Even if we or an angel from heaven
should preach to you a gospel
other than the one that we preached to you,
let that one be accursed!
(Gal 1:8)

THEY spent three years at the feet of Jesus, listening carefully to His teaching. When He ascended into Heaven, He left them a “great commission” to “make disciples of all nations… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20). And then He sent them the “Spirit of truth” to infallibly guide their teaching (Jn 16:13). Hence, the first homily of the Apostles would no doubt be seminal, setting the direction of the entire Church… and world.

So, what did Peter say??Continue reading →

Nihil innovetur, nisi quod traditum est
“Let there be no innovation beyond what has been handed down.”
—POPE Saint Stephen I (+ 257)

THE Vatican’s permission for priests to dole out blessings for same-sex “couples” and those in “irregular” relationships has created a deep fissure within the Catholic Church.

Within days of its announcement, nearly entire continents (Africa), bishops’ conferences (eg. Hungary, Poland), cardinals, and religious orders rejected the self-contradictory language in Fiducia supplicans (FS). According to a press release this morning from Zenit, “15 Episcopal Conferences from Africa and Europe, plus around twenty dioceses worldwide, have prohibited, limited, or suspended the application of the document in the diocesan territory, highlighting the existing polarization around it.”^[1]Jan 4, 2024, Zenit A Wikipedia page following opposition to Fiducia supplicans currently counts rejections from 16 bishops’ conferences, 29 individual cardinals and bishops, and seven congregations and priestly, religious, and lay associations. Continue reading →

Note: Since publishing this, I have added some supporting quotes from authoritative voices as responses around the world continue to roll out. This is too crucial a subject for the collective concerns of the Body of Christ to not be heard. But the framework of this reflection and arguments remain unchanged. 

THE news shot across the globe like a missile: “Pope Francis approves allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples” (ABC News). Reuters declared: “Vatican approves blessings for same-sex couples in landmark ruling.” For once, the headlines weren’t twisting the truth, even though there’s more to the story… Continue reading →

The pope cannot commit heresy
when he speaks ex cathedra,
this is a dogma of faith.
In his teaching outside of 
ex cathedra statements, however,
he can commit doctrinal ambiguities,
errors and even heresies.
And since the pope is not identical
with the entire Church,
the Church is stronger
than a singular erring or heretical Pope. 
—Bishop Athanasius Schneider
September 19th, 2023, onepeterfive.com

I HAVE long been avoiding most comments on social media. The reason is that people have become mean, judgmental, flat-out uncharitable — and often in the name of “defending the truth.” But after our last webcast, I attempted to respond to some who accused my colleague Daniel O’Connor and me of “bashing” the Pope. Continue reading →

Now to Him who can strengthen you,
according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ…
to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith… 
(Rom 16:25-26)

…he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even death on a cross. (Phil 2:8)

GOD must be shaking His head, if not laughing at His Church. For the plan unfolding since the dawn of Redemption has been for Jesus to prepare for Himself a Bride who is “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). And yet, some within the hierarchy itself^[1]cf. The Final Trial have reached the point of inventing ways for people to remain in objective mortal sin, and yet feel “welcome” in the Church.^[2]Indeed, God welcomes all to be saved. The condition for this salvation are in the words of Our Lord himself: “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15) What a vastly different vision than God’s! What an immense abyss between the reality of what is prophetically unfolding at this hour — the purification of the Church — and what some bishops are proposing to the world!Continue reading →

The Black Madonna of Częstochowa – profaned

If you live in a time that no man will give you good counsel,
nor any man give you good example,
when you shall see virtue punished and vice rewarded…
stand fast, and firmly stick to God upon pain of life…
— Saint Thomas More,
beheaded in 1535 for defending marriage
The Life of Thomas More: A Biography by William Roper

ONE of the greatest gifts Jesus left His Church was the grace of infallibility. If Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32), then it is imperative that every generation know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what the truth is. Otherwise, one could take a lie for truth and fall into slavery. For…

…everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. (John 8:34)

Hence, our spiritual freedom is intrinsic to knowing the truth, which is why Jesus promised, “When He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to all truth.” ^[1]John 16:13 Despite the flaws of the individual members of the Catholic Faith over two millennia and even the moral failures of Peter’s successors, our Sacred Tradition reveals that the teachings of  Christ have been accurately preserved for over 2000 years. It is one of the surest signs of Christ’s providential hand upon His Bride.Continue reading →

“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through… We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel, of Christ versus the anti-Christ… It is a trial… of 2,000 years of culture and Christian civilization, with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations.” —Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (JOHN PAUL II ), at the Eucharistic Congress, Philadelphia, PA; August 13, 1976; cf. Catholic Online (confirmed by Deacon Keith Fournier who was in attendance) “We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through… We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel, of Christ versus the anti-Christ… It is a trial… of 2,000 years of culture and Christian civilization, with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations.” —Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (JOHN PAUL II ), at the Eucharistic Congress, Philadelphia, PA; August 13, 1976; cf. Catholic Online (confirmed by Deacon Keith Fournier who was in attendance)

We are now facing the final confrontation
between the Church and the anti-Church,
of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel,
of Christ versus the anti-Christ…
It is a trial… of 2,000 years of culture
and Christian civilization,
with all of its consequences for human dignity,
individual rights, human rights
and the rights of nations.
—Cardinal Karol Wojtyla (JOHN PAUL II ), Eucharistic Congress, Philadelphia, PA,
August 13, 1976; cf. Catholic Online

WE are living in an hour where nearly the entire Catholic culture of 2000 years is being rejected, not only by the world (which is to be somewhat expected), but by Catholics themselves: bishops, cardinals, and laity who believe the Church needs to “updated”; or that we need a “synod on synodality” in order to rediscover the truth; or that we need to agree with the ideologies of the world in order to “accompany” them.Continue reading →