In a recent article in “America” magazine, Grant Kaplan, commenting on the challenge of the resurrection, makes this comment: “Unlike previous communities in which the bond among members forges itself through those it excludes and scapegoats, the gratuity of the resurrection allows for a community shaped by forgiven-forgivers.” What he is saying, among other things, is that mostly we form community through demonizing and exclusion, that is, we bond with each other more on the basis of what we are against and what we hate than on the basis of what we are for and hold precious. The cross and the resurrection, and the message of Jesus in general, invite us to a deeper maturity within which we are invited to form community with each other on the basis of love and inclusion rather than upon hatred and demonization. Read more.

In so many encyclicals and papal exhortations, the biblical sections, often near the beginning, are the best, and to me, the most helpful. If you want to know about the value and inviolability of human life, read the beginning and especially Chapter 2 of St. John Paul II’s “Evangelium Vitae” (The Gospel of Life). Or, if you want to understand the Catholic Church’s social teaching, focusing on human development driven by charity and truth, read Pope Benedict XVI’s introduction and first chapter in “Caritas in Veritate” (Charity in Truth). Pope Francis wants to get a bit more practical than the style of encyclicals, so he writes “exhortations.” But again, the Catholic and papal vision of love in the family can best be found in Chapter 1 of “Amoris Laetitia” (The Joy of Love), just recently published. Read more.

Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, Adoration of the Magi, will soon be undergoing testing that could help digitally reconstruct the artist’s face and offer clues about his life and health. According to the U.K. outlet Sky News, researchers with California’s J Craig Venter Institute, the pioneer behind human  genome sequencing, will be searching for hairs and flakes of skin on Da Vinci’s paintings and notebooks. Genetic analysis will be performed, and DNA will be compared to Da Vinci’s known living relatives, and that taken from his parents’ graves. Scientists hope to determine the eye color, hair color, skin tone, and face shape of the Renaissance master. These details could add to the evidence in existence about his appearance. Health information could also be discovered.

Conscience is the faculty of human reason that makes practical judgments regarding what is morally right or wrong. In the search for truth, a person should always turn to a respected authority for enlightenment. Catholics are encouraged to turn to the teaching authority of the church, namely to what’s referred to as the magisterium. But those who act in a way that differs from the letter of the law cannot be presumed to be doing so in bad faith. The decision to do what is right or wrong always remains a personal one. Catholics are bound to follow their conscience. In the case of Catholics who have remarried without the benefit of an annulment, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith teaches that Catholics whose “nullity of marriage cannot be demonstrated” are not permitted to receive the Eucharist, unless special permission has been given them to live as “brother and sister.” Read more.

As he received the prestigious Charlemagne Prize, Pope Francis laid out his vision for a renewed European continent in what could easily be his own version of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In the address Francis said “I dream of a new European humanism” – one based on fresh ideas and a revamped economy that promotes integration and respect for human dignity. Europe has become tired and “entrenched,” he said, and voiced hope that the continent’s leaders would be able to “draw inspiration from the past in order to confront with courage the complex multipolar framework of our own day.” He asked that European leaders “take up with determination the challenge of updating the idea of Europe” – a Europe capable of giving birth to “a new humanism” based on the core abilities to integrate, dialogue and generate new ideas and solutions to complex modern issues. “I dream of a Europe that is young, still capable of being a mother: a mother who has life because she respects life and offers hope for life. I dream of a Europe that cares for children, that offers fraternal help to the poor and those newcomers seeking acceptance because they have lost everything,” he said. He expressed his desire for a Europe “where being a migrant is not a crime but a summons to greater commitment on behalf of the dignity of every human being,” and where youth can “breathe the pure air of honesty” in a culture that is “undefiled by the insatiable needs of consumerism.” The Pope said he also longed for a culture in which “getting married and having children is a responsibility and a great joy, not a problem due to the lack of stable employment. I dream of a Europe of families, with truly effective policies concentrated on faces rather than numbers, on birth rates more than rates of consumption.” “I dream of a Europe that promotes and protects the rights of everyone, without neglecting its duties towards all,” he said, and voiced his hope for a Europe “of which it will not be said that its commitment to human rights was its last utopia.” Pope Francis received the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen inside the Vatican’s Sala Regia as an award for his for efforts toward the unification of Europe – an event which drew leaders from across Europe to discuss the state of the European Union.

Holy Apostle's Church in Pimlico, central London, recently hosted two performances of Sing It! - a musical about the Ten Commandments performed and stage crewed by more than 70 parish children. The primary purpose of doing the play was to give the children an equal opportunity to learn performing arts and religious education. The secondary motive was to fundraise for their twin parish in Turkana and to start a fund for future similar dual purpose activities for the children. The premise of Sing It! is simply this: the easiest way to remember the Ten Commandments is through song. They certainly proved their point! The performance was engaging in that unique way only children can commandeer. They danced, they sang and they acted with a purity of heart that was irresistible! The children were primary school students, and logistically divided into six teams and a stage team for easier management and rehearsing. The director, designer, marionette maker etc was the talented Gigi Ybarra, Parish Pastoral Council chair. She was supported by a huge team of mothers, dads and parishioners. They even had a special arts and crafts day in preparation for the event. With sewing machines whirling, scissors cutting and paints brushes busy the group made costumes, scenery and props. Children were trained to do lighting, sound effects and music by Ian Millar and Eileen Sheedy was the technical adviser. The clever usage of a projector screen, approximately 2.5m by 4m, gave each of the ten scenes a memorable visual backdrop.

A prominent Catholic philosopher and close friend of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said Thursday that Pope Francis’s exhortation Amoris Laetitia is a “breach” with Catholic tradition and directly contradicts the teachings of Pope St. John Paul II in his exhortation Familiaris Consortio. "If the pope is not willing to make a correction, it is up to another pontificate to officially put things back into order." Professor Robert Spaemann told the Catholic News Agency’s German branch that changing the Church’s sacramental practice would be “a breach with its essential anthropological and theological teaching on human marriage and sexuality.” “It is clear to every thinking person who knows the texts that are important in this context that [with Amoris Laetitia] there is a breach” with the Church’s Tradition, Spaemann said. The professor’s remarks were translated by Dr. Maike Hickson in an article at OnePeterFive. In Familiaris Consortio, Pope St. John Paul II upheld the Church’s longstanding approach to the question of admitting to the Sacraments remarried divorcees, by writing:

…the Church reaffirms her practice, which is based upon Sacred Scripture, of not admitting to Eucharistic Communion divorced persons who have remarried. They are unable to be admitted thereto from the fact that their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the Eucharist. Besides this, there is another special pastoral reason: if these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage.

Footnote 351 of Amoris Laetitia seemingly contradicts the above passage by asserting that in certain cases, integrating back into the Church the divorced and remarried and others in “irregular” situations “can include the help of the sacraments.”  The footnote then mentions both Confession and the Eucharist. Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Maria Santissima in Astana, Kazakhstan criticized Amoris Laetitia for its lack of clarity on the subject.  “Analyzing some of the affirmations of AL with an honest understanding, as they are in their own context, one finds that there is a difficulty in interpreting them according to the traditional doctrine of the Church,” wrote Schneider. Spaemann also condemned the exhortation’s seeming embrace of “situation ethics” as opposed to universal norms and its call to not judge people’s actions that directly contradict the Church’s sexual ethics. “When it comes to sexual relations which are in objective contradiction to the Christian order of life, I would like to know from the pope after which time period and under which conditions such an objectively sinful behavior becomes a conduct which is pleasing to God,” said Spaemann.  By turning “chaos into principle” with “one stroke of a pen,” Pope Francis is leading the Church “into the direction of schism,” Spaemann said—and he warned that such a schism would not be “at the periphery, but in the middle of the Church.”  Spaemann also warned that Amoris Laetitia may be used to bully faithful priests.

What do a grilled cheese sandwich and the tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe have in common? Both bore what appeared to be images of Mary. One was determined to be authentically miraculous, the other was not. Not to spoil any secrets, but it’s not Our Lady of the Grilled Cheese that converted Mexico and continues to draw millions of people on pilgrimage every year. But have you ever wondered just how the Church determines the bogus from the divinely appointed? In his new book, “Exploring the Miraculous,” Michael O’Neill gives readers a crash course of sorts in “Miracles 101” - including common questions about the importance of miracles, an explanation of the approval process, and descriptions of the various types of miracles found within the Catholic Church. “This is a very rare book in that it tries to cover the entire spectrum of miracles within the Catholic Church,” O’Neill told CNA. Catholics by definition are people who have to believe in at least two miracles, O’Neill said - that of Christ’s incarnation and his resurrection, two pillars on which the Catholic faith rests. For modern-day miracles, belief is never required of the faithful. The highest recognition that the Church gives to an alleged miracle is that it is “worthy of belief.” Investigations of reported miraculous events – which include extensive fact-finding, psychological examination and theological evaluation – may result in a rejection if the event is determined to be fraudulent or lacking in super natural character. Or the Church may take a middle road, declaring that there is nothing contrary to the faith in a supposed apparition, without making a determination on whether a supernatural character is present. But while official investigations can take years, the mere report of a miracle can bring Catholics from long distances, hoping to see some glimpse of the divine reaching into the human.