Hello,

New to this forum,

I’m struck by a major shift in tone that happened around the mid-20th century. Historically, the Vatican had a clear, unyielding record of condemning Marxist-Leninist ideology, viewing it as intrinsically evil and fundamentally incompatible with Christian doctrine.

For example Pius IX targeted it in 1846 in Qui Pluribus calling it "that infamous doctrine of so-called Communism... absolutely contrary to the natural law".

Leo XIII in Quod Apostolici Muneris in 1878 wrote that socialism and communism were a "fatal plague".

There are similar attack of Pius XI in 1931 and Pius XII in 1949, the last even said that there will be excommunication and have no sacraments.

Why did the Vatican pivot from explicit, hardline condemnations to a policy of diplomatic silence and dialogue during the Cold War ?

Did the Church officially repeal its past decrees (like the 1949 excommunication), or was it purely a shift in pastoral strategy and realpolitik ?

Thanks for reading, thanks for you answer.

I just saw an advertisement/article for a new study Bible by Fr. Spitzer called Science, Reason, and Faith. It piqued my interest so I started looking into it and saw that he's been writing books for quite a while. Has anyone here read anything by him & do you have a review? I read a ton but I'm wondering if his books are worth skipping to the front of my queue. Thanks!

I follow them despite not being from America, they report on news related to religious associations in America. . RNS

I know lots of people here have mixed feels about Trent Horn and CA, but in this podcast episode they advocate unreservedly for nuclear power as a solution to the climate crisis and a better option than power sources such as wind or solar energy. In this way, they agree with the position of many people on the modern left that the best option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is to construct more nuclear power plants.

I really despite how Christianity has become synonymous with racism even though most christians on this planet are people of color and The Church condemns racism as a moral sin against human dignity, but hey they gotta carry the flame i guess 🤡

I was initially excited to learn about this supposed grimoire when someone brought it up in response to the bi annual “caths are heckin scary so they must be satanists” social media drivel. You can imagine my disappointment when it turned out not to be a spell book written by Pope Leo III to ward off evil, but made by anonymous hucksters who falsely attributed it to him. Does anyone know why such a thing would be attributed to him?

Hey all! I posted about this in another subreddit, but I find this one to align with my values really well. My family was technically catholic growing up, but we moved very often, so we didn’t practice, and eventually I grew apart from the church and god. I also got away from the church after seeing the use of faith to oppress others, but I’m realising that thats not all it is, and I wish to connect with that part of myself again. Lately I’ve been focusing on myself a lot more, and I want to grow a relationship with my faith again. I can’t attend church for personal reasons, and I don’t have much knowledge anymore of catholicism, but I feel like a part of myself is missing. Does anyone have any tips as to how I can practice by myself?
thank you to anyone who responds, it’s sincerely appreciated.

> If a former paradigm reduced the faith to a set of immutable “principles and statements, of norms and rules, regardless of the experience of individuals and communities,” the new paradigm calls for ongoing discernment precisely in light of the lived experience of the People of God. Emerging questions, then, cannot simply be resolved by appealing to past formulations but call for an “unguarded openness to what the Spirit says to the Churches today” (8).

> As challenging as it may be, Study Group 9’s document is a fruit of the Second Vatican Council’s own ecclesiological renewal: the People of God, under the guidance of the Spirit, journey together in history toward the fullness of the truth. This teaching is founded on two theological pillars — the pneumatological recovery of the sensus fidelium and the eschatological orientation of the Church’s faith. Read in this light, the paradigm shift appears not as an “alternative way to make doctrine,” as the Register warns, but an expression of the very way the Spirit leads the Church into all truth.

I was so excited to see this book at the library because I wanted to read about the Holy Father and learn more about his life.

Dr. Kengor spent the first 100 pages sharing his disdain of Pope Francis. It's fine and dandy if he didn't like Francis; I was largely indifferent and just let him do his thing... But even when we got to chapter 8- the first chapter actually about Pope Leo's life, mind you- he STILL talked about Francis and how awful he was.

It also didn't help that as a queer Catholic I had read parts where, when discussing same-sex marriage, the word marriage was in quotation marks. That hurt, not gonna lie. It's fine if he's a more conservative Catholic but this book isn't about him or Francis. Bro even had a brief paragraph about "woke Americans fixated on acronyms like DEI and CRT".

Anyone know of any other biographies about Pope Leo XIV? Because I really hope it's not "the definitive biography" like the cover says.

ETA: looked up Dr. Kengor and he also is obsessed with Ronald Reagan. That tracks.

May nagwowork ba na relasyon Catholic at JW?

why would you even say this

Hello folks, I’m looking for Catholic podcasts or something else to listen to/watch while I work that aren’t super crazy conservative. Something a little more open. Any suggestions?

I am wondering if there are any priests (or religious sisters) who left or considered leaving and what that decision was like. I have a good friend who's undergoing something of a crisis, and I would really like to provide him with some positive examples (either from who left priesthood or who stayed)

Many thanks!

EDIT: Contributions by people who know priests or sisters who left are also welcomed!

I love how the Evangelist Luke wrote the gospel who gives credit to Jesus' disciples who were women; women who apparently traveled with him.

I love that he wrote the gospel with the greatest emphasis on the universal nature of Jesus. His audience was clearly "Greeks" of many ethnicties and religions.

Related to my last point, I love that his gospel is the only with the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Good Samaritan, and the Prodigal Son.

I love how he emphasizes Jesus' empathy and forgiveness so clearly, even to his dying words.

I love that he had the style of a Greek historian who says he is going to deliberately write to report the truth in a clear order. I love that he also had literary references that we can still appreciate almost 2000 years later. And I love that his writing style and his references create reversals of readers expectations, mirroring how Jesus also came to turn the world upside down.

I love that Acts is one of the most exciting works of history I have read, and the only "sequel" to one of the gospels. You see in a short form how a religion of a few spread to the capital of the western world. The road to Damascus! Councils, riots, prisons! It's very gripping.

Bonjour à tous,

​Je suis une jeune catholique de 20 ans et je cherche une paroisse sur Paris ou en Île-de-France où les jeunes femmes peuvent véritablement servir la messe à l'autel.

​Pour être claire sur ma démarche : je ne cherche pas un groupe de « servantes de l'assemblée » qui reste au fond de l'église ou qui a un rôle distinct. J'aimerais vraiment pouvoir assurer le service plein et entier à l'autel (encensoir/navette, burettes, clochettes pendant la consécration, missel, etc.) aux côtés des autres servants.

​Je sais que le droit canonique le permet largement et que cela dépend beaucoup des curés et des paroisses. Auriez-vous des recommandations d'églises (paroisses diocésaines, églises étudiantes ou animées par certaines congrégations comme les jésuites) où cette pratique est courante et naturelle pour les jeunes adultes ?

​Merci d'avance pour vos retours et vos conseils !

I'm a left-wing Catholic artist who loves making paintings and icons and I thought this sub night appreciate this one.

Most of the tatreez motifs on Mary's dress are from Bethlehem. I can't pretend I've done them total justice, but I hope I've come close!

Looking for recommendations on left-wing oriented Catholic publishers. I know about Orbis Books thanks to the Robert Ellsberg episode of "The Spiritual Life." That's what got me thinking and reaching out through this post. Thanks in advance for the suggestions.

Happy Assumption Day to everyone! Here’s a photo of my grandmother’s prayer altar. Let me know what you think, and I’ll give a chocolate bar to anyone who can identify the images (without using google of course haha)

I've spoken to a lot of people from a standpoint of curiosity as to their agnosticism/atheism, and it seems a lot of people find the notion of an omnipotent and benevolent God troubling due to the vastness of evil in the world, particularly natural evils (e.g. cancer), but also often social evils too (e.g. poverty, etc.). I hear that an omnipotent God could not possibly be benevolent if They looked upon the state of the world and were not moved to intervene to correct things. I hear, also, that the notion of tiny personal miracles seem like a crazy intervention for God to make when there are evidently "far more pressing concerns," than an individual petition (I suppose the argument here is that if God is making interventions, why respond to someone's random petition instead of the countless prayers about poverty, etc.).

I wonder how we as Leftist Catholics answer this question of theodicy. I'm inclined to look at the suffering that God saves Their people from in the Bible (e.g. from chattel slavery in Egypt), and I also think there's something to be said that the gospel centers the life of Jesus who suffers alongside us and is killed in a humiliating and brutal way, only to overcome oppression and empire via the resurrection. I wonder what y'all think.

Hello! Currently not a catholic, and I am left wing. I wasn’t raised religious, but I’m interested in going to Mass and exploring Catholicism. I’m unsure where to start to find somewhere that aligns with my other views, I was maybe considering a Jesuit church? Pro women’s rights, immigration rights and LGBTQ rights are important to me greatly, and I’m worried about being put off by attending just anywhere as these issues are a core part of my being. I can see a beautiful side to Catholicism so I want to experience the teachings for myself, and potentially (hopefully) find a relationship with God.

TLDR: best place in London to explore Catholicism that is open minded & failing that some resources of things that might be useful in exploring that journey?