Free ebook: “Apostolic Succession Explained”

See this legally free ebook:

• Apostolic Succession Explained; A Short Treatise in which Certain Theological Questions of the Day are Calmly Examined and Resolved, by a Priest of the Order of Charity (London, Dublin, Derby: Thomas Richardson and Son, 1850). Available at Google Play Books.

See also these related texts:

Online text: Pastoral Letter on the Most Holy Eucharist, by Bishop Dr. Thomas G. Doran

See this online text:

• A Pastoral Letter to the Reverend Clergy, Devoted Religious and Faithful Laity of the Diocese of Rockford on the Most Holy Eucharist, by the Most Reverend Thomas G. Doran, D.D., J.C.D., Bishop of Rockford (2006). Available in pdf format at the Diocese of Rockford.

In belated observance of the Feast of the Holy Prophet Malachi in the Eastern Catholic Churches. For other texts and ebooks on various subjects, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

“The chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of the Lord? For we being many, are one bread, one body, all who partake of one bread…

“For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord until he come.

“Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord… not discerning the body of the Lord.

 (I Corinthians x, 16-17, xi, 26-29)

Online texts & ebooks by & about Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI

See these online texts and ebooks (I) by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI and (II) about him and his thought, previously indexed on the Project.

I. Texts and ebooks by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger / Pope Benedict XVI:

Online texts: Addresses to the German Bishops, by Saint John Paul the Great (18 & 20 November 1999)

See these online texts:

• Address of the Holy Father to the German Bishops on Their ‘Ad Limina’ Visit, by Saint John Paul the Great / Pope John Paul II, 18 November 1999. May be read online at the Holy See.
• Address to the German Bishops on the Occasion of Their ‘Ad Limina’ Visit, by Saint John Paul the Great / Pope John Paul II, 20 November 1999. May be read online at the Holy See. Under the title “Make Every Effort To Teach Truth, Dispel Confusion and Correct Errors”, the text may be read online on this page of Catholic Culture.  

See also the following related text(s) and media:

Online text: “The Sino-Vatican Faith Diplomacy”, by Professor Juyan Zhang

See this online text:

• “The Sino-Vatican Faith Diplomacy: Mapping the Factors Affecting Bilateral Relations”, by Professor Juyan Zhang, Ph.D., April 2017 (Los Angeles: Figueroa Press, 2017). Available at ResearchGate.net.

See also the texts listed on the page “Selected commentaries on the China-Vatican Agreement“, as well as these other texts on the confidential agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic:

• “Sino-­Vatican Relations: A Conflict Transformation Perspective”, by Kaitlin Austermiller. Master’s Thesis, China and International Relations, Aalborg University and University of International Relations, 20 May 2013. Available in pdf format at Aalborg Universitet Project Library.
• “True Catholic and Authentic Chinese: The Theologico-Political Polemic in China”, by Wing Kwan Anselm Lam, International Journal of China Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2 (December 2020): pp. 257-276. Available in pdf format at the Institute China Studies University of Malaysia.
• ‘The Vatican Accord with China: Riding the Dragon’: Testimony Before the Congressional-Executive Committee on China, November 28, 2018, by Thomas F. Farr, Available in pdf format at the  Congressional-Executive Committee on China.

See the texts listed on the page “Online text: Letter to Catholics in China, by Pope Benedict XVI” and these other texts on Catholic Christians in China:

• Annual Report of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, 2020. Available in pdf format at the US Department of Justice.
• “China: the Country Has Changed, Religious Policy Has Not”, by Gianni Criveller (2012). Presented at the Conference Seed of the Church: Telling the Story of Today’s Christian Martyrs, University of Notre Dame, South Bend IN, November 4-6, 2012. Available in PDF format (on this page) at the Institute for Church Life.
• “China’s Modern Martyrs: From Mao to Now”, by Anthony E. Clark (2014). May be read online in 4 parts at the Catholic World Report: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Also available in pdf format at Whitworth Digital Commons under the citation History Faculty Scholarship, Paper 37 (2014): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
• “Homily to Chinese Catholics at a Mass Celebrated for the Catholics of China in the Church of the Queen of the Angels and Queen of Martyrs”, by Ignatius Cardinal Kung Pin-Mei, Rome, June 30, 1991. Available in pdf format on this page of the Cardinal Kung Foundation.
• Submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (seeking the release of Bishop James Su Zhimin and Bishop Cui Tai). Available in pdf format at Christian Persecution News.

On the Memorial of the Martyr Saints of China in the Revised Roman Rite. For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

Online text: Draft of a Dogmatic Constitution on the Sources of Revelation “De Fontibus”, by the Vatican II Preparatory Commission

See this online text:

• Draft of a Dogatic Constitution on the Sources of Revelation, by the Preparatory Theological Commission for the Second Vatican Council, translated by Fr. Joseph A. Komonchak (2012). Available in PDF format (on this page) at In Verbo Veritatis.

On Sunday in the Octave of the Ascension in the Latin Church (Roman Rite). For other texts and ebooks on various subjects, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

Online ebook: “Catholic Church: Where Are You Heading?”, by Dániel Fülep & Bishop Athanasius Schneider

See this online ebook:

• Catholic Church: Where Are You Heading? Theologian Dániel Fülep’s interview with Bishop Athanasius Schneider Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana Astana, Kazakhstan, July 2018, translated by Gábor Sallai, edited and published by Dániel Fülep (Budapest, 2018). Available in pdf format at the Magyar Elektronikus Konyvtar. This text states: “The texts can be freely copied, distributed or otherwise used, subject to proper acknowledgement of the source.”

See also the related ebooks and texts indexed on sub-list XI of the page Church and Ecclesiology, as well as those listed on

Online texts: Consecrations of the World to Our Lady, by Popes Pius XII & John Paul II

See these historic papal prayers for the consecration of the world to Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary Theotokos:

• Epistula Apostolica “Carissimis Russiae Populis” ad Universos Russiae Populos, by Pope Ven. Pius XII (1952). The English translation is included on this page of the EWTN Library.
• Prayer of Consecration to Mary, by Saint John Paul the Great (Pope John Paul II) (1982). Reprinted in Soul Magazine, March-April 1982. Included on this page of the University of Dayton.
• Consecration of the Modern World to Our Lady of Fátima, “We entrust, O Mary, and consecrate the whole world to your Immaculate Heart!”, by Pope John Paul II, 13 May 1982, renewed at the closing Mass of the Synod of the Bishops on Penance & Reconciliation, 16 October 1983. Included on this page of the EWTN Library.
• Consecration of all Individuals and Peoples of the World (in union with the Bishops of the World), by Pope John Paul II, 25 March 1984. May be read online on this page of Catholic Culture, and included on this page of the EWTN Library.
• Consecration of the Church and World to the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Pope John Paul II, December 8, 1990. May be read online on this page of the EWTN Library. [According to the text, this is the prayer before the Roman Icon “Salus Populi Romani.”]

In solidarity with the exhortation of the Holy See to consecrate anew the world, especially Russia and Ukraine, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

Online texts: Documents of the Maronite Patriarchal Synod of 2004

See these online texts:

• Documents of the Maronite Patriarchal Synod of 2003-2004. May be read online through this index of documents on Maronite Heritage (which also contains an Introduction by Archbishop Youssef Bechara of Antelias and a Preface by His Beatitude and Eminence Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir (+), Patriarch of Antioch and the Entire East, Maronite Church)

See also the texts listed on the page Eastern Catholicism.

On the Feast of Saint Maron in the Maronite Church, within the one true and Catholic Church. May his prayers be with us. For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

Online text: Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of the World on the German Synodal Path, by Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila

See this online text:

• “A Response to ‘Forum I’ of the German Catholic Synodal Path: An Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of the World” by the Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila, Archbishop of Denver, May 13, 2021. Available in pdf format in English, Español, und  Deutsch, through this page of the Archdiocese of Denver and through the article “Archbishop Aquila responds to Germany’s synodal path that could impact the universal Church” at Denver Catholic.

See also the various works listed as related texts on the posts “Online text: “The Crisis of Faith and the Crisis of the Church”, by Dr. Ralph Weimann“, “Worth-it book: “A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward”, by Dr. Ralph Martin“, and “Online text: “On the Sacramental Meaning of Tradition”, by Prof. José Granados“, and “Worth-it book: “Christ’s Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age”, by Bishop Athanasius Schneider“.

On the Memorial of Blessed Rabanus Maurus. For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

“But though we, or an Angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema… For I give you to understand, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man… but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians i, 8, 11-12)

“[K]eep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called. Which some promising, have erred concerning the faith.” (I Timothy vi, 20-21)

“What Jesus Christ was yesterday, and is to-day, he remains for ever. Do not be carried aside from your course by a maze of new doctrines” (Hebrews xiii, 8-9)

“Dearly beloved, taking all care to write to you concerning your common salvation, I was under a necessity to write to you: to beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.” (St. Jude i, 3)