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A Bad Look for the Vatican - On the Blocking of Saint Peter’s to Traditional Pilgrims - by Bishop Marian Eleganti A Bad Look for the VaticanThis year's ban on the traditionally minded "Ad Petri Sedem" pilgrims entering Saint Peter's Basilica on October 24, 2026 borders on hostility toward Catholics who are loyal to the Pope and orthodox in their faith. It has nothing to do with concern for unity in the Church or with operational difficulties in organizing liturgical celebrations in Saint Peter's.The rites that exist in the Catholic Church, in their peaceful coexistence with the Novus Ordo, demonstrate...

Pope Leo meets with Chicago anti-ICE activists at Vatican Pope Leo met with Chicago auxiliary Bishop José Maldonado and members of the so-called Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, a leftist, pro-immigration group. Following his weekly general audience on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV met with clerical and lay activists for immigrants detained by ICE in his native Chicago.Following his October 28 audience, the American pontiff met with Bishop José María García Maldonado, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, and several priests and lay members of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL), a group that specializes in “bringing pastoral care” to...

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...

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...

Cardinal Vesco says Catholic Church is ‘not there to convert’ in interview on evangelisation Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco has said the Church is “not there to convert”, arguing that proselytism is “poison” and that Christians should approach other religions through fraternity rather than seeking conversionsCardinal Jean-Paul Vesco has said that the Catholic Church is “not a proselytising Church, not a Church that is there to convert”, arguing that its role is to form part of Algerian society rather than seek religious conversions.In an interview with Belgian Catholic media outlet CathoBel on 23 October, the Archbishop of Algiers said: “We are the...

Rome picks a side: LGBT ‘pilgrimage’ welcomed, Latin Mass shut out OpinionTo oppose the traditional Mass is to oppose the Mass, and to oppose the Mass is to oppose the Catholic faith itself.Catholics who love the traditional Latin Mass (TLM) have now been forcefully shut out from St. Peter’s Basilica. Pro-sodomy “pilgrims” have been deliberately welcomed. All within the span of just a little over a year, under the helm of Pope Leo XIV. A line has been drawn in the sand.The latest move against traditional Catholicism from the Vatican is so remarkable because it is so concrete and clear,...

[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...

[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...

[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...

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 Precarious Situation of China’s Underground Catholics Upon the election of Pope Leo XIV, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian stated: ‘We hope that under the leadership of the new pope, the Vatican will continue to have dialogue with China in a constructive spirit, have in-depth communication on international issues of mutual interest, jointly advance the continuous improvement of the China–Vatican relations, and make contributions to world peace, stability, development, and prosperity.’The ‘constructive spirit’ was nothing else than the continuity of the provisional agreement designed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin in 2018 with the blessing...

[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,...

[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] BREAKING: Annual Latin Mass pilgrimage barred from entering St. Peter’s Basilica The Vatican Secretariat of State told the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage’s chief organizer that their procession is banned from St. Peter’s this year, according to a new report.The faithful attending this weekend’s Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage will no longer be permitted to enter St. Peter’s Basilica, per a Friday report.Vatican journalist Diane Montagna, citing Christian Marquant, the pilgrimage’s chief organizer, reported Friday that the Vatican will bar priests, religious, and lay faithful participating in the 15th annual Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage from entering St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, Oct. 24,...

Tucho’s New Document Identifies the Crisis… and Makes it Much Worse Rome knows the Catholic faith is in crisis. But in "Venite ad Me", Tucho’s new document offers a diagnosis that ignores the Vatican II revolution, and remedies that make matters worse. Robert Morrison examines the contradictions, the surprising passages on traditional liturgical sensibilities, and what the Church’s own perennial teaching says about the way forward.“Today, a specific investigation into the sudden decline of Catholicism in countries where it was deeply rooted is necessary to understand its causes and develop an appropriate pastoral response.” (Paragraph 119 from Venite ad Me)On...

[Catholic Caucus] Leo XIV-appointed nun again says women ‘may hear the call to priesthood’ ‘Who am I to say whether the door is open or closed (to ‘women priests’)?’ Sister Mary Teresa Barron scandalously told EWTN News.Sister Mary Teresa Barron, NSA, who Pope Leo XIV recently appointed as adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, has again suggested that women may be called to be “ordained” as priests, contradicting Catholic teaching.The nun, who is currently the superior general of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Apostles, during an October 20 interview with EWTN News, stood by the previous erroneous...

[Catholic Caucus] New Leo XIV-approved text warns against ‘moralistic’ language The document continues the same pattern seen in Amoris Laetitia and Fiducia Supplicans. The practical effect is to make people feel better about living outside the Church's rules.The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has released a new text titled Venite ad me: Considerations on the Transmission of the Faith in an Epochal Change — signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and approved by Leo XIV. The document continues the same pattern seen in Amoris Laetitia and Fiducia Supplicans: it uses vague language to loosen the Church’s clear moral...

[Catholic Caucus] Synodal church reverses Our Lord’s mandate to proclaim the Gospel Cardinal Ferrão’s words about the family stem from the Synodal mentality which is essentially rooted in the heresy of Universalism.I have recently read the statement by Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão regarding the family at the Amoris Laetitia Summit in Rome. I was disturbed but not as utterly shocked as I should have been.I would have been more shocked had the statement not been a part of a whole host of alarming comments and actions from some of the hierarchy of the Church rooted in the so-called Synodal Way.Ponder...

Xi ‘Sinicizes’ China’s Catholic Church, with Vatican Approval China’s clerics are becoming propagandists for the government.The Vatican has been widely criticized for its 2018 provisional agreement with China. While the agreement’s contents are secret, the Holy See revealed that it gives Beijing a role, along with at least a papal right to veto, in appointing Catholic bishops in China. Due to President Xi Jinping’s “Sinicization” of religion campaign, eight years on, the agreement is even more disastrous than previously thought.Last month, the agreement saw 44-year-old parish priest Father Andrew Ding appointed archbishop of the megacity of Chongqing. His chief distinction...