Our Takes Daily

Spanish Civil War martyrs beatified

The Chicago Tribune

First the militia fighters thought of hacking the bishop to death with an ax. In the end, they showed pity and shot him — one of hundreds of executions of Catholic clergy as civil war erupted in Spain. The bishop and 497 other people will be beatified Sunday by the Catholic Church, the last step before possible sainthood. The ceremony — the largest Mass beatification in Vatican history — comes as Spain is taking a closer look at its painful past. The martyrs’ beatification is just one of several taking place this autumn. Learn who else is being beatified and how a person becomes a saint in the Nov. 11 issue of Our Sunday Visitor. More info here»

Re-examining the Gospel of Judas

U.S. News & World Report

In 2006, National Geographic created a stir when it released the so-called Gospel of Judas, which was portrayed as a long-lost Gnostic text that depicted Judas not as wicked villain but as the Messiah's favorite apostle. It turns out that that might not be what the Gospel of Judas was saying at all. If April De Conick, a professor of biblical studies at Rice University, is right, the English translation that was sponsored by the National Geographic was so flawed in crucial places that it reversed what the text was actually saying: that Judas was just as nasty as all the traditional orthodox Christian accounts said he was. More info here»

Irish Anglicans seek full communion with Church

Catholic News Services

Parishioners from three Church of Ireland parishes have joined traditional Anglicans from 12 other countries in requesting that the Catholic Church receive them into full communion.If approved by the Vatican, the move would allow 400,000 traditional Anglicans worldwide to be admitted into the Catholic Church. It is extremely rare for entire Anglican communities to seek corporate communion with the Catholic Church whereby every member of a parish becomes Catholic and the parish effectively becomes part of the Church. More info here»