{"id":195237,"date":"2025-12-31T18:57:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T18:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/extra-extra-news-and-views-for-wednesday-december-31-2025-catholic-world-report\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T18:57:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T18:57:25","slug":"extra-extra-news-and-views-for-wednesday-december-31-2025-catholic-world-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/extra-extra-news-and-views-for-wednesday-december-31-2025-catholic-world-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra, extra! News and views for Wednesday, December 31, 2025 &#8211; Catholic World Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here are some articles, essays, and editorials that caught our attention this past week or so.*<br \/> <span class=\"entry-meta-date updated\"><i class=\"fa fa-clock-o\"><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/2025\/12\/\">December 31, 2025<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"entry-meta-author author vcard\"><i class=\"fa fa-user\"><\/i><a class=\"fn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/author\/cwr-staff\/\">CWR Staff<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"entry-meta-categories\"><i class=\"fa fa-folder-open-o\"><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/category\/the-dispatch\/\" rel=\"category tag\">The Dispatch<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"entry-meta-comments\"><i class=\"fa fa-comment-o\"><\/i><a class=\"mh-comment-scroll\" href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/2025\/12\/31\/extra-extra-news-and-views-for-wednesday-december-31-2025\/#mh-comments\">2<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"entry-meta-print\"><a class=\"mh-print-trigger\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" href=\"#\"><i class=\"fa fa-print\"><\/i>Print<\/a><\/span> <br \/><strong>Rage Bait &#8211;<\/strong> &#8220;Online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/corp.oup.com\/word-of-the-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>And the Oxford Word of the Year 2025 is\u2026 rage bait (<em>Oxford University Press<\/em>)<\/strong><\/a><br \/><strong>Fertility Decline &#8211;<\/strong> &#8220;The West\u2019s demographic dearth is capturing the attention of growing numbers of public officials.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/firstthings.com\/the-fertility-crisis-will-not-be-solved-by-economics-alone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Fertility Crisis Will Not Be Solved by Economics Alone (<em>First Things<\/em>)<\/strong><\/a><br \/><strong>Theists and Atheists &#8211;<\/strong> &#8220;Yesterday, the <em>Yule Blog<\/em>\u00a0featured an\u00a0essay about how theists and atheists are not all that different from each other; we are almost all transcendentalists in the sense that almost all of us find some kind of moral, ethical, and even spiritual meaning as we encounter the world.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/providencemag.com\/2025\/12\/day-6-personal-meaning-5\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Day 6: Personal Meaning (<em>Providence<\/em>)<\/strong><\/a><br \/><strong>Islam as a Governing Project &#8211;<\/strong> &#8220;Islam diverges significantly from Christianity, and in some ways that Karl Marx might have appreciated&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholic.com\/magazine\/online-edition\/islam-and-communism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Islam and Communism (<em>Catholic Answers<\/em>)<\/strong><\/a><br \/><strong>Return of the Strong Gods &#8211;<\/strong> \u201cThe ruler bears witness to the meaningfulness of reality, and in doing so he augments its meaning, opening up the world to the dimensions that would allow a properly human existence to unfold.\u201d <a href=\"\u201c\"><strong>The Crisis of Authority (<em>Communio<\/em>)<\/strong><\/a><br \/> <strong>Dead Sea Scrolls &#8211;<\/strong> &#8220;Long before the biblical canon was formally defined, these texts were copied, guarded and revered as sacred.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncregister.com\/features\/the-scriptures-jesus-knew-stepping-into-the-world-of-the-dead-sea-scrolls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Scriptures Jesus Knew: Stepping Into the World of the Dead Sea Scrolls (<em>National Catholic Register<\/em>)<\/strong><\/a><br \/><strong>Microscale Robots &#8211;<\/strong> &#8220;Engineers at Penn Engineering have created robots barely visible to the naked eye that operate without tethers, magnetic fields or joystick-like controls.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/268705\/st-marys-university-college-belfast-celebrates-125th-anniversary-training-teachers-in-northern-ireland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The world\u2019s smallest programmable, autonomous robots (<em>Penn Today<\/em>)<\/strong><\/a><br \/><strong>Sacred Images<\/strong> &#8211; &#8220;All of it is oriented toward a kind of spiritual service, to try to provide a kind of mental framework for Christian life, that can actually be inhabited by modern people.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/hilarywhite.substack.com\/p\/a-year-of-sacred-images-an-inheritance?utm_campaign=email-half-post&amp;r=1vpl7k&amp;utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>A Year of Sacred Images; An Inheritance We Can Still Inhabit (<em>The Sacred Images Project<\/em>)<\/strong><\/a><br \/>(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)<br \/>If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ignatius.com\/Donation-P3579.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">please consider donating<\/a> to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!<br \/><a href=\"\/donate\">Click here<\/a> for more information on donating to CWR. <a href=\"\/free-newsletter\">Click here<\/a> to sign up for our newsletter.<br \/>Bangladesh\u2019s first woman prime minister, Catholic school alumna, dies at 80<br \/>Saint Catherine Labour\u00e9, her visions, and how they changed the world<br \/>@ Dead Sea Scrolls<br \/> Yes. In terms of historiographic evidence of what the previous dated extant texts revealed they are significant. As are the texts such as Daniel that foretold Antiochus Epiphanes and the abomination of desecration in the Jerusalem Temple. The Hellenization of Israel.  The struggle for retaining Hebraic Jewish identity under Hellenic and Roman occupation.<br \/> Nevertheless, what is indicated is the strength of the Christ revelation, which proved to be the irrepressible truth of the events and message. Additionally, providence had the two major cultural affiliations Greek and Roman as part of adopting and furthering Christ&#8217;s revelation to the known world.<br \/>@   Return of the Strong Gods<br \/> &#8220;Some people experienced traumatic shock when some church<br \/> leaders questioned customary notions about the solidity and scope of<br \/> hierarchical church authority itself&#8221; (excerpt book review Paul Misner emeritus Marquette. Transcript unavailable on this website).<br \/> This edited edition describes the meltdown of significant doctrine among which is the requirement for confession of sins and repentance.  What the new breed of young theologians suggest as remedy is a form of ecumenical dialogue within the Church inclusive of dissenting parties to authority itself.<br \/> Insofar as my brief overview it seems that Leo XIV may have this form of resolution in mind for the January cardinals consistory. Again as opined previously success in that format is questionable. Contention of the opposing parties is too strong for strong God&#8217;s. We require a Vicar of Christ who doesn&#8217;t fear either the truth or its implementation.<br \/>Your email address will not be published.<br \/><strong>All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated.<\/strong> While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks\u2014or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory\u2014will not be published. Thank you.<br \/><label for=\"comment\">Comment<\/label><br \/><textarea id=\"comment\" name=\"comment\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"5\" aria-required=\"true\"><\/textarea><br \/><label for=\"author\">Name <\/label><span class=\"required\">*<\/span><br \/><input id=\"author\" name=\"author\" type=\"text\" value=\"\" size=\"30\" aria-required='true' \/><br \/><label for=\"email\">Email <\/label><span class=\"required\">*<\/span><br \/><input id=\"email\" name=\"email\" type=\"text\" value=\"\" size=\"30\" aria-required='true' \/><br \/><label for=\"url\">Website<\/label><br \/><input id=\"url\" name=\"url\" type=\"text\" value=\"\" size=\"30\" \/><br \/><input name=\"submit\" type=\"submit\" id=\"submit\" class=\"submit\" value=\"Post Comment\" \/> <input type='hidden' name='comment_post_ID' value='402819' id='comment_post_ID' \/> <input type='hidden' name='comment_parent' id='comment_parent' value='0' \/> <br \/><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"akismet_comment_nonce\" name=\"akismet_comment_nonce\" value=\"184a3c5e89\" \/><br \/><label>&#916;<textarea name=\"ak_hp_textarea\" cols=\"45\" rows=\"8\" maxlength=\"100\"><\/textarea><\/label><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"ak_js_1\" name=\"ak_js\" value=\"91\"\/><script>document.getElementById( \"ak_js_1\" ).setAttribute( \"value\", ( new Date() ).getTime() );<\/script><br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/2025\/12\/31\/saint-catherine-laboure-her-visions-and-how-they-changed-the-world\/\" title=\"Saint Catherine Labour\u00e9, her visions, and how they changed the world\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSaint Catherine Labour\u00e9, her visions, and how they changed the world\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/2025\/12\/31\/extra-extra-news-and-views-for-wednesday-december-31-2025\/\" title=\"Extra, extra! News and views for Wednesday, December 31, 2025\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tExtra, extra! News and views for Wednesday, December 31, 2025\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/2025\/12\/30\/my-top-ten-movies-of-2025\/\" title=\"My Top Ten Movies of 2025\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMy Top Ten Movies of 2025\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/2025\/12\/30\/baffled-by-a-bishop\/\" title=\"Baffled by a bishop\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBaffled by a bishop\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/>  \t<label>Email address<br \/>  \t<input name=\"EMAIL\" placeholder=\"Your email address\" type=\"email\" required \/><\/label>  <br \/>      <label>Name<\/label>      <input type=\"text\" name=\"MMERGE3\" required=\"\">  <br \/>  \t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Sign up\" \/>  <br \/>MPAA Rating:\u00a0R USCCB Rating:\u00a0NR Reel Rating:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(3 of out 5 reels) Sin has a nasty way of poisoning everything it touches, even if it is accompanied by the best of intentions. Black Mass illustrates this point <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicworldreport.com\/2015\/09\/21\/sin-begets-sin-begets-destruction\/\" title=\"Sin Begets Sin Begets Destruction\">[&#8230;]<\/a><br \/> \t\t\t&copy; Catholic World Report\t\t<br \/>You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https:\/\/wppopupmaker.com\/guides\/auto-opening-announcement-popups\/<br \/>Sign up to receive a weekly email with news, analysis, and commentary from a voice you can trust!<br \/><!-- Begin MailChimp Signup Form --><br \/><label>Email Frequency<\/label><br \/><!-- real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups--><br \/><input id=\"group_1\" name=\"group[1][1]\" type=\"hidden\" value=\"1\" \/><br \/><script type='text\/javascript' src='\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/downloads.mailchimp.com\/js\/mc-validate.js'><\/script><script type='text\/javascript'>(function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[3]='MMERGE3';ftypes[3]='text';fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNAME';ftypes[2]='text';fnames[4]='MMERGE4';ftypes[4]='text';fnames[5]='MMERGE5';ftypes[5]='text';fnames[6]='MMERGE6';ftypes[6]='number';fnames[7]='MMERGE7';ftypes[7]='radio';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true);<\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMiqAFBVV95cUxNb0lvWElCV3ctVjRpcjRDbldZUHdPV0xsVENvS0VTY2JGc2VaQWRwcG1tTGhneUd6anE0NmItajdTSjJhY2YxOUZIS2VEZ3BfZk5vSC1PZndVTE9KckFOcVVjZUlkYmdFa2NTUmF3YnVHMWl0amRNRTdyazg3djYxVGx3ZFNCaDZOb3dWQUt0ejJ4RkhYUHUyeS1RTWpfZ3RMMEVGZnhQbWo?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are some articles, essays, and editorials that caught our attention this past week or so.* December 31, 2025 CWR Staff The Dispatch 2 Print Rage Bait &#8211; &#8220;Online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-195237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}