Cardinal Raymond Burke wrote a statement on April 29th urging all Catholics to pray the ongoing Novena with him until May 5th.
"Given the gravity of the situation," he encourages a second novena to begin immediately on May 5 and continue until the next Pope is elected.
Cardinal Burke: "I thank all those who have prayed the novena prayer or who will begin to pray it now."
The conclave begins on May 7.
The prayer recommended by Cardinal Burke is as follows
2025 Conclave - Novena Prayer
I kneel before you, O Virgin Mother of God, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the compassionate mother of all who love you, cry to you, seek you, and trust in you. I plead for the Church at a time of great trial and danger for her. As you came to the rescue of the Church at Tepeyac in 1531, please intercede for the Sacred College of Cardinals gathered in Rome to elect the Successor of Saint Peter, Vicar of Christ, Shepherd of the Universal Church.
At this tumultuous time for the Church and for the world, plead with your Divine Son that the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, His Mystical Body, will humbly obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Through your intercession, may they choose the most worthy man to be Christ’s Vicar on earth. With you, I place all my trust in Him Who alone is our help and salvation. Amen.
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who trust in Thee, have mercy upon us!
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Virgin Mother of God and Mother of Divine Grace, pray for us!
Sydney Johnston grew up in a nondenominational Christian household — but now the Upper West Side millennial is a devout Catholic.
“There’s just something so beautiful and transcendent about the rituals and the ancient history in the Catholic Mass that’s been preserved,” Johnston, 30, told The Post. “The church really communicates a degree of reverence that I didn’t find in the more liberal, laissez-faire approach of nondenominational churches.”
Confirmed in December 2024 at the Church of Notre Dame in Morningside Heights, Johnston is one of a growing number of young people turning to the Catholic Church from other denominations, religions and even no faith at all.
Sydney Johnston became a Catholic after exploring dozens of Christian denominations. Emmy Park for NY Post.
According to the National Catholic Register, some dioceses are reporting year-over-year increases of 30% to 70% in new converts. The Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, for instance, experienced a 72% jump in converts just from 2023 to 2024.
The Post spoke to several young new Catholics who cite the pandemic, the internet and a distaste for “lax” Protestant alternatives as reasons for turning to the faith.
… quomodo crescunt: non laborant nec nent. Dico autem vobis, quod etiam Salomon in omni gloria sua non est vestitus ut unus ex his. Si autem Deus sic vestit gramen agri, quod hodie est et cras mittitur in fornace, multo magis vestiet vos." - Matthew 6, 28-30
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has today ruled that individuals who identify as transgender women should not be legally defined as women.
Handing down the court’s judgement addressing whether sex-based protections should only apply to people who were born female, Lord Hodge said that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act referred to biological sex and not to acquired gender, reports the Daily Telegraph.
“The unanimous decision of this court is that the definition of the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex,” the judge told the court.
“But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not.
“The Equality Act 2010 gives transgender people protection not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in their acquired gender..”
(LifeSiteNews) — The value of the concept of mystery differs in literature and theology. In the world of literature it means something hidden (“mysterious”) which must be revealed at some point, at least at the end of the plot. In theology, however, Mystérion designates God and divine things: the Mystery of Christ, true God and true man; His Incarnation and His Mysteries: His Life, Passion, Death, and Resurrection. These are supernatural realities which exceed the light of reason; they can only be known if God reveals them. The Church as the Mystical Body of Christ is a Mystery.
The main purpose of the Church’s existence is fulfilled when and because she speaks of God and leads men towards heaven. From this perspective it refers to everything human knowledge can embrace, as well as the events of history. At the center of the Mystery of the Church is the Sacramentum of the Most Holy Eucharist, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, according to the command of the Lord Himself: “Do this in memory of me.”
The Church concerns herself with secular matters, but the attention of the world often ignores the Mystery. She improves her standing in the world to the extent that she becomes more worldly and in effect consents to the abolition of the Mystery. She can come to play a kind of “global leadership” – not her, actually, but the Vatican or the pontiff of the day. Does it help the Mystery when the Pontiff appears in St. Peter’s Basilica without his white cassock, in a shirt, and covered with a poncho? Did he make the decision to do this? Was the decision made for him?
The Church comprises communities scattered throughout the world in which the faithful worship and contemplate the divine mysteries. In her history she has often been persecuted, and the blood of the martyrs has been and still is “the seed of new Christians.” But there are persecutions that are not exactly bloody but nevertheless test the faith and patience of Christians. In an un-Christianized culture the Church is a beacon of light, and the life of the faithful tends to spread, thus creating a new Christian culture. The value of hope shines forth in this perspective of the future, which is not an expectation that things will get better, but rather a trust in God’s strength which grows to the extent that prayer intensifies.
Peace has been an aspiration for the Church ever since the Lord said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give it to you as the world gives” (Jn. 14:27). It is also true that the Church has not been entirely faithful to this saying at times in her long history. But in a Christian culture the gift of peace shines splendidly. The great Pope Pius XI had as the motto of his purposes “the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ.” Papa Ratti was the author of the encyclical Quas primas that proclaimed the Kingship of Jesus – and will become 100 years old in December.
But under the “global leadership” of Francis, it seems that “the peace of the world in the kingdom of the world” is sought instead. There is a lot of talk about man and his rights, which would be rightly safeguarded if they were placed in the primacy of God, Creator and Redeemer. Discourse about God has always been prominent in the Tradition of the Church.
Héctor Aguer Archbishop Emeritus of La Plata Buenos Aires, Saturday, April 12, 2025
Conclave to Choose New Pope Will Start May 7, Vatican Says
About 130 cardinals will be able to vote on a successor for Francis, and a two-thirds majority is needed to elect the new head of the Roman Catholic Church.
Black smoke rising from the Sistine Chapel in 2013 after cardinals failed to reach consensus on a new pope. Credit...Vincenzo Pintovincenzo Pinto/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A conclave to elect the next pope will start on May 7, the Vatican said on Monday, setting up a key moment that will help decide the future of the Roman Catholic Church after the death of Pope Francis last week at the age of 88.
The vote will help decide the direction of the church, with some contenders seen as likely to build on Francis’ pastoral approach and others representing a return to a more traditional style.
Scores of cardinals have been gathering since the pope’s death to decide on logistical details about the pope’s mourning, to discuss major issues facing the church and to pick a date when cardinal-electors will meet in the Sistine Chapel to vote for Francis’ successor.
Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote in the secret ballot. Out of the 252 current cardinals, most appointed by Francis, about 130 can vote. A two-thirds majority is needed to elect a new pope, and cardinals are not allowed to leave the conclave until a successor is named, except in rare cases.
A spiritual awakening is stirring among young people in the West, according to a steady stream of survey data.
In February, the Pew Research Center released a report showing that the decade-long decline in Americans identifying as Christian has leveled off. But new studies show that the downward trend is now in full reverse, with the engine driving the change occurring among Generation Z and millennials.
On Monday, Barna Group released data showing that “66% of all U.S. adults say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life today,” marking “a 12-percentage-point increase since 2021.” The report went on to note that the rise in faith is being particularly driven by those in their 20s and 30s—Gen Z and millennials. “Since the pandemic … Millennials and Gen Z have shown significant increases in commitment to Jesus, while Boomers and Gen X (especially women in these older cohorts) have remained mostly flat in their commitment levels to Jesus,” the group observed
Card. Burke: "Prophétis meis"
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Non relíquit hóminem nocére eis: et corrípuit pro eis reges.
Nolíte tángere christos meos: et in prophétis meis nolíte malignári.
-- Sanctae Mariae in Sabbat...
S. Bernardini Senensis Confessoris ~ Semiduplex
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*Scriptura: Feria Tertia infra Hebdomadam IV post Octavam Paschæ*
Tues, 5/20/25:
Today is the feast of St. Bernardine of Siena, C, under the 1954
(semi-...
