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[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop: Synodality Francis Is "Intolerant Of Even Respectful Disagreement"Francis “over-reliance" on the [declining] Jesuits is "unhealthy”, writes former Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput on ThePublicDiscourse.com (October 9).He goes on to say that Francis is "intolerant of even respectful disagreement", that he can often seem "mean-spirited", that his complaints about the Church in the United States are "insulting and uninformed", that his [unambiguous] ambiguity on matters of doctrine is creating confusion and division in the Church "when we already have a surfeit of both."Chaput anticipates the ultramontanists' attack against him, "If saying these things is ‘disloyal,’ then so is the...

[Catholic Caucus] BREAKING: Pope Francis reportedly set to ask Bishop Strickland to resignBishop Strickland has been widely praised by faithful Catholics for his promotion of traditional Catholic teaching.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis met with Vatican officials over the weekend to discuss asking Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, to resign, according to a report on Monday by The Pillar.Pope Francis met on Saturday with Archbishop Robert Prevost, OSA, the head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.The Pillar reported that several sources close to the dicastery told the outlet ahead...

[Catholic Caucus] PopeWatch: The Pettiness and the Cruelty Are the Point

Vatican finance trial: Judges to rule whether to keep or scrap case in face of procedural misstepsVatican City, Oct 5, 2021 / 09:00 amThe Vatican finance trial involving Cardinal Angelo Becciu continued on Tuesday with two hours of legal debates that could potentially result in an abrupt end to the court case.Judges adjourned the hearing until Wednesday morning, when they will give their ruling on whether to move forward with the trial after the defendants’ lawyers took issue with what they consider to be significant procedural missteps by the prosecution.Tribunal judge Giuseppe Pignatone may order the prosecutor’s office to hand...

The Becciu Boomerang Will Hit Wheeler-Dealer FrancisForbes.com (October 4) presented the position of René Brülhart at the Becciu trial. Brülhart is the former head of the Vatican’s Supervisory and Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF). Highlights:• A Swiss anti–money laundering expert (“the James Bond of the financial world”), Brülhart removed Liechtenstein from blacklists and accepted the AIF job in 2012 under the condition that not even the pope was off-limits.• Francis received a briefing [from Brülhart] about Becciu in 2016 with “incontrovertible” proof about Becciu diverting more than $2 million. Francis ignored the file and made Becciu a cardinal.• When Francis finally...

Papal pokes in priestly eyesThere is nothing wrong with a Pope presenting points for priestly reflection and improvement, but the interminable negative drumbeat is a major factor in low morale among the clergy and seminarians.“Men, not Angels, the Priests of the Gospel”. So did St. John Henry Cardinal Newman entitle one of his lectures in 1849,1 four years after his conversion. Newman was not scandalized by that realization; he was actually comforted by it because it meant he could thus count himself among the Lord’s especially chosen disciples.On this recent Holy Thursday, the preeminent day of the Holy Eucharist and...