And I feel like I should add that these instances are extremely rare. There have only been 2 Ex cathedra or “from the chair” statements in church history, averaging out at once every thousand years.

Popes are not like presidents. They do not accept the responsibility with a game plan on all the changes they want to make. They are there to guide the flock and reinforce the law that the Lord has already established.

And to reiterate, popes are flawed people just like the rest of us.

Adding to the above, this means that what Pope Francis put into the CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) is 100% NOT BINDING ON ANYONE!!! (I recommend reading "By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed.") Things don't BECOME true by being put in the Catechism, and they should only BE in the Catechism if they ARE true, but Pope Francis has broken that tradition. (I would have already recommended the Baltimore Catechism over the 1990s one, but even moreso now.)

In Bloom Gown // FireflyPath

[ID: Three pictures of a green, floor length ball gown on a mannequin. It has puffy sleeves and a top layer made of sheer tulle with embroidered green vines and fabric flowers. The back is a corset laced up with a thick, green, silky ribbon. \end ID]

@distance-does-not-matter if you haven’t already seen this

It becomes very very evident when an author has never interacted with small children before. PLEASE stop writing 4 year olds with baby voices, I promise you they do not answer in short sentences the way a baby might. They can and Will start monologing

via lundonlens

Wait a minute…

This is what American politics is like

Me, Catholic, walking into a Protestant church with no depictions of Mary: where’s my mom

Me, culturally Protestant, walking into a Catholic church filled balls to the walls with paintings sculptures candles and god knows what else: why’s there so much stuff

Me, Orthodox, walking into a western church:  w h e r e   a r e   t h e   b o n e s

Me, vampire, walking into any denominational holy place: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Me, a janitor, sweeping up the vampires ashes: where the fUCk did all this dirt come from

Prayerfulness is the very inverse of escapism. Rather than attempting to flee from reality, a life of prayer leads one deeper into it—where, yes, the suffering is anything but fake, but (lest anyone forget) so also is the joy.