April 2019

• Open letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church
Your Eminence, Your Beatitude, Your Excellency,
We are addressing this letter to you for two reasons: first, to accuse Pope Francis of the canonical delict of heresy, and second, to request that you take the steps necessary to deal with thegrave situation of a heretical pope. - April 30, 2019

• Meet the 'Red-Pilled' Shepherd
Bishop Strickland of Tyler, Texas, embraces the truth of the faith. Bishop Joseph Strickland, 60, of Tyler, Texas, spoke with Register senior editor Matthew Bunson the day Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s April 11 essay was published on the sexual-abuse crisis about the importance of Catholic teaching and being rooted to Christ and the Eucharist — and how he has hope in the prayerful observance of the laity of his flock. - April 23, 2019

• Bishop Schneider: Notre Dame fire is sign of ‘spiritual conflagration’ in the Church
The extensive fire that tore through Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday is a sign of the “spiritual conflagration” that has ripped through the Catholic Church in the past fifty years, Bishop Athanasius Schneider has said. - April 17, 2019

• Cardinal Müller: Pope Benedict’s letter ‘more intelligent than all’ contributions at Rome Abuse Summit
Cardinal Gerhard Müller has given several interviews in recent days defending Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's April 10 letter on the roots of the abuse crisis. - April 17, 2019

• German bishop pushes diocese toward adopting ‘blessing’ for homosexual couples
German Bishop Georg Bätzing, of the Diocese of Limburg, is inviting Church representatives, Catholic youth and lay organizations, as well as diocesan members to a discussion forum on 4 May in Wiesbaden to deal with the matter of a “Church's blessing” for “couples who cannot marry in the Catholic way,” including homosexual couples. - April 15, 2019

• New Zealand cardinal asks laity to stop calling priests ‘Father’ to fight ‘clericalism’
Cardinal John Dew of New Zealand wrote a missive to Catholics of the Pacific archipelago urging them to not address priests as “Father.” - April 12, 2019

• Benedict XVI: Casual attitude to reception of Holy Communion central to moral crisis in Church
A casual attitude towards the Holy Eucharist is at the heart of the moral crisis in the Church, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has said. - April 12, 2019

• EWTN priest calls on Francis to ‘formally correct’ remarks on God willing diversity of religions
On April 4’s The World Over with Raymond Arroyo, the self-described “papal posse” spent most of their time clarifying Church teaching so viewers would not be confused by heterodox remarks recently made by Pope Francis, especially his comments on God willing a “diversity of religions,” which one panelist suggested the pope should issue a formal correction of. - April 12, 2019

• Cardinal Pell’s accuser copied testimony from old Rolling Stone report, journalist claims
Australia’s top Catholic prelate was convicted of sexual abuse based on the testimony of his accuser, a testimony that bears a striking resemblance to a case published in Rolling Stone magazine, an Australian magazine editor has found. - April 12, 2019

• In new essay, Benedict XVI addresses sex abuse scandal
In an essay published Thursday at CNA, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI offered his thoughts about the sex abuse crisis facing the Church.  - April 10, 2019

• Full text of Benedict XVI essay: 'The Church and the scandal of sexual abuse'
The following is a previously unpublished essay from Pope emeritus Benedict XVI: - April 10, 2019

• Pope Francis moves gay man to tears with consoling words about homosexuality and dignity
Pope Francis caused a man who identified as homosexual to cry when he told him that a person has “dignity” no matter if the person has homosexual tendencies “like this or has an attitude like this.” - April 30, 2019

• Buffalo priests removed from ministry following seminarian complaints
Three priests have been temporarily removed from ministry in the Diocese of Buffalo, after seminarians say they engaged in salacious and inappropriate conversation during a party at a parish rectory. - April 29, 2019

• Catholic Relief Services to Help Implement Campaign Centered on Spreading Contraception in Rwanda
On April 26, several Rwandan government agencies, including the Ministry of Health officially launched a three-year initiative called the Baho Neza Integrated Health Campaign to encourage the use and distribution of contraception. - April 26, 2019

• Cardinal Muller: Pope Benedict has ‘duty’ to preach truth about sex abuse crisis
Cardinal Gerhard Muller, in an interview with an Italian journalist, praised the recent letter by Pope emeritus Benedict XVIregarding homosexuality and clerical sexual abuse while dismissing blame placed on “nebulous” clericalism as a “false answer.” - April 23, 2019

• Pope Francis, consistory and Curia reform set for June?
By the end of June, Pope Francis could not only finalize the Curia reform. We are still in the field of speculation, but there are clues that Pope Francis will also convoke a consistory to create new Cardinals on June 28-29. - April 23, 2019 

• Italian Bishop doubles down on ban of traditional Latin Mass
Documents obtained by LifeSite show that an Italian bishop has ordered a priest to cease celebrating the Mass in the Extraordinary Form, after the traditional liturgy drew an increasing number of young lay faithful. - April 19, 2019

• Canada’s bishops allow Catholic hospitals to host consultations for euthanasia
Canada’s bishops were consulted on and agreed to secret guidelines by Catholic health sponsors that allow third-party euthanasia assessments of medically frail patients in Catholic health care facilities, LifeSiteNews has learned. - April 18, 2019

• LGBT activists claim Pope Francis helped to ensure decriminalization of gay sex acts in Belize
An international delegation of judges, legal experts, politicians, and LGBT activists claimed at a historic meeting at the Vatican last week that Pope Francis took “active steps” to “resolve” a matter in Belize, where local Catholic bishops initially appealed the Central American nation’s 2016 overturning of its anti-sodomy law, but then unexpectedly withdrew that appeal. - April 10, 2019

• Next task for pope's cardinal advisors: Women's leadership in the Vatican
As Pope Francis’ council of cardinals wraps up the drafting of a new apostolic constitution, they have decided to take up the topic of management roles for women working in the Vatican. - April 10, 2019

• Indian Bishop Formally Charged With Rape
Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar, India, has been charged with raping a nun nine times over a two-year period and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, local authorities announced today. - April 10, 2019

• VIDEO: Did Pope Francis really praise nation’s leading abortionist?
Being pro-life is a sine-qua-non (essential condition) for Catholics. In fact, the Catholic Church has been one of the only holdouts on the international stage still defending the right to life for pre-born children. - April 9, 2019

• New Book Sacred BetrayalHighlights Corruption of Cardinal Maradiaga
Martha Alegria Reichman is the widow of the late Alejandro Vallardes, who served as the Honduran ambassador to the Holy See for over two decades. She recently published a book about Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, the leader of the pope’s council of cardinal-advisers and a figure increasingly associated with scandal. - April 9, 2019

• Gay priest says he’s ‘on a mission’ from Pope Francis to reach out to homosexuals
Pierre Valkering, the Dutch priest who publicly revealed his homosexuality at the end of Sunday Mass on March 31, has given multiple interviews to the  media in which he said he is “on a mission” after Pope Francis himself told him to reach out to the gay community. - April 5, 2019

• Vatican pushes aside valid Chinese bishop for Communist government-approved replacement
Catholic Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin was asked by Vatican officials to stand aside for a Communist party-approved bishop while persecution of Catholics and other Christians continues despite a groundbreaking agreement between the Holy See and China. - April 5, 2019

• BREAKING: Church Militant to sue Fr. Larry Richards and his diocese
The Catholic media agency Church Militant is filing suit against Fr. Larry Richards and his home diocese after the famed Catholic priest falsely accused them of sending him death threats. - April 4, 2019 

• ‘I know who you are’: Fr. Larry Richards intimidates parishioners who complained about him to bishop
Celebrity priest Father Larry Richards warned his congregation during a Sunday homily that he knows who has issued complaints against him to the local bishop because "the bishop called me and told me your names," adding that the complainers "endanger" their "eternal salvation." - April 3, 2019 

• Pope Francis warns Moroccan Christians against ‘proselytism’
Pope Francis has asked Christians in Morocco not to actively seek converts to their faith. - April 2, 2019

• Pope Francis’ New Document ‘a Magna Carta of Youth Ministry and Vocations’
Christus Vivit reflects the Holy Father’s takeaways from the October youth synod. - April 2, 2019

• Chinese City Continues Crackdown on Illegal Religious Groups by Offering Cash Incentives
The move is part of a broader government clampdown on all religious activity in the country. - April 2, 2019

• Pope Francis says those who build walls ‘become a prisoner’ of them
Pope Francis criticized governments who make border walls, saying, “He who builds a wall will become a prisoner of the wall he built.” - April 1, 2019

• Full Text of Pope Francis' In-Flight Press Conference from Rabat
The Holy Father discussed religious freedom in Morocco, the church scandal, and migration on the way back to Rome. - April 1, 2019 

• Chicago Archdiocese using Catholic cemetery funds to cover sex abuse costs
The Archdiocese of Chicago is using proceeds from its cemetery system to help pay down its sizable settlement debt from clergy sexual abuse, a new report says. - April 1, 2019

• Why dealing with the abuse crisis means rediscovering the purpose of priesthood
In the midst of what feels like an interminable and ineradicable abuse crisis, some Catholics will be tempted to pin the blame on the traditional conception of the priesthood, which they poorly understand. - April 30, 2019

• What Is Wrong With Socialism?
“America will never be a socialist country,” President Donald Trump declared in his State of the Union Address Feb. 5. His strong repudiation of socialism naturally evoked the response, “What is wrong with socialism?” - April 29, 2019

• 'Competing Visions' of How to Be Catholic? Or Just Schism?
We heard recently from two disparate Catholic authors who surprisingly agree about the current condition of the Catholic Church. - April 29, 2019

• The Fight against Clericalism Takes a Dangerous Turn
“Clericalism” has been a favorite buzzword of Pope Francis almost since the inception of his pontificate. He wields it like a Swiss army knife, applying it to every problem he doesn’t have a sufficient alternative explanation for. - April 29, 2019

• Father Aidan Nichols Signs Open Letter Charging Pope Francis With Heresy
The Dominican is one of 19 academics and clergy calling on the world’s bishops to admonish the Pope and publicly reject heresy or face losing the papacy.

• Catholic Scholars Accuse Pope Francis of "the Canonical Delict of Heresy"
In the seemingly interminable war between Catholics and Pope Francis, another salvo has been fired. This time, it lands a bit closer to the target.

• Why a 'superdicastery' for evangelization is not a good idea
After six years and 29 working sessions (each stretching across three days), the Council of Cardinals is finally ready to unveil its plan for reorganizing the Roman Curia. - April 26, 2019

• Vatican "Super Dicastery": A Papal Promise Fulfilled?
When news broke earlier this week about the formation of a new “super dicastery” for evangelization that will supersede the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, I expected to see more commentary on it. - April 25, 2019

• Reflections on Benedict’s sexual abuse letter – from a convert, child of the sexual revolution, and mother
On April 10, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI's letter on the sexual abuse crisis was published, a document that caused a great stir in Catholic circles. Some German moral theologians responded with much indignation and rejected the former Pope's criticism of their own lax moral teachings and of the effects of the 1968 revolution in the West. - April 23, 2019

• Don’t Let Your Left Pope Know What Your Right Pope Is Doing
Last night, I was having a chat with a Catholic friend. We were discussing something I had tweeted a couple of days ago: ...“It honestly baffles me,” my friend says. “I am very much of the mind that there should not be a Pope Emeritus who wears white and swans around the Vatican. But if there’s going to be, he should not be seen or heard. Ever.” - April 18, 2019

• Is Archbishop Gregory the truth teller DC needs?
Many figures involved in the abuse crisis have conveniently forgotten unforgettable facts or outright lied about what they knew. Archbishop Wilton Gregory has promised to never lie in his new post in Washington DC. If he keep that promise, it would be no small matter. - April 17, 2019

• Two Commentaries on Benedict XVI's Letter
Note: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s brief letter to German priests, which was released last week, has generated a flood of commentary, both because it was unexpected from a figure who has maintained almost total silence since his resignation, and because it presented sharp observations about developments inside and outside the Church that led to the steep rise in sexual abuse. That text warrants extensive consideration, but for now two commentaries by TCT regulars: Fr. Gerald Murray, a theologian and canon lawyer; and Michael Pakaluk, a philosopher. – Robert Royal - April 17, 2019

• Pope Francis’s exhortation on youth downplays the Church’s enemies
In his new exhortation on youth, Christus Vivit (Christ is Alive), Pope Francis returns again and again to the theme that the Church must listen to the young. - April 17, 2019

• The Problems with B16's Essay
In the history books, Benedict’s essay is likely to warrant no more than a footnote. The episode, however, is a perfect storm, and a microcosm of everything that is wrong in the Church today: factionalism, whataboutery, binary thinking, reductivism - April 16, 2019

• Theologians condemn Pope Benedict’s letter on abuse crisis on German bishops’ website
Since the publication of Pope emeritus Benedict XVI's 10 April letter on the abuse crisis, the German bishops' news website Katholisch.de has published several harsh rebukes of the former Pope. - April 16, 2019

• Pope Benedict’s Essay Is a Summary of His Theological Quest
COMMENTARY: As the pope emeritus has found time and again, when everything unimaginable is before us, the only path back is back to God, revealed in Jesus Christ. - April 16, 2019

• Communion and Catholic Pro-Abortion Politicians
Evangelical Christian, Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the famed Rev. Billy Graham, in three “tweets” in two minutes captured the hopes and sentiments of many Catholics by urging N.Y. Cardinal Dolan to excommunicate “Catholic” N.Y. Governor Cuomo for bizarrely celebrating and signing a third trimester abortion law. - April 15, 2019

• How top Catholic leaders betrayed parents and children by promoting sex ed
Sacred Scripture has a great deal to say about education, which starts within the relationship between parent and child, and, in order to be purposeful and true, must also begin with knowledge and fear of the Lord (Prov. 1:7–8, Deut. 11:19, 32:46, Eph. 6:4).  - April 15, 2019

• Benedict’s letter reveals how far he is from Pope Francis on the sex abuse crisis
After six years of public silence, broken only by a few mild personal comments, Pope-emeritus Benedict has spoken out dramatically, with a 6,000-word essay on sexual abuse that has been described as a sort of post-papal encyclical. - April 12, 2019

• Benedict’s Analysis: What impressed me most
There are several things which I found particularly intriguing about Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s analysis of the roots of the contemporary Church’s problem with clerical sexual abuse. And there is one thing that I found most impressive going forward. - April 11, 2019

• Benedict’s powerful message—and the bid to suppress it
After six years of public silence, broken only by a few mild personal comments, Pope-emeritus Benedict has spoken out dramatically, with a 6,000-word essay on sexual abuse that has been described as a sort of post-papal encyclical. - April 11, 2019

• Analysis: How Benedict's essay supports Francis' call for 'zero tolerance'
After the April 11 publication of a new essay by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, commentators are mostly discussing their perception of the politics surrounding the release, or Benedict’s assessment of the sexual revolution and its relationship to the crisis. - April 11, 2019

• Pope Benedict Breaks His “Silence” to Say Not Very Much at All
Yesterday, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI broke his post-pontificate “silence” yet again in a 6,000-word essay about the crisis of clerical sex abuse in the Church, and his perspective on its origins. The letter was, he says, written in response to the February summit in Rome in which the heads of the world’s episcopal conferences came together to discuss this troubling topic. - April 11, 2019

• How a good priest should respond when bishop or pope asks him to do something bad
There is a kind of priest, I’m told, who always does what his bishop tells him to do. No matter what it is, he is “obedient” to the bishop. If there is a notorious dissenter from Church teaching but the bishop says “go ahead and give him communion,” then the priest does it. - April 9, 2019

• Cardinal Cupich’s Selective Justice?
From an April 6 letter, written by Cardinal Blase Cupich, posted at the Archdiocese of Chicago’s website: - April 8, 2019

• Archbishop Gregory’s appointment: ‘safe’ in the hands of the mainstream media
Reacting to the appointment of Archbishop Wilton Gregory to the Washington archdiocese, Michelle Boorstein, the religion writer for the Washington Post, commented on her Twitter account: “Largely a very safe choice. It will primarily piss off only the far-right.” - April 5, 2019

• New Vatican rules on abuse encourage whistle-blowers—like Archbishop Vigano
Credit Father Raymond de Souza with spotting an important point about the new Vatican legislation on sexual abuse. The rules require all Vatican personnel to report any evidence of sexual abuse to prosecutors. The legislation applies directly only within the territory of the Vatican city-state, but it has important implications. - April 5, 2019

• More of the Same: Archbishop Wilton Gregory Appointed to DC Archdiocese
As had been widely speculated, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta was appointed Thursday to succeed Cardinal Donald Wuerl as the archbishop of Washington. - April 4, 2019

• De Mattei on the Francis Pontificate: Six Years of ‘Hypocrisy and Lies’
OnePeterFive is pleased to present this exclusive interview of Professor Roberto De Mattei, President of the Lepanto Foundation, with Italian journalist Aldo Maria Valli – one of the Italian journalists who helped publish the Vigano testimony in August 2018. - April 4, 2019

• BELGIUM AFTER DANNEELS
The March death of eighty-five-year-old Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the famously liberal Catholic archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and primate of Belgium from 1979 to 2010, has met with little comment from the liberal Catholic press. Although Danneels helped maneuver Pope Francis's election in 2013, and worked behind the scenes at Francis's synods on the family to advance a proposal to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion, the liberal Catholic media has not been conspicuously mournful. - April 4, 2019

• Archbishop Gregory promises us the truth. Here’s how...
At today’s press conference formally announcing his appointment to head the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, Archbishop Wilton Gregory promised: “I will always tell you the truth as I understand it.” Good. “The only way I can serve this archdiocese is by telling the truth,” he said. Good, good. - April 4, 2019

• Analysis: Gregory’s road to Washington
The appointment of Archbishop Wilton Gregory to succeed Cardinal Donald Wuerl brings an end to one of the most anticipated and drawn out episcopal appointment processes in recent memory. - April 4, 2019

• Vatican Scandals: Follow the Money…if You Can
On January 4, 2013, a month before Pope Benedict resigned, the Italian Central Bank turned the lights off on the entire Vatican. The Vatican no longer had the ability to make any electronic financial transactions. Italian authorities asserted that the Vatican was not in compliance with international money-laundering rules. This was a clear message that put tremendous pressure on Pope Benedict. - April 3, 2019

• Catholic Seminary Evaluations: Time to Reboot?
Such assessments need to be solidly grounded in authentic theological perspectives, experts stress. - April 3, 2019 

• ‘Sign of Our Repentance’: Weakland’s Name Expunged From Milwaukee Church Building
COMMENTARY: Personal corruption, more than bad governance, should have been the main reason for Archbishop Listecki to remove his predecessor’s name. - April 2, 2019

• In new exhortation, Pope Francis suggests ‘concrete…change’ in Church needed to appease youth In his new April 2 document on the youth, Christus vivit [Christ is Alive], Pope Francis says the Church "concretely" needs to change and calls for a Church that "sets aside narrow preconceptions and listens carefully to the young" lest it risk becoming a "museum." - April 2, 2019

• With Islam, the Vatican’s Dialogue Delusion Continues
Asked by a journalist during the in-flight press conference home from Morocco about the potential consequences of his visit “for the future, for world peace, for coexistence in the dialogue between cultures,” Pope Francis responded: - April 2, 2019

• Priests Who Father Children: Another Consequence of Clergy Sexual Misconduct
As the Church confronts the sins of clergy sexual abuse, the stories of the ‘children of the ordained’ are increasingly being told as well. Jim Graham’s father was an academic and a sensitive soul who likely would have made an ideal mentor — but because he also happened to be a priest, his son never knew him. - April 1, 2019

• Children of Priests and Canon Law
What does Church teaching dictate? Much as he wants the Church to acknowledge the situation of priests who have fathered children, Vincent Doyle isn’t sure whether he would like to see a canon-law provision that directly addresses it. - April 1, 2019