WORLDWIDE
NEWS & VIEWS with a
Catholic slant
HEADLINES:
The invasion of Rome has begun as pilgrims pour into the Vatican for Jubilee events
The Opening of the Holy Door will serve as the kickoff for a 378 day celebration of the great Jubilee 2000 and if the number of pilgrims already flooding the eternal city is any indication, Rome and the Holy See will set all records and test to the limits the facilities and functions geared for handling such massive amounts of people. Just for the start of the Jubilee the Vatican has already had to turn away over 50,000 who wanted admittance to St. Peter's Basilica for the Opening of the Holy Door ceremonies. They will be accommodated in the Square with large screen TV's mounted to watch the festivities. Over 40,000 will volunteer in crowd control and other responsibilities throughout the year. For more, click on Jubilee jam
Pope Pius IX was greatly persecuted by Freemasons throughout and after his papacy
With the pending beatification of Pope Pius IX next September 3rd, more is being released on this faithful, beleaguered Sovereign Pontiff who served for 32 years, one of the longest in the history of the Popes and declared the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. One of the issues coming to light is that he was greatly persecuted by the Masonic movement for the Freemasons, who promulgated liberal and enlightenment thought, realized he and the Church stood in their way to dominating the world. Therefore both the Pope and the clergy became a vicious target of Fremasonry, but Pius IX never backed down.From his very first encyclical Qui pluribus in 1846 to his encyclical Levate in 1867 on the afflictions of the Church, Pius never waivered even though he was the highly-visible target of the Masons who were responsible as well for the French Revolution and many other evils in the nineteenth and twentieth century as well. They even denigrated him after his death. Now finally he is going to get the well-deserved recognition that has been long in coming - practically a century of investigation for it began during Pope Saint Pius X's pontificate and was finally approved during Pope John Paul II's papacy. For more, click on Pope Pius IX.
Muslims told by Israel, take up your tent and move NOW!
Israel has issued the squatting Muslims who persist in keeping the tent up next to the Basilica of the Annunciation, an ultimatum: Get out now and take the tent with you! The contentious arabs are persisting and a showdown is looming in a battle for the land adjacent to the Basilica that Vatican, Palestinian and other Christian leaders believe should be used as a courtyard to accommodate the influx of pilgrims during the Jubilee Year, whereas the Muslims want to build a mosque and Israel has been thrown into the middle of it, trying to backtrack after mistakenly giving the mosque the green light. For more, click on Muslims told: No tent!.
The Catholic roots of Santa Claus
In keeping with the season, we bring you some special research provided by ZENIT on the origins of Santa Claus aka Ol' Saint Nick aka Kris Kringle aka...well, you know who! Especially if you have kids! While poor Santa is over-secularized today he has his roots in Catholic traditions that go back to the fourth century. For more, click on Ho, ho, ho it's no joke where Santa came from.
For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site at the CWN home page and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales and Daily Dispatches, Dossiers and Features from ZENIT International News Agency. CWN, NE and ZENIT are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provide this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.
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Open wide the Doors to Christ
With the Holy Father's opening of the Holy Doors on Christmas Eve, the new Jubilee Year 2000 has begun. In addition to his Message above, we bring you his universal message for WORLD DAY OF PEACE on January 1st. The text was taken from the vatican web site. For the Pope's words on his New Year's Day 2000 Address, "Peace on earth to those whom God loves!" , click on THE VICAR OF CHRIST SPEAKS.
LITURGY FROM CHRISTMAS EVE TO THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY
We present the liturgy through January 3rd in this issue. This includes the Christmas vigil, Christmas liturgy, Feast of the Holy Family, the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the Feast of Saint Thomas Becket, the Feast of Pope Saint Sylvester I, The Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. For the liturgies, readings, meditations and vignettes on all these feasts, click on LITURGY THROUGH JANUARY 3rd
THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
Actually, the Twelve Days of Christmas were a secret "catechism" sung by Roman Catholics after the Reformation in countries such as England where they were not allowed to practice their faith. Thus, to communicate with fellow Catholics and truly celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ as the Savior in the Catholic tradition without fear of reprisal, they formed this "carol" which represented "religious reality" in symbols. This was also used often during the French Revolution. For the meaning of the Twelve Days of Christmas, click on TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
Events in Church History
Saturday, December 25th is the 776th anniversary of when Saint Francis of Assisi first displayed a Christmas creche depicting the Christ Child, along with His Blessed Mother Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds and their animals to remind the people of death of Greccio, Italy that Christ is the reason for the season way back in 1223. Since that time nativity scenes have been recreated and fashioned from miniature to life-size and we can all thank St. Francis for this tradition that is so strongly Catholic. For other events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history this period between Christmas Eve and the Epiphany, click on MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES
As head of the See of Dakar for 37 years Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum has been the glue to hold his beloved country of Senegal together
We continue with this special series introducing you to the Princes of the Church. Our one-hundred-thirty-sixth red-hat we feature, in alphabetical order, is the 78 year-old Senegal-born prelate Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum, Archbishop of Dakar in the far-western country of Senegal, Africa since 1962. He has overseen the steady increase of Catholicism in this heavily populated Muslim country on the Atlantic coast. He was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope Paul VI during the Consistory of May 24, 1976. For more on Cardinal Hyacinthe Thiandoum, click on COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION
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Appreciation of the last books of the Old Testament
In this year-end issue we continue our search to uncover the wonderful treasures of the Church contained in the great Deposit of Faith with our series on the Bible and Sacred Scripture, presenting an overview of each of the Old Testament books, completing the Old Covenant by covering the final six Books of Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi and 1 and 2 Machabees. For the seventy-eighth installment, click on APPRECIATING THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF OUR FAITH
The DAILY WORD
Taken from the Gospel of Luke 2: 21 for the Mass on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God:
"And when eight days were fulfilled for His circumcision, His name was called Jesus, the name given Him by the angel before He was conceived in the womb."
SIMPLY SHEEN: There's the virgin birth in all of us
They say a picture is worth 1000 words, but the words of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind, one of the ways this late luminarydid so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN".
"Everyone who becomes a Christian has Christ in him. Christ is born and conceived in everyone by baptism. There is first of all the renewal crisis in the intellect so that, as Paul says, we 'put on the mind of Christ.' He is in the will, as grace and power. And He is in our body, because our body becomes the temple of God. The convert can often say: 'Oh, yes, at this precise date I heard the word of God. And the word was born in me so that I have His truth and His grace, and He's living inside of my body.' There is conception by perception, conception by the hearing of the word of God."
Finally the long-awaited books "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..." and THE HIDDEN WAY are NOW available!
With the messages completed, you can now order the book that contains ALL the messages. This much-anticipated 224-page book of ALL the messages to the world imparted to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart from the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a lasting gift that will inspire you in your faith, and all God asks of us. You can acquire your own handsome, coffee-table top copy of "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..." containing all 632 messages or the THE HIDDEN WAY containing 100 inspirational Meditative Lessons from Our Lord and Our Lady on Church Doctrine by clicking on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..." or THE HIDDEN WAY or both books at BOOKS
To review past articles in textonly format, click on Archives.
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