What People are Commenting
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Social Justice, Angelic Pope & Piracy
Memorial Day
Here is a simple cartoon honoring the heroes who fought and died for our country.
May their souls rest in God’s peace.
L.M.
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Social Teaching of the Church
It occurred to me to wonder if the social teaching of the Church, so beloved of the ‘justice and peace’ clergy and lay adherents, from Rerum Novarum of Pope Leo XIII in 1891 and onwards, as a body of doctrine, can be considered to pass the test of authenticity of St. Vincent of Lerins, i.e. can it be said to have been held and taught ‘always and everywhere’?
Yours in Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
N.M.
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TIA responds:
Dear N.M.,
We understand your suspicion since the Social Doctrine of the Church has been greatly abused by Modernism and Progressivism. Not to go further, let us recall only the Le Sillon movement in France in the 19th century and the Liberation Theology in Latin America in the 20th century.
However, once we had the new situation of workers resulting from the industrialization of the 19th century, the Church needed to apply the perennial principles of justice to that new relationship of owners and workers, which she did.
The modernist and progressivist abuses that exploded after Rerum novarum do not invalidate the fact that the worker needs a fair salary to provide for himself and his family. Abusus non tollit usum – the abuse does not prevent the use.
We would say that the principles of Catholic justice fit the rule of St. Vincent of Lerins although applied to an entirely new situation.
Cordially,
TIA correspondent desk
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Great Monarch & Angelic Pope
I read your site every day and always find something there to strengthen my Catholic faith. I want to say thanks for the excellent article by Dr. Marian Horvat entitled The Latter Day Apostles & The Victory of Our Lady. It was deeply encouraging.
I note in that article that Dr. Horvat did not mention the many Catholic prophecies about the Great Catholic Monarch and the Angelic Pope and their role both in the chastisement and in restoring the Church. I wonder if she might consider a short article reconciling these prophecies with her original article.
God Bless,
G.D.N.
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TIA responds:
Hello G.D.N.,
Thank you for your compliments on our work.
The speech by Dr. Horvat entitled The Latter Day Apostles & The Victory of Our Lady can be accessed here – the videos of the speeches and photos from the Event should be posted soon.
Regarding references to the Great Monarch and Angelic Pope, you will find that Dr. Horvat’s speech at the 2021 Third Biennial Event, Our Lady of Good Success, Vatican II, and Prophecies of the Latter Times addresses the question by presenting several important and approved prophecies.
The 2023 speech could, in a certain way, be considered Part Two of that talk.
TIA is also publishing a series titled The Judgment of Nations on this topic by Margaret Galitzin.
We hope this responds to your request.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk
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Copyrights & Digital Piracy
I have a moral dilemma and questions about theory of copyright laws and digital piracy. I have mostly classical and sacred (polyphony and Gregorian chant) music on my PC, as well as some concerts of the same genres.
I also have some books from a Catholic page that offer free downloads. They are in both cases (80-90 %) of all I have downloaded for free. I don't have much money to buy it. I have negative bank account balance, and use the internet of my parents. Is it wrong to do it, is it a theft, a venial or a mortal sin?
Is digital piracy a modern type of Distributism?
I read some of your articles. Can you provide some texts of true Catholic teaching on principles that deal with this issue?
Thanks,
J.R., Croatia
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The Editor responds:
Dear J.R.,
Copyrights exist to protect the rights of the author against two abuses: 1. His work being used by someone to make money; 2. His work being used by someone to acquire the fame due to his effort. In principle, to avoid these abusive actions the author copyrights his work. So, if someone wants to use his work for this or that purpose, this person normally should ask the permission of the author to do so.
Thus, piracy is to infringe upon the rights of the author, harming him in these two specific fields: profit and fame.
The international regulations on copyrights, however, supposes exceptions to this rule. One of these exceptions is for educational purposes, in which the beneficiary – a school, a college, a non-profit organization or even an individual – does not make any monetary profit from the usage and gives due credit to the author. This is considered “fair use” and is permitted.
Another exception regards articles and books for which the statute of limitation for copyrights has expired. For an article, the period is 50 years; for a book it is 100 years. After these periods the work automatically enters the public domain and anyone can use it, or even reprint it, without permission.
A case in point to also be considered in order to have the full picture is that there is a great deal of abuse on the part of authors as well. Indeed, it is very common to have photos of paintings of famous painters who lived centuries ago – and of course their rights have entered the public domain – that are copyrighted by present day photographers, who later will come against a person who use their photographs, claiming that he must be paid royalties in such instances. Another is the case of photographers who copyright pictures of magazines and newspapers whose content entered the public domain a long time ago.
These were the guidelines that governed the printed press. When it comes to the virtual reality – the Internet – the laws on copyrights of texts and photos has been greatly liberalized, although they are still in force.
Finally, with the spread of Instagram, which relies on featuring photos, an enormous number of pictures have been used without asking the permission of the authors.
Because of this general panorama, the lawsuits regarding copyrights have drastically diminished.
Now, let me try to apply these principles to your moral question and give you an answer according to the mind of Holy Mother Church.
Since I suppose you are downloading your music and texts without earning any profit or harming the fame of another, you are not committing an act of piracy. It seems to me that you can benefit from the “fair use” clause, although, for the peace of your conscience it would be better for you, should you reproduce one of these downloads, to give credit to the author/interpreter of the music or text.
Since you did not have knowledge of this general situation, I do not believe that there is any sin involved.
I hope this answers your question.
Cordially,
Atila S. Guimarães, editor
Posted May 30, 2023
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The opinions expressed in this section - What People Are Commenting - do not necessarily express those of TIA
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In a recent address to Jesuits in Hungary Francis made reference to the 'backwardness,' ‘indietrismo,' of traditional Catholics.
It is indeed a tragic irony that someone who openly engages in paganism should make this charge against others, as worship of his idol Pachamama preceded Christ. It doesn't get more backwards than that.
In Christ,
Fr. J.F.