In case y’all haven’t heard, B16 is writing his first encyclical.
Actually, he’s been writing it for some time (as one could guess), but he’s reportedly using his current vacation to work more on it. Maybe it’ll be finished by the time he gets back. (One can hope, anyway.)
It’s usually only a few months after a pope takes office that his first encyclical comes out, and it’s usually a sketch of how he plans to conduct his pontificate.
Not much is known about what B16 is writing, but
GET THE STORY.
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
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My inside source at the Vatican gave me the title to B16’s first encyclical:
Diabolus et Potter
I am anxiously awaiting the encyclical. Is it too much to hope that he will confirm the right of any priest to celebrate the ancient Mass without special permission and finally bring our schismatic brothers home?
The Novus Ordo is valid, and it can be celebrated (in my opinion) in a holy and reverent way, but it doesn’t do well in a side-by-side comparison with the Traditional Mass of the Latin Rite. And we all know that the Novus Ordo is often celebrated with abuses and/or the most banal music (Table of Plenty, anyone?) and homilies. I am not seeking to stir the pot, but please, if the Holy Father allowed the widespread usage of both missals, people could judge this issue for themselves and maybe we could get past the problems.
God bless you, Jimmy, for all of your wonderful work for the Church.