Catholic Fire

The most recent issue of “Time Magazine” features a fascinating and deeply troubling article on the prevalence of pornography in our culture. Yet neither the author nor anyone that he interviewed or referenced ever spoke of pornography use as something morally objectionable. Until we see that the laws governing sexual behavior, which are often read as “taboos” and invitations to repression, are in fact the manner in which the relation between sex and love is maintained, we'll never find true love.

Philadelphia, Pa., Oct 3, 2013 / 02:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis’ papacy has been marked by a distinct emphasis on the poor and a unique ability to convey God’s tenderness, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said Oct. 1 at the seminary of his archdiocese. “Anyone hoping for - or worried about - a break by Pope Francis from Catholic teaching on matters of substance is going to be mistaken, ” the archbishop said at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. “At the same time, the tone of this pontificate will certainly be distinct from anything in the past century." Read the entire story.

Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput and Denver’s Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley have issued a statement insisting that Catholic teaching holds that human life is sacred from the moment of fertilization, calling claims insisting otherwise, reportedly made by the governor of Colorado, “bad theology and bad public policy.” Governor Bill Ritter, who is Catholic, on Tuesday commented on the Colorado ballot measure Amendment 48, which would define personhood as beginning at conception. He reportedly said: “My understanding is that there are things about calling a fertilized egg a person that do not square with Church doctrine.” “This is false,” Denver’s bishops said in a Wednesday statement. “Catholic teaching holds that human life is sacred from the moment of fertilization, commonly called ‘conception,’ to the moment of natural death. “Separating a ‘fertilized egg’ from the dignity of human personhood is bad theology and bad public policy. And Catholic public officials should know bet...