De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

As Northern Italy goes into a state of lock-down over Corona Virus Catholics are left with something of a dilemma. The local "ordinanze" (decrees) include the prohibition of "religious" gatherings, and getting ahead of the public authorities, several dioceses in the region have suspended religious activities. Obviously this is a sensible & reasonable precaution against further spreading the virus, but one bishop has given an exemplary response as Rorate Caeli reports . The Bishop of Pavia, in Lombardy, Corrado Sanguineti, shows that is possible. His pastoral letter on the matter is a lesson in common sense, and in particular I would draw your attention to this paragraph: While unfortunately having to suspend the celebration of the Holy Masses until further notice, I order that Churches remain open, for the personal prayer of the faithful, and I ask that, even on weekdays, priests celebrate daily Mass, behind closed doors, praying in the name of the whole...

The Papal Posse are always worth a watch. In this episode, they discuss the synod document. Fr Gerald Murray says it was a happy day when Querida Amazonia was released because the synod asked for women deacons and married priests and the Holy Father did not grant those things, he gave an answer which was to pray for vocations. Progressive Catholics are angry and bitter, their reaction, that the pope "lacked courage" is because he set up people's expectations in that regard. Fr Murray: the Amazonian synod was first raised by the pope in the context of ordaining viri probati , naturally there were therefore a lot of expectations. Robert Royal thinks the pope wants to leave the door open with his request for the faithful to read the Final Document. Baldisseri says clearly in the press conference that exhortation does not speak about the approval of the final document, just presentation, therefore it does not have magisterial authority. In this Baldesseri contradi...

Remember when, on a papal flight , the Pope called it "good administration" to sink $220m of Peter's Pence money into a luxury property development in Chelsea, London? Well, it appears investigators in the Vatican disagree. Breaking news from CNA : Vatican official Monsignor Perlasca has been raided over the London property deal . Perlasca was the former head of the administrative office, First Section, Secretariat of State. CNA report: Vatican authorities have seized documents and computers belonging to a senior curial official as part of an investigation into financial misconduct, the Holy See announced on Tuesday. In a statement issued Feb. 18, the Vatican press office confirmed that investigators had raided the office and home of Msgr. Alberto Perlasca, the former head of the administrative office at the First Section of the Secretariat of State. The raid is part of an ongoing investigation into financial misconduct by officials at the secretariat. “This...

As the Amazonian dust begins to settle, we can begin to see a little more clearly what has been going on, and the preliminary perspective confirms my initial instincts that this is a victory for the Church of Jesus Christ. The Pope & his progressive supporters have spent two years now building expectations around controversial topics like the ordination of married men, the abandonment of priestly celibacy & female ordination. These are not new topics, they are all the same old progressive topics pursued by Bergoglio and the men around him for decades (perhaps best illustrated from a parochial UK perspective by this recent post ). It seemed very clear that the Amazon was going to be used as a Trojan Horse to push these ideas into the mainstream. The arguments were made that the remote Amazonian communities lacked ministers to administer the sacraments, one nun at the synod even said she was already hearing confessions ! The Austrian bishop who seemed to have almost free r...

Life-size cat figure in the garden of Huttenstrasse 9, Zurich, where Erwin Schrödinger lived 1921–1926. Depending on the light conditions, the cat appears either alive or dead. Schrödinger's famous thought experiment poses the question, " when does a quantum system stop existing as a superposition of states and become one or the other? " Schrödinger wanted people to imagine that a cat, poison, a geiger counter, radioactive material, and a hammer were inside of a sealed container. The amount of radioactive material was minuscule enough that it only had a 50/50 shot of being detected over the course of an hour. If the geiger counter detected radiation, the hammer would smash the poison, killing the cat. Until someone opened the container and observed the system, it was impossible to predict if the cat’s outcome. Thus, until the system collapsed into one configuration, the cat would exist in some superposition zombie state of being both alive and dead. Of course, S...

Matt Hadro of CNA spoke to Cardinal Joseph Zen, the bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, on the 11th February. Zen said that the situation of the Church in China is dire. The cardinal also predicted the end of the underground Church. Zen explained : “I’m fighting Parolin. Because the bad things come from him, he is so optimistic about the so-called ‘Ostpolitik’, the compromise. But you cannot compromise with the Chinese Communist Party, who are persecutors of the faith. They want complete surrender. That’s communism.” Zen was speaking at the offices of U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.). After the meeting, Smith told CNA that Cardinal Zen “is a Saint Paul of our time, who is not only a holy and an effective witness for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he is also a man of great truth about what is really happening in China.” I think it's criminal that Zen has to spend this time fighting the Vatican instead of being "an effective witness for the Gospel of Jesus Christ".

This morning I feel happier about the Church than I have done for some time. The unlikely reason is that Pope Francis has released his new Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia  ( read the full text here ) and it is good!! 1. It is short - the shortest document released by this pope at 33 pages divided into 4 chapters named after dreams; A Social Dream , A Cultural Dream , An Ecological Dream , An Ecclesial Dream . 2. Pope Francis does not mention Pachamama directly, but does further attempt to justify the awful episode in paragraph 79: 3. Despite calls from the synod fathers for women deacons, Pope Francis denounces those who push for female ordination, saying "it would lead us to "clericalize" women, diminish the great value of what they have already accomplished, and subtly make their indispensable contribution less effective." 4. Pope Francis addresses the issues of the Priesthood & the Eucharist in paragraphs 82 - 98. I can discern...

To our bishops and cardinals -- we can't trust you! We want to trust you, but we can't. The only time we hear from you is when you want our money! We are Catholic -- does any of what we believe matter to you???

Dictatorships can be recognised by some obvious clues. Rigged elections; rule by decree; repression of political opponents; failing to abide by the rule of law procedures, censorship and cult of personality. Bishop Robert Barron is someone I have personally met. He reminds me of so many of the priests I knew as a young man, in a word, impressive. He is charismatic, intelligent, confident. He has a knack, a way of engaging people. He has used his many gifts to evangelise by engaging the culture and it works. His ministry has undoubtedly had a powerful effect on many, many people because he is able to explain Catholic doctrine in a sensible, reasonable way. This has drawn criticism on occasion . Last week, news broke that he believes the bishops should consider exercising their authority in the digital sphere: “just as John Paul II, in Ex Corde Ecclesiae , called for the bishops to exercise greater supervision of universities operating under the aegis of the Church.” “Ther...

It seems like only yesterday that Gorgeous George Gänswein was the toast of Catholicism. Dashing, orthodox, courageous. But where is he now?? He appears to have gone missing! Even as recently as 2015 he appeared to be prepared to speak candidly about the faith challenging the Francis narrative - or idiocracy as it increasingly appears to be modelled after. This morning German outlet,  Die Tagespost reported that Pope Francis had placed +Gänswein on indefinite leave of absence as Prefect of Papal Household. The generally conservative publication reported that the intent was to give him more time with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. In a press release yesterday, the Vatican press office denied that Gänswein, who also serves as secretary for Benedict XVI, has been officially suspended as head of Francis’ papal household by Pope Francis. About four hours ago a Vatican spokesman told Edward Pentin that the report from Die Tagespost is unsubstantiated. The orig...

George Neumayr, author of The Political Pope and the man who famously confronted a gaggle of American Cardinals in Rome , makes an important point in The American Spectator while commenting on Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's latest intervention. He reminds us that, although Cardinal Sandri has been chosen by the Pope to be "pilot of the next conclave secundum Franciscum " (a scandalous choice, given he is utterly compromised, having played a role in covering up the monstrous misdeeds of Marcial Maciel, the Legion of Christ founder) Pope Francis has already put another Maciel acoylyte in a position of power and influence for the next conclave: Cardinal Kevin Farrell. Farrell was promoted to camerlengo at the same time that his mentor Theodore McCarrick was defrocked. Farrell, the head of the Vatican’s office of Laity, Life and Family, was consecrated as a bishop by McCarrick in 2001 after McCarrick was installed as Archbishop of Washington. Farrell was a clos...

I was away last week at a gathering of prominent Catholics worried about what is going on in the Church. Part of the discussion was about the commonality of bad practise among bishops. This can be observed across the global Church but the specific discussion revolved around the dynamics in the UK and the USA. Since starting my blog I have noticed 1. They don't want us to know what's going on. 2. They do not feel accountable to us who fund their activities. 3. They absolutely have no regard for the Catholic faith whatsoever. The majority of us simply are unaware of what is going on and how bad it is. Blissfully unaware. Those of us who are publicly critical are sometimes criticised by good lay people and clergy who perhaps find it almost impossible to believe the pope, a bishop, a priest or religious could abuse the trust we put in them and mislead us with regard to the faith -- let alone money or sexual abuse. Either that or they prefer to maintain the status quo. ...