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Where Peter Is

Christ is present in creation, Cardinal Burke

Cardinal Raymond Burke, the titular head of the online resistance to Pope Francis, has given an interview about Querida Amazonia. It contains several eyebrow-raising lines, but what really stands out is his denial of Christ’s presence in creation. His eminence is perturbed by this statement: Christ is present in a glorious and mysterious...

Which Pope said this?

“But charity will never be true charity unless it takes justice into constant account (…) From this it follows that a “charity” which deprives the workingman of the salary to which he has a strict title in justice, is not charity at all, but only its empty name and hollow semblance. The wage-earner...

Seven Years a Pope

Today marks seven years since the election of Pope Francis to the papacy. With all of Italy essentially on lockdown due to the pandemic, with public Masses cancelled and St. Peter’s square closed, the unprecedented and almost surreal situation of sickness, death, fear, and social isolation has in many ways overshadowed (with good...

Yes to Social Distancing, No to Individualism

As the coronavirus spreads around the globe and here in the United States, many organizations and governments have begun to shut down or limit public gatherings. Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump have cancelled political rallies; NCAA basketball games will be played without fans; the NBA has suspended its season after a...

Cardinal Burke’s Poisoned Well

In a recent interview with the National Catholic Register, Cardinal Raymond Burke once again criticizes an apostolic exhortation from Pope Francis. Querida Amazonia, the result of the most recent synod on the Amazon, summarizes Pope Francis’s vision of the Amazonian church. Cardinal Burke particularly disapproves of paragraph 74 of Querida Amazonia, which says:...

Accompaniment as Antidote

Over the course of Pope Francis’s papacy, but particularly after the promulgation of Amoris Laetitia, some Catholics have expressed angst over what Pope Francis means when he calls for “accompaniment,” a term he uses whenever he describes ministering to those who are suffering. Some critics seem concerned that Francis is encouraging clergy and...

Understanding Synodality

Since Francis was elected pope, a number of words have entered the Church’s lexicon that–while not new by any means–represent the priorities and focus of his vision for renewal in the Church. Terms such as accompaniment, encounter, clericalism, throwaway culture, and periphery have become common–not only in the papal vocabulary, but in the...

Which Pope said this?

“Jesus does not dialogue with the devil. Jesus responds to the devil with the Word of God, not with his own words. In temptation, we often begin to dialogue with temptation, to dialogue with the devil: “yes, I may do this…, then I will go to confession, then this, then that…”. We must...

Since when did “conscience” become a dirty word?

The other morning, I saw a post by a well-known§ opponent of abortion on Facebook saying we shouldn’t vote according to conscience, but according to “conviction.” This post was aimed at encouraging people to vote for her preferred candidate rather than someone from a minor party. She even implied that it would be...

Father Martin vs the Anonymous Bishops

The controversy over what happened during the February 10 ad limina meeting between Pope Francis and fifteen bishops from the Southwestern U.S. seems to be simmering down a bit, though all indications suggest a number of questions will remain unanswered and many disputed points will never be resolved. None of the anonymous bishops...

Loneliness Today, Part V: The Uncoupled

When Pope Francis promulgated the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia in 2016, much of its teaching was widely ignored in favor of what would become years of arguing over a single footnote that potentially opens the sacraments to some Catholics who are civilly remarried after divorce.[1] Conservative Catholics launched arguments that this change was...