De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Gavin gives a particularly excellent explanation of why the only place to be to be close to Jesus is the Catholic Church in this, our latest Catholic Unscripted video. I really enjoyed Gavin's explanation of why he is a Catholic and his discussion of some of the arguments he has encountered from Anglicans as to why they are not Catholic. He goes on to discuss the abuse crisis and explains why we should not be surprised and why we must stand behind the sanctity of the priesthood.

I have been looking forward to getting together with Gavin and Katherine to discuss some of the extraordinary developments in the Catholic world over the last couple of weeks and we managed to find some time on Saturday. We talked about Fr. Altman's claims that Pope Francis is not the Pope , the Vatican launching a very public attack on Bishop Joseph Strickland  and Cardinal Müller, Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Benedict XVI, who gave an interview to Spanish news website InfoVaticana last week - I posted an English translation here - in which he states (among other things): Q-What would happen if, for example, the Synod Assembly approved the blessing of homosexual couples, the change in sexual morality, the elimination of the obligation of priestly celibacy or allowing the female diaconate? Would you accept it? A-Priestly celibacy must be eliminated from this list, since the connection of the sacrament of Holy Orders with the charisma of vol...

Dr. Gavin Ashenden gives his devastating analysis of the working document (the Instrumentum Laboris ) of the Synod of Synodality in the Catholic Herald . Gavin says that “By their fruits” but also their language “shall ye know them.” and laments that the document is saturated with "the fingerprints of progressive leftism whether you meet them in political, LGBTQ+ or climate change circles." His conclusion having read the document is that it ignores the basics of Christian teaching and the Jesus of the Gospels. He explains:  "There is of course too much war. But there is no recognition in Instrumentum Laboris that original sin is at the root of this; that repentance, conversion and salvation are the remedies. The proposed remedies are instead that the resources of “listening, inclusion and affirmation”- the constant reiteration of “walking together” will provide the remedy. This is of course profoundly sub-Christian, and perhaps worse." Gavin, who was the former cha...

In this episode we talk about the posthumous publication of a new book by Pope Benedict XVI. Many were wondering if the timing of this book's release meant we would finally see Joseph Ratzinger settling scores with Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who genuinely had humiliated him by trashing his ruling on the Latin Mass? The answer is, in fact no, as anyone who knew Pope Benedict XVI should have guessed. The book is a collection of essays, infinitely better written and far more theologically literate than Pope Francis’s writings — but the late Pope Emeritus would have considered it just as wrong to break his promise to show loyalty to his successor after his death as before it. It did, however, contain some interesting relationships about problematic and influential groups within the Vatican! We also discuss the strange overturning of Fr Rupnik's ex-communication as this scandal, which integrates the Pope in an unclear way continues to rumble on as more and more victims come forward and ...

In this episode we share some reflections about Cardinal Pell's extraordinary contribution to the Church, his courage and stoic faith. This is especially boosted by a conversation Gavin recently had with Vatican Journalist Edward Pentin. You can listen to the whole thing here .  Please do like and subscribe to our channel for more Catholic chat.

  In this episode of Catholic Unscripted, we were contacted by a viewer to discuss the promotion of abortion on the Graham Norton chat show on BBC 1. We talk about the way abortion has become mainstream in the UK and ask why it's not more of a priority for our bishops (rather than climate change!). We also discuss Pope Francis' attempt to frame tradition as infidelity which I wrote about here .

So few Catholics engaged in Pope Francis' Synod consultation that he has decided to extend it for another year "to overcome resistance". It will be interesting to see how, having failed to engage Catholics so far, the pope will manage to do it in a further 12 months of, presumably, the same meaningless sophistry and inane babble which has become nothing short of a running joke. The quotations above (in parentheses) are taken from #PopeFrancis 's October 16 Sunday Angelus during which he explained his decision to have the Synod on Synodality assembly take place in Rome in two sessions, one in Oct 2023 & the other in 2024: https://t.co/NiUlob85Dd — Diane Montagna (@dianemontagna) October 17, 2022 What can possibly be gained by dragging this out for another year? After the former Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith labelled the initiative as "a hostile take over of the Church" a thing which "we must resist" (watch him sa...

If you ever wondered why Catholicism, once the faith of British intellectual elites like Newman, Tolkien, Belloc, Chesterton and Muggeridge, became something so hated and maligned in our culture, you only have to look at the silent "teachers", our bishops and British Catholics with a platform like Catherine Pepinster.  Pepinster was the first female editor of The Tablet in the newspaper's 176-year history. In 2017 she published the book The Keys and the Kingdom: The British and the Papacy from John Paul II to Francis . Pepinster would be the first to admit she has problems with some areas of Church teaching, and The Tablet has long been a forum for such discussions to take place. Although I personally welcome such discussions (I see them as the place where evangelisation takes place in the present cultural milieu), I do feel it is essential that we are properly informed about the issues. I would argue that while The Tablet has been a place where this has been discussed...