Free Republic

How Liberals Gaslighted Traditional Catholics 50 Years AgoSo many putative leaders of the Catholic Church have no problems with the Synod on Synodality, Fiducia Supplicans, or widespread cafeteria-Catholicism but are wholly supportive of Rome’s persecution of Traditional Catholics through Traditionis Custodes and other measures. This, of itself, tells us that many influential figures promoting the Vatican II revolution are gaslighting us.In his August 2, 1975 letter to Libre Belgique, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre sought to defend himself against certain criticisms related to his adherence to what the Catholic Church taught and practiced prior to Vatican II:“The repeated attacks in your columns...

New secular study finds Vatican II triggered a decline in Catholic Mass attendance worldwideA newly published secular study found that Vatican II “triggered a decline” in worldwide Catholic Mass attendance relative to religious service attendance of other religions, including Protestant Christianity.By examining the religious service attendance rates for 66 countries as far back as 1920, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that “compared to other countries, Catholic countries experienced a steady decline in the monthly adult religious service attendance rate starting immediately after Vatican II” in 1965, the final year of the council.Catholic countries were defined as those...

[Catholic Caucus] Modernism is a SinAbove: Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Liesing, Austria.On his first day in office, in addition to signing a flurry of executive orders, President Joe Biden led a virtual swearing-in ceremony for “Day One Presidential Appointees,” that is, administrative staff for the White House and various governmental agencies.A few minutes into his remarks, Biden told his new subordinates that “we owe your families, we owe your families, because those of you working in the White House, [and] those who will be working in other agencies, you’re gonna work like the devil [an interesting choice...

Pope Leo XIV and the Cruel Reality of the Vatican II RevolutionAs grateful as we may be to Leo XIV for this pious exhortation, we are left to wonder what the new pontiff intends to do to address one of the most wicked cruelties in the world today: the Vatican’s continued attacks on the unadulterated Catholic Faith and its persecution of those souls who want nothing more than to practice our religion as faithfully as possible.In his July 27th Angelus address, Pope Leo XIV spoke of our need to avoid cruelty to others if we want to be able call...

[Catholic Caucus] Conclusion of Major New Economic Research Paper: "Vatican II, in 1962-1965, triggered a decline in worldwide Catholic attendance relative to that in other denominations." From the summary of a major new paper just published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), in Cambridge, Massachusetts, authored by some of the greatest names in Economic research, including the famous Dr. Barro, of Harvard University, Dr. Dewitte, of the University of Oxford, and Dr. Iannaccone, of Chapman University:Looking Backward: Long-Term Religious Service Attendance in 66 CountriesRobert J. Barro, Edgard Dewitte & Laurence IannacconeIssue Date July 2025The attendance rate at religious...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre’s Holy Wisdom on the Crisis in the Catholic ChurchUnderstanding this holy wisdom from Archbishop Lefebvre does not make the crisis go away, but it does help us serve God without feeling “lost and confused” because of what we see from Rome. Perhaps this is why those who seek to perpetuate the crisis in the Church never stop trying to disparage the man who did more than anyone else to oppose the Vatican II revolution and preserve the Traditional Latin Mass.One of the many interesting aspects of Diane Montagna’s report on the document which purportedly served...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican Gives New Guidelines for Implementing Synodality: Now Under Pope Leo XIVWhat will happen now with the arrival of Pope Leo? Sister Nathalie Becquart commented: «The plan approved by Pope Francis and confirmed by Pope Leo includes local, national, and continental assemblies, up to the Ecclesial Assembly in Rome.»The Synod’s General Secretary, chaired by Cardinal Mario Grech, has prepared the new document for the local Churches, in order to «listen to them, support their efforts, and, above all, contribute to encouraging dialogue and the exchange of gifts among the Churches.»Sister Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ, Under-Secretary of the Synod, spoke...

[Catholic Caucus] The Council of Nicaea and Vatican IIIs there a relationship between the Council of Nicaea, celebrated in the year 325, and the Second Vatican Council, the last of the twenty-one councils recognised as ecumenical, concluded on 8 December 1965?In a letter written on 29 June 1975 to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was criticising Vatican II, Pope Paul VI stated that “the Second Vatican Council is no less authoritative, indeed in some respects it is even more important, than the Council of Nicaea” (cf. La Doc. Catholique, 58 (1976) p. 34). The statement left many astonished at the time....

Here Are the Vatican II Passages That the Church’s Enemies Demand We AcceptAs Diane Montagna highlighted in her report on Francis’s fraudulent promulgation of Traditionis Custodes, Rome’s battle over the Traditional Latin Mass continues to hinge on the question of whether Traditional Catholics “reject the Second Vatican Council”. The Vatican II passages below did not “cause” the crisis in the Church, but they and others like them have been used by the Church’s enemies to offend God, lead souls to hell, and cause inestimable harm in the world.As Diane Montagna highlighted in her report on Francis’s apparently fraudulent promulgation of...

Vatican II’s Own Words Thoroughly Rebuke the Vatican II RevolutionIf Pope Leo XIV actually applied the words of the Council as set forth below, he could use Vatican II to justify the complete overturn of the Vatican II revolution that has plagued the Church and world for six decades. Here's how that could be accomplished: In his famous “1974 Declaration,” Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre left no doubt about how he viewed the Council at which he had played an important role:“We hold fast, with all our heart and with all our soul, to Catholic Rome, Guardian of the Catholic Faith and...

[Catholic Caucus] Why Ambiguity Was the Most Lethal Weapon of Vatican II’s ArchitectsEvery single ambiguity of Vatican II tended to undermine Catholic teaching in precisely the way against which the pre-Vatican II popes emphatically warned. This is not mere coincidence. Moreover, the presence of so much ambiguity fundamentally undermines the Catholic Church’s role as truth-teller. The Church obviously knew how to speak clearly and unambiguously on all of the matters that have become so contentious after the Council.In his 2024 book Flee From Heresy: A Catholic Guide to Ancient and Modern Errors, Bishop Athanasius Schneider provided the following question and...

[Catholic Caucus] Traditional Catholicism’s Enemies Routinely Fail These Three Common Sense ChecksAll of this is like a Monty Python skit except that it is only humorous to the enemies of God and His Catholic Church. God has permitted the crisis in the Church to reach this point to which those who persecute Traditional Catholics are unmistakably wrong.Although we pray that the tide will turn with Pope Leo XIV, one of the most astoundingly bizarre realities in the world today is that Traditional Catholics are persecuted by the putative leaders of the Catholic Church. The crime committed by Traditional Catholics is...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Aguer: Pope Leo XIV’s presentation brings ‘more glorious times’ to mindFrancis' long pontificate will be left behind, his witticisms forgotten. The Church always faces her mission according to the Lord's command: to make disciples of all nations.The presentation of the new Pope Leo XIV brought to mind more glorious times of the Church. He appeared on the loggia dressed in papal vestments, and the name he chose refers to Leo XIII, the pope of Rerum Novarum, the initial document of an updated exposition of the Catholic social teaching.From 1903 to 1958, within a history full of contrasts,...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae and the June Battle of FlagsWere it not for Dignitatis Humanae, there would be no supposed theological justification for this demand that human dignity requires us to refrain from questioning the “transness” of those claiming to practice the Catholic Faith. Thanks in large part to the defenders of Vatican II, though, Fr. Martin and the New Ways Ministry can insist that Catholics ought to celebrate Pride Month in recognition of the human dignity of the Catholic LGBTQ community.As reported by LifeSite, Fr. James Martin recently shared his opinion about why Catholics ought to celebrate...

[Catholic Caucus] Will Leo XIV Reaffirm the Forgotten Truths of Paul VI’s 1968 Credo?For those defenders of the Vatican II revolution who consider Paul VI to be a saint, there should be little justification for resisting his 1968 Credo. But the need for Leo XIV to boldly proclaim these truths can be measured by the extent to which they have today been abandoned even by those men who purport to revere the legacy of Paul VI.In his Open Letter to Confused Catholics, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre praised Paul VI’s 1968 Credo of the People of God, Solemni Hac Liturgia, as a...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo’s reference to St. Augustine suggests he differs from Pope Francis on ‘Synodality’St. Augustine was not infected with the errors of false ecumenism and Synodality, and he knew that true love required him to correct his neighbors' errors.In the sermon for his inauguration Mass, Pope Leo XIV spoke of his vision of the Petrine ministry in serving the Church to help build “God’s house in fraternal communion”:The ministry of Peter is distinguished precisely by this self-sacrificing love, because the Church of Rome presides in charity and its true authority is the charity of Christ. It is never...

(Hymn at the link.) With everyone so urgent about who is Pope Leo XIV, we may want to pull back and think about who he will seem to be in a year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, after his death, after the next Pope. When God sends the people a scourge because they dispise his blessings, and they are trying to understand why bad things are happening to supposedly good people, you can't just look at the punishment, you need to examine those who are the punished. The punishment for our faithlessness was a Dictator Pope who deliberately promoted...

Spanish bishop laments widespread loss of Catholic faith in his countrySpain has seen a dramatic fall in numbers of people identifying as Catholic as part of a wider stagnation of the Catholic faith across Europe.Spain is no longer a de facto Catholic country, the nation’s leading Catholic prelate has stated, with numbers of Catholics falling and the hierarchy also mired in a controversy to sell off Church assets.“The time has passed, settled for centuries, when we said: I’m Catholic because I was born in Spain,” said Archbishop Luis Argüello last week. The Archbishop of Valladolid was speaking at the recent...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Aguer: Our vocations crisis must be addressed. Here is what I proposeCareful reflection and a variety of experience enable me at this point in my life to attempt a synthesis on priestly formation and propose ways to overcome our present vocations crisis. Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of a multi-part series addressing the decline in the number of Catholic priests and seminarians worldwide.(LifeSiteNews) — On numerous occasions I have referred to a crucial issue for the Church: the formation of candidates for the priesthood. Today I take it up again, without pretending, of course, to exhaust...

Vatican II and the Most Wicked Swindle Since Satan Tempted Eve in the GardenIn the name of a fraudulent unity based on appeasing Protestants, Cardinal Bea managed to deceive the apparent leadership of the Catholic Church into abandoning the Great Commission. It was the greatest swindle in salvation history since Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.To set the stage for understanding the second greatest swindle in salvation history, it is useful to consider which of the following two statements would sound most correct to the ostensible leaders of the Catholic Church today:Membership in the Church is necessary for...