You may be interested in perusing these scenes from the life of Christ used by African catechists.No papal audience this week, which allows me to catch up on the neglected Elsewhere portion of the potpourri.
Popery:
- The pope's speeches and homilies in Brazil may have been wise and beautiful, but some Latin American clergy are having none of it. A "peritus" at the CELAM conference says the Pope's words are "erroneous and inappropriate." Rorate Caeli has the story. And what, praytell, was this inappropriate thing the Pope said?
The Utopia of going back to breathe life into the pre-Columbus religions, separating them rom Christ and from the universal Church, would not be a step forward: indeed, it would be a step back. In reality, it would be a retreat towards a stage in history anchored in the past.
Yes, folks, the Pope suggested that priests should help people be Christians rather than pagans. Shocking. One of the Latin American bishops turned the Pope's remarks about Latin American machismo into a re-opening of the women's ordination question. Puhleeze. Fortunately, some folk understand what the Pope was talking about. - Colombian Cardinal Castrillon de Hoyos, however, gave the strongest indication yet that the much-speculate-about motu proprio really is on its way.
- The stupid reviews of Jesus of Nazareth have begun. But a lengthy excerpt is here. (And where's my back-ordered copy, I'd like to know?)
- Schism mended. Russian Orthodox Church makes up with itself. It's a start.
- Assisi: the Franciscans opened their 199th (!) general chapter.
- Los Angeles: they're selling off the chancery building to finance settlement payments.
- Israel: the Holy See & Israel are having their first plenary session in 5 years.
- India: persecution of Christians is heightening.
- Rome: Pius XII closer to canonization.
- Update: Can't believe I forgot to post the latest Blair-to-be-Catholic rumors. The story says he'll need to be baptized. I'm sure that's not true since he's an Anglican. Baptism is baptism. So take it FWIW.
And: I can't believe they told us the whole thing. Cardinal Bertone reassures doubting faithful that yes, the entire "3rd secret" of Fatima has been revealed. You know what the 3rd secret of Fatima is, don't you? "Lourdes is a fake." Just kidding.
Finally: Insight Scoop is kind enough to post an excerpt of Cardinal Ratzinger's reflection on the Ascension. Suitable for reflection whether you're celebrating today or Sunday. I went searching for illustrations of the Ascension today and didn't find any I particularly liked. And bad art of the Ascension is precisely the starting point of his meditation, so of course I was hooked immediately.
