While the Vatican’s decision to laicize Theodore McCarrick was a valuable step, it is not, and cannot be, the end of the affair. Mr. McCarrick was the elephant in the room at the recently concluded Vatican summit. We still don’t …
Category: Moral Teaching
Prominent Sex Abuse Whistleblower on the Summit: ‘This Cannot Be the Catholic Response’
During the press conference for the Vatican Summit on Sex Abuse, early Monday, Cardinal Blase Cupich was asked by CNN’s Delia Gallagher to address whether “part of the problem is that priests, bishops and Cardinals are, themselves, engaged in illicit …
Pope Francis’s Parade of Embarrassing Friendships
The least we can say is that the figure of Pope Bergoglio is embarrassing. Perhaps not so much for who he is as a person in himself – but then again… But more so for the people whom he obviously …
What the Lord of the Rings Teaches about Today’s Crisis in the Church
That The Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest works of literature produced in the 20th century is universally acknowledged. The story is in many ways the embodiment of Chesterton’s famous quip that “fairy tales are more than …
Clergy Abuse Is Soul Murder
Amid the low rolling plains, where the coastal mountains dot the northwest corner of Ireland, lies the beautiful county of Donegal. There, in the rural village of Gortahork, where Gaelic primarily is spoken among the 1,600 residents, lies the Catholic …
German Paper Exposes Coccopalmerio, Francis 86ing Bishop Abuse Tribunal
After the important investigation of Der Spiegel on the pope, entitled “Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness,” now another German daily, Herder Korrespondenz, which certainly not even the most frenzied Bergoglianist could condemn as conservative, is examining the authority of …
No Matter How Bad You Think the Corruption Is, It’s Worse
A long-time observer of the modern ecclesiastical scene wrote to me to share his perspective on the broader significance of the McCarrick scandal. With his permission, I here publish his thoughts, which have been slightly edited for publication. Most commentators …
After McCarrick: An Ex-Seminarian Comes Forward
Ever since I was a child, I wanted to become a priest. My mother, a devout Catholic, was the one who taught me about the faith, the sacraments, and the Church. She brought me to daily Mass since I was …
Veteran Catholic Journalist: All Bishops Involved in Sex Abuse Scandal Must Resign
Christopher Manion, a veteran journalist and political analyst, makes the striking call that all U.S. bishops should resign who knew about the ongoing abuse crisis within the U.S. hierarchy for years and yet did not intervene. He also now reveals …
Sexual Abuse and the Third Secret: A Timely Reminder
Last week Tuesday, June 26, marked the eighteenth anniversary of the release of The Message of Fatima, a booklet published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in which the Vatican claims to have revealed the entire …