A roundup of the latest news and analysis on matters of faith and religion in Africa, Nigeria and the world, with stories from codewit.com and Nigeria News
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis warned Vatican administrators Saturday that their work can take a downward spiral into mediocrity, gossip and bureaucratic squabbling if they forget that theirs is a professional vocation of service to the church.
Francis made the comments in his Christmas address to the Vatican Curia, the bureaucracy that forms the central government of the 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church. The speech was eagerly anticipated given that Francis was elected in March on a mandate to overhaul the antiquated and oftentimes dysfunctional Vatican administration.
Already, heads have started to roll: Just last week, Francis reshuffled the advisory body of the powerful Congregation for Bishops, the office that vets all the world's bishop nominations. He removed the arch-conservative American Cardinal Raymond Burke, a key figure in the U.S. culture wars over abortion and gay marriage, and also nixed the head of Italy's bishops' conference and another hardline Italian, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, earlier axed as head of the Vatican office responsible for priests.
Other changes are on the horizon: In the coming weeks Francis will name his first batch of cardinals and in February will preside over the third summit of his "Group of Eight" cardinal advisers, who are expected to put forward a first round of proposals for revamping the Holy See bureaucracy.
Francis has said he wants a Vatican Curia that is more responsive to the needs of local bishops, who have long complained of Rome's slow or unhelpful interventions in their work caring for souls. Francis has said he wants the church as a whole to be less consumed with moralizing than showing mercy to the needy, wherever they are.
Francis thanked the cardinals, bishops and priests gathered in the Clementine Hall for the Christmas address for their work, diligence and creativity. Deviating from his prepared text, he said "There are saints in the Curia!"
But he also reminded them that Vatican officials must display professionalism and competence as well as holiness in their lives.
"When professionalism is lacking, there is a slow drift downwards toward mediocrity. Dossiers become full of trite and lifeless information, and incapable of opening up lofty perspectives," he said. "Then too, when the attitude is no longer one of service to the particular churches and their bishops, the structure of the Curia turns into a ponderous, bureaucratic customs house, constantly inspecting and questioning, hindering the working of the Holy Spirit and the growth of God's people."
Francis also repeated a warning he has issued on several occasions in his morning homilies at the Vatican hotel where he lives: an admonition against gossiping. The secretive, closed world of the Vatican is a den of gossip, as revealed publicly last year by the leaks of papal documents from then-Pope Benedict XVI's butler.
Using terminology familiar to those present, Francis called for Vatican officials to exercise "conscientious objection to gossip."
"Let us all be conscientious objectors, and mind you I'm not simply moralizing! Gossip is harmful to people, our work and our surroundings."
Much gossiping of late has been focusing on the work of the two commissions of inquiry Francis named over the summer to advise him on reforming the troubled Vatican bank and rationalizing the Holy See's overall finances and administrative structures.
Four big-name consulting firms — Promontory Financial Group, KPMG, EY and McKinsey & Co. — have been contracted for various projects.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
LAGOS — A 28-year–old pastor, Chibuike Israel, yesterday, appeared before an Ejigbo Magistrate’s Court in Lagos, over alleged unlawful carnal knowledge and stealing.
The accused, who resides at the Ijegun area of Lagos, is facing three-count charge of sexual assault, stealing and obtaining by false pretences.
The prosecutor, Cpl. Femi Adeleye, told the court that the accused committed the offences sometime in August at 4, Ojorubutu St;, Kudeyibu, Ijegun, a suburb of Lagos.
Adeleye said the accused unlawfully had sex with his victim (name withheld), when she was nine months pregnant for another man.
He added that the accused also unlawfully obtained N250 from her under false pretence.
The prosecutor said that the offences contravene Sections 250, 263 and 312 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The counsel to the accused, Mrs Jacint Ogbedele, pleaded with the court to grant her client bail in the most liberal terms.
The Magistrate, Mr P. E. Nwaka, granted the accused bail in the sum of N200, 000 with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case to February 10, 2014.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Pope Francis commented recently on accusations of Marxism stemming from anti-market language employed in Evangelii Gaudium. Unfortunately overshadowed by his new status as TIME’s Person of the Year (apparently one of the few things that trumps a papal interview these days), the remarks are concise and support the reading of EG offered here, here, and here.
When asked about criticism by “ultraconservatives in the USA” who called him a Marxist, Francis replied:
The Marxist ideology is wrong. But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don’t feel offended.
[. . .] There is nothing in the Exhortation that cannot be found in the social Doctrine of the Church. I wasn’t speaking from a technical point of view, what I was trying to do was to give a picture of what is going on. The only specific quote I used was the one regarding the “trickle-down theories” which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and social inclusiveness in the world. The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefitting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger [sic] nothing ever comes out for the poor. This was the only reference to a specific theory. I was not, I repeat, speaking from a technical point of view but according to the Church’s social doctrine. This does not mean being a Marxist.
Also overlooked amidst the fallout from Evangelii Gaudium was a statement by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, which defended not only Francis’s remarks in EG, but also their specific context, as as well as the greater role of the Church vis-à-vis economics and morality. In his own release, Benedict wrote:
In order to find solutions that will truly lead us forward, new economic ideas will be necessary. But such measures do not seem conceivable or, above all, practicable without new moral impulses. It is at this point that a dialogue between Church and economy becomes both possible and necessary.
Let me clarify somewhat the exact point in question. At first glance, precisely in terms of classical economic theory, it is not obvious what the Church and the economy should actually have to do with one another, aside from the fact that the Church owns businesses and so is a factor in the market. The Church should not enter into dialogue here as a mere component in the economy, but rather in its own right as Church.
Benedict went on to castigate Smithian economics, in particular—a system where “voluntary ‘moral’ actions contradict market rules and drive the moralizing entrepreneur out of the game”—as a culprit against which the Church must align:
The great successes of this theory concealed its limitations for a long time. But now in a changed situation, its tacit philosophical presuppositions and thus its problems become clearer. Although this position admits the freedom of individual businessmen, and to that extent can be called liberal, it is in fact deterministic in its core. It presupposes that the free play of market forces can operate in one direction only, given the constitution of man and the world, namely, toward the self-regulation of supply and demand, and toward economic efficiency and progress.
As Francis remarked, however, “Marxist ideology is wrong,” too. And Benedict pulled no punches in backing this claim, as well.
In terms of the structure of its economic theory and praxis, the Marxist system as a centrally administered economy is a radical antithesis to the market economy. Salvation is expected because there is no private control of the means of production, because supply and demand are not brought into harmony through market competition, because there is no place for private profit seeking, and because all regulations proceed from a central economic administration. Yet, in spite of this radical opposition in the concrete economic mechanisms, there are also points in common in the deeper philosophical presuppositions. The first of these consists in the fact that Marxism, too, is deterministic in nature and that it too promises a perfect liberation as the fruit of this determinism. For this reason, it is a fundamental error to suppose that a centralized economic system is a moral system in contrast to the mechanistic system of the market economy. This becomes clearly visible, for example, in Lenin’s acceptance of Sombart’s thesis that there is in Marxism no grain of ethics, but only economic laws.
It’s apparent, here, that Benedict was referring, at least in part, to claims made in paragraph 57 of Evangelii Gaudium, which reads:
Behind [the thirst for power and possessions] lurks a rejection of ethics and a rejection of God. Ethics has come to be viewed with a certain scornful derision. It is seen as counterproductive, too human, because it makes money and power relative. It is felt to be a threat, since it condemns the manipulation and debasement of the person. In effect, ethics leads to a God who calls for a committed response which is outside the categories of the marketplace. When these latter are absolutized, God can only be seen as uncontrollable, unmanageable, even dangerous, since he calls human beings to their full realization and to freedom from all forms of enslavement.
Driving home his defense—and frankly, his more pointed rendition—of Francis’s economic critiques in EG, Benedict noted:
[W]e can no longer regard so naively the liberal-capitalistic system (even with all the corrections it has since received) as the salvation of the world. We are no longer in the Kennedy-era, with its Peace Corps optimism; the Third World’s questions about the system may be partial, but they are not groundless. A self-criticism of the Christian confessions with respect to political and economic ethics is the first requirement.
It is becoming an increasingly obvious fact of economic history that the development of economic systems which concentrate on the common good depends on a determinate ethical system, which in turn can be born and sustained only by strong religious convictions. Conversely, it has also become obvious that the decline of such discipline can actually cause the laws of the market to collapse. An economic policy that is ordered not only to the good of the group – indeed, not only to the common good of a determinate state – but to the common good of the family of man demands a maximum of ethical discipline and thus a maximum of religious strength. The political formation of a will that employs the inherent economic laws towards this goal appears, in spite of all humanitarian protestations, almost impossible today. It can only be realized if new ethical powers are completely set free. A morality that believes itself able to dispense with the technical knowledge of economic laws is not morality but moralism. As such it is the antithesis of morality. A scientific approach that believes itself capable of managing without an ethos misunderstands the reality of man. Therefore it is not scientific. Today we need a maximum of specialized economic understanding, but also a maximum of ethos so that specialized economic understanding may enter the service of the right goals. Only in this way will its knowledge be both politically practicable and socially tolerable.
As unprecedented as such a lengthy defense of a reigning pope by a former pope may be, probably the most uncanny feature is the exact timing of Benedict’s statement, which came in November of 1985—nearly thirty years before the publication of Evangelii Gaudium.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Pope Francis, who made headlines in recent weeks by lambasting 'trickle down" economic theories as unfair to the poor, is shrugging off criticism from political conservatives who dubbed him a Marxist.
"The Marxist ideology is wrong," Francis told the Turin-based newspaper La Stampa for a story released this weekend. "But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don't feel offended."
Last month Francis created controversy with the release of his first official papal manifesto. Among his "exhortations" was a stern perspective on capitalism.
"Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality," Francis wrote in November. "Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?"
Francis, who assumed leadership of the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church in March, told La Stampa he wasn't trying to break down technical economic theory, he was just trying to show the results.
"The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefitting the poor," Francis told La Stampa. "But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger, nothing ever comes out for the poor. .. I was not, I repeat, speaking from a technical point of view but according to the Church's social doctrine. This does not mean being a Marxist."
The Argentine-born pontiff earned a reputation for humility and commitment to the poor long before taking control of the Vatican.
Last week, Francis was named Time's Person of the Year. The magazine lauded Francis "for pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world's largest church to confronting its deepest needs, and for balancing judgment with mercy."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Time Magazine has named Pope Francis its person of the year. "He took the name of a humble saint and then called for a church of healing," Time wrote in its announcement. "The septuagenarian superstar is poised to transform a place that measures change by the century", it added.
According to BBC, following him in the top five were NSA leaker, Edward Snowden, gay rights activist, Edith Windsor, Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
The top 10 also included Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, singer Miley Cyrus, President Barack Obama, Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani and Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services.
The new Pope "comes at a time when the church seemed to be needing a huge burst of new energy," Time contributor, Howard Chua-Eoan, said in a video announcing the magazine's decision.
According to Time, Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, is known as a humble man, a capable administrator and — as expected of a new Pope — a man of great faith. He is also a man of many firsts: the first non-European Pope in the modern era; the first pontiff from South America; and the first Jesuit to be elected head of the Roman Catholic Church.
In his first public act, the new Pope broke with tradition by asking the estimated 150,000 people packed into St. Peter's Square to pray for him, rather than bless the crowd first. Francis, 76, was born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936. The son of an Italian immigrant, he trained as a chemist before deciding to become a priest.
He was ordained by the Jesuits in 1969 and became co-archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1997, then sole archbishop of that city one year later. He was made a cardinal in 2001 and was president of the Argentine Bishops conference from 2005 to 2011. As cardinal, Francis clashed with the government of Argentine President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, over his opposition to gay marriage and free distribution of contraceptives.
He was runner-up in the 2005 papal conclave, behind then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, according to a profile by CNN Vatican analyst, John Allen, published by the National Catholic Reporter.
The new Pope brings together the first and the developing worlds, Allen wrote.
His career coincided with the so-called Dirty War in Argentina, which lasted from 1976 to 1983. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 people were killed or disappeared during the country's military dictatorship. The church was seen by some as not having done enough in that period.
In particular, Francis was accused in a complaint filed three days before the 2005 conclave of complicity in the 1976 kidnapping of two liberal Jesuit priests, Allen added. Francis reportedly denied the charge. He is known for his simplicity and has a reputation of being a voice for the poor.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Police authorities in Imo State are investigating a Roman Catholic priest (names withheld ) for unlawful possession of firearms. The priest, said to be in-charge of one of the prominent Parishes in Dikenafai, Ideato South Local Government area, Imo State, was arrested for allegedly being in possession of three unlicensed guns with which he threatened the lives of hoodlums and some parishioners who masterminded the robbery at his parish house.
Crime Guard reliably gathered that the guns which include one pump action riffle, one double- barrelled gun and a locally -made pistol allegedly belonging to the priest were recovered from his official residence by operatives of Special Armed Robbery Squad, SARS, Imo State Police Command acting on a tip off from concerned parishioners.
Described as a very controversial priest, the reverend father was arrested and detained briefly but granted bail by the police following the intervention of some influential religious and political leaders in the state.
Police sources intimated that the controversy surrounding the catholic priest stemmed from a tragedy that occurred in January 2010 , after the death of a prominent indigene of the area. The resident priest was said to had raised issues over the burial ceremony which inflamed the natives and they had to lodge formal complaints to the Bishop of the area over the way the priest was allegedly calling people names while conducting services especially bad people in the community and requesting them to change.
According to the source, the matter became worse after armed robbers reportedly attacked the priest in his official residence and he openly accused some prominent citizens of the area of masterminding the robbery. Since then, the priest obtained some fire arms and warn the public to avoid the repeat of such attack or they will face the consequenc.
This, the source continued, made some of them to write a petition to the Commissioner of Police in Imo State accusing the priest of threatening their lives with dangerous weapons. The Police boss swiftly acted on the petition and sent detectives from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, to the residence of the priest where some weapons were allegedly recovered.
Meanwhile, investigation into the case is ongoing by the police to ascertain the source of the guns and possibly the actual purposes they are being used for. It is believed that the matter will be charged to court after full police investigation had been concluded.
It would be recalled that the police in Imo State under the present Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Katsina had in recent times made remarkable breakthrough in impounding illegal arms and ammunition used by criminal gangs in the state. The latest arrest of a priest marks a new twist in the war against crime in the state, particularly the illegal use of firearms.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
GENERAL Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye will from today play host to millions of worshippers from different parts of the world at this year’s edition of the church’s Holy Ghost Congress.
The programme scheduled for one week at the sprawling Redemption Camp along the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, has a unique theme; ‘The Overflow.’
The Redemption Camp, now home to many residential apartments, educational institutions, hospitality units and a few banks came into being in 1985 to host the monthly all-night Holy Ghost service that features praise, worship, scriptural exposition, prayers and personal ministrations in answer to Pastor Adeboye’s request that God should rain His blessings upon the congregation. HOSTS: General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye and wife, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye.
HOSTS: General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye and wife, Pastor (Mrs.) Folu Adeboye.
God had asked him to assemble the people to worship and praise the Lord and the promised miracles have been familiar features of the programme. The Congress, now a six-day event, is an expand-ed version of the monthly programme with the maiden edition in 1998 on the beachside of Lekki Expressway.
Millions of worshippers gathered for an all-night programme to celebrate Jesus in a festival-like atmosphere with the theme; “Divine Visitation”. The crowd was far more than the expected four million people and it took several hours for vehicular and human traffic to clear after an admittedly awesome night characterised by lively music, preaching, and words of prophecies, signs and wonders.
The Congress became a six-day programme in 2003. The development of the Congress Arena and support facilities at the camp was rapid and extensive with the incorporation of a modern altar, prayer foyer, offices, parking lots and massive deployment of plastic chairs which have now almost completely displaced the old wooden pews.
Then came the roofing and the tilling of the floor with further expansion and paving of the access and adjoining roads resulting in a massive auditorium said to be one of the largest worship structures in the world.
Traffic flow within and around the camp is also better controlled; putting an end to the nightmare of the earlier years when worshippers spent several hours on their way to and from programmes.
With the provision of more parking lots and better manning of routes, shuttles between the camp and Lagos or other nearby cities which took several hours are now done in less than one hour.
The amenities around the Arena and other parts of the Camp have also been upgraded and improved upon for the comfort of worshippers and visitors. More toilets—mobile and fixed—have been built. Water and electricity are adequately supplied all-year round.
As the first visitors arrive the Camp, the General Overseer, Pastor Adeboye has sent a word of welcome to all participants at this year’s fiesta. In his welcome address, Daddy G.O. thanked the Almighty God for “keeping us since the last Congress in 2012. I am most delighted to welcome you to a special Congress that promises to overflow with signs and wonders.
“Congratulations for making it to this programme. You have come expectant. As the Lord lives, you shall testify all through the Congress and thereafter. As with the past Congresses, the Lord promises to make this a memorable and fulfilling programme. He is a covenant keeping God and He is faithful to do that which he has promised. In what area of your life are you believeing God for an overflow? All you need to do is to bring your case before Him in humility with praises and thanksgiving in prayerful expectation. He is the One who can do all things,” he said.
Continuing, Pastor Adeboye said: “With Him, nothing shall be impossible. He shall answer you in the mighty name of Jesus. The Lord promises to touch every area of your life through His word and the acccompanying sessions of teaching, prayers, seminars and personal ministrations. All the morning, afternoon and evening sessions are specially planned for you.
“The evening sessions will run everyday from the Opening Day (Monday) to the Closing Day (Saturday). The morning sessions shall run on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The afternoon sessions featuring teaching on Marriage, the Home, Business, Career and other aspects of everyday life will run on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
“I believe you are here for a personal encounter with the Lord of lords. Just wait upon Him and cry out to him on your own and during the general prayer sessions. Do not let anyone or anything distract you. As you key into the various daily programmes and focus on the Lord, your life will never be the same again. You have come expectant: you shall go home testifying,” he prayed.
PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
DAY 1: Monday, December 9
OPENING SESSION
6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. Prayer & Intercession 7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Praise & Worship 8:00 p.m.-8:10 p.m. Opening Prayer 8:10 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Choir Ministration 8:30 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Talk One: “I Will Bless The Lord At All Times” 9:00 p.m.-9:20 p.m. Greetings & Announcements 9:20 p.m.-9:40 p.m. Thanksgiving for Past Con- gresses 9:40 p.m.-10:10 p.m. Offering 10:10 a.m.-10:40 p.m. Choir Ministration 10:40 p.m.-12:00 a.m. Talk Two: “Beyond Salvation”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Dear Sir, I am trying so much at this point to phrase this write-up with a certain sense of respect because you rightly deserve it as an elder. But sir, did I hear that you uttered atrocities in your church, and about the Catholic Church? Tell me sir, are these your words: “All Catholics will go to hell”, “They are not Christians and have never been”, “The Pope is an anti-Christ and the Catholic Church will soon declare for Satan”, “They don’t believe in heaven. They believe in purgatory, the purgatory they invented”?
If the above are not really your words, then, I am sorry, you may ignore the following, but if they are indeed your words, Mr. Okotie, then I am sorry you may wish to consider the following:
First, your case reminds me of the pitiable and miserable condition of many Christians in this country, and indeed beyond. The deceit in which they have been plunged into in the name of Christ is indeed appalling. The desire for God has been shifted to the desire for pride, for success and for wealth, which the so called pastors and preachers preach in many forms, but this time instead of God being the end, He has become the means. A lot of times I hear people quote the passage of the scriptures that states: “Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven, and its righteousness and every other thing will be added unto you”. Matt. 6:33, and yet give to this passage another meaning, one that focuses the attention more on the things to be added than the God to be sought. And so they read into the passage, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, BECAUSE every other thing shall be added unto you’. Not only that, people no longer desire or seek for sound doctrine, for the truth of scripture, but are comfortable wherever it is said that all is well, wherever miracles are performed, or wherever their conscience finds an apparent peace as a result of not being pricked by the word of God that is indeed sharper than a two-edged sword.(Heb 4:12). This reminds me of the fact that it was even prophesied by the apostles and writers of the scriptures, and that of St. Paul especially, in 2Timothy 4:3, “For a time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings”.
This is seen in the very fact that these days and since the time of the protestant reformation, everyone is a teacher, everyone is called by God, and everyone has been told to found a Church. A lot of Churches now exist, not on the foundation of Christ as founder but on the ideas, beliefs and teachings of one man or a group of men, who not only have abandoned the teachings and traditions of the apostles themselves but have created their own and what they feel is right, and many follow them today. These pastors have even claimed infallibility more than the pope himself has ever claimed, they have even claimed impeccability, something which the Pope has never claimed in the 2000 year history of the Church, yet they accuse the Catholic Church when she teaches that the Pope is infallible. Not to go into a lot of other issues, I rather address your statements and their consequences.
YOU HAVE PUBLICLY SHOWN THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW THE SCRIPTURES, yes, because if you did, you would have known that it is one of the central teachings of Christ whom you claim to preach that it belongs to no one, except God, the prerogative to judge the state and the fate of any man’s soul. It may help to remind you that our Lord taught, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not and you will not be condemned”. (Luke 6:37, Matthew 7:1). It belongs therefore to no man, to seize the prerogative of God to judge. It belongs to God alone. But what have you done sir, you have proclaimed judgment upon all Catholics by that atrocious statement, “All Catholics will go straight to hell”, you have therefore implicitly proclaimed yourself judge over their souls, omniscient as to know their fate in the future and at the end of time. I am sorry sir, but that prerogative does not belong to you in any way. And hence, that statement was futile and useless. It holds no water. I would also like to use this opportunity to remind all Christians that when our Lord taught about not judging, he not only meant that we shouldn’t be the judge of others, he also meant and the scriptures teach, that we also shouldn’t be the judge of ourselves, no matter how much we think we have done, or no matter how good and righteous we think we are, it is humility not to proclaim that our souls will go to heaven on the last day, because we have a master, we should live a life of total surrender to him for it is he who knows and sees all things even our most secret thoughts, he knows us more than we know ourselves and also we are not omniscient as to know the consequences of all our actions. No man is perfect! Even the popes whom you condemn know this, Pope John Paul II throughout his life, was very frequent at the confessional, making reparations not only for his sins but also for the sins of his flock. He understood that we all are sinners in need of God’s constant grace and mercy in our lives, and there never comes a time in our lives when we will have had enough of it. So “who are you to judge whether he stands or falls. And stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand”. (Romans 14:4). The scriptures also say, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. (Rom. 3:23). “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us”. (1 John 1:8). “For we all make many mistakes”. (James 3:2). Even St. Paul has this to say, “… but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the lord who judges me”. It is to you therefore that St. James addresses when he writes, “have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” (James 2:4). In all these, sir, you have erred by your statement.
Secondly, sir, it may pay to remind you that our lord also said, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye’, when there is the log in your own eye?” (Mathew 7:3-4). I am trying so hard at this point not to cast accusing fingers at you for your many public and open defilements of the teaching of Christ in cases like divorce, (Matt. 5:32, Matthew 19:6, Mark 10:9) which you have been involved in twice, because I am not perfect, and I am guilty of many sins. But from the passage of scripture above, it is clear that our Lord warns us to look rather introspectively and discover the unworthiness within each one of us, and realize that we really are not lord over others, or better than them morally speaking. Your case is a typical example. It reminds me of the Pharisees against whom our Lord spoke in the scriptures.
Again, an extension of this point, which many Christians, especially in Nigeria, are guilty of is the fact that in panic at the end times, which shouldn’t be, they point accusing fingers at people, naming them the Anti-Christ, leaders and governments, people they really do not know anything about. The Anti-Christ is an enemy of Christ, against his principles, his teachings, indeed, his person, his mission, and his vision. The Anti-Christ is associated with the Devil and his angels, but these are not the only things that are Anti-Christ. There are also many things in our lives that are anti-Christ, telling lies, stealing, cheating, greed, pride, selfishness, quarreling, fighting, jealousy, envy, malice, slander etc, all these are definitely anti-Christ, against Christ’s teachings, principles, vision and mission. Christ is the enemy of sin. This is the more reason why all Christians should quit searching for or pointing accusing fingers at others and naming them anti-christs when deep inside of them, they carry one thing or another, one fault or sin, belonging to the original Anti-Christ- the devil.
A final note on this issue, and a major one, is that you, sir, do not know the Bible so well, as to know that not everything revealed by God are to be found in its pages. The authors of the scriptures did not write everything they knew, or wanted to communicate. This is essentially because their prerogative was to go and teach all nations, cf Matthew 28:19-20, and this, not exclusively by writing. We read in the sacred pages that they went about preaching, with word of mouth and not even all of them wrote, they didn’t go about writing because Christ did not say to them, ‘go and write to all the nations’. The few apostles that wrote didn’t even write everything and they know themselves that they didn’t write everything. They wrote sometimes in answer to questions raised where they had already gone to preach or as catechesis to teach the sayings and works of Jesus, what we now call Gospels, or to settle disputes, and give instructions in places they didn’t have enough time to stay and preach. We see this clearly in the scriptures because the authors themselves admit it. We read in John 21:25, “But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written”. Sometimes we fail to realize that Our Lord spent three solid years with his apostles, and in his mission, years too much for the relatively little accounts of his works as relayed in the Gospels. We read also that there were several things the apostles wanted to relay but didn’t consider writing the best option. An example is in 2 John 1:12, “There are several things I have to tell you, but I have thought it best not to trust them to PAPER and INK. I hope instead to visit you and talk to you PERSONALLY so that our joy may be complete”. Also read 3 John 1:13-14, “I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon and we will talk together face to face”. This is not all, we read as St. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “Hold to the TRADITIONS which were taught by us, either by WORD OF MOUTH or by letter”. We also read, “Maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you”. (1Cor 11:2). And yet again in 2 Tim 1:13, we read, “Follow the pattern of the SOUND WORDS which you have HEARD from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus”. You may also wish to read 2 Thess. 3:6. All these buttress my point. In line with all these, the Catholic Church has always taught that both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, as handed down by the apostles, constitute equally the sacred deposit of the Word of God. Taking one alone and excepting the order would lead to a misinterpretation, and hence a misunderstanding of the divinely revealed message. The more you understand this, sir, the more unlikely it would be that you would repeat the mistakes which you have already made in this respect.
Yet, o! fan of the Bible, you accuse the Catholic Church of unscriptural practices, I only wish you could show me, where in the scriptures, a beauty pageant was done in the house of God.
YOU HAVE PUBLICLY SHOWN THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW CHRISTIANITY. Well, that is already obvious, from the fact that your statements show a next to nothing idea of Christianity’s origins, and its history. If I may guess, you probably picked up the bible and scanned through its pages, and maybe read a few critics. The statements you made were those I, as a young child asked many years ago, and have long ago answered, or rather, gotten answers to. Though you are much older, it’s not too late to do the same. An idea of Christianity’s history would have let you know that the belief that Christ is truly present in the sacred host, the bread and wine, after the consecration, the thanksgiving, which in Greek means EUCHARISTIA, from where the Catholics, get the word, Eucharist, stemming from the fact that four of the scripture writers describe that whenever Christ undertook this miraculous process he gave thanks. (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20, and 1 Cor. 11:23-29), that this belief was present from the very beginnings, and essentially characterized Christian worship cf Acts 2:46. In fact, we read that when Christianity entered the Roman Empire and faced terrible persecutions from the Emperors of Rome, one of the accusations hauled against them was that they were cannibals, that they gathered together to eat the flesh of a man. This goes to even show that the Eucharist was at the heart or center of their worship, for the Romans to have picked on this so easily.
Christ himself had told us in John 6:53-57, and very explicitly, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.” Probably Sir, you would be among those who would leave Jesus as in John 6:66, saying, “this teaching is too hard, who can accept it”. (John 6:60). Like you said it is a ritual, a sacrifice, you mean that in the way the unbelievers meant it in John 6:53, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”, and yes it is indeed the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, the same sacrifice performed on the cross of Calvary for our sins, a sacrifice which every one stands to benefit from, to be put right before God, to be sanctified and made whole in the Spirit. And like those who walked away from Christ as he taught this, Christ will not call you back because he was not mincing words, he meant what said, and said what he meant.
Secondly, if you knew Christianity, you would have known that Christ built his Church on a confessor, not a confession, a rock, whom he named, a man, whom he called, Peter. Of course Christ is the chief cornerstone and the head of his body the Church, but he himself built his church on Peter when he said, ‘You are Peter’, (Matthew 16:18) from the Greek petros which means rock, remember that it was Christ himself who gave Simon the name Peter, and it takes a simple study of the Bible to show that whenever God changes someone's name, a responsibility is usually attached to it. Such responsibilities involve and are usually geared towards the fulfillment of the coming of his kingdom on earth. You will do well to remember at least the change of Abram’s name to Abraham. We see that Christ was also meant to establish or found a Kingdom of God’s People even in the Old Testament, in the prophecies about Christ in Isaiah chapter 7, when it was said that his kingdom will have no end. Christ was to establish a kingdom, and that which he has established when he said, ‘I will build my Church’, (Matthew 16:18) from the Greek ecclesia.
Again Christ says to peter; ‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven’, (Matthew 16:19), we see a similar situation in Isaiah 22:15, “Thus says the Lord God of hosts, ‘Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him’” Thus the Lord cursed the self-seeking steward of the house of Judah and appointed a new one in his place, and then we read in verses 20-22, about this new steward of the kingdom, ‘in that day I will call my servant Eliakim the Son of Hilkah and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your belt on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a servant to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. AND I WILL PLACE ON HIS SHOULDER THE KEY OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID; HE SHALL OPEN AND NO ONE SHALL SHUT; AND HE SHALL SHUT AND NONE SHALL OPEN’. Not only this, he says to peter again, ‘whatever you shall bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven’, a very clear indication that Christ is speaking clearly to peter, giving to Peter the authority to exercise, as pastor and shepherd of his flock in his name. We also see this in John 21:15-17, when he says to peter three times to feed, tend and look after His sheep. Trying to get round it or twist it to suit a purpose is wrong and untruthful. The pope sir is a name meaning papa, or father, which we give to the successor of that shepherd of Christ’s flock, who today is Pope Francis. Seeing that neither you nor your Church can trace her origins to the early apostles, the Catholic Church is more verified than your Church and the Pope more consolidated in the authority of Christ than you are or have ever been.
YOU HAVE PUBLICLY SHOWN THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Your statements about what the Catholic Church believes are even outrageous. This shows that you have not even taken time to study the catholic faith, but are only acting on hearsay or ignorant assumptions. This is very absurd and demeaning for someone who aspires to head a country someday. If you decide to criticize someone or something, the simplest thing one can do is to find out what the person has to say about himself first, or rather understand what the person is trying to say, before launching blind and uninformed attacks. How can an elite pastor say that “Catholics do not believe in heaven”, when there is a whole section devoted to the topic in the Catechism, when priests, bishops, and even popes have talked about that heavenly abode for centuries, when one distinguishing characteristic of the catholic church is the veneration of the Saints, the Church triumphant, who are in heaven? Yes, we believe that there is, for the souls who die in a state of grace and friendship with God but still yet not perfectly sanctified or purified by the Holy Spirit, a place or state in which that sanctification is completed before they enter heaven, a place or state we call purgatory, but even the idea of purgatory presupposes a belief in heaven, for what else is the goal of purgatory than to make an unfit soul fit for heaven? And by the way, this is not an invention in any way, it is a truth of faith, which the Bible clearly teaches in the following passages, Rev. 21:25-27, 1 John 5:17, Matt. 16:27, Rev. 22:12, 2Maccabees 12:45, Matt. 25:34, 41, and 1 Cor. 3:11-15 amongst others. I will treat the issue of purgatory later. This belief is also present in the Jewish Religion that of God’s chosen people of the Old Covenant, from which Christianity takes its roots.
It is also stunning that in some way you feel there is this competition between Our Lord and his mother for our attention. Pity! Unlike you, we Catholics believe that all of us, the people of God are bound together in bond of communion, with Christ as our center. A bond to which death is no barrier, a bond in which we all to a certain degree share in the one mediatorship of Christ, wherein that in Christ, we can pray for one another, and also ask one another to pray for us. Holding a special place in this bond of communion is that woman of virtue, the Mother of God, and rightly so because she gave birth to Our Lord Jesus Christ who is God and has always been even before his conception. She is our Mother, our Queen, Our patroness, and just like all the saints in heaven but to a higher degree, she intercedes for all the elect, all the chosen people of God. (Rev. 5:8, 12:1,17, 6:9-10). That is the family we are born into through baptism, a lovely family where everyone matters and contributes to the well being of the other in Christ. A family, so big, because it does not only cut across nations, it cuts across the boundaries of life and death, of heaven and earth. So sir, it is Christian to entrust myself to the Mother of my redeemer just like it is Christian to entrust myself to my pastor as director of my soul, just that what she and the saints in heaven can do for me, no man on earth can do.
Finally sir, when I think of all the good people in the Catholic Church, men and women who have given their very lives as a testimony, a marturia, to the greatness and transforming power of the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who have spent their whole lives in the service of the poor, the needy, the destitute, the orphans, children and the aged. When I also consider the good the Popes have done and how many a time they have put their lives on the line, in furtherance of the gospel, I only marvel at your statements. Because they remind me of the same accusation laid against Our Lord Jesus Christ as he went about doing good. they attributed the good he did to the devil in Mark 3. And so the Church, the body of Christ must continue to endure allegations such as yours, attributing her good works to the devil and hence blaspheming against the spirit of the Church, the Spirit of God himself. The Catholic Church must tow the lines of her master and groom for she is his body and he is her head. She is the only Church that is infinitely loved and infinitely hated, just as Christ is infinitely loved and infinitely hated.
But sometimes I wonder, Satan is not Charitable, Satan does not love, and Satan will not give his life for the cause of Justice, reconciliation and peace. Satan will not even encourage anyone to do so. But if you still found reason after considering these to say the Catholic Church declares for Satan, then good luck to you, I only would laugh in CHINESE!!! Have a nice day!!!
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
There was a time when Pope Francis couldn't turn the other cheek: He once worked as a bouncer at a Buenos Aires nightclub, he told parishioners at a local church in Rome on Sunday.
It marked the first time the pontiff discussed his doorman gig since becoming pope, NBC's "Today" reports.
The Catholic leader was listing some of his former jobs, which included teaching and chemistry lab work, during a visit to San Cirillo Alessandrino church, as reported by Catholic News Service. But it was his mention of being a bar enforcer that caught the attention of many.
New York Magazine humorously imagined a conversation between a bar owner angry at the future pontiff's lax admission standards. "I'm seeing a lot of poorly dressed losers in here. Also a number of lepers," complains the boss, who eventually fires him.
The pope worked the velvet rope to make money when he was a student, the Telegraph reported several months ago, but his public recollection on Sunday still caught many by surprise.
We wish we could've heard it from the pontiff himself.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Thomas Williams, the onetime public face of the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order who left the priesthood after admitting he fathered a child, is getting married this weekend to the child's mother, The Associated Press has learned. The bride is the daughter of former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, one of Pope Francis' top advisers.
Glendon, a Harvard University law professor, is one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican as president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences. She is also one of five people on Francis' commission to reform the scandal-marred Vatican bank. Her daughter, Elizabeth Lev, is a Rome-based art historian and columnist for the Legion-run Zenit news agency, which Williams published for over a decade while he was in the order.
Williams, a moral theologian, author, lecturer and U.S. television personality, admitted last year that he had fathered a child several years earlier.
At the time, Williams apologized for "this grave transgression" against his vows of celibacy and said he had stayed on as a priest because he hoped to move beyond "this sin in my past" to do good work for the church. The Legion's retired superior later admitted he had learned about the child in 2005 but allowed Williams to keep teaching and preaching about morality.
After taking a year off for reflection, Williams left the priesthood in May to care for his son. According to their wedding registry, he and Lev are due to marry on Saturday in the United States.
Asked for comment Thursday, Lev confirmed the wedding plans in an email, adding: "We have no intention of ever discussing our personal life in this forum."
She had initially denied an intimate relationship with Williams, though they frequently appeared together in American circles in Rome, particularly with visiting U.S. student and Catholic tour groups.
Their wedding closes a circle of sorts, even as it raises some uncomfortable questions: Who beyond Williams' superior in the church knew about the child while the couple tried to cover it up? Was Williams already in a relationship with Lev when she was hired at the magazine he published? And did the family ties to Williams influence Glendon in her defense of the Legion and its disgraced founder despite credible reports that the founder was a pedophile?
The saga of the Legion of Christ represents one of the most egregious examples of how the Vatican ignored decades of reports about sexually abusive priests as church leaders put the interests of the institution above those of the victims.
The Rev. Marcial Maciel founded the cult-like Legion in 1941 in Mexico and oversaw its growth into a large and prominent congregation despite credible reports that he was a drug addict and child molester. After Maciel's death in 2008, the Legion admitted that he fathered three children and sexually abused his seminarians.
In 2010, the Vatican took over the order and a papal delegate has been overseeing a reform and "purification." In January, the Legion will elect a new leadership and approve a new set of constitutions.
The Legion scandal has been particularly damaging to the Vatican because Maciel was held up by Pope John Paul II and his cardinals as a model for the faithful, with the order admired for its orthodoxy and ability to bring in money and new priests.
Like all Legion priests, Williams had been a staunch defender of Maciel. When Maciel's double life became public in 2009, Williams told the Catholic ETWN program that the revelations were a "very, very hard blow to all of us."
Until he left active ministry, Williams was the most publicly prominent priest in the 900-strong order. He is the author of such books as 2008's "Knowing Right From Wrong: A Christian Guide to Conscience," and was a commentator for the U.S. broadcaster CBS. He was the superior of the Legion's general directorate in Rome in the late 1990s and early 2000s
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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