Confirming what has been widely-rumored in recent weeks, the Vatican has announced today that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who stands at the center of the Church’s re-awakened clerical sex abuse crisis, has been stripped of the clerical state following an investigation into allegations of longstanding abuse of priests, seminarians, and minors. When levied as a…
In response to an invitation to participate in a National Catholic Register symposium on the Clerical Sex Abuse Summit in Rome later this month, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has once again made public comments about the crisis in the Church. In his brief essay, he signals pessimism about the upcoming meeting, saying, “I am praying intensely…
We’re blessed here to have a lot of top-notch contributors, and one of our regulars is Stefanie Nicholas (see her articles here), who I just did a podcast with a couple weeks ago. One of our newest writers, John Hirschauer, who offered an excellent analysis of Cardinal Dolan’s feckless response to calls to excommunicate the…
It has become a subject of heated debate: did Pope Benedict XVI validly resign from the papacy? An article we published late last year on the topic of so-called “Benevacantism” had over 900 comments. Across the Catholic sectors of social media, one sees this question discussed, often heatedly, on a regular basis. Today, three top…
In this week’s 1P5 minute we tackle Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s Manifesto of Faith, as well as the rumors that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick will be stripped of the clerical state as a consequence of his lifelong abuse of seminarians and minors. Related Links: Cardinal Müller issues Manifesto: A quasi correction of Pope Francis’ pontificate Cardinal…
Six years ago today, I was driving to work and I heard a news story on the local radio about Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement that he was going to abdicate. I remember where I was: driving North on Route 1 in Dumfries, Virginia, just before the WaWa gas station. It was overcast and cold. It…
As viewers of our most recent podcast probably picked up on, I’m a fan of humor — even sometimes when dealing with serious topics. But there’s a need to read the audience, and to understand the context of the situation. Today I came across an example of how not to use humor. Or, I should…
Usually, at the beginning of each year, I try to make a prediction about the road ahead. There’s no magic to it: it’s part pattern recognition and part intuition. Last year, I said that I thought 2018 would be the year Amoris Laetitia faded into the background as the most significant battle for Catholics, while…
This blog post isn’t, properly speaking, about the Church or Catholic life. But it is about life for people in 2019, and it is relevant to every single person reading this right now. Every single one. I’ve mentioned the insights of Simon Sinkek in the past. Today, on the heels of a number of online…
Yesterday, on the 46th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, New York Senate Democrats passed a bill known as the Reproductive Health Act, which removes most restrictions on abortions after 24 weeks – all the way until birth. According to a story at The Daily Wire, Governor Andrew Cuomo, who signed the bill into…
In a new report from the Associated Press (AP), it has been revealed that Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta of Argentina was promoted to the position of assessor in APSA — the department which manages the Vatican’s considerable real estate holdings — after he had already been reported twice to the Holy See for allegations of sexual misconduct.…
