224 articles from the existing collection.
The holiness of the Catholic Church is not a human achievement but a divine gift, established by Jesus Christ as the means of salvation for humanity. The Church is described as the Body of Christ, with Christ as its head, guiding it through the Holy Spirit. This divine origin sets the Church apart from any institution that could…
The fourteenth century was a turbulent period for the Catholic Church, marked by political and ecclesiastical challenges that culminated in the Western Schism (1378–1417). This crisis arose after the death of Pope Gregory XI, who had returned the papacy to Rome from Avignon, where it had resided for nearly seventy years. The ele…
Marriage, in its essence, is a covenant rooted in the natural order, established by God for the mutual support of spouses and the procreation of children. The Catholic Church teaches that this natural institution was elevated by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament for baptized Christians (CCC 1601). This sacramental character d…
Why do Catholics repeat the same prayer over and over again when they pray the Rosary? Is this not the vain repetition condemned by Christ in Matthew 6:7?
It is not a question of a name, but of the thing. And the universal spiritual society now known as the Catholic Church is most clearly described in Scripture. Christ said clearly that His Church would be one fold under one shepherd, the fold embracing all nations, the shepherd being St. Peter, and his successors. Either the Cath…
The Catholic Church drills into every one of her children that drunkenness is m unjustifiable sin. But we refuse to admit that prohibition should be enforced pon all. The particular abuses do not justify so sweeping a thing as abolition of Irink altogether. You don’t throttle a man because one tooth is aching. The Church loes he…
Her dogmas are anything but worn-out. However to your main point I must reply by giving you the moral teaching of the Church concerning lies. The Church absolutely prohibits the use of any dishonest means, and declares that a deliberate lie is a sin under all circumstances. No good end in view can justify a lie.
If the new convert did contribute to the support of his religion that would already be an advantage to him, if Christ rightly commended the poor widow who gave her mite to the Temple. But even if a convert could give nothing he would be none the less welcome. The Catholic Church never wants anyone for what he will bring to her, …
You are wasting your prayers. The Catholic Church, even if our country became entirely Catholic, would not wish to assume purely civil government. Free and easy divorce laws would be repealed; the sale of birth-control requirements would be prohibited; and various other un-Christian liberties would be withdrawn. But where legisl…
Then she is a very poor agent indeed. She would be far more efficient if she cried out, “Sin does not matter—go ahead. Confession is nonsense. Eat anything you like on Fridays, the day on which Christ died. Marriage does not bind, divorce yourselves whenever you like. Continence is absurd. Artificial birth-control is progress. D…
In all the points I have enumerated against Masonry. They do not constitute a secret society of the type condemned by the Church. They are prepared to submit all their affairs to ecclesiastical authority. Every member knows that he will never be asked to violate his conscience or injure other people’s rights in virtue of his mem…
No. The Catholic Church is living to-day precisely because she has ever refused to part with her doctrines, which are the doctrines of Christ. The heresies of the centuries parted with doctrines of Christian faith in deference to human opinions, and they died in turn through the ages. Protestantism is dying visibly to-day. Any a…
The irreligious man perhaps thinks that there are too many. But the religious man will say that there are not really enough. God is not likely to complain that works of mercy are being multiplied in His name. And what public is called upon to support these Catholic institutions? Let those complain who do so. Catholic institution…
It may be that your notions of Christ’s attitude towards wealth need rectifying, before we can proceed with this question.
The Catholic Church is not a kingdom of this world. It is the Kingdom of Christ in this world. And the Pope as Pope is not monarch of the Church in any national sense. No national considerations sway his rule over the millions of Catholics of every race and clime. He has temporal authority to-day in Vatican City, but that is mer…
No one wants you to be loyal to any supposed representatives on earth. But loyalty to Christ demands loyalty to those commissioned by Him to teach and guide in His name. Test the claims before you reject them on prejudice only.
Yes. That massacre had no connection whatever with the Catholic Church. The Church did not instigate the massacre, nor did the Pope have any knowledge of it beforehand. It was a purely political and deplorable murder engineered by Catherine de Medici, a woman almost completely irreligious. After its occurrence a lying report was…
The second commandment is, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Protestants, of course, call that the third commandment. But they are wrong in doing so, having taken that part of the first commandment which refers to images as the second of God’s commandments. But do those words forbid the making of images…
You may say that you believe it unnecessary. But pay attention to the words of Christ I have just quoted. He thought it necessary, and He has the right to map out the kind of religion we are to accept. If Christians had to accept such disciplinary authority in the time of the Apostles, they must accept it now. Christianity is Ch…
If the Catholic Church really honors the Bible as the holy Word of God – if she really wants her members to become familiar with its truth – why in times past did she confiscate and burn so many Bibles?
True, the word “Pope” doesn’t appear in the Bible – but then neither do the words “Trinity,” “Incarnation,” “Ascension” and “Bible” appear in the Bible. However, they are referred to by other names. The Bible, for example, is referred to as “Scripture.” The Pope, which means head bishop of the Church, is referred to as the “rock…
The decree of canonization does not make a Saint. It simply declares infallibly that a given person has lived such a holy life with the help of God’s grace that he is a Saint. When someone like a Francis of Assisi lives such a holy life that all people are compelled to admire it, the Church is often asked to say whether such a p…
Why do Catholics believe that Christ is sacrificed in each and every Mass, when Scripture plainly states that He was sacrificed on Calvary once and for all?
That is not possible. These analogies may be suitable to wrong ideas, but they do not prove those wrong ideas correct. Christ said that His Church would be one Church, not a garden of churches. As for the same fruit, the Catholic Church forbids divorce—non-Catholic churches allow it. There is more than a difference of flavor her…
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