France becomes world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in constitution



Lawmakers sit on Monday prior to a vote on whether to add the freedom to have an abortion to the French constitution.

The Eiffel Tower lights up with the message "my body my choice" after the vote on Monday.

Source: Bloomberg

Source: Bloomberg

Texas farmers claim company sold them PFAS-contaminated sludge that killed livestock
Two ranches also allege biosolids with ‘forever chemicals’ ruined crops, polluted drinking water and left their properties worthless



Sewage sludge in Lapeer, Michigan. Photograph: John Flesher/AP

French Senate approves a bill to make abortion a constitutional right

The New Mass: A Flavor of Protestantism - The Work that Martin Luther Began

Taken from “Gebetbuch fur Gemeinde ohne Seelsorger” (A Prayerbook for Parishes Without a Priest) 

Imprimatur: Mgr. Konrad Martin, Bishop of Paderborn, Germany, 1876


Prayer for a Parish Without a Priest

An example of an altar from the early days of the Resistance. This was a chest of drawers, minus the drawers. No gradines yet, and only a white cloth to cover the front, but it works well enough. Statues either side but not on the altar.

The Four Other Transfigurations of Christ - Feb. 25, 2024

The Recusant #61 - Lent 2024

650 Catholic Churches in Germany Closed Since 2005

NATO Gives Ukraine the Go-Ahead to Cross Putin's Red Line



NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks at a press conference at the 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany, on February 16, 2024. Stoltenberg said this week that Ukraine has the right to defend itself against Russia even if it means attacking inside Russian territory. © THOMAS KIENZLE/AFP via Getty Images

The high altar of St Mary Major, decorated with relics for the Lenten station in 2017. Photo by the great Agnese.

Stories of Jonah, from a late 2nd century fresco in the Catacomb of Callixtus. From right to left, Jonah is thrown into the sea, where a monster is about to swallow him; Jonah is spat out of the sea-monster; Jonah rests under the vine. The Greek and Latin words for “whale” can also mean “sea-monster”, and the creature that swallows the prophet is usually shown as such in early Christian art.

A third-century sarcophagus in the Vatican Museums’ Pio-Christian collection. This is one of the most elaborate versions of the Jonah story, and is therefore known as the Jonah Sarcophagus, although there are many other ancient representations of the prophet. Note that Noah is seen standing in a square ark above the sea-monster on the right, a clever use of the extra space to add another important Biblical episode.
This tradition was already well established when the basilica of Saint Mary Major was built right after the ecumenical council of Ephesus, both to honor the chosen vessel of God’s Incarnation, and to re-assert this dogma of our salvation against the heretic Nestorius; the station is kept at the natural choice of church in which to read this crucial Gospel passage. Oddly enough, the traditional Roman Rite uses only one passage from the book of Jonah itself at Mass in the whole of the year; chapter 3, in which Jonah preaches repentance to the Ninivites, is read on the Monday of Passion week, and repeated at the Easter Vigil. In the traditional Ambrosian liturgy, on the other hand, the entire book (actually one of the shortest in the Bible, only 48 verses) is the first reading of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper; in the Byzantine Rite, it is read at the Easter vigil.

The Coronation of the Virgin, apsidal mosaic of St. Mary Major by Jacopo Torriti, 1296

Three images of Christ as healer on a 3rd-century sarcophagus, also in the Pio-Christian Collection of the Vatican Museums. From left to right, the healing of the paralytic, who is shown carrying his bed; the healing of the blind man; the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. The fourth image is Christ transforming water into wine at the wedding of Cana. In antiquity, Christ was often shown holding a magic wand to indicate that He is working a miracle; some commentators have most unfortunately chosen to understand this to mean that the early Christians thought of Christ principally as a magician.

The healing of the paralytic of Bethesda, from the basilica of Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, ca. 550 A.D. In the same church, the paralytic of Capharnaum is shown being lowered through the roof, a rare case in which the two are clearly distinguished.

The Traditio Legis with Ss. Peter and Paul, from the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (prefect of Rome, died 359 A.D.) Note that as Christ is handing the scrolls of the law to the Apostles Peter and Paul, He is also stepping on the face of the sky god, here used as a symbolic figure, to represent His dominion over the heavens.




The Traditio Legis with all twelve Apostles, from a late-4th century imperial mausoleum in Milan, now the chapel of St Aquilinus in the basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore. Here, Christ has one scroll in His hand, and six in the case at His feet, a total of seven; this number symbolizes perfection, and hence the perfection of the new law.

Frs. Hewko, Novak, & DeErausquin  [1997]: Music and Catholicism - Good Fight Series Rountable Discussion