If Catholic morality in the past seemed so obsessed with preventing sexual sin that it ignored sins of injustice, today “we have gone to the opposite extreme,” seemingly concerned only with how people treat others, not with how they treat the gift of their bodies, the papal preacher said.

“In the past, morality empha-sised the sins of the flesh so unila-terally that it led to real neuroses at times, to the detriment of concern for the duties toward our neighbour and to the detriment of the virtue of purity itself,” Capu-chin Father Raniero Cantalame-ssa told Pope Francis and members of the Roman Curia.

On the March 23 of Lent and Advent, Father Cantalamessa leads reflections for the Pope and his aides in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel of the Apostolic Palace. For the final Lenten meditation of 2018, he spoke on March 23 about the virtue of purity.

“Every day, people tend to contrast sins against purity with sins against a neighbour and to consider just the sin against a neighbour a real sin,” he said.

But the two go together, the Capuchin insisted. “Purity and love of neighbour represent dominion over self and the gift of self to others. How can I give myself if I do not possess myself but am a slave to my passions?

“It inevitably ends in using brothers and sisters, just as one uses one’s body. Those who cannot say ‘no’ to themselves cannot say ‘yes’ to brothers and sisters.” But today, “we live in a society, in terms of morals, that has fallen back into full-blown paganism and full-blown idolatry of sex,” the 83-year-old preacher told the Pope and Curia officials.

Exactly 38 years after Salva-doran Archbishop Oscar Romero was killed by a sniper’s bullet during Mass at a cancer hospital, his country’s embassy in Belgium screened a documentary about the cleric’s life on March 24.

Called Desagravio (The Reparation), it highlighted the main achievements of the campaigner for social justice, his 25 years of pastoral service to the diocese of San Miguel, and his untimely murder, telesurf.net reports.

The documentary, co-directed by Patrick Soergel from Switzer-land and Italy’s Gianni Beretta, starts with Romero’s birth in Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador, in August 1917 and concludes with his assassination.

He died in 1980, the year the country embarked on a 12-year civil war, prompting what sources from the Archdiocese of El Salvador called seven years of “pastoral famine.” They described him as “a voice for the voice-less.”

Romero was reportedly killed by forces unhappy with his outbursts against the military government. One day before he was shot, he addressed local soldiers and implored them to “stop the repression” against rural people.

Costa Rican pastor takes presidential poll lead Fabricio Alvarado leapfrogs rivals after tapping fierce opposition to gay marriage Fabricio Alvarado: ‘This is an intense shout for values the sovereignty of the family as the fundamental base of society.’

A previously obscure Costa Rican evangelical pastor has dealt the latest anti-establishment electoral upset from a political outsider, jumping from last place to a first-round victory in the Central American country after tapping into opposition to gay marriage. Fabricio Alvarado secured 24.9% of the vote with 93% of the ballots counted. He was leading Carlos Alvarado (no relation) from the ruling Citizens’ Action party on 21.7% who overtook Antonio Álvarez, a banana entrepreneur, who had held an early second place. His victory was well short of the 40% needed to avoid a run-off.

Poland’s leading archbishop on March 18 deplored comments by a senior conservative priest who had wished Pope Francis a quick death if he does not open to “wisdom.”

Abp Marek Jedraszewski of Krakow said he heard about the comments with “great pain and regret” and has discussed them face-to-face with Monsignor Edward Staniek, who made them in a February 25 church speech in Krakow.

Krakow was the seat of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, the late Pope St John Paul II. Poland’s Church remains attached to John Paul’s conservative stance, which largely differs from Francis’ inclusive message. A majority of Poland’s bishops see their mission as preserving the traditional Catholic values from the pressure of secularization.

In his speech, Father Staniek, a prominent theologian, said he was praying for wisdom for Francis and a “heart open to the Holy Spirit, and if he does not do that, for a quick passage to the House of the Father,” meaning death.

He said that Francis has departed from the teaching of Jesus and was wrongly interpreting mercy as opening up to Muslims and allowing communion for divorced Catholics, who, according to the Church, live in mortal sin and are not allowed communion.

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ election, retired Pope Benedict XVI defended the continuity of the church’s teaching under his successor and dismissed those who criticize the Pope’s theological foundations.

In a letter sent to Msgr. Dario Vigano, prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for Communication, Pope Benedict applauded the publication of a new book series titled, “The Theology of Pope Francis.”

“It contradicts the foolish prejudice of those who see Pope Francis as someone who lacks a particular theological and philosophical formation, while I would have been considered solely a theorist of theology with little understanding of the concrete lives of today’s Christian,” the retired pontiff wrote.

Msgr. Vigano read the letter during a presentation of the 11-volume series March 12.

Before reading the letter, Msgr. Vigano said he sent a message to Pope Francis and Pope Benedict regarding the publication of the book series.

He also asked if Pope Benedict would be “willing to write a page or a page and a half of dense theology in his clear and punctual style that would have liked to read this evening.”

Instead, the retired pontiff “wrote a beautiful, personal letter that I will read to you,” Msgr. Vigano said.

Pope Benedict thanked Msgr Vigano for having given him a copy of “The Theology of Pope Francis” book series, which was authored by several notable theologians.

“These small volumes reasonably demonstrate that Pope Francis is a man with profound philosophical and theological formation and are helpful to see the interior continuity between the two pontificates, even with all the differences in style and temperament,” he wrote.

Pope Benedict has made no secret of his affection for and admiration of Pope Francis.