GREAT HOME OF CHRIST FAMILY – Seventeen Years Among the Most Disadvantaged

A grand celebration marked the seventeenth anniversary of the ‘Great Home of Christ Family’ in Buenos Aires, an institution founded when Jorge Mario Bergoglio was Archbishop of the city. This happened in 2008, at a time when the presence of priests in the poorest neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, the so-called Villas Miseria, had already been spreading for some time. Known as curas villeros, these clergymen actively participate in the lives of the poorest, caring first-hand for the great needs they face and sharing this commitment with others, thus becoming the center of communities that were born and multiplied.

KEEPER OF THE KEYS (7) – First Three Successors: Linus, Cletus, Clement

In the Communicantes of the First Eucharistic Prayer (Roman Canon), the names of some popes are mentioned: Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus and Cornelius. Linus, Cletus and Clement are the immediate successors of Saint Peter and were ordained bishops by Peter himself. Some scholars suggest that ‘Sixtus’ refers to Sixtus II (257-258) and Cornelius was pope from 251 to 253. 

JOURNEYING TOGETHER WITH FAITH AND HOPE – Sins Against Hope (6)

Sin is moral evil, a bad human act, a failure in human self-realization, undue attachment to things and consequent detachment from God. Sins may rule our life and make us like slaves (Rom 3:9; 7:14). Indeed, “Everyone who commits a sin is a slave of sin” (Jn 8:34). Sin, grave sin is bad use of freedom. St. Augustine tells us in his Confessions that when he was in sin – when as a young man lived a loose life – , he had “the freedom of a run-away slave.” Sin is a betrayal of love that disrupts our relationship with God, with ourselves, with others and with nature (Vatican II, GS 13). From the sin of Adam and Eve, sin presents itself as promise, but it is no more than an illusion and a lie (A. Peteiro). 

THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA – The Third Part of the Secret of Fatima‌

Twenty-five years ago, the “third secret” was released on the sanctuary of Fátima and reached the whole world. The first and second parts were already known: the dreadful vision of hell, the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the foreshadowing of the Second World War and the immense damage that Communist Russia would do to humanity. At the time, in 1917, no one could imagine all this, nor did the three little shepherds of Fátima understand the details of the message.