A German bishop says the Church should revoke the revised Good Friday prayer for the Jews introduced when use of the 1962 Missal was widened. Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff of Aachen said he could not “understand or implement” the revised version. Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificam allowed for wider use of the 1962 Read more
The Cross is the great paradox of Christianity. More than a few people have asked me over the years why the Catholic Church focuses so prominently and persistently on the Crucifix. One inquirer even suggested that the Crucifix hanging above the Altar is too intense a reminder of the sorrow in the world and that Read more
The papal preacher has warned against a “god of money” who creates an alternative spiritual universe where virtues are turned upside down. Fr Raniero Cantalamessa was preaching at a Good Friday service presided over by Pope Francis at St Peter’s Basilica. In such an alternative universe, faith, hope and love do not come from God Read more
For the second year in a row, Cuba’s communist government has declared Good Friday a national holiday. The gesture came days after President Raul Castro welcomed the appointment of Pope Francis as the first-ever Latin American pontiff. Last year the Cuban government observed a holiday on Good Friday as an “exceptional” gesture following a request Read more
Catholics from China admit feeling embarrassed when they see a crucifix. Beyond the image of a tortured man suffering execution, the crucifixion depicts total humiliation, or “loss of face” as the Chinese say. To them, this seems harsher than the physical pain. The trouble with the crucifix is we no longer see it, but rather Read more
Holy Week and Easter has just been observed right around the world. The Atlantic has posted a picture gallery of 38 images depicting the different ways Easter has been observed. “Families attended church services, hooded penitents took part in processions, and children hunted for Easter eggs. In Catholic passion plays, participants depicted Jesus’ trial and Read more
Gruesome re-enactments of Jesus’ crucifixion are an increasing Good Friday tourism drawcard in the Philippines. “There are few places on earth where religious fervor is matched in such graphic shows of penitence and resolve to do better”, Asian Pearl Vision, a small luxury travel designer in the Philippines writes on its website. In an article “Crucifixion in Read more
As bells rang throughout Havana, Cuba, on Good Friday, only around 100 attended the city’s main cathedral where Cardinal Jamie Ortega presided at the ceremony. Authorities also allowed Cardinal Jamie Ortega to transmit the Good Friday service on State Television. It is the first time in 50 years Cubans were granted a public holiday on Read more
This year the New Zealand Department of Labour inspected 64 shops nationwide over Good Friday and Easter Sunday, 41 of which were open and now face possible prosecution. This was more 2 than the number of shops prosecuted for opening at Easter last year and three more than 2010. Under the Shop Trading Hours Act Read more
Cuba has responded to Pope Benedict’s visit by announcing that this coming Good Friday will become a ‘one-time’ national holiday. Minutes before Benedict departed from Cuba on March 28, President Raul Castro told the Pope of his desire to declare Friday, April 6 a holiday “as an exception, and in consideration to His Holiness and Read more