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[Catholic Caucus] SSPX to Tucho: No Thanks! We’ll Stay CatholicPagliarani’s letter to Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández turns Rome’s “dialogue” offer inside out and exposes the real price of “full communion”A letter that smiles while it draws blood The first thing that hits you is how calm it is.Hiraeth In Exile is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.Upgrade to paidIt is a courtly, Roman-style thank you note with a blade hidden in the fold. Pagliarani opens by praising “perfect transparency,” then immediately reframes the entire encounter as something the Society proposed...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Schneider says Cdl. Fernández is ‘completely wrong’ that Vatican II texts cannot be changedThe Vatican doctrine chief's recent claim that Vatican II texts cannot be corrected has been pivotal in the SSPX’s decision to proceed with episcopal consecrations without Holy See approval.Bishop Athanasius Schneider declared that Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández’s claim that Vatican II’s texts cannot be modified is “completely wrong.”Schneider, the Auxiliary Bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, addressed Fernández’s recent claim – which has now proved to be pivotal in the Society of St. Pius X’s (SSPX) decision to move forward with episcopal consecrations – in an...

[Catholic Caucus] BREAKING: SSPX rejects Vatican call to halt consecrations, will proceed without papal approvalThe Society of St. Pius X rejected Cdl. Fernández's call to suspend the July 1 consecrations, insisting the state of ‘grave necessity’ demands action to preserve Catholic Tradition.The SSPX episcopal consecrations will go forward as planned.Today, February 19, Father Davide Pagliarani, the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), published a communique, as well as a letter to Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández – and several annexes – to announce that the SSPX has decided to go ahead with the episcopal consecrations on July...

[Catholic Caucus] Communiqué of the General House (FSSPX): interview in RomeThe interview, held one-on-one according to the Cardinal’s wish, lasted an hour and a half and took place in an atmosphere that was both cordial and frank. It allowed Father Pagliarani to listen carefully to the Prefect, and to specify the scope of the announcement of February 2, as well as the meaning of the steps taken with the Holy See in recent months.The Superior General was thus able to present orally the present situation of the Society of St. Pius X and its duty, in the year of the...

[Catholic Caucus] Op-Ed: Will the SSPX Reach an Agreement with Pope Leo XIV?The announcement of new episcopal consecrations within the Society of Saint Pius X, followed by a swift reaction from the Vatican, raises a question that has been returning for nearly four decades: can the "Lefebvrists" and the Pope reach a lasting agreement? This time, however, the context is entirely different from that of 1988—both doctrinally and ecclesially.The answer is yes—at least in the sense in which I pose the question. The title must be journalistic and provocative, but in reality the issue goes far deeper than a simple...

[Catholic Caucus] To negotiate with the Tradition, nothing better than «Tucho»There are appointments that explain on their own the concept of “unity” that Rome handles. Leo XIV has decided to entrust the dialogue with the Society of Saint Pius X to Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, universally known as “Tucho”. And no, it’s not a joke or an ironic provocation: it’s the official decision at the most delicate moment in relations with the FSSPX in decades.Read also: Leo XIV entrusts “Tucho” with direct dialogue with the FSSPXIt is worth pausing for a second and looking at the full picture. The Society...

[Catholic Caucus] Cdl. Fernández Warns Against “Ex Cathedra” Condemnations Online while claiming he can add to the "Ordinary Magisterium"Cardinal Fernández warned against “Ex Cathedra” condemnations online at the opening of the DDF Plenary Session, where he said: "We have the possibility of giving authoritative answers, of writing documents that become part of the Ordinary Magisterium."... But since documents that enter the Ordinary Magisterium should be infallible by canon law and required to stand in continuity with what the Church has always taught, they demand a high degree of doctrinal coherence and clarity. Maybe the problem so far has been the...

Pope Leo doubles down on Vatican rejection of ‘Co-Redemptrix’At a time of apostasy, impurity, and confusion, the faithful do not need a diminished Mother.On Thursday morning, Pope Leo XIV publicly praised a Vatican document that has already sparked one of the most serious Marian controversies in decades.Addressing the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pope commended the doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis, issued under the extremely controversial Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, infamous for his books on kissing and orgasms.Leo praised the Fernández document, saying it “encourages popular Marian devotion, deepening its biblical and theological foundations, and at the...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican doctrinal chief warns against condemnations, urges humility in the ChurchCardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, warned Tuesday about a culture of “ex cathedra” condemnations online and called for greater humility in the Church to avoid repeating “the same deception that led to the excesses of the Inquisition.”“Today on any blog, anyone — even without having studied much theology — expresses an opinion and condemns as if speaking ex cathedra,” the cardinal said as he opened the dicastery’s plenary assembly, being held Jan. 27–29 at the Vatican with more...

[Catholic Caucus] Attack on the Traditional Mass and on Orthodoxy in the consistory - Roche and Tucho Fernandez Via Messa in Latino; the Roche report against the Mass at the end, made available by Diane Montagna:Nico Spuntoni for Il GiornaleJanuary 13, 2026Almost a week has passed since the extraordinary Consistory, and curiosity remains about what the Pope and the cardinals said behind closed doors in the new Synod hall. As Il Giornale had anticipated on December 16, the four topics brought to the twenty working tables were a re-reading of the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, the Synod and synodality, an...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Tasked with Promoting and Protecting Catholic Faith tells Hierarchy to Stop Obsessing over Doctrine and NormsI think the first consistory of 2026 has already been thoroughly denounced for what it was—a clown show—and that not much more needs to be said about it.However, as part of yet another episode of You Can’t Make this Crap Up, I would like to highlight some lesser-reported comments by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, aka “Cardinal Soft Porn,” which seem to have slipped through the media cracks. Keep in mind that this man leads the very serious Vatican body (Dicastery for the...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholics in Leo’s former diocese urge him to reverse ‘scandalous’ rejection of Co-Redemptrix titleMore than 100 Catholics in Peru wrote to Pope Leo denouncing a ‘harmful’ and ‘truly scandalous’ Vatican document that attacks Our Lady’s titles of ‘Co-Redemptrix’ and ‘Mediatrix of All Graces.’Catholics in Pope Leo XIV’s former diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, are petitioning him to “reconsider” what they condemn as a “truly scandalous” and “harmful” document issued by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) that opposes the Marian titles of “Co-Redemptrix” and “Mediatrix of All Graces.”The petition includes the signatures of more than...

[Catholic Caucus] Italian diocese tries to normalize homosexual, divorced and ‘remarried’ relationshipsA Catholic diocese in Italy has released a pamphlet of various 'Christian testimonies' that included two homosexual couples and one civilly remarried couple. A Catholic diocese in Italy has released a pamphlet of various “Christian testimonies” that included two homosexual couples and one civilly remarried couple.On December 4, the Family Pastoral Service of the Diocese of Chiavari, Italy, directed by Father Marco Torre, published the pamphlet “There Is No Greater Love.” It includes autobiographical testimonies presented as “exemplary,” without additional doctrinal notes or commentary. There were no official statements...

[Catholic Caucus] Lesbians ‘dressed as brides’ receive ‘blessing’ in Argentine cathedral, priest reports‘Heartbreaking. This Pastor is a wolf in sheep's clothing,’ one Catholic laywoman remarked.A priest in the Cathedral of San Isidro in Argentina blessed two lesbian women dressed as brides, a traditional missionary priest reported.“In the chapel where the Tabernacle is, at 6.15 pm, there was a blessing of two lesbian women dressed as brides,” Father Joao Silveira shared on Twitter. “I told the priest: ‘One thing is accompaniment, but we can’t consent to sin, much less bless it.’ He replied, ‘It’s pastoral,’” Fr. Silveira said. He did not...

[Catholic Caucus] New ‘pornographic’ texts by Cardinal Fernández discovered‘Cardinal Fernández's problem also explains the contempt with which he gratuitously treated the Blessed Virgin Mary, denying her two titles used by saints and popes,' observed El Wanderer.More erotic filth by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, Prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) — formerly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — has been reported by the Argentine Catholic website El Wanderer, which described the newly unearthed material as “not only pornographic but also detestable.”The “disgusting” erotic texts are in line with the DDF head’s previously known...

Leading Mariologists Publish Scathing Critique of Vatican Note on Mary’s TitlesIn a lengthy response, the International Marian Association Theological Commission highlights what it sees as significant errors and omissions in the Vatican’s controversial doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis.One of the Catholic Church’s foremost associations of Mariologists has issued a strongly critical response to Mater Populi Fidelis, a recently published Vatican doctrinal note that has been criticized for its diminution of some long-established devotional Marian titles.In a 23-page document published Dec. 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the International Marian Association Theological Commission (IMATC) points to various elements of Mater...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis Has Bequeathed Money to Pro-Homosexual Dominican SisterPope Francis, who died in April 2025, set aside funds in his will for a humanitarian project run by Dominican sister Lucía Caram, she said in remarks reported by Spanish media. According to Sister Caram, the funds were explicitly intended to support medical care in war-affected areas of Ukraine, in particular the purchase of ambulances. The exact amount designated in the pope’s will has not been disclosed.Sister Caram said that Francis had expressed support for her work on several occasions: “I never imagined it would come in this form.”Born in...

SSPX Bishop Fellay calls Vatican’s latest Marian document ‘pitiful,’ ‘insult to God’‘If you pray and make sacrifices, you can really save souls. If that’s true for any souls, how much more for the Blessed Virgin Mary?’ Bishop Bernard Fellay said.Bishop Bernard Fellay of the traditional priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) denounced the Vatican’s rejection of Mary’s titles of Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix of All Graces as an “insult to God.”Asked how the faithful should interpret the recently issued doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis, Bishop Fellay said in an interview with Kenya’s Immaculata TV, “I would dare to use the...

[Catholic Caucus] Tucho's Marian Kerfuffle - by Roberto de MatteiThe Consequences of the Marian Note of Cardinal Fernandezby Roberto de Matteifor Corrispondenza RomanaOn November 4, 2025, the doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis was published, with which the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sought to clarify the meaning and limits of certain Marian titles referring to Mary's cooperation in the work of salvation. The statement caused dismay and consternation among the faithful, but also among Mariologists, because it represents an objective diminution of the privileges traditionally reserved for Our Lady by the Tradition of the Church. One wonders now...

How do you solve a problem like Fernández?The Advent season begins this Sunday, and that means The Sound of Music will soon be on television in the United States. The ABC network airs the film classic starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer each year before Christmas, a broadcasting tradition that began in 2002. (It would air before Easter when I was a child, which shows my age.)As I considered the latest contretemps involving the prefect of the Dicastery of for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, a song from the film came to mind.“How do...