No one is forced to be a Christian. But no one should be forced to live according to the "new religion" as though it alone were definitive and obligatory for all mankind.
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.
In proclaiming the faith and in administering the sacraments every priest speaks on behalf of Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ.
Evil too, will always be part of the mystery of the Church. And when we see what men, what the clergy have done in the Church, then that is nothing short of proof that he [Christ] founded and upholds the Church. If she were dependent on men, she would long since have perished.
The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life."
I kind of feel the same way as Mundabor on Bergoglio's cringeworthiness:
This man is so toxic, we will soon need to be exorcised just for writing his name on a blog post.
There is no enemy of the Church that Bergoglio will not praise - at least I have not been able to come across one yet, and apparently, neither has he.
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!
So DeusExMachina thinks that the firing of some scandalous bloggers has more to do with the realisation by the National Catholic Register that earning a living from a dying gang - what he calls "ZombieChurch" - is a bad business modell.
Unlike VoxCantoris, I would argue Bergoglio is far from deluded when he says:
The Church is not falling to pieces. It has never been better. This is a wonderful moment for the Church, you just need to look at its history.
For the record, it is not the first time that Bergoglio has said that.
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar