Since the publication of our editorial stance a little over a year ago, I have been pleased to read the contributions to the fraternal debate about Ultramontanism here at OnePeterFive as well as with our friends over at Rorate Caeli. Reflecting on the year’s contributions, I intend in this and subsequent articles to reply to … Read more
Above: Canossa, Italy, where Emperor Henry IV did penance before Pope Gregory VII. Public Domain. From Hypothetical Speculation to Fearful Reality In light of the unprecedented centralization of authority under the Francis pontificate, discussions on the extent of papal power take on a fresh urgency. The question is not so much on the pope’s doctrinal … Read more
Above: Bishop Karl Josef von Hefele and Bl. Pius IX. In his fascinating book Vatican I: The Council and the Making of the Ultramontane Church,[1] John W. O’Malley details the movements, ideas, personalities, and events that coalesced in the First Vatican Council of 1869–1870. My intention here is not to furnish a complete account, much … Read more
The editor of OnePeterFive was kind enough to invite submissions regarding the origin of the excessive submissiveness of many Catholics to Pope Francis’s manifestly erroneous teachings and measures. He says such attitude stems from “a false spirit of Vatican I” and what he calls hyperüberultramontanism. This seemingly humorous expression appears to be an anti-polemical hedge. … Read more
Readers past a certain age may remember the momentous role played in our lives as Catholics by the book-length interviews released by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger and, later, Benedict XVI. The first of these and in some ways the most impressive for its time was The Ratzinger Report of 1985. Reading it today can still raise … Read more
With a majority of German bishops now on record as voting for official permission for contraception and the legitimization of sodomy, it seems time to reexamine the irreconcilable contrast between two views of reality. The Church in her traditional Roman Rite frequently prays that we may receive the grace to “despise” (or, as Lauren Pristas … Read more
Dear Catholics who support the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass, Following the publication of Traditiones Custodes and the subsequent Responsa ad dubia of said apostolic letter, many of you have inquired as to the reasons for our clinging to the Old Mass, which is the liturgy of the saints and of our ancestors. Many … Read more
A teacher is taking his class on a tour of a grand art gallery. The students are fluttering with excitement at the chance to view some of the world’s most cherished pieces. As they pass through security, the voice of their teacher halts them from advancing further. “Ok, everyone needs to stay with me. No … Read more
It was August 1940. Churchill was fighting the Battle of Britain. Half of Europe was under the Nazi boot. The Catholic Church in Germany was being persecuted, and the German bishops were gathered for their annual conference. To what grave matters might they have devoted their energies at such a momentous time? Being German bishops some could … Read more
Earlier this week, Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register reported that the Church is facing pressure on multiple fronts to change her teaching that homosexuality is “intrinsically disordered”: Pressure continues to be exerted on Church leaders to remove the language of Catholic teaching that states that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” and “under no … Read more
Since the release of Fratelli Tutti a few days ago, the debate over the Church’s re-imagined position on the death penalty — covered in some depth in the new encyclical — has resumed with gusto. And the questions that surround this “development” — particularly whether it in fact represents a contradiction — have far reaching … Read more
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