Workers set up a banner with pictures of Jordans King Abdullah (L) and Pope Benedict XVI during preparations at the Lady of Peace Church, the first scheduled stop in the Popes visit to the region, in Amman May 7, 2009. Jordanian Islamist leaders on Thursday condemned Pope Benedicts visit to the Middle East, saying it was provocative because he has not apologised for offending comments implying Islam was violent and irrational. They said the pope, who arrives in Jordan on Friday on the first leg of a tour including Israel and the Palestinian territories, still owed them an apology for hinting Islam was violent and irrational in a 2006 speech in Regensburg. REUTERS
On a personal note, I will do my level best to bring my readers full coverage of the Pope Benedict's trip to Jordan and Israel, as well as linking to the best sites available.
"True foundation and education start in the mosques... Do you realize what the mosque is? It is a prime factory educating men to fear and please Allah; [it is] the prime factory educating Jihad fighters... The mosque is the life of Muslims, and the symbol of their courage and honor... The Palestinian fetus in its mother's womb, the Muslim fetus throughout the world in its mother's womb, call [on Muslims] to unite through fear of Allah, through pleasing Him, and through choosing Jihad and Resistance [terror]." [1]
Mons. Fernando Filoni, right, and another prelate help dress a Vatican Swiss Guard during a celebration of the 1527 Sack of Rome, in the courtyard of the headquarters of the Swiss Guards, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 6, 2009. On Wednesday afternoon, the Swiss Guards will swear in 32 new recruits. The ceremony is held each May 6 to commemorate the 147 Swiss Guards who died protecting Pope Clement VII during the 1527 Sack of Rome carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.(AP Photo/Danilo Schiavella, pool)
Pope Benedict XVI, center, walks with Archbishop James Harvey, of the US, prefect of the Papal Household as a Vatican Swiss Guard stands guard in the foreground, during the pontiff's weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, May 6, 2009. The Vatican's Swiss Guards will swear in 32 new recruits later Wednesday amid suggestions from their new commander that women might one day join their ranks. Col. Daniel Anrig said Tuesday he was open to the idea of women serving in the elite, 500-year-old papal security force, reversing the long-held position of his predecessors. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
PRESIDENT Obama's forays into history, especially European history, are interest ing but not always accurate. Who can forget his description during the presidential campaign of African-American GIs liberating Auschwitz? (It was the Russians.) Or his admission during his recent European trip that he didn't know how to translate a certain word into Austrian? (There is no "Austrian"; Austrians speak German.)
His evocation of Winston Churchill in his press conference last Wednesday took confusion to a new height. The president cited the great British prime minister in support of his ban on enhanced interrogation techniques at Gitmo and elsewhere, noting that Churchill never allowed torture of German detainees in World War II "even when London was being bombed to smithereens."
Strange words of praise from the president -- who in February ordered that Churchill's bust be removed from the Oval Office. (We're told this was because British authorities roughly interrogated Obama's Kenyan grandfather in the Mau Mau rebellion, during Churchill's second tour as prime minister. Not exactly an advertisement for "Winston Churchill, foe of torture.")
Apparently, Obama got his new, sunny view of Churchill not from reading the Churchill biography that Prime Minster Gordon Brown gave him last month but from Andrew Sullivan's blog. Maybe we should be grateful to Sullivan and Obama for their confusion, however, because Churchill's actual position on what is morally permitted against a nation's enemies illuminates much more about the relationship between torture and civilization than their fictitious version.
Churchill recognized that torture -- the cruel, needless infliction of pain as a means of domination and control of others -- was emblematic of man's barbarism, as opposed to the values of what he called "Christian civilization." It was precisely this barbarism that he saw in the Nazi death camps and the Soviet gulag -- and that we see among the Muslim fanatics who will stone women to death for refusing to wear the veil or behead reporters.
But Churchill also understood that, if barbarism was one enemy of civilization, another was a moral cowardice disguised as moral qualms -- an instinctive flinching in the face of danger, dressed up as "upholding our values."
Churchill had seen this flinching in such 1930s appeasers as Neville Chamberlain, and he feared that he'd see it again among Britons and their leaders after the war.
"There is no place for compromise in war," Churchill wrote. In choosing between civilized restraint and the British people's survival, he never hesitated. He contemplated using mustard gas if the Nazis invaded England. He authorized the fire bombing of German cities, the so-called terror bombings, in order to cripple the German war effort and morale. He was prepared to let Mahatma Gandhi die during his hunger strike in 1943 rather than be blackmailed into abandoning India, the last bastion against Japanese domination of Asia.
As for German POWs and spies, Churchill left matters in the hands of his interrogation master, Col. Robin Stephens, nicknamed "Tin Eye" because of his monocle and martinet manner. It's true that Stephens told his interrogators that "violence is taboo" -- the source of Sullivan's claim that Churchill didn't allow torture. Stephens, however, felt perfectly free to use every degree of psychological pressure on his detainees, including sleep deprivation and hooding prisoners in solitary confinement for long stretches. He'd have tried women's bras and caterpillars, like our own interrogators, if he'd thought of it.
But there's another, more powerful reason why the British didn't torture their captured German spies. They didn't have to. Thanks to the Ultra code-breaking program, British MI5 had access to nearly every major German High Command decision. Had Ultra not existed, the attitude toward captured German spies would've been a lot less casual. (Sixteen were in fact executed for espionage before war's end.)
Likewise, if America hadn't had the Clinton-era intelligence "wall of separation" that prevented the CIA and FBI from sharing information before 9/11, a place like Gitmo might never have been necessary.
Yet those who today denounce Gitmo as an American gulag -- including our president -- are the ones who complained most bitterly about warrantless wiretaps. They refuse to see that the need for the one resulted from the lack of the other.
"Moral force," Churchill once said, "is no substitute for armed force, but it is a very great reinforcement." On this point, Churchill takes his stand firmly on the side of Vice President Dick Cheney and the Bush administration. Flinching from steps necessary to protect a nation's citizens from barbarous violence doesn't reinforce our moral values. It's a way of running from them.
Unfortunately, too many politicians are willing to take to their heels in that race.
It is quite abundantly clear that Ron Howard is an anti-Catholic bigot and Dan Brown is a propagandist that would make even Beria or Goebbels blush.
Andrew Leigh, who actually likes Howard and his films, nevertheless shreds to pieces Brown's latest "work of art", Angels & Demons, which has been made into film, continuing on the Da Vinci Code Series.
The following is a list of factual errors within the book & film:
Here are just a few inaccuracies (hardly an exhaustive list) I picked up in several exhausting minutes on the Web:
Brown claims: Copernicus was murdered by the Catholic Church. Fact: Copernicus died quietly in bed at age 70 from a stroke, and his research was supported by Church officials; he even dedicated his masterwork to the Pope.
Brown claims: “Antimatter is the ultimate energy source. It releases energy with 100% efficiency.”
Fact: CERN, the lab which plays an important role in his story, actually debunked this claim on their website: “The inefficiency of antimatter production is enormous: you get only a tenth of a billion of the invested energy back.”
Brown claims: Churchill was a “staunch Catholic.”
Fact: Any history buff could tell you that Churchill wasn’t Catholic, he was Anglican; nor was he particularly religious. The only things Churchill was staunch about were cigars, whiskey, and defending the British Empire.
Brown claims: Pope Urban VII banished Bernini’s famous statue The Ecstasy of St. Teresa “to some obscure chapel across town” because it was too racy for the Vatican.
Fact: The statue was actually commissioned by Cardinal Cornaro specifically for the Cornaro Chapel (Brown’s “obscure chapel”). Moreover, the sculpture was completed in 1652 — eight years after Urban’s death.
Brown claims: Bernini and famed scientist Galileo were members of the Illuminati.
Fact: The Illuminati was founded in Bavaria in 1776. Bernini died in 1680, while Galileo died in 1642 — more than a century before the Illuminati were first formed.
This last falsehood bears further examination, because the Illuminati are so integral to the plot of Angels and Demons. The great Baroque artist Bernini is also a central figure in Brown’s tale.
It may seem like a small “white lie” to change the timeline so drastically, and to make Bernini a key player in an Illuminati plot against the Catholic Church. But Bernini was an extraordinary Baroque artist who deserves better than Brown’s treatment.
Imagine that someone made a film that portrayed Steven Spielberg as a closet anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. Movie fans would be justifiably outraged.
But Dan Brown wrote a book (soon to be a movie!) identifying another great artistic virtuoso, Bernini, as a secret atheist who hated the Catholic Church. In reality, though, Bernini was a devout Catholic who went to mass every day and pursued the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius, which include up to five hours of daily silent meditation.
In one of the movie trailers (since taken down — I wonder why?), Tom Hanks chastises Vatican officials — “You guys don’t even read your own history!” — for not knowing about “La Purga,” the branding and execution of four Illuminati scientists in 1668. (Read entire article)
I, for one, propound that both Ron Howard and Dan Brown are cowards, liars and vile anti-Catholic bigots who lack the any semblance of valor, particularly in the face of William Donohue...
In the time between Ascension and Pentecost the Church calls the faithful to be in prayer in the Upper Room, especially in front of Jesus in the Eucharist, to prepare to receive the Holy Spirit “in spiritual union with the Blessed Virgin Mary”, as the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI said at the Angelus on 20 May 2007.
The month of May, dedicated to Mary helps us to enter into more intimate communion with Our Lady who, with the Holy Spirit, has a quite unique relationship since the Spirit came to her “and the power of the Most High will covered her with its shadow” (Lk 1, 35) to work the most wonderful miracle of salvation: the Incarnation of the Word.
Montfort writes about this sublime mystery: “the Holy Spirit, sterile in God, that is he does not bring forth another divine person, became fecund through Mary whom he espoused. With her and from her he achieved his masterpiece, which is God made man, and every day until the end of time he brings forth the predestined, the members of this adorable Body. Therefore the more the Holy Spirit finds Mary, his beloved and inseparable spouse, in a soul, the more he becomes active and powerful to form Jesus Christ in this soul and this soul in Jesus Christ” (TVD n. 20).
Similarly , another great Saint the Franciscan Maximilian Maria Kolbe, affirmed: “the Holy Spirit, the divine Spouse of Immaculate Mary, works only in Her and through Her communicates supernatural life, the life of grace, participation in divine love, divinity” (SK 1326).
These words can be only understood in the light of the mystery of the Incarnation, when God entered the world and history, uniting himself as a spouse to the creature He wished Immaculate: “I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving-kindness, and in compassion” (Hosea 2,21).
The bond between the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary must be intensified by every Christian, especially in this special time of preparation for Pentecost, and a new outpouring of the love of God who, with Mary, wishes to work in our souls the miracle of a “mystical incarnation”, as it was called by Mexican mystic Concepción Cabrera de Armida.
The sole purpose of our life in fact is full conformation with Jesus by means of a progressive path of di conversion worked by the Holy Spirit, who lifts us higher and higher, so we may live Christ!
To discover the bond which unites Mary and the Holy Spirit gives unspeakable impulse to our life because we enter harmony with the powerful mystery of the Incarnation of God, which led to our salvation. To enter into spiritual union with the Blessed Virgin Mary, in this dimension of Trinitarian Love, means finding the key to ever deeper knowledge of Jesus: Fruit of the Holy Spirit in Mary!
The Papal Magisterium has often pointed out to believers this indissoluble bond between the eternal Love of the Father and the Virgin Mother, showing it as a marriage bond. For example Paul VI, in his Exhortation Marialis Cultus recalls that some holy Fathers and ecclesiastical authors, “Examining more deeply still the mystery of the Incarnation, they saw in the mysterious relationship between the Spirit and Mary an aspect redolent of marriage, poetically portrayed by Prudentius: "The unwed Virgin espoused the Spirit,"” (MC, n. 26).
In Redemptoris Mater, the Servant of God John Paul II, wrote that when the Spirit came upon Mary at the Annunciation she, “became his faithful spouse” (RM, n. 26). Numerous saints and countless faithful have invoked her as “bride of the Holy Spirit”, “bride of God,” “totally belonging to God”, always and unconditionally faithful to His Love! We too never tire of invoking the coming of the Paraclete in our hearts looking toward the Immaculate Mary we say: “Come Holy Spirit, come through Mary”!
Read more about Pope John Paul II the Great's profound devotion to the Holy Mother here.
Vatican City, May 4, 2009 / 10:27 am (CNA).- Members of the Papal Foundation met with Pope Benedict on Saturday and heard him speak about his trip to the Holy Land later this week. He told the foundation that he will go as "a pilgrim of peace" to a land that has been marred by violence and injustice for 60 years.
Pope Benedict began the audience by greeting Cardinal William Keeler, the other cardinals and bishops present and the lay members of the foundation with St. Paul’s words-- "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Taking stock of the current state of the world, the Holy Father noted how "today's world is truly in need of His peace, especially as it faces the tragedies of war, division, poverty and despair."
As he prepares to embark on his journey to the Holy Land on May 8, Benedict XVI told the group, "I go as a pilgrim of peace."
"As you are well aware," he said, "for more than sixty years, this region - the land of our Lord's birth, death and Resurrection; a sacred place for the world's three great monotheistic religions - has been plagued by violence and injustice. This has led to a general atmosphere of mistrust, uncertainty and fear - often pitting neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother. "
"As I prepare for this significant journey," he added, "I ask in a special way that you join me in prayer for all the peoples of the Holy Land and the region. May they receive the gifts of reconciliation, hope and peace."
Every year since its founding in 1990, members of the Papal Foundation have traveled to Rome to give the Pope a donation for his charitable activities. This year, Pope Benedict noted that their meeting is taking place "during a time when the entire world is struggling with a very worrying economic situation."
"At moments such as these it is tempting to overlook those without a voice and think only of our own difficulties. As Christians we are aware, however, that especially when times are difficult we must work even harder to ensure that the consoling message of our Lord is heard," the Holy Father said.
"Rather than turning in on ourselves, we must continue to be beacons of hope, strength and support for others, most especially those who have no one to watch over or assist them," he exhorted.
The Pope thanked the foundation’s members for their "sacrifice and dedication" and expressed his gratitude. Their generosity, he said, enables "the Easter message of joy, hope, reconciliation and peace is more widely proclaimed."
After a two year hiatus, the great and inimitable Father Corapi is coming back to full form.
Read his exclusive interview, detailing his illness and upcoming speaking engagements, with NCRegister.com here.
I particularly enjoy this excerpt below regarding Catholics who voted for B. Hussein Obama:
What can we say to those Catholics who voted for Barack Obama?
Well, at this point, I’m not sure; the deed is done. I said what I could before the election.
I personally don’t believe that any Catholic in good conscience could vote for a radically pro-abortion candidate, whether for the office of president of the United States, Congress, whatever. You just can’t do it. Why? Because you become a participant in a horrible crime, and … the Church considers abortion a terrible crime against humanity.
I heard all the arguments: “Well, we can’t have a one-issue agenda.” Well, when the issue is a matter of life and death … all other issues taken as a whole — put them in the balance, and nothing adds up to the weight of sin involved in abortion. And the world is weighted down under the weight of this horrible sin, and it’s sinking into hell under the weight of its own iniquity.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Jack Kemp, a star football quarterback who became a congressman, U.S. Cabinet secretary and Republican vice presidential nominee, died on Saturday at age 73.
Kemp died of cancer at his home in Bethesda, Maryland, The New York Times said, quoting his son, Jimmy Kemp.
He served 18 years as a congressman from Buffalo, New York, after starring with the Buffalo Bills of the old American Football League. In the House of Representatives, he championed tax cuts, free trade, economic growth and a return to the gold standard.
Kemp ran unsuccessfully for his party's presidential nomination in 1988 and was Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole's running mate in the 1996 election.
Kemp also served as secretary of housing and urban development under President George H.W. Bush.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said Kemp "championed free market principles that improved the lives of millions of Americans and helped unleash an entrepreneurial spirit that all of us still benefit from today."
"Jack was a leading voice for a strong national defense, civil rights, and any other policy that empowered people," McConnell said in the statement on Saturday night.
Kemp used his muscles to rise to the top levels of professional football and then his brain to promote economic growth as a politician.
A hard-nosed competitor in his quarterback days with the Bills and San Diego Chargers in the 1960s, he could be a dogged ideologue for pro-growth tax-cut policies when he was a congressman in the 1970s and '80s. (Read entire article)
How many times do we have to go down this road with the insidious adherents of the Cult of Muhammad which represents death, destruction and utter barbarism...
Apparently in response to the “May Day” celebrations for workers sponsored by Communists, Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955. But the relationship between Joseph and the cause of workers has a longer history.
In a constantly necessary effort to keep Jesus from being removed from ordinary human life, the Church has from the beginning proudly emphasized that Jesus was a carpenter, obviously trained by Joseph in both the satisfactions and the drudgery of that vocation. Humanity is like God not only in thinking and loving, but also in creating. Whether we make a table or a cathedral, we are called to bear fruit with our hands and mind, ultimately for the building up of the Body of Christ.
“The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it” (Genesis 2:15). The Father created all and asked humanity to continue the work of creation. We find our dignity in our work, in raising a family, in participating in the life of the Father’s creation. Joseph the Worker was able to help participate in the deepest mystery of creation. Pius XII emphasized this when he said, “The spirit flows to you and to all men from the heart of the God-man, Savior of the world, but certainly, no worker was ever more completely and profoundly penetrated by it than the foster father of Jesus, who lived with Him in closest intimacy and community of family life and work. Thus, if you wish to be close to Christ, we again today repeat, ‘Go to Joseph’” (see Genesis 41:44).
The feast of St. Joseph the Worker was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 in order to Christianize the concept of labor and give to all workmen a model and a protector. By the daily labor in his shop, offered to God with patience and joy, St. Joseph provided for the necessities of his holy spouse and of the Incarnate Son of God, and thus became an example to all laborers. "Workmen and all those laboring in conditions of poverty will have reasons to rejoice rather than grieve, since they have in common with the Holy Family daily preoccupations and cares"(Leo XIII).
St. Joseph the Worker
"May Day" has long been dedicated to labor and the working man. It falls on the first day of the month that is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Pius XII expressed the hope that this feast would accentuate the dignity of labor and would bring a spiritual dimension to labor unions. It is eminently fitting that St. Joseph, a working man who became the foster-father of Christ and patron of the universal Church, should be honored on this day.
The texts of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours provide a catechetical synthesis of the significance of human labor seen in the light of faith. The Opening Prayer states that God, the creator and ruler of the universe, has called men and women in every age to develop and use their talents for the good of others. The Office of Readings, taken from the document of the Second Vatican Council on the Church in the modern world, develops this idea. In every type of labor we are obeying the command of God given in Genesis 2:15 and repeated in the responsory for the Office of Readings. The responsory for the Canticle of Zechariah says that "St. Joseph faithfully practiced the carpenter's trade. He is a shining example for all workers." Then, in the second part of the Opening Prayer, we ask that we may do the work that God has asked of us and come to the rewards he has promised. In the Prayer after Communion we ask: "May our lives manifest your love; may we rejoice for ever in your peace."
The liturgy for this feast vindicates the right to work, and this is a message that needs to be heard and heeded in our modern society. In many of the documents issued by Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, the Second Vatican Council and Pope John Paul II, reference is made to the Christian spirit that should permeate one's work, after the example of St. Joseph. In addition to this, there is a special dignity and value to the work done in caring for the family. The Office of Readings contains an excerpt from the Vatican II document on the modern world: "Where men and women, in the course of gaining a livelihood for themselves and their families, offer appropriate service to society, they can be confident that their personal efforts promote the work of the Creator, confer benefits on their fellowmen, and help to realize God's plan in history" (no. 34).
Sky News:
Reuters: 
