Priests are People, Too

One of the things people sometimes forget about our priests is that they are normal people just like we are. There's a tendency to hold them in awe and put them on a pedestal which puts them at an unnecessary distance from us.


As an example, on Sunday morning, I bumped into our pastor before Mass. I asked him if he had the Mass. When he said "Yes," I told him I'd try to enjoy it anyway. He laughed and later took advantage of an opportunity to return the favor later.

Priests are people too. Their vocation separates them from us by its nature; we don't need to add to it further. Take time to get to know them as people.

The KGB Campaign Against Pius XII

Why, then, the campaign of defamation, which has reached the point where one overhears tourists in St. Peter's Basilica, spotting the bronze statue of Pius XII erected by his cardinals, whispering, "That's 'Hitler's Pope'"?

Serious scholars have long suspected that the origins of that campaign lie in the anti-Catholic machinations of the KGB, the Soviet intelligence service. Confirmation of that thesis now comes from General Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former Romanian intelligence officer and the highest-ranking Soviet bloc spymaster ever to defect, in an article posted on National Review Online on January 26.

According to General Pacepa, the Soviets, stung by the public relations bludgeoning they had taken because of the persecution of Catholics in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and elsewhere decided to accelerate the anti-Catholic propaganda offensive they had launched toward the end of World War II by depicting the Church as a bulwark of Nazism. Pius XII was the primary target - because, as the KGB liked to say, "Dead men cannot defend themselves."

George Weigel fills us in how the lie of Pope Pius XII being anti-Semitic was really based in a KGB disinformation campaign designed to undermine support for the Catholic Church.

The finding of "Jesus' Tomb"

You may have seen the claim the Hollywood Director James Cameron has found the tomb that Jesus and his family (including Mary Magdalene and their son) are buried in. Catholic blogger Amy Welborn has some common sense arguments why this can't be the case.

Be sure to read this withering account of why historical and geological evidence further undermines this claim.