According to Church law, homilies at Mass are “reserved to a priest or deacon,” but lay people can receive permission to preach in a church or oratory, “if necessity requires it in certain circumstances or it seems advantageous in particular cases.” In a report issued at the end of the bishops’ Feb. 23-26 plenary meeting in Würzburg, Wilmer said the request to Rome to permit lay homilies originated in a resolution approved by participants in Germany’s controversial “synodal way” on March 10, 2023. The document called on Germany’s bishops to “draw up a particular norm and obtain permission for this from the Holy See, according to which the homily can also be taken over in Eucharistic celebrations on Sundays and feast days by theologically and spiritually qualified faithful commissioned by the bishop.” The resolution noted that it was already a “long-standing practice” in German dioceses for “persons who have qualified themselves through studies in theology and have been sent …
Augustinians to Close Cork Church After 800 Years: After nearly 800 years in Cork, Ireland, the Order of St Augustine will close St Augustine’s Church this July. The decision, described as being taken with “great sadness,” follows an accelerating decline in vocations that began in the mid-1970s. Of the 70 Augustinian priests in Ireland, only 10 are under 70. The Cork community is now down to just three members.
Religious order to end near 800-year association with Cork when it closes church in city centre
A religious community which has been ministering to the people of Cork for almost 800 years its to close its church in the city centre later this year. Vicar Provincial of the Augustinians in Ireland, Fr Paddy O’Reilly, told the congregation attending a Vigil Mass at St Augustine’s on Washington Street on Saturday that the order was closing the church in July due to falling vocations. O’Reilly told Mass-goers that the decision to close St Augustine’s was taken with “great sadness”. He said that since the mid-1970s, the order had experienced “a slow but accelerating decline in vocations”. According to the Order of St Augustine website, it has 70 priests living in 10 locations in Ireland. READ MORE O’Reilly told worshippers that only 10 of these priests are under the age of 70 and more than half its members are over 80. It is understood that St Augustine’s, which was run with the consent of the Bishop of Cork and Ross, is now home to just three Augustinian priests following the deaths …
It would be nice if “Fr. Paddy” (as I’m sure he’s now known) would own up to the fact that he and his Modernist confreres bare as much responsibility for the collapsing membership as any of the other supporters of the Conciliar Church. He’d have to have been living in a cave not to realize that he could revive his membership almost overnight by simply offering the Traditional Latin Mass once a week. Indeed, if he were to offer it exclusively, as well as denouncing the false and heretical teachings of Vatican II (such as Ecumenism, Religious Liberty and Collegiality), the church would be as crowded as it was a hundred years ago. Yet, he won’t do that. He’ll put the church on the market and allow the once sacred space to be turned into a restaurant, a hotel, or even an Islamic mosque. One thing is for certain, however. He will never sell it to the SSPX no matter how generous the offer may be. After all, the Society is authentically Catholic. I shed not a tear for them.
Today, Leo XIV received a delegation from the ecumenical 'World Council of Churches', reports Oikoumene.org. The delegation included the German lay bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, the Armenian archbishop Vicken Aykazian, the Baptist preacher Merlyn Hyde Riley, and the Protestant preacher Jerry Pillay. According to Pillay, Leo XIV stressed "the need for visible Christian unity, recognising the challenges this presents even within the Roman Catholic Church due to the existence of different and diverse views". Pillay said that Leo XIV affirmed that, "while our task is not to build a Christendom yet Christians must work together in unity to heal and restore the world". After the audience, German Bedford-Strohm told Kna.de that Leo XIV had "wholeheartedly agreed upon the necessity to move us towards visible unity". They also agreed that the Christian faith should not be used for political purposes: "Whether it is about aggressive invasion, chasing migrants or oppressing whole groups of people …More
This sounds awfully familiar during the bho era. When officers refused to kill US citizens. Now it's trump's turn. All because these men refused to break the law and kill innocent people in the water! Such evilness will not be forgotten. In heaven or on earth. How many more will be fired or step down? President Trump fires 6 top-level military … How many officers have also stepped down so far? This was back in Oct of 2025. I am not sure if anyone else has stepped down yet. US Military Leadership Exodus: 8 Top Officers … And so you know, the clogged toilets were on purpose. Former Military both men and women including Larry Johnson among others have said, it was a soft "MUTINY"! NO one wants to go to war for trump and bibi. Everyone is sick of the lies and Countries being attacked for their agenda! Let trump send his son's into war. Let's see how he likes it. But don't hold your breath. NON Of them are going anywhere except getting richer off of us!
Fri Feb 27, 2026 - 3:15 pm ESTMon Mar 2, 2026 - 6:32 am EST MONTREAL (LifeSiteNews) — A historic Catholic church in Montreal, Canada, was reduced to near rubble in a huge blaze, the cause of which investigators still have not determined. The over 100-year-old Saint-Paul Catholic Church in Montreal, Quebec, went up in flames on February 23. A food bank next to it was also reduced to ashes. The church was built in 1910 and holds significant historical meaning for the local community. While the church has been vacant for some time, about 148 people had to flee the area due to the flames, including over 70 seniors who lived in a nearby care home. The cause of the church fire, say investigators, is not yet known; however, it comes at a time when arson attacks on Catholic churches in Canada have reached epidemic-like proportions. Mayor of the local borough of Saint-Paul’s, Véronique Fournier, in a statement on social media, said the fire is “challenging for the residents of Côte-Saint-Paul …
An unpublished letter by Benedict XVI on Christian prayer, dated April 27, 2021, has been published in the Italian book ‘La fede del futuro’. His short meditation. In general, prayer is the fundamental religious act. It is an attempt to establish a direct connection with God. The peculiarity of Christian prayer is that one prays with Jesus Christ and to Him simultaneously. As both man and God, Jesus can be the bridge that overcomes the infinite abyss between God and man. In this sense, Christ is the ontological possibility of prayer. For this reason, he is also the practical guide to prayer. His disciples, who had seen him pray, addressed this request to him: "Lord, teach us to pray" (Lk 11:1). They recalled that John the Baptist had taught his disciples to pray, knowing that Jesus was infinitely closer to God than even the greatest religious figure: John the Baptist. Thus, the two fundamental characteristics of prayer emerge: those relative to being and awareness. These two characteristics …More
I have been wondering about all the Catholics in Iran now. The beast caused a Religious war as well with his lies. I hope they don't take it out on them because trump wants to be king of the world and help out his buddy bibi to usher in the antichrist. For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? He has lost his a very long time ago. Those who follow him, praise and defend him are in danger of losing theirs as well. And with lots of blood on their hands.
How can the US and Kuwait shoot down our planes with their own intel? Doesn't sound right to me. But at least people can see now that trump is the king of liars. We don't have the biggest, strongest and most powerful military in the world. That's just a way of brainwashing the gullible and easily manipulated. Well I won't hold my breath because I can see people are still believing him and trusting him. Some of us warned that trump will be the one to cause WWlll. And here we are. Getting closer by the second. The man of peace who in the middle of talks bombs a country he said had no more nuclear facilities. Imagine that?
Bishop Paolo Martinelli, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia, now promotes praying the Rosary for peace. A year ago he was rejoicing at the inauguration of a Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, saying, "We need such a place, which is able to keep us in contact with God!"
There is a "polite persecution" of Christians in Japan, Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo told CruxNow.com on February 28. He said that religious activities are welcomed by the public "as long as they remain confined within their own premises, such as temples and churches". The cardinal added that, due to the separation of religion and state, it is often argued that the church should refrain from speaking about political matters. He continued: "Catholics in Japan sometimes find it difficult to even gather regularly on Sundays, not because of persecution, but because such consistent religious commitment does not easily fit within the broader cultural understanding of religion." Public schools frequently organise events on Sundays. The Sunday is "a day for various activities that cannot be done during the week". Cardinal Kikuchi, who is also president of Caritas Internationalis, said that the Catholic charity was asked "to avoid explicit Christian identification in order to prevent …More
Keir Starmer today insisted he 'stands by' his decision to snub Donald Trump's Iran strikes because they were 'not thought through' - despite a brutal rebuke from the US. Making a statement to MPs on the mounting crisis, the PM acknowledged that the president was not happy that the UK initially refused to get involved. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth went further this afternoon by swiping at 'hand-wringing' from America's long-standing allies. But in a dramatic escalations of tensions in the Special Relationship, Sir Keir insisted he did not believe in 'regime change from the skies'. 'It's my duty to judge what is in Britain's national interest. That is what I've done and I stand by it.' Sir Keir is bracing for a battering from his own left-wing MPs after conducting a partial U-turn last night, agreeing that American forces can use British bases for 'defensive' actions against Iranian retaliation. As he tries to quell the backlash, the PM told the Commons: 'The use of British bases is …
Hospitals, girls gym and a school for girls bombed. Why are they targeting children? HELLFIRE | Trump’s illegal war | Israel joins in | Khamenei killed The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is dead. Tehran confirms the assassination. Iran responds. Israel and Trump’s confrontation explodes into illegal war. Tonight, George Galloway leads full coverage of the most dangerous escalation in modern Middle Eastern history. Is this the spark that ignites a regional inferno? Are we witnessing the opening chapter of a global war? LIVE FROM TEHRAN: Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi – University of Tehran. Direct insight from inside Iran as the country reacts to the killing of its Supreme Leader and prepares its response. WAR REPORT: Scott Ritter – Former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and weapons inspector. Military assessment of the strikes, US involvement, Israeli strategy and what comes next. Plus: Netanyahu’s big gamble The US Navy in the Persian Gulf Starmer under pressure …More
A story out of time for our time: The Prophet Isaiah wrote of Cyrus, King of Persia (now Iran) who knew not God but was chosen by God to restore freedom to Israel.
I was standing a few feet away from him once in from of Westminster cathedral, and rapidly realized who he was. He has always been intrigued by my home country, England, it's Catholic history..
"12 ~ The human creature should not investigate the secrets of God any more than he wishes to reveal them You, human creature! In the way of humans, you desire to know more about this exalted plan, but a seal of secrecy will be imposed on you; for you are not permitted to investigate the secrets of God more than the divine majesty wishes to reveal, because of his love for believers."
[Saint HILDEGARD OF BINGEN ~ XI-XII Century AD; Bermersheim, Holy Roman Empire/Bingen am Rhein, Holy Roman Empire, aged 81; Abbess, Polymath, Writer, Composer, Mystic, Visionary, Philosopher, Medical Writer and Practitioner, Composer of Sacred Monophony, Virgin, Founder, Doctor of the Church] “8 ~ How Adam, having received the gentle commandment of clear obedience, did not accept it, on the advice of the devil ‘Once this was done, the shining fire with its flame burning bright in the gentle breeze offered the man a brilliant white flower that hung in the flame like a drop of dew on a stalk of grass.’ When the Father, who is brightest Light, had created Adam, he entrusted him, through the Word in the Holy Spirit, with the gentle commandment of clear obedience, which clings to the Word in the moist green vigour of fruitfulness; for by that same Word a most pleasing sacred moisture streams like dew from the Father in the Holy Spirit, producing great and plentiful fruit, just as pure dew …More