It’s not quite a gift from God but, politically, it may be the next best thing.

Obama finds an ally 

on political controversies at the Vatican

By Ben Wolfgang

President Obama increasingly is finding a key policy ally in the Vatican, with Pope Francis standing virtually shoulder to shoulder with the White House on income inequality and a historic diplomatic reboot with communist Cuba. The pontiff next year also appears poised to offer greater support to the president on climate change initiatives and reportedly wants to be a leading voice at a U.N. global warming summit next year, where the American president will make perhaps his greatest pitch to date for more dramatic action on the environment.

For Mr. Obama and fellow Democrats, aligning with Francis offers clear benefits in the short term, as they are able to highlight agreement on controversial issues with one of the most respected figures on the planet.

............

Read more: www.washingtontimes.com

Russia will not assist America in guiding leaders of Iran or Syria towards responsible and productive peace negotiations

Putin’s ominous moves along Obama’s road 

to global war, economic collapse in 2015

By Charles Ortel

That was quick. Less than one week following latest warnings that President Obama is instigating conflict with Russia replete with profound dangers for America and for our dwindling coterie of allies, Vladimir Putin is hardly bowing to accentuating pressures.

The day after Christmas, we learned Russian government officials would be on call and theoretically working during their traditional winter holiday that runs through Jan. 7, 2015 when Eastern Orthodox Christmas will be celebrated.

The next day, Mr. Putin cited the United States and the NATO alliance as threats to the national security of Russia.

Monday, Russia and China announced steps that may afford each country greater flexibility in international currency transactions — moves that could end up placing heightening financial pressures on the over-extended businesses, financial institutions, and governments in North America, Western Europe, and Japan.

Tuesday, it became ever clearer that Russia will not assist America in guiding leaders of Iran or Syria towards responsible and productive peace negotiations in these key nations.

Moreover, we learned that Russia will flex even more military might in resource-rich and contested northern territory above the Arctic Circle.

........................


Read

L'Occident doit opérer une révision de sa stratégie et de ses alliances. Il en va de sa sécurité et de son avenir

Face à la menace de l'État islamique, l'Occident n'a plus le choix

Par Patrick Karam

Depuis un an, la Coordination Chrétiens d'Orient en danger n'a cessé d'alerter sur les risques de contagion de la situation en Orient.

Avec l'enfoncement du Levant dans la barbarie, nous commençons à en subir les répercussions en Occident, à travers des phénomènes comme la radicalisation et la banalisation du discours communautaire et religieux ainsi que la stigmatisation en retour des musulmans. 

La spirale enclenchée menace nos valeurs et nos sociétés: endoctrinement et conversions massives de jeunes, départ par milliers vers les terres du djihad et risques pour la sécurité nationale. Tant que les sanctuaires extrémistes ne seront pas détruits, les actes de violence sur nos sols iront en s'amplifiant.

Nos pays ont toujours un temps de retard et commettent des erreurs dont profitent nos ennemis, comme l'illustre l'épisode de la chute de Mossoul. Pour affaiblir le premier ministre chiite irakien al-Maliki, proche de Damas et de Téhéran, qui marginalise les sunnites, l'Occident lui refusa un appui aérien. 

La catastrophe stratégique et humanitaire qui s'ensuivit érigea Daech de simple pion régional en acteur mondial se jouant des grandes puissances, avec un territoire agrandi, un effectif de 30 000 combattants, multiplié par trois en quelques mois, dont de nombreux Occidentaux formés au pire, équipé avec du matériel militaire sophistiqué récupéré sur l'armée irakienne en déroute, des moyens financiers conséquents et un trésor de guerre dépassant désormais 3 milliards de dollars. 

La politique d'isolement de Damas pour ne pas renforcer le régime dictatorial de Bachar el-Assad, la mise au ban de l'Iran du fait des contentieux passés et de la question du nucléaire, la mise à l'écart de l'Égypte, en raison des critiques liées à la prise de pouvoir et aux méthodes musclées contre les Frères musulmans, le double jeu de la Turquie avec les mouvements terroristes, la non-prise en compte des risques pour le Liban et la Jordanie… tout cela conduit à l'impasse stratégique dont tirent profit les extrémistes et dont sont victimes les minorités notamment chrétiennes qui résident depuis deux millénaires dans la région.

.................

Lire la suite: www.lefigaro.fr

La droite politique a renoncé depuis longtemps à la bataille culturelle.

Zemmour : 

“Je ne supporte pas 

qu’on me somme de m’excuser”

Par Geoffroy Lejeune, Raphaël Stainville

L’entretien. Éric Zemmour Rejet de la soumission, combat culturel, “déconstruction” de l’idéologie soixante-huitarde : pour “Valeurs actuelles”, le journaliste, écrivain et polémiste à la télévision assume tout. Et prévient : “Mes idées sont majoritaires dans le peuple.”

Votre livre suscite des réactions tantôt enthousiastes, tantôt haineuses, mais toujours passionnées. Il est difficile de ne pas penser qu’avec le Suicide français, vous touchez le point névralgique de notre époque…

C’était le but. Il y a, en effet, deux non-dits dans notre temps. Celui, d’abord, de la liberté de penser, car nous n’avons jamais été autant oppressés par une censure et par un conditionnement. Celui, ensuite, du refus de l’idéologie, qui est un rideau de fumée. Je prétends, en effet, que nous n’avons jamais été autant dans l’idéologie. En écrivant ce livre, j’ai voulu “déconstruire les déconstructeurs”, montrer l’envers du décor de l’endoctrinement idéologique que nous subissons depuis quarante ans.

Le génie de la génération soixante-huitarde est d’avoir inventé une idéologie qui prétend qu’elle n’en est pas une, d’avoir imposé un endoctrinement totalitaire au nom de la liberté et enfanté des maîtres qui se prétendent rebelles. Voilà pourquoi ce livre suscite les cris d’orfraie de toute la camarilla médiatique, bien-pensante : c’est parce que je vais voir derrière leur rideau, qui était magnifiquement tiré. La génération de Mai 68 a été beaucoup plus habile que tous les révolutionnaires depuis deux siècles. Elle a perdu la bataille politique, en juin 1968, mais cela l’a sauvée. Elle a conservé la Ve République, conforté la société capitaliste, et, derrière, a tout pourri, tout infecté.

..........

Lire loa suite: www.valeursactuelles.com

La gauche persécute Zemmour et la droite hésite à le défendre ? C’est qu’il a tout compris!

Zemmour, "l’opposition, c’est lui !"

Par Denis Tillinac

Le ministre de l’Intérieur a commis un abus de pouvoir en orchestrant la curée zemmourophobe à coups d’amalgames qui rappellent les pratiques des staliniens d’antan. Ou des fascistes, comme on voudra. La plupart des journalistes et chroniqueurs l’ont relayé servilement, et pour cause : Zemmour leur fait de l’ombre. Sa culture historique, son talent de plume, sa dextérité verbale et surtout son indépendance d’esprit le désignent naturellement à la vindicte de la caste médiatique. Faute d’arguments plausibles, on le diabolise comme on s’y efforça avec Finkielkraut lorsqu’il publia son Identité malheureuse.

Le plus choquant dans cette traque hystérique, c’est le silence apeuré de la mouvance UMP. À de rares exceptions près, aucun dignitaire de ce parti n’a défendu, non pas les thèses de Zemmour, mais simplement sa liberté d’expression dans l’espace public. L’UMP eût été dans son rôle, et accessoirement se serait refait la cerise, en initiant une grande manif pour sommer le pouvoir et sa domesticité de respecter cette liberté. Certes, Zemmour est plus gaulliste que libéral à l’anglo-saxonne, plus conservateur au sens churchillien du terme que bobo, et très moyennement convaincu des bienfaits de la machinerie bruxelloise. En quoi il séduit l’infanterie de l’UMP, tout en offusquant son état-major.

En vérité, le diagnostic qu’il porte dans son Suicide français sur le délabrement mental de notre pays embarrasse l’opposition “officielle”. Ses politiciens ne s’intéressent pas aux sujets dits improprement “sociétaux” pour en minorer le sens : la mémoire longue de la France, ses mythes fondateurs, sa psychologie collective, ses traditions, ses fractures, ses hantises. Ils s’en tiennent au sondage du moment, et au bruitage médiatique. Peu leur importe que la France sombre corps et âme s’ils croient avoir réussi leur singerie “chez” Apathie ou Bourdin.

.............

Lire la suite: www.valeursactuelles.com

Galileo? «Un arrogante»

Rodney Stark contro le “leggende nere” anticristiane su Medioevo e crociate. 

«I “secoli bui” non ci sono mai stati, al contrario si è trattato di un’epoca di notevole progresso e innovazione». Parla il sociologo statunitense

Poche settimane fa Paolo Mieli ha recensito il suo La vittoria dell’Occidente (Lindau). Oggi è Avvenire a intervistare il sociologo Rodney Stark (qui una nostra intervista) docente di Scienze sociali presso la Baylor University in Texas.

Nel dialogo con Andrea Galli, il sociologo – agnostico convertito al protestantesimo, «educato come un luterano» – fa notare come «quarant’anni fa, nei migliori college e nelle migliori università americane, il primo e più popolare corso del primo anno era Western Civilization, civiltà occidentale». 

Oggi non è più così per una malcelata incapacità di fare i conti con la propria storia. Anche con le sue pagine più interessanti, come il Medioevo e le crociate, oggi quasi unanimente condannate come secoli bui ed errori cristiani. 

Ma Stark non è d’accordo: «I crociati non hanno marciato verso Oriente per conquistare terre e bottino: si sono indebitati fino al collo per finanziare la propria partecipazione a quella che consideravano una missione religiosa; i più ritenevano improbabile la possibilità di sopravvivere e tornare in patria, e i più non tornarono».

..........

Leggi tutto: www.tempi.it

Solutions ... not theories. Political progress ... not political posturing.

Decadence leads to decline, 

and America shows the telltale signs

By Cal Thomas

In the film, “Girl Interrupted,” Winona Ryder plays an 18-year-old who enters a mental institution for what is diagnosed as borderline personality disorder. 

The year is 1967, and the country is in turmoil over Vietnam and civil rights. While lying on her bed one night and watching TV, she sees a news report about a demonstration. The narrator says something that might apply to today’s turmoil: “We live in a time of doubt. The institutions we once trusted no longer seem reliable.”

As 2014 ends, the stock markets are at record highs, but our traditional institutions and self-confidence are in decline.

A Pew Research Center study confirms one trend that has been obvious over several years. The “typical” American family is no longer typical. Just 46 percent of American children now live in homes with their married, heterosexual parents. Five percent have no parents at home. They most likely are living with grandparents, says the study.

These startling figures about the decline of the American family contrast with the year 1960, when 73 percent of American children lived in traditional families.

A major contributor to this trend has been the assault on marriage and other institutions by the baby boom generation. It was that generation that promoted cohabitation, no-fault divorce, hatred of the police (they called them “pigs” then, too) and disdain for the military and America, spawned not just by the Vietnam War but also a life of relative ease unknown to their parents.

....................

Read more: www.washingtontimes.com

What Works - Common Sense Solutions for a Stronger America

WHAT WORKS

Solutions ... not theories.

Political progress ... not political posturing.
Instead of the constant jockeying for political advantage, in What Works, author and columnist Cal Thomas focuses on what promotes the general welfare, regardless of which party or ideology gets the credit.

Thomas probes and provides answers to questions like, Why must we constantly fight the same battles over and over? Why don’t we consult the past and use common sense in order to see that what others discovered long ago still works today? And why does present-day Washington too often look like the film Groundhog Day, with our elected officials waking up each day only to repeat identical talking points from previous days, months, and years?

Without letting politics, or ignorance, get in the way, Thomas urges readers to pay attention so that politicians can no longer pick their pockets—literally or intellectually.

What Works is about solutions, not theories. It’s about pressuring political leadership to forget about the next election and start focusing on the needs of the people who work hard to provide for themselves, send their tax dollars to Washington, and want to see the country achieve something of value ... like it has always done.

We KNOW What Works “We haven’t just emerged from a cave and must discover fire or invent the wheel. We have a history, a human and an American history. Why does each generation behave as if it is the first? Why does so much of our politics resemble the film Groundhog Day, in which Bill Murray’s character wakes up each morning to repeat every event of the day before, ad infinitum?”

So begins Cal Thomas, one of the most popular syndicated columnists in America, in What Works. Looking back to see what the past can teach us about political, economic, relational, and spiritual issues that we can solve today, What Works is a needed voice to all who work hard to provide for themselves and wish to see the country again achieve something of lasting value they can pass on to their children and grandchildren ... as our parents and grandparents gave to us. WHAT WORKS Solutions ... not theories. Political progress ... not political posturing.

Source: calthomas.com

Cuba: "There will be more repression, only this time with the blessing of the United States."

Cuban dissidents blast Obama’s betrayal

by Marc A. Thiessen

President Obama is basking in global adulation for his decision to normalize relations with Cuba. But there is one group that is not impressed with Obama’s rapprochement with the totalitarian regime in Havana — the dissidents on the island who are risking their lives for democracy and human rights.

Yoani Sánchez, Cuba’s most influential dissident blogger, declared that with Obama’s move “Castroism has won.” Guillermo Fariñas, a dissident journalist and winner of the European Union’s 2010 Sakharov prize for human rights, told the Guardian newspaper that Obama’s move is “a disaster.” Fariñas, who has conducted 23 hunger strikes to protest Cuban repression, added “We live in daily fear that we will be killed by the fascist government. And now, the U.S. — our ally — turns its back on us and prefers to sit with our killers.”

Ángel Moya, who was recently released from an eight-year prison sentence, told the New York Times that Obama “betrayed those of us who are struggling against the Cuban government. There will be more repression, only this time with the blessing of the United States.” Moya further declared that dissidents “are totally against the easing of the embargo” because “the government will have more access to technology and money that can be used against us.”

Moya is right. U.S. tourism and investment in Cuba won’t help ordinary Cubans at all; it will help the regime repress them.


................


Read more: www.aei.org

The UK may be forced to review its Falkland Islands air defenses

Argentina's Huge Fighter Jet Purchase 

Could Raise Tensions With Britain

by DAVID CENCIOTTI,

The UK may be forced to review its Falkland Islands air defenses to face a renewed threat in the South Atlantic.

According to a report in the Daily Express newspaper, the Argentine Air Force is set to get a dozen Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer attack planes from Russia in return for foodstuff.

Due to this, the UK Ministry of Defense is in the process of reviewing the Falkland Islands air defenses. The delivery of the supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft could pose a threat to the islands, referred to as “Malvinas” by Argentina.

According to Jane’s, the islands current British air defenses include four Eurofighter Typhoon jets, Rapier SAM (Surface to Air Missile) systems, along with about 1,200 troops permanently stationed in the South Atlantic base.

...................

Read more: www.businessinsider.com

A study of Schubert’s song cycle explores the meaning of loneliness and finds a fitting climax

Schubert’s Winter Journey: 

Anatomy of an Obsession by Ian Bostridge

By Ivan Hewett

Winter Journey is the most famous romantic song cycle ever written, but it’s also deeply odd. In the first of the 24 songs, we learn that the singer has endured some terrible disaster. There are hints that it’s an unhappy love affair, but why does that mean he has to leave his home? “A stranger I came, a stranger I depart,” he sings. As if to numb his inner torment, he sets off on a long walk, through winter snow and ice.

On the way he sees strange things, fraught with meaning: a crow, two suns in a cold sky, a charcoal-burner’s hut where he takes refuge, a graveyard. In his imagination he encounters other things; the memory of the mail-coach's horn, possibly bringing a letter from his beloved, the memory of a happy springtime, the thought of her footsteps in the spring grass, now lying dead under the snow. The one thing that’s missing in these strange episodes is an encounter with another human being. Finally it comes in the last and most famous song of the set: “Der Leiermann”, the hurdy-gurdy man. He grinds out his pathetic little tune in a frozen street, with no one to listen – apart from the mysterious singer.

As Bostridge points out in his book, the shadowiness of this figure makes him fascinating. “We are drawn in by an obsessively confessional soul, apparently an emotional exhibitionist who won’t give us the facts; but this allows us to supply the facts of our own lives, and make him our mirror.” It’s an invitation we’ve seized, perhaps rather too eagerly. The journeyer’s loneliness is routinely seen nowadays as a metaphor for the impossibility of human communion, as if he’s a personage in a Beckett play transported back into Biedermeier Vienna. Or he’s seen as the archetype of the 20th-century exile, one among many sad-eyed refugees clutching battered suitcases, fleeing the threat of genocide. The piece has been arranged for orchestra and for hurdy-gurdy, turned into a ballet, staged several times, and made into a film by David Alden, in which Bostridge himself took part.


.........................


Read more: www.telegraph.co.uk

Moscow wants more than simple territorial expansion

Russia’s Vladimir Putin clearly wants

 to dominate all of Europe

By Stephen Blank 

Since Vladimir Putin launched his war against Ukraine back in February, speculation has run rampant about the Russian president’s objectives. While objectives change in the course of any war, Mr. Putin himself has admitted that the invasion of Crimea was a strategic decision that, therefore, had strategic objectives in mind. Those objectives also relate to the current fighting in the Donbas region (encompassing Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces). As such, Russia’s conduct repudiates the speculation in Washington that Russia’s Ukraine policy is something of an improvisation. Rather, U.S. policymakers would be well-served in trying to figure out the factors driving Mr. Putin’s decision-making, both at home and abroad.

For example, few observers gave grasped that one core legitimating factor of the Russian state, in all of its historical guises, is that it is the sole heir of Kievan Rus, medieval Russia, whose original center was the present-day Ukrainian capital of Kiev. In this narrative, Ukrainemerely plays the role of Russia’s errant “younger brother,” and its claims to independence are dismissed out of hand. If Ukraine made a decisive break with Russia and opted for affiliation with the West, its example would more than simply stimulate demands for reform withinRussia; it would serve to undermine Mr. Putin’s claims to be the legitimate heir to Russian Orthodoxy and history. Inasmuch as religion and history are now major props of an increasingly repressive and fascistlike Russian state, this delegitimization would seriously compromise the foundation of Mr. Putin’s political project.

......................

Read more: www.washingtontimes.com

Beijing says new multi-warhead missile does not change nuclear policy

Chinese Military Confirms DF-41 Flight Test

by Bill Gertz

China’s People’s Liberation Army on Thursday confirmed that its military conducted a flight test of a new long-range missile that U.S. intelligence agencies say involved the use of simulated multiple warheads.

“China has the legitimate right to conduct scientific tests within its border and these scientific tests are not targeting any country or target,” PLA Sr. Col. Yang Yujun told reporters at a year-end news briefing.

Yang was asked about the flight test of the DF-41 ICBM on Dec. 13 and whether the testing of the missile changed China’s strategic nuclear policy of not being the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict.

“What needs to be pointed out is that China pursues a nuclear policy of self-defense and its policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons has not changed,” he said.

The reference to the no-first-use policy by the military spokesman is a tacit admission the missile involved the test of a last stage that carried multiple, independently-targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs.

The missile test was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon Dec. 18. Defense officials said the DF-41 was launched from the Wuzhai Missile and Space Test Center, also known as Taiyuan, in central China. The missile landed in an impact zone in a remote region of western China and was closely monitored by U.S. satellite and other electronic monitoring gear.

Military analysts said the test of China’s long-range nuclear missile that can carry up to 10 nuclear warheads increases the strategic threat to the United States. The Pentagon has said the DF-41 will be able to target all of the United States.

...........

Read more: freebeacon.com

El gobierno de la Iglesia universal no se lleva a cabo en reuniones colectivas, sino en encuentros personales

Francisco trabaja a destajo desde las cinco de la mañana e impone su austeridad en el Vaticano

Juan Vicente Boo 

Al Papa Francisco le gusta madrugar. En Buenos Aires se levantaba a las cuatro y media de la mañana, y dedicaba largos ratos a rezar y estudiar antes de celebrar la misa. Ahora, como Papa, tiene que descansar un poco más.

Se levanta en torno a las cinco, reza en privado y celebra cada día la misa de las siete de la mañana en la capilla de la Casa Santa Marta. Suelen concelebrar algunos sacerdotes y asisten los empleados de la Casa, aparte de grupos de invitados: los barrenderos del Vaticano, los jardineros, las telefonistas, los periodistas y los fotógrafos de «L’Osservatore Romano».

Al terminar la misa, el Papa se sienta entre los fieles en los bancos del fondo de la capilla para hacer un rato de acción de gracias en silencio por haber recibido la comunión. A los diez minutos sale de la capilla y espera en la puerta para saludar a cada uno de los asistentes. Así empieza su día.

A continuación baja a desayunar al comedor de la casa-residencia en la que vive y hace sus comidas, muy contento de vivir con medio centenar largo de personas –sacerdotes y obispos- que trabajan en el Vaticano. Lo considera mucho más vivificante que estar aislado en lo alto del Apartamento pontificio.

Sin derroches
Uno de los primeros días de trabajo, el Papa llegó a las oficinas de la secretaria de Estado poco después de las ocho de la mañana. No había ningún monseñor ni ningún oficial. Tan sólo un bedel. Y estaban todas las luces encendidas. El Papa pregunto por qué estaban encendidas, y el bedel le contesto que «siempre se ha hecho así».

Francisco respondió que «con el dinero que se gasta de modo inútil se podría pagar el sueldo de un sacerdote», y fue apagando personalmente las luces innecesarias. El suceso circuló por la Curia vaticana como la pólvora, y ahora la gente empieza a darse cuentan de los derroches innecesarios, y a evitarlos.

........................

Leer más aquí: www.religionenlibertad.com

The Holy Father then went around the room to greet all the Cardinals present

No Merry Christmas at the Vatican

By Donald R. McClarey

One of the more obvious misinterpretations of the Pope is regarding him as some sort of jolly, smiling pontiff in the model of John XXIII. The reality, as Father Z tells us, is somewhat different:

Pope Francis listed 15 “ailments” of the Vatican Curia during his annual Christmas greetings to the cardinals, bishops, and priests who run the central administration of the 1.2-billion strong Catholic Church. Here’s the list.

1) Feeling immortal, immune or indispensable. “A Curia that doesn’t criticize itself, that doesn’t update itself, that doesn’t seek to improve itself is a sick body.”2) Working too hard. “Rest for those who have done their work is necessary, good and should be taken seriously.”3) Becoming spiritually and mentally hardened. “It’s dangerous to lose that human sensibility that lets you cry with those who are crying, and celebrate those who are joyful.”4) Planning too much. “Preparing things well is necessary, but don’t fall into the temptation of trying to close or direct the freedom of the Holy Spirit, which is bigger and more generous than any human plan.”5) Working without coordination, like an orchestra that produces noise. “When the foot tells the hand, ‘I don’t need you’ or the hand tells the head, ‘I’m in charge.’”6) Having ‘spiritual Alzheimer’s.’ “We see it in the people who have forgotten their encounter with the Lord … in those who depend completely on their here and now, on their passions, whims and manias, in those who build walls around themselves and become enslaved to the idols that they have built with their own hands.”7) Being rivals or boastful. “When one’s appearance, the color of one’s vestments or honorific titles become the primary objective of life.”8) Suffering from ‘existential schizophrenia.’ “It’s the sickness of those who live a double life, fruit of hypocrisy that is typical of mediocre and progressive spiritual emptiness that academic degrees cannot fill. It’s a sickness that often affects those who, abandoning pastoral service, limit themselves to bureaucratic work, losing contact with reality and concrete people.”9) Committing the ‘terrorism of gossip.’ “It’s the sickness of cowardly people who, not having the courage to speak directly, talk behind people’s backs.”10) Glorifying one’s bosses. “It’s the sickness of those who court their superiors, hoping for their benevolence. They are victims of careerism and opportunism, they honor people who aren’t God.”11) Being indifferent to others. “When, out of jealousy or cunning, one finds joy in seeing another fall rather than helping him up and encouraging him.”12) Having a ‘funereal face.’ “In reality, theatrical severity and sterile pessimism are often symptoms of fear and insecurity. The apostle must be polite, serene, enthusiastic and happy and transmit joy wherever he goes.”13) Wanting more. “When the apostle tries to fill an existential emptiness in his heart by accumulating material goods, not because he needs them but because he’ll feel more secure.”14) Forming ‘closed circles’ that seek to be stronger than the whole. “This sickness always starts with good intentions but as time goes by, it enslaves its members by becoming a cancer that threatens the harmony of the body and causes so much bad — scandals — especially to our younger brothers.”15) Seeking worldly profit and showing off. “It’s the sickness of those who insatiably try to multiply their powers and to do so are capable of calumny, defamation and discrediting others, even in newspapers and magazines, naturally to show themselves as being more capable than others.”

Sort of, “Merry Christmas, you vain, hypocritical, funeral faces!”
Mind you, these are just the bullet points. Every point was explained, with citations, in the address of over 3100 words, which took about 32 minutes. There are 20 footnotes.  HERE
................

Read more: the-american-catholic.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX2DItUvPmM

L’Eglise, parfois guettée par des loups quand les bergers sommeillent sous le ciel étoilé

Le Pape nettoie au laser 

les plaies de la Curie romaine

par Denis Lensel

« Terrorisme des bavardages » pratiqué « toujours dans le dos », « Alzheimer spirituel », « schizophrénie existentielle », « hypocrisie typique du vide spirituel », perte des « sentiments de Jésus », « maladie des cercles fermés », « recherche insatiable du pouvoir » : Le style latino-américain très direct du pape François a soufflé en tempête hier sous les voûtes du Vatican, contrastant avec le ton feutré des papes précédents qui enrobaient leurs quelques remarques et leurs rares remontrances dans une onction demeurant douce aux oreilles cardinalices.

Il est vrai que la fin du pontificat de l’immédiat prédécesseur de François, Benoît XVI, sans illusions mais plus réservé, avait laissé entrevoir l’étendue hélas importante des intrigues et des manœuvres de la Curie romaine, après les dernières années héroïques mais difficiles de Jean-Paul II. Voilà sans doute pourquoi le pape Jorge Mario Bergoglio a versé une douche froide sur ceux de ses proches collaborateurs qu’il considère comme trop tièdes.

..........

Lire la suite: www.france-catholique.fr

Dix Commandements: Roberto Benigni n’a pas d’équivalent en France

Le phénomène Benigni

par Natalia BOTTINEAU

L’acteur et réalisateur, Roberto Benigni n’a pas d’équivalent en France. Avec ses Dix Commandements sur la première chaîne publique italienne (RAI 1), les lundi 15 et mardi 16 décembre, il a tenu en haleine les téléspectateurs pendant deux fois deux heures en « prime time » (21 h 15 - 23 h15), en direct de Cinecittà : plus de 33% de taux d’audience lundi, avec plus de 9 millions de téléspectateurs, et 38,32% mardi soir, avec 10, 250 millions. Notre correspondante à Rome tente de retranscrire cet enthousiasme.

En 2012, pour son commentaire de la Constitution italienne Benigni avait obtenu une audience de 43,94%, avec plus de 12,6 millions de téléspectateurs. Un succès qui ne s’est pas démenti pour son commentaire de l’hymne national italien  : l’hymne de Mameli.

Et après son magistral Dante, Benigni a plongé son public, cette fois, dans l’univers de Moïse et de Jésus. Passion­nant Exode. Surprenant. Pas un commentaire des articles du Catéchisme de l’Église catholique. Mais, dès le premier soir, il annonçait la couleur « mys­tique »  : « Si Dieu n’est pas arrivé, je ne commence pas.» Puis  : « Ce soir nous devons croire en Dieu. »

Une morale du bonheur. Une exhortation à la vie et à l’amour.

...............


Lire la suite: www.france-catholique.fr



Lire aussi :

Roberto Benigni revisite Les Dix Commandements

http://www.judaicine.fr/actualites/...

Roberto Benigni fait des miracles sur la RAI

http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/articl...

Dix millions d’Italiens devant les "Dix commandements" de Benigni

http://www.lexpress.fr/actualites/1...

In a terrorized world increasingly suspicious of cultural relativism, calls for a return to humanistic principles and the anchor they promise are bound to resurface.

Catholic Higher Education in Ruins

By Robert Oscar Lopez

Before there was Pope Francis, there was a different Francis from Assisi, Italy. Back in the twelfth century, St. Francis heard the call to fix a church falling into ruins. Now it is the twenty-first century, and this Francis ought to hear the call to fix Catholic colleges falling into ruins.

Recent incidents at Notre Dame, Marquette, and Catholic University of America trouble me, because they stir up memories of the muddled theology that corrupted my Catholic youth, led me into terrible confusion, and ultimately led me to leave the Church. Since I am a professor, the prospect of Catholic higher education unraveling is doubly alarming.

“Who am I to judge?”

Five words that bring back lots of difficult memories. It was a quote taken out of context. I get it.

Pope Francis didn’t really say what the Advocate and the Human Rights Campaign thought he said. But I’ve been through this before. The idea emerges from time to time in corners of the Catholic world: greed and economic exploitation are exceptional crimes, while lustful crimes do less harm and ought not to be subject to righteous indignation.

Run a soup kitchen, collect blankets for the homeless, preach about generosity, and don’t give people a hard time about forbidden private acts that bring them pleasure. If you don’t sermonize about what people are doing in the dark on Saturday night, then maybe they will feel more welcome at Sunday mass. More people saved, no harm done.

This medley of sexual anarchy and socialism, festooned with calls to charity and lopsided clippings from Matthew 25, helped my parents rationalize their decisions. My father and mother split up just as I was born. My father would go on to more lovers and wives than I care to count, and my mother would raise me together with another divorced woman who was her lover for almost two decades.


- Obligations Economic and Sexual ...

- Strike One: The University of Notre Dame ...

- Strike Two: Marquette’s Kibosh ...

- Strike Three: Catholic University’s Students against “Christian fascists” ...

- Three Strikes. Who’s Out? ...

...................


Read more: www.crisismagazine.com

The anachronistic confraternal peace gesture takes the soul, mind, and body away from the necessary contemplative prayer

The Liturgical “Sign of Peace”: 

Move or Remove?

By Gerard T. Mundy

At the request of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a requisite inquiry into the timely appropriateness of the Latin Rite’s gesture of peace shared amongst the people during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass commenced almost a decade ago. The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (“the Congregation”), under the papal authority of a new Holy Father, Francis, disseminated publicly this year their conclusions on the placement of the gesture. 

In its Circular Letter on the Ritual Expression of the Gift of Peace at Mass, the Congregation, although reiterating authoritative instruction on the avoidance of gestural abuses, decided that the gesture shall remain in the current liturgical place.

It is indeed born of a sound theology that amongst the faithful there is some sign of peace during the Mass, which in the current Novus Ordo Missae (contemporary Ordinary Mass) occurs prior to the breaking of the consecrated body and soon before Catholics of good conscience are invited to consume the actual flesh and blood of God. Further, the gesture also correlates with doctrinal teaching on communal worship and Christian fraternity.

Benedict XVI’s request for study of the topic, however, brings papal credence to the idea that the placement of the gesture is thoroughly and unreasonably anachronistic. Quoth Benedict XVI 2007 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis:

Taking into account ancient and venerable customs and the wishes expressed by the Synod Fathers, I have asked the competent curial offices to study the possibility of moving the sign of peace to another place, such as before the presentation of the gifts at the altar.

Indeed, it is the place of the peace gesture in the Novus Ordo Missae that is the problem.

Rather than reminding the faithful that they are sharing in a solemn sacrifice and preparing to participate communally in worship (lex orandi), and in the Supper of the Lord, receiving His very body and blood as did the apostles on the night that they were told He was to become the Passover Paschal Lamb, the gesture of peace in its current place obliterates the reverence of the moment.

As Saint John Paul II reminded the faithful in his encyclical letter Ecclesia De Eucharistia: 

“Every priest who celebrates Holy Mass, together with the Christian community which takes part in it, is led back in spirit to that place and that hour.” By “that hour,” John Paul II meant “the hour of his Cross and glorification.”

If at “that hour” Mary and John on Calvary looked up to the cross, smiled, hugged, and shook hands, this column would have nary any authority; but, alas, the Gospel of John says Mary and John did nothing of the sort.

...............

Read more: www.crisismagazine.com

The suburbs are normally about enjoying family and a sense of quietness

We still want our block of land in the suburbs

BY SHANNON ROBERTS


There is a tension between those who would like to see greater population density in cities (largely for environmental, transport and economic reasons), and those who defend the right to a backyard and a plot of land well separate from the neighbours. 

 In big cities such as Auckland, the Council is forging ahead with controversial plans to increase the population density of the traditionally spacious suburbs and putting limits on how far the city can sprawl outside it's current boundaries. 

 New Zealand is a country where families have been lucky enough to traditionally enjoy a backyard and most still cling to this ideal - some even refusing to consider children before they are financially able to obtain it. Rising land prices are likely contributing to decreasing fertility rates.

.................

Read more: www.mercatornet.com

Surely you can’t get more austere than that?

When Austerity Isn’t Austere

by Theodore Dalrymple

On the misuse of a loaded word

What’s in a word? Sometimes, I think, quite a lot. The use of a single word can amount to a subtle lie. Reading French newspapers, I’m struck by how often the word “austerity” appears to discuss current economic policy in Europe, particularly in France. I am not concerned here with whether the policies that European countries have followed are wise or foolish, or whether deflation is a greater danger than inflation. When you find yourself in an impossible situation, all policies have their dangers. But misleading language that goes uncorrected is always dangerous.

According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, austerity means “severe self-discipline, abstinence, asceticism.” Is that the word to describe the policy of, say, the French government?

Suppose that, for a number of years, my spending had been larger than my income, so that I had accumulated a large debt. Suppose also that I had nothing to show for my excess expenditure, which has all gone to increase my level of current consumption. Interest payments on my debt now exceed my outlays on such items as food, clothing, and shelter. The bank to whom I owe the money tells me that things cannot continue like this.

I agree that things cannot go on in the same way, and, as a token of my seriousness, I promise that henceforth, I shall not drink my nightly bottle of Meursault but only half a bottle of Chablis. This will reduce my excess expenditure from, say, 6 percent of my annual income to 4 percent. I call this sacrifice of Meursault for Chablis “austerity.” Would anyone take me seriously?

.................

Books by 

Theodore Dalrymple

 

Read more: www.city-journal.org