On the feast of the Immaculate Conception yesterday, the Holy Father had some stern words on the role of the mass media in our everyday lives in this information age:

“Every day, in the newspapers, television and radio, evil is told to us, said again, amplified, so that we get used to the most horrible things and become desensitized,” Pope Benedict XVI said at the Spanish Steps in Rome. “In a certain way, it poisons us, because the negative is never fully cleansed out of our system but accumulates day after day. The heart hardens, and thoughts become gloomy. For this reason, the city needs Mary, whose presence speaks of God, reminds us of grace’s victory over sin, and makes us hope...READ MORE

This article will appear in the next print issue of the Register:

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI has paved the way for groups of disaffected Anglicans to come into communion with Rome.

In a historic announcement Oct. 20, the Vatican said the Holy Father has approved canonical structures to allow Anglican clergy and faithful to be received into the Church while retaining elements of their distinctive Anglican spiritual patrimony.

The new structures would be open to members of the Episcopal Church in the United States, otherwise known as TEC (formerly ECUSA); the TEC is the main American branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. They will also help regularize Pope John Paul II’s 1982...READ MORE

Pope Benedict XVI Oct. 17 appointed Archbishop Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, and Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, members of the Congregation for Bishops.

The appointments are significant: Both will now be able to share their views and, to some extent, exert their influence on future appointments of bishops.

Archbishop Burke, the archbishop emeritus of St. Louis and a distinguished canon lawyer, is also a member of two other departments: the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and the Congregation for the Clergy.

The first meeting of talks between the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei and the Society of St. Pius X will take place in the morning of Monday, Oct. 26, the Vatican announced today.

The talks are taking place to consider the doctrinal issues that separate the traditionalist society from full unity with the Church. The SSPX refuses to accept the authority of some elements of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar magisterium of the popes.

In a statement, Father Federico Lombardi said the Ecclesia Dei commission will be represented by Msgr. Guido Pozzo, secretary of the commission, and Archbishop Luis F. Ladaria Ferrer, S.J., secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of...READ MORE

This interview will be published in the Oct. 25 issue of the Register:

Cardinal’s Virtues
Chicago Archbishop’s New Book Focuses on Faith and Culture

BY EDWARD PENTIN
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT

In his first book, The Difference God Makes — A Catholic Vision of Faith, Communion and Culture, Cardinal Francis George aims to bring together some of the most influential writings on the Catholic vision — “not just of the Church herself, but also of all the peoples of the world,” according to the book’s synopsis.

The publication, which went on sale in American bookstores Oct. 11, contains the author’s observations of Catholicism in cultures around the globe, as well as the...READ MORE

The Vatican announced today that Pope Benedict XVI will visit Rome’s synagogue slightly later than expected, in the afternoon of Jan. 17, 2010. According to a statement, the visit will coincide with the 21st Day of Deepening and Development of Catholic-Jewish Dialogue, as well as a local Jewish festival.

The festival is known as “Mo’ed di Piombo,” which commemorates a miraculous event of 1793: The Jews of Rome escaped an attack by the populace of the city thanks to a sudden storm that doused the fires that had been ignited against the gates of the ghetto.

The visit has been on the cards for some time: Papal spokesman Father Federico Lombardi confirmed it to the Register back in July,...READ MORE

As the first week of the Synod on Africa comes to a close, what has been the main issue exercising the minds of the synod fathers so far?

Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer Buckle of Accra, Ghana, gave his opinion at a press conference Friday afternoon. “What is beautiful is that there’s a convergence that reconciliation is a problem all over, and that working for justice and for peace is almost going to be a preferential option for the Church in Africa,” he said.

Said Archbishop Palmer Buckle, “We’ve listened not only to bishops from Africa, but those from the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and there’s a lot of convergence.” At the moment, he said,...READ MORE

So far the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, taking place at the Vatican until Oct. 25, has extensively covered core issues facing the continent, from the problem of ethnic conflicts and sects, to poverty, poor governance and the Church’s role in fostering justice, peace and reconciliation.

As well as his comments already reported here, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana, and relator general of the Synod, opened proceedings by noting that “ethnic diversity continues to be a seedbed of conflicts and tensions,” and that African migrants to the West often end up in “servile conditions, which require our attention and...READ MORE