Certain Catholics who oppose the decisions and teachings of Pope Francis (or other recent popes) proudly announce their “orthodoxy” by citing certain Scripture and Church documents—the latter frequently from the time of St. Pius X—in order to argue that the...
In fire safety classes, we’re told about the four1 conditions necessary for a fire to start: Fuel, Heat, Oxygen, and Flashpoint or Ignition. They call it a fire tetrahedron. Without all four conditions, you don’t have a fire. I bring this up because,...
Critics of Pope Francis on social media use many terms to describe his defenders, including “papolator,” “ultramontanist,” “pope-worshipper,” and “bergoglian.” A more clever but less-frequently used name is “Mottramist.” Mottramism is a reference to Rex Mottram, an extremely unsympathetic character...
If I had to say what I thought caused the biggest harm to the stability of the Church and acceptance of her teachings, I would say it was the loss of respect and obedience to the Holy Father when he...
Catholic teaching holds that the Church is indefectible. She can never fall away into error, but will forever hold fast to the true faith. The teaching authority of the Catholic Church resides in the “Magisterium,” which is simply the body...
Dissenters against recent Church teaching–that is, the teaching of the Church since Vatican II and especially Pope Francis’s recent teaching–often try to argue that there are contradictions between the older and the newer teaching. In my experience, Erick Ybarra is...
One of the things that the anti-Francis Catholics use as a defense is that the Pope is “unclear” or “confusing.” Therefore, they say, it’s not their fault if they think he’s in error and accuse him of heresy. He should...
Below you will find a selection from St. Francis de Sales’ great work The Catholic Controversy. St. Francis is a Doctor of the Church and was a very successful missionary to the Calvinists of his day (he lived from 1567 to...
Throughout history, there have always been Catholics who have wanted to dissent from the teaching of the popes. Today, we see this attitude in theological “liberals” who do not like some of the “old fashioned” teaching of the Church, particular...
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