Catholic Fire

July 8, 2013 (Romereports.com) During his Sunday Angelus prayer and following his special Mass with seminarians and novices,  Pope Francis reflected upon the role of ordained ministers as successors of the disciples, whom Jesus sent to the world as missionaries and witnesses to this message. POPE FRANCIS “He forms immediately a community of disciples, which is a missionary community. Right from the start, He trains them for the mission, to go on a mission. Beware, however! The purpose is not to socialize, to spend time together – no, the purpose is to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and this is urgent! There is no time to waste in small talk, no need to wait for the consent of all – there is need only of going out and proclaim. After the prayer to Our Lady, Pope Francis also gave a little insight on the genesis of his recently published first encyclical, 'Lumen Fidei.' POPE FRANCIS “As you know, two days ago the encyclical letter on the subject of faith, entitled Lumen

Dr. Taylor Marshall (one of my favorite bloggers) sums up the new Encylical Lumen Fidei   (Latin for "The Light of Faith") written by both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis in 15 simple points: He begins with referring to Nietzsche as the pioneer of non-faith for our era. Consequently, "humanity renounced the search for a great light, Truth itself." He then refers to Dante, who in the Divine Comedy, after professing his faith to Saint Peter, describes that light as a "spark, which then becomes a burning flame and like a heavenly star within me glimmers." The encyclical builds on Saint Peter's initial faith when he said, "You are Christ, the Son of the Living God!" Next, he traces the history of faith from Abraham and up on through the Hebrews of the Old Testament. The Incarnation reveals the ultimate object of faith - Jesus Christ. "In many areas in our lives we trust others who know more than we do. We trust the architect wh

July 5, 2013 (Romereports.com) Pope Francis has published his first encyclical titled 'Lumen fidei', or 'The light of faith.' The document was started by Benedict XVI when he was still Pope and later passed on to Pope Francis. The result is a text combining theology and current affairs that bears the hallmark of both Popes. Pope Francis invites everyone to let faith 'cast light' upon their existence. He also states that 'faith is not arrogant', it 'strengthens the bonds between people' and is 'in the concrete service of justice and peace.” The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith was one of the speakers in charge of presenting the encyclical. ARCH. GERHARD LUDWIG MULLER Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith “The encyclical wants to reaffirm the fact that faith in Jesus Christ is a fundamental value for mankind and that it is 'good for everyone, for the common good': 'it does not only cast ligh

July 01, 2013. (Romereports.com) The Vatican announced that Pope Francis' first encyclical will be titled 'Lumen Fidei,' which translates to 'The Light of Faith.' The encyclical was started by Benedict XVI when he was still Pope. Francis finished it, describing it as a 'strong text.' It will be presented on July 5th, by Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet and by archbishops Gerhard Müller and Rino Fisichella. Encyclicals are open letters, where Pontiffs write  a religious and social message, to all people of good will. John Paul II published 14. Benedict XVI published three. Usually, a Pope's first encyclical outlines the priorities of his pontificate. But that won't necessarily be the case with this one, since a good portion of the document was already written by Benedict XVI,  when it was received by Pope Francis.