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Cardinal Cipriani denies abuse, confirms disciplinary measures Skip to content After Vatican restrictions emerged Saturday on a Peruvian cardinal’s ministry, the cardinal claimed they were lifted by Pope Francis, and that a 2018 allegation of sexual abuse against him was false. But the Vatican said Sunday that that Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani remains subject to binding written restrictions on his ministry, with only a few exceptions given in limited circumstances. Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne. Arzogen via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). The disagreement is likely to spur debate about the Vatican’s current and historical approach to sexual abuse allegations made against prominent bishops in the Church. Leave a comment —Cipriani, the Archbishop of Lima from 1999 until 2019, said in a Jan. 25...

Every week or every day, we attend Mass or Divine Liturgy, and it is largely the same. The Eucharistic prayer is just one of a few options, a lot of other prayers like the introductory and Communion rite are always the same. Eastern Divine Liturgy (CC0 Pixabay) I generally like change and difference: I like a podcast that keeps a consistent format, but I don’t like listening to an episode again. One podcast I listen to has a few episodes that are basically the best segments from recent months. Those are the only regular episodes of that podcast I intentionally skip. I personally don’t listen to the same music on repeat much preferring podcasts and audiobooks while exercising, driving or cleaning the house. Yet something about the consistency of the Liturgy is calming and reassuring. The re...

Image by Kim Baile for Theology of Home The beds will have sheets when the laundry is done but I have to find a pillowcase and I think its in the boys closet or it might be the baby’s room? I also have to find the detergent. Just wait.  -Me on a Saturday night  By Monica Simpson New Year’s resolutions spark hope, no matter how many times we fail, no matter how old we get. Hope for change, hope for renewal. St. Augustine writes, “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are and Courage to see that they don’t remain as they are.” Our most frequently confessed sin can be the inspiration for resolution.  Frequent Confession is a blessing for keeping these ‘lesser sins’ at bay. The embarrassment of going back and confessing...

How could there not be enough water available to fire hydrants? Why are controlled fires and routine brush clearing not part of normal maintenance in such a fire-prone area? Who will be held accountable for lapses in fire preparedness and crisis readiness? The questions came fast, and they were furious, as we all watched one of the most beautiful, desirable living spaces in the United States burn down to rubble over a matter of hours, and then days, and then through an entire week. Multiple fires sprang up; the Santa Ana winds (and additional wind force created by the fire-heated air) moved the blazes along in a most terrifying fashion, and one could not watch the traumatized families, or view images of an area bigger than the island of Manhattan reduced to utter rubble so completely witho...

Back in my years as a religion news editor (1978-93), one of my self-imposed penances was reading The Nation.  A taste for diversity, we’re told, is a good thing.  And at the time, the magazine was remarkably “diverse,” at least in its own peculiar way.  It had a wide variety of outrage from the bitter Left, curated by a tribe of unhappy, closet Stalinists.  Leaving it behind when I moved to a new job was a blessing.  And the world today is a different place.  But some things never change.  The Nation is one of them, as I discovered this week wandering the Internet. Writing for The Nation earlier this month, Orlando Reade posed the question “Why is the Right obsessed with epic poetry?”  It turns out, he said, that right-wing heavies like Elon Musk ar...

[embedded content] How should Catholics think about UFOs? How can the Church respond to evolving scientific discoveries? What are the boundaries for Catholic belief? The McGrath Institute for Church Life is proud to present “Edge of Belief: UFOs, Technology and The Catholic Imagination,” a documentary short that explores the outer limits of belief. This film features interviews with Notre Dame theology professors, scientists, and renowned Orthodox iconographer ‪Jonathan Pageau… Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews Entertainment blogs & Forums

Take it all, all are welcome, and manners maketh man Skip to content Pillar subscribers can listen to Ed read this Pillar Post here: The Pillar TL;DR Happy Friday friends, And a very happy feast of St. Anthony to you all. I am enthralled to the father of monasticism, for a number of reasons. Of course, there is his great theological contribution to combating Arianism. And his popularization of the ascetic life is unparalleled in its effect on the life of the Church — he effectively created an entire new spiritual lung, which is still sustaining the Church through prayer and spiritual combat. But what I love most about St. Anthony is the innocent literalism with which he heard and responded to the words of Christ. When he listened to Christ’s dialogue with the rich young man, and heard the ...

Popular trends today reveal that human nature is always ‘at work’ in people, inclining us toward various good things. At the same time, these trends can illustrate how misconceptions and disordered desires can taint or pervert such good inclinations. A growing emphasis of ‘self-care’ can be a case a point—and an important one in this time of new year resolutions. A simple online search of ‘self-care’ gives evidence that many today realize two key truths: first, taking proper care of oneself is essential to a good life, and second, such care cannot be taken for granted—or put otherwise, many of us need coaching and coaxing to do it well. Further, in this field there are helpful insights and tips, including advice in avoiding common hindrances or pitfalls to good self-care. But the astute ob...

As Catholics, we understand that music can elevate the soul and express profound and saving truth. Advertisements But music can also promote troubling philosophies when chosen without discernment. That’s why hearing John Lennon’s “Imagine” performed by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood during Jimmy Carter’s funeral at the National Cathedral struck such a tragic chord. (The same duo performed the song at former First Lady Rosalynn Carter’s funeral just over a year ago.) While the song may be considered an anthem of unity in our culture, its message is deeply opposed to Christian hope and the sacred purpose of a church. The National Cathedral is not a Catholic church, of course, but it is a Christian place of worship. The lyrics of “Imagine” famously envision a world without heaven, hell or r...

Donkeys and ‘space’ Skip to content Pillar subscribers can listen to this Pillar Post here: The Pillar TL;DR Hey everybody, It’s the 14th of January, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post. In the Church’s contemporary calendar, today is Tuesday in the First Week of Ordinary Time, a relatively unremarkable liturgical date. But in medieval France, January 14 was something altogether different: it was the day on which Catholics celebrated the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt — and celebrated the donkey who took the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Jesus himself, to safety. On the Feast of the Ass, as it was known, French cities held festivals and dramatic pageants, and processions in which the flight into Egypt was depicted by townspeople. They were followed by Masses, at which a wooden donkey wa...

COMMENTARY: Pope Francis, on Jan. 11, became the third pope to be given the highest civilian honor in the U.S. Careful observers of papal-presidential relations were mildly surprised when President Joe Biden did not include Pope Francis in his final list of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients on Jan. 4. Alongside the Congressional Gold Medal, which is voted upon by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. Biden awarded it in 2022 to Sister of Social Service Simone Campbell (2022) of “Nuns on the Bus” fame, and Jesuit Father Greg Boyle, who worked with troubled youth in Homeboy Industries. It would follow that a Catholic president who has given the medal to Catholic leaders would do the same with the Hol...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Italian naval ship “Amerigo Vespucci,” currently completing its global tour, has been designated a Jubilee church for the Holy Year 2025, transforming its onboard chapel into a pilgrimage destination at sea. The ship, a three-masted sailing ship that dates back to 1931 and is named after the 15th-century Italian explorer for whom “America” is named, has been touring the world as a cultural ambassador for Italy since July 2023. Archbishop Santo Marcianò of the Military Ordinariate of Italy officially designated the ship’s chapel as a Jubilee church for 2025, according to a Jan. 9 statement from the ship’s press office. The chapel onboard the “Amerigo Vespucci” will be a Jubilee site “for sacred pilgrimages and for pious visits among its missions at sea,” the stateme...