Return to Tradition – “The renewal of the Church begins at the altar — when we worship with awe, humility, and a heart open to mystery.”If God Is Lost, All Is Lost — Seek Him in Silence and Beauty at Mass (National Catholic Register)
The Rupnik Case – “How will the pontiff handle a notorious abuse case?” On Pope Leo’s Desk: Rupnik (The Pillar)
Precious in God’s Eyes – “In this 1700th anniversary year of the Council of Nicaea, at which the majority of the bishops attending were from the East, Pope Leo reminded the whole Church of the “glorious history and bitter suffering” of Eastern Christians.” The Two Lungs of Pope Leo (The Catholic Thing)
The Augustinian Tradition – “Long before his election, Pope Leo XIV was reflecting on authority, obedience and communion. His 1987 doctoral dissertation offers a striking preview of the leadership now unfolding.” How Leo XIV’s Rarely-Seen Thesis Sheds Light on His Vision for the Church (National Catholic Register)
Falsely Accused – “In the 20+ years of publishing our web site and spotlighting numerous cases of falsely accused priests, we have never encountered a case quite like that of Rev. Jay Fostner from Wisconsin.” A Message of Victory and Hope: Wisconsin Priest Wins Defamation Lawsuits Against False Accusations Then Writes Book to Support Others (The Media Report)
A Palpable Sense of Hope – “Support for the new Pope, who is seen as a conciliatory figure, accelerated after the second ballot and coalesced into a large winning majority on the fourth ballot.” Cardinals’ Voting Patterns Emerge as Leo XIV Is Welcomed as a Pope of Peace (National Catholic Register)
Neopaganism’s Dark Enchantment – Whether we realize it or not, the West has entered a new, post-Christian era. What does that mean, exactly? To begin with, it means Christian morality will no longer shape our public life. America After Christianity (Touchstone)
Just War Tradition – “More than merely (merely?!?!) the good news of personal salvation, the Gospel involves the restoration of all things. Humanity, especially Christ-followers, have a responsibility in this, not an ultimate or primary one, but a pen-ultimate and delegated one.” Where Will Leo XIV Stand on War? (Providence)
Jesuit Education – “And though I have known Jesuits who fit the stereotypes, I have known more who have constantly bolstered my faith, who have turned to me with the eyes of Christ and said “follow me” in such a way that I heard and was changed and went.” Educating for eternity (Dappled Things)
Popes’ Point of Origin – “It begs the question: how does a pope’s hometown shape his leadership – and how are those hometowns changed in return?” From Chicago to Châteauneuf-du-Pape: What does a pope’s hometown reveal? (BBC)
Young Adult Converts – “Amid rising numbers of Catholic converts, a Catholic professor at Word on Fire and Loyola Marymount University wrote that the Church is becoming increasingly attractive to young people around the world because it is real and cannot be digitized.” Catholic philosophy professor offers insights on young adult converts to faith (CatholicVote)
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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@ The Rupnik Case
A must prosecution. Leo XIV is indebted to the Church and his commitment to Christ, the religious sister victims to adjudicate this outstanding travesty. It marks a bellwether for his pontificate.
Furthermore as addressed elsewhere, in the essay Leo XIV names Cardinal Reina chancellor of John Paul II marriage and family institute in Rome, Cdl Reina Interviewed by America Mag’s Vatican Correspondent Gerard O’Connell, vowed to continue Francis’ legacy. O,Connell: “Some cardinals charge that Pope Francis created too much confusion, and say his papacy was marked by rupture, and now we need order again. They accuse him of having internally polarized the church. Do you feel this way, too?
Absolutely not. Pope Francis always described the scene of Pentecost. He would say the Holy Spirit came to shake things up. I absolutely do not see this confusion. Pope Francis was always in line with the [church’s] doctrine, with the magisterium, with the church’s tradition”. If Reina is intent on carrying out Francis’ policy, then the subversion of John Paul’s Institute on marriage and family will continue.
@ The Augustinian Tradition
About Pope Leo XIV’s doctoral dissertation, we read: “At the heart of this vision is a distinctive ecclesiology — an understanding of how the Church is structured and led. Leo XIV’s dissertation presents a vision of the Church not as a hierarchy of command, but as a communion of communities, bound together by authority that is at once legal and pastoral, spiritual and institutional.”
For those in search of a GEOMETRIC IMAGE, oversimplifications are the “pyramid” of authority (clericalism), the Francis “inverted pyramid,” and even Pope Benedict’s more intriguing unity of an “ellipse” with two centers (the papacy and the apostles, as in Lumen Gentium’s “hierarchical communion”).
But, now, Pope Leo XIV’s Augustinian thought, do we see a “fractal” Church where “solidarity” and “subsidiarity,” fully both, are contained within each other? Where “guardianship” and “attentiveness”, and where the “charismatic” and “structure” are evident and fully intact—at all “levels”?
As an analogue, what about “FRACTALS,” or a thing’s “self-similarity” to itself at all levels or scales.…Here’s how this analogue replaces even digital mathematics in the physical universe—Isaac Asimov, the science fiction writer, on fractals as microcosms: “I believe that scientific knowledge has fractal properties; that no matter how much we learn, whatever is left, however small it may seem, is just as infinitely complex as the whole was to start with. That, I think, is the secret of the [physical] Universe.”
AND, theologically about the self-donating Creator of the entire universe, this: “For if, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:17). AND, personally, the “echo” (Pope John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor) of the divine within each of ourselves, as if the inborn and universal Natural Law and moral absolutes involve loyalty to both the true God and each of our true selves. AND, sacramentally, each Mass across space and all of history—rather than simply a mass-produced facsimile—is in concrete fact a “continuation and extension” of the once-only (!) Self-sacrifice of the Triune One, on Calvary (Catechism on the Real Presence, n. 1374).
SUMMARY: Think “fractal”…rather than a flat-earth der Synodal Weg or a circular and self-ratifying Synod on Synodality (say what?). Instead, the charismatic “ecclesial assembly” (Pope Benedict’s wording for communio) within the intact “structure” of the Church—and vice versa! In “Lumen Gentium,” was the Council onto something really big and permanent—and really local and personal—when it affirmed the Church as a “hierarchical communion”?
Under Pope Leo XVI’s ecclesiology, neither a pyramid nor a roundtable, is each consecrated host also just a little bit like a fractal?
@ The Rupnik Case
Then Fr Baldassare Reina first met Francis on the Isle of Lampedusa 2013. Reina, a Sicilian priest from Agrigento, wrote glowingly of Francis, calling Francis’ pontificate ‘something great’. Since, extolling him as a reformer. In 2022 Pope Francis elevated Reina an auxiliary bishop for the Rome diocese. January 2023, the pope appointed him cardinal viceregent with a mandate to reform the diocese. His rise was sudden and meteoric, one of several cardinals personally chosen by Francis to preach the Novendiales.
Reina’s sentiments expressed to America Magazine’s vice editor Gerard O’Connell took place May 1. During that interview he held the conviction that the next pope “must continue the reform Francis began”. Pope Leo XIV must have interviewed Cdl Reina prior to his appointment as chancellor of John Paul II marriage and family institute in Rome. Perhaps he received the appropriate assurances of fidelity to doctrine from Cdl Reina. Perhaps restoration of the institute as intended by John Paul II. At this moment that’s speculation. We can only hope.