In a remarkable series of apparations in the 19th century – in Rue du Bac, in Rome, in La Salette, in Lourdes, in Pontmain, in Knock – the Mother of God made herself known. The Blessed Virgin Mary left her mark not only through private encounters or spiritual messages, but in a tangible way that…
It is never a good idea to sign a deal just for the sake of signing a deal The Vatican is set to sign an agreement with China by the end of the month, one that cedes control over the appointment of bishops to Beijing. In return, we are told, Beijing has agreed to recognize…
On September 4, Francesca Fagnano of the Italian Daily Il Fatto Quotidiano (IFQ) published a report discussing a “new bomb” in the Vatican. Her article, excerpts of which were published here, indicated that there is a dossier, similar to that of the disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, on his former vicar general, auxiliary, and housemate, Cardinal…
“Pope Francis will meet with all of the Presidents of the Episcopal Conferences at the Vatican next February 21-24, ‘to speak about the prevention of the abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.’” So reported Vatican News, using the words of the assistant director of the Vatican Press Office, Paloma Garcia Ovejero, at the briefing held…
Toward the end of His life on Earth, Our Lord Jesus Christ was walking one day through the temple in Jerusalem – a vast structure of noble design, made by human hands, fashioned by Hebrews who dared to dream that this was “God’s house” the way that Herod’s palace was Herod’s house. The fact that…
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has been accused by two alleged victims of clerical abuse of failing to remove their priest abuser from ministry. The alleged perpetrator, Father Manuel LaRosa-Lopez, was arrested in Conroe, Texas on Tuesday on four counts of indecency…
A report commissioned by the German Bishops’ Conference, known as the “MHG Study,” has been obtained by media outlets Spiegel Online and Die Ziet, and the findings are staggering: between 1946 and 2014, there were a reported 3,677 cases of abuse reported to have been perpetuated by 1,670 clerics in Germany. The majority of victims…
When I wrote The Dictator Pope, I pointed out the failure of the cardinals in 2013 to inform themselves about Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio’s record as archbishop of Buenos Aires, for if they had known about it even superficially, they would not have voted for him. The more that is known about that record, the truer…
When wrongdoing becomes widespread to the point of seeming endemic – as has the horrid evil of clerical sex abuse – blaming the individual culprits isn’t enough. We also desire to know who allowed the wrongdoing to spread, who failed to stop it, and under what conditions it was allowed to metastasize. That’s understandable and…
In the summer of 1997, just before I started college, I moved out to live with the family of one of my best friends from high school in northern Idaho. While there, I worked for the family business, which typically involved installing and replacing pumps in residential water wells in homes spread across hundreds of…
At first glance, patriotism might seem like an issue of secondary importance, a mere distraction. Our ultimate loyalty is to the Kingdom of God, after all, and we are already pretty busy. Among restoring a desecrated liturgy, salvaging Catholic education, and coping with the current papacy, the layman who wants to contribute to Catholic culture…
