Pope Benedict ended his last speech in Lebanon with this invocation to Our Lady on behalf of all Lebanese, Christians and Muslims. "The Virgin Mary, venerated with devotion and tenderness by the faithful of the religious confessions, is a sure model for going forward in hope along the path of authentic brotherhood. Lebanon understood this well when, some time ago, she proclaimed March 25 as a holiday, thus allowing everyone to live, more deeply, their unity in serenity. May the Virgin Mary, whose ancient shrines are so numerous in your country, continue to accompany and inspire you!" The Lebanese population is made up of 39 percent professing Christians and 60 percent Muslims. Read more.

In his best known book on systematic theology entitled Introduction to Christianity, the current pope, Joseph Ratzinger, explicitly denies the resurrection of the body. He wrote: "It now becomes clear that the real heart of faith in the resurrection does not consist at all in the idea of the restoration of bodies, to which we have reduced it in our thinking; such is the case even though this is the pictorial image used throughout the Bible." 

By denying the fundamental biblical truth of the resurrection of the body, the pope is in serious error for not knowing "the Scriptures, nor the power of God" (Matt. 22:29). It is a grave heresy, whose tendency is to "overthrow the faith of some" (2 Tim. 2:18). We know "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:11). Read more.

According to Father James Phalan, president of the Mariology Society of America, Mary is the leader of evangelization. He said, "There needs to be a deepening of Mariological reflection embraced by the whole Church, and particularly by the clergy. In many seminaries, the clergy hasn't studied much about the Blessed Virgin Mary." Hopefully after an event like this international Mariological congress, there will be a lot of promotion of Marian devotion through the Year of Faith that will help people rediscover who Mary is in the Church.  Read more.

Peter Waldo (1140 - 1217) lived 300 hundred years before the Reformation but was a pre-cursor to the Reformers who exposed the false teaching of Rome. Waldo, a once wealthy merchant who lived in Lyon, France, began to preach and teach publicly that "No man can serve two masters, God and mammon." His teachings were accompanied by strong condemnations of Papal excesses and Catholic dogmas, including transubstantiation and purgatory. He also accused the Catholic Church of being the harlot from the book of Revelation. His followers became known as Waldensians. They held that the Bible was the only source of authority and rejected much of the Catholic Church's teaching and were persecuted for their radical and unpopular beliefs. Read more.

The middle east conflict is the easiest conflict in the world to describe according to this excellent five minute video clip by Dennis Prager. Click here. 

Germany's top administrative court has ruled that Catholics who opt out of paying religious taxes must automatically leave the church as well. The court's verdict Wednesday is a victory for the Catholic Church in Germany, which receives more than euro4 billion ($5.14 billion) annually from a surcharge of up to nine percent on income tax bills of registered Catholics. Germany's bishops announced last week that believers who refuse to pay the tax are committing a "grave lapse" and as a result won't be able to receive the sacrament, become godparents or have a religious funeral. Read more.

High school cheerleaders in a Texas town will no longer be able to include Bible verses on signs at athletic events after a group sent a letter complaining about the signs. The ban means any student participating in an official school activity cannot hold or create any sign, poster or banner that includes a religious message. Read more. 

Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christian and a prominent speaker on the emerging church, led a non-traditional marriage commitment ceremony that included "traditional Christian elements," but no bride. One of the two grooms was McLaren's son, Trevor McLaren. McLaren says the church should abandon heterosexism and move toward reconciliation with homosexuals. Read more.

Education Minister Laurel Broten of Ontario, Canada gave the thumbs-up to a Catholic high school in London to open a Muslim prayer room. Mother Teresa Catholic secondary school in London is opening the prayer room for about 25 Muslim kids. Broten said, "Obviously, that is something they think will make students feel welcome in their school." Read more.