Papal image

For no other reason than that we love our Pope, whether his shoes be red, black or pale green.

picture source

Read the interview that everyone is talking about but few have read.

Francis the anti-clericalist Pope?

As the author of the article adds, so have been John Paul and Benedict, the predecessors of Francis. This then is his argument.

“The essence of clericalism in the sense in which Pope Francis (and I) use the word is a way of thinking that takes for granted that the clerical vocation and state in life are both superior to and normative for all other Christian vocations and states. From this point of view it follows that clerics are the active agents in the Church–the ones who make the decisions, give the orders, exercise command. The laity’s role is to listen and do as they’re told.

Many lay people appear still to think this way at least as much as, and probably more than, their priests do. That’s true even (or perhaps especially) of those who rebel against it and drop out of the Church. Deeply rooted and pervasive, it’s an abuse that replaces the idea of a Church whose fundamentally equal members have diverse offices and roles with a caricature: clerics are bosses, lay people get bossed.”

The lay-person has his own proper role within the Church. He or she has to find holiness in everyday life, be a beacon thereby, a light to the world.

Source article

God bless the Pope (emeritus)

Emeritus. There’s a word that’s suddenly jumped into many people’s vocabularies in the last couple months.

Most people who’ve spent long enough time on the internet, on the various image and video websites are used to anonymous people in the comment boxes on these sites making snide, impolite, often deliberately offensive comments designed, no doubt, to prove how infinitely stupid and uninformed they themselves are. Having read some downright nasty comments made on the former Pope, Benedict XVI, who was unfortunate enough to be handed the burden of the clerical sexualabuse scandal in the early noughties (while yet a Cardinal), I decided to post this nice old hymn from Youtube.

God bless the Pope, the great, the good.

It’s Holy Week

…and the blog is properly out of date. I have little to say at this point, but I shall go all papal and stick  this picture of HH Francis on…

Just returned from the great Shrine to our Lady in Fátima

My great preoccupation during this pilgrimage were my poor feet, that carried me some 80 km with a group of other pilgrims. My first walking pilgrimage, I admit, and an unforgettable experience. And there is nothing like seeing the tower of the basílica of OL of the Rosary peeking from among the trees towards the end of the journey.

Today, the Church remembers the great Doctor of the Church, S. Bernard of Clairvaux, known among other things for his great devotion to the Holy Virgin. Tomorrow, we remember another great Marian devotee, the saintly Pope Pius X of the early twentieth century. Marian devotion is a cornerstone of being a Catholic, according to the age-old tradition that we share with the various separated Churches of the Orthodox communions. Looking for God? Having trouble with prayer? Look no further than the Holy Virgin; you’ll find her message at Fátima here.

And, oh yes, the skies really are as clear and blue as all that. It’s hard to believe, returning to cloudy England.

There will be limited posting over the next week…

Basílica of the Immaculate Conception, Lourdes

…as I accompany the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes, in southern France. Here, more than a century ago, the Holy Virgin appeared to a peasant girl, introducing herself as the ‘Immaculate Conception,’ not long after the Holy Father had declared her to have been immaculately conceived (authoritatively confirming what had been held constantly in the Church since almost the very beginning). The Immaculate Conception, of course, refers to the Virgin Mary’s own birth of her mother Anna, preserved from all sin. This remains an important teaching of the Church: that of the purity and holiness of the holy Mother of God.

Circumstances permitting, I shall attempt to update the Twitter feed. See the bottom of the sidebar.

More papal imagery

HH Pope Pius XII (1876-1958), the Venerable, of holy memory

We don’t have to look very far back in our history to find great and saintly leaders who have sat on the throne of the apostle Peter.

Random and gratuitous papal image

In Genoa, 2008

Gratuitous papal image

The Pope marches in Edinburgh with the Queen and Cardinal O’Brien

link

Remember, remember, how the Holy Father visited England and Scotland in 2010.