#catholic — Public Fediverse posts

Blessed Feast of the Ascension to those who celebrate. Today the Western Church concludes the Easter celebrations by commemorating Christ Jesus’ ascent into the presence of the Father, completing the work of the Incarnation by bringing human nature into Heaven. A bookend to His conception, where God’s nature was brought to earth.

#Ascension #Jesus #Anglican #Episcopal #Catholic #church #iconography

#STEPHEN #VITIELLO semantic-search.headlines-world.com/advanced-sea... #ALLENTOWN #CENTRAL #CATHOLIC #HIGH #SCHOOL advanced-search.aepiot.com/advanced-sea... Semantic NODES: The Bridge between Humans and AI. AÉPIOT ( #aePiot ): INDEPENDENT SEMANTIC WEB 4.0 INFRASTRUCTURE (EST. 2009): allgraph.ro

MultiSearch Tag Explorer

#STEPHEN #VITIELLO semantic-search.headlines-world.com/advanced-sea... #ALLENTOWN #CENTRAL #CATHOLIC #HIGH #SCHOOL advanced-search.aepiot.com/advanced-sea... Semantic NODES: The Bridge between Humans and AI. AÉPIOT ( #aePiot ): INDEPENDENT SEMANTIC WEB 4.0 INFRASTRUCTURE (EST. 2009): allgraph.ro

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Of rapes and robes
the Epstein President's Epstein Court

#scotus #kkk #law #racism #catholic #pope #courts #Epstein #democracy #UN #vote #corruption #vatican #Democrats #Europe #EU #tyranny #freedom #Canada #uk #resistance #tyranny #Sweden #Finland #spain #Germany #France #Italy #Japan #Australia #reddit #meidastouch #international

Of rapes and robes
the Epstein President's Epstein Court

#scotus #kkk #law #racism #catholic #pope #courts #Epstein #democracy #UN #vote #corruption #vatican #Democrats #Europe #EU #tyranny #freedom #Canada #uk #resistance #tyranny #Sweden #Finland #spain #Germany #France #Italy #Japan #Australia #reddit #meidastouch #international

Of rapes and robes
the Epstein President's Epstein Court

#scotus #kkk #law #racism #catholic #pope #courts #Epstein #democracy #UN #vote #corruption #vatican #Democrats #Europe #EU #tyranny #freedom #Canada #uk #resistance #tyranny #Sweden #Finland #spain #Germany #France #Italy #Japan #Australia #reddit #meidastouch #international

Of rapes and robes
the Epstein President's Epstein Court

#scotus #kkk #law #racism #catholic #pope #courts #Epstein #democracy #UN #vote #corruption #vatican #Democrats #Europe #EU #tyranny #freedom #Canada #uk #resistance #tyranny #Sweden #Finland #spain #Germany #France #Italy #Japan #Australia #reddit #meidastouch #international

Of rapes and robes
the Epstein President's Epstein Court

#scotus #kkk #law #racism #catholic #pope #courts #Epstein #democracy #UN #vote #corruption #vatican #Democrats #Europe #EU #tyranny #freedom #Canada #uk #resistance #tyranny #Sweden #Finland #spain #Germany #France #Italy #Japan #Australia #reddit #meidastouch #international

"Can you uhhh, maybe move the business end of that thing a little to the east"

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2057163/can-you-uhhh-maybe-move-the-business-end-of-that-thing-a-little-to-the-east

"Can you uhhh, maybe move the business end of that thing a little to the east"

"Can you uhhh, maybe move the business end of that thing a little to the east"

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2057163/can-you-uhhh-maybe-move-the-business-end-of-that-thing-a-little-to-the-east

"Can you uhhh, maybe move the business end of that thing a little to the east"

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2057163/can-you-uhhh-maybe-move-the-business-end-of-that-thing-a-little-to-the-east

"Can you uhhh, maybe move the business end of that thing a little to the east"

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2057163/can-you-uhhh-maybe-move-the-business-end-of-that-thing-a-little-to-the-east

What To Watch On YouTube Right Now – Part 137

Welcome back my readers, YouTube viewers and all others who followed this series of articles focused on YouTube videos worth watching.

Have you been searching for something fun or interesting to watch on YouTube? Do you feel bored right now and you crave for something to see on the world’s most popular online video destination?

I recommend you check out the following videos I found.

#1 You, Me and The Movies React To Lone Wolf McQuade – It has been a few months since the movie legend Chuck Norris passed away at age 86. He left behind a legacy of action movies and even played Bruce Lee’s tough opponent in The Way of the Dragon. Norris also had action movies filmed on location here in my native Philippines. In the 1980s, Norris appeared in a lot movies that involved guns and hard action, and one of his more notable films of the time was 1983’s Lone Wolf McQuade in which he faced off with fellow action star David Carradine. Recently, You, Me and the Movies posted their reaction video of Lone Wolf McQuade and it is entertaining to watch. I urge you to watch it now.

https://youtu.be/WELmZdiV6aQ?si=2b-pSOoRjJmQF4PC

#2 Minty Comedic Arts’ Invasion U.S.A. Video – Still focused on the late Chuck Norris, his 1985 action movie Invasion U.S.A. was not merely made to entertain moviegoers with lots of explosions, dangerous stunts and hard action. Norris read an article in Reader’s Digest about the presence of hundreds of terrorists running loose in the United States which impacted him as he care about his country and his fellow Americans. This eventually led to the making of Invasion U.S.A. which succeeded commercially as it spread awareness to the American people as to how they can defend themselves in the event foreign terrorists invade their country. Today, Islamic terrorism as well as the entrance of Islamo-Leftist foreigners into America made this 1985 more socially relevant. The story behind the production of Invasion U.S.A. is pretty fascinating, and you can learn more about by watch Minty Comedic Arts’ video below.

https://youtu.be/mXAFy08Mm4s?si=Qy7193Gb9X0goYDZ

#3 Signature Bowls of Happiness in Japan – Do you eat meals served in bowls often? Meals in bowls are common in Japan where rice and noodles are eaten by people daily. Among the many food joints in Japan that offer meals in bowls to customers are a few standouts visited by Nippon TV. What they discovered are very enticing, attractive and delicious to look at. Watch and learn from their video below.

https://youtu.be/WQwYy84KgCQ?si=g0HZRpdwCLBs2uPd

#4 Ranting For Vengeance Slams CBR And Others Who Hate 1980s Anime – I grew up watching lots of anime shows and feature films early in life and the 1980s is a memorable decade. It was during the 1980s when I saw anime productions from the 1970s and the newest ones of the decade. To name some, I saw the 1980s Astro Boy series, Galaxy Express 999, Captain Future, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Voltes V, Daimos, Mazinger Z and others. While such old anime productions proved to be entertaining, there are still some people out there who bashed them because those productions (and their stories) did not align with their modern day woke agenda. The popular geek entertainment portal CBR published lots of articles saying that the old anime productions did not age well and a lot of readers and netizens followed suit. As such, Ranting for Vengeance slammed them and stood up for 1980s anime backed with detailed explanations. If you are a true fan of anime, watch the video below.

https://youtu.be/1VCWf8o7utc?si=xXxcQ7-if9FaZV8H

#5 Western Women Who Embraced Islam End Up Wrong – Did you notice that there is a growing number of women in the West who embraced Islam believing the fantasies that it is a religion of peace and is feminist? Indeed, there are these modern-day feminists who considered themselves Islamic without even fully knowing what Islam truly is, why Sharia Law is wicked and what was recorded in the Quran. SaharTV posted several videos about these newcomers to Islam (including one new Muslim woman who was Catholic) who ended up being very wrong and embarrassed. Watch the SaharTV videos below.

https://youtu.be/ghhZuYcsNFY?si=uddJdrr8Ve_FeOvS

https://youtu.be/6fZUxJWv8E0?si=saX3TUFQhPJ3iMwk

https://youtu.be/WGwbkx0zrL4?si=R2KCv0-fDSmZRgGP

https://youtu.be/gXFYh-fh_1g?si=cpNXKOygu8Z1jz_N

https://youtu.be/uTvbQDzn8RA?si=KiG5K-jWU5mvs_4x

#6 The Significance Of Spider-Man 2099 Explained – In late 1992, Marvel Comics launched Spider-Man 2099 #1 which also marked the start of their 2099 franchise of comic books. Under the direction of writer Peter David with artworks done mainly by Rick Leonardi, the futuristic Spider-Man really stood out differently from the classic Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and his own place under Marvel Comics’ banner was established well. Spider-Man 2099 is clearly the most popular of all the Marvel 2099 titles. That said, I found this YouTube video that examines the significance of Spider-Man of 2099. I encourage you to watch it.

https://youtu.be/0ap6m7EHTXw?si=cxHY9bDg-9QYlmlK

#7 Ashleigh Burton’s Reaction To Witness – The 1980s will always be a memorable decade of Harrison Ford’s cinematic performances. During that decade, he appeared in two Star Wars movies and he was the center of attraction in the original Indiana Jones trilogy. Along the way, he appeared in the 1985 crime thriller film Witness in which he played a police detective protecting an Amish woman and her son. The movie earned several Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and even Best Actor for Harrison Ford. Lately, Ashleigh Burton posted her reaction video of Witness and I encourage you to watch it.  

https://youtu.be/COlaB65Q3MA?si=0i2Kx-yFhLYdX1_E

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

What To Watch On YouTube Right Now – Part 137

Welcome back my readers, YouTube viewers and all others who followed this series of articles focused on YouTube videos worth watching.

Have you been searching for something fun or interesting to watch on YouTube? Do you feel bored right now and you crave for something to see on the world’s most popular online video destination?

I recommend you check out the following videos I found.

#1 You, Me and The Movies React To Lone Wolf McQuade – It has been a few months since the movie legend Chuck Norris passed away at age 86. He left behind a legacy of action movies and even played Bruce Lee’s tough opponent in The Way of the Dragon. Norris also had action movies filmed on location here in my native Philippines. In the 1980s, Norris appeared in a lot movies that involved guns and hard action, and one of his more notable films of the time was 1983’s Lone Wolf McQuade in which he faced off with fellow action star David Carradine. Recently, You, Me and the Movies posted their reaction video of Lone Wolf McQuade and it is entertaining to watch. I urge you to watch it now.

https://youtu.be/WELmZdiV6aQ?si=2b-pSOoRjJmQF4PC

#2 Minty Comedic Arts’ Invasion U.S.A. Video – Still focused on the late Chuck Norris, his 1985 action movie Invasion U.S.A. was not merely made to entertain moviegoers with lots of explosions, dangerous stunts and hard action. Norris read an article in Reader’s Digest about the presence of hundreds of terrorists running loose in the United States which impacted him as he care about his country and his fellow Americans. This eventually led to the making of Invasion U.S.A. which succeeded commercially as it spread awareness to the American people as to how they can defend themselves in the event foreign terrorists invade their country. Today, Islamic terrorism as well as the entrance of Islamo-Leftist foreigners into America made this 1985 more socially relevant. The story behind the production of Invasion U.S.A. is pretty fascinating, and you can learn more about by watch Minty Comedic Arts’ video below.

https://youtu.be/mXAFy08Mm4s?si=Qy7193Gb9X0goYDZ

#3 Signature Bowls of Happiness in Japan – Do you eat meals served in bowls often? Meals in bowls are common in Japan where rice and noodles are eaten by people daily. Among the many food joints in Japan that offer meals in bowls to customers are a few standouts visited by Nippon TV. What they discovered are very enticing, attractive and delicious to look at. Watch and learn from their video below.

https://youtu.be/WQwYy84KgCQ?si=g0HZRpdwCLBs2uPd

#4 Ranting For Vengeance Slams CBR And Others Who Hate 1980s Anime – I grew up watching lots of anime shows and feature films early in life and the 1980s is a memorable decade. It was during the 1980s when I saw anime productions from the 1970s and the newest ones of the decade. To name some, I saw the 1980s Astro Boy series, Galaxy Express 999, Captain Future, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Voltes V, Daimos, Mazinger Z and others. While such old anime productions proved to be entertaining, there are still some people out there who bashed them because those productions (and their stories) did not align with their modern day woke agenda. The popular geek entertainment portal CBR published lots of articles saying that the old anime productions did not age well and a lot of readers and netizens followed suit. As such, Ranting for Vengeance slammed them and stood up for 1980s anime backed with detailed explanations. If you are a true fan of anime, watch the video below.

https://youtu.be/1VCWf8o7utc?si=xXxcQ7-if9FaZV8H

#5 Western Women Who Embraced Islam End Up Wrong – Did you notice that there is a growing number of women in the West who embraced Islam believing the fantasies that it is a religion of peace and is feminist? Indeed, there are these modern-day feminists who considered themselves Islamic without even fully knowing what Islam truly is, why Sharia Law is wicked and what was recorded in the Quran. SaharTV posted several videos about these newcomers to Islam (including one new Muslim woman who was Catholic) who ended up being very wrong and embarrassed. Watch the SaharTV videos below.

https://youtu.be/ghhZuYcsNFY?si=uddJdrr8Ve_FeOvS

https://youtu.be/6fZUxJWv8E0?si=saX3TUFQhPJ3iMwk

https://youtu.be/WGwbkx0zrL4?si=R2KCv0-fDSmZRgGP

https://youtu.be/gXFYh-fh_1g?si=cpNXKOygu8Z1jz_N

https://youtu.be/uTvbQDzn8RA?si=KiG5K-jWU5mvs_4x

#6 The Significance Of Spider-Man 2099 Explained – In late 1992, Marvel Comics launched Spider-Man 2099 #1 which also marked the start of their 2099 franchise of comic books. Under the direction of writer Peter David with artworks done mainly by Rick Leonardi, the futuristic Spider-Man really stood out differently from the classic Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and his own place under Marvel Comics’ banner was established well. Spider-Man 2099 is clearly the most popular of all the Marvel 2099 titles. That said, I found this YouTube video that examines the significance of Spider-Man of 2099. I encourage you to watch it.

https://youtu.be/0ap6m7EHTXw?si=cxHY9bDg-9QYlmlK

#7 Ashleigh Burton’s Reaction To Witness – The 1980s will always be a memorable decade of Harrison Ford’s cinematic performances. During that decade, he appeared in two Star Wars movies and he was the center of attraction in the original Indiana Jones trilogy. Along the way, he appeared in the 1985 crime thriller film Witness in which he played a police detective protecting an Amish woman and her son. The movie earned several Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and even Best Actor for Harrison Ford. Lately, Ashleigh Burton posted her reaction video of Witness and I encourage you to watch it.  

https://youtu.be/COlaB65Q3MA?si=0i2Kx-yFhLYdX1_E

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

What To Watch On YouTube Right Now – Part 137

Welcome back my readers, YouTube viewers and all others who followed this series of articles focused on YouTube videos worth watching.

Have you been searching for something fun or interesting to watch on YouTube? Do you feel bored right now and you crave for something to see on the world’s most popular online video destination?

I recommend you check out the following videos I found.

#1 You, Me and The Movies React To Lone Wolf McQuade – It has been a few months since the movie legend Chuck Norris passed away at age 86. He left behind a legacy of action movies and even played Bruce Lee’s tough opponent in The Way of the Dragon. Norris also had action movies filmed on location here in my native Philippines. In the 1980s, Norris appeared in a lot movies that involved guns and hard action, and one of his more notable films of the time was 1983’s Lone Wolf McQuade in which he faced off with fellow action star David Carradine. Recently, You, Me and the Movies posted their reaction video of Lone Wolf McQuade and it is entertaining to watch. I urge you to watch it now.

https://youtu.be/WELmZdiV6aQ?si=2b-pSOoRjJmQF4PC

#2 Minty Comedic Arts’ Invasion U.S.A. Video – Still focused on the late Chuck Norris, his 1985 action movie Invasion U.S.A. was not merely made to entertain moviegoers with lots of explosions, dangerous stunts and hard action. Norris read an article in Reader’s Digest about the presence of hundreds of terrorists running loose in the United States which impacted him as he care about his country and his fellow Americans. This eventually led to the making of Invasion U.S.A. which succeeded commercially as it spread awareness to the American people as to how they can defend themselves in the event foreign terrorists invade their country. Today, Islamic terrorism as well as the entrance of Islamo-Leftist foreigners into America made this 1985 more socially relevant. The story behind the production of Invasion U.S.A. is pretty fascinating, and you can learn more about by watch Minty Comedic Arts’ video below.

https://youtu.be/mXAFy08Mm4s?si=Qy7193Gb9X0goYDZ

#3 Signature Bowls of Happiness in Japan – Do you eat meals served in bowls often? Meals in bowls are common in Japan where rice and noodles are eaten by people daily. Among the many food joints in Japan that offer meals in bowls to customers are a few standouts visited by Nippon TV. What they discovered are very enticing, attractive and delicious to look at. Watch and learn from their video below.

https://youtu.be/WQwYy84KgCQ?si=g0HZRpdwCLBs2uPd

#4 Ranting For Vengeance Slams CBR And Others Who Hate 1980s Anime – I grew up watching lots of anime shows and feature films early in life and the 1980s is a memorable decade. It was during the 1980s when I saw anime productions from the 1970s and the newest ones of the decade. To name some, I saw the 1980s Astro Boy series, Galaxy Express 999, Captain Future, Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Voltes V, Daimos, Mazinger Z and others. While such old anime productions proved to be entertaining, there are still some people out there who bashed them because those productions (and their stories) did not align with their modern day woke agenda. The popular geek entertainment portal CBR published lots of articles saying that the old anime productions did not age well and a lot of readers and netizens followed suit. As such, Ranting for Vengeance slammed them and stood up for 1980s anime backed with detailed explanations. If you are a true fan of anime, watch the video below.

https://youtu.be/1VCWf8o7utc?si=xXxcQ7-if9FaZV8H

#5 Western Women Who Embraced Islam End Up Wrong – Did you notice that there is a growing number of women in the West who embraced Islam believing the fantasies that it is a religion of peace and is feminist? Indeed, there are these modern-day feminists who considered themselves Islamic without even fully knowing what Islam truly is, why Sharia Law is wicked and what was recorded in the Quran. SaharTV posted several videos about these newcomers to Islam (including one new Muslim woman who was Catholic) who ended up being very wrong and embarrassed. Watch the SaharTV videos below.

https://youtu.be/ghhZuYcsNFY?si=uddJdrr8Ve_FeOvS

https://youtu.be/6fZUxJWv8E0?si=saX3TUFQhPJ3iMwk

https://youtu.be/WGwbkx0zrL4?si=R2KCv0-fDSmZRgGP

https://youtu.be/gXFYh-fh_1g?si=cpNXKOygu8Z1jz_N

https://youtu.be/uTvbQDzn8RA?si=KiG5K-jWU5mvs_4x

#6 The Significance Of Spider-Man 2099 Explained – In late 1992, Marvel Comics launched Spider-Man 2099 #1 which also marked the start of their 2099 franchise of comic books. Under the direction of writer Peter David with artworks done mainly by Rick Leonardi, the futuristic Spider-Man really stood out differently from the classic Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and his own place under Marvel Comics’ banner was established well. Spider-Man 2099 is clearly the most popular of all the Marvel 2099 titles. That said, I found this YouTube video that examines the significance of Spider-Man of 2099. I encourage you to watch it.

https://youtu.be/0ap6m7EHTXw?si=cxHY9bDg-9QYlmlK

#7 Ashleigh Burton’s Reaction To Witness – The 1980s will always be a memorable decade of Harrison Ford’s cinematic performances. During that decade, he appeared in two Star Wars movies and he was the center of attraction in the original Indiana Jones trilogy. Along the way, he appeared in the 1985 crime thriller film Witness in which he played a police detective protecting an Amish woman and her son. The movie earned several Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and even Best Actor for Harrison Ford. Lately, Ashleigh Burton posted her reaction video of Witness and I encourage you to watch it.  

https://youtu.be/COlaB65Q3MA?si=0i2Kx-yFhLYdX1_E

+++++

Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @CarloCarrascoPH as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

GOP Jesus

#jesus #religion #christ #christian #Epstein #pope #catholic #democracy #democrats #fascism #politics #world #America #elections #Europe #EU #tyranny #freedom #Canada #turkey #uk #resistance #tyranny #Sweden #India #Finland #spain #Germany #France #Italy #Japan #Australia #America #reddit #meidastouch #corruption #education
#DNC #GOP

Cutaways of the monastic community at Glendalough, Ireland, 9th century AD (Giorgio Albertini)

https://piefed.social/c/historyart/p/2054199/cutaways-of-the-monastic-community-at-glendalough-ireland-9th-century-ad-giorgio-albert

Cutaways of the monastic community at Glendalough, Ireland, 9th century AD (Giorgio Albertini)

Cutaways of the monastic community at Glendalough, Ireland, 9th century AD (Giorgio Albertini)

https://piefed.social/c/historyart/p/2054199/cutaways-of-the-monastic-community-at-glendalough-ireland-9th-century-ad-giorgio-albert

#Cat #Cats #Caturday #CatsOfMastodon #catstodon #catholic #CatsOfFediverse #catalunya #catlovers #catsofpixelfed #catala #catlife #catart #catcontent #Catsky #catsofbluesky #catalonia #cathedral #cattle #catgirl
Good morning :)

#Cat #Cats #Caturday #CatsOfMastodon #catstodon #catholic #CatsOfFediverse #catalunya #catlovers #catsofpixelfed #catala #catlife #catart #catcontent #Catsky #catsofbluesky #catalonia #cathedral #cattle #catgirl
Good morning :)

Encyclical Coming!

If reports are true, Pope Leo XIV will release his first encyclical on May 15th, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent humanity). Since this is unrelated to my day job, I will almost certainly not be among the first to read and report on this, so I wanted to try to flag a few things in advance for my friends who do not live and breathe this kind of thing.

1. Papal encyclicals: These are relatively rare doctrinal teaching documents that a pope issues. (Pope Francis released four in his 13-year pontificate.) While not making dogmatic declarations, (and not speaking infallibly), when a pope releases an encyclical, it’s meant to contribute to church doctrine in a significant way. Popes have lots of other channels for sending messages, but encyclicals tend to be the big deals.
2. Legacy of Rerum Novarum: You might remember that, when he was elected pope, then-Cardinal Prevost selected the name Leo as a reference to Pope Leo XIII, whose encyclical Rerum Novarum, written to outline Catholic social teaching in response to the economic, political, and cultural disruption of the Industrial Revolution, is generally considered to be the first papal contribution to Catholic social teaching. Several popes intentionally released (or planned to release) encyclicals on major anniversaries of the May 15, 1891 release of Rerum Novarum as a way of highlighting, updating and expanding Church social teaching: Pius XI (40th), John XXIII (60th), Paul VI (80th), and John Paul II (90th1 and 100th) all followed this model. Thus the release date for this one, on Rerum Novarum’s 135th anniversary marks a return to this tradition after Benedict XVI and Francis did not release social encyclicals on anniversaries. (Francis’ two major social encyclicals, Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti, were released on non-anniversary years.)
3. Title: The title is the first two words of the Latin (official) version of the document. That, plus a Friday release (a slow news day), show that the Vatican still sides with tradition over marketability and communications sensibilities.
4. Expect big things: It’s been said that Leo wants to talk about artificial intelligence (AI), but I would expect this not to be a relatively narrow document (like Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae, which focused specifically on articulating Catholic teaching on birth control), but one that treats AI as a source of broad disruption of the economy, politics and culture, just as the Industrial Revolution was. Whether or not you’re Catholic, you may not be aware with the breadth of Catholic social teaching, because the Church only gets attention for a few hot-button culture war issues.2 The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been highlighting seven different principles of Catholic social teaching during the Easter season on social media, but you can also catch up through the resources on their website. When you think about it, all seven themes – the life and dignity of each human person; subsidiarity and the ordering of community; rights and responsibilities; the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable; the dignity of work and the rights of workers; solidarity; and care for God’s creation – all face challenges by the current trajectory of AI’s development and adoption. I would be surprised if this encyclical is “only” a primer on ethical use of AI, as much as that is needed.
5. Avoid the temptation to make this all about the US: One thing that I haven’t seen reported on much that could become a big deal is that Leo has consistently criticized an obsession with stock market results over other measures that better reflect how an economy is or isn’t serving the common good, especially the most vulnerable. I keep waiting for someone to portray this as a Leo-vs-Trump item, given that the Administration regularly uses the record-setting stock market as a justification for any attack on their agenda. Truthfully, Leo’s critique of a Dow Jones-centric view of the economic world is consistent with what popes across the board have said since Rerum Novarum. I would be surprised if it weren’t a theme in this encyclical, nor would it surprise me if it’s played up by those who want to spark another anti-Leo response from President Trump.
6. Media matters: I see a lot of social media posts about the pope from sources that are primarily engines of American partisanship. Sometimes they are completely untrue; other times they are misconstruing facts to fit within an ideological context. I wish that Ad Fontes would put out a media bias chart specific to Catholic journalism, similar to the ones they do for US and world journalism in general. Lacking that, know that there are Catholic and secular media outlets across the ideological spectrum who have dedicated Vatican reporters. Ideally, you should try reading the encyclical itself – it will be available at vatican.va for free, and should be really well-written, based on what we’ve seen from this pope – but if you really just want a quick rundown, at least try to restrict yourself to outlets with a dedicated Vatican beat. Start with the Vatican’s in-house shop, Vatican News, which will have a suite of stories. OSV News, and Religion News Service are two I’d recommend for down-the-center coverage, as well as secular wire services like AP and Reuters. Thoughtful commentary outlets range from Commonweal on the left to America, National Catholic Reporter, Crux, First Things, The Pillar and EWTN, the Fox News of Catholic media. There are even some blogs worth reading, lol.

One off-the-beaten path angle: When I get a chance to read it, I’ll try to share my thoughts, unless they’re redundant to the great analysis that I know will be coming from the pros. The one thing I’m likely to focus on (that others may not) is the footnotes. Not because they are likely to be a source of controversy (which they can be!3), but because Francis was unusual in the breadth of sources he cited in his encyclicals. Normally, you see references to the Bible (obviously), predecessor popes, Vatican II documents, and other things that the particular author-pope has written or said. Sometimes, you’ll see references to prominent Catholic theologians (there should probably be a prediction market on how many references to Augustine we see). But Francis included poets, non-Catholics, and (my favorite) statements by bishops’ conferences from all over the world in a way that broadened the Church’s understanding of where wisdom resides. I’ll be curious if Leo follows that example or returns to tradition. My guess is that he sticks to the basics, since there are so many anniversary documents, he’s already said a lot in his various addresses (and his apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te), plus Augustine. But if he does call out the bishops of, say, Oceania, or Africa, it would be a subtle way of underscoring the need for a synodal church to listen to those at the margins.

1. John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens was scheduled for release on May 15th, but he was the victim of an assassination attempt a few days before, so it was postponed until September.  ↩︎
2. To be fair, until very recently, the leadership of the USCCB seems to have been pretty content to just focus on the culture war issues. ↩︎
3. One of the biggest controversies of Francis’ pontificate stemmed from a footnote (#351!) in an apostolic exhortation (not even an encyclical!) about married love, Amoris Laetitia; in fact, Pope Leo has scheduled a big meeting of bishops this fall to come back to that document, probably in part to smooth over the kerfuffle of the footnote. Remind me why the Church has a rap for being too self-absorbed? ↩︎

Encyclical Coming!

If reports are true, Pope Leo XIV will release his first encyclical on May 15th, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent humanity). Since this is unrelated to my day job, I will almost certainly not be among the first to read and report on this, so I wanted to try to flag a few things in advance for my friends who do not live and breathe this kind of thing.

1. Papal encyclicals: These are relatively rare doctrinal teaching documents that a pope issues. (Pope Francis released four in his 13-year pontificate.) While not making dogmatic declarations, (and not speaking infallibly), when a pope releases an encyclical, it’s meant to contribute to church doctrine in a significant way. Popes have lots of other channels for sending messages, but encyclicals tend to be the big deals.
2. Legacy of Rerum Novarum: You might remember that, when he was elected pope, then-Cardinal Prevost selected the name Leo as a reference to Pope Leo XIII, whose encyclical Rerum Novarum, written to outline Catholic social teaching in response to the economic, political, and cultural disruption of the Industrial Revolution, is generally considered to be the first papal contribution to Catholic social teaching. Several popes intentionally released (or planned to release) encyclicals on major anniversaries of the May 15, 1891 release of Rerum Novarum as a way of highlighting, updating and expanding Church social teaching: Pius XI (40th), John XXIII (60th), Paul VI (80th), and John Paul II (90th1 and 100th) all followed this model. Thus the release date for this one, on Rerum Novarum’s 135th anniversary marks a return to this tradition after Benedict XVI and Francis did not release social encyclicals on anniversaries. (Francis’ two major social encyclicals, Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti, were released on non-anniversary years.)
3. Title: The title is the first two words of the Latin (official) version of the document. That, plus a Friday release (a slow news day), show that the Vatican still sides with tradition over marketability and communications sensibilities.
4. Expect big things: It’s been said that Leo wants to talk about artificial intelligence (AI), but I would expect this not to be a relatively narrow document (like Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae, which focused specifically on articulating Catholic teaching on birth control), but one that treats AI as a source of broad disruption of the economy, politics and culture, just as the Industrial Revolution was. Whether or not you’re Catholic, you may not be aware with the breadth of Catholic social teaching, because the Church only gets attention for a few hot-button culture war issues.2 The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been highlighting seven different principles of Catholic social teaching during the Easter season on social media, but you can also catch up through the resources on their website. When you think about it, all seven themes – the life and dignity of each human person; subsidiarity and the ordering of community; rights and responsibilities; the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable; the dignity of work and the rights of workers; solidarity; and care for God’s creation – all face challenges by the current trajectory of AI’s development and adoption. I would be surprised if this encyclical is “only” a primer on ethical use of AI, as much as that is needed.
5. Avoid the temptation to make this all about the US: One thing that I haven’t seen reported on much that could become a big deal is that Leo has consistently criticized an obsession with stock market results over other measures that better reflect how an economy is or isn’t serving the common good, especially the most vulnerable. I keep waiting for someone to portray this as a Leo-vs-Trump item, given that the Administration regularly uses the record-setting stock market as a justification for any attack on their agenda. Truthfully, Leo’s critique of a Dow Jones-centric view of the economic world is consistent with what popes across the board have said since Rerum Novarum. I would be surprised if it weren’t a theme in this encyclical, nor would it surprise me if it’s played up by those who want to spark another anti-Leo response from President Trump.
6. Media matters: I see a lot of social media posts about the pope from sources that are primarily engines of American partisanship. Sometimes they are completely untrue; other times they are misconstruing facts to fit within an ideological context. I wish that Ad Fontes would put out a media bias chart specific to Catholic journalism, similar to the ones they do for US and world journalism in general. Lacking that, know that there are Catholic and secular media outlets across the ideological spectrum who have dedicated Vatican reporters. Ideally, you should try reading the encyclical itself – it will be available at vatican.va for free, and should be really well-written, based on what we’ve seen from this pope – but if you really just want a quick rundown, at least try to restrict yourself to outlets with a dedicated Vatican beat. Start with the Vatican’s in-house shop, Vatican News, which will have a suite of stories. OSV News, and Religion News Service are two I’d recommend for down-the-center coverage, as well as secular wire services like AP and Reuters. Thoughtful commentary outlets range from Commonweal on the left to America, National Catholic Reporter, Crux, First Things, The Pillar and EWTN, the Fox News of Catholic media. There are even some blogs worth reading, lol.

One off-the-beaten path angle: When I get a chance to read it, I’ll try to share my thoughts, unless they’re redundant to the great analysis that I know will be coming from the pros. The one thing I’m likely to focus on (that others may not) is the footnotes. Not because they are likely to be a source of controversy (which they can be!3), but because Francis was unusual in the breadth of sources he cited in his encyclicals. Normally, you see references to the Bible (obviously), predecessor popes, Vatican II documents, and other things that the particular author-pope has written or said. Sometimes, you’ll see references to prominent Catholic theologians (there should probably be a prediction market on how many references to Augustine we see). But Francis included poets, non-Catholics, and (my favorite) statements by bishops’ conferences from all over the world in a way that broadened the Church’s understanding of where wisdom resides. I’ll be curious if Leo follows that example or returns to tradition. My guess is that he sticks to the basics, since there are so many anniversary documents, he’s already said a lot in his various addresses (and his apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te), plus Augustine. But if he does call out the bishops of, say, Oceania, or Africa, it would be a subtle way of underscoring the need for a synodal church to listen to those at the margins.

1. John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens was scheduled for release on May 15th, but he was the victim of an assassination attempt a few days before, so it was postponed until September.  ↩︎
2. To be fair, until very recently, the leadership of the USCCB seems to have been pretty content to just focus on the culture war issues. ↩︎
3. One of the biggest controversies of Francis’ pontificate stemmed from a footnote (#351!) in an apostolic exhortation (not even an encyclical!) about married love, Amoris Laetitia; in fact, Pope Leo has scheduled a big meeting of bishops this fall to come back to that document, probably in part to smooth over the kerfuffle of the footnote. Remind me why the Church has a rap for being too self-absorbed? ↩︎

Encyclical Coming!

If reports are true, Pope Leo XIV will release his first encyclical on May 15th, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent humanity). Since this is unrelated to my day job, I will almost certainly not be among the first to read and report on this, so I wanted to try to flag a few things in advance for my friends who do not live and breathe this kind of thing.

1. Papal encyclicals: These are relatively rare doctrinal teaching documents that a pope issues. (Pope Francis released four in his 13-year pontificate.) While not making dogmatic declarations, (and not speaking infallibly), when a pope releases an encyclical, it’s meant to contribute to church doctrine in a significant way. Popes have lots of other channels for sending messages, but encyclicals tend to be the big deals.
2. Legacy of Rerum Novarum: You might remember that, when he was elected pope, then-Cardinal Prevost selected the name Leo as a reference to Pope Leo XIII, whose encyclical Rerum Novarum, written to outline Catholic social teaching in response to the economic, political, and cultural disruption of the Industrial Revolution, is generally considered to be the first papal contribution to Catholic social teaching. Several popes intentionally released (or planned to release) encyclicals on major anniversaries of the May 15, 1891 release of Rerum Novarum as a way of highlighting, updating and expanding Church social teaching: Pius XI (40th), John XXIII (60th), Paul VI (80th), and John Paul II (90th1 and 100th) all followed this model. Thus the release date for this one, on Rerum Novarum’s 135th anniversary marks a return to this tradition after Benedict XVI and Francis did not release social encyclicals on anniversaries. (Francis’ two major social encyclicals, Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti, were released on non-anniversary years.)
3. Title: The title is the first two words of the Latin (official) version of the document. That, plus a Friday release (a slow news day), show that the Vatican still sides with tradition over marketability and communications sensibilities.
4. Expect big things: It’s been said that Leo wants to talk about artificial intelligence (AI), but I would expect this not to be a relatively narrow document (like Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae, which focused specifically on articulating Catholic teaching on birth control), but one that treats AI as a source of broad disruption of the economy, politics and culture, just as the Industrial Revolution was. Whether or not you’re Catholic, you may not be aware with the breadth of Catholic social teaching, because the Church only gets attention for a few hot-button culture war issues.2 The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been highlighting seven different principles of Catholic social teaching during the Easter season on social media, but you can also catch up through the resources on their website. When you think about it, all seven themes – the life and dignity of each human person; subsidiarity and the ordering of community; rights and responsibilities; the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable; the dignity of work and the rights of workers; solidarity; and care for God’s creation – all face challenges by the current trajectory of AI’s development and adoption. I would be surprised if this encyclical is “only” a primer on ethical use of AI, as much as that is needed.
5. Avoid the temptation to make this all about the US: One thing that I haven’t seen reported on much that could become a big deal is that Leo has consistently criticized an obsession with stock market results over other measures that better reflect how an economy is or isn’t serving the common good, especially the most vulnerable. I keep waiting for someone to portray this as a Leo-vs-Trump item, given that the Administration regularly uses the record-setting stock market as a justification for any attack on their agenda. Truthfully, Leo’s critique of a Dow Jones-centric view of the economic world is consistent with what popes across the board have said since Rerum Novarum. I would be surprised if it weren’t a theme in this encyclical, nor would it surprise me if it’s played up by those who want to spark another anti-Leo response from President Trump.
6. Media matters: I see a lot of social media posts about the pope from sources that are primarily engines of American partisanship. Sometimes they are completely untrue; other times they are misconstruing facts to fit within an ideological context. I wish that Ad Fontes would put out a media bias chart specific to Catholic journalism, similar to the ones they do for US and world journalism in general. Lacking that, know that there are Catholic and secular media outlets across the ideological spectrum who have dedicated Vatican reporters. Ideally, you should try reading the encyclical itself – it will be available at vatican.va for free, and should be really well-written, based on what we’ve seen from this pope – but if you really just want a quick rundown, at least try to restrict yourself to outlets with a dedicated Vatican beat. Start with the Vatican’s in-house shop, Vatican News, which will have a suite of stories. OSV News, and Religion News Service are two I’d recommend for down-the-center coverage, as well as secular wire services like AP and Reuters. Thoughtful commentary outlets range from Commonweal on the left to America, National Catholic Reporter, Crux, First Things, The Pillar and EWTN, the Fox News of Catholic media. There are even some blogs worth reading, lol.

One off-the-beaten path angle: When I get a chance to read it, I’ll try to share my thoughts, unless they’re redundant to the great analysis that I know will be coming from the pros. The one thing I’m likely to focus on (that others may not) is the footnotes. Not because they are likely to be a source of controversy (which they can be!3), but because Francis was unusual in the breadth of sources he cited in his encyclicals. Normally, you see references to the Bible (obviously), predecessor popes, Vatican II documents, and other things that the particular author-pope has written or said. Sometimes, you’ll see references to prominent Catholic theologians (there should probably be a prediction market on how many references to Augustine we see). But Francis included poets, non-Catholics, and (my favorite) statements by bishops’ conferences from all over the world in a way that broadened the Church’s understanding of where wisdom resides. I’ll be curious if Leo follows that example or returns to tradition. My guess is that he sticks to the basics, since there are so many anniversary documents, he’s already said a lot in his various addresses (and his apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te), plus Augustine. But if he does call out the bishops of, say, Oceania, or Africa, it would be a subtle way of underscoring the need for a synodal church to listen to those at the margins.

1. John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens was scheduled for release on May 15th, but he was the victim of an assassination attempt a few days before, so it was postponed until September.  ↩︎
2. To be fair, until very recently, the leadership of the USCCB seems to have been pretty content to just focus on the culture war issues. ↩︎
3. One of the biggest controversies of Francis’ pontificate stemmed from a footnote (#351!) in an apostolic exhortation (not even an encyclical!) about married love, Amoris Laetitia; in fact, Pope Leo has scheduled a big meeting of bishops this fall to come back to that document, probably in part to smooth over the kerfuffle of the footnote. Remind me why the Church has a rap for being too self-absorbed? ↩︎

Encyclical Coming!

If reports are true, Pope Leo XIV will release his first encyclical on May 15th, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent humanity). Since this is unrelated to my day job, I will almost certainly not be among the first to read and report on this, so I wanted to try to flag a few things in advance for my friends who do not live and breathe this kind of thing.

1. Papal encyclicals: These are relatively rare doctrinal teaching documents that a pope issues. (Pope Francis released four in his 13-year pontificate.) While not making dogmatic declarations, (and not speaking infallibly), when a pope releases an encyclical, it’s meant to contribute to church doctrine in a significant way. Popes have lots of other channels for sending messages, but encyclicals tend to be the big deals.
2. Legacy of Rerum Novarum: You might remember that, when he was elected pope, then-Cardinal Prevost selected the name Leo as a reference to Pope Leo XIII, whose encyclical Rerum Novarum, written to outline Catholic social teaching in response to the economic, political, and cultural disruption of the Industrial Revolution, is generally considered to be the first papal contribution to Catholic social teaching. Several popes intentionally released (or planned to release) encyclicals on major anniversaries of the May 15, 1891 release of Rerum Novarum as a way of highlighting, updating and expanding Church social teaching: Pius XI (40th), John XXIII (60th), Paul VI (80th), and John Paul II (90th1 and 100th) all followed this model. Thus the release date for this one, on Rerum Novarum’s 135th anniversary marks a return to this tradition after Benedict XVI and Francis did not release social encyclicals on anniversaries. (Francis’ two major social encyclicals, Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti, were released on non-anniversary years.)
3. Title: The title is the first two words of the Latin (official) version of the document. That, plus a Friday release (a slow news day), show that the Vatican still sides with tradition over marketability and communications sensibilities.
4. Expect big things: It’s been said that Leo wants to talk about artificial intelligence (AI), but I would expect this not to be a relatively narrow document (like Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae, which focused specifically on articulating Catholic teaching on birth control), but one that treats AI as a source of broad disruption of the economy, politics and culture, just as the Industrial Revolution was. Whether or not you’re Catholic, you may not be aware with the breadth of Catholic social teaching, because the Church only gets attention for a few hot-button culture war issues.2 The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been highlighting seven different principles of Catholic social teaching during the Easter season on social media, but you can also catch up through the resources on their website. When you think about it, all seven themes – the life and dignity of each human person; subsidiarity and the ordering of community; rights and responsibilities; the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable; the dignity of work and the rights of workers; solidarity; and care for God’s creation – all face challenges by the current trajectory of AI’s development and adoption. I would be surprised if this encyclical is “only” a primer on ethical use of AI, as much as that is needed.
5. Avoid the temptation to make this all about the US: One thing that I haven’t seen reported on much that could become a big deal is that Leo has consistently criticized an obsession with stock market results over other measures that better reflect how an economy is or isn’t serving the common good, especially the most vulnerable. I keep waiting for someone to portray this as a Leo-vs-Trump item, given that the Administration regularly uses the record-setting stock market as a justification for any attack on their agenda. Truthfully, Leo’s critique of a Dow Jones-centric view of the economic world is consistent with what popes across the board have said since Rerum Novarum. I would be surprised if it weren’t a theme in this encyclical, nor would it surprise me if it’s played up by those who want to spark another anti-Leo response from President Trump.
6. Media matters: I see a lot of social media posts about the pope from sources that are primarily engines of American partisanship. Sometimes they are completely untrue; other times they are misconstruing facts to fit within an ideological context. I wish that Ad Fontes would put out a media bias chart specific to Catholic journalism, similar to the ones they do for US and world journalism in general. Lacking that, know that there are Catholic and secular media outlets across the ideological spectrum who have dedicated Vatican reporters. Ideally, you should try reading the encyclical itself – it will be available at vatican.va for free, and should be really well-written, based on what we’ve seen from this pope – but if you really just want a quick rundown, at least try to restrict yourself to outlets with a dedicated Vatican beat. Start with the Vatican’s in-house shop, Vatican News, which will have a suite of stories. OSV News, and Religion News Service are two I’d recommend for down-the-center coverage, as well as secular wire services like AP and Reuters. Thoughtful commentary outlets range from Commonweal on the left to America, National Catholic Reporter, Crux, First Things, The Pillar and EWTN, the Fox News of Catholic media. There are even some blogs worth reading, lol.

One off-the-beaten path angle: When I get a chance to read it, I’ll try to share my thoughts, unless they’re redundant to the great analysis that I know will be coming from the pros. The one thing I’m likely to focus on (that others may not) is the footnotes. Not because they are likely to be a source of controversy (which they can be!3), but because Francis was unusual in the breadth of sources he cited in his encyclicals. Normally, you see references to the Bible (obviously), predecessor popes, Vatican II documents, and other things that the particular author-pope has written or said. Sometimes, you’ll see references to prominent Catholic theologians (there should probably be a prediction market on how many references to Augustine we see). But Francis included poets, non-Catholics, and (my favorite) statements by bishops’ conferences from all over the world in a way that broadened the Church’s understanding of where wisdom resides. I’ll be curious if Leo follows that example or returns to tradition. My guess is that he sticks to the basics, since there are so many anniversary documents, he’s already said a lot in his various addresses (and his apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te), plus Augustine. But if he does call out the bishops of, say, Oceania, or Africa, it would be a subtle way of underscoring the need for a synodal church to listen to those at the margins.

1. John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens was scheduled for release on May 15th, but he was the victim of an assassination attempt a few days before, so it was postponed until September.  ↩︎
2. To be fair, until very recently, the leadership of the USCCB seems to have been pretty content to just focus on the culture war issues. ↩︎
3. One of the biggest controversies of Francis’ pontificate stemmed from a footnote (#351!) in an apostolic exhortation (not even an encyclical!) about married love, Amoris Laetitia; in fact, Pope Leo has scheduled a big meeting of bishops this fall to come back to that document, probably in part to smooth over the kerfuffle of the footnote. Remind me why the Church has a rap for being too self-absorbed? ↩︎

Encyclical Coming!

If reports are true, Pope Leo XIV will release his first encyclical on May 15th, titled Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent humanity). Since this is unrelated to my day job, I will almost certainly not be among the first to read and report on this, so I wanted to try to flag a few things in advance for my friends who do not live and breathe this kind of thing.

1. Papal encyclicals: These are relatively rare doctrinal teaching documents that a pope issues. (Pope Francis released four in his 13-year pontificate.) While not making dogmatic declarations, (and not speaking infallibly), when a pope releases an encyclical, it’s meant to contribute to church doctrine in a significant way. Popes have lots of other channels for sending messages, but encyclicals tend to be the big deals.
2. Legacy of Rerum Novarum: You might remember that, when he was elected pope, then-Cardinal Prevost selected the name Leo as a reference to Pope Leo XIII, whose encyclical Rerum Novarum, written to outline Catholic social teaching in response to the economic, political, and cultural disruption of the Industrial Revolution, is generally considered to be the first papal contribution to Catholic social teaching. Several popes intentionally released (or planned to release) encyclicals on major anniversaries of the May 15, 1891 release of Rerum Novarum as a way of highlighting, updating and expanding Church social teaching: Pius XI (40th), John XXIII (60th), Paul VI (80th), and John Paul II (90th1 and 100th) all followed this model. Thus the release date for this one, on Rerum Novarum’s 135th anniversary marks a return to this tradition after Benedict XVI and Francis did not release social encyclicals on anniversaries. (Francis’ two major social encyclicals, Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti, were released on non-anniversary years.)
3. Title: The title is the first two words of the Latin (official) version of the document. That, plus a Friday release (a slow news day), show that the Vatican still sides with tradition over marketability and communications sensibilities.
4. Expect big things: It’s been said that Leo wants to talk about artificial intelligence (AI), but I would expect this not to be a relatively narrow document (like Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae, which focused specifically on articulating Catholic teaching on birth control), but one that treats AI as a source of broad disruption of the economy, politics and culture, just as the Industrial Revolution was. Whether or not you’re Catholic, you may not be aware with the breadth of Catholic social teaching, because the Church only gets attention for a few hot-button culture war issues.2 The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been highlighting seven different principles of Catholic social teaching during the Easter season on social media, but you can also catch up through the resources on their website. When you think about it, all seven themes – the life and dignity of each human person; subsidiarity and the ordering of community; rights and responsibilities; the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable; the dignity of work and the rights of workers; solidarity; and care for God’s creation – all face challenges by the current trajectory of AI’s development and adoption. I would be surprised if this encyclical is “only” a primer on ethical use of AI, as much as that is needed.
5. Avoid the temptation to make this all about the US: One thing that I haven’t seen reported on much that could become a big deal is that Leo has consistently criticized an obsession with stock market results over other measures that better reflect how an economy is or isn’t serving the common good, especially the most vulnerable. I keep waiting for someone to portray this as a Leo-vs-Trump item, given that the Administration regularly uses the record-setting stock market as a justification for any attack on their agenda. Truthfully, Leo’s critique of a Dow Jones-centric view of the economic world is consistent with what popes across the board have said since Rerum Novarum. I would be surprised if it weren’t a theme in this encyclical, nor would it surprise me if it’s played up by those who want to spark another anti-Leo response from President Trump.
6. Media matters: I see a lot of social media posts about the pope from sources that are primarily engines of American partisanship. Sometimes they are completely untrue; other times they are misconstruing facts to fit within an ideological context. I wish that Ad Fontes would put out a media bias chart specific to Catholic journalism, similar to the ones they do for US and world journalism in general. Lacking that, know that there are Catholic and secular media outlets across the ideological spectrum who have dedicated Vatican reporters. Ideally, you should try reading the encyclical itself – it will be available at vatican.va for free, and should be really well-written, based on what we’ve seen from this pope – but if you really just want a quick rundown, at least try to restrict yourself to outlets with a dedicated Vatican beat. Start with the Vatican’s in-house shop, Vatican News, which will have a suite of stories. OSV News, and Religion News Service are two I’d recommend for down-the-center coverage, as well as secular wire services like AP and Reuters. Thoughtful commentary outlets range from Commonweal on the left to America, National Catholic Reporter, Crux, First Things, The Pillar and EWTN, the Fox News of Catholic media. There are even some blogs worth reading, lol.

One off-the-beaten path angle: When I get a chance to read it, I’ll try to share my thoughts, unless they’re redundant to the great analysis that I know will be coming from the pros. The one thing I’m likely to focus on (that others may not) is the footnotes. Not because they are likely to be a source of controversy (which they can be!3), but because Francis was unusual in the breadth of sources he cited in his encyclicals. Normally, you see references to the Bible (obviously), predecessor popes, Vatican II documents, and other things that the particular author-pope has written or said. Sometimes, you’ll see references to prominent Catholic theologians (there should probably be a prediction market on how many references to Augustine we see). But Francis included poets, non-Catholics, and (my favorite) statements by bishops’ conferences from all over the world in a way that broadened the Church’s understanding of where wisdom resides. I’ll be curious if Leo follows that example or returns to tradition. My guess is that he sticks to the basics, since there are so many anniversary documents, he’s already said a lot in his various addresses (and his apostolic exhortation, Dilexi Te), plus Augustine. But if he does call out the bishops of, say, Oceania, or Africa, it would be a subtle way of underscoring the need for a synodal church to listen to those at the margins.

1. John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens was scheduled for release on May 15th, but he was the victim of an assassination attempt a few days before, so it was postponed until September.  ↩︎
2. To be fair, until very recently, the leadership of the USCCB seems to have been pretty content to just focus on the culture war issues. ↩︎
3. One of the biggest controversies of Francis’ pontificate stemmed from a footnote (#351!) in an apostolic exhortation (not even an encyclical!) about married love, Amoris Laetitia; in fact, Pope Leo has scheduled a big meeting of bishops this fall to come back to that document, probably in part to smooth over the kerfuffle of the footnote. Remind me why the Church has a rap for being too self-absorbed? ↩︎

Latton Priory, England, in the 12th century AD (Judith Dobie)

https://piefed.social/c/historyart/p/2053043/latton-priory-england-in-the-12th-century-ad-judith-dobie

Overgrown ruins of Alvastra Abbey, Sweden

https://piefed.social/c/historyruins/p/2053034/overgrown-ruins-of-alvastra-abbey-sweden

Overgrown ruins of Alvastra Abbey, Sweden

https://piefed.social/c/historyruins/p/2053034/overgrown-ruins-of-alvastra-abbey-sweden

Overgrown ruins of Alvastra Abbey, Sweden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvastra_Abbey

Overgrown ruins of Alvastra Abbey, Sweden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvastra_Abbey

GOD WILL PROVIDE THE CRUSADE'S LOGISTICS

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2053026/god-will-provide-the-crusade-s-logistics

GOD WILL PROVIDE THE CRUSADE'S LOGISTICS

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2053026/god-will-provide-the-crusade-s-logistics

GOD WILL PROVIDE THE CRUSADE'S LOGISTICS

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2053026/god-will-provide-the-crusade-s-logistics

GOD WILL PROVIDE THE CRUSADE'S LOGISTICS

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2053026/god-will-provide-the-crusade-s-logistics

GOD WILL PROVIDE THE CRUSADE'S LOGISTICS

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2053026/god-will-provide-the-crusade-s-logistics

Ahead of vote in France, bishop calls for prayer and fasting to defeat euthanasia bill

Earlier this year, on Feb. 25, the French National Assembly approved after a second reading a bill aimed…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #assisted-suicide #catholic-church-in-france #catholic-news #euthanasia #our-lady-of-fatima
https://www.europesays.com/france/13714/

RE: https://archaeo.social/@rcosta/116556889266749596

THIS!
one of the best discussions about God happened in my #biology 101 class at #UPR #RíoPiedras.

in 1984, i entered college in Puerto Rico. the world had already 4 years of fascist #reaganism. we were LIVING the first wave of attacks on science from #GOP #republicans as college n00bs.

our profe didn't shy away from the question. as a good #Vatican2 #catholic, he described it as the mystery of the universe, as the unknown before the Big Bang & evolution. #science made his #faith stronger.

As churches close in Europe, debate intensifies over their future

As Europe prepares to honor this yearʼs European Heritage Awards/Europa Nostra Awards, widely regarded as the continentʼs highest…
#Europe #EU #catholic-news #church-in-europe #Comece #secularism
https://www.europesays.com/europe/38217/

Quand vous célébrez la Cène du Christ, ne faites pas comme les hypocrites. Ils s'imaginent qu'en démultipliant les gestes ils seront écoutés.
Vous quand vous faites mémoire du Christ lors de son dernier repas avec ses apôtres, soyez fidèle à ses Paroles et ses actes si vous voulez que le Père reçoive votre offrande.
Oui ne modifiez pas sans son consentement ses Paroles, ce qu'il fait ou non durant ce partage puisque vous prétendez faire mémoire de Lui.

#pope #pape #catholic #christ #vaticano

Question for #Catholic / #Christian #Bible reading people: With Pentecost coming up, I was thinking about Acts 2, and how as the disciples, filled with the holy spirit, spoke, each person heard them in their own language. It struck me how Vatican II was such a big thing: bringing the Mass from Latin, into local languages. But, considering Acts 2, why was the mass ever restricted to just Latin in the first place? Jesus never specified anything about only using one language and clearly the Holy Spirit appears to encourage taking the word of God to people in a language they understand.

Just curious what others think.

#BibkeQuestions #religion #theology

Question for #Catholic / #Christian #Bible reading people: With Pentecost coming up, I was thinking about Acts 2, and how as the disciples, filled with the holy spirit, spoke, each person heard them in their own language. It struck me how Vatican II was such a big thing: bringing the Mass from Latin, into local languages. But, considering Acts 2, why was the mass ever restricted to just Latin in the first place? Jesus never specified anything about only using one language and clearly the Holy Spirit appears to encourage taking the word of God to people in a language they understand.

Just curious what others think.

#BibkeQuestions #religion #theology

Question for #Catholic / #Christian #Bible reading people: With Pentecost coming up, I was thinking about Acts 2, and how as the disciples, filled with the holy spirit, spoke, each person heard them in their own language. It struck me how Vatican II was such a big thing: bringing the Mass from Latin, into local languages. But, considering Acts 2, why was the mass ever restricted to just Latin in the first place? Jesus never specified anything about only using one language and clearly the Holy Spirit appears to encourage taking the word of God to people in a language they understand.

Just curious what others think.

#BibkeQuestions #religion #theology

Monks copying manuscripts, 13th century AD (Giorgio Albertini)

https://piefed.social/c/historyart/p/2048484/monks-copying-manuscripts-13th-century-ad-giorgio-albertini

St. Kinga's Chapel in the Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland

https://piefed.social/c/inhabitedbeauty/p/2048416/st-kinga-s-chapel-in-the-wieliczka-salt-mine-poland

Spanish Inquisition Waifu is offering to stretch you. Do you accept? (AnonHistory)

https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/2047525/spanish-inquisition-waifu-is-offering-to-stretch-you-do-you-accept-anonhistory

Pope Leo XIV expected to visit France in late September, bishops announce

While the Holy See has yet to make an official announcement, the French Bishops’ Conference announced in a…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #Apostolicvisit #catholicchurch #catholic-news #Frenchbishops #Paris #PopeLeo #PopeLeoXIV
https://www.europesays.com/france/12986/

#Pope Leo's first #year leading the #Catholic #Church https://www.youtube.com/shorts/baBxbzinrlQ?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

I have no idea why I'm so depressed that I'll never be in full #communion with the #Catholic church unless my spouse goes in front of a #priest and presents as their birth gender long enough for us to have our #marriage validated. I had no concern about it before. In fact, I was perfectly okay with the firm belief that #religion is nothing but a bunch of man-made lies meant to enforce archaic #patriarchal #dominance #hierarchies. And now, #God is convicting my heart that I need to join one...