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Daily Readings from the USCCBAnd it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:30–31Two of Jesus’ disciples had been discussing the events of the past week as they walked the seven-mile journey along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They previously...

The Death of Pope Francis: The End of An Era? - by Roberto de Mattei At 7:35 a.m., on April 21, 2025, Easter Monday, Jorge Mario Bergoglio's soul separated from his mortal body to present itself to the Divine Judgment. Only on the day of the Last Judgment will we know what the sentence of the supreme tribunal to which each of us must one day present ourselves was for Pope Francis. Let us pray today for the suffrage of his soul, as the Church publicly prays in its novendials, and, precisely because the Church is a public society, let...

Pope Francis’s Sharp Left Turn Toward HeresyJorge Mario Bergoglio became the 266th successor of St. Peter and the head of 1.4 billion Catholics on March 13, 2013. His pontifical persona as Pope Francis, taken in honor of St. Francis of Assisi — the patron saint of ecology and animals — warmed the hearts of both Catholics and Protestant,s and even non-Christians.But Francis’s honeymoon with faithful Catholics lasted just four months. While flying back from an apostolic visit to Brazil on July 29, 2013, a reporter asked him if there was a “gay lobby” in the Vatican.Francis’s reply was shocking: “If...

[Catholic Caucus] The Vatican is now in Utter Chaos, As It Was Foreseeable by The WandererArgentinaApril 23, 2025Shortly after the death of Pope Francis, the Vatican was a hornet's nest, in every sense of the expression. In other words, it was and is chaos. It could not be otherwise when those who are at the head of the most delicate mechanisms of the Church are useless people placed there at the whim of the tyrant. The first major problem faced is the location. Bergoglio's decision not to reside in the Apostolic Palace, because he was very humble as we all...

23 April 2025 Easter Wednesday St.Adalbert Church in Prague, Czech Republic Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 3:1-10I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus, walk!Once, when Peter and John were going up to the Temple for the prayers at the ninth hour, it happened that there was a man being carried past. He was a cripple from birth; and they used to put him down every day near the Temple entrance called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg from the people going in. When this man saw Peter and John on...

Nalin Haley, the son of former U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley, was received into the Catholic Church on Palm Sunday. “As parents, Michael and I always prayed that our children would have a faith and relationship with God,” Nikki Haley posted on social media Sunday. “Today we were so proud to support Nalin in his faith journey as he was confirmed into the Catholic Church, completed RCIA, and received his first holy Communion,” she said of her son. Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina governor, was born and raised in the Sikh faith...

Not even months into his new pontificate, Pope Francis declared, to a group of young people in Paraguay, “Go out and make a mess.” A puzzling remark from the Successor of St. Peter. As the years of his papacy went on, we witnessed what he meant. Year after year, he kept his promise. And the Church descended into an unprecedented chaos. Recall St. Augustine’s classic definition of peace: the tranquillitas ordinis (the tranquility of order). During Pope Francis’ reign, there was nothing of order and certainly no tranquility. Upheaval followed upheaval; shock gave way to more shock; ambiguity was compounded...

Could Cardinal Parolin be validly elected pope?For Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican II 'renewal' is to be brought about through compromise with the proponents of liberalism and naturalism, rather than by combatting these errors.Pietro Parolin is widely regarded as one of the leading candidates who may be elected at the next conclave. Parolin was named a cardinal by Francis in 2014 and has been a member of his influential Council of Cardinal Advisers since that year. He played a prominent role in Francis’s radical revolution and has been a strong supporter of “synodality”, which he sees as a continuation of Vatican...

The Barack Obama of the Roman Catholic Church Has DiedThe twelve-year reign of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, as the head of the Roman Catholic Church began shortly after the strange and still-unexplained resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and seven weeks into the second term of Barack Obama as president of the United States. It was fitting that Obama was president during the first four years of Francis’ papacy, as Francis was the Barack Obama of popes: just as Obama did as president of the United States, Pope Francis worked to weaken, instead of strengthen, the institution he was leading,...

Pope Francis Dies at 88 Marking the End of a Tumultuous and Divisive PontificatePope Francis’ death this morning marks the end of a modernising and seemingly benign pontificate for most of the world, but for those who have followed it with any closeness, a time of turmoil, disruption and deep division.Elected on a mandate of reform, Francis set out to make the Church less self-referential and more mission oriented, closer to the faithful and the peripheries, and more relevant to the times. In many ways he achieved this: those who would never give the Catholic Church a second glance, perceiving...

[Catholic Caucus] About the Conclave: Unusual Specific Names You Read About Will Have Been Selected to Deceive You and Manipulate the ProcessNews pages and newspapers are filled today with reports on who are those most likely to succeed Francis as the next Roman Pontiff. While Romans have for centuries cautioned outsiders that, "he who enters [the conclave] as pope, leaves as a Cardinal," this is not exactly what we have in mind.What we do have in mind is what happened in the 2013 conclave, a conclave that should have never taken place and was caused by the absurd and indefensible...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” John 20:17Mary of Magdala was one of the first persons to whom Jesus appeared. She was deeply devoted to Him, especially because of the great mercy He offered her when He forgave her manifest sins and expelled seven demons from her. After He had done that, Mary became a devout follower and was one of...

The Vatican has released images of Pope Francis being laid out in an open coffin ahead of the Confirmation of the Death of the Pontiff ceremony. Francis died Monday after suffering a stroke that led to irreversible heart failure following a weeks-long hospitalization with pneumonia. He was 88. The pontiff’s body had been placed in the coffin late Monday, with Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo — the “chamberlain” who essentially acts as head of the Vatican between the end of a papacy and the start of the next — reading the official declaration of death aloud in an intimate...

22 April 2025 Easter Tuesday Sts. Soter & Caius, Popes & Martyrs, video clip of Mass, location unknown clipReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 2:36-41You must repent and be baptized in the name of JesusOn the day of Pentecost, Peter spoke to the Jews: ‘The whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.’ Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the apostles, ‘What must we do, brothers?’ ‘You must repent,’ Peter answered ‘and every one of you must be...

As you’ve likely heard by now, Pope Francis has died. The 88-year-old progressive Pope had been battling pneumonia and passed away just one day after Easter. Many viewed Francis as “Obama’s Pope,” a nickname he got thanks to long-running rumors that Obama played a role in replacing traditionalist Pope Benedict with the more liberal Francis. And let’s be honest—after the Wikileaks Podesta/DNC dump exposed the Dem Party’s obsession with infiltrating the Catholic Church, those rumors didn’t seem so far-fetched. These tweets from 2016 are a reminder of the backlash: We now know that Dems created fake Catholic groups to try...

Eternal and Just Lord, You raise up leaders in every age, and permit even flawed vessels to bear great weight. Receive the soul of Your servant, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who walked a path both revered and contested, and whose words shaped many, though not all in peace. In the quiet where truth stands uncloaked, may he now see clearly what once was dim. Where zeal was misplaced, may Your mercy abound. Where compassion blurred boundaries, may Your justice now restore what was unsettled. For those he shepherded, and those he unsettled— for every soul stirred by his charge— let Your...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland: Let us pray for the repose of Pope Francis’ soulIn charity, let us also pray for the Church in this time of transition — that the Holy Ghost may guide Her unfailingly, as Our Lord has promised.With the passing of Pope Francis, we commend his soul to the mercy of Almighty God. In this moment, we are reminded of the Church’s constant teaching on the importance of praying for the dead, especially those who have borne great responsibility for the care of souls.While his papacy was marked by moments of ambiguity and confusion that have caused...

[Catholic Caucus] Prayer for the Election of a Holy PopeIn the Month of Mary and Under Her Immaculate Mantle O Most Holy Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— we adore You, we praise You, and we thank You for the abiding care You show for Your Church through the gift of the papacy. As the Church prepares to elect a new Supreme Pontiff, we entrust this sacred moment to Your divine providence. Grant us the miracle of the conclave: stir the hearts of the Cardinal Electors with the fire of a new Pentecost. Let the Holy Spirit descend upon them with...

Daily Readings from the USCCB The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” Matthew 28:12–14The Lord of all rose from the grave, conquering sin and death, making it possible for us all to share in His glorious Resurrection! Death had lost. Satan had lost. The corrupt religious leaders had...

I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him. I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful. May God rest his soul. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2020/documents/papa-francesco_20200327_omelia-epidemia.html