De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

  Arthur Cardinal Roche, the failed former bishop of Leeds  who was booted upstairs to Rome to get him out of the way (look how well that strategy has worked!), has made it absolutely clear what the priorities of this papacy are. Hammering tradition. Roche has published a rescript which reserves permission for the use of a parish church for celebrations of the 1962 Missal to the Dicastery he heads. The Rescript makes reference to Canon 87.1 which states that bishops may lift the obligations of universal law for the good of souls in their diocese: this no longer applies, as the matter is ‘reserved to the Holy See’. This does seem to somewhat contradict Traditiones custodes art #2 which states:  "It belongs to the diocesan bishop, as moderator, promoter, and guardian of the whole liturgical life of the particular Church entrusted to him, to regulate the liturgical celebrations of his diocese." Vatican watchers knew this was coming, because we had seen the rather bizarre spect

This episode of Catholic Unscripted takes us in a slightly different direction after Katherine's Step-Daughter asked us to address a question she had which was, basically, "why?" - what is the point of all this? Big question, we have a go at answering it and I think we hit some really valuable theological notes! Make yourself a cup of tea and have a watch:

Edward Pentin, veteran Rome correspondent, has published an interview he had with Father Nicola Bux, a respected theologian and former consultor to both the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Mgsr Bux is a priest of the Archdiocese of Bari and a professor of eastern liturgy and sacramental theology. The purpose of this interview is to assess the seriousness of the existential crisis in the Catholic Church at present and to examine what it potentially means for all of us going forward. Mgsr Bux' assessment is, unsurprisngly, not particularly comforting. Although, there are, perhaps, glimmers of hope. Father Bux says. “Half of the cardinal electors and many bishops are convinced we cannot go on this way and change is needed to put the Church in order if she is to remain Catholic — there is turmoil in the College of Cardinals, as there is among the priests,” he explains, and adds: “The ecclesial body is waking up from a sta

 Is it total desperation born out of the present death spiral that has led Liverpool Archdiocese to do this? Even if you don't believe in the teaching of the Bible or Christian Tradition, even if you are not offended by the blasphemy of a crucifix twisted to represent a false, modern anthropology which mirrors the fall by affirming man's subjective truth over God's revelation, even if you disregard all of that, this is intellectually and anthropologically unsound. It wasn't very long ago we, as Catholics, would not use the alphabet acronym because it affords a false anthropology which puts sexual appetite at the centre of being. Just this simple teaching is pedagogical on its own. How far have we fallen? Perhaps Archbishop McMahon should have showed up to Bishop Barron's UK visit or at least read his latest intervention on radical inclusion - he might have rediscovered what the Church actually teaches! In a diocese where only 10% of baptised Catholics, or just 55

  Today sees another intervention from Bishop Robert Barron, just home from a very successful trip to London arranged by Brenden Thompson at Catholic Voices and his team. I was fortunate enough to attend one of the events and have a chat with the bishop, the second time I have met him. Anyway, this is Barron's second intervention on the Synod, the first I reported here . This one would appear to be a response to the extremely muddled essay written in America Magazine by now Cardinal McElroy about radical inclusion, which calls on the Synod process to change Church teaching on a number of issues; sexual morality in particular, but also dropping 1 Cor 11:27 and having an open table communion for all baptised Catholics...A dangerous misrepresentation of centuries of Catholic teaching about how grace works. His argument is that we over emphasise sexual sins over other serious issues....So he seems to be arguing that because we don't classify, say, domestic violence as a mortal s

If you've missed me, I have to apologise. I have started writing two essay sized blogs, one on the Magisterium and one on the pastoral teaching of the Church regarding SSA, and I've just kept researching and adding more information. Part of the problem is I find all this so interesting! I wanted to post quickly about the awful spectacle of the Church of England Synod last week. **THE FACE OF THE SYNOD** If this bloke (above) was looking for attention, he has certainly got it, most of the mainstream media has selected him as "the face of the synod". Everyone is saying that the Anglicans agreed to bless same sex marriage, but that is not in fact accurate. Despite the inaccuracy, I do think it is what the machinations ultimately will result in. For the sake of accuracy as much as anything else, this is the wording of the final controversial motion as amended: "That this Synod, recognising the commitment to learning and deep listening to God and to each other of the

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