With Mary to Jesus

Welcome to Fratelli Tutti! This week, I added a YouTube channel and a podcast.

The Walk with Fr. Roderick Vonhögen (Apple Podcasts)

Fr. David Michael Moses on YouTube

Why not check them out and see what you think?

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Well, what a week it has been. Pope Francis's death on Monday has put the news spotlight on the Church. Videos discussing what happens when popes die, who might be the next pope, even the first appearance on the loggia at St. Peter's Basilica of past popes have been sprouting up on my YouTube feed. I have to say, I have enjoyed watching quite a few of them - especially the archive footage. One thing I have yet to do, however, is slow down. Stop. Be still. I am not a 'still' person by nature so this is something I need to learn to do. Pope Francis's funeral today will be an opportunity to stop and be still but only to a point. I need to go further.

The Pope's death inspired me to start reading his four encyclicals. I started with Fratelli Tutti. As I did so, I realised that its title would be the perfect name for this blog. I had been wanting to move away from it being simply about British Catholic blogs for a long time, and indeed, had started including podcasts, Tik Tok and YouTube accounts from beyond the UK's shores. But I had not yet seriously considered or just found a name to reflect this desire. Suddenly, it hit me. To all Brothers and Sisters. That is who this blog is for, let's use that name. Grazie, Papa Francesco.

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Before concluding, I'd like to say a quick word about the two new additions to Fratelli Tutti. Fr. David Michael Moses is fairly new to me. I found him a while ago on Tik Tok. My history with Fr. Roderick, however, goes back twenty years. I discovered him in 2005 when he started a podcast (though I can't remember if he called it that) covering the last days of John Paul II in Rome. 

For a few years afterwards, I followed him as he developed his 'new media' work until it became the StarQuest Production Network. SQPN, as it was more commonly called, covered a range of topics, sacred and profane ranging from The Rosary Army podcast to others about sci-fi shows. Eventually, I drifted away from it but this week, I remembered Fr. Roderick in 2005 and wondered what he was doing now. Unlike then, he isn't in Rome (he discusses this in the latest edition of The Walk) but he sounds just like I remember him. I look forward to listening to more. If SQPN is still making podcasts etc I will definitely be adding them to the blog.

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This week, rather than a painting, I would like to give a photograph. It is of Pope Francis in Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major} church, praying before the icon of Mary, the Salus Populi Romani (protectress of the Roman people). This is the chapel he came to so many times during his pontificate. Later this morning, he will be buried in a niche next to it. As we say farewell for now to Francis let's follow him with Mary to Jesus.