A commission of cardinals approved the appointment of Paolo Cipriani as the director general of the Institute for the Works of Religion. Cipriani is currently the vice director general of the institute, sometimes called the Vatican bank. The commission appointing Cipriani was comprised of Cardinals Angelo Sodano, Tarcisio Bertone, Juan Sandoval Íñiguez and Attilio Nicora. [...]

The archbishop of Mexico reiterated the Church’s respect for life from conception till natural death, in response to legislation introduced to legalize passive euthanasia in Mexico’s federal district. Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera confirmed the Church’s opposition to euthanasia in his homily on Sunday. “Euthanasia is one thing,” the cardinal said, “dying well is another.” The [...]

The hermit’s principal ideal, aim, or task is continual prayer (Lk 18:1), that is, constant union with God. There is no fixed time for mental prayer in the eremitic life, unlike other religious institutes, because prayer is to be unceasing, a kind of spiritual equivalent to breathing. How can one enter into this prayer? Blessed [...]

Here is the hundred-word Latin text of this bright gem of eremitical spirituality, recorded about 1006 twenty years before Romuald’s death by Saint Bruno of Querfurt in his Life of the Five Brothers. It was as reported to him by one of those martyrs named John, who, like Bruno, knew Romuald well.
 Et hanc brevem regulam [...]

Romuald, an Italian nobleman, was born around 951 in Ravenna, Italy. When he was twenty, he was shocked to see his father kill a man in a duel. Romuald went to a Benedictine monastery. He wanted to set his own life straight. He also wanted to do penance for his father’s drastic deed. The monastery [...]

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