The universal, natural human reaction to the death of a loved one should show believers and non-believers alike that human life has value, Pope Benedict XVI said. “The awareness of the sacredness of the life entrusted to us – not as something we can dispose of freely, but as a gift to safeguard faithfully – belongs to the moral heredity of humanity,” the pope wrote in a message to a dial...

The November 21 publication of Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, which completes Pope Benedict XVI’s popular three-volume series on the life and teachings of Christ, is the latest reminder of the author’s prolific output, now amounting to more than 60 books. One of the most prominent theologians of his generation, Pope Benedict has produced studies in a wide range of specialised...

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments is establishing an office to promote the development and use of appropriate liturgical art, architecture and music. The new office was approved in early September by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state; final arrangements and the designation of personnel are being made, said Marist Father Anthony Ward, undersecretar...

The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has dismissed Roy Bourgeois from the priesthood because of his participation in the invalid ordination of a woman and “a simulated Mass,” the Maryknoll Order announced on November 19. The order said in a statement the canonical dismissal came on October 4. Citing Bourgeois’ participation in the invalid ordination in Kentucky in 20...

By Mark Pattison The US bishops, on a voice vote, endorsed the sainthood cause of Dorothy Day, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, who was famously quoted as saying, “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.” The endorsement came at the end of a canonically required consultation that took place on November 13, the second day of the bishops’ annual fal...

Catholics are called to serve the common good of society, including by protecting traditional marriage and defending human life, Pope Benedict XVI told bishops from France. Being Catholic means being faithful “to the moral teaching of the Church” and having “the courage to demonstrate their Christian convictions – without arrogance, but with respect – in the various spheres in which they...

Sacred music can bolster people’s faith and help lapsed Catholics rediscover the beauty of God, Pope Benedict XVI said. “Sacred music can, above all, promote the faith, and, what’s more, cooperate in the new evangelisation,” he told participants attending a conference and pilgrimage sponsored by the Italian St Cecilia Association. St Cecilia, whose feast day is November 22, is traditiona...

By Carol Glatz The feast of All Saints should prompt Catholics to believe more deeply in eternal life, Pope Benedict XVI said. The day “reminds us of our eternal destiny, where we will dwell, as St Thomas Aquinas says, in true and perfect light, total fulfilment, everlasting joy and gladness without end,” he said on November 1, reciting the Angelus on the feast of All Saints. He ur...

When Christians remember their beloved deceased, they proclaim that their bonds with them are not broken by death and they profess their hope in eternal life, said Pope Benedict XVI. Especially by visiting cemeteries and other burial grounds, the pope said, people “reinforce the bonds of communion that death could not break.” Pope Benedict celebrated a Mass on November 3 in St Peter’s...

The country roads of Limerick wind past modest homes, small churches and businesses, as in many a Pennsylvania town. But now high spires poke out of the Montgomery County landscape, marking where members of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish now worship God – their new church. Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput dedicated the 2000-square-metre Gothic edifice on October 27. The ch...