During His sublime discourse to the apostles on the eve of His Passion, Our Lord explained the nature of our relationship to Him in the spiritual life as follows: I am the true vine; and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He will take away: and every one…
Last month, our friends at LifeSiteNews conducted an interview with Professor Joseph Seifert and several other Catholic Scholars on the topic of the development of doctrine. The occasion was the controversy raised by the pope’s recent comments that the Death Penalty “is, in itself, contrary to the Gospel.” Although LifeSiteNews published links to PDF versions of the…
Voice of the family, a coalition of twenty-five pro-life and pro-family associations, held an international conference in Rome on October 28th, hosted by Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae. Among the speakers, His Eminence Cardinal Walter Brandmüller; Professor Roberto De Mattei and Professor…
Image: “The Dragon Transmitting Power” Master of Sarum, c. 1250. Sometimes, it’s hard to find words. This is one such occasion. What can be said to explain the Vatican’s decision to issue a stamp with a reverential image of one of the most notorious heretics in history, to “mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation”? Note the…
John Phillips of The Telegraph (UK) reported this morning that Pope Francis has now “placed a request for Roman Catholic priests to be allowed to marry in Brazil on the agenda of a forthcoming synod on the Amazon region”. Phillips, citing Vatican sources in the Italian paper Il Messaggero, says that the decision to put “a partial lifting…
This morning we told you the story of Fr. Thomas Weinandy, a Capuchin friar who, after receiving what he believed was a sign from God, wrote a letter to Pope Francis — with obvious filial respect and love — in the hopes of bringing to his attention some of the more damaging effects of his…
Fr. Thomas Weinandy is a Capuchin friar who formerly served as chief of staff for the US Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine. He is also a current member of the International Theological Commission at the Vatican. Like Fr. Brian Harrison, OS, Fr. Weinandy is not a supporter of the Filial Correction despite his own misgivings. In…
As I was reading through a backlog of articles and news stories in preparation to write this reflection, I received a phone call from one of my oldest friends. After referencing all that is transpiring in the Church, he asked with a nervous laugh how it is that I’ve not yet fallen into despair. “To…
The temptation to despair when pondering the state of Holy Mother Church is all too great at the moment, especially when we see that those on whom we should be able to rely are sacrificing the Faith on the altar of humanism. It is easy to forget that we are not in fact helpless. We…
Dear friends, enemies, and any other readers, this morning I thought I was going to have a day off. Then a message arrived from “Big Shot”, which, I must confess, truly took my breath away, because of its tone and because I know that “Big Shot ” has seen it all and is not someone…
One of the two remaining dubia cardinals, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, has just given an interview to the prominent German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) which has been published today, 28 October. In this lengthy interview, the 88-year old German prelate explains once more the fundamental teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage, as it has been…
