Showing posts with label Pope John Paul II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pope John Paul II. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Patrick Flores, first Mexican-American Catholic bishop


Patricio (Patrick) Flores, born July 26, 1929 in Ganado, Texas, became the first Mexican-American Catholic bishop.  After graduating from high school in Galveston, he studied at St. Mary's Seminary in La Porte, TX and St. Mary's Seminary in Houston.

He was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston May 26, 1956. Pope Paul VI appointed Flores as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio in March 1970, and then as bishop of the Dioceses of El Paso in May 1978. 

In August 1979, Pope John Paul II appointed Flores as archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Antonio.  He retired at the age of 75 in December 2004.  He passed away in January 2017 of congestive heart failure and pneumonia.  


Saturday, October 31, 2020

The Vatican admits Galileo was right all along 359 years later, 1992


October 31, 1992, the Catholic Church, the Vatican and Pope John Paul II finally admitted the church "erred" when it prosecuted Galilei Galileo for heresy, because he promoted the Copernican theory that the Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around.  

In 1633, Catholic prosecutors argued that the sun revolving around the Earth was explicitly stated in the Bible.  

Exactly which passage says that?  Show your work, guys!