WASHINGTON — The term “just-war doctrine” never surfaced in President Obama’s announcement Sunday night that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden.

But his precise remarks underscored the U.S. government’s awareness that the world would scrutinize the killing of the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks from many different vantage points, including the just-war doctrine.

Introduced by St. Augustine of Hippo, this doctrine has traditionally provided the moral framework for guiding and evaluating “the just defense of a nation against an aggressor.”

It does not directly address the issue of individual or collective guilt of the aggressor, or how a just punishment should be established. The...READ MORE

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Diners were just beginning to arrive at Tuscaloosa’s Full Moon Bar-B-Que, when the restaurant’s manager, who had been keeping an eye on the path of the oncoming storms, hastily gathered four patrons and seven employees into the walk-in cooler. The 12 people huddled and prayed in a 3 x 10-foot area surrounded by shelves holding fruits and vegetables. At 5pm, the destructive force of a tornado blew the walls out of the restaurant, collapsing the roof on top of the debris. Three of the 12 people sustained broken bones and concussions, but all of them survived.

“They were protected by the hand of God,” said David Maluff, the Catholic co-owner with his brother Joe of the...READ MORE

Once in a Century: Remembering Blessed John Paul II - Archbishop Charles J. Chaput O.F.M. Cap., InsideCatholic

You Might Be Homeschooled If. . . - Mark P. Shea, Catholic and Enjoying It!

Why (and How) Catholics Pray to Saints - Joe Heschmeyer, Shameless Popery

Catholic Hairstyles - LarryD, Acts of the Apostasy

American Papist Receives High Marks at the Vatican Blogmeet - Joshua Mercer, Catholic Vote

A May Poem From Fordham, 1904 A.D. - Pat McNamara, McNamara’s Blog

Going to the Vatican Blogmeet was Well Worth It! - A Reluctant Sinner

Minnesota: Bishop Paul Sirba Testifies for Defense of Marriage Amendment - Father John Zuhlsdorf, What Does The Prayer Really Say?

Bad Liturgical News,...READ MORE

Margaret Budenz: From Communism to Catholicism - Kevin Schmiesing, InsideCatholic

Saints and Their Birth Order (Surprising) - Taylor Marshall, Canterbury Tales

Shouts of Gladness? Or Silence? (on Osama bin Ladin’s Death)? - Carl Olson, Ignatius Insight Scoop

Because Osama bin Ladin’s Compound is Near Saint Peter’s Church? - Frank Weathers, Why I Am Catholic

Blessed John Paul II Saved the Church from going the way of the Anglican Communion - Damian Thompson, Telegraph

Quaeritur: The Smoke of Satan - Father John Zuhlsdorf, What Does The Prayer Really Say?

On Three Degrading Influences and How to Overcome Them - Monsignor Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington

First Images of Blessed...READ MORE

VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone paid fitting tribute Monday to Blessed Pope John Paul II, a man whose life radiated Christ’s love, at a Mass of thanksgiving in St. Peter’s Square.

The beloved Pope’s remains will now occupy a visible place in St. Peter’s Basilica, under the altar of St. Sebastian next to Michelangelo’s Pietà.

For the second day in a row, a jubilant crowd thronged St. Peter’s Square, waving the flags of Poland (most of them, of course), Spain, Lithuania, the United States, Portugal and others. They wanted one more chance to say “Thank you.”

Estimated at around 60,000, the pilgrims reacted enthusiastically when Cardinal Dziwisz, the...READ MORE

LONDON — Diehard romantics, celebrity hounds and Anglophiles feasted on last week’s royal wedding, replete with a fairy-tale prince, Posh and David Beckham and enthralling British pageantry. The estimated worldwide television audience of 2 billion got just what they hoped for on April 29, along with an unexpected, and perhaps unsought, bonus: an unapologetic affirmation of the truth, beauty and transformative power of Christian marriage.

At Westminster Abbey, the gravitas of the nuptial sacrament, the fruits and ends of marriage intended by the Creator, and the sacrificial nature of genuine married love were on display, at times outshining the British Monarchy’s trove of Crown Jewels.

Did Jesus Appear First to His Mother After the Resurrection? - Reginaldus, The New Theological Movement

Chronicling Catholic Gotham: Thomas F. Meehan (1854-1942 A.D.) - Pat McNamara, McNamara’s Blog

The Roman Canon, Part VII (The Anamnesis) - Jake Tawney, Roma locuta est

More on Learning to Praise God. . . Part I of II - Father John Bartunek, Catholic Spiritual Direction

Hans Kung on the Beatification: Making Irony Redundant - Father John Zuhlsdorf, What Does The Prayer Really Say?

Pakistan Christians Fear Deadly Backlash in Wake of Osama bin Laden’s Death - Marianne Medlin, Catholic News Agency

Jesus, the Apostles and the Mormons - Joe Heschmeyer, Shameless Popery

Is There an...READ MORE

God Makes Saints, Not The Church - Father Robert Barron, The Word on Fire Blog

Blessed John Paul II:  First Pope of the Catholic Resurgence - Donald R. McClarey, The American Catholic

Cor Ad Cor Loquitur - Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing

Live From the First Ever Meeting Between the Vatican and the World’s Bloggers - A Reluctant Sinner

Saint Athanasius: A Pillar of the Church, Model of Orthodoxy in both East and West - Carl Olson, Ignatius Insight Scoop

A Proper Catholic Response to the Death of a Murderer - Michael Denton, The American Catholic

. . .the Vatican statement on Osama bin Laden’s death here. . .

. . .Father John Zuhlsdorf comments here. . .

The Catholic Blogosphere...READ MORE