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[Catholic Caucus] Two Pilgrimages, Two Bans: Traditional Catholics Shut Out of Rome and Lourdes In the same weekend, traditional Catholics were denied their customary prayer service inside St. Peter’s Basilica and barred from public liturgies and processions at Lourdes. Two pilgrimages. Two holy places. And one unforgettable witness to a faith that no ecclesiastical restriction can extinguish. During the “Christ the King” pilgrimage organized by the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in October 2026, I learned more vividly than ever that a pilgrimage’s true success does not rest on a basilica, a sanctuary, or even an official authorization from...

Vatican Welcomes Islam While Traditional Catholics are Rejected: What Happened to the Faith? Why are Catholic leaders welcoming Muslims while traditional Catholics face growing restrictions? Robert Morrison traces the controversy from Vatican II to today’s Church, contrasting the religious outlook of influential postconciliar theologians with Archbishop Lefebvre’s uncompromising defense of the Catholic Faith.In his recent interview with Michael Matt, Bishop Athanasius Schneider spoke of the way in which some bishops in Europe praise and promote Islam:“Many bishops in Europe say this religion is fine, we support this religion, because they believe in one god . . . and by this...

Lee Elder will never forget when a friend asked him to be one of her pallbearers. At 16 years old, he carried her casket. Elder and his friends were members of the Tucson Mountain Congregation in Arizona. After Elder’s friend was diagnosed with leukemia, chemotherapy and radiation made her anemic; as a Witness, she refused the standard treatment of a blood transfusion. Combined with her cancer, she only got sicker until she died in 1976 as a teenager. Elder, the executive director and founder of the Alliance for Jehovah’s Witness Research and Bioethics, stopped being an active Witness in the...

From Dick Durbin to Michael Sacks: Cupich will recognize an abortion-funding donor at a gala for future priests Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, will participate on October 29 in a gala at which the archdiocese will present the Nostra Aetate award to businessman Michael J. Sacks, president and chief executive officer of GCM Grosvenor, who has donated $600,000 to fund initiatives aimed at facilitating access to abortion in Illinois.The recognition will take place during the annual Seminary Salutes Rerum Novarum gala, organized by Mundelein Seminary, part of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, with the goal of...

[Catholic Caucus]Newly Published Letters Refute Vatican Claim That TLM Pilgrimage Failed to Specify Its Request MiL also publishes the text of a June 12 letter to Pope Leo XIV requesting permission to celebrate Mass.(Pilgrims gather in front of the Obelisk to sing the Credo; Photo: Diane Montagna)New letters have emerged concerning the Vatican’s refusal to let the fifteenth annual Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage Ad Petri Sedem enter St. Peter’s Basilica in procession. They confirm reports on the organizers’ Sept. 8 request and directly refute the Vatican’s claim that the request was not specific enough.Today the Italian blog Messainlatino (MiL) published three...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican warns of ‘extremism’ in faithful who ‘raise issue of’ Communion in hand Receiving Communion on the tongue is important in part because the priest’s hands alone are consecrated to touch the Eucharist.The Vatican has warned of “extremism” by those who “raise the issue” of receiving Communion in the hand and standing or kneeling.In a summary of an ad limina visit of the Episcopal Conference of Panama at the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the dicastery, led by Cardinal Arthur Roche, listed topics discussed during the meeting.On the subject of the liturgy, the...

Leo XIV omits mention of Christ at Assisi, says ‘peace’ must be man’s ‘guiding star’ The Pontiff spoke as though all world religions are equally legitimate while not once mentioning the name of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, or the Blessed Virgin Mary.In recorded remarks to the international ecumenical gathering in Assisi, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed that “peace” must be man’s “guiding star” while not once mentioning the name of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, or the Blessed Virgin Mary.“Peace must once again become the common ideal of all peoples, the guiding star for all our choices, the standard that exposes injustice,...

[Catholic Caucus] James Martin’s ‘ministry’ posts ‘LGBTQ confiteor’ calling on ‘queer saints’ A lesbian’s blasphemous, pro-LGBT rendition of the Confiteor, posted on Fr. James Martin’s website, diminishes sin and invokes ‘spiritual ancestors.’An essay published on Father James Martin’s heterodox Outreach site includes an “LGBTQ Confiteor” that blasphemously invokes “queer saints.”In her October 25 essay for Outreach entitled “An LGBTQ Catholic guide to the Mass: Praying the Confiteor,” Ariell Watson Simon, a woman who is “married” to another woman, discusses her experiences praying the Confiteor at Mass and claims that the faithful overly focus on sexual sin.At the end of her...

Supreme Court lawyer and BJP leader Nazia Elahi Khan on Thursday hinted at converting to Hinduism. Khan, who arrived in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, is slated to perform the rituals of Tarpan and Shraddha for ancestors during the 'Shraddha Paksha' in Ujjain. Speaking to the media here, she raised the issue of the safety of women during Garba programmes and pointed out Pakistan connection to love jihad. Khan said her ancestors may have been converted from Hinduism to Islam during the Mughal period, and she now wants to be free from the sin. She said she has relatives in Madhya Pradesh,...

Cardinal Cupich Will Honor Billionaire Planned Parenthood Donor Michael Sacks A prominent Catholic cardinal is under fire again for yet another decision to honor a radical abortion activist.Cardinal Blase Cupich faced massive criticism last year for his decision to honor pro-abortion Senator Dick Durbin and, this year, he’s facing calls to rescind an honor to a leftist billionaire who donates to the Planned Parenthood abortion business.Cupich and the rector of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake plan to present the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Nostra Aetate Award to billionaire businessman and Democrat donor Michael Sacks at an October 29...

[Catholic Caucus] The TLM Pilgrimage in Rome & the Call for “Liturgical Peace” Above: the traditionalist pilgrimage in Rome. Photo by the author.Throughout the highs and lows experienced by the traditional movement in the last fifteen years, one event has remained key in the calendar, and this year was no exception. The 2026 edition of the annual Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage once more served as the siren call for Latin Mass devotees across the globe to descend upon Rome on this last weekend of October. Once in the city though, it is fair to say, that the pilgrimage faced more...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Mutsaerts: Why is ‘liturgical diversity’ good except for Latin Mass? A Catholic can attend the Divine Liturgy according to several traditions. But as soon as a Catholic wishes to attend a Latin Mass, suddenly liturgical diversity becomes a problem.The Catholic Church prides itself on its universality, cherishes an impressive diversity of liturgical traditions, and regards that diversity as an expression of its richness. A Catholic can attend the Divine Liturgy according to the Byzantine tradition, the Maronite tradition, the Armenian tradition, or the Chaldean tradition. No one considers this a threat to ecclesial unity in and of...

Italy’s Catholic bishops promote Koran as ‘revealed Word of God’ in schools Cdl. Matteo Zuppi presented the Islamic education program for state-school religion teachers, saying Catholic religion classes should serve as a ‘laboratory of culture and dialogue.’Italy’s Catholic bishops are promoting a new Islamic education program that describes the Koran as the “revealed Word of God,” while Cardinal Matteo Zuppi has said Catholic religion classes should be treated as a “laboratory of culture and dialogue.”On October 21, Zuppi, archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), presented the new educational initiative, “Factsheets for Understanding Islam,” at an...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo’s Amoris Laetitia Summit: Doctrinal Confusion and a Secret Final Report A Vatican summit meant to celebrate Amoris Laetitia instead ignited controversy over marriage, sexuality and the Church’s moral teaching. From a nun’s shocking remarks about Our Lord to calls to recognize new forms of family life, here’s the radical trajectory, Bishop Schneider’s warning, and the final report that never saw the light of day. Amoris Laetitia: An Aberrant DocumentAmoris Laetitia is certainly not the worst of Francis’s magisterial documents, but within the apostolic exhortation it is possible to identify statements and provisions concerning the relevant application...

[Catholic Caucus] The Lepers: Letter from the Secretariat of State blocking entry of Traditional Pilgrims to Saint Peter’s Basilica Three weeks before the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage, which is in its 15th year and has always ended on the last Sunday in October, Father Claude Barthe, chaplain of the pilgrimage, received the denial.Diane Montagna reports (main excerpt):A letter from the Vatican Secretariat of State to the organizers of the annual Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage, obtained by this journalist, confirms reports that the pilgrims were barred from entering St. Peter’s Basilica in procession to pray at the tomb of the Apostle.The letter,...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican bars Traditionalists from St. Peter’s, no prayer allowed Since 2007, grateful hearts have traveled to Rome on the anniversary of Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum motu proprio, which liberated the Latin rite liturgy after it was supposedly abrogated by Paul VI. Each October, faithful Catholics have participated in a pilgrimage through the streets of Rome which culminates inside St. Peter's Basilica. Even when the Mass they was denied to them, they held a prayer service over the bones of St. Peter, singing the Credo and overing thanksgiving. But this year? In an unprecedented move, and only days before...

[Catholic Caucus] The Vatican's “speech of inclusiveness and tolerance is not true, it is ideological and selective,” Bishop Athanasius SchneiderThe Vatican's “speech of inclusiveness and tolerance is not true, it is ideological and selective,” Bishop Athanasius Schneider told AdVaticanum.com following the Vatican’s ban on the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage procession entering St. Peter’s Basilica today.Schneider criticized the contradiction between the Church’s promotion of synodality and its exclusion of traditional Catholics.“A group of Catholics who are in good standing and recognize the Pope, pray for the Pope, for the bishops — exactly this group was banned,” he said.Schneider suggested that accusations of...

[Catholic Caucus] Jesuit priest suggests saints are ‘often’ gay 'The saints are often themselves instructive as queer saints,' said Father James Keenan, S.J., citing a 'queer theologian.'Father James Keenan, S.J., during the keynote address for this year’s annual Outreach Conference, blasphemously cited a “queer theologian” to suggest that saints are “often” homosexual.During his keynote address for the 2026 Outreach Conference at Georgetown University, the Jesuit cited the work of Flora Tang to claim that the saints are “often themselves instructive as queer saints.”Keenan, who has served as a theology professor at the nominally Catholic Boston College for over 20 years,...

Quran is "Word of God" and Muhammad "chosen by God" - says Italian bishops’ school material. The publication, Schede per conoscere l’Islam (“Sheets for Understanding Islam”), was prepared by the CEI and the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI). It comprises 11 teaching sheets intended for use in Catholic religious instruction in Italian schools. They were presented at Palazzo Borromeo in Rome on October 21, at an event attended by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi.Sheet 2 describes Muhammad as “chosen by God to carry His message and to establish and guide the new community of believers.” It also presents him...

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