Free Republic

Identifying the Heart of the Post-Conciliar Crisis: Sixty Years of Mocking the Holy GhostThe First Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Pastor Aeternus, succinctly described the role of the Holy Ghost in safeguarding truth in the Church:“For the Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by His revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by His assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles.” (Vatican I, Pastor Aeturnus)This statement sets forth the limits of legitimate papal action but it also makes...

[Catholic Caucus] Mosebach on BenedictThe following appeared originally in German at Die Tagepost on January 3, 2023.According to the Frankfurt best-selling author Martin Mosebach, it will turn out that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died on Saturday, "recognized and named with astuteness precisely the conflict" that will form the "necessary and most important theme" of the internal Church debate: "Is the Church forever committed to the tradition of the evangelists, the apostles, martyrs, and Church Fathers, or can it break that commitment and discover other ever-new sources of revelation? Does Vatican II mark the beginning of a break with tradition...

Pope Benedict: "Novus Ordo Does NOT Correspond To Vatican II"Below are some quotes of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI on Vatican II and the liturgy."I can say with certainty, based on my knowledge of the conciliar debates and my repeated reading of the speeches made by the Council Fathers, that [the new Missal] does not correspond to the intentions of the Second Vatican Council." - Father Joseph Ratzinger, 1976 (Letter to Wolfgang Waldstein)."In part it is simply a fact that the Council was pushed aside. It had said that the language of the Latin Rite was to remain Latin, although suitable scope...

IT’S THE MASS THAT MATTERS: A Study in Faithful ResistanceSOME YEARS AGO I heard an extraordinary story from a friend who lived for a time in the extreme northern end of the country, in a remote and beautiful valley of the Alps, the Val d'Ossola. In brief, three priests one day told their bishop that they would no longer celebrate the Mass in the new rite, and adopted the traditional Mass when Summorum Pontificum was published. And despite immense pressure and months of struggle, they never did again.The story has thus far had a happy ending; the priests continue celebrating...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis’s Christmas Message: We Must Convert to What the Church Has Always RejectedFrancis’s 2022 Christmas Greetings to the Roman Curia included several elements that are genuinely Catholic, and even edifying, when read out of context. One of the dominant themes, for example, is the need for conversion:“Conversion is a never-ending story. The worst thing that could happen to us is to think that we are no longer in need of conversion, either as individuals or as a community. To be converted is to learn ever anew how to take the Gospel message seriously and to put it into...

Protestantism: Francis Effect in Latin AmericaThe Vatican is losing the world's largest Catholic country, and Marxist-sexualist liberation theology is no more successful than Marxist-political liberation theology, writes CatholicHerald.co.uk (December 12)• At the current rate, Catholics will make up less than 50% of all Brazilians by July 2023.• Nearly one in five Latin Americans now describe themselves as Protestant Pentecostals.• Until the failed Vatican II, at least 90% of Latin America was Catholic.• One reason for this fiasco is "liberation theology", which put politics above religion.• Most Catholics left the secularised Council Church because they were looking for religion, not for...

Pope Francis claims it’s ‘heresy’ not to ‘translate’ Gospel into modern ‘ways of thinking’The Pontiff echoed some of his regular talking points during his Christmas address, including his praise for Vatican II and the process of synodality.In his annual Christmas address to the Roman Curia, Pope Francis claimed that “true heresy” involved not only “preaching another Gospel” but in neglecting to “translate it into today’s languages and ways of thinking.”The 86-year-old Pontiff made his comments to the assembled members of the Roman Curia – both clerical and lay – on Thursday morning in the Vatican. Some of his regular themes...

Showing Gratitude for Our Savior as the World Desperately Seeks in Vain for Another“And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people. For this day is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.” (Luke 2: 10-11)The angel announced “good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people,” and yet the angels ended their heavenly message with reference to a narrower subset of people to whom the blessings of peace would apply:“Glory to God...

[Catholic Caucus] Christmas Address: Francis Exorcises His Own ShadowIn his December 22 Christmas greetings to the Roman Curia, nostalgic Francis praised the outdated Vatican II as "a great opportunity for conversion [= secularisation] for the whole Church" and an attempt to make the Gospel "current, alive, operative in this historical moment [of the 1960s]."The disgraced Cardinal Angelo Becciu was present (video below). Francis pretended that the "current reflection on the Church's synodality [= Roman centralism] stems from the conviction that the path of understanding Christ's message is never-ending and continually challenges us." Synodalism, however, is an old heresy.He railed against...

Blessed Dom Marmion on Catholics, Protestants, and the Worsening Crisis in the Churchopes Benedict XV and Pius XII praised the works of Blessed Dom Columba Marmion (1858-1923) for their holiness and wisdom, and few other writers living in the past 100 years have offered anything as spiritually nourishing as the books of the Abbot of Maredsous Abbey. His Christ: The Ideal of the Monk (1922) is no exception — his great love for God and the Faith shines forth from every page — but it is the book’s description of the differences between Catholics and Protestants that deserves particular attention...

The Coetus: Trad Godfathers at Vatican IIAbove: Archbishop Lefebvre with Pius XII. Lefebvre and other members of the Coetus were respected by the popes before Paul VI, including by John XXIII. There will be factions. This is the first rule of all voting assemblies, from the Roman Senate to the US House of Representatives. To believe that this rule does not apply to the Ecumenical Councils of the Church is a naïveté that does not survive reading Church History.Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowThe second rule of voting assemblies is that the victorious faction is usually in a position to impose...

[Catholic Caucus] “The Current Crisis of Faith in the Church Has Its Ground in the New Mass”The following superb article by Austrian priest Fr. Michael Gurtner appeared in German at the site katholisches.info on November 27, 2022; the translation is published here with permission.—PAKAt present, the modern Church is working to change its internal constitution, transforming itself and by its own initiative from a hierarchical Church, as willed and instituted by God, to a “synodal” (and therefore humanly constructed) Church. In the one and only Church of Jesus Christ, which is the Catholic Church, a process of successive detachment from...

[Catholic Caucus] For Receiving CommunionFrom the church bulletin of SAINT KATERI TEKAKWITHA CATHOLIC COMMUNITY in Beaumont/Banning, California:We would like to remind you again that the recommended posture for receiving communion is standing and you can receive the host on your tongue or in the hand. " The Norm for receiving the Holy Communion in the Dioceses of the USA is Standing. This norm is repeated in the Diocese of San Bernardino. In the Diocese of San Bernardino, where it is the custom of the people to make the sign of the cross, this cus- tom is not abrogated and may...

The Ottaviani Intervention: A Critical Study of the New MassWritten by Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani and Antonio Cardinal Bacci and a Group of Roman Theologians Editor's Note: The New Order of Mass was introduced on April 4, 1969. On June 5, 1969 Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani of the Holy Office, and Antonio Cardinal Bacci, along with a group of Roman theologians, presented Pope Paul VI with a Short Critical Study of the New Order of Mass. The Study contained a cover letter signed by Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci, which warned that the Novus Ordo, "represents both as a whole, and in its...

[Catholic Caucus] UNITED WE STAND: Confessions of a Non-Trad ClanEditor's Note: Not sure who started the fake news that Traditional Catholics are hopelessly divided, but I have NEVER seen Traditionalists more united than they are right now, and I've been at this all of my life.Over at RTV, we recently produced a documentary on the Chartres Pilgrimage 2022 ("Guardian of Tradition") which shows 20,000 traditional Catholics on the move in France, and another 50,000 following along from home. We're heading back to the Road to Chartres on Pentecost 2023, and I'm delighted to announce that my friend, John-Henry Westen of...

Why We Can’t All Get Along: The Myth of Accord Between Catholicism and False Ecumenism“Sir, you and I are not one in religion. Wherefore I pray you content yourself. I bar none of prayer; only I desire them of the household of faith to pray with me, and in my agony to say one Creed.” — St. Edmund CampionSt. Edmund Campion and his fellow English Martyrs willingly suffered torture and gruesome death rather than compromise their Catholic Faith. In many instances, their executioners offered to spare them if they “merely” abandoned the Catholic Faith in favor of the Anglican religion....

[Catholic Caucus] Satan’s Vile Attacks on Traditional Catholicism Spotlight What He Hates Most“Thou art Peter: and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)Jesus’s words console us that the Church will never be defeated, but they also warn us that the gates of hell will attempt to overcome the Church, and may at times even appear to be close to succeeding. Cornelius a Lapide expanded upon Our Lord’s words in his commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew:“Therefore, by His word Christ first encourages His Church that she...

[Catholic Caucus] “Innumerable miracles”, reduced to none: Saint Nicholas in the Traditional and Modern Roman Missals Today is the feast day of Saint Nicholas, and his collect in the traditional Roman Missal alludes to his Greek title of "wonderworker", and the "innumerable miracles" he worked during his life: Deus, qui beátum Nicoláum Pontíficem,innúmeris decorásti miráculis:tríbue, quǽsumus;ut eius méritis et précibusa gehénnæ incéndiis liberémur. (CO 1463)O God, who made the holy Bishop Nicholasrenowned for innumerable miracles,grant, we beseech you,that by his merits and prayerswe may be saved from the fires of hell.The Corpus orationum (CO) tells us that this collect—along with...

In the Church Basement, Hiding from MassAbove: an official promotional graphic of the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality (posted at their Facebook page here).On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass.-CIC, can. 1247.It is Saturday evening, and I am trying to endure another “Sunday” Mass in my hometown. A snowstorm, as well as the sheer cost of hotels and driving, has forced our family to stay at home this weekend, away from our usual Sunday Mass out of town.The church building seems to shake from the wind and snow hammering its side....

WHERE DO WE STAND? An Interview with Michael MattEditor’s Note: This interview was requested on behalf of the German outlet TheCathWalk and was conducted by Josef Jung. We’re reproducing it here in order to give our readers a sense of the international Catholic counterrevolution which has formed as a result of the Francis Agenda. MJMJosef Jung: You have known the traditional movement since its beginnings. Can you give us a brief recap of why "The Remnant" was founded and what it was like to be a traditional Catholic back then, in the 60s and 70s? Michael Matt: Simply put, The...