A sub-category of News.
With the Mass Pro Eligendo Pontifice in the morning and the procession of the Cardinals into the Sistine Chapel, the Conclave of May 7, 2025, officially begins. Cardinal Re, Dean of the Sacred College, gave a speech urging his fellow cardinals not to be guided by personal considerations. I imagine the Cardinals enter with minds…
A few days ago, Catholic and political social media started buzzing. As many Catholics picked up their beads, revisited novenas, and committed to extra prayers for the papal conclave, the White House and President Donald Trump’s official accounts shared an AI image of him dressed as pope. And of course, chaos ensued. The image seemed…
Not long ago, Cardinal Gerhard Müller made some comments during an interview in The Times of London which caught my attention. They echo sentiments he has repeated before but which now, with the conclave to elect a new pope upon us, struck me. “‘No Catholic is obliged to obey doctrine that is wrong,’ he said,…
Pope Francis is gone, and the entire People of God who have spent twelve years under his pontificate (both knowingly and unknowingly) owe the late Pontiff a few last things. Among these, accessible to any Christian acting in good conscience, are the duties of praying for his soul and offering a fair assessment of his…
Last year I made a resolution on Byzantine New Year to try to work on the spirituality of the “sacrament of the moment.” My predominant fault is pride, and my problem is that I become too abstract in my intellect. This abstraction divorces me from reality so that I make an idol out of my…
Sorry for the heavy emphasis on personal history in these messages from the Eternal City, but I must begin my second report by noting that there has never been a moment in my memory that I could consider myself an enthusiastic member of the society in which I lived. My head and heart have never…
Gaming, April 24, 2025 On the Need to Examine before the next Conclave the Formal Accusation of Heresy launched by Archbishop Viganò (and supported by many distinguished theologians, jurists and philosophers world-wide) against Pope Francis Your Eminence, dear Cardinal Dean Giovanni Battista Re, Most cordial Greetings in Christ. I address myself to you, dear and…
Unfortunately, the state of the liturgy seems to concern very few people in these days of waiting for a new Pope. And yet this issue is among the most important—if not the most important. Lex orandi, lex credendi—the way we pray shapes the way we believe. The decline of the liturgy and sacred music seems…
Last December, I wrote a two-part series for LifeSiteNews (here and here) in response to Mr. Matthew McCusker and Dr. John Lamont, both of whom argued in differing ways that Pope Francis, who has since departed this life, was a heretic and therefore not the Pope. I focused primarily on McCusker’s arguments, one of which…
While the sede of St. Peter remains officially vacante for the next couple of days at least, it’s a unique moment to reflect very frankly on the painful pontificate of Francis without fear of being labeled a sedevacantist. In a recent op-ed for OnePeterFive, Danielle Heckenkamp urged Catholics not to “focus on the confusion and…
