De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Catholics have traditions which go back centuries, but this pope knows better, and we're supposed to believe what's driving his insight is humility? So much for "the smell of the sheep" eh? Initially the Vatican said that the reason for this was because Francis is fickle: A Vatican spokesman said the Pope was “amused” by the reaction to the video. “Sometimes he likes it, sometimes he does not. It’s really as simple as that”. https://t.co/Cc80WXxOPo — Fr Walter (@Wally4Jesus) March 26, 2019 They might just as well have said "Well he is a bit of a twit, so don't pay too much attention". Then they gathered themselves together and came up with this gem: In comments to reporters today, Vatican spokesman @AGisotti said he asked the #Pope this morning why he decided not to let some of the faithful kiss his ring in Loreto. Francis said he didn't want to spread germs among the many who had come to greet him @NCRegister — Edward Pentin ...

I thank God for brave Catholics like Caroline Farrow who are willing to put their own well-being at risk in pushing back against the false and dangerous ideologies which are being foisted on our children presently. This situation is particularly pernicious - the woman who reported Caroline has received half-a-million in sterling from the government to promote her false ideology. Indeed the whole country seems to have gone transgender crazy over the last couple of years, the number of children being referred to gender identity clinics has quadrupled in the past five years . Some sources quote a 4,000% rise in children with gender dysphoria in the US. But where are our bishops in this argument? Well they don't say much at all, as Cardinal Sarah says in his new book , they are terrified of upsetting the media, but they have promulgated deeply problematic & heretical guidelines for our schools on so-called LGBT issues , and drew dismay when they tweeted in support of ...

Some excruciating footage released today of the excruciating man who is doing so much damage to the office of Peter: As Edward Pentin remarked , This is something he has done quite regularly during his pontificate though not quite so insistently as today. If it tells us anything, it is indicative of a false humility which shows he thinks the homage paid to the Petrine office is being paid to him personally. He may not want to be Pope, but he is the pope and the way Catholics treat the pope is different to the way we treat priests or bishops. The pope here gives a masterclass in how to humiliate people. If he felt so strongly about this, why not inform those he was greeting respectfully, or just keep his right hand by his side and save embarrassing these poor people? Surely it would show more humility to just let the people show reverence for his office if he didn't like it? It is the yoke he has been given. Three years ago, Pope Francis described “rigid people” in...

The Church is living a “mystery of treason,” a “mystery of Judas”, Curia Cardinal Robert Sarah writes in his new book “Le soir approche et déjà le jour baisse” (Fayard), “The Church is dying because the shepherds are afraid of speaking with truth and clarity,” he adds, “We are afraid of the media.” As a consequence, Catholics are “confused”. For Sarah the Church has become a “den of darkness” and a “cave of thieves”. Certain men of God have turned into “agents of the Evil one.” And, “...have betrayed like Judas.” Sarah calls relativism “the mask of Judas, dressed as an intellectual.” “We tolerate everything” and “Catholic doctrine is put in question,” Cardinal Sarah says, “In the name of stances which they call ‘intellectual’, theologians delight in deconstructing the dogmas and emptying Catholic morals of their profound significance.” Gloria tv reports . It is difficult to argue against the Cardinal's hypothesis which suggests that, at the root of the collapse of...

Brentwood Diocese released a vision document at the beginning of Advent which states its aim as not "managing decline"....It then goes on to suggest a strategy for managing decline. We don't have any vocations you see . It's not all complete rubbish one good idea is that Parishes work together and help each other/ share best practice (something I have been trying to encourage in my own locality for years now). However, the plan basically seems to be that lay people will have to do the priest stuff from now on. In the "Restructuring Section" it explains: As our number of priests reduces from the situation we currently have towards this long-term position we will go through a transitional period that we have previously referred to as the “medium term”. As we go through the transition over the next 15 years the number of priests will reduce as God sees fit It's like we are locked in to a cycle of inevitable collapse and real "renewal" is ...

Sr Miriam Duggan FMSA, FRCOG (82) is a native of Limerick, Ireland. In 1969 she was one of the first qualified obstetricians in Uganda. She headed the maternity unit of Nsambia Hospital, Kampala for 30 years. In this 30 minute interview Sr Miriam discusses her experiences, including :  Addressing the Ugandan parliament on abortion.  The abstinence programme for HIV which reduced the incidence from 25% to 6%  The role of Mother Kevina (Kearney) in the development of health care in Uganda.  Conscientious Objection for pro life medical students and health care personnel.  UK abortion experiences.  She also mentions her early medical training and specialisation in obstetrics. What a wonderful woman!

Daddy Pig                                                                                Cardinal Marx "The most terrifying words in 21st-century Catholicism are “I’m from the German Church and I’m here to enter into a synodal dialogue about new doctrinal insights.”" ~ Dan Hitchens It's true for GK Chesterton as always, when he stated: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” What better example could there be than the opulent, bloated German Church? These men have been pushing a particular agenda their whole lives. It consistently leaves people cold, disinterested & apathetic. It has destroyed vocations and wrecked Mass attendance . They so lack insight, intelligence & self-awareness that the only reaso...

As I reported at the time , one of the stand out moments of the Vatican cringe-a-thon Abuse Summit was a journalist from Crux  (which tends to be more supportive of the Pope and his agenda) asked how can we believe that this is the end of cover-ups, "when at the end of the day, Pope Francis himself covered-up for a Bishop in Argentina who had gay porn on his phone", referring to Argentine Bishop Zanchetta, here's the video: At Presser for Vatican Sexual Abuse Summit #PBC2019 , @inesanma asks how can we believe that this is the end of cover-ups, "when at the end of the day, Pope Francis himself covered-up for a Bishop in Argentina who had gay porn on his phone", referring to Argentine Bishop Zanchetta pic.twitter.com/RN8txTMbTi — Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) February 24, 2019 The journalist asking the question was Inés San Martín, an Argentinean journalist who covers the Vatican in Rome for Crux . I think her nationality has been the reason for her to be ...

Priests who promote homosexuality in direct contradiction to Church teaching justify their new approach by saying that they are "accompanying" same-sex attracted people to faith. In fact, if one delves even a little below the superficiality of this duplicitous pretence one can see how this nonsense can never work and the reality is that are in fact achieving the opposite. History demonstrates that SSA people will either work to change Church teaching, as the Westminster LGBT+ group who recently spent time with Pope Francis do , or, if they are honest, they will recognise they only really have two options: conform their lives to Christ or leave. For a parent, priests who do this are their worst nightmare, particularly in a secular culture that constantly positively promotes such lifestyles. Faced with this parental challenge, where does one go to for help? If you are a Catholic, you go to the Church and her tradition to find a way to guide your child through this chall...

For those who consider Cardinal Pell guilty as sentenced and wonder why some Catholics (quite a lot of Catholics) are sticking up for a convicted child abuser, it might be worth watching this report. Serious questions about Cardinal Pell's conviction are raised by Peta Credlin in Australia who notes the Cardinal's innovations to deal with abuse and the zero tolerance policies he himself put in place. She also articulates the fact that what made Pell hated was his adherence to orthodox Catholic teaching in an environment which is now rabidly anti-religious. Credlin says she has had to confront the reality that either the Church or the law is wrong in this instance...and it looks like the it's law because there is a very difference standard applied despite the fact that Catholic schools, hospitals and charities have undoubtedly done more good than harm. EWTN also aired the analysis below by John Macaulay, a former altar server for Cardinal Pell at the Cathedral...

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed! ~ Galatians 1:6 f At the outset of this Papacy many Catholics, including myself, held the Archbishop of Malta, Charles Scicluna in great esteem. When he was appointed I wrote this glowing appraisal , and again a few days later when Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith of the Catholic Herald said that Malta now has a world class bishop to lead it . And so it seemed. Scicluna had the pedigree too. In 1991 he obtained a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian Unive...

I can't really believe this is even a real thing but perhaps someone can explain how Pope Francis being on retreat with Bishop Zanchetta, his friend, ally & now under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct & having gay porn images on his phone is not a scandal &/or extremely toxic for the Pontiff & the faith?   The Catholic Herald has learned that a bishop currently under investigation for sexual misconduct and financial mismanagement, including claims he had naked selfies and gay pornography on his phone, is on retreat with Pope Francis and other senior members of the Roman Curia. The bishop is Gustavo Zanchetta, emeritus of Orán, Argentina, and currently Assessor to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) who I first reported on here . Zanchetta was an associate of Francis before he was elected Pope in 2013: he was executive undersecretary of the Argentine episcopal conference which was headed by none other than Jorge Bergo...

Back in October I drew attention to reports that a French court has ordered Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the Archbishop of Lyon, to be tried early next year for “failing to denounce a sexually abusive priest”. The report states that the trial, already delayed twice, will now move forward on 7-9th of January despite the Vatican’s “failure to respond to a summons issued to Cardinal Ladaria". Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer was appointed prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope Francis after the abrupt dismissal of its previous prefect, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, in 2017. Some commented that this was because Ladaria was "more malleable". Well this week Barbarin was found guilty  (on Thursday) of covering up historic sexual abuse allegations. Barbarin was sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence for failing to report between July 2014 and June 2015 the sexual abuse allegations made against a priest from his diocese, Bernard Preynat, in...

Dan Hitchens makes a really valuable and intelligent defence of the reality of hell in this piece for First Things . It does worry me that such an important teaching is so ignored today. One of my sons volunteered with our Diocesan Youth Service and the priest in charge told him that the devil and hell did not exist. To contradict doctrine in this way seems to me to be a great sin in itself, but I do understand why it would seem easier to ignore it, especially if you're in the business of encouraging others to sin! I also understand why the teaching has become unpopular. In fact, it makes a lot of sense in today's society in which everything is permitted and nothing ever forgiven. After all isn't it said that the devil encourages you into sin by telling you it's no big deal, and then afterwards tells you that what you have done can never be forgiven? Easier to just say that we don't have to take any responsibility for our actions. I think Dan's piece is...