Those were some of the extraordinary words of Bishop David Zubik at an extraordinary “Service of Apology” held earlier this Holy Week in St. Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh for anyone hurt or abused by the church. This is not out of character for Zubik. Pennsylvania’s own Rocco Palmo has been blogging about Zubik since he returned to Pittsburgh…

Fr. Jim Martin poses that question at the America blog in light of the painting below. He writes: The answer is in the look on St. Peter’s face, in this my favorite painting, by Ford Madox Brown of the scene from the Gospels that is remembered on Holy Thursday.  Peter wants nothing to do with this.  It…

Reports have circulated for the past couple of weeks that the Vatican has rejected three would-be ambassadors to the Holy See put forth by the Obama Administration. It apparently started with an April 2 NewsMax report that cited Massimo Franco, author of “Parallel Empires,” a recently published book on U.S.-Vatican relations, as the source of the…

Today is Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, as it is popularly know, though that descriptor seems as odd as “Good Friday.” Maundy actually comes from the Latin word mandatum, which refers to Jesus’ words to the Apostles as he washes their feet: “Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos” (“A new commandment I give…

More from Beliefnet and our partners
More from Beliefnet and our partners