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[Catholic Caucus] Francis Confirms the Root of the Problem: Vatican IIFrancis’s May 19, 2022 interview with the editors of European Jesuit Journals provided yet another indication that Vatican II is still one of the most vital matters in the Church, and by extension, the world:“Restorationism has come to gag the Council. The number of groups of ‘restorers’ – for example, in the United States there are many – is significant. . . . There are ideas, behaviors that arise from a restorationism that basically did not accept the Council. The problem is precisely this: in some contexts the Council has...

[Catholic Caucus] Worship Prefect interviewed.At Vatican News we find an interview with the Prefect of Worship, whom Francis designated as a Cardinal, Archbp. Arthur Roche, once of Leeds and less-than-successful head of ICEL.Roche is an inveterate enemy of the Roman Rite, the Vetus Ordo, and has peculiar notions about what the Second Vatican Council mandated for liturgical reform. He reads into documents curious things. However, Roche is exemplary, in that he is one of those who wants to make Vatican II the only lens through which the whole of the Church’s history, doctrine and practice, including worship, must be reinterpreted.The...

[Catholic Caucus] Navigating by Catholic Certainties Through a Sea of Diabolical DisorientationSeldom, if ever, has there been a more distressing and dangerous time in human history. Those who control the world’s wealth, governments, militaries, media, and education systems have embraced rampant immorality, attacks on family life, medical tyranny, and an unprecedented attack on truth that is fittingly embodied by the rise of transgenderism throughout the world’s “most advanced” societies. Tragically, all of this pales in comparison with the ongoing corruption within the Catholic Church.Even if we had reason to doubt the legitimacy of Sister Lucia’s description of the wave of...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal-designate calls liturgical tensions a ‘tragedy’VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Cardinal-designate Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, described as a “tragedy” the tensions within the Latin rite of the Catholic Church over the way the Mass is celebrated.In a wide-ranging interview broadcast June 16 by Vatican News, the cardinal-designate said the tensions are “partly” due to having had two versions of the Roman Missal — those from before and after the Second Vatican Council — in use in the church at the same time.“There’s never been a controversy about the liturgy in the...

[Catholic Caucus] Proudly a “Restorer”In a recent interview Pope Francis lamented the existence of “restorers,” a label he appears to tag on those who do not “accept the Council.” He said,Restorationism has come to gag the Council. The number of groups of ‘restorers’ — for example, in the United States there are many — is significant.I was struck by the pope’s use of the term, “restorers.” Whether the pope meant it as an insult or just a descriptive label, I take it as an accurate description of my views and the views of many other Catholics (a “significant” number, according...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis: There Are Many ‘Restorers’ in the US Who Do Not Accept Vatican IIPope Francis cited opposition to Vatican II when he issued the motu proprio Traditionis custodes in July 2021, limiting celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass.VATICAN CITY — There are many “restorers” in the United States who do not accept the Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis said in an interview published on Tuesday. pSpeaking to the editors of Jesuit Magazine journals, he criticized what he called “restorationism” in the Church, which he defined as the failure to accept Vatican II, the ecumenical council held from...

[Catholic Caucus] The Key to Restoring Catholic OrthodoxyIt is well known that the “Spirit of Vatican II” changed the Catholic landscape, undermining the orthodoxy that resulted in the pre-Vatican II golden age of Catholicism. What is not well known among Catholics is this: For the past five decades instruction in most if not all of our Catholic seminaries and universities has been undermining the faith, in particular that of our seminarians. It casts doubt on the evangelists — including eyewitness-apostles Matthew and John — as writers of the Gospels, attributing them instead to unknown individuals writing a generation later. Superior...

Pope Francis Urges Sicily’s Catholic Priests to be Moral Guides — But to Drop the LaceVATICAN CITY — Pope Francis told priests and bishops from the Italian island of Sicily on Thursday to be strong moral guides, and to update their art and vestments in conformity with Church reforms.“In Sicily, people still look to priests as spiritual and moral guides, people who can also help to improve the civil and social life of the island, to support the family, and to be a reference for growing young people. High and demanding is the Sicilian people’s expectation of priests,” the...

“The Pneumonia of the Church”: Archbishop Aguer on the Sickness and Its Remedy Archbishop Emeritus Hector AguerThe title of this note comes from an eloquent image used by the African Cardinal Robert Sarah, who was Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments—and who was “mercifully” retired from the Roman Curia, as soon as was possible without causing too much of a scandal. His Eminence, author of books of rare theological depth and spiritual dimension, compared the current disastrous situation of the Catholic Church with that which Pius X had to face: modernism, which...

[Catholic Caucus] Jesuit in Rome admits Francis is correcting JPII moral theology'It is fundamental to untie the knots of Veritatis Splendor'Julio Martinez, S.J.: Pope Francis “has introduced discernment in the concrete circumstances of marriage and family life."Amoris Laetitia, the apostolic exhortation published by Pope Francis in March 2016 after the two synods of bishops on the family, not only radically altered the church’s concrete pastoral approach to marriage and the family, it also opened new ways of doing moral theology in the 21st century, Julio Martinez, S.J., a Spanish priest and moral theologian, told America magazine in an exclusive interview....

[Catholic Caucus] The Path from St. Pius X’s Pascendi to Satan’s Synodality is Paved with Compromises As Christopher Ferrara described in his 2009 article in The Remnant, Fatima and Akita: A Fateful Concurrence, we have good reason to believe that the (still hidden) Third Secret of Fatima includes “essentially the same” message that Our Lady delivered in 1973 to Sister Agnes Sasagawa, in Akita, Japan:“In [The Secret Still Hidden] I show that the former Cardinal Ratzinger, who conferred face-to-face with Bishop Ito in Rome concerning the Akita apparitions, told Howard Dee, the former Philippines Ambassador to the Vatican, that...

[Catholic Caucus] The Council and the Eclipse of God by Don Pietro Leone: CHAPTER VIII: THE COUNCIL’S VIEW OF MAN IN HIMSELF (part 1) We have divided Chapter VIII into three parts, the text being exceedingly rich in content: part 1 – The Nature of Man and The Anguish of Man; part 2 – The Dignity of Man; part 3 – The Deification of Man. With the reading of this Chapter it seems we have arrived at a watershed moment. In this analysis of the Council’s documents it becomes clearer that there was deliberate intent (whether malicious or philosophically...

“Progressive Manias”: Powerful article by Archbishop AguerWhat is progressivism? I am referring to ecclesiastical progressivism, which, like secular progressivism, looks to the future as if the world and the Church were on the move, always evolving towards the best.We could consider evolutionism as a sort of eponym of religious progressivism. This constitutes a system of “advanced” ideas and attitudes, which proudly detaches itself from any adherence to Tradition. The so-called modernism of the early twentieth century was described and condemned by St. Pius X in the Encyclical Pascendi dominici gregis and the Decree Lamentabili sane exitu. It brought together...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Martini was a ‘Prophet,’ Says Vatican CardinalCardinal Czerny’s remarks were reported by Vatican News, the Holy See’s online news portal, which said that the Canadian Jesuit spoke at the launch of the sixth volume of Cardinal Martini’s complete works.Vatican Cardinal Michael Czerny on Monday described the late Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini as a “prophet.”The prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said that the controversial Jesuit theologian anticipated recent developments in the Catholic Church.Cardinal Martini, a renowned biblical scholar, was described by the New York Times as one of the Catholic Church’s “most influential...

The Council and the Eclipse of God – by Don Pietro Leone : Part 2 of CHAPTER VII –Man’s Cult of God - Sacrosanctum Concilium : a veritable modernist minefield Don Pietro Leone continues to guide us through the modernist minefield of Sacrosanctum Concilium – The Council’s document on the Reform of the Liturgy. This section, which is an excellent read, is incontrovertible in its refutations of conciliar conceits and not without humour. F.R. The Council and the Eclipse of God by Don Pietro Leone CHAPTER VIIPART 2: MAN’S CULT OF GOD4. Liturgical ReformWe shall here consider: a) The...

[Catholic Caucus] “Onion liturgy: Francis and nervousness about form” — Scorching article by Luisella Scrosati Francis’s speech, delivered May 7 and addressed to the faculty and students of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute Anselmianum [text here], suggests some nervousness. Decades of improvised liturgical interventions to erase all traces of adoration, reverence, sacred awe, and connection with Sacred Tradition; synods and meetings to no end, to mortify what is branded as the Catholic “right” in order to extinguish it... and then, having to realize that the ancient Mass is not only enduring, but spreading more and more; that young families -...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope to Students and Faculty of Sant’Anselmo, May 7, 2022: “Every reform creates resistance… All of these things scandalized closed-minded people” Today, the pope addressed the teachers and students of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute Sant’Anselmo (Italian original here), the think-tank of Traditionis Custodes and like-minded initiatives. He compares those who lamented Pius XII’s massacre of Holy Week to the Pharisees who rent their garments, and accuses lovers of the “sacred and great” Catholic tradition of weaponizing it against Church unity. His attacks on tradition are, as always, superficial, hypocritical, and judgmental, and his undying optimism for a...

[Catholic Caucus] Why Ecclesia Dei Communities Should Avoid Concelebrating the Chrism Mass: A Response to Michael Charlier The following article was first published at OnePeterFive and is reprinted here with permission.—PAKIn the news cycle recently there has been much coverage of Pope Francis’s statement to a group of French bishops that all priests in a diocese, regardless of affiliation, should be present to concelebrate the Chrism Mass with their bishop each year (see this article). As a result, the ever-simmering question of concelebration has once more come to a boil.Respected German traditionalist Michael Charlier wrote an article (translated at...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Aguer: Vatican Resurrects Evil "Spirit of the Council"Francis persistence in mockingly those who have a secure faith is a cause of astonishment, bewilderment, and concern, writes retired Archbishop Hector Aguer on Rorate-caeli.blogspot.com (May 3).He complains that Francis is reviling Catholics as "rigorous Pharisees” and contradicts the Bible and John Paul II's and Benedict XVI's teaching.For Aguer, Francis' relativistic moralism reduces faith, morals and spirituality into Kant's practical reason and submits to the dictates of a New World Order wanted by Freemasonry and the international money imperialism.Aguer writes that “the Vatican is a hive of Freemasons, who help...

[Catholic Caucus] Announcing the Release of Mass of the Ages Episode II —plus Screenings at Theatres in Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Front Royal, Washington DC Following the tremendously positive reception of Episode I with over 1 million views to date, the creators of the Mass of the Ages trilogy are pleased to announce the release of Episode II slated for the Feast of the Ascension, Thursday, May 26, at 8pm ET. In contrast to the storytelling approach of Episode I, which offered a beautiful and compelling overview of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), Episode II takes an investigative posture,...