Magalak ka Mexico at Cuba darating ang kahalili ni San Pedro

MEXICO - Bukas araw ng Biernes sa Mexico, darating ang Kanyang Kabanalan Papa Benito XVI sa Mexico pagkatapos ay tutungo naman siya sa Cuba.

Sa kasalukuyan ang bansang Mexico ay may 108,426,000 na bilang ng tao kung saan may 99,635,000 (91.89 percent) ay mga kaanib ng pangkalahatang Iglesia ni Cristo. Ang Cuba naman ay may 11,242,000, kung saan 6,766,000 (60.19 percent) ay mga kaanib ng Katolikong Iglesia ni Cristo (basahin ang kabuuan ng balita rito).

Bilang paghahanda, ang Mayor ng Leon, Mexico na si Ricardo Sheffield, mayor of Leon ay tumanggap ng pahayagang "exclusive" para i-cover ang buong panahong pagbisita ng Santo Papa.

Mayor ng Leon, Mexico na si Ricardo Sheffield. (Larawan galing sa CNA)

Ang mga mamamayan nito ay handang-handa na at humihingi ng panalanging magiging matagumpay ang kanyang pagbisita.

Sa Cuba naman, bilang paghahanda, pinakawalan ng gobyerno ang may 2,900 na bilanggo buwan bago pa lamang ang pagdalaw ng Santo Papa. Ayon sa Sunday Catholic, malaking tulong ang pagdalaw ng Santo Papa sa mga political prisoners. Ang respetong binibigay ng gobyerno ng Cuba sa Iglesia ay napakalaki't kaya hindi nila mahindian ang panawagan ng Santo Papa na bigyan ng hustisya ang mga nakakulong na mga bilanggo.

Ang bansang Cuba ay isa sa mga natitirang mga bansang Komunista.

Ipagdasal natin na maging matagumpay ang pagbisita ng kahalili ni San Pedro sa lupa-- si Papa Benito XVI.

Nakikidalamhati ang buong Iglesia ni Cristo sa pagkamatay ni Pope Shenouda III

Kamakailan po ay namatay po ang lider ng Coptic Church ng Egypt.  Si Pope Shenouda III ay namayapa na po at ang buong sambayanang Kristiano sa pangunguna ni Papa Benito XVI ay nakikidalamhati sa lahat mga Coptic Christians sa bansang Egypt.

Nawa'y makitaan siya ng Panginoon ng habag at makapiling ang Panginoon habang-panahon. Amen.

Sumalangit nawa ang kaluluwa ng butihing Pope Shenouda III

Maronite Patriarch ng Iglesia ni Cristo sa Lebanon dumalaw sa Qatar

Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi (Source: DailyStar Lebanon)

Bumisita kahapon ang kanyang kabunyian Maronite Patriarch Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi sa Estado ng Qatar, isang Muslim na bansa.

Sa kanyang pakikipagpulong sa pinakamataas na pinuno ng Qatar na si Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, nagpasalamat ang butihin Patriarka sa Estado ng Qatar dahil sa kanilang puspusang pagtatangkilik sa kapayapaan sa buong Gulf State.

Nakipagpulong din ang butihin Patiyarka kay Prime Minister at Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani.

“There are almost 70,000 Lebanese in Doha, and we thank the state of Qatar for welcoming them and allowing them to live in dignity,” sa kanyang homilya sa Misa na ginanap sa Church of Our Lady of Rosary sa Doha, Qatar.

Ang butihing Patriarka ay nauna nang nakipagpulong kay Haring Abdullah ng Jordan noong nakaraang araw ng Linggo. Pinuri niya ang dakilang hari sa kanyang pagtatalaga ng kapayapaan sa kanyang kaharian. Isa si Haring Abdullah sa mga hinahangahang hari sa buong Middle East.

Ituloy ang pagbabasa rito...

Annuario Pontificio 2011: Dumami pa ang kaanib ng Iglesia ni Cristo

Dumarami pa po ang umaanib sa tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo ayon sa isinumiteng Catholic Annual Book kay Papa Benito XVI. Ang kabuuang bilang ng mga kaanib ngayon ay 1.196 Bilyon-- 17.5% ng kabuuang populasyon ng buong mundo.

Narito ang balita hango sa News.va

VATICAN CITY - News.va: Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday was presented the 2012 Annuario Pontificio, which is the annual yearbook of the Catholic Church.

The presentation was made by the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and the Substitute for General Affairs to the Secretary of State, Archbishop Angelo Becciu.

They were accompanied by Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, director of the Central Office of Church Statistics, Professor Enrico Nenna and other collaborators.

The men also presented the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae to the Pope, who expressed his gratitude to all of those who worked on the two books.

The editions give a snapshot of the Church in 2011. For example, in the last year, the Pope erected eight Episcopal Sees, one Personal Ordinariate, and one Military Ordinariate.

The statistical data is from the year 2010.

It shows just under 1.196 billion Catholics in the world, compared to 1.181 billion in 2009. The Catholic proportion of the world population has stayed fairly stable, at 17.5%.

From 2009 to 2010, the number of bishops in the world increased from 5,065 to 5,104.

The growth trend in the number of priests, which began in 2000, continued in 2010. There are now 412,236 priests (277,009 diocesan, 135,227 religious), an increase of 1,643.

The number of permanent deacons increased from 38,155 to 39,564, with over 97% of them in North America and Europe.

Globally, the number of professed religious from 2009 to 2010 rose from 729,371 to 721,935.

The number of students of philosophy and theology in diocesan and religious seminaries has steadily increased (4%) over the last five years. There were 114,439 seminarians in 2005 and 118,990 in 2010.

Narito naman ang Istatistika mula sa CIA

Bagong Kaanib ng Iglesia ni Cristo nag-umpisang mag-blog

The Holy Eucharist

Siya si DAVE WILLS, isang bagong convert.

Dahil sa kanyang matinding kagalakan, ibinabahagi niya sa atin ngayon ang dahilan kung bakit siya'y umanib sa tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo:

Why I Converted – Part 7: The Beautiful Collision

By Dave

This is part 7 of a 10 part series of posts I will be writing to kick off this blog. A lot of people ask me why I converted to Catholicism and I’ve never been able to give anyone a full answer due to the sheer depth of it. This is my attempt to lay it all out there. To answer the question of my conversion, I will be leaning heavily on the work of Father Robert Barron and the structure of his PBS series entitled “Catholicism.” I do this because 1) he articulates the faith way better than I will ever be able – I will only offer my feeble take on his brilliant presentation; and 2) it is precisely his teachings that articulate what I knew to be true in my heart when I made the jump almost three years ago. So now, part 7: The Beautiful Collision.

A few months ago, as I was preparing to plan a talk for the youth group I have the pleasure of mentoring, I came across a video (which you can see at the bottom of this post) titled “Holy Mass – A Beautiful Collision.” Besides providing the namesake for this blog, this video moved me in a profound way. Filled with images of the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, as well as thought-provoking quotes from some of the giants of our faith, all set to David Crowder singing “A Beautiful Collision,” this video speaks powerfully of the collision of heaven and earth that takes place during the Holy Mass. In the chorus, we hear Crowder’s unique voice singing these words:

“Here it comes, a beautiful collision is happening now.

There seems no end to where You begin

And there I am now, You and I collide.”

THAT is what takes place at a Catholic Mass. Does it only happen at a Catholic Mass? No, of course not, but we believe it happens every time we enter a church to celebrate the Liturgy. We believe that the Mass, particularly the Eucharist, is the place where heaven and earth crash into each other in the most tangible way. It might do me well to say clearly here that there is no other reason for me converting to Catholicism that is as important as the Mass. Its mystery drew me in, its complexity led me to explore its depths, and its beauty has filled my heart with a love that cannot be contained. It is, as they say, the source and summit of my faith... ituloy ang pagbabasa rito...

Buong Iglesia nakikiisa sa mga Kristiano sa Holy Land

Larawan mula sa Fr. David Blog

Vatican City - Ang Iglesia ni Cristo sa buong mundo ay nakikiisa sa mga layunin ng mga Kristiano sa Jerusalem, Israel, Palestine at mga karatig-bansa ayon kay Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation of the Oriental Churches.

Ayon sa kanyang liham, sinabi ng butihing cardinal na ang pag-ibig ng Dios ay dapat na maipadamang muli sa Holy Land kung saan ang Dios ay nagkatawang-Tao at nakipamuhay sa atin (Juan 1) at gumawa ng maraming kababalaghan at gumawa ng kabutihan, at nagpakasakit sa Banal na Bansa upang ialay ang Kanyang Sarili sa marami.

Ang nasabing liham ay may lagda rin ni Archbishop Cyril Vasil, SJ, Secretary of the Congregation na maibatid sa buong Iglesia Katolika sa pamamagitan ng kanilang mga obispo ang tungkol sa kahalagahan ng Holy Land sa buhay ng bawat mananampalatayang Kristiano.

Ayon sa nasabing liham (sa Ingles):

"This year, Good Friday seems more fitting than ever as a sign of the needs of both pastors and faithful, which are bound up with the sufferings of the entire Middle East. For the disciples of Christ, hostility is often the daily bread which nourishes the faith and sometimes makes the echo of martyrdom. Christian emigration is exacerbated by the lack of peace, which tends to impoverish hope, changing it into the fear of facing alone a future that seems to exist only in the abandonment of one’s own country.

"Nonetheless, as was the case for the Gospel’s grain of wheat, so the trials of Christians in the Holy Land prepare without doubt a brighter tomorrow. The dawning of this new day, however, requires support now for schools, medical assistance, critical housing, meeting places, and everything else that the generosity of the Church has devised".

"We have the duty to restore the spiritual patrimony which we have received from these Christians’ two millennia of fidelity to the truth of the faith. We can and must do this by our prayer, by concrete assistance, and by pilgrimages. The Year of Faith, which marks the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican Council II, will provide particular motivation for us to direct our steps towards that Land. ... Next Good Friday, around the Cross of Christ, let us be conscious of being together with these brothers and sisters of ours. May the loneliness that is at times strongly felt in their situation be overcome by our fraternity".

Ituloy ang pagbabasa rito...