Why Not a Tridentine Ordinariate?
It is well known that fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Still, if St. Paul didn’t mind “speaking like a fool,” who am I to hesitate to follow in his footsteps? Alright, here goes. It is no secret...
Category: Commentary
“Dilexi Te” Takes Us through Church History, Focusing on the Poor
By Pope Leo XIV’s own account, Dilexi Te, his first apostolic exhortation (and first major papal document), is a text that “Pope Francis was preparing in the last months of his life,” to which Leo is “adding some reflections” (Dilexi...
A Consistent Ethic of Life Must Be Consistent
When Cardinal Joseph Bernardin first articulated the “consistent ethic of life” nearly forty years ago, he was trying to help Catholics see the interconnectedness of the Church’s defense of the human dignity of all persons. Whether confronting abortion, euthanasia, unjust...
Charlie Kirk bore God’s Image
Until yesterday, I knew little about Charlie Kirk beyond his name and the fact that he was a political pundit of some sort. In the 30-something hours since his murder, I’ve learned that he held many views I found reprehensible....
The Authority of the Pope’s Ordinary Teaching
The question of whether the pope possesses an “ordinary Magisterium” became a point of contention during Francis’s pontificate. Among those who have argued against the idea that the pope can is Dr. Edward Peters who, in an influential 2018 article...
A Pandemic of Arms and the Logic of Weapons
Yesterday, after the Sunday Angelus, our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV offered this prayer intention: Our prayers for the victims of the tragic shooting during a school Mass in the American State of Minnesota include the countless children killed...
Leo XIV and Benedict XVI: The Way of St. Augustine
Leo XIV is a pope of several notable firsts. He is the first pope born in the United States, the first from North America, and the first to have Peruvian citizenship. Following his predecessor, Pope Francis, he is the second...
Bugnini, the Protestant Myth, and the Making of the New Mass
Debates over the post–Vatican II liturgical reforms often hinge less on what the Council actually mandated than on myths, misattributions, and misunderstandings. From rumors that Archbishop Annibale Bugnini was a Freemason to claims that Protestants secretly shaped the new Missal,...
On the Violence in Minneapolis
Early yesterday morning, a note came into my Substack home page expressing utter scandal that Pope Leo said that before we are believers, we are human. I let it pass. It’s not mine to put out every fire — and...
Response to Pedro Gabriel from Fr. Brian Harrison
[Editor’s note: The following is a response from Fr. Brian Harrison to Pedro Gabriel’s August 18 “Open Letter to Fr. Harrison on Amoris Laetitia.” Pedro’s open letter was a response to Fr. Harrison’s “Open Letter to Leo XIV on Amoris...
The Church and the City of Man
In a 1969 German radio broadcast, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, predicted what he believed the future of the Church would be. Ratzinger envisioned that the Church of future generations would lose political power and social acceptance. He...
Nicola Bux’s Eleven-Year Deception
Recently it emerged that in August 2014, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote a personal reply to questions from Msgr. Nicola Bux about the legitimacy of his resignation from the papacy in February 2013. The late pope’s response leaves no ambiguity...
Popular Posts