Updated January 6, 2001 5:00 pm PST
We recommend refreshing periodically to update the latest breaking news today
 
With new document and expected announcement of a Consistory, are surprises in store this weekend as the Holy Father brings the Jubilee Year to an official close?
This could be an eventful weekend with Pope John Paul II issuing his closing statement in the form of the Papal Document "Novo millennio ineunte" today while tomorrow His Holiness is expected to announce the cardinals-elect for the upcoming Consistory that many believe will be on February 22nd this year. There are presently 97 eligible members of the Sacred Conclave. Two cardinals will reach the mandatory 80 years-old limit within a month which will make the count 25 less than the Vatican limit of 120 voters in the College of Cardinals. Because of this the Holy Father is expected to name at least 25 with three United States Archbishops the front runners. For more see, Close of the Jubilee Year
 
If we don't obey, then we cannot love. It's as simple as that!
Just as God imparted to Moses, as Jesus taught and as the Popes have constantly conveyed, especially Pope Paul VI in "Humanae Vitae" and Pope John Paul II in his numerous documents, specifically his masterful encyclical "Evangelium Vitae", we are constantly given the challenge to love and obey. To love God first and foremost and to love our neighbor as ourselves. To do this, we must obey God and His Holy Church. If we do not obey, then we do not love. It's as simple as that. This is the essence of today's eleventh lesson The Charism begins with the Challenge to Love and Obey. This sensitive and enlightening series is co-written by Michael and Cyndi Cain, who share what the Holy Spirit has inspired them to write including intimate, chasteful revelations of their own lives that have helped elevate their Conjugal Love. The entire concept unlocks the keys to reestablishing the Sanctity of Life through the Charism of Conjugal Love and, through one couple at a time, like a ripple that extends ever outward, we can change the world and eradicate the culture of death. This series will run in each Saturday issue. For the eleventh lesson, see AT ONE WITH GOD series on Conjugal Love
  
Pope's doctor confirms the obvious: Bill Clinton's insincerity is obvious!
Why does it not surprise us that, when in the presence of the Pope in a private audience, Bill Clinton didn't listen to what the Holy Father had to say? Maybe because this outgoing president's actions have consistently betrayed his total insincerity, which even Pope John Paul II lamented when trying to reach out to the leader of the world's most powerful nation. Clinton was the only one, out of all the leaders of the world, who didn't show the proper protocol and decorum in his audiences with the Pope according to His Holiness' Surgeon who brought this to light in reflecting on discussions he had with the Vicar of Christ over the years. But then, why would we suspect Clinton or his wife to act any differently? Remember it was Bill and Hillary who blatantly received Holy Communion in South Africa even though they knew it was wrong! While the South African bishop and priests were afraid to say anything, His Eminence the late Cardinal John J. O'Connor wasn't afraid to speak out. For more, see News from the Holy See
ALSO:
 
Bush ready to push Pro Life agenda with ban on Embryo Research by Government
Seeking to undo the damage done by eight years of the Clinton administration, President-elect George W. Bush's Press Secretary affirmed that Bush intends to block the National Institutes of Health from further research into human embryos that Clinton promoted. For more, see USA News
ALSO:
Franciscan Community in Indonesia sabotaged by imposter
A suspected member of the National Defence Forces was found
to have infiltrated the Karmat Franciscan community in
Central Java. On December 31, Jakarta police detained a man
thought to be involved in the Christmas Eve bomb explosion
in Jakarta Cathedral. For more see, Universal News
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Feast of Blessed Andre Bessette, Lay Brother extraordinaire
Today we celebrate the Feast of Blessed Andre Bessette, the incredibly humble and industrious Holy Cross lay brother who built the beautiful Oratory of St. Joseph in Montreal. Credited with countless cures, Canadian-born Brother Andre became an orphan at the age of 12 when his parents died. He helped care for his brothers and sisters by working in mills and farms in New England before returning to Montreal in 1870. At the age of 25 he joined the Holy Cross Order as a Lay Brother. Never educated and of poor
health, Andre did not let that deter him from fulfilling God's Will in the simplest of ways. For more see, Daily LITURGY
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White vestments
Saturday January 6:
Feast of Blessed Andre Bessette
Religious Holy Cross Lay Brother
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First Reading: 1 John 5: 5-13
Psalms: Psalm 100: 1-5
Gospel Reading: Mark 1: 7-11
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 Opening Prayer for Today's Mass honoring Blessed Andre Bessette
Lord our God, Friend of the lowly, You gave Your servant, Brother Andre, a great devotion to St. Joseph and a special commitment to the poor and afflicted. Through his intercession help us to follow his example of prayer and love and so come to share with him in Your glory.
Mark 1: 10-11
"And immediately on coming up from the water He saw the Heavens opened and the Spirit, as a dove, descending and remaining upon Him. And there came a voice from the Heavens, 'Thou art My Beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.'"
 
Anniversary of the Birth of St. Joan of Arc
Today is the 589th anniversary of the birth of Saint Joan of Arc, She would go on to fight for her homeland and her faith and die for it, being burned at the stake on the false charges of heresy and witchcraft and canonized by is handed over to the court of Bishop Pierre Cauchon and charged with heresy and witchcraft because of her mystical visions she received from God. Five months later, on May 30th she would be burned at the stake and not absolved until Pope Callistus III would find her innocent in 1456 and nearly five centuries later Pope Benedict XV would canonize her in 1920 For other Time Capsule events that happened Today in Church history, see Daily TIME CAPSULES in Church History
Reaching the masses has turned into a mess
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the words of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind, one of the ways this late luminary did so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN".
"Our complex modern society is directed to the creation of mass entertainment rather than individual pleasure. Movies, television, advertising are geared to the masses, and generally to their lowest common denominator. Their aim is to satisfy what all have in common, rather than what they have individually."
Monthly Medjugorje Message for December 2000
NOTE: We respectfully recognize and accept the final authority regarding apparitions, locutions and prophecies presently being reported around the world rests with the Holy See of Rome and the Magisterium of Holy Mother Church to whose judjment we humbly and obediently submit.
For more Our Lady's Christmas message for December and more on Medjugorje, see MEDJUGORJE AND MORE
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January 6, 2001 volume 12, no. 6
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