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Affirmation today of the dogma that outside the Church there is no salvation (extra ecclesiam nulla salus) is usually immediately qualified with “but…” The qualification is meant as a sign by whoever affirms the teaching that he does not really fall within the parameters set by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, eighteenth-century godfather of liberalism, in his most important book, The Social Contract: “Whoever dares to say outside the Church is no salvation should be driven from the state.” That declaration flowed naturally from Rousseau’s liberal conception of freedom as being free to do whatever is humanly possible, including what Christians know to...

The Apostles’ Creed (updated version): I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the peaceful nature of Islam. Amen. Or, anyway, that’s how it ought to read according to Monsignor Stuart Swetland, President of Donnelly College in Kansas City. No, Msgr. Swetland didn’t actually propose a revision to the Apostles’ Creed, but he does seem to be saying that Catholics have a religious obligation to affirm that Islam is a religion of peace. In a long statement following up on a radio debate with Robert Spencer on Relevant Radio’s...

Today marks the 50th anniversary of one of the first doctrinal documents to be released by the old Holy Office under the new appellation "Doctrine of the Faith", the circular letter Cum Oecumenicum Concilium. The Latin text can be found in Acta Apostolicae Sedis 58 (1966), pp. 659-661. Signed only 7 months after the end of Vatican II by Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, the last Secretary of the Holy Office (1959 - 1965) and Pro-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1965 until January 1968, it demonstrates the rapidity with which open heresy spread even more in...

Pope Francis’ documents, according to the judgment of some theologians, constitute some generic indications of a pastoral and moral nature, devoid of significant magisterial quality. This is one of the reasons such documents are discussed in a freer way than has ever happened with other pontifical texts. Among the most penetrating analyses of these texts, the study of a philosopher from the University of Perugia, Flavio Cuniberto, should be noted. His book, Lady Poverty. Pope Francis and the Refoundation of Christianity (Neri Pozza, Vicenza, 2016), is dedicated in particular to the encyclicals Evangeli Gaudium (2013) and Laudato si (2015). The...

Soon after the publication of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, three priests of the Diocese of Novara (Piedmont, Italy) tried to celebrate the Traditional Mass exclusively (we reported on these developments here and here). In an interview released a few days ago, Father Alberto Secci tells his story, and presents us with the wonderful account of his life after Summorum. Yes, there is a life for diocesan priests celebrating the Sacraments according to the ancient use exclusively. And it can be beautiful, and powerful, and glorious, despite the normal difficulties of life. "Can you imagine what would happen if all...

Radicati Editorial: "Thank God We Did Not Obey Those Forcing the New Mass Upon Us" The New Mass, Source of Pious Naturalism Editorial: Radicati nella fede, June 2016 Newsletter of the Catholic community of Vocogno, Diocese of Novara, Italy Thank God we did not obey. We are going to shock you, but some provocations are beneficial and useful. Thank God we did not obey those, who, in order to keep us within “ordinary pastoral care” (while allowing us reluctantly an occasional Traditional Mass) asked us not to be closed to the Council’s New Mass. Thank God we did not obey:...

Cardinal Caffara of Bologna made minor waves recently by declaring that, owing to the contradictory interpretations already being made of the document, Francis’ post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia is “objectively unclear.” He further states that whenever one happens upon a novel pronouncement of the Magisterium that is unclear in nature, a faithful soul has the duty to accept the Doctrine and practice as lived by the preceding Magisterium: “Chapter 8 is, objectively, unclear,” said Cardinal Carlo Caffarra when speaking about Amoris Laetitia, since it causes “‘conflict of interpretations’ ignited even among bishops.” The comments were made last week in an interview...

As many of you know, Bishop Fellay, Superior General of the SSPX met with Pope Francis last month. A few days afterwards, on April 7, 2016, Msgr. Guido Pozzo, Secretary of the Vatican’s Ecclesia Dei Commission, gave an interview to La Croix newspaper in which he said: “The difficulties raised by the SSPX regarding questions of Church-State relations and religious liberty, the practice of ecumenism and dialogue with non-Christian religions, certain aspects of liturgical reform and their concrete application, remain objects of discussion and clarification,” Archbishop Pozzo added, “but do not constitute an obstacle to the SSPX’s canonical and juridical...

In the Gospel, Jesus uses many metaphors to indicate the Church He founded. One of the most fitting is the image of the boat threatened by a tempest (Matt. 8, 23-27; Mark, 4, 35-41; Luke 8, 22-25). This image has often been used by the Fathers of the Church and the Saints when depicting the Church as a barque at sea, shaken and tossed by the waves and, which lives, we could say, amid tempests, without ever being submerged by the waves. Well-known in the Gospel, is the scene of the tempest on Lake Tiberias, calmed by Our Lord: “Tunc...

We continue with a look at those subjects the treatment of which stand out as prime examples of a Concilium contra Papa Ratti [Part One (link below)]: Ecumensim "On the 6th day of January, on the Feast of the Epiphany of Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the year 1928," Pope Pius XI promulgated his Encyclical on Religious Unity, Mortalium Animos; inarguably the most important piece of papal magisterium of the last century on the topic of ecumenism. The Decree on Ecumenism of Vatican II, Unitatis Redintegratio, footnotes this supremely important reaffirmation of immutable Catholic doctrine precisely zero times, and the...

The Second Vatican Council represents a departure from tradition so severe that Yves Congar, an influential figure among the architects of the revolt, once boastfully described it thus: "The Church has had, peacefully, its October Revolution." In addition to being an assault against tradition in the most general sense, however, Vatican II was also in many ways an offensive against the legacy of Pope Pius XI in particular, beginning with the events leading up to its calling. Writing in the inaugural encyclical of his pontificate, Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio, Pope Pius XI touched briefly on the possibility of reconvening the...

During Vatican II, Father Yves Congar (above), acting as official Vatican envoy, met with Jews in France to ask them what they wanted. The Jews answered they wanted to be considered as "brothers, partners equal in dignity". Lazare Landau writes, "the Council granted our wishes". Since then, two new concepts have emerged in the Church's relations with Jews; the notion of "praying to the same Lord", and that of a "common mission" to bring God to the world (that requires no need for Jews to convert to Christ's Church for salvation), which are the principles the post Conciliar Popes, including...

The Conciliar "method" beloved of Cardinal Kasper and his Comrades was a wicked one. We know it came "from evil" because His Eminence plainly admits that it was tailored to avoid the simple "si, si: no, no,'' demanded by Our Lord in Matthew 5:37. Marked by verbosity, ambiguity, and deceit, we have suffered the rotten fruits of this 'progressive' methodology for fifty dismal years: half-a-century of strife and destruction that has exhausted everyone but the Modernist ideologues, whose levelling lust is never sated. Buoyed by a papacy of their wildest dreams, and Kasper's assurance that it has "inaugurated a new...

The Catholic Church in America (CCA) seems to be unable to play a leading role in fighting the damaging socio-cultural trends of our time and now, for the first time since the colonial era, even faces serious threats to religious liberty. Why is the Church in such a weakened state? Some commentators would single out the priest sexual abuse scandal, but that’s only one small part of the picture. The answer lies in longer-run trends, which have been discussed by faithful Catholic commentators and scholars for some time but now come into sharp relief. Most of these, but not...

I was sorry that I missed Roberto de Mattei's Lecture last night, it was sponsored by the LMS, and was a memorial lecture to honour Michael Davies and the title was 'From the Second Vatican Council to the Synod: The Teaching of Michael Davies'. Fortunately Rorate have put it online, it is worth making the effort to read. If you need persuasion, here is just one little section to whet your appetite: Reading M. Davies’ work can help us understand the present crisis. We are now faced with a Synod of Bishops on the Family that seems to be questioning...

Fr. Walter Abbot, S.J. interviewed Cardinal Siri after the first (1962) session of the Second Vatican Council as part of a larger work of 12 interviews with Council Fathers, that was published in 1963, before the second session. As far as we are aware, this is the first online transcript of the exchange. *** Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, Archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, was grave and thoughtful the day I visited him. The day before, he told me, he had been surprised to discover in an Italian newspaper an account of a speech he had delivered...

In my efforts to restore a sense of the sacred in the liturgy, I have often been accused of being “pre-Vatican II.” I usually correct them by saying I am precisely Vatican II. The Second Vatican Council called for few changes in the liturgy, understanding that there had been a great many changes to the Roman liturgy over the centuries, to be sure, but they had been gradual and organic, and typically imperceptible. However, in all of church history, there was never anything like what happened in the years following this Council, in respect to the liturgy.This weekend we...

Philippines Cardinal Luis Tagle -- often cited as a possible successor to Pope Francis -- has called on Catholics to avoid looking to the pre-Second Vatican Council church with a sense of nostalgia, but to embrace and live out the council's sense of openness to the modern world.

On Vatican II Q. Your Eminence, you grew up before the Second Vatican Council. How do you remember those times? A. I grew up in a very beautiful time in the Church, in which we were carefully instructed in the faith, both at home and in the Catholic school, especially with the Baltimore Catechism. I remember the great beauty of the Sacred Liturgy, even in our little farming town, with beautiful Masses. And then, I'm of course most grateful for my parents who gave me a very sound up-bringing in how to live as a Catholic. So they were beautiful...

Traditional Catholic Priest by Fr. Peter Carota Search Main menu Skip to primary content HomeSample Page Post navigation← Previous Next → Bishop Schneider Says Traditional Catholics Are Not “Extremest”, But Rather The Hope For The Future Posted on August 29, 2014 by fc Bishop Schneider had an interview published in the June 6th 2014 CatholicHerald.co.uk, “We Are In The Fourth Great Crisis Of The Church“.  If you have the time please read the whole great article.  Here I have attempted to only highlight the main points in the article.In his interview he said we are in the fourth great...