De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Thank God for Cardinal Pell! In this interview he gave yesterday we learn a number of things I think. We learn that the 13 Cardinals did indeed have enough concern about the potential plot to attempt to change doctrine that they wrote to the Holy Father about it. We also learn that they were equally concerned about what has been referred to as "Synod Rigging" or the "deck stacking", especially at the last meeting. Divorced and remarried is a small part of the Synod according to the Cardinal, and he doesn't even mention homosexuality, which makes one wonder about Fr. Rosica's portrayal of the discussions?!? It would appear that there is enough concern that whatever the Pope concludes and delivers in the final document on the Synod will bear "controversial issues" that may obscure the clarity of Church teaching for Cardinal Pell to mention it, although he says he will have access to the document and will be able to vote on whether it accurately...

Joe Shaw has written a brilliant blog here which articulates my own concerns about the Synod perfectly. They are not that doctrine will change, but more concerned with the reality that popular piety seldom follows the mainstream of theology in any case. Especially in this media mad world, most people just hear the gist of a story and match their conclusions to suit their own prejudices. This has been the huge issue I have with the "messy" style of Pope Francis.  The problem as I see it, as someone who tries to preach the faith in my community, is when people contradict the revelation or the teaching of the Church, saying it doesn't matter or has been superseded somehow. I think the work of Evangelisation was greatly aided under Pope Benedict XVI in that everyone was pretty clear what we were about. That encouraged people to talk about it, to share it, and to study it more. Joe cites Vatican II as an example of the way the truth becomes distorted, as at that Counci...

SPUC launched their new website yesterday https://www.spuc.org.uk/ it looks really good! Their Chief Executive is John Smeaton. He is a somewhat controversial figure for many, probably because he makes them feel uncomfortable—he is unflinchingly unwilling to compromise on Catholic issues and speaks the truth to power. He was recently given the inaugural Father Paul Marx Pro-Life Award by Human Life International (HLI), the world's largest pro-life organisation, at a banquet concluding HLI’s 7th Prayer Congress for Life in Fatima, Portugal. Personally, I find him rather refreshing in his straight-forwardness and clarity. I also think he is a bit of a hero. Today saw some disasterous developments at the Synod on the Family in Rome as Thirteen cardinals have written to Pope Francis to protest about the direction being taken . The letter , which was handed to the Pope by George Cardinal Pell on Monday 5th October, is a devastating critique of the conduct of the synod. Father R...

Pope Francis arrives for the morning session of the synod on Tuesday (CNS) For me,  this articulates what is going on with the Synod perfectly. The scary thing is not that Church teaching will change; it can't and it won't (as everyone seems to be repeating ad nauseam, almost like some desperate mantra). The scary thing for faithful Catholics is that there are Ordained men ; bishops and priests, who have lost their faith to the extent where they are openly pushing for a sinful agenda. That's why the media are all in Rome; like vultures awaiting the final expiration of some great beast, they are circling, anticipating the capitulation of the Church to the world. As Michael Voris puts it: ...what is happening here is the appearance at least of the Church giving up the ghost, so to speak, and adopting the ways of the world with regard to divorce and homosexuality. At the end of the day, that's why the press is here in droves — no other reason. Most of the med...

I have seen a lot of consternation expressed over the last week about some remarks the Holy Father made in a homily in Ecuador. This was somewhat overtaken by the extraordinary events of yesterday , but they are still for many, more disconcerting than the bizarre gift of the Bolivian President. CNN put a definite spin on the comments with their article here . Daniel Burke, their religious editor, thinks that Francis was hinting at "scandalous" changes for the Catholic Church. While this may well be wishful thinking on the part of CNN, Burke's interpretation is not idiosyncratic, and so we, the faithful are left scratching our heads at these words from Francis' homily in Ecuador: "Shortly before the opening of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Church will celebrate the Ordinary Synod devoted to the family, deepen her spiritual discernment and consider concrete solutions to the many difficult, significant challenges facing families in our time. I ask you to pra...

Raymond Arroyo's extraordinary interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper has been a revelation which speaks to a change in attitude from Rome and a change in attitude from Cardinal Kasper as I remarked last week . The Cardinal tells EWTN journalist Arroyo that the Pope did not approve his proposal to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion after a period of penance. Last October, the Cardinal had a very different tale to tell, explaining to Catholic News Service that allowing Communion for the remarried was "clearly what [the Pope] wants". Now Arroyo has released the second part of this interesting interview. In this installment, Cardinal Kasper tries to suggest that a shift in practice is somehow different to a change of doctrine says he does not enter into public controversy with other Cardinals expresses his pain at the opposition to his proposals, especially that there was no private discussion takes a curiously orthodox line on Ch...

Vatican Radio tells us how, on Sunday evening, in St Peter's Square, Pope Francis urged parents and families to stand up to "ideological colonisations that poison the soul." He was speaking to around 25,000 people from the dioceses of Rome, for the opening of the Diocese's annual Ecclesial Convention, dedicated this year to the theme of the family. Cardinal Vicar Agostino Vallini was present, together with many Catholic families and a high percentage of the 350 parish priests of Rome. During his address, Pope Francis touched on many issues including the need for a "spiritual rebirth" for the city of Rome which is currently shaken by a corruption scandal involving municipal authorities. But his focus was mostly on the family and on the Synod of Bishops on the Family to be held in the Vatican in October, and he appealed to the many parents present to safeguard their children from ideological attacks against the institution of the family and all that is...

The Catholic Herald reports that Pope Francis and members of the council of the Synod of Bishops met earlier this week to review input from around the world for October’s synod on the family and made their final suggestions for the synod’s working document. The office of the synod’s general secretary will incorporate the suggestions and have the document translated, said a statement issued after the meeting. “The publication will take place in a few weeks,” it said. The Vatican sent every bishops’ conference the conclusions of the extraordinary synod, along with 46 questions related to how well the Church supports families and how Catholics understand Church teaching on marriage, sexuality and family life. Bishops were to solicit responses to the questions, compile them at the national level and return them to the synod office. The Herald notes that, as the council was meeting with the Pope on Monday and Tuesday, the presidents of the bishops’ conferences of Germany, ...

This weekend I have been praying for unity in the Church. The Catholic Church bears unique charisms which protect it from error. over the centuries this has been demonstrated sometimes in quite dramatic form. Infallibility is the protection given by the Holy Spirit to the pope so that he will never teach error in matters of faith and morals.  But the open divisions I have witnessed since the Synod on the family have scared me and scandalised me terribly. To be honest, having studied Catholic theology, most of what has been said by the likes of Cardinal Kasper and Cardinal Marx should never have been said. I have personally wrestled with the dialogue and the prospect of a change in stance which would amount to nothing less than an acceptance of relativism and a turning away from the deposit of faith--in contradiction with the very raison d'être of the Papacy, which is to hold fast to the fides quae , the faith which was deposited by Christ. This can not happen. I feel s...

Voting against Church teaching and with the Zeitgeist : the "spirit of the age" may be popular with a generation who have been starved of any Catholic education, but we all know where this policy leads... And, if Sandro Magister is right (and he often is), and the Pope is beginning to promote and articulate an anti-Marx line, the time-servers (as it were) at the Vatican will no doubt coalesce around this new line from Rome. This will mean that Cardinal Nichols may quickly find himself out on a limb. The letter from the 461 has certainly got him rattled. He dedicated his Chrism Mass lecture homily to a directive on how to view the process: “It is wrong, in my view, to think or speak of this Synod as a battle, a battle between contesting sides. Battles have winners and losers. And often ‘collateral damage’ is the most tragic consequence of hostilities,”  “This synod is a time of prayerful discernment, discernment about how we are to bring the love, mercy and tr...

Back in December the bishops of England and Wales released a series of documents to help us to reflect and prepare for the Synod on Marriage and Family Life in October. Part of that document was a survey  which purports to be an invitation for us to respond to the Bishops of England and Wales invitation to reflect on the gift of marriage and family life. The suggestion is that our thoughts will help to inform Cardinal Nichols and Bishop Doyle as they prepare for the debates and discussions at the Ordinary Synod on the Family in Rome later this year. I have to say I feel a little uncomfortable about what the purpose of this consultation actually is. Cynically, I can't help but feel it proffers a pretense of consultation; that is, it aims to make us feel like we have been consulted. After all, our opinion cannot change the deposit of faith, so what's the point? Perhaps the exercise could be useful to expose and examine the gulf between Catholic doctrine and the degree...

I think it would be fair to say that there is a great deal of doom and gloom surrounding the prospect of the Synod in October. Back in November, Cardinal Raymond Burke urged Pope Francis to take the issues of Communion for the divorced and remarried, cohabitation and same-sex marriage “off the table” for next year’s Synod of Bishops. As reported by the Catholic Herald and numerous other news agencies, Cardinal Burke addressed more than 300 delegates at a family and marriage conference, organised by Catholic Voice  in Limerick on November 15. Here he said that these issues had distracted the work of the synod in its first session in October. Warning that Satan was sowing confusion and error about matrimony, the cardinal patron of the Knights of Malta said, “Even within the church there are those who would obscure the truth of the indissolubility of marriage in the name of mercy.” Voice of the Family, a coalition of pro-life organisations, has launched a " filial appeal ...