"The Christianity of history is not Protestantism. If ever there were a safe truth it is this, and Protestantism has ever felt it so; to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant." (-John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine).

"Where the bishop is, there let the people gather; just as where ever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church". -St. Ignatius of Antioch (ca 110 AD)a martyr later thrown to the lions, wrote to a church in Asia Minor. Antioch was also where the term "Christian" was first used.

“But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15

"This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic." -CCC 811

Thursday, May 7, 2020

FACT: THE BIBLE IS A CATHOLIC HOLY BOOK!



Pope Damasus I was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He spoke out against major heresies in the church and encouraged production of the Vulgate Bible with his support for Jerome.

Council of Rome of 382 and the Biblical canon

One of the important works of Pope Damasus was to preside in the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of Sacred Scripture. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, states: A council probably held at Rome in 382 under Damasus gave a complete list of the canonical books of both the Old Testament and the New Testament (also known as the 'Gelasian Decree' because it was reproduced by Gelasius in 495), which is identical with the list given at Trent. American Catholic priest and historian William Jurgens stated: "The first part of this decree has long been known as the Decree of Damasus, and concerns the Holy Spirit and the seven-fold gifts. The second part of the decree is more familiarly known as the opening part of the Gelasian Decree, in regard to the canon of Scripture: De libris recipiendis vel non recipiendis. It is now commonly held that the part of the Gelasian Decree dealing with the accepted canon of Scripture is an authentic work of the Council of Rome of 382 A.D. and that Gelasius edited it again at the end of the fifth century, adding to it the catalog of the rejected books, the apocrypha. It is now almost universally accepted that these parts one and two of the Decree of Damasus are authentic parts of the Acts of the Council of Rome of 382 A.D." (Jurgens, Faith of the Early Fathers)

Jerome, the Vulgate and the Canon

Pope Damasus appointed Jerome as his confidential secretary. Invited to Rome originally to a synod of 382 convened to end the schism of Antioch, he made himself indispensable to the pope, and took a prominent place in his councils. Jerome spent three years (382–385) in Rome in close intercourse with Pope Damasus and the leading Christians. Writing in 409, Jerome remarked, "A great many years ago when I was helping Damasus, bishop of Rome with his ecclesiastical correspondence, and writing his answers to the questions referred to him by the councils of the east and west..."

In order to put an end to the marked divergences in the western texts of that period, Damasus encouraged the highly respected scholar Jerome to revise the available Old Latin versions of the Bible into a more accurate Latin on the basis of the Greek New Testament and the Septuagint, resulting in the Vulgate. According to Protestant biblical scholar, F.F. Bruce, the commissioning of the Vulgate was a key moment in fixing the biblical canon in the West.

Jerome devoted a very brief notice to Damasus in his De Viris Illustribus, written after Damasus' death: "he had a fine talent for making verses and published many brief works in heroic metre. He died in the reign of the emperor Theodosius at the age of almost eighty". Damasus may be the author of the anonymous Carmen contra paganos (song against the pagans).

[Source: Wikipedia]

Saturday, May 2, 2020

CBCP News: Pope names Tagle among top-ranking cardinals

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. RCAM AOC
By Roy Lagarde CBCP News

May 1, 2020

Manila, Philippines

Pope Francis on Friday has elevated Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle to the order of “cardinal bishops”, the highest rank within the College of Cardinals.

Tagle and Cardinal Beniamino Stella are the newest members of the group, joining the ranks of 12 others who are mostly from the Latin rite and three cardinal patriarchs from the Oriental Churches.

The College of Cardinals has three ranks: cardinal deacons, cardinal priests, and cardinal bishops.

Cardinal bishops hold jurisdiction over a church in a suburb of Rome, while working in departments of the Roman Curia, the central administration of the church.

Cardinal deacons, often called “the pope’s cabinet”, are mostly curial officials, while cardinal priests are those working in dioceses all over the world.

It is also from the ranks of cardinal bishops that the Dean of College of Cardinals is elected. The dean presides at the conclave in the case of “sede vacante”, a period when there is no pope.

The dean also represents the Holy See during the sede vacante, and asks the pope-elect if he accepts the role.

There are customarily six cardinal bishops from the Latin Church until Pope Francis broke the tradition and appointed more of them.

The new additions to the group were deemed necessary as one of its members, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, turned 80, the retirement age for cardinals, last February. Six other members had been over the age of 80, making them ineligible to enter a conclave.

The former Manila archbishop left the Philippines in February to assume his post as prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, a powerful Vatican office overseeing the church’s vast mission territories.

Also known as “Propaganda Fidei,” its prefect is also known as the “red pope” because of its considerable power in the Roman Curia and the appointment of bishops in mission lands.

Since his elevation as cardinal, he was also given the church of St. Felix of Cantalice in the Centocelle as his “titular church”.

Cardinal Tagle’s new appointment was made on May 1, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Incidentally, he was appointed to the top Vatican post last Dec. 8, 2019, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

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