Wise Words on Wednesday: Spiritual Semites
“Spiritually, we are Semites”
Pope Pius XI to a group of Belgian pilgrims in 1938
"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
“Spiritually, we are Semites”
Pope Pius XI to a group of Belgian pilgrims in 1938
Happy Feast of the Assumption/Dormition 🙂
It is often asserted that the Catholic Church was founded by the Constantine, who was Emperor of the Roman Empire from AD 306-337. A couple of weeks ago, a lady named Monica made such an assertion and in earlier post I pointed out some of the problems with such a theory.
However, today I would like to do something a little different… In this post I would like to set forth the positive historical case for the existence of the Catholic Faith in the generations prior to Constantine. I will show how twenty-one different Catholic doctrines were taught long before Constantine rose to power:
I will demonstrate these early Christian belief by looking at primary sources alone and restricting myself to writings produced prior to AD 300.
Read moreAnother quick desert interruption….because the conclave for the election of the next Pope begins tomorrow!
It’s still not too late for you to Adopt a Cardinal to pray for during the election. Here’s mine, Nicolás de JesĂşs LĂłpez RodrĂguez from the Dominican Republic:
I’m sneaking in a non-Desert Fathers related post because I’m sure most Catholics are going to be increasingly pestered with more questions as to how a Pope is elected. So, if you want to sound smart you can either read about it over at Shameless Popery, or watch this snazzy video:
A lot of my non-Catholic friends have been asking me about the recent news from the Vatican. During our discussions I’ve often mentioned Cardinal Ratzinger’s reaction to becoming Pope. If you haven’t read it already, I’d invite you to go and read Joe’s article over at Shameless Popery:
He also wrote a post describing the different reactions of Pope Pius IX, Pius VIII, Pius X, Benedict XV, John Paul II and Clement XIV.