There are many things about Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta that
could be called heroic – her tireless service to the world's most
rejected and her courageous witness to millions of what it is to live
the Gospel, just to name a couple. But the priest charged with overseeing her path to sainthood said
that for him, one thing stands out above all the rest: her experience of
spiritual darkness and what she described as feeling totally abandoned
by God for the majority of her life. “The single most heroic thing is exactly her darkness. That pure
living, that pure, naked faith,” Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator
for Mother Teresa's canonization cause, told CNA in an interview. Fr.
Kolodiejchuk is a priest of the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, founded
by Mother Teresa in 1989. By undergoing the depth and duration of the desolation she
experienced and doing everything that she did for others in spite of it,
“that's really very heroic,” he said. Pope Francis recently approved the second and last miracle needed in
order to declare Mother Teresa a saint, and has set the date of her
canonization for Sept. 4, 2016 – the day before her feast day. Read more here.
Pope Saint John Paul II , a towering figure of the 20th century, was a staunch critic of socialist ideologies. He recognized the inherent flaws in systems that sought to control economies and societies through centralized planning and state ownership. The pontiff's teachings offered a prophetic warning against the dangers of such regimes, which often led to oppression, poverty, and the erosion of individual freedoms. Recently, a conference organized by the Catholic Association of Propagandists in Spain brought together prominent figures who echoed the concerns raised by the late Pope. Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of Orihuela-Alicante boldly declared socialism an "enemy of the cross," highlighting its incompatibility with Christian values. He emphasized the need for a spiritual renewal, urging individuals to embrace the cross as a path to true happiness and fulfillment. French philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj also addressed the challenges posed by modern society, warning ag...