Mary's Catholics

Last January 15 - 19, 2015, Pope Francis made an Apostolic Visit in the Philippines, my beloved country. His presence gave us - Filipino Catholics - so much hope and inspiration. His presence made us feel that we are not alone, and that Jesus is always with us especially in the darkest moments of our lives. Pope Francis' homilies and speeches were so memorable and heart-piercing that until now, many Filipinos are still talking about them.  Here are the seven best quotes from Pope Francis' homilies and speeches.

Feast is a general term for the days celebrated commemorating the important events in the lives of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints. These feasts are not just ordinary feasts, they have special elements. One of these elements is that they serve as very important reminders to Christians how God loves His people and how His power prevails over Satan. The feasts of saints remind Christians how these saints triumphantly offered their lives in the service of God. There are three types of feasts: Solemnities, Feasts and Memorials  1. Solemnity is a celebration of utmost importance, the highest rank of all feasts. It is identified in the Catholic calendar with a capital letter S. Solemnities are like Sunday celebrations wherein the Gloria and the Creed are being prayed. 2. Feast is a celebration next in rank after Solemnity. It is identified in the calendar with a capital letter F. The Gloria is prayed but not the Creed. 3. Memorials are of t...

cc photo by Cristi Sebastian Photography on flickr Good news to all of us who are pro-life. Last February 3, 2014, Guttmacher Institute , an organization that works to advance reproductive health including abortion rights, and a former research arm of Planned Parenthood, reported on their site that " U.S. Abortion Rate Hits Lowest Level Since 1973 ". The all-time highest abortion rate in the U.S. was in 1981 with 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women, but in 2011, the abortion rate was 16.9 per 1,000 women aged 15-44, which was a drop of 13%. Guttmacher also reported that the number of abortion providers decreased by 4% and the number of abortion clinics dropped by 1%. There was no concrete reason for the decrease of the abortion rate, but it was believed that the 106 pro-life laws enacted in 2008 to 2011 with the majority of the laws went into effect in late 2011 had something to do with the decline of the abortion rate. I believe that this is the result of cons...

Just recently, Pope Francis announced the names of the new cardinals to be formally instated at an assembly of cardinals led by the Pope called Consistory on February 22, 2014, the Feast of the chair of St. Peter. The new cardinals: Archbishop Pietro Parolin - Italy Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri - Italy Archbishop-Bishop emeritus Gerhard Ludwig Müller - Germany Archbishop Beniamino Stella - Italy Archbishop Vincent Nichols - Great Britain Archbishop Leopoldo José Brenes - Nicaragua Archbishop Gérald Cyprien Lacroix - Canada Archbishop Jean-Pierre Kutwa - Ivory Coast Archbishop Orani Joäo Tempesta - Brazil Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti - Italy Archbishop Mario Aurelio Poli - Argentina Archbishop Andrew Yeom Soo Jung - South Korea Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello - Chile Archbishop Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo - Burkina Faso Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo - Philippines Bishop Chibly Langiois - Haiti Archbishop Loris Francesco Capovilla - Italy...

With the popularity of online social networking services such as Twitter, Vatican decided to use twitter to communicate further with the people around the world especially with the Catholics. So they created a twitter account -  https://twitter.com/pontifex  -  for the Supreme Pontiff. The first pope who used the account was Pope Benedict XVI. But now he is replaced by Pope Francis. Pope Francis started tweeting on March 17, 2013. As of December 31, the pope has over three million four hundred thousand followers worldwide,  and these numbers are growing each minute. Here are some of the tweets of Pope Francis that I find enlightening, inspiring and interesting with their corresponding dates: Note : Click the dates and you will be linked to the actual tweets of Pope Francis. March 19, 2013 True power is service. The Pope must serve all people, especially the poor, the weak, the vulnerable.  March 28, 2013 Support your priests with your lov...

My personal copy Last December 11, 2013, Time magazine named Pope Francis as the 2013 Person of the Year  (formerly Man of the Year). This is not the first time that a Supreme Pontiff was accorded with such honor. In 1962, Pope John XXIII was Time's Man of the Year , while Pope John Paul II was Time's Man of the Year  in 1994. Interestingly, Pope Francis is scheduled to canonize his two predecessors next year.  Why Time chose Pope Francis? According to Time, Pope Francis has quickly captured the world's attention in just nine months in office.      "And in a very short time, a vast, global, ecumenical audience has shown a hunger to follow him. For pulling the papacy out of the palace and into the streets, for committing the world's largest church to confronting its deepest needs and for balancing judgment with mercy, Pope Francis is TIME's 2013 Person of the Year."  - Nancy Gibbs, Time Aside from being Time's Person of the Year...

cc photo by presidencia.gov.ar on Wikimedia Commons - Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936 in Flores, Buenos Aires, Argentina. - His father, Mario Jose Bergoglio who worked as an accountant in the railways was an Italian immigrant from Portacomaro, in the Asti Province of Italy. He left Italy to escape the fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini. His mother, Regina Maria Sivori, who was also of Italian origin, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. - Pope Francis is the eldest of five children. Of his siblings, only his sister Maria Elena is still living. - He had his elementary studies at a Salesian school in Ramos Mejia. He attended the technical secondary school at the Escueta Nacional de Educacion Tecnica. He graduated with honors in Chemistry. - He felt that he was called to the priesthood on the feast of St. Matthew on September 21, 1953 at the age of sixteen. He studied at the Inmaculada Concepcion Seminary in Villa Devoto, Bue...