Ask your question in the comments below. Questions can be on any topic in theology (no guarantee I’ll have an answer). I’m suggesting some questions on the topic of salvation, but any theology topic is fine.
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the reproach of Christ 
I dont mean to be a bother, just asking because im in a horrible situation. Ive been hoping for the warning to come sooner then expecting. Im not the one who says dates but i need the warning so bad for my family and friends ect, i know it will be a terrifying event but at the same time a blessing.
I understand that it was said mari loli said the warning would happen in a even year. If the warning doesnt happen 2024 then well have to wait 2026.
Glenn a experct on garabandal beleieves the warning and miracle is in the same year.
I know that the pope still needs to go to russia moscow and return, but hes been wanting to go for years i just really hope he goes before the end of 2023, i really hope the warning is in 2024 not trying to guess dates but i need it so bad. We all do.
This world has gone insane.
Most people dont even know what a woman is, that women can be men and me, can be women and put the ideolgy on pur kids.and so many other things.
God bless
I don’t agree that the Warning must occur in an even year. That is a conclusion a visionary drew and not something Mary said to her, as I understand the situation. Other things that people say are not certain either, such as that the Pope will go to Moscow beforehand. So we don’t know when the Warning will occur. You should not live your life based on a hope that it will occur soon and solve certain problems. Many persons will not repent at the Warning, and so some persons will become more sinful, having rejected a greater grace.
What were the Nephilim?
The term in Genesis 6:4 is usually translated as “giants” or left as the Hebrew “Nephilim”.
{6:4} Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they conceived, these became the powerful ones of ancient times, men of renown.
We don’t know exactly what it refers to. The giants perhaps were those who were giants in their mental stature, not so much in their physical stature. Alternately, there may have been stark differences in the physical characteristics of different groups of people, due to small gene pools, in groups separated by tribe or lineage. Some groups may have been markedly larger or stronger than others.
Is knowingly breaking the Eucharistic fast one hour before receiving Holy Communion grave matter?
No, it is venial. Such an act does not destroy the love of God and neighbor, and does not deserve eternal punishment, clearly.
Dear Ron,
I wonder whether you could comment on some issues raised by this recent article by Prof. Regis Martin: https://www.crisismagazine.com/opinion/put-an-end-to-the-madness
Wouldn’t Prof. Martin’s attempt to pass himself off as Fr. James Martin, SJ, be an example of lying according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2482-2483?
Also wouldn’t Prof. Martin’s criticism of Pope Francis’s affirmation of God’s will for the diversity of religions be unfair in light of the clarification given by the Holy Father in his general audience of April 3, 2019:https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2019/documents/papa-francesco_20190403_udienza-generale.html In this audience, Pope Francis explains that, following scholastic theology, we can maintain that there is a diversity of religion according to God’s permissive will.
I believe Pope Francis is absolutely correct. We can’t deny that there is a diversity of religions in the world today. If God did not allow this diversity to exist (according to his permissive will), then it means that this diversity of religions exists AGAINST his will. This position, though, has serious theological problems. It implies that God is impotent to stop what is contrary to his will. God, in his Divine Providence, has his own reasons for allowing various religions and cultures to exist.
Did the Roman Empire exist according to God’s permissive will? Our Lord himself tells Pilate that he would have no power over Him unless it had been given to him from above (cf. Jn 19:11). St. Paul tells the Romans that the civil authority (then the Roman Empire) is a servant of God for their good (cf. Rom 13:4). If God can permit the Roman Empire to exist, why can he not allow a diversity of religions to exist according to his permissive will? God’s permissive will for a diversity of religions in no way denies that Jesus Christ is the one, unique redeemer of humanity. According to Vatican II, whatever good or truth is found in these religions is looked upon by the Church as “a preparation for the Gospel” (Lumen Gentium 16).
I apologize for going on for so long, but I value your insights and comments. I don’t doubt Prof. Martin’s sincere concern for Catholic orthodoxy, but some of his methods and statements seem problematic.
I will write an article on that topic. It may take a few days. Thanks for pointing this out.
Thank you, Ron. There’s no rush in writing on this subject. I appreciate you taking the time.
If the Virgin had died before she was assumed (as piously believed in the East), did her soul go to Heaven first, and so did she rise from the dead at the Assumption?
A related question is on that of Our Lord. Given that only His human nature suffered during the Passion, and was His soul after His soul preserved fully divine and fully human?
Good questions.
1. The ordinary teaching in the document on the Assumption is that Mary died, was subsequently raised from the dead and immediately assumed into Heaven. So between her death and her resurrection and assumption, her soul was in Heaven.
2. Jesus is one Person with two natures, human and divine. His human nature includes a human soul and a human body. His person is fully human and fully divine, as the two natures are united closely in the hypostatic union. His soul, considered by itself, is not divine. At death, the body and soul of Jesus were separated, as also when any of us die. But his body and also his soul each remained united to the divine Nature.
what about the alleged speeches of Pope Innocent III where he is said to have said that a Pope could be corrected if he was a heretic?
I don’t think you have the right Pope, nor the right claim. And I can’t find something similar to that.
Ron,
It appears the prior Q&A is closed – I copied our comments here so that I may respond:
James Belcher says:
31 May 2023 at 7:08 am
Ron,
For a while now, I have held the belief where the Warning and Miracle will occur
for when the world is at its worst. It is getting closer but I believe two things
have to happen first:
1. Socialism’s ever ending war against Merit succeeds.
2. Artificial Intelligence presents itself in manipulating our attention, to manipulate
our opinions and to manipulate the information that we’re given.
Once these two things happen, self-esteem is completely lost and our free will is compromised.
I would think the compromising of our free will is a direct threat and contrary
to God’s design of the human race.
Ron Conte says:
31 May 2023 at 9:26 am
I don’t agree at all. I think the expression “when things are at their worst” is based on sin, rather than mere disorder is society. And sin is of free will. I also think AI is over-rated as a threat. I also don’t think the expression is meant in an absolute sense. The absolute worst of human affairs will be when the Antichrist reigns, during the last half of his reign, and the Warning certainly occurs well before his reign begins or is even close.
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I totally agree with your opinion on the expression “when things are at its worst” is based on sin. The expression itself is a comparative of present and past time. I do not believe it had to do anything with future events after the Warning and Miracle.
Socialism breeds sinfulness and AI is another vehicle to commit sins.
Ron, the following question might sound offensive to pious traditional Catholics, but I think it should be asked in good faith in 21st century after Christ, in a time of Synod of Synodality, when the bishops at least pretend to listen to the faithful for new streams of the Spirit who works among the God’s people all confirmed and flooded in the same Spirit as the Apostles were at Pentecost.
Should the Catholic Church publicly denounce the Inquisition practices of the Middle ages, not so much the process of investigating the heresies (called inquisition) but especially the torture implemented in the process, the death sentences for beliefs (although heretical) and the burning of the sentenced people? The excuse that the state authorities implemented the executions is not compelling in a society when the Catholic Church had a full spiritual and often political control over the ruling aristocracy (not always, there were examples of excommunicated rulers as well).
I myself am in awe of the Medieval Catholic culture that incorporated the Gospel into music and art, creating magnificent cathedrals, and reaching the heights of theological thought, along with everyday practice of the Gospel principles for the most part of society… Exactly because of that, one cannot sideline the darkest side of the Medieval Christendom that endangers to eclipse all of its achievements. We use to think that the history will never repeat its darkest pages (like the Roman slavery for example), but the history teaches us that they might be repeated although modified.
Sorry if it became long, but other people also explain long their questions, and I have to articulate why in 21st century one should bother with the Inquisition at all, when we had already WW1 and WW2 and the danger of nuclear holocaust of millions if not billions (oups, burning of people again, only on mass scale this time? In the name of God and crusade for Christianity, if you listen to the Russian patriarch?)
It would be useful for the Church to go through different historical problems in the Church, which are often points used to criticize the Faith, and clarify, correct, apologize, etc. as needed.
Do you agree that if evolution is accepted then Jesus and Mary would have ape ancestors and angels and demons would have had to evolve from some primitive life form . And lazarus would have had to evolve from the dead instead of instantly as all the NT miracles were instant acts of creation.
I am a creationist catholic by the way who cannot understand many mainstream churches promulgation of this crazy theory .
I don’t agree with those assertions. I accept evolution, but with some adaptations to fit the Catholic Christian faith: that God chose to initiate life on this planet; that God guided evolution; and while evolution was able to produce the human body (anatomically modern humans (AMH) who were not behaviorally modern), a miraculous act of God created the first behaviorally modern humans, Adam and Eve, pattered after the AMH body developed by evolution. This is in my book: Adam and Eve versus Evolution