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Showing posts from February, 2018

Mahony no longer Pope's "special envoy"

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Further to my post in January about the shocking appointment of Cardinal Mahony as the Pope's "Special Envoy" to the diocese of Scranton, it appears the Vatican, or perhaps the cardinal himself, have withdrawn. Church Militant reports this development comes: seemingly out of the blue, Mahony was no longer the representative — merely declaring very simply he could not attend. Church Militant also note that Many Catholics were appalled and feel Mahony should be in jail, not leading the celebration. In today's Vortex, Michael Voris suggests this could be as a direct result of the connection with the Bishop Barros affair in Chile.

Former Head of US Bishops Doctrine Committee: faithful must mount response to Church leadership's attack on her identity.

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Capuchin Father Thomas Weinandy, a member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission and former chief of staff for the U.S. Bishops' committee on doctrine says the Church’s leadership is attacking her identity and calls on the faithful to mount a ‘robustly positive’ response. The thrust of Fr. Weinandy's landmark speech at the University of Notre Dame in Sydney, Australia, Feb. 24 was that, only when Catholics grasp that the Church’s unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity are under attack by the Church’s current leadership will they be able to respond to the present ecclesial crisis and find positive solutions to it. Father Weinandy, who criticised the current pontificate as causing “chronic confusion” in a letter to Pope Francis  which cost him his job as chief of doctrine for U.S. bishops conference last year, said these “four defining ecclesial marks are presently at risk” and the threat is coming, not from Catholic theologians, but “even and r

Bonino & Pope Francis "Allies"

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You may recall that, back in in 2016 Pope Francis praised Italian politico Emma Bonino as a “forgotten great” because of her work with refugees. This despite her abortion advocacy. In fact, between her abortion activism and being an abortionist herself, Bonino is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of roughly six million Italian babies between 1968 and today. Today in the Guardian, a left-leaning news organisation in the UK, carries a piece on Bonino  which ends in a particularly disturbing way. In contrast to her fight with the Catholic church 40 years ago, Bonino can, these days, count on at least one ally: Pope Francis. The two, she says with a grin, are in touch. “We have some connections, so we pass messages quite often, through friends.” “Many love humanity only in order to forget God with a clear conscience.” ― Nicolás Gómez Dávila

Pope Benedict XVI Warned Us in 1989...

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Although these are impossibly difficult times for faithful Catholics, one possible consolation is that Pope Francis writings will likely be quickly forgotten. I can imagine that we will be studying and unpacking Pope Benedict XVI's writings in a hundred years time, remarking how prophetic he was. This is a good example . In 1989, the then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger said:  “Each of these controversies (e.g. allowing contraception, homosexual practice, Communion for D&R) rests upon a much more far-reaching change of ‘paradigms,’ that is, of the basic ideas of being and of human obligation.” In a talk given to European bishops the future pontiff foresaw many of the challenges afflicting the Church today, and in typical fashion, proposed strategies to understand and effectively deal with them. In his discourse to doctrinal commissions in Laxenburg, Austria, entitled Difficulties Confronting the Faith in Europe Today , the then-prefect of the Congregation for the

Discovering the One True Church

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I found this so emotional to watch. This young lady reads Jn 6 and cannot deny the Catholic truth she finds there. It leads her (impels her - see Lumen Gentium 8) to the truth, but it takes an honest reading of the text and the impetus of the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth when your whole experience has been telling you this is something else. Do you take your faith for granted? Even today, right now, there are people abandoning popularity, friends, even family to follow Jesus and His Church. Think there's no difference between the denominations? Think again. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." Matthew 10:34

Cupich Punching Above his Weight?

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The Catholic Herald reports that Cardinal Blase Cupich has addressed the Von Hügel Institute at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, presenting a lecture entitled “Pope Francis’ Revolution of Mercy: Amoris Laetitia as a New Paradigm of Catholicity”. I have to admit I was impressed by his bottle to be prepared to try and hoodwink academics with such a moody talk. (Yes I did very much slip into the local vernacular there). In his address, Cardinal Cupich called for “a major shift in our ministerial approach that is nothing short of revolutionary”. The hoped-for “paradigm shift”, the cardinal said, would be from an approach focused on “the automatic application of universal principles” to one which is “continually immersed” in “concrete situations”. In a question-and-answer session after the cardinal’s lecture , the historian and philosopher Professor John Rist suggested that “the Pope’s ‘paradigm shift’ should be recognised as an attempt, under cover of offering solutions to

Who is Lying in the Vatican?

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Marie Collins handing the letter detailing victims’ complaints of a sex abuse cover up in Chile to Cardinal Seán O’Malley on April 12th 2015. I can't believe I am reading the Tablet these days but it is born of some sort of morbid curiosity as I watch the Pope's former buddies organise themselves into a firing squad. You may remember I drew your attention to an article by Robert Mickens in La Croix on Jan 20th. Mickens continues to chase this story writing yesterday in the Tablet. The latest revelation is that, despite Pope Francis claim that "No one has come forward" he actually received an 8-page letter in 2015 detailing the abuse suffered at the hands of Fr Karadima (pictured above is the letter being given to Cardinal Sean O’Malley). The existence of this letter contradicts the Pope’s insistence that victims of Fr Fernando Karadima had not come forward to complain about a cover-up by Bishop Juan Barros, who Francis appointed to lead the Diocese

Vatican Chancellor Praises Communism

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Recently back from his very first trip to China, Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo (chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences) is full of excited praise for the world's most populous country . “Those who best realize the social doctrine of the Church at this time are the Chinese.” So Sorondo gushed to the Italian newspaper, La Stampa , on Friday. “They seek the common good, subordinating all things to the general good.” One has to wonder just what planet Archbishop Sanchez is on! Has he heard of prison, persecution, negative participation in national life, one child policy and its enforcement, Tibet, the underground church, falang dang (?), and a host of other aspects of China's polity at variance with basic humanity, let alone anything near to what the Church teaches. Under the Vatican's new Sinopolitik perhaps he should be sent there as Nuncio? In any case what is completely clear is that this sort of political/economic analysis is an embarrassmen

ROSARY ON THE COAST OF THE BRITISH ISLES

Thank you Bishop John Keenan! The Event This is a day of Pilgrimage and Prayer for the re-flourishing of our Faith, for the grace to build a culture of Life and for true Peace to reign in the hearts of all peoples & Nations. The Inspiration Recently the faithful of Poland and Ireland have responded to what they sense as a movement of the Holy Spirit to gather around the coasts of their nations and pray to Jesus, the Divine Mercy, for a renewal of faith and respect for human life through the powerful intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary. Having witnessed this, a number of the lay faithful in the British Isles - England, Scotland, Wales and their isles- have felt the same inspiration and urge to respond. They are hoping for us to have our own national Rosary on the Coast for Faith, Life and Peace in the British Isles and are calling their brothers and sisters to such a day of Prayer and Pilgrimage on Sunday 29th April at 3pm, 2018, fifth Sunday of Easter. Get new

Is this the beginning of the end for Pope Francis?

In the latest Spectator Podcast, Dr. Ed Condon and Dr. Damian Thompson discuss recent calamitous developments in the Pontificate of Pope Francis: Chile and China . I am especially glad they talk about Cardinal Danneels inclusion in the synod on the family as Pope Francis' special guest, despite serious questions about his cardinalate, see here and here  as I can't believe more questions haven't been asked about this, especially given his claims about Pope Francis' election in his autobiography ( see here for the details ). There's also analysis of the Chinese betrayal: Thompson concludes "the bad guys have won", Condon says there are faithful priests and bishops within the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, however he points out that many are opposed to any deal and the CPCA bishops incur automatic excommunication under canon 1382 . Huang was also publicly excommunicated by Benedict XVI in 2011. Another example of Pope Francis' flagrant d

The Sin of Judging Others

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There is hardly any verse of the Bible that is more misunderstood than Jesus’ words, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged” ( Matt. 7:1 ). I have blogged about it before  because someone asked me to. How common has this verse become, especially since Pope Francis said "Who am I to judge?" when asked about a priest with same-sex attraction  in 2013. It has become a kind of mantra for the Church under Pope Francis, like truth doesn't matter anymore, all that matters is not judging. This has always made me feel uncomfortable. I know in my heart that in a certain sense this is right, but I also recognise that it is not right in the way it is being used; almost weaponized. If you know Jesus, if you know the Christian faith, this sentiment is anathema, because the fundamental turning point in most people's lives from agnosticism to discipleship is the point where you recognise you have sinned and you need to be Redeemed by Jesus Christ. Judging right fro

Bishops are given an opportunity to stand up for Christ - HOW MANY WILL STAND?

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If you believe in the faith at all Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, now is the time to stand up against this madness! https://t.co/a8IdP14l1o — Mark (@sitsio) January 30, 2018 In Fr. Mennon's article commenting on the present dire situation in the Church, he suggests that there are two reasons that no one, or very few people, anyway, are prepared to accuse the pope and his entourage of formal heresy. Firstly because the heresy being peddled is indirect, obscure. Secondly because the one who appears to be pushing it is the Pope, and it is unheard of that anyone should have need to correct the pope on faith or morals. He also noted that for bishops to start openly calling on the Pope to repent of his heresy would mean existential and open schism, which would cause great pain to the Church. These reasons all make a lot of sense to me. They almost seem like good reasons for the clamour against Amoris Laetitia and the subsequent episcopal statements of Malta , Germany , Portugal