(Image: The Calling of St. Matthew; Caravaggio) Eric Sammons is one of my favorite writers here at 1P5. As a guy who has worked full time on diocesan evangelization efforts for many years, Eric’s style is approachable yet informative, but he’s not afraid to talk about the difficult truths. So I’m excited to share the…
One thing astute observers should know by now is that precious few milestones in the Vatican’s campaign for constant innovation (“always forward!”) arrive unannounced. The process to allow communion for the divorced and remarried took over two years — from the consistory keynote of Cardinal Walter Kasper in February of 2014 to the promulgation of Amoris Laetitia in…
In biblical studies, there are two similar-sounding terms of particular importance: exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis is defined as “an explanation or critical interpretation of a text,” and is the standard method of examining and understanding the Scriptures. Eisegesis, on the other hand, is “the process of interpreting a text or portion of text in such a way that the process introduces…
Fifty years ago, in anticipation of the First Sunday of Advent of 1966, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence. Most American Catholics today are not familiar with the Statement itself, but we are familiar with its general effect: the loosening of norms for Catholics regarding fasting and…
One hundred years ago, Our Lady of Fatima mysteriously warned us of the danger that the then-unspecified “errors of Russia” would somehow come to spread throughout the whole world if Russia would not first be adequately and solemnly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Such a consecration, moreover, was prophesied to attain Russia’s own…
In one of the pivotal scenes of the Gospel — one of several moments in which the apostles begin to recognize Christ’s true power — we find Jesus asleep in the stern of a tempest-tossed boat. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that the ship…
Bishop Athanasius Schneider has given another interview of importance, this time to a French traditional Catholic journal, Présent. In this new interview, Bishop Schneider makes some politely discerning remarks about the currently considered, formal re-integration of the Society of St. Pius X, and then says that the recognition of the SSPX is an act of…
As we reported yesterday, Cardinal Joachim Meisner appears now to have been singled out especially for criticism among the Four Cardinals who have recently made public their dubia with regard to Amoris Laetitia. In this context, we have thought it to be worthwhile to present a brief text that Cardinal Meisner wrote in April of…
At First Things, two more scholars have published a summary of a letter they sent to Pope Francis last month. The full letter (PDF link) is entitled, The Misuse of Amoris Laetitia To Support Errors against the Catholic Faith. The authors are John Finnis, emeritus professor of law and legal philosophy at the University of Oxford and Biolchini Family…
(Photo: interior of the Basilica of Saint Balbina, Rome) On Monday 5th December Cardinals Burke & Brandmüller joined a meeting about the dubia at the Lepanto Foundation, at the foot of the Basilica of Saint Balbina, Rome. The keynote speaker was Bishop Schneider who delivered an address on fidelity to the tradition of the Church and its moral teaching. The…
There is a crackpot quality to this pontificate. Nothing is gained by tripping over our own tongues trying to disguise, excuse, or justify it. The Church was healthier under Alexander VI. A sinner, for sure. Yet the Borgia pope was still an impressive man in many ways. The Church would be better served by a…
