Overheard in the Sacristy

Just in time for INDEPENDENCE Day

Pope Benedict XVI gives communion to a nun during a solemn Mass at St Peter’s basilica to celebrate the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul on June 29, 2010 at The Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI placed palliums around the necks of 38 new archbishops, a symbol of their authority and responsibility.

A young girl stands next to Pope Benedict XVI during a Solemn Mass to celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul in Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 29, 2010.

The Second Vatican Council was Hijacked

Blessed John XXIII Rests in St. Peter’s

All powerful God,

help Your people to walk the path to salvation.

By following the teaching of St. John the Baptist,

may we come to your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. + Amen.

Sir Thomas More (February 7, 1478 – July 6, 1535), also known as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, and statesman. He is also recognized as a saint within the Catholic Church. During his life he gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist, an opponent of the Protestant Reformation of Martin Luther and for opposing William Tyndale and his translation of the Bible into the English language.  For three years toward the end of his life he was Lord Chancellor.

More coined the word “utopia” – a name he gave to the ideal, imaginary island nation whose political system he described in Utopia, published in 1516. An important counselor to Henry VIII of England, he was tried and executed for treason by beheading in 1535 for denying that the king was the Supreme Head of the Church of England, a title the king had been given by the Act of Supremacy of 1534. More had been in prison in the Tower of London since 1534 for his refusal to take the oath required by the First Succession Act, because the act disparaged the power of the Pope and Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. More was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1886 and canonized, with John Fisher, in 1935. In 1980, he was added to the Church of England’s calendar of saints.

Pope’s previous writings focus on World Cup, reports LOR

Vatican City, Jun 21, 2010 / 10:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- L’Osservatore Romano published an article last week titled, “When Ratzinger wrote about soccer,” focusing on the reflection the former cardinal and present-day Pontiff included in a 1985 book titled, “Suchen was droben ist” (Seek That Which Is Above).

In his reflection, then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that “the World Cup, occurring every four years, is an event that captivates hundreds of millions of people.”

“The fascination with soccer,” he wrote, “lies essentially in that it forces man to discipline himself, such that, through training, he acquires dominion over himself.  Through dominion, he achieves superiority.  And through superiority, freedom.”

Soccer, he continued, teaches the person the value of “disciplined cooperation” and demands an ordering of the individual within the group.  “It unites through a common objective; the success or failure of each one is tied to the success or failure of the group.”

Soccer teaches us to play a fair game in which the common rules of play are the source of what binds and unites all players, even if when they face each other as adversaries, then-Cardinal Ratzinger explained.

“If we look deeper, the phenomenon of a world excited over soccer can provide us more than mere entertainment,” he said in conclusion.

The Holy Sacrifice of Mass was concelebrated by the 6000 priests in attendance with Vatican Secretary of State, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone on Thursday morning, June 10, 2010.

6000 priests from around the world gathered for conferences, Mass, Confession, and Adoration on the mornings of June 9 and 10, 2010 at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls.