craft. The central question will be what is it that the music has to say in the liturgical context.
Learning from the past
In this series of publications that we are initiating, our intention is to start from what already exists in the history of music -which has witnessed countless successes- and learn from it. In this way we will be able to discern what we should continue to do and how to do it better. The advantage we have today -we insist- is that we now know the method. However, the work ahead is still immense.
Before describing this general approach, we would like to dwell on a starting point that may be familiar to some. We are talking about liturgy and, as we have explained, in liturgy words are not enough.
A theological question (II). A concrete game
Romano Guardini, in The spirit of the liturgyproposed a little more than a century ago that liturgy, under certain aspects, can be understood as a game. Games create a small universe where everyday concerns fade away and a world with its own rules emerges, appearing and disappearing in time.
The legend of the conversion of Prince Vladimir of Kiev adds an important dimension to this idea. According to the story, in seeking a religion for his people, Vladimir called representatives of some of the major religions to speak with them. Since none convinced him, he decided to send emissaries to the religious celebrations of the different faiths. On their return, those who had attended the liturgy in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, gave a moving testimony: "We do not know whether we were in heaven or on earth. But we have experienced that there, God is among men." The liturgy was not intended to convince anyone. The definitive argument for Prince Vladimir was that there all things were done, not for a purpose, but only to please God.
Ratzinger, without completely rejecting Guardini's vision, qualifies the idea. The liturgy can resemble a game, but not just any game, because it has to do with the right way to adore God. He alone knows how He wants to be adored, and Jesus Christ has wanted to reveal this to us. From this perspective, the liturgy becomes an anticipation of the future life (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 8).
The liturgy, between play and adoration
Therefore, a game with a rules for worship, in which we know that we please God. Within these rules, we play in freedom. Everyone plays by the same rules, although some do it better than others, because the key is to set out in search of what is essential: a space of truth and beauty where God comes to meet us so that we may seek and find him. Now, the dialogical character of the liturgy is understood in greater depth.
Well, this context of truth and beauty, of freedom to find what is essential, is pointed out by two authors as important for the development of sacred music. The two authors are Joseph Ratzinger and Father Angelo De Santi, S.J. (1847-1922), who was directly involved in the drafting of the Motu Proprio Among the applications of St. Pius X (1903). The reference made by both of them is chapter VIII of the Policy of Aristotle, together with the notion of paideia Greek. The development is not immediate, but we can propose here the conclusions.
Music, paideia and the education of freedom
– Supernatural paideia The Greek religion was an educational guide with a religious dimension, oriented to lead the individual to the essential. On the other hand, the contents of this final chapter of the Policy approaches education as the means to form the individual beyond useful and practical needs, orienting it towards leisure, understood as a noble and elevated activity. This leisure is not mere rest, but a space for the cultivation of truth, beauty and human fulfillment.
The key to our reflection is that Aristotle identifies music as the main discipline for this training, thanks to its unique ability to mold the soul and the emotions. More than mere entertainment, music is an educational tool that fosters inner harmony, virtuous character and integration into a community oriented to the common good. Joseph Ratzinger explains it this way:
If we think that the Church, due to the place in which it was formed, made its own, in many aspects, the attitude of the polis classical, the Aristotelian association of polis and music would have been an ideal starting point for the question of sacred music.
And also:
The theory of music that Aristotle develops in his Policy VIII is strongly influenced by the idea of the paideiaThe idea is that, in music education, it goes beyond what is necessary and useful, and aims to train for the good use of free time, thus becoming an education for freedom and beauty.
(J. Ratzinger, The theological foundation of sacred music).
Our purpose
In order to approach this treatment of music as liturgy, we will begin with a series of articles on music in the history of the Church. It will be a particular journey, from a history of sacred music. The conclusion will be, at the same time, disturbing and hopeful.
Subsequently, we will devote ourselves to unfolding the theological question. We point out at this point that the development requires not one, but two theological perspectives, distinct and complementary. A brief description will now serve:
1. Theology of sacred music (TMS). This approach seeks to answer fundamental questions about sacred music, analogous to how theology reflects on the nature of liturgy and worship. It is a broad study that draws on contributions from a variety of disciplines, from theological and philosophical anthropology to specific areas such as Christology, eschatology, theology of creation, incarnation and liturgy. Its main objective is to understand what sacred music is, what its nature is and how it is linked to divine revelation.
2. Liturgical-musical theology (TLM). Here we find the most novel epistemological proposal. TLM is an extension of liturgical theology that is integrated with the specific means of music and musicology. To better understand this approach, it is useful to look at how liturgical theology is understood in general.
Liturgical theology studies the liturgy. in actuThe theological meaning of a responsorial psalm in the context of a specific celebration; the symbolism of certain gestures of the celebrant; or the peculiarities of a particular liturgical moment. It analyzes, for example, the theological meaning of a responsorial psalm in the context of a specific celebration; the symbolism of certain gestures of the celebrant; or the peculiarities of a particular liturgical moment. This approach transcends the descriptive and responds to the classical motto fides quaerens intellectumThe liturgy itself is the act of seeking God and his Word.
Similarly, the TLM focuses on the theological study of liturgical music. in actu. Its task is to explore how music contributes to the existential theology proper to each celebration, adding a unique and specific dimension not found in any other element of the liturgy.
A necessary dialogue
Our proposal holds that TMS and TLM should develop in constant communication. TMS provides the conceptual and theological foundations, while TLM focuses on the concrete application of music in the liturgical context. However, the result of this collaboration does not remain theoretical: it culminates in the musical act, which has the capacity to express liturgically the Word of God and to manifest the Christ present in the liturgy.
This project transcends the strictly theological field and involves disciplines such as musicology, anthropology and aesthetics so that theology finds its final expression in music. In this sense, the liturgical musical act is not only art, but also lived theology.
In the next articles of this series, we will begin our particular journey through history.
The authorRamón Saiz-Pardo Hurtado
Associate Professor, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. MBM International Project (Music, Beauty and Mystery)
Exploring the growth of Catholic classical liberal arts education
Jay Boren, principal of St. Benedict Classical Academy since 2015, believes that cultivating wisdom and virtue in the pursuit of truth and conformity to Christ is the ultimate purpose of Catholic classical education.
Jay Boren, director of the St. Benedict Classical Academy since 2015, believes that cultivating wisdom and virtue in the pursuit of truth and conformity to Christ is the ultimate purpose of classical Catholic education. He spoke recently with Charlie Camosy of OSV News about returning to the heart of the education Catholic and whether Catholic education is experiencing a "renaissance" moment following a promising increase in Catholic school enrollment in 2023.
A good number of people have heard a lot more about classical Catholic education in recent years, but they may not know exactly what it means or what it refers to. Let's start there: what is classical Catholic education? It's something much more fundamental than just learning Latin and reading "The Odyssey," right?
- Classical Catholic education is less about learning Latin and reading "The Odyssey" and more about returning to what people in the classical and medieval tradition thought was the true purpose of education, namely, the cultivation of wisdom and virtue, and the conversion of our minds and hearts to what is true, good and beautiful.
As Catholics, we believe that this process of conversion conforms us to Christ and leads us to God. In other words, a classical Catholic education helps us to fulfill the purpose for which we were created: to know, love and serve God.
Classical Catholic education strives to regain a connection to this traditional understanding of what education is. Certainly we think that reading classical texts and learning Latin is important, but only because they connect us to the wisdom of our tradition.
We want our students to know what is true, good and beautiful, but it would be terribly presumptuous to think that it is up to us to decide what counts as "truth." To do that, we have to humbly return to our tradition: to what has stood the test of time and to what the best minds and noblest souls in history have taught and shown us about those things.
This idea of what education is for contrasts with a perspective that sees education primarily as college or career preparation. Certainly we want our students to find meaningful work, earn a living and support their families. But that goal is secondary. If we are producing graduates who get into top colleges and end up making a lot of money in their jobs, but are not virtuous, do not strive for holiness and have no desire to seek truth, we would not consider that a success. This does not sell well to our students. They are called to much more.
They are called to flourish fully, with all the faculties of their minds, hearts and souls freed to know what is true, to love what is beautiful and to do what is good. St. Irenaeus said that the glory of God is man fully alive. We want our students to be fully alive so that they can give glory to God.
Is it too strong to call what is happening lately an explosion of classical Catholic education? It seems that everywhere you look there is a new school being created, a new conference on the subject, professional societies meeting annually, more typical Catholic schools "going classical" and more. Can you give us a brief description of what is happening now?
- I don't know if it's an explosion or not, but it's certainly a renaissance! New schools are being founded every month in every region of the country. I personally talk to eight or ten people a year who are in the process of founding a new school. It is very exciting to hear about new things being founded within the Church and mostly by lay people. The schools came first, but we are also seeing a lot of new initiatives being founded to respond to the needs of those schools. The revival of classical education is also serving as a creative vehicle for connecting faithful Catholics across the country who are involved in the renewal of Catholic education.
These new schools are responding to a very real demand that exists in the Church at this time. There are many parents who fervently desire a rigorous classical education that is formed and grounded in authentic Catholicism. I believe this is definitely a "moment" for the Church and for Catholic education. It is up to us how we deal with that moment.
One of the things that excites me most about this movement is that it forces us to revisit the Catholic school model and reimagine our conception of Catholic education.
Many of these schools were founded by lay people. They are usually run and governed by a lay board of trustees. They are leaving behind a model that relied heavily on religious orders. Figuring out how to manage their schools after the loss of those orders is something that the American Church has failed at. This is very exciting, because instead of managing the decline, we are building something new that is alive and growing. As our chaplain, Father Peter Stamm, points out, "Healthy things grow."
You personally have been doing your part to lead this trend as principal of a new classical Catholic school. Can you say something about what you and your community have created?
- All of this has been a blessing and an incredibly exciting thing to be a part of. Our school is 12 years old, I've been here for 10 years. We've gone from 60 students when I arrived to over 320 this year. A school that started in a shared office space has just moved into a school building of majestic beauty and classic design.
However, as beautiful as the school is, the best thing about this school is the community. We have families who drive an hour each way, passing many schools along the way, to bring their children to our school. To have a school that is mission-aligned across the board is unique and a blessing. We have worked hard to ensure that mission-aligned families who desire this education can access it, regardless of their ability to pay full tuition. We have fought to keep tuition as affordable as possible and also remain adamant about investing in a robust tuition assistance program. We plan to award more than $1,000,000 in tuition assistance next year.
I love everything about this school, but the most important aspect, without a doubt, is the community. I often say that what I love most about this school are my daughters' friends. It has been so uplifting to see how many families want this education for their children and see it as a worthy investment of their time, energy and money.
From your point of view, what can the Church in general do to support this trend in Catholic education? I am thinking in particular of helping to orient and form new teachers and staff when it comes to thinking in a direction they may find unclear or even intimidating.
- Every day new initiatives emerge to face this moment. We are members of the Institute for Liberal Catholic Education. They were really at the forefront of designing programs to support schools that were changing their programming or were being founded. Many Catholic colleges are designing programs to help train students who want to work in these schools.
Tom Carroll has founded the Catholic Talent Project to help recruit and train teachers for these schools. A lot of good things are happening. I believe this trend will only continue and we will need even more initiatives to help address this moment. So many priests have supported our efforts and our local seminary and seminarians have been so supportive, I would love to see more partnerships grow between seminaries and these new schools.
Moreover, from an even broader perspective, I hope that the Church will continue to inspire and encourage young people to study literature, history, philosophy... the liberal arts! And I trust that the effort to master these great disciplines at the highest levels of education will help them discern their personal and professional vocation.
We have hired incredibly talented young teachers who have not studied education explicitly and yet, through close mentoring, professional development and, most importantly, the deep wisdom they have gained through their own studies, have been able to hit the nail on the head as teachers.
This article is a translation of an article first published in OSV News. You can find the original article here.
Pope Francis prayed the Angelus before more than 20,000 faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. During his message, the pontiff made a special appeal to couples, inviting them to embrace the gift of life and to value the importance of the family as a divine gift. He also stressed the need to protect and care for life in all its stages, recalling the fundamental role of love and responsibility in building a more caring and humane future.
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The Day of Consecrated Life, an antidote to individualism
Both Pope Francis and the Prefect for Institutes of Consecrated Life, Sr. Simona Brambilla, stressed over the weekend the "antidote to solitary individualism" that the vows of consecrated life represent.
The way consecrated women and men live their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience can offer light and hope to a world searching for authentic relationships marked by love and self-giving, Pope Francis said in the eves of the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
Looking ahead to the Catholic Church's celebration of the World Day of Prayer for the Consecrated LifeThe Pope thanked the members of religious congregations for their witness, noting that it is "leaven for the Church".
Pope Francis was accompanied by hundreds of sisters, brothers, consecrated virgins and priests of religious orders, including the new leadership of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Consolata Missionary Simona Brambilla, prefect; and Cardinal Angel Fernandez Artime, Salesian, pro-prefect.
Bearers of light and peace
On the eve, the Pontiff invited consecrated men and women to be light bearers and peace through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. And he recalled that the most important "return to the origins" "is the return to Christ and his 'yes' to the Father," Vatican News reported.
Poverty "is rooted in the very life of God, the eternal and total reciprocal gift of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the exercise of poverty, the consecrated person, with a free and generous use of all things, becomes for them, bearer of blessing".
Chastity has its "origin in the Trinity and manifests a reflection of the infinite love that unites the three divine Persons". Its profession, in the renunciation of conjugal love and in the path of continence, reaffirms the absolute primacy, for the human being, of the love of God, accepted with an undivided and nuptial heart (cf. 1 Cor 7:32-36), and indicates it as the source and model of every other love".
Obedience versus individualism
Regarding the vow of obedience, the Pontiff indicated that "it is an antidote to such solitary individualism, promoting instead a model of relationship based on effective listening, in which 'saying' and 'hearing' are followed by the concretization of 'acting,' even at the cost of renouncing one's own tastes, programs and preferences. In fact, only in this way can the person experience to the full the joy of the gift, defeating loneliness and discovering the meaning of one's existence in God's great plan.
Sister Simona Brambilla: "moving from the I to the we".
In a reflection on the World Day published in L'Osservatore Romano, the prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Sister Simona Brambilla referred to the fact that "the Final Document of the Synod on Synodality affirms that 'consecrated life is called to challenge the Church and society with its prophetic voice'.
And he noted "Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken of the call to move from the I to the we, of the need to 'meet in a we that is stronger than the sum of small individualities' (Fratelli tutti, 78), of the 'challenge to discover and transmit the mystique of living together' (Evangelii gaudium, 87), of the 'liberating and responsible experience of living as Church the mystique of the we' (Veritatis gaudium on universities and ecclesiastical faculties, 4)."
"One body, People of God".
"The synodal process has taken up, among other things, the Pauline image of the one body, and has made us experience the 'spiritual flavor' of being the People of God, gathered from all tribes, languages, peoples and nations, living in different contexts and cultures. It is never the mere sum of the baptized, but the communitarian and historical subject of synodality and mission," wrote the Prefect.
"This is the refrain that runs through the 'Laudato si' of Pope Francis. The image of the body expresses in a plastic and clear way the connection that exists between us: we creatures, we humans, we Christians, we members of the Body of Christ which is the Church, we belonging to an Institute of Consecrated Life, to a Society of Apostolic Life, to a spiritual Family animated by a unique and original charism. As in a physical body, each part, each organ, each cell of a "charismatic body" influences the rest (...).
Charisma is "Spirit is Life".
Simona Brambilla then adds: "The Charism is not the property of an Institute, of a Society, of a Charismatic Family. It is a gift of God to the world, it is Spirit, it is Life. The Institute (or Society, or Family) and each sister and brother who is a member of it, receives it as a free gift, a vital force to be allowed to flow creatively, freely, not to be 'mummified' or embalmed like a museum piece".
"In the words of Pope Francis: 'Every charism is creative, it is not a museum statue, no, it is creative. It is about remaining faithful to the original source by striving to rethink it and express it in dialogue with new social and cultural situations. It has firm roots, but the tree grows in dialogue with reality. This work of updating is all the more fruitful when it is carried out in harmony with creativity, wisdom, sensitivity to all and fidelity to the Church' (To the Focolare Movement, February 6, 2021)".
The French St. Ansgarius (Oscar) was bishop of Hamburg and Bremen, and sowed in Scandinavian lands the first seed of the proclamation of faith in Christ. The Church also celebrates today, February 3, St. Blaise, physician and later bishop of Sebaste (Armenia) in the 4th century. St. Blaise performed numerous miracles and is invoked for throat diseases.
Francisco Otamendi-February 3, 2025-Reading time: < 1minute
Saint Ansgarius (Oscar), a native of Corbie (France), was a great scholar who from a very young age studied with the Benedictines in the Abbey of Corbie. While a monk, he was designated by Pope Gregory IV as a legacy for all the Scandinavian lands of Northern Europe, proclaiming the Gospel in the Denmark and Sweden. At a very young age he was bishop of Hamburg.
Years later, due to the push from the Vikings, he was forced to taking refuge in Bremen where, as bishop, he spent the last years of his life working, according to some sources, on the edition of a Bible for the poor. Fragments of this ancient Bible are preserved in the cathedral of the city. St. Oscar died in the year 865, without having seen the dream of a profound evangelization of northern Europe, but with the joy of having sown the first seed of faith in those lands.
The Church also celebrates today the patronage of St. Blaise of otorhinolaryngologists and for throat ailments. It is because, according to tradition, he once saved the life of a child who had a fish bone stuck in his throat. In the 17th century, the bishop and martyr Saint Blaise enjoyed great popularity as a protector saint against illnesses, which is why he was depicted in the imagery of the Oviedo Cathedral. In the monastery of the Pelayas, next to the cathedral, a relic of the saint is venerated, which is very popular in Paraguay.
Bishop Martinelli speaks of Dubai "miracle" and wants to be in Yemen
Capuchin Bishop Paolo Martinelli (Milan, 1958) is Vicar of South Arabia, an ecclesiastical jurisdiction that includes Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. During his visit to Madrid, he said that he wishes to take up again the presence of the Church in Yemen. He also reveals that "in Dubai we have the largest parish in the world, with more than 150,000 faithful every weekend, from one hundred countries. All migrants. It is a 'miracle'".
Francisco Otamendi-February 3, 2025-Reading time: 5minutes
At the age of 66, the Italian Paolo Martinelli shows the drive of a young man in his twenties. He has just preached this week the spiritual exercises to the priests of Communion and Liberation in Spain, and he is in great spirits.
Martinelli went from being auxiliary bishop of Milan (2014) to vicar of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of South Arabia (2022), with almost one million Catholic faithful, coming from more than a hundred countries, 65 priests, 50 religious sisters. "South Arabia is a church of migrants," he says.
"Even the bishop is a migrant"
Eighty-five percent are of the Latin rite, and 15 percent are from Eastern Catholic churches. "We are all migrants, even the bishop is a migrant," he said in Madrid. In fact, some hundreds of people from Communion and Liberation listened to him and applauded enthusiastically in the space of the Paul VI Foundation, and who knows if he stuck the missionary harpoon into more than one attendee.
On the poster, under the title of the colloquium with José Luis Restán ('Being a Christian in the Middle East'), there was a phrase of his, which he later developed: "Being on mission means being sent by someone, to someone, with someone".
From the city to the desert
Martinelli went from the city to a desert with gigantic and intelligent infrastructures, surrounded by migrants. A unique place also from an environmental point of view, the desert. "I was followed by a few friars, and 42 degrees in the shade." And he concluded by saying that southern Arabia is a "laboratory for the future of the Church".
"My predecessor (Paul Hinder, who was 80 years old, 20 years in the Gulf), was also a Capuchin, three quarters of the clergy are Capuchins (45 out of 65 priests), and not a few of them had been my students in Rome. I realized that my Order has been committed to this land since the first half of the 19th century". That is why, the bishop there has almost always been a Capuchin. "This election of Pope Francis was fulfilling something that was written in my life. I came to Arabia because I was sent to Arabia."
UAE: 7 emirates with 9 million migrants
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), center and seat of the vicariate, is constituted by the union of 7 emirates, since 1971. The state is officially Islamic. The president is the emir of Abu Dhabi, which has ten million inhabitants, of whom 9 million are migrants: 4.5 million are Indians, and apart from Islam, there are Christians, Buddhists, etc. The countries of origin are almost two hundred, and "in the vicariate we have one million Catholics, of whom 850,000 live in the emirates. Most of them are Filipinos, many Indians and from other countries", he explained in the colloquium.
The emirates have had from the beginning a very tolerant attitude towards all cultures and religions. We even have a Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence, he added.
"It is striking that modernity and tradition coexist peacefully, unlike the occdental situation. The father of the nation was a great visionary, and the development of the country has been very rapid."
"The immigration policy has been very careful. There is an important presence of workers, in various groups. Many arrive without families. The Church tries to have a stable relationship with all of them, promoting initiatives of support and contact with Catholics who wish to live a life of faith."
"The miracle of Dubai".
Bishop Martinelli says, "We have 9 parishes in the various emirates. In Dubai we have the largest parish in the world, with more than 150,000 faithful every weekend. It is a miracle to make it possible for everyone to participate in Mass and catechesis, it is truly a miracle. We are all migrants, a Church in continuous movement, whose organization depends on the work of its faithful, from a hundred countries".
For this reason, he adds, "the parish is structured in linguistic communities, which are the first sign of the Church's closeness to the people. They take care of newcomers, help them to maintain their traditions, their language, etc., to support them in their needs".
"When Pope Francis visited the United Arab Emirates, said that the vocation of this church is to be "a polyphony of faith". This is the way to experience the true universality of the Church. Being different, we have received the same Baptism, the same Faith, the same Spirit".
"It is Christ who sends"
What does it mean to be sent? "On the plane, I reflected: mission means that someone sends you. It is Christ who sends. Jesus said: as the Father has sent me, so I send you. Through someone, through the Church, through the Pope, through a call you receive unexpectedly".
"Then I thought, I am not going alone. I go with someone, the subject of the mission is always a Communion, with my brothers, the priests, it would be impossible to be there alone; it was also a great help to know about some families of the Movement, especially some of them. Memores Dominiare a special gift", and he expressly quoted Giussani.
"And to someone: I am thinking especially of all the migrants who live in the Gulf. Ours is a Church of migrants".
"Being sent makes you love people."
"I am there to confirm them in their faith and to be a sign of unity. At the same time, I recognize that I am sent to the faithful of other religions, especially the faithful of Islam, supported by the example of St. Francis of Assisibut also the Hindus, and so many others," he added yesterday. "To bear witness to the Gospel, to recognize in them the glimmer of that truth that enlightens all men, and to work together for a more fraternal and human world."
In short, "the word mission, the experience of being sent is a principle of action because it moves you, sets you in motion, a principle of knowledge and a principle of affection. Being sent makes you love people".
Yemen: reestablishing the presence of the Church
Three sentences about other countries of the vicariate of South Arabia. First, about YemenFor us it has a fundamental historical importance, because the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia was born in Yemen 135 years ago and its headquarters was there.
After ten years of civil war, very little remains. The four churches are in ruins, and only in the north, under the command of the Houthi rebels, are there two communities of Missionaries of Charity (St. Teresa of Calcutta), who carry out a great work of charity, and a priest. In 1998 and in 2026, the sisters of Mother Teresa suffered attacks that cost the lives of 7 nuns, martyrs of our time, as Pope Francis defined them.
Only a few hundred Catholics remain. Almost all the migrants have been leaving Yemen. "My greatest wish would be to resume the presence of the Church in Yemen, where there are indigenous Catholics, which is not the case in other Gulf States."
The internal situation between North Yemen and South Yemen "is now quite calm compared to the past. We pray that new avenues of Christian presence will open up, and we hope that the truce between Hamas and Israel can bring some change to Yemen as well."
Good relationship with Oman
The situation in Oman is very different, because violence is rejected, explained Vicar Martinelli. The country is a sultanate and the population is very docile: "They are interlocutors of Yemen, and in any case, our relationship with the authorities of Oman is very good, and that of the nuncio as well. We have 4 parishes, although there are no schools for the moment, and the good relations with the Holy See make us foresee that in the future there could be new parishes, and perhaps some kindergartens".
We think that in Oman there are many Catholics, but they are not involved in the life of the Church, perhaps because of the distance to the places of worship, because they do not have a vehicle, considers the vicar. This is the case of the Filipinos, more than 45,000 in Oman, almost all of them Catholics. There are also Indian Catholics.
The historic March for Life in Washington had among its speakers the new Vice President J.D. Vance. His personal history explains his strong commitment to the defense of life.
Last January 24, 2025 was the massive and historic March for Life in Washington, a few days after Trump signed multiple express executive orders-among which the Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act is noteworthy-as Omnes recounted in the article by María Wiering and Marietha Góngora V. (OSV News)The article highlighted the speech of the vice-president of the United States on the impressive pro-life day. But who is this person and where does his commitment to life come from?
James David Vanceturned 40 years old on August 2, 2024. He was born in Middletown, Ohio. The son of a broken family and a drug-addicted mother, he was a Marine and served in the Iraq war, then went to law school, earning his J.D. from Yale in 2013. He married Usha, a fellow Yale law school student, in 2014. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has three. In 2016 he wrote a book explaining his background and ideas "Hillbilly, a rural elegy".
In 2017 he started working for Revolution LLC, in Silicon Valley. In 2019 he was received into the Catholic Church and chose St. Augustine of Hippo as his confirmation patron saint, for his ability to transmit the faith. From that same year is his famous article, entitled "An elegy for the American dream", published in the digital magazine Unherd in 2019. In 2023, he was elected senator for Ohio, after a few years dedicated to preparing his political career. In the month of July 2024 he was chosen by Trump as a candidate for vice president of the USA, even though in the past he had been his staunch opponent. And he is currently the vice president of this country.
In Unherd's aforementioned article, republished by the same magazine in July 2024, he briefly explains his conservative ideas, which stem largely from a lack of them in his childhood, such as the absence of a structured family.
One of his top priorities is life and its defense as can be read in that journalistic piece: "When I think about my own life, what has made my life better is the fact that I am the father of a two-year-old boy. When I think about the demons of my own childhood and how those demons have vanished in the love and laughter of my oldest child; when I look at friends of mine who have grown up in difficult circumstances and have become parents and have become more connected to their communities, to their families, to their faith, because of the role of their own children, I say we want babies not just because they are economically useful. We want more babies because the children are good."
This testimony gives a better understanding of the speech he gave at the March for Life, when he said, "Let me say very simply, 'I want more babies in the United States of America: I want more babies in the United States of America." This pro-life revival is going unnoticed in Europe, but it will eventually help to stop this silent genocide that is ravaging the world.
Christianity and modernity in the thought of St. Josemaria
On the occasion of the anniversary of "Gaudium et spes" and as a path of reflection towards the centenary of the founding of Opus Dei, the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross has prepared a three-year program of in-depth study, with seminars and meetings of experts, on topics such as the relationship between faith and culture, work and the role of Christians in society.
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the publication of the Pastoral Constitution "....Gaudium et spes"The Pontifical University of the Holy Cross has prepared a three-year program of reflection on the relationship between faith and culture, the meaning of work and the role of Christians in the promotion of the common good, with seminars and meetings of experts, as a way of reflecting on the centenary of the founding of Opus Dei (1928-2028).
The second event of this initiative took place on Monday, January 13, in the Alvaro del Portillo Hall, with the participation of Luis Romera, Professor of Metaphysics in the School of Philosophy, and Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti, Professor of Fundamental Theology in the School of Theology, who spoke on the theme "Identity and telos of secular realities in the light of St. Josemaría's thought.
Work as an instrument of sanctification
The debate was opened by Luis Romera, with a reflection on the centrality of work in the thinking of the founder of the Opus DeiIn this way, every human activity, even the most seemingly ordinary, acquires a transcendent value. "Work is not only a means of subsistence, but a call to participate in God's creative and redemptive plan," he explained, echoing number 40 of "Gaudium et spes."
The philosopher then quoted the German theologian Gerhard Lohfink to underscore how the Kingdom of God is not relegated to eschatology, but is realized in the present through the responsible action of believers. He then reiterated the importance of work as a means of making God's love visible: "Christ is present at the very heart of human work: he inspires it, transforms it and directs it towards the Father," he added.
In a central passage, Romera pointed out that this vision requires a profound theological and intellectual formation, capable of combining competence and faith. Indeed, "it is not enough to know the catechism; it is necessary to understand it in depth, because only in this way can the Christian live authentically his commitment in the world".
The professor of Metaphysics concluded his talk by strongly recalling the role of the Christian as a builder of the Kingdom of God through his work: "every gesture, every activity, if done in Christ, can contribute to making God's love visible in the world. And this is not "a distant utopia, but a reality that is built in the present", since every Christian "is called to transform secular realities, making them a reflection of God's love".
Autonomy and filial freedom
Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti's talk focused on numbers 33-39 of Gaudium et Spes, dedicated to the theme of the autonomy of earthly realities. The theologian analyzed how modernity has transformed the concept of autonomy into a pretension of self-affirmation and rejection of God, leading to results such as relativism and nihilism. Rather, he explained, citing authors such as Cornelio Fabro and Augusto Del Noce, "modernity has misunderstood autonomy, separating it from its ontological bond with God."
The scholar then pointed out that in St. Josemaría's thought there are valuable elements for overcoming this misunderstanding, since "autonomy and filiation do not exclude each other, but refer to each other. Moreover, true freedom is not opposition to God, but a filial relationship with him.
Particularly incisive was the reference to the "forma Christi," that is, to the Christian's ability to transform the secular world from within, inspired by charity and divine filiation. "Filial freedom does not diminish man's autonomy, but is its foundation and strength," he added.
The same applies to the question of Christian secularity, which is distinct from secularization. In fact, Christian secularity "does not deny the autonomy of earthly realities, but recognizes them as a space for living the faith. It is the place where the creature exercises its freedom in charity, leading the world towards its fullness in Christ".
In concluding his speech, the theologian launched an invitation to practice, concretizing this synthesis between Christianity and modernity beyond theoretical reflection and through "life experiences that reveal how the forma Christi can inform all aspects of human existence."
Next initiative
The next initiative planned by Holy Cross in this three-year program of deepening the centenary of Opus Dei will be a meeting of experts who will reflect on the Images of human work in contemporary thought. It will take place on May 29 and 30, and for the occasion a call of papers.
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