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Just turned ninety-one, a proud traditionalist and very close to Ratzinger, Cardinal Joseph Zen, Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, has always criticised the provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops that the Holy See signed with China in September 2018, renewed last October. He talks about Ratzinger's sanctity, agrees with Monsignor Georg Gänswein on the issue of the Latin Mass, asks Bergoglio for a change of pace and tells how he is living this moment of trial, after the police arrested him last May, later releasing him on bail - for "colluding with foreign forces" in the context of managing...

He also thinks that post-conciliar liturgical abuse has died out (a convenient fiction), that the Council still has another sixty years before it is properly implemented (maintaining wrongly that historians teach that Council's always take this long to implement and that a nun is acting like a Bishop.....all underlined below. His approach to cultures generally is uncritical, seeing only good- an impossibility since the Fall. "Africa is original. Africa is a soup to be tasted". Two days before his 86th birthday, Pope Francis receives MUNDO NEGRO in the private library of the Apostolic Palace. When we handed him a copy...

(Daily readings from the USCCB)Then he said to the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. Mark 3:4–5Sin damages our relationship with God. But hardness of heart is even more damaging because it perpetuates the damage done by sin. And the harder one's heart, the more permanent the damage.In...

18 January 2023Wednesday of week 2 in Ordinary Time St. Margaret's Church, formerly Catholic, Mediaș, Romania Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(I).First readingHebrews 7:1-3,15-17 ©You are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, for everYou remember that Melchizedek, king of Salem, a priest of God Most High, went to meet Abraham who was on his way back after defeating the kings, and blessed him; and also that it was to him that Abraham gave a tenth of all that he had. By the interpretation of his name, he is, first, ‘king of righteousness’ and also king of Salem, that...

We were predestined "to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory" (Eph. 1:12). In salvation, as in everything else, God is preeminent. He deserves all the credit. Preeminence implies supreme standing, picturing one who excels over all others in a particular quality or achievement. There is no one more preeminent than God. Ephesians 1:12 underscores that truth. You were redeemed and granted an eternal inheritance that God might be glorified. Certainly you benefit greatly from salvation, but God's glory is the primary issue. Our man-centered culture doesn't...

Those who truly know God have learned how to recognize his voice above all others. He wants you to be convinced that he desires to talk to you and tell you things you’ve never heard before. The Lord recently showed me that I was still wavering about hearing his voice. Oh, I know that he speaks, but I doubted my ability to hear him. I kept “checking” the voice I heard, and when it seemed too mysterious, I thought, “This can’t be God. Besides, the devil and lying spirits and the flesh speak, too. Voices come at us all the...

(Daily readings from the USCCB)As Jesus was passing through a field of grain on the sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Mark 2:23–24The Pharisees were greatly concerned about many things that were distortions of the law of God. The Third Commandment calls us to “Keep holy the Sabbath Day.” Furthermore, we read in Exodus 20:8–10 that we are not to do any work on the Sabbath but are to use that day for rest.From...

17 January 2023Saint Antony, Abbot on Tuesday of week 2 in Ordinary Time Church of St Anthony Abbot. Huelvo, Spain Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingHebrews 6:10-20 ©In this hope we have an anchor for our soulGod would not be so unjust as to forget all you have done, the love that you have for his name or the services you have done, and are still doing, for the saints. Our one desire is that every one of you should go on showing the same earnestness...

Does doubt make us stronger? Is it ‘Christian’ to have doubts? There is very little I don’t doubt. Throughout my life and its many twists and turns, I have often been filled with doubts. The good news is that doubt isn’t going to rob you of the goodness of God. He won’t withhold himself from you just because your faith is mixed in with questions and uncertainties. Jesus still healed the child of the father who cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (see Mark 9:17-27). God is a holy God, and we should always approach him with reverence; but...

"Having been predestined according to [God's] purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will" (Eph. 1:11). God took the initiative in salvation by choosing you and granting you saving faith. In Ephesians 1:4 Paul says that God "chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him." In verse 11 he reiterates that marvelous truth by affirming that believers have been predestined to salvation according to God's own purpose and will. Many reject the teaching that God chose (predestined) believers to salvation. They think believers chose God. In...

[Catholic Caucus] Defeated Order of Malta Honours the EnemyLieutenant Grand Master Fra' John Dunlap flattered Cardinal Arthur Roche on 13 January by draping the insignia of the Balì Gran Croce di Onore e Devozione of the Order of Malta on him.Roche is Francis' henchman in his fight against the Roman Liturgy.After the macabre show in the Palazzo Magistrale, Roche presided at a Eucharist where he "turned his back" on the audience, a practice de facto forbidden in the Novus Ordo.

Cardinal Pell and the ‘Demos’ MemorandumNEWS ANALYSIS: Whether or not the Australian cardinal wrote it himself, the text is a strong rebuke of the current pontificate and its style reflects the late prelate’s forthright personality. VATICAN CITY — A text is being attributed to the late Cardinal George Pell that summarizes deep concerns he and many others in Rome have had about the current crisis in the Church and the direction of this pontificate. Last March during Lent, the veteran Italian Vaticanist Sandro Magister published the text and described it as a “memorandum” circulated to cardinal electors and pseudonymously...

[Catholic Caucus] Minutes from the Commission of Cardinals That Advised John Paul II to Lift Restrictions on the Old MissalMost people who have read about the liturgical reform and the revival of the traditional Roman Rite have stumbled across references to the commission of cardinals set up by Pope John Paul II in 1986 to evaluate several questions—among them whether Paul VI had abrogated the preconciliar Missale Romanum in promulgating his own missal in 1969.Since there is a lot of misinformation circulating nowadays about the old and new missals, some of it sadly disseminated from the Vatican, I consider it...

The Basilica at Cointe has been transformed into a climbing centre, the church at Bouhay into a shelter for women in distress, the chapel of Notre-Dame-en-Chemin at Boncelles into offices, housing is planned for the parish of Saint-Lambert de Soumagne or the former monastery at Chèvremont. There is no shortage of examples of changes in the use of religious sanctuaries in the Liège region, not to mention the hypothesis of a museum at Saint-Pholien in Outremeuse

(Daily readings from the USCCB)“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.” Mark 2:19–20The passage above reveals Jesus’ response to the disciples of John the Baptist and some Pharisees who question Jesus about fasting. They point out that the disciples of John and the Pharisees each follow the Jewish laws on fasting, but Jesus’ disciples do not. Jesus’ answer goes to the heart of...

16 January 2023Monday of week 2 in Ordinary Time Catholics gather at a church to pay their respects to a relic of St. Joseph Vaz, Sri Lanka Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(I).First readingHebrews 5:1-10 ©Although he was Son, he learned to obey through sufferingEvery high priest has been taken out of mankind and is appointed to act for men in their relations with God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins; and so he can sympathise with those who are ignorant or uncertain because he too lives in the limitations of weakness. That is why he has to...

"In [Christ] also we have obtained an inheritance" (Eph. 1:10-11). As a member of God’s family, you have obtained a future inheritance that has many present benefits. An inheritance is something received by an heir as a result of a will or legal process. It's a legacy one receives from family connections. As a member of God's family, you are an heir of God and fellow heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17). As such you have obtained an inheritance that Peter called "imperishable and undefiled . . . reserved in heaven for you" (1 Pet. 1:4). It cannot perish, fade away,...

Mosque: Novus Ordo Church Falls ApartThe Margaret Mary Church in Ottawa, Canada, will soon be operating as a mosque, reports Cbc.ca (7 January).The new owner is the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, which owns 32 mosques across the country, including two former Christian churches.The sale will be completed in March. The church has not been used for three years.

[Catholic Caucus] Rumours from Rome - an Apostolic Constitution from Francis to all but ban the traditonal Latin MassWhile you think you may enjoy a peaceful Epiphantide glowing in the light of Christmas the Bishop of Rome has other ideas. If my sources are correct, this is imminent, and be prepared for a Lent of suffering and sorrow. Gloria TV is reporting "rumours" from the German blog, Summorum Pontificum (summorum-pontificum.de) that Pope Francis is preparing to unleash a frontal attack on the traditional Latin Mass through the use of an Apostolic Constitution. Whether or not he has waited for Benedict...

"[God] made known the mystery of His will according to His kind intention which He purposed in [Christ] with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth" (Eph. 1:9-10). God is intimately involved in the flow of human history and is directing its course toward a specific, predetermined climax. For centuries men of various philosophical schools have debated the cause, course, and climax of human history. Some deny God and therefore deny any divine involvement in history....