President Donald J. Trump’s audience at the Vatican with Pope Francis was the first meeting between the two men. Speculation was wild about what would occur at this meeting? Contrary to some reports, it was not tense. It was simply another visit of a head of state to the Vatican.
Editorials
Priority of Silence
This past week, Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI who had pledged to “remain hidden” from the world since his resignation from the papacy in 2013 released an afterword for a future edition of a new book by Cardinal Robert Sarah, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship at the Vatican entitled “The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise.” Benedict writes: “We should be grateful to Pope Francis for appointing such a spiritual teacher as head of the congregation that is responsible for the celebration of the liturgy in the Church,” and states further, “With Cardinal Sarah, a master of silence and of interior prayer, the liturgy is in good hands.”
Freedom Restored
President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order on religious freedom, which has been met with enthusiasm in some circles and skepticism in others. Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, described it as “lacking in the kind of teeth that we expected.” The Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Carl J. Anderson, commented: “We applaud President Trump’s executive order on religious liberty. While there is still work to be done to restore the reverence for religious freedom enshrined in the first amendment, this order marks an important step in restoring those constitutional principles guaranteed to every American.”
Journey of Peace
Pope Francis has just completed his Apostolic Journey to Egypt. By all standards, it was widlly successful. The very fact that it even occurred immediately makes it a success.
Contemporary Martyrs
Pope Francis recently attended an ecumenical prayer service at the Church of St. Bartholomeo in Rome in which the Church honored the contemporary Christian martyrs of this 21st century.
Our Brothers
This question of the role of religious brothers is a key one in the Church. The Lord is still powerfully calling young men and women to serve the Church as priests, brothers, sisters, nuns and monks.
Strength in Consistency
Pope Francis’ post-synodal exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia,” was released one year ago this past week. The Church has been discussing it and debating it ever since.
Feast of Priesthood
We enter this week once again into the most sacred time of the Church’s year. This is, for us as Catholics, our “High Holy Days.” Beginning on Sunday, we commemorate Palm Sunday as we prepare to enter more deeply into the Lord’s Passion. We come to that week in which we reflect as a Church on those days that changed the world, those days by which our Lord opens his arms wide on the Cross with an embrace of love, and, by his wounds, heals all humanity.
Health Deserves Better
Sanctity of life is the single most important issue that we face in our nation today. No life is more vulnerable than the child in the womb. And that life must be protected.
Confession Available
Pope Francis held his yearly penitential service at St. Peter’s Basilica on March 17. In it, he urged confessors to go to the peripheries of evil and sin, despite it being, at times, “ugly;” nonetheless, the priest is called to go “and his work represents an authentic pastoral priority.”