De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

  We gained some further insight into the deep problems within Pope Francis' Pontificate this morning as one of his closest advisors, Antonio "2+2=5" Spadaro is being called out for claiming that Jesus was healed and freed “from the rigidity of the theological, political and cultural elements dominant in his time.” Above: A real Tweet from Spadaro in 2017 The deeply problematic Spadaro has been a part of the Francis Pontificate from the start and it was clear as early as 2017 that he was deeply ideologically compromised when he co-authored an article on religious politics which, with the benefit of hindsight, gave us some pretty big clues about the direction this Pontificate would take in respect of America. I get it that the Pope doesn’t like Americans, but dismissing criticisms as being from backwardist reactionaries, looks like someone putting his fingers in his ears employing ad hominems instead of addressing the issues. — Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) August 28, 2023...

There were lots of interesting things said by the Pope in his meeting with Jesuits in Bratislava. I think it is a really important meeting, especially, as I noted here , because he makes it clear he knows it is all going to be made very public by Papal "yes man" Antonio Spadaro. He attacks tradition. He attacks those who question him calling them the devil and accusing them of attacking the Church & the office of Pope He pushes full sacramental integration for divorced & remarried people He endorses so-called gay marriage again He also claims that there are members of the curia who want him dead, and, although this has not been mentioned much at all in the English speaking world, the Italians seem to have really latched on to this particular bit of the Pope's meeting with numerous posts on the internet and stories in newspapers. Antonio Socci has written this piece on it entitled "Why is no one investigating those who want the Pope dead?" Here is my (li...

In private meeting with Jesuits on his recent trip to the Baltics, Pope Francis said: "I believe the Lord wants a change in the Church. I know that the Lord wants the [Second Vatican] Council to make headway in the Church" The assertion from Pope Francis comes in a transcript by fellow Jesuit, legendary Papal tailgater & anti-intellectual Antonio Spadaro in the magazine he is editor for. You can read the whole thing here , but I would warn you, it is very boring, and consists largely of Pope Francis' usual meaningless banal mutterings. It does start with this weirdness: Thank you for the visit! I’m reminded of the saying Si cum Iesuitis itis, non cum Iesu itis … (If you go with the Jesuits, you won’t go with Jesus…) [here they all laugh]. Obviously I was immediately reminded of his quip that he is the devil compared with Pope St. John Paul II. Personally, given what a nightmare he is as a pope, I don't find his attempts at self-deprecating humour ter...

I'm not a huge fan of professional controversialist Milo, I find his confrontational style counter productive, but I know he does shine an interesting light on some issues (if you have no idea who I am talking about, you can glean some background here ). Very interestingly, he has reported (a couple of days ago) that he was sent a series of questions by America Magazine, the controversial Jesuit magazine which has celebrity priest-come-courter of controversy, especially heresy James Martin, as a contributing writer and editor-at-large. I have posted about Father James Martin on numerous occasions, here when he was called out by Archbishop Chaput for failing to speak with authenticity about homosexuality, here when Pope Francis appointed him to the Vatican communications team(!!), here when he called for the "entirety of the Church's sexual ethics to be rewritten", here when he said that Jesus learnt about His mission from various women he met during His pu...

I suppose it is only natural that after such a wonderful papacy as that of Benedict XVI, during which all those who know and care about the Apostolic faith felt truly safe and nurtured, that change is going to be unsettling. Of course this could not be more accurately related than through my own personal disquiet when Cardinal Bergoglio, unknown to me, stepped out onto the balcony after the Conclave. Our house was full, and I had been so animated about the process, every eye turned to me for exuberance at the choice made by the Conclave. Instead of joy they found uncertainty, worry, nervousness. Very quickly, I set to the task of finding out a little more about this man who is now our Pope, and my heart began to rise. He is erudite, he has integrity, but most importantly, he literally oozes faith. Despite our relative ignorance, there has been a real division evident over the last few days between a kind of triumphalism of more liberal factions in the Church, those who typi...

Habemus Papam! I've spent an rather exciting evening in front of the t.v. watching, first the white smoke issue from the chimney and then waiting to see who had been elected. I was completely shocked, I hadn't even considered that it might be Jorge Bergoglio, the self-effacing Jesuit from Argentina. Now I feel somewhat underwhelmed, having spent the last few weeks praying for Scola as my adopted Cardinal, and reading about Ouellet, Tagle, O'Malley. Then someone I haven't even heard of is elected: who is this man? When he came out onto the balcony I was a bit perplexed that he was not wearing the papal mozzetta and that he took off the papal stole immediately after giving the blessing. I was worried because it felt like an immediate repudiation of the liturgical return to signs and symbols which had been one of the hallmarks of Pope Benedict XVI's reign. I felt a bit panicked. However, after a couple of days of reading everything I can about Pope Francis, ...

Father John Edwards, SJ, died on Wednesday . My Parish Priest Father Kevin Hale, was a great friend of Father John's, and put the following quote from Fr. Ray's blog in our newsletter yesterday: Please pray for the repose of the soul of Father John Edwards, SJ. He concelebrated community Mass at Farm Street on Wednesday and died in the evening. In his last circular letter to family and friends he wrote that his impending death brought him immense happiness. His last public Mass was offered for his friend and brother Fr. Hugh Thwaites SJ, the first time a traditional Mass was offered at Farm Street since the 1970's. I am told that he regarded the process of dying as "a very busy affair". He was a good friend to us in this Parish and over the last nine years he has heard thousands of our Confessions! He had a great knack of teaching people to pray and to go to Confession. He was such a good Confessor, he could lift weights that had ground people down for ye...