Rome

Nature by the Numbers

Today’s YouTube treasure is neither particularly humorous nor stop-motion-animation-y. But what it lacks in those departments, it more than makes up for with its high “math geek” quotient and sheer mind-blowing awesomeness: Cristóbal Vila, the man behind the short, has a fascinating website documenting the ideas and process behind his creation: Artists and architects have … Read more

Windswept House? Fr. Amorth says Devil is ‘at work inside Vatican’

The 1998 Malachi Martin novel, Windswept House, opens with a Satanic ritual performed at St. Paul’s chapel inside Vatican City by members at every level of the Catholic clergy. The purpose? To open the door of the Church to the Devil’s influence, and lead to the destruction of Catholicism from within.  The premise of the … Read more

Famous French Philosopher Defends Benedict XVI

Bernard Henri-Levy, a well-known French philosopher, has come to the defense of Benedict XVI on the issue of anti-Semitism.  His defense is all the more interesting for being published at the Huffington Post, not known for its fondness towards the Holy Father. Known for both his atheism and his narcissism, Henri-Levy comes from a family … Read more

Spilt Religion

As my readers are probably aware that Christmas Day is approaching, I will flag another religious event that is indirectly related. This is not outwardly a Christian event, nor alternatively “multicultural” either; nor really “upcoming,” since it is already here. Nor is it an “event” in the sense of a holiday, holy day, or anniversary, … Read more

On Being an ‘Ultra-Catholic’

A friend wrote me about a school principal, a religious sister, speaking to a parent and requesting school funds. The gentleman was described as an “ultra-Catholic.” My friend asked me: “What is that, do you know?” Evidently, the “non-ultra” principal thought it all right to siphon needed cash from the “ultra” parent. No strings were … Read more

1942: Passing through a Severe Calvary

Marking the end of the third year of war, Italy seemed fated to lose, whichever side won. Germany began to view Mussolini as, in the words of Churchill, “a lackey and a serf, the merest utensil of his master’s will.” Italian aspirations for “spazio vitale” were not mentioned when Joseph Goebbels was in Venice to … Read more

A Bridge Across the Tiber

There was a T-shirt on the market last year for converts to the Catholic faith. Emblazoned on the front were the words, “Member of the Tiber Swimmers Club.” After today’s amazing announcement from the Vatican, Anglicans no longer need to change into their swimming trunks. Trembling toes no longer need to be dipped in the … Read more

The Anglican Right

In the late 1970s, a group of Episcopal clergymen with typical American chutzpah wrote to Pope Paul VI. They said they wanted to become Catholics, and wished for their priestly ministry to be fulfilled by being ordained as Catholic priests. The only problem was that they had wives and children.   Paul VI received their … Read more

Thy Kingdom Come

Roughly a century ago, a modernist scholar complained that Jesus came to proclaim the kingdom of God, but instead all we got was a lousy Church. He’s probably not the only person to have felt a bit disappointed, nor the only one to form the conviction that the Church is a tragic letdown, a mistake, … Read more

The Fifty Best Catholic Movies of All Time

    The best religious films, and therefore the best Catholic films, convey the great truths of Christianity implicitly rather than explicitly, not unlike the mystery of incarnation itself, in which the Word became flesh in the person of an obscure carpenter from a hick town in a minor province. In addition, this list consists … Read more

Cicero, Catiline, and the American Left

One of the unfortunate byproducts of the fact that, for many years now, nobody has studied Latin in school is this: Hardly anybody remembers Cicero and the conspiracy of Catiline. If we could remember this, it would be helpful in thinking about what those on the American Right call “enhanced interrogation” and those on the … Read more

Stanley L. Jaki

The first impression really was the lasting one in my instance with the Rev. Stanley L. Jaki (1924-2009). More than 20 years later, I vividly see him sitting me down on the porch of a house in Princeton and telling me that religious freedom was the most important teaching of Vatican II and that, in … Read more

A Quiet Death in Rome: Was Pope John Paul I Murdered?

In this Crisis Magazine classic, veteran journalist Sandra Miesel looks into the curious death of Pope John Paul I… including the conspiratorial claims that he was murdered.     He barely made it to the bathroom… it was hard to stand up. He clutched the sink and squinted painfully against the bright lights. Fumbling with … Read more

A Saint for the Rest of Us

On the ancient Appian Way south of Rome, there is a small church with a Latin name: Domine quo vadis (“Lord, where are you going?”). It commemorates a legend beloved of preachers since St. Ambrose, who used it in a sermon in the Milan cathedral. The legend says that during the persecution of Christians by … Read more

The Five Things You’ll Do in Heaven

Tomorrow is All Saints’ Day — a time for honoring those spiritual brothers and sisters who have run the race and won their eternal rest, and for celebrating our connection, through the Mystical Body, to the Church Triumphant. I think it’s also an appropriate time for reflecting on our own eternal destiny. Back when I … Read more

Jigsaw Puzzle Ecumenism

    As worldwide Anglicanism implodes, Catholics may remember the heady days of Anglican-Catholic ecumenical relations. In 1966, the last great archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, met with Pope Paul VI in the Sistine Chapel. The archbishop and the pope embraced and signed agreements to begin the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission. The pope gave … Read more

InsideCatholic’s Summer 2008 Reading List

  The staff and friends of InsideCatholic have a variety of interests and backgrounds. But we do have one thing in common: We all enjoy reading. In the hopes that you’re a reader as well, we thought we’d share some of the better titles we’ve recently come across. You should find something here for every … Read more

Crossing the Wires

Recently my state, Rhode Island, became the second in the nation to ban discrimination against people who have employed surgery and massive doses of hormones to form upon their bodies parodies of the sex God saw fit not to give them. Justices in California, meanwhile, overruling the little wards of that state (once upon a … Read more

Come with us to Rome and the Holy Land!

Join InsideCatholic on a Pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land, led by Deal W. Hudson and Fr. Paul Tartaglia   December 1-12, 2008   For Information and Booking Call World Pilgrim Tours, Inc. at 1-800-438-8281   InsideCatholic and friends’ visit to the Holy Land will include not only traditional sacred sites but travelers will … Read more

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