September 2020

• Archbishop Viganò: Without Vatican II, Destruction Wrought by Revolutions of the 1960s Would Not Have Happened
Without the Second Vatican Council, the student revolution of 1968 that radically changed life in the Western world would never have happened, nor would a “self-styled” Catholic such as Joe Biden be a leading presidential contender, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano has argued. - September 14, 2020

• A STATEMENT ON PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND PUBLIC OFFICE
Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) is a bilateral ecumenical initiative dedicated to discussing theological and cultural topics. We are Christian believers who hold diverse views on many issues. At the same time, we speak with one voice on matters of grave significance for contemporary society. We know that “righteousness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 14:34). We think, therefore, that our public life should be ordered by the great moral truths found in the Scriptures, in the traditions of our civilization and of our nation, as well as in reasonable thought. - September 8, 2020

• Cardinal Pell Returns to Rome, as Legal Proceedings Against Cardinal Becciu Are Being Organized
The Australian cardinal’s return is unrelated to the scandal enveloping the Italian cardinal, but previously they had opposing perspectives on how to oversee Vatican financial management. - September 30, 2020

• German Cardinal Issues Stark Warning About ‘Synodal Way’
The “Synodal Way” is a process bringing together German lay people and bishops to discuss four major topics: the way power is exercised in the Church; sexual morality; the priesthood; and the role of women. - September 29, 2020

• Secretary Pompeo: Vatican Has ‘Moral Authority’ to Speak on China
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he believes the U.S. and the Holy See “have a shared interest in seeing that every human being in China has the opportunity to practice their faith, exercise their conscience rights.” - September 29, 2020

• Cardinal Burke: Joe Biden Should Not Receive Holy Communion
Cardinal Burke said it is the historic teaching of the Church that those in a condition of grave sin should not be admitted to Holy Communion - September 29, 2020

• Cardinal Zen Appeals to the Pope: Please Send a Faithful Shepherd to Hong Kong
The outspoken Chinese cardinal tells the Register why he traveled to the Vatican last week in hopes of meeting the Pope, and discusses the grave problems the Church continues to face in Hong Kong and the rest of China. - September 28, 2020

• Cardinal Pell Thanks Pope Francis After Cardinal Becciu Resigns
Cardinal Becciu resigned Sept. 24 as prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints and from the rights extended to members of the College of Cardinals. - September 25, 2020

• Cardinal Becciu, Top Vatican Hatchet Man, Has Unexpectedly Resigned
Allow me to briefly bury the lede.
I’ve often said that I’m not a journalist, I’m a commentator, and as such, I don’t make an attempt to hide my bias in the interest of the expected, but in most cases fictitious, ideal of journalistic objectivity. - September 24, 2020

• Bishop Michael Bransfield: I Do Not Want to ‘Do Battle’ With Successor
After the Vatican-ordered investigation, Bishop Bransfield released Aug. 15 a letter through his former diocese, in which he apologized for “any scandal or wonderment caused by words or actions attributed to me.” - September 24, 2020

• Vatican Cardinal Angelo Becciu Resigns From Office and ‘Rights’ of Cardinals
VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who until today was prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, has resigned from that office, and in an extremely rare move, from the rights extended to members of the College of Cardinals. - September 24, 2020

• Vatican’s Doctrinal Office Critiques German Theologians' Intercommunion Call
The 57-page text advocated “reciprocal Eucharistic hospitality” between Catholics and Protestants, based on previous ecumenical agreements on the Eucharist and ministry. VATICAN CITY — The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has criticized an appeal by German theologians for intercommunion between Catholics and Protestants. - September 22, 2020

• Vatican Cardinal: Pope Francis ‘Concerned’ About Church in Germany
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) wrote last week to Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops’ conference, saying that a proposal for a “Eucharistic meal fellowship” would harm relations with Orthodox Churches. A Vatican cardinal said Tuesday that Pope Francis has expressed concern about the Church in Germany. - September 22, 2020

• A Catholic healthcare worker objected to contraception. Her Catholic clinic fired her.
A young Portland, Oregon area medical professional this year was fired for objecting to certain medical procedures on the grounds of her Catholic faith. - September 10, 2020

• Vatican nuncio condemns ‘scourge of corruption’
A Vatican representative denounced the “scourge of corruption” at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Thursday. - September 10, 2020

• Omaha Priest Files $2.1 Million Defamation Suit Against Archdiocese
In a statement to a local media outlet, the archdiocese said it could not comment because the matter was a personnel issue dealing with internal church discipline, and the subject of a lawsuit. - September 10, 2020

• Pope Francis: ‘Never Again to the Culture of Abuse’
In a prologue for a new book on clergy sex abuse, Pope Francis thanks the contributors as they have invited the faithful to "delve into this painful evil of sexual abuse that has occurred in our Catholic Church." - September 10, 2020

• Bishop threatens ‘canonical penalties’ for priest whose viral video warned Catholics can’t be Democrats
But there has been an outpouring of support from laity for Father James Altman, the faithful priest who warned his flock about the dangers of voting for candidates who support intrinsic evils. - September 10, 2020
 

• Austrian Catholic school sex ed features graphic sex acts, gender ideology
A sexualized view of children has infected the German-speaking Church. - September 9, 2020

• Newark archdiocese bought second beach house for use by McCarrick
Months before officials in the Archdiocese of Newark sold a beach house used by former cardinal Theodore McCarrick for sexual abuse and coercion, the archdiocese bought a second beach house on the Jersey Shore, at which McCarrick reportedly hosted friends and courted donors. - September 9, 2020

• La Crosse bishop to correct ‘Catholics can’t be Democrats’ priest
After a Wisconsin priest said in a viral video that no Catholic can be a Democrat, the priest’s bishop will attempt fraternal correction, and said Wednesday the priest has inflicted a “wound” upon the Church. A Texas bishop, however, has doubled down on his support for the priest. - September 9, 2020

• Queensland Passes Law Requiring Priests to Break Confessional Seal
Archbishop Coleridge has said the law would make priests “less a servant of God than an agent of the state” and raise “major questions about religious freedom.” - September 9, 2020
 

• Pro-LGBT priest tells clergy to stop saying ‘voting for Joe Biden is a mortal sin’
Fr. James Martin stated that Catholics should care as much about the LGBT community as they do about abortion. - September 8, 2020

• Pope accepts resignation of bishop-designate of Duluth, following accusation
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Father Michel J. Mulloy — who had been appointed but not installed as bishop of Duluth, Minnesota — after an allegation of sexual abuse was raised against him from the 1980s when he was a priest in South Dakota. - September 8, 2020

• No More Hero Popes: New Allegations That Benedict XVI Failed to Properly Address High-Ranking Vatican Abuser
Growing up during the pontificate of John Paul II, it was easy to fall in love with the figure of the pope. His warm, sincere smile, his grandfatherly presence, his constant words of encouragement, and his admonitions to create a culture of life were all extremely attractive to a young, conservative Catholic like me. - September 5, 2020

• Pope Francis to Sign a New Encyclical on Human Fraternity on Oct. 3
Pope Francis will offer a Mass at the tomb of St. Francis in Assisi privately at 3 p.m. before signing the encyclical on the day before St. Francis’ feast day. - September 5, 2020

• Pope Francis: Amazon Synod Was for Discernment, Not Fighting on Married Priests
Pope Francis explained that a synod of bishops is a “spiritual exercise,” a period for discernment of how the Holy Spirit is speaking, and for self-examination regarding the motive beyond positions. - September 4, 2020

• The Wages of Homosexuality: Disease, Destruction, and Death
As a teenager in the 90s, going to the March for Life, I was struck — and, frankly, disturbed — by the presence certain angry, usually white-haired men, who stood on the sides of Constitution Avenue with giant posters of horribly mutilated human fetuses, bellowing in the direction of the marchers that abortion is murder. - September 30, 2020

• VIDEO: Dr. Taylor Marshall: Pope Francis Fires Cardinal Becciu & Cardinal Pell Strikes Back: 5 FACTS
This past week, Pope Francis fired Cardinal Becciu who then resigned as Cardinal. Cardinal Pell then praised Pope Francis for doing so. Dr. Taylor Marshall gives the timeline of events, 5 MAJOR facts, and then an analysis of why this is so important. - September 28, 2020

• Corruption of the Best is The Worst: The Jesuits, The Church, & the Deep State
Seeking to find any coherence of the recent action of the Society of Jesus with the original intentions of Saint Ignatius of Loyola is an arduous if not impossible task, to the point that in hindsight one considers the reconstitution of the Order in 1814 after its suppression by Clement XIV in 1773 to have been ill-advised. - September 26, 2020

• THE JESUIT CONNECTION: Viganò on the Vatican/Chinese Betrayal
Seeking to find any coherence of the recent action of the Society of Jesus with the original intentions of Saint Ignatius of Loyola is an arduous if not impossible task, to the point that in hindsight one considers the reconstitution of the Order in 1814 after its suppression by Clement XIV in 1773 to have been ill-advised. It is not surprising that, in the process of dissolution and self-demolition to which the entire ecclesial body is subjected, the contribution of the Jesuits has been – and still remains – decisive. - September 25, 2020

• The Laity’s Civil War and the Priests Who Stand on the Sidelines
Very few priests have been willing to publicly oppose the champions of the unborn holocaust. Long gone are the days of St. Ambrose, who refused Emperor Theodosius Holy Communion and forced him to do penance for the massacre of the Thessalonians. In our day, the massacre is on the level of the Nazi holocaust multiplied beyond counting, yet still many priests and bishops do not imitate St. Ambrose, instead administering the Sacraments to the heralds of child murder. Indeed, as Italian journalist Sandro Magister observed a few years ago, even Pope John Paul II—otherwise a great defender of unborn children—publicly gave Holy Communion to Francesco Rutelli in 2001, who actively campaigned for laws permitting child murder before and after this. -  September 24, 2020

• Fr. Z's Blog: Wacko New York City Jesuits – UPDATED – Glen Beck comments
Wacko New York City Jesuits – UPDATED – Glen Beck comments - September 23, 2020

• Death of Bishop Pedro Casaldáliga: “Liberation Theology Loses Its Herald”
Few realized it, but a powerful herald of liberation theology quietly passed away. The Spanish Claretian prelate and poet Pedro Casaldáliga died in Brazil in early August. He was the bishop emeritus of the Amazonian diocese of São Félix do Araguaia, and one of the most active exponents of liberation theology. While he did not participate in the recent Amazon Synod in Rome due to his advanced age, the Synod’s documents and even the apostolic exhortation, Querida Amazonia, paid homage to his leading role over the decades. - September 18, 2020

• The Earth is Not Our Mother
“The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate.”—G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy - September 18, 2020

• Fr. Z's Blog: ASK FATHER: Some say @TaylorRMarshall, Tim Gordon, Archbp. Vigano are schismatic. Is this true?”
From a reader…
QUAERITUR: I am a relatively new re-convert to Christiantiy. I have learned much from Dr. Taylor Marshall and I have started attending my local Traditional Latin Mass and have picked my latin missal at his recommendation. - Septebmer 18, 2020

• VIDEO: Dr. Taylor Marshall: VIGANÒ: VATICAN II led to Globalist Revolution and Attack on FAMILY
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò in his recent interview states that the premises of Vatican 2 opened the way for a Globalist Revolution against God and His will for humanity in Christ: - September 15, 2020

• No More Platitudes: It’s Time to Take a Hard Look at the Crisis of Catholicism
A few years ago, my wife looked at me, after one of my rants about how bad things were getting in the Church, and asked me a simple question: “If this makes you so miserable, why are you still doing it?” - September 15, 2020

• Fr. Z's Blog: Reason #747903 for Summorum Pontificum: JESUITS! Yoga in the church SANCTUARY of St. Francis Xavier (again) in NYC
Two years ago, I posted about Jesuits in New York City – at the once great and now increasingly weird and infamous St. Francis Xavier – having YOGA in the SANCTUARY of the church. I’m not making this up. - September 15, 2020

• Remaining in a Church That Hurt(s) Me
At mid-life, I have absolutely no patience or charity for eunuch huckster priests who sell the LGBT lie like patent medicine. At 16, I bought it. I drank from the bottle and got drunk. It didn’t heal anything. Instead, I woke up 15 years later among the dead. My heart broken and my body destroyed. God forgive me, but I am filled with so much hatred; hell has no room for these men; as for the bishops who allow them to prey upon the innocence of the lost – every abuse and indignity that the betrayed had to endure – they will experience for an eternity. - September 14, 2020

• THE TROUBLE WITH CHRISTIAN LEFTISM
The guides of the proletariat were right. The lessons of recent political and social events prove it.” - September 10, 2020

• Repairing the Foundations
Suppose you have homes falling to pieces everywhere in your town. You could look at the walls, that you concede are sometimes made of chalk. You could look at the roofing, because you sometimes notice a strange sag up above the eaves. But instead you fix upon the foundations. - September 10, 2020

• When are Catholics required to obey their bishops?
‘They cannot bend us to their human will, and they cannot impose on us their opinions on non-spiritual matters, however good their intentions.’ - September 9, 2020

• Papal Adviser Writes Lengthy Analysis of Pope’s Governance and Reform
Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro explains how discernment, inner conversion and dialogue are central to Francis’ reform rather than any set strategy or structural change. - September 7, 2020

• ‘Say the Black, Do the Red’ —Liturgical Abuse and Pastoral Malpractice
COMMENTARY: Liturgical abuses, such as what happened to Father Matthew Hood of Detroit, constitute pastoral malpractice of the worst possible kind. And they are far from uncommon. - September 6, 2020

• A Tale of 2 Archbishops: Capuchins O’Malley and Chaput Mark Golden Jubilees
COMMENTARY: Much of the recent history of the Catholic Church in the United States can be told in the lives of these two men, who were both ordained Aug. 29, 1970. - September 4, 2020

• Analysis: The Art of China’s Vatican Deal
What, then, could the Vatican hope to achieve by extending a deal which has yielded no results? - September 3, 2020

• The Second Vatican Council’s New Theology
Many people wonder whether the current crisis in the Church began with the Second Vatican Council. Others believe that the crisis predates the council, and therefore the latter cannot be accused of causing it. - September 2, 2020

• Fr. Z's Blog: ANOTHER priest with an invalid baptism. Fathers! Review the videos of your baptism! ACTION ITEM!
You old-timers here known that for years… going on decades now… I have RAILED against priests who take it on themselves to change the words of the sacred liturgy, especially in significant moments such as during the FORM of sacraments. - September 16, 2020