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[Catholic Caucus] Dissenters rip Cardinal Ratzinger’s 1986 letter on homosexuality on 40th anniversary October 30, 2026» Continue to this story on National Catholic Reporter CWN Editor's Note: Critics of Catholic teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts strongly criticized the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s letter to bishops on the pastoral care of homosexual persons, 40 years after its publication. At the time, the congregation’s prefect was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. “We were horrified when we read it, but I would say we were not surprised,” said Sister Jeannine Gramick, cofounder of...

Cardinal doubles down after saying Church should not ‘convert’ people Cardinal Vesco responded to Bishop Barron's correction by saying that Catholics, Jews, and Muslims have 'better things to do' than trying to convert one another.Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, the archbishop of Algiers, Algeria, responded to Bishop Robert Barron’s correction of his erroneous statement that the Catholic Church is “not there to convert” by doubling down and saying that Catholics and members of other monotheistic religions have “better things to do” than trying to convert one another.In an October 30 social media post responding to Bishop Barron, Vesco highlighted the actions of...

[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...

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...

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...

[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...

[Catholic Caucus] The Slippery Tales of Fr. James Martin S.J. Fr. James Martin wants you to believe homosexuals hear relentless condemnation from the pulpit. His stories are what Mark Twain would call “stretchers” and I would call, well, lies.In a recent interview with JD Flynn at The Pillar, Martin offers several anecdotes along these lines, that homosexuals hear relentless condemnation from the pulpit. Does this claim strike you as even remotely true? The Crisis audience is fairly conservative, probably attending conservative parishes, so if anyone has heard this kind of relentless anti-gay thundering from the pulpit, you have. But I...

[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] 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...

Leo XIV openly rejects the reign of Christ the King over states and nations Errors are found throughout Leo XIV's encyclical Magnifica Humanitas in which he says society has 'autonomy' from religion and that the state has 'full autonomy' from the Catholic Church.“Now, this authority, perfect in itself, and plainly meant to be unfettered, so long assailed by a philosophy that truckles to the State, the Church, has never ceased to claim for herself and openly to exercise. The Apostles themselves were the first to uphold it, when, being forbidden by the rulers of the synagogue to preach the Gospel,...

[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] 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...

TRADITIONALISTS, THE LAST PARIAHS - Never Before: Traditional Pilgrims Blocked from Entering Saint Peter's The move was announced to Christian Marquant (of Paix Liturgique), during the liturgical conference that precedes the pilgrimage every year. From our friends at Messa in Latino:Christian Marquant: "The Pope Denied Us Saint Peter's, Believing the Mass Was Instrumentalized Last Year"Reported by Enrico Messa in Latino, October 23, 2026*The President of the Association Paix Liturgique, who has devoted his life to the defense of the Mass of all ages, concluded our meeting with direct, clear, and incisive words.*---...Turning to an examination of the ecclesial situation,...

[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] Tucho’s new document contradicts John Paul II. Today, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by the soft-porn author and Cardinal Víctor “Tucho” Fernández, has published Venite ad Me (“Come to Me”), a document on transmitting the Catholic faith. He disclaims “terminological precision and systematic treatment,” instead adopting a more discursive approach.Tucho creates a contrast between faith and its doctrinal formulations. Paragraph 29 of the document states: “The faith is not transmitted primarily as a body of doctrinal content or religious information, but as a form of ecclesial life into which the believer is gradually...

[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...

Archdiocese offers Buddhism course in preparation for 2027 World Youth Day The Archdiocese of Milan is promoting a five-part course on Buddhism before World Youth Day 2027 in South Korea while failing to mention Jesus Christ or Catholic teaching.The Archdiocese of Milan launched an official five-part course on Buddhism as preparation for World Youth Day while failing to mention Jesus Christ or Catholic doctrine a single time.On October 21, as reported by the Italian daily newspaper La Verità, details emerged regarding an official initiative organized by the Youth Ministry of the Archdiocese of Milan and the “Carlo Maria Martini Center”...

[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...

Pope Leo encyclical makes ‘Spirit of Assisi’ Church teaching, cardinal claims Cardinal George J. Koovakad says Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas made the 1986 Assisi interreligious prayer gathering a defining criterion ‘through which to interpret the present.’A Vatican cardinal has claimed that Pope Leo XIV has elevated the interreligious “Spirit of Assisi” to the level of the Church’s ordinary Magisterium.On October 7, during an address delivered at the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome, Cardinal George J. Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, asserted that paragraph 223 of Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas officially incorporated the “Spirit of Assisi” into...