It's a (Catholic) boy! Meet baby Benedict

Thanks Michael! Actually Melanie famously liveblogged the labor of our second daughter, Sophia, last year so while I think she's a saint, she's also a committed technophile like me too.

There is no such thing as a Catholic child.

Is he also a Conservative Republican?

Let him choose his own religion when he's old enough think and choose for himself.

Fran,

Actually when the child is Baptized he does become a Catholic. If it helps you understand it's similar to someone becoming a citizen of the USA. Of course no one can keep the child from practicing a different religion or no religion when he becomes an adult. It's the whole free will deal.

Peace and Blessings,

There are just millions of Catholic children all and all over the world! They all are just very proud to be Catholic!

who cares. Obviously this has already been blogged, tweeted and otherwise documented ad nauseum, so all who had personal interest had already been alerted.

Congrats to Domenic and family. Well done.
Fran, we can smell an ex-Catholic a mile away.

Pope Benedict is a mess -- why would anyone name their baby after the evil emperor from Star Wars?

Congrats, Dom and Melanie!
Nice to see the haters can't drop their knives long enough to celebrate the birth of a child, but welcome to 2009.

Congratulations (again), Dom and Melanie -
Joanne M

Hello Dom & Melanie,
congratulations on the birth of your lovely little boy.
I gave birth to a boy on 28th march this year, and my husband and I also named him Benedict. We are Catholics who also love the Pope!
Amy Ferguson
(Melbourne, Australia)

Nv, Fran's comments about letting the child choose his own religion is not an indication that he/she is an ex Catholic. I am Catholic and raised my children as such. When my son was doing his confirmation at age 16, the priest asked him to attend service/mass at churches of other religion to be sure that he wants to remain a Catholic. Was the priest trying to push my son into converting into another religion? No. The priest simply wanted him to make up his own mind. Fran's point precisely.

Congratulations! What a wonderful story of a loving family. Welcome to the world, little Benedict!

Congrats Dom and Melanie.

Fran, you are an anti-Catholic ! There are millions and millions of Catholic children all around the world.

Why is this even slightly relevant to the general population? There is no need for something like this to be on the front page of Boston.com. There's a page for births in the newspaper.. put it there.

I completely agree with News Worthy!!! Religion is much more complicated and exciting these days than this story can even begin to relate! Please, a real article on religion!

Hi Mike P, Domenico Bettinelli, Jr,

ST: Your reasoning is Well Sounded

Congrats on the birth of your boy.

Yours in GOD, MA/NY MrDave

Hi News Worthy, MikeyP,

ST: Glory to this Child and The Family

"Why is this even slightly relevant to the general population? There is no need for something like this to be on the front page of Boston.com. There's a page for births in the newspaper.. put it there."

Go Tell your frustrations to the Mountain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqPkBvTdgT0

Based on their salary cut backs and their attack on the Church, they in the Globe might have found religion.

The birth of a child is always special, unless you are with the abortion on demand crowd that degrades all of life for the so called issue of personal Imperial Self privacy. Sonia has to navigate this passage yet I think she knows the answer.

No, a child does not become a Catholic when he or she is baptized - the child becomes A CHRISTIAN.

Yes, when a child is baptized in the Catholic Church, he or she does become a Catholic.

Let it go!!

Posted by Luciennepierre July 14, 09 07:50 PM

Anyway you can tell me what parish and/or who the Priest was? Was this recently?

Peace and Blessings

Jay,

I agree that the child becomes a Christian but if it's in a Catholic Church then they ebcome mebers of the original and only Christian Chruch for the first 1,500 years after the Resurrection.

Peace and Blessings

"Nv, Fran's comments about letting the child choose his own religion is not an indication that he/she is an ex Catholic. I am Catholic and raised my children as such. When my son was doing his confirmation at age 16, the priest asked him to attend service/mass at churches of other religion to be sure that he wants to remain a Catholic. Was the priest trying to push my son into converting into another religion? No. The priest simply wanted him to make up his own mind. Fran's point precisely." posted by Lucienpierre

Lucienpierre, there's a big difference between baptism and confirmation. for the observant Catholic and other Christians, baptism is the beginning of a lifetime relationship with Jesus Christ and the entrance into eternal life, and entrance into that community of love which is Jesus' church. Who would not want to give that gift to your baby? Confirmation, while nice, does is not necessary for salvation.

Plus,unless you changed your name, I see your parents gave you the nice gift of being named afters saints Luke and Peter.

Interestingly, the name Benedict comes from Bene, good, well, and dictio, speech, meaning good speech, blessing, the same as Baruch, and Barack, from the Hebrew/Arabic/Semitic beraka. But you can call him Ben, or Bennie, you dassn't half to call him Benedict.

Dom and Melanie: Congratulations!!! Your son is beautiful, and what a great name you have chosen for him!!

I see Pope Benedict XVI as an amazing and beautiful man, so when I bought a new car (which I love dearly)- I christened him Benedict. I feel protected and safe. As a senior citizen, I'm too old to bring more children into the world, and Benedict (my car) brings me love and closeness I need.

God Bless you! Our current Holy Father's name will be always encouragement for your son's faith. We, Catholics, are doing what we should have done for centuries so Dom do not ever think of anti-Catholic's sayings.

Careful Proud2bCatholic, your enthusiasm for defending the faith is well taken, however don't let it lead you to a warped understanding of history. Christian unity did not end 1500 years after Christ, but rather a half millennium earlier in 1054 with the great schism, when East and West split.

While I congratulate Dom and Melanie on the birth of their child, Michael, I must wonder how this news made it onto your blog. They're not the first Catholic couple to name a child in honor of the Pope, nor will they be the last. What's the connection?

A blog with nothing to say quoting another blog with nothing to say. Narcissus meet your twin.

Dom...my friend named her son in English after Pier Giorgio Frassati. Go for it! May your 4th child be a masculine child. I love the italian version myself. English would be Peter George...maybe Melanie would go for that! But, I say Pier all the way! I pray Boston readers were or are inspired by this beautiful story of a lovely, healthy boy born to such loving parents and family! Blessings, DianaKLoCh