In his new encyclical Fratelli tutti, Pope Francis warns about how the word solidarity, “is not always well received; in certain situations, it has become a dirty word, a word that dare not be said.” (#116). I believe something similar...
It has become common among critics of the Second Vatican Council to use the expression “weaponized ambiguity” to describe certain conciliar teachings. This expression assumes that language in the Vatican II documents is ambiguous, in the sense that teachings can...
When the pandemic hit the United States earlier this year, bishops across the country made the necessary but unprecedented decision to dispense the faithful from their traditional obligation to attend Mass every Sunday. Six months later, we are slowly beginning...
William Barr, a Catholic, has generated controversy since he began his tenure as Attorney General of the United States in February 2019. Among other things, on July 25, 2019, he ordered the Federal Bureau of Prisons to execute five federal...
In the past five years or so, discussion of Catholic political currents, especially online, has increasingly included an ideology called integralism. Prominent and influential jurists and law professors such as Harvard’s Adrian Vermeule have increasingly begun describing themselves as integralists;...
Following up on this week’s article by Emmett O’Regan discussing the enormously popular website Countdown to the Kingdom, which promotes the dubious apocalyptic messages of unapproved prophets and visionaries, there is breaking news regarding one of their featured visionaries, Fr....
On August 26, 2020, Crisis Magazine published an article entitled, “The Genius of Father Martin,” a title that was later edited to read, “The (Evil) Genius of Father Martin,” as shown in the title’s current form. The article suggested that...
If you follow the world of radical Catholic traditionalism at all, then certainly you’ve come across people who believe the resignation of Pope Benedict wasn’t legitimate. Their case is usually based upon a strict reading of Canon Law, and it...
On August 6, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a response to two dubia (questions) about clerics performing baptisms with the words “We baptize you” instead of “I baptize you.” According to their response, changing the...
Let us consider the matter of words, specifically the terminology and argumentation used by extreme critics of Pope Francis. Words matter. Words are symbols of underlying meaning. Words set tone and establish context. What is striking is the tone of...
Recently, Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron delivered a keynote address at this year’s Napa Institute Conference. For many Catholics, especially those who love and support Pope Francis, this annual meeting has come to be seen as a gathering of...
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. (2 Peter 2:1 NRSVCE) In the context of my previous essay on Vatican II, we turn...
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