Last week I had a man tell me (as so many have before him) that the Catholic Church would have to change her outdated teachings "if it is to survive".
This week, the AP reports that 3 million young people attended the final Mass of World Youth Day in Rio. Yep, the Pope -- that old man in charge of the decaying Church-on-life-support -- drew 3 million youth.
Take a look:
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| Catholic Universe Newspapers |
They say the crowd of pilgrims stretched for two miles.
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| Felipe Dana/AP |
I can't help but think of my favorite description of the papacy, written by 19th century English historian Thomas Macaulay and excerpted here:
There is not, and there never was on this earth, a work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church.
The history of that Church joins together the two great ages of human civilisation. No other institution is left standing which carries the mind back to the times when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the Pantheon, and when camelopards and tigers bounded in the Flavian amphitheatre.
The proudest royal houses are but of yesterday, when compared with the line of the Supreme Pontiffs. That line we trace back in an unbroken series, from the Pope who crowned Napoleon in the nineteenth century to the Pope who crowned Pepin in the eighth; and far beyond the time of Pepin the august dynasty extends, till it is lost in the twilight of fable….
Nor do we see any sign which indicates that the term of her long dominion is approaching. She saw the commencement of all the governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all….
As I've said before, there is no earthly explanation for the fact that the Catholic Church, grounded in the office of the papacy, survives and thrives after 20 centuries, but there is a supernatural explanation:
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. -- Matthew 16:18
My dear friends, Jesus Christ is a Man of His word.
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PS: If you want to see mobs of wholesome, Christ-centered, youthful joy, go here. What fun!
PPS: What Pope Francis really said about gay people, here. And the video, here.
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