Ask a Franciscan
Franciscan or Roman Catholic?
I like what I read in St. Anthony Messenger and enjoy other products from Franciscan Media. One question keeps coming back to me: Are you Franciscan or Roman Catholic?
I ask this because these days I feel much closer to the Franciscans than to the Roman Catholic Church in which I was baptized and yet is plagued by many terrible scandals.
Why So Few Lay Saints?
Few lay men or women have been formally canonized. Most saints belonged to religious communities, but people in that state of life make up a tiny percentage of the Church.
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Was Saint Peter the Bishop of Rome?
In his book The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis, Garry Wills states that there is no evidence before AD 100 that there was any bishop in Rome. Is that true?
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Are Statues Idols?
Where does the Catholic Church stand on images of Christ, statues of saints, pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Lady of Guadalupe, etc.? Is it wrong for me to have these items in my home?
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‘Son of Man’ or ‘Son of God’?
Why does Jesus refer to himself much more often as the “Son of Man” than as the “Son of God”? You are right about his preferred self-description. Using the Concordance of the New American Bible, I count in the Gospel ...
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What About Sins of Omission?
I cannot find an examination of conscience for sins of omission. Does such a list exist?
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