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Archdiocese of Washington King of Thieves and King of the Universe – A Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King Msgr. Charles Pope • November 19, 2016 • Jesus Christ is King of Thieves, though He never stole. He is savior of sinners, though He never sinned.Today’s Gospel chosen presents Jesus as reigning from the cross. Nothing could be more paradoxical. Let’s look at it from four perspectives: I. Vision – Today’s Gospel presents a vision or image of the Church. We like to think of more pleasant images: the Church is the Bride of Christ or the Body...

Archbishop Sheen's Cause may now restart after being suspended for two yearsThe remains of Archbishop Fulton Sheen are to be moved from St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to the Illinois city of Peoria after a two-year dispute between the two dioceses.A New York judge ruled in favour of a lawsuit launched by the Diocese of Peoria to bring the remains back to where Archbishop Sheen first served as an altar boy and then was ordained a priest.The dispute led to the suspension of Archbishop Sheen’s Cause two years ago.Two years earlier the Vatican had declared the archbishop – an...

A shocking new piece of information comes to us from Germany, from the website Katholisches.info, which is principally run by the well-informed Vatican expert and loyal Catholic layman, Giuseppe Nardi. He reported on 18 November – the day before the controversial “non-existent” Consistory of Cardinals in Rome – that Pope Francis has decided to re-write the statutes of the Pontifical Academy for Life in a way which essentially re-makes this organization. Relying on a 5 November 2016 report published by the German branch of Vatican Radio, called Radio Vatikan, Nardi has published the new statutes of the Academy. Archbishop Vincenzo...

As the Italian news agency, ANSA, reports, Pope Francis intends to publish a new Apostolic Letter “Misericordia et Misera” on Monday, 21 November 2016. It will be a document sealing the end of the Year of Mercy and might thus have a special meaning to the Catholic world. German Vatican expert Giuseppe Nardi also reports today on the website Katholisches.info an important event that might also take place on Monday: the full acceptance of the Society of St. Pius X as a member of the Catholic Church, with a personal prelature, as has often previously been discussed. This information comes...

November 20, 2016 The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe Reading 1 2 Sm 5:1-3 In those days, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:“Here we are, your bone and your flesh. In days past, when Saul was our king,it was you who led the Israelites out and brought them back. And the LORD said to you,‘You shall shepherd my people Israeland shall be commander of Israel.’” When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron,King David made an agreement with them there before the LORD,and they anointed...

Just before tomorrow’s consistory in Rome where Pope Francis will come together with the Cardinals of the Catholic Church in order to elevate his new Cardinals, it seems that the brewing conflict which started in February 2014 with Cardinal Walter Kasper’s speech at the earlier Consistory is now coming to a head. As Steve Skojec has recently reminded us, it was at that time that 85% of the cardinals who then spoke up had rejected the “Kasper prosposal” which finally wants to admit “remarried” divorcees to Holy Communion.In this context, the Four Cardinals Letter written against the papal document Amoris Laetitia is of...

Francis took his new "cardinals" to meet Benedict XVI today.... Video here:

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis, in his homily at the Consistory which took place in St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, reflected on the Lord’s “Sermon on the Plain,” found in the Gospel of St Luke. The Holy Father said that, by taking the Apostles down from the mountaintop and setting them in the midst of the people on the plain, our Lord “shows the Apostles, and ourselves, that the true heights are reached on the plain, while the plain reminds us that the heights are found in a gaze and above all in a call: ‘Be merciful as the Father is...

Consistory for the creation of new cardinals streamed live 7 hours ago....

Our Strengths Are Often Our Struggles Msgr. Charles Pope • November 18, 2016 • One of the things that I have learned about myself, and humans in general, is that our strengths are very closely related to our struggles. Some people are very passionate; this makes them dedicated and driven to make a difference. But it also makes them prone to anger or depression. Their passion in one area (e.g., truth, justice) can cause difficulties with passions in other areas such as sexuality, food, or drink. Passionate people can inspire others and are often great leaders. But they also...

Rome -- The Vatican's Jubilee Year was supposed to draw 20 million Catholics to Rome, where hotels and restaurants were rubbing their hands with glee, waiting to cash in. But two days before the closure of Pope Francis's special Year of Mercy, a disgruntled hospitality trade has slammed it as a flop. "We were expecting much more than this. We did even worse than last year," said Antonio Calicchia, who owns a traditional restaurant a few hundred metres from Saint Peter's Square. "We heard some 20 million pilgrims would be coming to Rome. Where did they hide?" he quipped, bitterly....

After nearly two months, the wait is finally over. In an interview with the Italian newspaper, Avvenire, Francis has addressed the dubia. As all but those who live in either fear or abject denial will affirm, Francis provided his answers to each of the five questions that are posed therein. [NOTE: English translation courtesy of Andrea Tornielli at Vatican Insider.] Without specifically mentioning the dubia by name, Francis said with respect to criticism of Amoris Laetitia: The Church exists only as an instrument for the communication of God’s merciful plan to the people. During the Council, the Church felt it...

The neverending drama about Amoris Laetitia continues. The formal request submitted by “Cardinals” Caffarra, Meisner, Burke, and Brandmuller for clarification of five specific points in the infernal exhortation Amoris Laetitia (the so-called dubia, or “doubts”), was released to the public this past Monday, since for almost two months the “Sovereign Pontiff” had refused to give them the courtesy of a response. “Cardinal” Burke added more fuel to the fire by saying in a follow-up interview that the next step would be to confront Francis with a “formal act of correction” should he persist in his errors. Clearly, Francis is not...

November 19, 2016 Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Rv 11:4-12 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me:Here are my two witnesses:These are the two olive trees and the two lampstandsthat stand before the Lord of the earth.If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouthsand devours their enemies.In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain.They have the power to close up the skyso that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying.They also have power to turn water into bloodand to...

Deo gratias! Another Semi-Traditionalist has finally had enough and publicly confessed the truth that is plain for all to see who are courageous enough to look: Francis is not the Pope of the Catholic Church. Mr. Louie Verrecchio, formerly a star pundit of the conservative wing of the Novus Ordo Sect who came to embrace a recognize-but-resist type of traditionalism, has just made the following declaration on his blog, AKA Catholic: “Francis has judged himself a formal heretic. He is, therefore, an antipope” (source). After a number of somewhat well-known recognize-and-resist adherents had already dumped Francis only to go back...

ROME, November 18, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) -- A Jesuit priest often described as Pope Francis' "mouthpiece" has deleted a tweet in which he appeared to compare cardinals of the Church to the character Wormtongue from the Lord of the Rings. Fr. Antonio Spadaro's tweet came amidst a stream of posts criticizing four cardinals for raising concerns about the Pope’s confusion-plagued exhortation Amoris Laetitia. Spadaro began criticizing those who “don't like what they hear” in a series of more than a dozen tweets beginning Monday Nov. 14, the same day the cardinals’ went public with their letter asking Francis to answer...

In an unprecedented development in the post Vatican II Church Pope Francis has cancelled his meeting with the world's cardinals at the consistory he convoked to take place on Saturday 19th November. The Holy Father's surprise decision follows the unusual step he has taken not to respond to the dubia -- the five questions --- submitted to him by senior cardinals to clarify confusion arising from his post-synodal exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. A consistory is a formal meeting of the college of cardinals convoked and chaired by the pope that are usually conducted in secret, though can be held in public....

The Meanest Thing Jesus Ever Said Msgr. Charles Pope • November 17, 2016 • The Gospel from Wednesday’s Mass (Wed. of the 33rd Week – Luke 19:11-27) is known as the “Parable of the Ten Gold Coins.” It has an ending so shocking that, when I read it at Mass some years ago, a young child said audibly to her mother, “Wow, that’s mean!”I’d like to look at it and ponder its shocking ending.Today’s parable is like Matthew’s “Parable of the Talents,” but with some significant differences. In today’s parable, ten people each receive one gold coin. We only...

You will not believe the ridiculousness of it all, but Bergoglioland has finally reached full Banana Republic status. Pope Francis, the Anastasio Somoza of Adultery, the Papa Doc of Sinful Cohabitation, has under him now a Secret "Police", the Osservatorio per l'Attuazione della Riforma della Chiesa di Papa Francesco (OARCPF - Observatory for the Implementation of the Church Reform of Pope Francis) sending our e-mail letters of official tone to professors in Roman institutions demanding them to teach Amoris Laetitia according to the mind of the Pope (that is, Holy Communion to public adulterers and fornicators) -- or (the...

And he certainly doesn’t have anything to hide.People who are thinking that the pope is worried about a confrontation with the cardinals at the consistory are completely and utterly failing to understand him. Sorry Laurence, but no. Most emphatically not at all. There has not been a single day in the last three and a half years in which this person orany of his cabal have demonstrated the slightest interest in hiding anything. He hasn’t answered the cardinals – and has now reportedly cancelled his meetings with them this weekend – because he knows he doesn’t have to.His world is...