Mary's Catholics

Today, April 16, 2013 is the first birthday of Benedict XVI as Pope Emeritus. Happy 86th birthday Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.  (English) Maligayang kaarawan Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. (Filipino) I wish to greet you a Happy Birthday in your own German language, but I don't know the German translation for "HAPPY BIRTHDAY". Thank you and God bless you.

POPE BIDS FAREWELL TO ITALIAN PRESIDENT POPE'S LAST ANGELUS POPE'S LAST GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE'S LAST MEETING WITH THE CARDINALS POPE LEAVES THE VATICAN AND LAST SPEECH AT CASTEL GANDOLFO POPE'S LAST TWEET When Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope in April 2005, his older brother Father Georg Ratzinger said, "I would have thought his advanced age and unstable health would have been reason enough for the Cardinals to pick someone else." His decision of resigning because of his unstable health was not an easy one. He knew that many people will judge him including his very own flock - Catholics worldwide - and that he will be subjected to numerous speculations and suspicions.  But he stood firm in his decision regardless of what other people will say. During the pontificate of John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI who was then assigned as Prefect of the Congregat...

1. “There is more joy in giving than in receiving.” Never doubt the truth of our Lord’s promise that whatever we give Him of our creativity, our resources, our persons, will come back to us in abundance. 2. As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love that binds us to the Lord and to one another, and the light that opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God’s grace. 3. A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. 4. A society that is not at all concerned with God destroys itself. 5. The ways of the Lord are not comfortable, but were not created for comfort, but for greatness, for good. 6. According to the teaching of the Church, men and women with homos...

cc photo by andre.ballensiefen on flickr When I heard the news about the Pope's announcement of his resignation, I was shocked, and my first question was WHY?  When I told my sister who was so blessed to see the Pope in person last year, she told me that the Pope is already frail and is very old (he will be 86 years old this coming April 16).  I totally understand him, being a Pope is not that easy. My heart goes out to him. I remember on the first day of his papacy, he asked Catholics around the world to pray for him.  Yes, I prayed for him but seldom.  Now I feel guilty because I just realized that if there is someone who needs more prayer, it is the Pope for it is not easy to be the leader of the Catholic Church. There are so many things that I would like to thank the Pope.  I thank him for giving us Filipinos our second saint - St. Pedro Calungsod .  I thank him for showing us on how to live a simple life in accordance to God's holy wil...

Pope Benedict XVI shocked Catholics around the world when he announced on February 11, 2013, Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes that he is resigning as Pope on February 28, 2013. Full text of Pope's declaration Dear Brothers, I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church.  After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.  I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering.   Read more  

Name:  Joseph Aloysius Ratzinger Birthday:  April 16, 1927 Birthplace:  Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany Father:  Joseph Ratzinger, Sr. Mother:  Maria Peintner Siblings:  Older brother Georg and                older sister Maria who died in 1991 Priestly ordination:  June 29, 1951 cc photo by Sergey Gabdurakhmanov on flickr - He obtained his doctorate in Theology with a thesis entitled "People and House of God in St. Augustine's Doctrine of the Church" in 1953. - Appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising in March of 1977 by Pope Paul VI. - Received episcopal ordination on May 28, 1977. - Made Cardinal by Pope Paul VI on June 27, 1977. - Appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and of the International Theological Commission on November 25, 1981 by Pope John Paul II. - Elected Vice-Dean of t...