Pope Francis said on May 25 that Catholics today are living in an “age of fake news, collective superstitions, and pseudo-scientific truths.”
Reflecting on the Book of Ecclesiastes at his general audience on May 25, the Pope suggested that the 21st century was marked not only by scientific knowledge but also what he called a “cultured witchcraft.”
“It is no coincidence that ours is the age of fake news, collective superstitions, and pseudo-scientific truths,” he said.
Speaking off the cuff, he went on: “It’s curious: in this culture of knowledge, of knowing every-thing, even of the precision of knowledge, a lot of witchcraft has spread, but cultured witch-craft.”
“It is witchcraft with a certain culture but that leads you to a life of superstition: on the one hand, to go forward with intelligence in knowing things down to the roots; on the other hand, the soul that needs something else and takes the path of superstitions, and ends up in witch-craft.”
The pope used the Italian word “stregoneria,” which can be translated as “witchcraft,” “sorcery,” or “black magic.”
The Pope’s live-streamed catechesis was the 11th in a cycle on old age that he began in February. He entered St. Peter’s Square in a white jeep, stopping to invite children in brightly colored clothes to join him for part of his journey among the pilgrims.
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Pope Francis: Catholic schools should not be Christian in name only
Pope Francis said May 21 that Catholic schools should not be Christian in name only, but in fact.
Speaking to the De La Salle Christian Brothers, the Pope underlined that Christians educators must first of all be witnesses to the Gospel.
“The Christian educator, in the school of Christ, is first of all a witness, and he is a teacher to the extent that he is a witness,” Pope Francis said on May 21.
“And above all I pray for you, that you may be brothers not only in name, but in fact. And for your schools to be Christian not in name, but in fact,” he said.
The Pope met with the Christian Brothers as the religious institute is participating in its 46th General Chapter in Rome on the theme: “Building new paths to transform lives.”
“We know that the ‘way,’ the truly new path, is Jesus Christ,” Pope Francis said.
“By following him, by walking with him, our lives are trans-formed, and we in turn become leaven, salt, and light.”
The De La Salle Christian Brothers, formally known as the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, were founded by St. John Baptist de La Salle to provide Christian education to the young, especially the poor.
Bishop Flores on Texas elementary school shooting: ‘Don’t tell me that guns aren’t the problem’
Bishop Daniel Flores said on May 25 that he was sick of hearing people say that “guns aren’t the problem” after a gunman killed at least 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school. “We sacralize death’s instruments and then are surprised that death uses them,” the bishop of Brownsville, Texas, wrote on Twitter on May 25, the day after the shooting.
Don’t tell me that guns aren’t the problem, people are. I’m sick of hearing it. The darkness first takes our children who then kill our children, using the guns that are easier to obtain than aspirin. We sacralize death’s instruments and then are surprised that death uses them.
“Don’t tell me that guns aren’t the problem, people are. I’m sick of hearing it. The darkness first takes our children who then kill our children, using the guns that are easier to obtain than aspirin,” Flores said.
It was one of many responses from Catholic bishops around the U.S. after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, about 80 miles west of San Antonio. Among the victims were 10-year-old students in the fourth grade.
Catholic cathedral attacked in Nigeria after arrests over ‘blasphemy’ killing
A mob has attacked a Catholic cathedral in Nigeria amid protests demanding the release of two suspects in the killing of a Christian student.
The Diocese of Sokoto said in a statement that youths targeted Holy Family Catholic Cathedral in Sokoto, north-west Nigeria, after police arrested two students in connection with the murder of Deborah Samuel.
Samuel, a student at Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, was beaten and burned on May 11 after being accused of posting “blasphemous” state-ments about Islam in a WhatsApp group.
The Sokoto diocese said: “The Sokoto State Government has declared a 24-hour curfew to help stem the ongoing protests embarked upon by Muslim youth in the state capital today.”
“During the protest, groups of youths led by some adults in the background attacked the Holy Family Catholic Cathedral at Bello Way, destroying church glass windows, those of the Bishop Lawton Secretariat and vandalized a community bus parked within the premises.”
“Saint Kevin’s Catholic Chu-rch, Gidan Dere, Eastern By-pass, was also attacked and partly burnt; windows of the new hospital complex under constru-ction, in the same premises, were shattered.”
Christian student stoned, burned to death in Nigeria
A Christian student was stoned and then burned in Nigeria for allegedly sending a blasphemous WhatsApp message about Muslim prophet Mohammed during Ramadan. Deborah Yakubu studied at the Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto, northern Nigeria. The college was closed for holidays when the alleged message want. When she returned to class, a group of students was waiting and attacked her, stoning her and then setting fire to her body.
Faith, fortitude, martyrdom, miracles: Pope canonizes Devasahayam Pillai and 9 more new saints
After a long pandemic pause, Pope Francis is scheduled to celebrate a Mass May 15 for the canonization of Blessed Devasahayam Pillai and 9 men and women: Five from Italy, three from France, one from India and one from the Nether-lands. Blessed Devasahayam Pillai an Indian layman and father who was born to an upper-caste Hindu family in 1712 and converted to Christianity in 1745. The Vatican said his refusal to participate in Hindu ceremonies and his preaching about “the equality of all people,” denying the Hindu caste system, led to his arrest, torture and his death in 1752
The last canonization ceremony was celebrated Oct. 13, 2019, and included St. John Henry Newman.
The “big names” – globally – in the newly recognized heavenly host are soon-to-be St. Charles de Foucauld, who lived as a hermit in North Africa, and soon-to-be St. Titus Brandsma, a Dutch Carmelite martyred at the Dachau concentration camp.
Those canonized will bring to 909 the saints Pope Francis has recognized officially during his pontificate; the figure includes the 813 “Martyrs of Otranto,” who were killed in the southern Italian city in 1480 and declared saints in 2013.
In view of the canonization ceremony, the Congregation for Saints’ Causes has published a brief biography of each of the 10 new saints and information about the miracle attributed to their intercession needed for their canonizations. While the church does not require the recognition of a miracle for the beatification of a martyr, it generally requires one for all blesseds to be declared saints. The 10, listed in the order the congregation lists them, are: Blessed César de Bus, Blessed Luigi Maria Palazzolo, Blessed Giustino Maria Russolillo, Blessed Charles de Foucauld, Bless-ed Anna Maria Rubatto, Blessed Maria Domenica Mantovani, Blessed Titus Brandsma, Blessed Marie Rivier, Blessed Carolina Santocanale.
Synodal symphony on journeying together
Since its launch in all dioceses worldwide in October 2021, the synod 2021-2023 entitled ‘For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission’ has evoked mixed responses ranging from excitement and optimism to indifference and cynicism.
The Synod inaugurations in the Indian dioceses of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI, Latin rite) were followed by consultations of cross-sections of people: lay faithful, youth, children, diocesan clergy, religious men and women, the elderly and infirm, seminarians, the poor and peripheral, lapsed Catholics and so on.
“The synod is an ecclesial event and its protagonist is the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit is not present, there will be no synod,” said Pope Francis during his ‘moment of reflection’ while launching the synodal consultations on October 9, 2021. Viewing how processes have unfolded in diverse dioceses, there is no doubt that the omnipresent Spirit “blows where it wills” (Jn 3:8).
Christians surprised as High Court admits forced conversion petition
Christians in Tamil Nadu have expressed surprise that the state’s high court has admitted a public interest litigation to stop forcible conversion of students in schools.
The bench of Justices R. Madhavan and S. Ananthi of the Madras High Court on May 6 admitted the petition and posted the matter to a regular bench on June 6 after the summer vacation ends.
Jesuit Father Arockiasamy Santhanam, spokesperson for the National Lawyers Forum of Religious and Priests, says the vacation court should not have entertained the petition. “One wonders what urgency is found in this petition,” he added.
Father Devasagayaraj M Zackarias, a former secretary of the Office for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, says he was surprised the High Court admitted the petition when the incidents it has quoted are still under investigation.”
The case, Father Zackarias laments, is nothing but a way to create unnecessary disturbance in the state where schools impart quality education, especially to the poor and the marginalized.
Nobel laureate and physicist Wilczek wins Templeton Prize
Frank Wilczek, the Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist and author renowned for his boundary-pushing investigations into the fundamental laws of nature, was honored Wednesday with this year’s prestigious Templeton Prize, awarded to individuals whose life’s work embodies a fusion of science and spirituality.
In a statement, the John Templeton Foundation praised the 70-year-old Wilczek for transforming “our understanding of the forces that govern our universe,” while also applying “the insights of his field to the great questions of meaning and purpose pondered by generations of religious thinkers.”
Established in 1972 by the late philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the prize is one of the world’s most lucrative individual awards, currently more than $1.3 million. Past winners include Jane Goodall, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
“It’s encouragement in a direction that I’ve really only taken up in a big way quite recently, although I’ve been building up to it for many years,” he said, “which is thinking about not just what the world is and how it came to be this way but what we should do about it.”
Over a long career, Wilczek has recorded many distinguished achievements. That includes the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, along with David J. Gross, and H. David Politzer, for their 1973 breakthrough explaining the unusual properties of the strong force, which binds fundamental particles known as quarks into protons and neutrons.
He has also authored several books that are informed by science but delve into the spiritual and philosophical. They include “ A Beautiful Question,” in which he asks, “Does the universe embody beautiful ideas?”; “ The Lightness of Being,” an examination of what humans are made of; and “ Fundamentals,” an exploration of radical life ex-tension, the longing for immortality, the limits of science and other topics.
“In studying how the world works, we are studying how God works, and thereby learning what God is,” he writes in “Fundamentals,” released this year. “In that spirit, we can interpret the search for knowledge as a form of worship, and our discoveries as revelations.”
Growing up Catholic, he embraced the idea that there was a grand plan behind existence. But as he learned more about science, he eventually lost faith in conventional religion and, in his words, “jettisoned detailed dogmas.”
Stan Swamy’s sacrifice recalled as Supreme Court pauses sedition law
Christian activists in India on May 11 recalled “the sacrifice” of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy while welcoming the Supreme Court order to keep the country’s sedition law on abeyance. Father Stan, as he was popularly known, died July 5, 2021, in a Mumbai hospital as an undertrial prisoner.
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India N V Ramana also directed that an accused in a fresh case could seek bail and the court that deals with it would provide relief taking into account the apex court order.