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Cardinal Pierre on why the U.S. bishops are struggling to connect with Pope FrancisCardinal Christophe Pierre has been apostolic nuncio to the United States since 2016 and, at Pope Francis’ request, he will continue in this role for the foreseeable future, he told America’s Vatican correspondent in an exclusive interview in Rome in early October.The newly-created cardinal described Francis as “a man of vision” and “a man of prayer” and as the one “chosen by the Holy Spirit” to lead the church at this moment in history.He also spoke about his experience as nuncio in the United States. Cardinal Pierre...

German Bishops Conclude Tense Gathering With All Eyes on Synod on Synodality in RomeAs the Synod on Synodality approaches, the Catholic world will be watching how Germany’s controversial Synodal Way integrates (or collides) with the global Catholic event. As German bishops wrapped up their plenary meeting on Thursday with a final press conference amid tensions over same-sex blessings and a whole host of underlying issues, the focus was clear: All eyes were turned toward the fraught relationship with Rome and the forthcoming Synod on Synodality. Bishop George Bätzing of Limburg, president of the German Bishops’ Conference, took public issue with...

[Catholic Caucus] The Lies of SynodalityTwo recent news stories expose the lies that make up “synodality,” that vaunted effort of Church leaders that has been called the “modus vivendi et operandi of the Church.” Before we get to the lies, let’s first review what the Vatican claims “synodality” is: Synodality denotes the particular style that qualifies the life and mission of the Church, expressing her nature as the People of God journeying together and gathering in assembly, summoned by the Lord Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel. Synodality ought to be expressed in the...

[Catholic Caucus] Synod on Synodality X/Twitter account shows youth want ‘a return to orthodoxy and tradition’Catholic youth desire from the Synod on Synodality a “return to orthodoxy and tradition” and a continuation of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), according to prayer intention snapshots highlighted by the Vatican.The Vatican’s Synod on Synodality X/Twitter account shared pictures this week of handwritten prayer intentions from youth “for the Synod and the Church,” showing that a considerable number called for the preservation of, and return to, the Traditional Catholic faith and Latin Mass.World Youth Day attendees in Lisbon, Portugal scrawled on post-it notes intentions...

[Catholic Caucus] Number of Priestly Ordinations in Free FallA recent piece at the SSPX site deals with the “vertiginous” drop in priestly vocations in France, in particular, Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe. The figures they used are from the French bishops conference and other non-SSPX sources.The numbers are dreadful, even for a pessimist.The results will be disastrous, given the present madness about synodality (“walking together-ity”).This vertiginous drop in the number of ecclesiastics leads to abuses that the next synod on synodality is very likely not to sanction, and perhaps even to condone. To compensate for the lack of priests in...

[Catholic Caucus] Sexual Revolution in the Church. Everyone Inside, but at the Price of Excluding GodThe symbolic image of the synod on synodality, convened in plenary session this October, is a tent that is enlarged. To finally “welcome and accompany” even those who “do not feel accepted in the Church.”And who are the first on the list of these excluded, in the “Instrumentum laboris,” the document that acts as a guide for the synod? “The divorced and remarried, people in polygamous marriages, or LGBTQ+ Catholics.”For years now in the Church these human typologies have been at the center of discussion....

[Catholic Caucus] What’s Missing From the SynodThe sincerity of a person is often shown by the sacrifice he is willing to make. For instance, if a student tells a teacher he wants a better grade but won’t do the work necessary to get it, he is being insincere. If the teacher says he is willing to help but won’t put in some extra time himself, he is being insincere. If the student still wants a better grade without the work, what he really wants is, in modern parlance, to be enabled. If the teacher gives a better grade without the...

Spoiler Alert! The Synod on Synodality: A Trojan Horse?The story begins with a bang and within a few paragraphs its central plot is revealed in an earthly paradise, Marriage. By chapter three the reader is presented with the human train wreck, sin and death, the result of the fall from grace instigated by an evil power. All of human history can be summed up as a battle between those who seek to normalize the fall and “live according to the desires of the flesh” and those who walk by “Life in the Spirit,” as it was “In the beginning” (cf....

Pro-LGBT head of German bishops’ conference says he wants to ‘found the Church differently’'Open the Scriptures, preferably read them together and interpret them from your daily life.'The head of the German bishops’ Conference (DBK) has called for “new ideas” of “how we can found the Church differently.” In a sermon on July 23, during the 125th anniversary celebration of a parish church in Koblenz, Bishop Georg Bätzing, who is known as the leader and head of the heretical Synodal Way, said that he believes the Church is in a new “time of sowing.” “New ideas are needed about how we...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican Received German Bishops for "Constructive and Positive" TalksCuria Cardinals received German bishops on 26 July for talks about the German Synod. The dialogue was “positive and constructive”, the German bishops said (Dbk.de).Further meetings are planned. The German delegation consisted of President Bätzing and Ackermann (Trier), Gerber (Fulda), Meier (Augsburg) and Overbeck (Essen), as well as General Secretary Beate Gilles, and Press Speaker Kopp.The Roman delegation: Ladaria (Faith), Koch (Ecumenism), Parolin (State), Iannone (Legislative Texts), Prevost (Bishops) and Viola (Secretary for Liturgy).

Careful what you wish for: synodality and the latest Syro-Malabar controversiesROME – Though it’s always presumptuous to assert what Pope Francis must be thinking, I’m still willing to bet good money that when he sat about the “synodalization” of Catholicism, the current tempest raging in India’s Syro-Malabar Church is not exactly what he had in mind.The irony is that the Syro-Malabar Church is already governed by a synod, but one which its critics accuse of behaving in anything but a synodal fashion.In effect, what’s happening right now in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the largest jurisdiction within the Syro-Malabar Church and...

The Goal of the Synodal Takeover of the Church Is the Corruption of Priests! Thank God for the SSPX!The Planned Synodal Takeover of the ChurchRemember Good-Bye Good Men, Michael Rose's book about the attack on orthodox men aspiring to the priesthood? Corrupt seminaries welcoming homosexuals bearing nicknames like The Pink Palace (St. Mary's in Baltimore) had gatekeepers to make sure only those who supported women's ordination, homosexuality, changes in moral teaching on sexuality, etc. were accepted. Those "rigid" Catholics, men who loved the faith as taught over the millennia, were blacklisted, excluded, and expelled especially if they had the temerity...

[Catholic Caucus] ‘Synodal Way’ Working Group Agendas Unveiled in GermanyThe German Bishops and the lay Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) announced the formation of six groups to discuss topics such as “gender” and the role of women in the Church as part of the controversial “synodal way” process.The synodal way is purportedly intended to encourage dialogue between Catholic clergy and lay Catholics. As the process has unfolded, however, it has become evident that its leaders are angling to reject certain doctrines of the Church.After the conclusion of the first three years of the synodal way, the six new groups...

From Cardinal Bea to Synodality: Obscuring the Mystical Body of Christ to Prepare the Mystical Body of the AntichristAlthough the competition for most heretical and dangerous statements is fierce in the new document from the Synod on Synodality, Instrumentum Laboris, paragraph 20 offers this top contender:“[A] synodal Church is founded on the recognition of a common dignity deriving from Baptism, which makes all who receive it sons and daughters of God, members of the family of God, and therefore brothers and sisters in Christ, inhabited by the one Spirit and sent to fulfil a common mission.” At first glance, this...

German Exodus: Half a Million Catholics Abandon Church in Historic DepartureThe Catholic Church in Germany is facing an unprecedented crisis, with more than half a million baptized Catholics leaving the Church in 2022, according to figures released by the German Bishops’ Conference on June 28. This marks the highest number of departures ever recorded, with 522,821 people choosing to leave the Church, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language partner news agency.The total number of departures, including deaths, exceeded 708,000, a stark contrast to the 155,173 baptisms and 1,447 new members recorded during the same period. The figures reveal a historic...

[Catholic Caucus] "Is a Synod of Horrors Coming Our Way in 2023/24?" "Already it is regarded in the media as a 'church parliament' or 'mini-concilium,' and the Synod Secretariat's protestations to the contrary only reinforce this unfortunate impression." A guest commentary by Joachim Heimerl (source in German)Recently I heard a lady being asked about the "synodal church." Her answer was as succinct as it was accurate: "Please! I'm Catholic, not synodical." I can only agree with this myself, even though talk of the "synodal church" is now so naturally on everyone's lips as if it were a statement of faith.In...

Part 7: Modernism and the Synod on Synodality - The Beat Goes On! And It's Not Sacred Polyphony!The Synod on Synodality's General Meeting in October is shaping up to be the equivalent of hard metal rock! You won't hear Gregorian Chant or Sacred Polyphany coming out of the latest blather confab. What you will hear is plenty of modernist jargon about "walking together" and "co-responsibility" with laity (especially women). You'll hear about climate change, ecumenism, dialogue, and inculturation. You'll learn about "discernment, in the wealth of meanings that this term takes on within the different spiritual traditions." You'll hear...

[Catholic Caucus] Architect of "Traditionis Custodes" Endorses German Synodal Way on "Homosexuality as God's Creation"Those who have long followed liturgical discussions are well aware of the name of Andrea Grillo, an Italian liturgical thinker (not precisely a liturgical scholar) who, though he denies having had a hand directly in ghostwriting Traditionis Custodes, is at the center of the Sant'Anselmo brigade whose ideas are (and sometimes verbatim) present in its text, as I discussed here. (For more on Grillo's anti-traditionalism, see this, this, and this; for his stance against Humanae Vitae, see here.) In short, it is no exaggeration to say...

The Boston Way: How the Vatican Navigates the Nefarious Waters of Doctrinal ChangePope Francis speaks with Cardinal O'Malley as they arrive for a consistory at the Vatican on Feb. 13, 2015It is undisputed knowledge that Boston was ground zero regarding the exposure of the homosexual abuse of minors in the universal Church. After the removal of Bernard Cardinal Law as head of the Archdiocese of Boston and his subsequent replacement, Sean O’Malley, various things needed to be done to staunch the bleeding, among them how to finance the settlements of the many victims. When Cardinal Sean O'Malley assumed leadership of...

[Catholic Caucus] The Sin-Nod For A Sin-Nodal ChurchRedundancy is a great ploy for those who haven't the foggiest idea about which they are blathering, isn't it? The Vatican wonks are getting this tactic down to an art form, wouldn't you say?The Instrumentem Laboris has been released, comic sans font and all. It can be found here, in all its translations and formats. Mind you, these are official translations. For the purposes of this post, I'm going to examine the Word file, as word counts can be done quite efficiently. Word counts are a decent indicator of priorities. So let's jump...