De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

I am just back from two weeks holiday in Gozo, which is a tiny island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea just 14km long by 7.25km wide. We have been going there since the year 2,000, albeit with a few gaps where we tried different destinations. However, wherever we try, we always seem to end up back in Gozo. If we miss a year, we find ourselves longing for the island. The island of Gozo has long been associated with Ogygia , the island home of the nymph Calypso in Homer's Epic  Odyssey . Calypso, possessed of great supernatural powers, holds the hero Odysseus captive for a number of years because of her love for him before releasing him to continue his journey home. Of course, there is also the military history of the Maltese Islands, both the amazing story of Malta's heroic stand in World War II, but also the extraordinary story of the Great Siege of 1565, when the Maltese, together with the Knights of St. John, held off the Ottoman Empire, wh...

The main criticisms I have heard aimed at Pope Francis seem largely motivated by a love and concern for the liturgical reform instigated by Pope Benedict. I cannot help but wonder whether this constitutes a somewhat insular concern in that, 1. I think it is very early to be making any judgements and 2. although many of us loved what we saw Pope Benedict trying to gently do, most people didn't even notice, or understand. We can learn much about Pope Benedict's papacy by reflecting on this I think and I have to wonder who was actually switched on to what he was doing liturgically and theologically. I know I have enjoyed discussing and teasing out lots of the little signs and symbols he has given us over the course of his papacy, and I have been deeply enriched as a result. But I have engaged in a lot of defence and a lot of explanation as well. I want to continue a discussion began here because I don't want anyone to mistake my points therein as criticisms or even dis...