7 Quick Takes Friday (set #91)

7 Quick Takes Friday

This week: A tribute to Pope Benedict and his final moments at the Vatican. More on how the papal election, including how some non-Catholic / anti-Catholic folks see it. The security of the papal election. The fundamental option BS, addressed bluntly by Cardinal Arinze. An excellent homily at a funeral Mass. The Dome of Home reopens. We are all certain to perish as we fall off the fiscal cliff, right?

— 1 —

The See of Peter is sede vacante. Life Teen produced this video tribute to Pope (now Emeritus) Benedict XVI:

As our Holy Father left the Vatican for the final time as Pope:

— 2 —

Recently I featured aspect several videos on the papal election process (here and here). Father Z has come across 2 more. First (with some minor errors) is this one – more-or-less serious:

Second, this one reflecting on the media / anti-Catholic view (produced by Lutherans, no less – they actually “get it”):

— 3 —

How secure is the papal election? CNN asked Bruce Schneier to review the process. Bruce is a security expert whom I have followed for years. His conclusion: very secure. He concludes “when an election process is left to develop over the course of a couple of thousand years, you end up with something surprisingly good.” When we learn of the new pope, we can be confident that at least 2/3 of the cardinals voted for him without any “irregularities” effecting the outcome.

— 4 —

My BS antenna goes up whenever I hear the Universalist “everyone is saved” (or nearly everyone) line. I think that it is false and very harmful (see: Is Hell empty?).

Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, was asked to comment on the fundamental option view of mortal sin. In essence, it suggests that it is very difficult (almost impossible) to commit a mortal sin. This hogwash was condemned in 1975 in Persona Humana. Cardinal Arinze does not mince words when asked about it:

Spotted by Father Finigan

Update: Father Z also comments on this video here.

— 5 —

Monsignor Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington gave this excellent homily at a funeral Mass a few years ago.

— 6 —

Near Liverpool, England is the Shrine Church of Ss. Peter, Paul & Philomena (a/k/a The Dome of Home). It was closed in 2008 citing its large size and operating cost. Last March it was reopened in the care of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. This video shows this beautiful church built in 1935:

Spotted by Fr. Z

— 7 —

Question: if someone offered to pay $1 each and every second toward the national debt ($16,500,000,000,000), how long would it take until it is paid-off? Answer: 505 THOUSAND YEARS.

OK, that is a really long time and we must cut back our out-of-control spending. But the congress is driving us over a fiscal cliff by allowing the radical, deep cuts across the board. Necessary services will be crippled by reducing them to a shadow of their current sizes. This is an emergency of the largest proportions. Drastic action is called for. Right??? Right???

That is all you have heard from one party and their public relations apparatus (the media). Yes, you should be outraged but not because there are significant cuts but because there ARE NOT and what little is happening is making them go berserk. This does not give much hope for any actual spending control. The so-called cuts are in the rate of growth only and are small at that. George Mason University produced this graph showing the actual “impact” of the sequester (again, on spending growth):

Impact Of Sequester

Catholic Lane provides the explanation in Meet Mr. and Mrs. Sequester. Read it and learn the truth.


Some random thoughts or bits of information are worthy of sharing but don’t warrant their own full post. This idea was started by Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary to address this blogging need. So, some Fridays I too participate when I have accumulated 7 worthy items. Thank you Jen for hosting this project!


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