The universal call to holiness is a teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that all people are called to be holy, and is based on Matthew 5:48: "Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect". In the first book of the Bible, the call to holiness is expressed in the Lord's words to Abraham: "Walk before me, and be blameless".
Raymond Leo Burke is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He is a bishop and a cardinal, and was a patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 2014 to 2023. He led the Archdiocese of St. Louis from 2004 to 2008 and the Diocese of La Crosse from 1995 to 2004. From 2008 to 2014, he was the prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
Pope Francis is the head of the Catholic Church, the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State. Francis is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first pope born or raised outside Europe since the 8th century papacy of Syrian pope Gregory III.
Walter Kasper is a German Catholic cardinal and theologian. He is President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, having served as its president from 2001 to 2010.
Joachim Meisner was a German cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the immediate past Archbishop of Cologne, serving from 1989 until his resignation was accepted by Pope Francis in 2014. He previously served as Bishop of Berlin from 1980 to 1989, and was created a cardinal in 1983. He was widely considered to be Germany's leading conservative Roman Catholic figure.
Familiaris consortio is a post-synodal apostolic exhortation written by Pope John Paul II and promulgated on 22 November 1981.
The Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas is a pontifical academy established on 15 October 1879 by Pope Leo XIII. The academy is one of the pontifical academies housed along with the academies of science at Casina Pio IV in Vatican City, Rome.
An apostolic exhortation is a magisterial document written by the pope. It is considered third in importance, after apostolic constitutions and encyclicals. Exhortations generally encourage a particular virtue or activity. Apostolic exhortations are frequently issued following a Synod of Bishops, in which case they are known as post-synodal apostolic exhortations. They do not define Church doctrine and are not considered legislative.
Evangelii nuntiandi is an apostolic exhortation issued on 8 December 1975 by Pope Paul VI on the theme of Catholic evangelization. The title, taken from the opening words of the original Latin text, means "in proclaiming the Gospel". It affirms the role of every Christian, not only ordained ministers, priests, and deacons, or religious, or professional church staff, in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Athanasius Schneider, ORC is a Catholic prelate, serving as the Auxiliary Bishop of Astana in Kazakhstan. He is a member of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra. He is known for championing the pre-Vatican II liturgical traditions and practices of the Church and for protesting certain current policies, including some associated with Pope Francis.
Gerhard Ludwig Müller is a German cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the Cardinal-Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) from his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 until 2017. Pope Francis elevated him to the rank of cardinal in 2014.
In the Catholic Church, the Synod of Bishops, considered as an advisory body for the pope, is one of the ways in which the bishops render cooperative assistance to him in exercising his office. It is described in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as "a group of bishops who have been chosen from different regions of the world and meet at fixed times to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world."
The new evangelization is the particular process by which baptized members of the Catholic Church express the general Christian call to evangelization.
Elected on 13 March 2013, Francis is the first member of the Society of Jesus to be appointed pope and the first non-European to hold the office since the 8th century. He described his papal name as pointing to what he wants to emulate in Saint Francis of Assisi: to have a poor church, for the poor, always going out to the margins, and to show concern for the natural environment. His papal motto Miserando atque eligendo contains a central theme of his papacy, God's mercy, which has led to conflict with orthodox Catholics on issues such as reception of Communion by remarried Catholics. In addressing real life situations he often appeals directly to his experience, in continuity with his synodal way, which showed a renewed emphasis on listening and dialogue. He has placed greater emphasis on church synods and on widespread consultation and dialogue, uplifting the roles of laypersons and of women in the Catholic church and criticizing clericalism.
Amoris laetitia is a post-synodal apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis addressing the pastoral care of families. Dated 19 March 2016, it was released on 8 April 2016. It follows the Synods on the Family held in 2014 and 2015.
Christus vivit is a post-synodal apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, written in response to the Fifteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, on young people, faith and vocational discernment, held from 3 to 28 October 2018.
Davide Pagliarani is an Italian traditionalist Catholic priest of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) who has served as its superior general since 2018.
Episcopalis communio is an apostolic constitution promulgated by Pope Francis on September 15, 2018. It takes note of the various organizations used during the previous Synod of Bishops, and defines that its final document "participates in the ordinary magisterium."
Robert Brucciani is a Roman Catholic priest who is currently serving as the District Superior of Great Britain & Scandinavia for the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X.
The Pope Francis bibliography contains a list of works by Pope Francis.
