Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Women Deacons? Here’s Why NotThere are many in the Church who consider the ordination of women as deacons to be an unsettled question and are hopeful that the Church will admit women to the diaconate soon. This is an unfounded hope.Who can be an icon of Christ? The question haunts me. Documents of the Second Vatican Council teach that all good people who are part of the Church…all these good people relying on the exquisite promise of Christ’s resurrection are the Body of Christ. It would stand to reason, then that ‘all good people’ means precisely that. ‘All...

They will Use Newman for Their HeresyI got back from a 12-day retreat to read the happy news that the Holy Father has confirmed the plans to proclaim St. John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church. I’ve never read much Newman myself, but he seems to be universally respected by all Catholic men of letters… but with a dark side. But let me return to that in a moment.The Apostasy of AlbionFirst, even though I haven’t read much from Newman, we can already see the immense significance of this news in the history of the Church. In many ways...

Why Does the Synodal Church Revere St. John Henry Newman?On July 31st, Vatican News reported that St. John Henry Newman will become the newest Doctor of the Church. Why would the current hierarchy go for this? Well, it seems for them that the true appeal of Newman appears to reside in the way in which his works can be manipulatively interpreted in support of the Synodal Church. Let's rescue Newman from their agendas!On July 31st, Vatican News reported that St. John Henry Newman will become the newest Doctor of the Church:“Pope Leo XIV has ‘confirmed the affirmative opinion of the...

Leo and the GermansThis is the first of several analyses written for Rorate by our contributor Serre Verweij on Leo XIV's first year.Series: The First Year of Leo XIVI - LEO AND THE GERMANSby Serre Verweijfor Rorate CaeliAugust 1, 2025While we are waiting for Pope Leo XIV to tip his hand and release his first encyclical, and make his first curial appointments, both sides in the struggle between tradition and modernism keep trying to claim him. The attempts by progressives to claim the Pope as their secret candidate (after the fact) are looking increasingly desperate, however. Specifically, attempts by the...

[Catholic Caucus] Modernism is a SinAbove: Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Liesing, Austria.On his first day in office, in addition to signing a flurry of executive orders, President Joe Biden led a virtual swearing-in ceremony for “Day One Presidential Appointees,” that is, administrative staff for the White House and various governmental agencies.A few minutes into his remarks, Biden told his new subordinates that “we owe your families, we owe your families, because those of you working in the White House, [and] those who will be working in other agencies, you’re gonna work like the devil [an interesting choice...

[Catholic Caucus] German Dioceses Respond Positively and Negatively to Blessings GuidelinesIn June, Bondings 2.0 shared the news that a German church body had published guidelines for the pastoral blessing of couples living in “irregular” situations, which included same-gender couples. Since their publication, the guidelines have met with mixed reactions from German bishops, ranging from enthusiasm to rejection. Entitled “Blessings for Couples Who Love Each Other”, the guidelines were released by a joint conference of the German Bishops’ Conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics (an official Catholic organization representing lay people in Germany). Katholische.de previously reported that the provisions’...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s Holy Wisdom on the Crisis in the Catholic ChurchUnderstanding this holy wisdom from Archbishop Lefebvre does not make the crisis go away, but it does help us serve God without feeling “lost and confused” because of what we see from Rome. Perhaps this is why those who seek to perpetuate the crisis in the Church never stop trying to disparage the man who did more than anyone else to oppose the Vatican II revolution and preserve the Traditional Latin Mass.One of the many interesting aspects of Diane Montagna’s report on the document which purportedly served...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican Gives New Guidelines for Implementing Synodality: Now Under Pope Leo XIVWhat will happen now with the arrival of Pope Leo? Sister Nathalie Becquart commented: «The plan approved by Pope Francis and confirmed by Pope Leo includes local, national, and continental assemblies, up to the Ecclesial Assembly in Rome.»The Synod’s General Secretary, chaired by Cardinal Mario Grech, has prepared the new document for the local Churches, in order to «listen to them, support their efforts, and, above all, contribute to encouraging dialogue and the exchange of gifts among the Churches.»Sister Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ, Under-Secretary of the Synod, spoke...

[Catholic / Anglican Caucus] The Jargon-Filled Synodal TrajectoryWhen Pope Leo XIV spoke from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on the day of his election he said: “we want to be a synodal Church.” The significance of this depends, of course, on how Pope Leo understands synodality. The notion of a Church that is One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic – and now Synodal – isn’t clear to most, because synodality is a largely unknown concept. Its meaning will emerge as Pope Leo guides the “synodal path” with the help of the General Secretariat of the Synod. That secretariat’s latest contribution to...

[Catholic Caucus] The Council of Nicaea and Vatican IIIs there a relationship between the Council of Nicaea, celebrated in the year 325, and the Second Vatican Council, the last of the twenty-one councils recognised as ecumenical, concluded on 8 December 1965?In a letter written on 29 June 1975 to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was criticising Vatican II, Pope Paul VI stated that “the Second Vatican Council is no less authoritative, indeed in some respects it is even more important, than the Council of Nicaea” (cf. La Doc. Catholique, 58 (1976) p. 34). The statement left many astonished at the time....

[Catholic Caucus] Will Pope Leo XIV Stop Sister Becquart’s Synodal Teams from Hijacking Local Churches?As Undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, Sister Nathalie Becquart now has a mandate to take all the putrid fruits of the Synod and "to implement those fruits with creativity, in the diversity of the context of the local Churches.” She and the Synodal teams are not called to make the local dioceses and eparchies more holy, orthodox, or fervent. Instead (as described below), Sister Becquart wants to compel each local church to experimentally “listen to the Spirit” to determine how to...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Eleganti on Synodality: ‘I Can No Longer Listen To Your Propaganda’For the love of Christ, finally put an end to the excess of synodal documents, intermediate stages, indications for the continuation of the process, announcements of results, final documents that aren’t final, extensions to other cycles, the multiplication of commissions, at the end of an assembly in a canonical no-man’s land. The vast people of God are unaware of your documents. In my experience, almost no believer knows or reads them. Stop spinning on your axis in a process that hasn’t reawakened love for Jesus Christ in...

Vatican II’s Own Words Thoroughly Rebuke the Vatican II RevolutionIf Pope Leo XIV actually applied the words of the Council as set forth below, he could use Vatican II to justify the complete overturn of the Vatican II revolution that has plagued the Church and world for six decades. Here's how that could be accomplished: In his famous “1974 Declaration,” Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre left no doubt about how he viewed the Council at which he had played an important role:“We hold fast, with all our heart and with all our soul, to Catholic Rome, Guardian of the Catholic Faith and...

[Catholic Caucus] Why Ambiguity Was the Most Lethal Weapon of Vatican II’s ArchitectsEvery single ambiguity of Vatican II tended to undermine Catholic teaching in precisely the way against which the pre-Vatican II popes emphatically warned. This is not mere coincidence. Moreover, the presence of so much ambiguity fundamentally undermines the Catholic Church’s role as truth-teller. The Church obviously knew how to speak clearly and unambiguously on all of the matters that have become so contentious after the Council.In his 2024 book Flee From Heresy: A Catholic Guide to Ancient and Modern Errors, Bishop Athanasius Schneider provided the following question and...

New York bishop laments LGBT flag ripped from church while allowing blasphemous ‘pride’ MassBishop Douglas Lucia of Syracuse has permitted a ‘pride’ Mass featuring a ‘transgender’ female Episcopalian as the homilist even as he condemned the tearing down of an LGBT flag at the same church.The bishop of Syracuse, New York, decried the removal of an LGBTQ “pride” flag from a parish in his diocese as “unfortunate.”Over the night of June 6–7, an unidentified Catholic man ripped down a “pride” flag from All Saints Catholic Church in Syracuse, the parish website revealed.During a subsequent, blasphemous “pride” Mass at the church,...

[Catholic Caucus] Traditional Catholicism’s Enemies Routinely Fail These Three Common Sense ChecksAll of this is like a Monty Python skit except that it is only humorous to the enemies of God and His Catholic Church. God has permitted the crisis in the Church to reach this point to which those who persecute Traditional Catholics are unmistakably wrong.Although we pray that the tide will turn with Pope Leo XIV, one of the most astoundingly bizarre realities in the world today is that Traditional Catholics are persecuted by the putative leaders of the Catholic Church. The crime committed by Traditional Catholics is...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae and the June Battle of FlagsWere it not for Dignitatis Humanae, there would be no supposed theological justification for this demand that human dignity requires us to refrain from questioning the “transness” of those claiming to practice the Catholic Faith. Thanks in large part to the defenders of Vatican II, though, Fr. Martin and the New Ways Ministry can insist that Catholics ought to celebrate Pride Month in recognition of the human dignity of the Catholic LGBTQ community.As reported by LifeSite, Fr. James Martin recently shared his opinion about why Catholics ought to celebrate...

Anglican Priestess "concelebrates" Catholic Mass? A Case Study in SynodalityIt seems that one of Mackinlay's priests has allowed an Anglican priestess to feign the concelebration of a Catholic Mass during which she also received Holy Communion. The woman, a known lesbian and LGBT-rights advocate, was one of two Anglican women who were dressed in vestments and remained near the altar throughout the Mass. Although the 'Canon' did not speak, she attempted to read the Gospel and helped herself to a chalice containing the Precious Blood.It is fairly common to hear that the definition of Synodality remains a mystery, even years...

LEO XIV: The Upcoming Challenges for the New Pope by Serre Verweijfor Rorate CæliWe have a new Pope elected during a Jubilee year. He instantly faces many crucial tasks and dilemmas. This might seem obvious for any new Pope, but in 2013 Pope Francis primarily had to deal with curial reform, he did not have to deal with countless open questions, and even open wounds, left by his predecessors. Pope Leo XIV will have to deal with foreign policy debacles, a multiyear synod, and national churches that are in open rebellion against the faith.Firstly, Cardinal Grech announced that Pope Francis...

How the Church’s Enemies Have Exploited Mistaken Views of Heresy to Essentially Guarantee Another Heretical Claimant to the PapacyDays away from the conclave to elect Francis’s successor, serious Catholics fear that it would take a miracle for the white smoke to signal the election of a pope who is Catholic. We offer our prayers and sacrifices for the most favorable outcome, but as we study the list of those cardinals most likely to receive serious consideration, it is evident that very few of them would have been recognized as Catholic by Pope Pius XII or any of his predecessors.Some sincere...