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In the two days that have elapsed since my piece on this subject, the full extent of the Vatican’s doctoring of the letter from Benedict to Archbishop Vigano respecting the “theology of Pope Francis” has been revealed under growing public pressure for full disclosure.As has so often been the case, the sleuthing of Sandro Magister has led to a breakthrough. In the hyperlinked column, Magister notes another suspicious circumstance surrounding the letter, beyond the blurring of the first two lines and concealment of almost the entire second page by a pile of the eleven booklets on “the theology of Pope...

Pope Francis made global news in 2016 with a high-level document on family life meant to bring the church into modern times. It emphasized the need for priests to welcome divorced Catholics who remarry outside the church and many others in what the church calls “irregular situations.”Francis fans cheered his emphasis on inclusion. Critics rued his lack of clarity.Two years later, Washington’s archbishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, has released one of the most comprehensive responses from a Catholic leader on how to implement the pope’s more lofty and theoretical document.Like the pope’s, Wuerl’s document sidesteps giving a specific answer to the...

Ahead of the publication of pastoral guidelines on Amoris Laetitia, the bishops have voiced support for some divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the Eucharist, even if living in a state of objective adultery. Edward Pentin Polish bishops appear to be showing support for allowing confessors to determine on a case-by-case basis whether remarried divorcees living in a state of objective adultery can receive Holy Communion. In a statement issued after a two-day plenary meeting, the bishops stressed the importance of “discernment, accompaniment and inclusion” in dealing with such cases, according to the Polish Catholic website Pch24. The website added that...

March 15, 2018What “Accompaniment” Really MeansRev. James V. Schall, S.J. These reflections are written against the background of the way in which many activities, once treated under the natural law, came to be considered human “rights” under civil law. A couple of decade ago, it became clear that the subversion of natural law would be carried out under the aegis of “human rights” as understood in particular by Hobbes. Thus, we have today, in many political societies, abortion, single-sex “marriage,” homosexual living, and fetal experimentation, and euthanasia, things all logically connected with each other, called and enforced as positive “human...

Mohammad Qayyum Qureshi (45) surrendered to the police stating that he had chopped off the right hand (between wrist and elbow) of his son, Mohammad Khalid Qureshi (18).A man chopped off his teenage son’s hand in Hyderabad on Monday for allegedly getting addicted to pornography on his smartphone despite repeated warnings, police said. Mohammad Qayyum Qureshi (45), a butcher by profession of Jalpalli colony in Pahadishareef area in the old city, surrendered to the police stating that he had chopped off the right hand (between wrist and elbow) of his son, Mohammad Khalid Qureshi (18), who works as an assistant...

It is a pastoral instruction entitled “Rejoice with me” dedicated to “Welcoming, discerning, accompanying and integrating into the ecclesial community the faithful who have divorced and civilly remarried”. The Bishop of Albano Marcello Semeraro, secretary of the C9, the council of cardinals who helps the Pope in the reform of the Curia and in the governance of the universal Church, is distributing it these days. The peculiarities of the document are two: it is a well-defined application instruction about the topic - described in the subtitle - and at the same time it is a generous document, which, although it...

"Permit the children to come to me; do not hinder them; for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these." - Jesus in Mark 10:14 Throughout the world by God's design - and apart from mankind's fallen and sinful nature - there is nothing more universal than the love of parents for their children and the desire to protect them. It is incumbent upon parents and all citizens to do whatever they can to protect America’s children, teachers and staff in our schools. Tragically, the increase of heinous, immoral and murderous acts perpetrated on our young from the womb...

In a lecture on religious doctrine, prominent Australian Muslim preacher Mohamed Hoblos told a gathering of the faithful that "a person who murders someone or rapes a child, but prays daily as prescribed in the Quran is better in the eyes of Allah than the one who doesn't commit any of these sins, but doesn't pray, Any person who misses one prayer without a good excuse is worse than a murderer, worse than a rapist in the eyes of Allah." Hoblos explained that "Allah does not want the faithful to sin. Not murdering or raping people is to be preferred,...

This spring, a group of Christian liberals (yes, apparently “Christian liberal” is a “thing,” not an oxymoron) plans to visit Lynchburg, Virginia, the home of conservative Liberty University, and protest what they consider the “toxic evangelicalism” coming from leaders like Liberty’s president Jerry Falwell and others like him who happen to support President Trump. The “Red Letter Revival” was announced last week by Christian author and social justice warrior Shane Claiborne via Twitter, and is set to take place April 6-7. According to his website bio, Claiborne “heads up Red Letter Christians, a movement of folks who are committed to...

HOBOKEN – Churchgoers attending Sunday service at St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church celebrated the renaming of their pastor. The Rev. Rose Beeson has been transitioning from woman to man since last summer, sharing the journey with parishioners. After giving a sermon on what is known in the church as Transfiguration Sunday, the Rev. Tracie Bartholomew, bishop of the New Jersey congregation, held a "renaming ceremony" where Beeson will now be called Peter.

Humanae vitae, Blessed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical reaffirming the Church’s defense of the sanctity of human life, was promulgated fifty years ago this year. It was dated July 25, 1968. When July rolls around later this year I shall have some things to say, God willing, about the encyclical’s content. What I’m talking about here is some of the aftermath of the document’s promulgation.Only some. I’m going for a broad picture and in as few words as possible. I shall not deal, for instance, with the epic fight of Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle to preserve doctrinal orthodoxy at the Catholic University...

The Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences tweeted yesterday without comment a New York Times article about people using birth control to stop having children because of "climate change" fear.  The alarmist New York Times article said some people are “acutely aware that having a child is one of the costliest actions they can take environmentally” and are therefore using artificial contraception to prevent that from happening.

The mainstream media portrait of Francis as a smiling, friendly old grandpa has always been at the very best a gross caricature, and more often a poorly executed grotesque in the service of an incredible narrative of Francis as darling of the mainstream media’s favorite pet causes. he first month of 2018 has not been smooth sailing for Pope Francis. Within the space of four weeks, he has brought his record of leadership in the ongoing fight against clerical sexual abuse of minors under intense (and frankly overdue) scrutiny, and drawn the ire of a man universally recognized as a...

The webpage of the controversial Pontifical Academy for Life published a reflection by Gerhard Höver, a retired liberal German theologian and a member of the Academy, about the term “intrinsically evil”. Höver claims without convincing arguments that the term “intrinsically evil” is allegedly “outdated” and “too restricting”. Getting himself into contradictions he argues that there is “regularity” within “irregular” situations. Edward Pentin sees Höver’s article as the latest attempt of a Vatican-appointed figure to raise questions about the Church’s teaching on intrinsically evil acts. Höver’s theories are obviously wrong, otherwise one could, for instance, imagine that homosexual abuse or genocide...

Goodbye, “Humanae Vitae.” Half a century later, the encyclical against artificial methods of birth control that marked the most dramatic moment of the pontificate of Paul VI, rejected by entire episcopates, contested by countless theologians, disobeyed by myriads of faithful, is now giving way to a radical reinterpretation, to a “paradigm shift” undoubtedly desired and encouraged by Pope Francis himself. Paradox would have it that Paul VI should be the pope whom Jorge Mario Bergoglio admires and praises the most. And precisely - his own words - for the “prophetic brilliance” with which he wrote that encyclical and for his...

Pontifical Academy for Life Member: Term ‘Intrinsically Evil’ Too Restricting In a reflection on Amoris Laetitia posted on the academy’s website, German moral theologian Gerhard Höver argues that the term fails to account for complexity of different situations. Edward Pentin A reflection on Amoris Laetitia has been posted on the website of the Pontifical Academy for Life in which its author, a new member of the academy, proposes that the term “intrinsically evil” is outdated.

Across the United States, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Christians are coming out of the closet. For many of them, finding acceptance within the church can be a test of faith.

As Phony Synod III Approaches, Cardinal Parolin Gives Hints of the Next Disaster by Christopher A. Ferrara January 12, 2018 A video interview with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, provides a window onto the next looming disaster for the Church: the “Synod on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment.” As the Church reels from the effects of the ecclesial H-Bomb that is Amoris Laetitia (AL), Parolin reveals that the next Phony Synod, which will be manipulated from start to finish like the last two, will probably culminate in a document already written as the predetermined “fruit...

Responsible parenthood can obligate a married couple to use artificial birth control, a recently appointed member of the Pontifical Academy for Life has argued, basing his theory on Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia. Italian moral theologian Father Maurizio Chiodi said at a December 14 public lecture at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome that there are “circumstances — I refer to Amoris Laetitia, Chapter 8 — that precisely for the sake of responsibility, require contraception.” Chapter 8 of the Pope’s 2016 document on the family has drawn controversy because of its differing interpretations on the issue...

Retired Catholic Bishop of Corpus Christi TX, Rene Henry Gracida said on his blog over the weekend, “Francis’ heterodoxy is now official.” England’s internet-famed Deacon Nick Donnelly wondered on Twitter, “Has Francis deposed himself as the successor of St Peter by attempting to make the heretical interpretation of AL Authentic Magisterium?” The comments come in response to Pope Francis' elevation of a controversial private letter of his to the status of an 'apostolic letter' and calling it "authentic Magisterium." His private letter to the Argentine bishops approving their guidelines for giving communion to civilly-divorced-and-remarried Catholics living in adultery was originally...