It is sad that there are what you might call professional Catholics who make a living on their Catholicism, but in whom the spring of faith flows only faintly, in a few scattered drops. We must really make an effort to change this.
For many people today, practical atheism is the normal rule of life...If this attitude becomes a general existential position, then freedom no longer has any standards, then everyting is possible and permissible.
“If you believe what you like in the Gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”
One can readily admit that the Magisterium's manner of expression does not seem very easy to understand at times. It needs to be translated by preachers and catechists into a language which relates to people and to their respective cultural environments. The essential content of the Church's teaching, however, must be upheld in this process. It must not be watered down on allegedly pastoral grounds, because it communicates the revealed truth.
Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world.
The story that Pope Benedict resigned because he could not travel by plane certainly has a lot of legs left in it. Without a doubt it will occupy theologians for a long time to come.
It is difficult to take Pope Benedict XVI seriously if he really abdicated because he was too frail to attend World Youth Day....Talk about frivolous a reason!
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar