Why Do We Hold Our Hands Open And Turned Upward During Mass, St. Becket Vs. The Demon, And More!

The Best In Catholic Blogging

Ask Father: Why Do Catholics Hold Their Hands Open & Turned Upward During Mass? – Fr. Z’s Blog +1

St. Thomas Becket Vs. The Demon – Fr. Carlos Martins at Ignitum Today +1

More Big Ego Blocking: Fr. Jim Sichko of the Diocese of Lexington – One Mad Mom

The Truth About the Sheen Snub – Patrick Coffin at Catholic Stand

Fight Anxiety by Drawing Strength from this Icon of St. Anthony – Kathleen N. Hattrup & Joanne McPortland at Aleteia

The Massive Persecution of Christians – Tom Collingwood at Catholic Stand

The Two Popes: Baloney, Brilliantly Acted – George Weigel at The Catholic World Report

The Traumatic Foundation of Gender Dysphoria – Joseph Nicolosi at Crisis Magazine

“Evêque Du Dehors”: French King as Bishop in Use of Royal Chapel at Versailles, Holy Sepulcher – Aelredus Rievallensis at Canticum Salomonis 

When Bishops Tell Lies – Philip Lawler at Catholic Culture

Why Saint Thomas Aquinas Opposed Open Borders – Steve Ray at Defenders of the Catholic Faith

Christians Beheaded for Christmas, The West Goes Back to Sleep – Giulio Meotti at Gatestone Institute

Westminster Cathedral’s Master of Music Resigns – Nick Hallett at Catholic Herald

Four Exorcists Update – Bree A. Dail

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Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne attends a German Synodal Way assembly on March 9, 2023.

Four German Bishops Resist Push to Install Permanent ‘Synodal Council’

Given the Vatican’s repeated interventions against the German process, the bishops said they would instead look to the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Meanwhile, on Monday, German diocesan bishops approved the statutes for a synodal committee; and there are reports that the synodal committee will meet again in June.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis