Roman Catholic Blog

Lightning of Lepanto

Many who read this blog will undoubtedly know that today is the anniversary of the battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571.

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On that auspicious date the forces of Catholic CHRISTENDOM held the Ottoman Empire at bay. At both the scene of the battle, and in Rome, apparitions of our Blessed Mother reportedly strengthened both the Christian fleet and those praying for their victory.

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Not having today a group of nations willing to identify themsleves as Christian, let alone as "Christendom" - mention of Lepanto is far from PC.

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G.K. Chesterton wrote a remarkable poem on the battle, I've always preferred the one below written in honor of Our Lady of Victory.

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"O Lady of Last Assurance

Light in the laurels,Sunrise

of the dead,

Wind of the ships and

lightning of Lepanto

In honour of Thee, to whom

all honor is fled."

- G. K. Chesterton, "In October"

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Also - here's a painting that should warm any Papist heart...

It's Paolo Veronese's painting of the battle. In the upper corner are found

Saints Peter, Roch, Justine and Mark interceding before Our Lady for the Catholic fleet.

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Oh, Other times.

The Face Of Radical Islam [**Warning: Contains Graphic And Violent Scenes**]

Source: Thomas More Law Center (Videos)

See also:

LiveLeak pulls “Fitna” after receiving “very serious” threats

LiveLeak restores “Fitna”; Video: Indonesians call for Wilders’s death

For the Vatican, King Abdullah Matters More than 138 Muslim Scholars

The Story of a Convert from Islam – Baptized by the Pope at St. Peter's

Blogging the Qur’an by Robert Spencer

Pope Benedict XVI: The World Must Prevent Terrorists From Getting WMD's

Here's the story: Pope urges world to prevent terrorists from getting weapons of mass destruction

Quote:

Pope Benedict is urging the international community to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on weapons of mass destruction.

The pontiff outlined the Vatican's foreign policy priorities in his annual speech today. He says he wants the world to make "a global commitment on security" and keep the weapons secure. He also urges negotiations to continue with Iran over the country's nuclear program. The pope says he wants to see measures in place that would "increase transparency and mutual trust."

My thoughts:

Although I wouldn't call this report hawkish, and the Associated Press often spins things, they're not known for supporting the war on terror, or anything that appears to suggest support for anything like a war on terror, so I bet the report is fairly accurate.

It sounds like the Holy Father is worried about a terrorist threat and sees Iran's development of nuclear facilities as a danger to the world.

He must not be listening to Ron Paul, who says all we need to do is mind our own business and stop supporting Israel and the terrorists will leave us alone, and that Iran's nuclear facilities are nothing to worry about.

My money's on the pope being right.

Any thoughts?

(Unfortunately...) A Satirical Zawahiri Christmas Greeting

Unfortunately in the sense that it's only satire.

Source: AnnCoulter.com

Above the link, Ann Coulter wrote:

"If only we had followed my post-9/11 plan..."

The YouTube description says: "A satirical new video from al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, about the true meaning of Christmas."

Pope Scares Al Qaeda?

While my own preference for Holy Mother Church dealing with the Muslims would be something akin to a new Battle of Lepanto, or at least dealing with them as King Jan Sobieski did at the gates of Vienna, it is interesting to see how much of the "war" with these Islamo-Fascists is being conducted entirely in the media. Your thoughts?

Pope's talks with Muslims scares al Qaeda: Vatican

Tue Dec 18, 2007

By Phil Stewart

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican on Tuesday rejected condemnation by al Qaeda of a historic meeting between Pope Benedict and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, saying the militants were afraid of inter-religious dialogue.

Al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, referred to Benedict as a Pontiff who had "insulted Islam and Muslims" and criticized King Abdullah's meeting with him last month.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Zawahri's video-taped comments, posted on the Internet on Sunday, showed al Qaeda's was worried about the implications of the meeting - the first between a Pope and a Saudi monarch.

The Pope was also pursuing dialogue with a group of prominent Muslim scholars, including Jordanian Prince Ghazi bin Mohammad bin Talal, Lombardi noted.

"These people want dialogue and are working toward peace," Lombardi said. "This worries those who don't want dialogue."

Zawahri has previously denounced the Pope for a speech he made last year at a university in his native Germany, when the Pontiff used a quote that associated Islam with violence.

Muslims around the world complained about the speech, but the Pope said he was misunderstood and has several times expressed his esteem for Muslims.

In the latest message, Zawahri noted that Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Aziz Al al-Sheikh was quick to condemn jihad in Iraq but not the Saudi king's visit with Benedict.

"Wouldn't have it been more appropriate for this mufti who rules according to the school of Bush to reproach his so-called guardian (King Abdullah) for his visit with the Pope," Zawahri asked, quoted by U.S. terrorism monitoring organization IntelCenter.

"Is this how the moderate creed and confrontation of polytheism is supposed to be?", he added.

Lombardi said the entire episode showed that dialogue and pursuit of peace were "gaining more weight and this is undoubtedly a positive factor".

(Additional reporting by Philip Pullella in Vatican City and Lin Noueihed in Dubai, Editing by Matthew Jones)

Vatican Document On Evangelization Expected Soon

Here's the story: New Vatican statement to address central doctrinal dispute

Here is a quote:

The Vatican will release a new document on evangelization next week, with officials in Rome indicating that it will be an important statement on the duty to spread the Catholic faith.

The subject of the new document, which is being released under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is evangelization. The document will be released on December 14.

The importance that the Vatican attaches to the subject is reflected by the list of ranking officials who will participate in a news conference introducing the document. Three cardinals will join in presenting the subject to the press. And because the three cardinals head three separate Vatican congregations, it is clear that the document is the product of careful preparation involving several dicasteries.

Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will chair the December 14 presentation, assisted by Archbishop Angelo Amato, the secretary of the Congregation. They will be joined by Cardinals Ivan Dias and Francis Arinze: the prefects of the Congregation for Evangelization and Congregation for Divine Worship, respectively.

While Vatican officials have not announced a title for the document, or given a topic more specific than the broad theme of evangelization, informed officials suggested that this important new statement would address a lingering controversy over the claim that the Catholic Church is the one true Church of Christ.

This is a big deal.

Here's more:

In July of this year, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released, a document entitled "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church", reaffirming the central role of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church in the plan of salvation. That document, released without fanfare, revived a controversy that had been ignited in 2000 by Dominus Iesus, a powerful statement released by the same Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (headed at that time by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger), which affirmed the traditional Catholic teaching that the Christ and his Church provide the only means of salvation.

The new Vatican document is expected to carry the argument of Dominus Iesus a step further, explaining that because of the unique role played by the Church in the plan of redemption, Catholics have an obligation to spread the faith, thus offering others the best means of attaining salvation.

This will help in three ways:

1) It will clear up yet another difficulty in relations between the Catholic Church and the Society of St. Pius X.

2) It will make clear that so-called progressives who have denied or watered down the notion the need for conversion to the Catholic Faith and/or snubbed the articulation of the truth that the Catholic Church is the One, True, Church of Christ as an expression of "triumphalism" have been in error.

3) Most importantly, it will restate and clarify authentic Catholic doctrine, thereby instructing the faithful on what it means to be Catholic and what is required of believing Catholics.

It's actually a very exciting document, and one of the most important things the Holy See has done in a long time.

I suspect this document will be controversial and, because it expresses the truth that the Catholic Faith possesses the fullness of revealed truth and is the perfection of divine revelation and that other religions possess truth only in so far as they agree with the Catholic Faith, Pope Benedict XVI will be criticized even more than Ann Coulter when she said that Christianity is the perfection of Judaism.

Any thoughts?

Vatican: Pope's Refusal To Meet Rice Not A Snub

The Vatican has clarified erroneous media reports that the Holy Father's decision to abstain from meeting with Condoleezza Rice was not a snub and not intended to be interpreted as a reflection of the views of the Holy See pertaining to U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Here's the story: Vatican: Pope's refusal to meet Rice should not be seen as snub

Here's a quote:

Pope Benedict XVI declined to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during his August vacation, but Vatican officials said it should not be interpreted as a diplomatic snub.

"The only reason she wasn't received was that she came during a period when the pope doesn't receive anyone. It was a purely technical question of protocol," an informed Vatican source told Catholic News Service Sept. 20.

The source said it was "absolutely not" the Vatican's intention to rebuff Rice or signal disagreement with U.S. policy on the Middle East.

Rice was about to travel to the Middle East for diplomatic talks in early August when the request for a papal meeting was made. The pope was vacationing at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome.

Even as it declined the request, the source said, the Vatican made it clear that top officials of the Vatican's Secretariat of State would be happy to meet with Rice at any time.

"So clearly there was no intent to send a negative signal," the source said.

Rice instead ended up speaking by telephone with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, while he was visiting the United States in August.

Cardinal Bertone later praised Rice's mediating attempts, saying, "I recognize the untiring efforts of the secretary of state in reconciliation among the governments of the Middle East."

Any thoughts?

Muslim Civility and Decorum?

A heartening story about reasonable control over media, in a predominantly Muslim country, for the protection of Christian imagery.

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Newspaper Suspended Over Jesus Picture

By JULIA ZAPPEI,AP

Posted: 2007-08-25 01:39:29

Filed Under: Weird News

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Aug. 25) - Malaysia's government ordered a Tamil-language daily to immediately halt publication for a month Friday as punishment for printing an image of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette, an official with the newspaper said.

S.M. Periasamy, general manager of Makkal Osai, which caters to Malaysia's ethnic Indian minority, said his office received the directive by fax from the Internal Security Ministry.

Religion of Peace: Why Christianity Is And Islam Isn’t

Give this interview a listen: Michelle interviews Robert Spencer about Religion of Peace: Why Christianity is and Islam Isn’t

Any thoughts?

Worth Reading: The Truth About Muhammad