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The Texas Legislature passed a resolution May 20 to install a statue of the Virgin Mary bearing the unborn Christ child at the state Capitol. Senate Concurrent Resolution 19, now awaiting Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature, describes the “Texas Life Monument” as “a mother with an unborn child cradled in a world-shaped womb.” However, the piece, created by renowned Catholic sculptor Timothy Schmalz, is unmistakably Marian. Schmalz, known for spiritually evocative public art, confirmed the statue depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary and the unborn Jesus. “People are afraid to have children these days,” Schmalz told The Austin Chronicle. “Well, this is...

[Catholic Caucus] Jesuits in Spain issue prayer to pagan god pachamama for ‘Mother Earth Day’On March 31, Jesuits in a region of Spain issued a brochure in celebration of 'Mother Earth Day' which featured a prayer to the pagan 'god' pachamama. In celebration of “Mother Earth Day,” a group of Jesuits in Spain issued a prayer to the pagan idol pachamama in direct violation of the First Commandment.On March 31, the Jesuits of Cantabria, La Rioja, The Basque Country and Navarre, in Spain, issued a brochure in celebration of “Mother Earth Day” which featured a prayer to the pagan “god”...

[Catholic Caucus] Brazilian Bishop who denounced Pachamama and was expelled from his diocese by the Vatican, diesCV NEWS FEED // The outspoken Brazilian bishop who condemned the worship of the Pachamama and was expelled from his see by the Vatican after his retirement died this week.The Order of Augustinian Recollects and the Catholic Church mourn the death of Monsignor José Luis Azcona Hermoso, emeritus Bishop of the Prelature of Marajó in the Brazilian Amazon. Bishop Azcona, who died on November 20, leaves behind a legacy of fearless defense of the faith and an indelible mark on the Church.Born on March...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope says Church must ‘confront forms of paganism’ in secularismIn his meeting with his brother Jesuits in Belgium, Pope Francis call secularization a “complex phenomenon” and noted sometimes the Church must “confront forms of paganism.”Speaking to 150 Jesuits in Brussels on Sep. 28, the pontiff answered a question from a member living in Amsterdam, one of the most secularized cities in the world.In his reply, Francis noted he didn’t mean a paganism like the one in the ancient world.“We do not need a statue of a pagan god to talk about paganism: The very environment, the air we...

We dive deep into the controversial case of Blessed Carlo Acutis and the troubling evolution of the Church's canonization process. Since Pope John Paul II removed the adversarial "devil's advocate" role, canonizations have exploded in number, with one priest lamenting, "We're becoming a factory here." Friends of Carlo share surprising revelations that cast doubt on the narrative around his extraordinary sanctity, raising uncomfortable questions about manufactured devotion versus authentic veneration.

Pope Francis’s Decade-long Reign Removes Church From Crucial Moral DebatesIntellectual rigor and coherence have given way to emotivism.Alas, eleven years later, things have turned out quite differently. Over the course of Francis’s pontificate, the Church has become decidedly self-referential. Since the end of 2013, it has been consumed by endless attempts to relitigate questions that are effectively settled matters as far as doctrine is concerned, from who may be ordained a priest to issues surrounding sex. Segments of the Church — or at least the progressives who dominate those parts in visible decline — are keen to relive the chaos...

Pope Francis is seriously worried about his health after being hospitalized with severe bronchitis, and is rushing to tie up loose ends ahead of the battle to succeed him. The pope was admitted to a special ward earlier this month in Gemelli Hospital in Rome with a respiratory infection, and he has since been forced to cancel a number of public appearances. It’s the latest health crisis for the 88-year-old pontiff, who had part of a lung removed as a young man and has become increasingly fragile in recent years. The Holy See press office has trickled out continuous updates,...

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Pope Francis on Saturday and awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, the nation's highest civilian honor, the White House said. It was the first time during his four years in office that Biden awarded the medal "with distinction," it said. Biden, 82, leaves office on Jan. 20. To oversee the federal response to the fires in California, he canceled a trip to Rome this week, where he was due to meet Francis in person. A lifelong Catholic who has met the pope several times, Biden told reporters on Friday that he...

... In a podcast interview with US chat show host Joe Rogan, Mr Gibson explained his scepticism about reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s by saying: “We’ve got a pope that brought a South American idol into the church to worship.” He said a religious ceremony was performed in the presence of the idol which, he said, “constitutes an apostasy”. “It’s a falling away,” he explained at about half an hour into the two-hour interview. “The very nature of apostasy is that you have to be part of it to fall away from it. It’s an inside...

Pope Francis: Mission AccomplishedAbove: when Time Magazine named Pope Francis person of the year in November 2013. On May 9, 2019, I argued that the way to wreck the institutional Catholic Church would be to use the Church’s own weapons against herself, especially the power and primacy of the pope.The Catholic Church, of course, is indefectible; but I argue now that Francis has accomplished the mission of ruining the temporal manifestation of the Church. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen had foreseen, we now have the “ape of the Church… emptied of its divine content.”“That’s a bit dramatic,” you’re thinking. “Did Francis...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope’s September prayer intention: For the cry of the earthIn a video message accompanying his prayer intention for September, Pope Francis prays that "each of us might listen with our hearts to the cry of the earth and of the victims of environmental disasters and climate change, making a personal commitment to care for the world we inhabit."Considering rising temperatures around the globe, we can say the earth has a “fever”, Pope Francis says in his video-message announcing this month’s prayer intention.The earth “is sick”, he continues, “just like anyone who’s sick”.“But are we listening to this pain?”...

[Catholic Caucus] Now That We Know Bishops Can Condemn Olympic Scandals, Can They Condemn the Worse Sins of Francis’s Synodal Church?Even those who never would have known the Olympics were taking place in Paris have likely learned of the opening ceremony’s mockery of the Last Supper. The French district of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) denounced the blasphemous scene as a great scandal for many souls:“No one can ignore the opening ‘ceremony’ of the 2024 Olympics. The whole world saw it and millions of spectators were able to witness the blasphemous parody of the Sacrament.It is impossible to...

Can the Pope be a Heretic? The Traditional Catholic Answer In a homily on May 7, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI made one of the important statements regarding the authority of the Pope. The following words, in particular, have remained in my mind:“The pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: The pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it...

.... As part of a plenary session on Wednesday titled “Climate and Nature: A Systemic Response Is Needed,” Chieftess Putanny Yawanawá of the Amazonian Yawanawá tribe, located in the Acre region of northwest Brazil, performed a shamanic rite. After making some invocations while rubbing her hands together, the woman representing the Indigenous blew on the heads of the participants, among whom were the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva; the president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga; the CEO of IKEA, Jesper Brodin; and the billionaire André Hoffmann. After learning of the event, Father Silva posed four...

Cardinal Schönborn spreads false climate narrative blaming wildfires on global warmingContrary to Schönborn’s statement and the claims of many climate alarmists, high temperatures alone do not cause forest fires.Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has promoted climate change alarmism, linking wildfires to global warming in a social media post. Today Schönborn wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Blooming vacation paradises are turning into burning hells.” The cardinal was clearly referring to recent wildfires in Greece, Turkey, Hawaii, and Canada, among others. “Hundreds of thousands of people, tourists and locals, had to flee from the flames. Many of them have lost everything, their homes, their...

Cdl. Cupich pushes climate agenda, fails to mention Jesus at Parliament of the World’s ReligionsNeglecting to mention the name of Jesus Christ even once, Cardinal Blase Cupich took his time on stage at the scandalous gathering to promote radical environmentalism and what appeared to be religious indifferentism.Liberal Chicago Cardinal Blasé Cupich urged attendees at this year’s Parliament of the World’s Religions to be more mindful of forming their consciences, but not in accordance with the truths of the Catholic faith. “To be properly formed, a conscience needs to be sensitized, to be aware of others and of all creation,” Cupich...

[Catholic Caucus] Mexican bishops submit ‘Indigenous liturgical adaptations’ to the Vatican for approvalThe Mexican Bishops’ Conference (CEM) has recently presented to the Vatican for its approval a series of Indigenous liturgical adaptations for the celebration of Holy Mass for the “original peoples” of the country.Speaking with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi, promoter of the initiative and one of those in charge of making the presentation to the Vatican, explained that the adaptations have the objective of “advancing the progress of inculturation of the Church in the native peoples and of taking responsibility for the celebration of...

The Lessons of God’s Catechism Class to the World in the Coronavirus EraSince Francis’s introduction of his Pachamama idol and the subsequent beginning of the worldwide Coronavirus pandemic, we have witnessed some of the most profoundly bizarre and disturbing events in history. The nauseating succession of perversities has left many people despondent, but we know that God permits these evils for a reason. While it might be presumptuous to pretend to know God’s precise reasons, it would be foolhardy to imagine that He wants us to refrain from trying to draw lessons. As an initial step in trying to draw...

Diocesan ‘Earth Day Mass’ gives ‘thanks to the trees’ in pagan-inspired ceremony'We send our voices to give thanks to the trees,' said a laywoman in an apparent homage to pagan animism during a ceremony before the 'Earth Day Mass.'"Earth Day Mass" at St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Diocese of San Bernardino, CABEAUMONT, California (LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic church in California recently held an “Earth Day Mass” in which homage was given to inanimate objects and a prayer of pagan Native American origins was recited.California’s Diocese of San Bernardino shared in its diocesan news outlet Inland Catholic Byte that its “first-ever diocesan Earth...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Müller On Francis, “Popes Can Become A Scandal”The papacy is not a secular office as if the pope were an absolutist king, Cardinal Müller said at a Mai 7 talk in Turin (SilereNonPossum.it).There is a difference between the apostles and the bishops because the apostles received God's revelation while bishops and the pope “are bound in content to the fulfilment of revelation in Scripture and apostolic Tradition.”A pope ist not allowed to promote his private friends or arbitrarily depose bishops which he personally dislikes and interfere without just cause in the ordinary pastoral office of the diocesan...