Category: Magisterium

In the Most Grave Confusion(s): “The People Are Not Oblidged to Know…”

St. Antoninus writes: In the Event of the Most Grave Confusion(s): “The people are not oblidged to know…” And St. Thomas Aquinas on whether one must avoid (ipso facto or otherwise) excommunicated persons before sentence has been passed Principles St. Antoninus, commenting on the Great Western Schism. (1054 A.D.) “The question was much discussed and much… Read More In the Most Grave Confusion(s): “The People Are Not Oblidged to Know…”

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Biblical Interpretation in Crisis — Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1988

Biblical Interpretation in Crisis. On the Question of the Foundations: and Approaches of Exegesis Today by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1988 (later Pope Benedict XVI) In Wladimir Solowjew’s History of the Antichrist, the eschatological enemy of the Redeemer recommended himself to believers, among other things, by the fact that he had earned his doctorate in theology… Read More Biblical Interpretation in Crisis — Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1988

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No More Traditional Priesthood, a Goal for ‘Progressives’?

Recent events among some significant numbers of so-called “Progressive” Catholics, gleefully talking about the “devolution” of Church authority in our time, especially since Francis, has reminded me several times of something I was told by an Oblate priest while I was making a personal retreat in the late 1980’s. It was at the Oblate Fathers… Read More No More Traditional Priesthood, a Goal for ‘Progressives’?

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Traditionis Custodes. New Oxford Review.

Update: July 2025. Did Pope Francis Mislead the Church Regarding Traditional Latin Mass Survey? Traditionis Custodes: Taking a Bulldozer to an Anthill. Traditionalists and Pope Francis by Pieter Vree, editor |New Oxford Review, October 2021. “Nobody comes out clean…” In January 1985 President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, signed the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits federally… Read More Traditionis Custodes. New Oxford Review.

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John XXIII, Benedict XVI and Francis. 2015.

See also, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and a New World Order. Our complex theological predicament, which only the hierarchical Church may, in time, formally adjudicate. By Stephen Hand. 2015. If Francis and Cardinal Kasper have taught us anything over the past few years, it’s that without resurrecting that final “checkmate,” which popes from the… Read More John XXIII, Benedict XVI and Francis. 2015.

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NYT: Vatican Document Casts Gender Change and Fluidity as Threat to Human Dignity

“The statement is likely to be embraced by conservatives and stir consternation among L.G.B.T.Q. advocates who fear it will be used as a cudgel against transgender people.” The Vatican on Monday issued a new document approved by Pope Francis stating that the church believes that gender fluidity and transition surgery, as well as surrogacy, amount… Read More NYT: Vatican Document Casts Gender Change and Fluidity as Threat to Human Dignity

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Cardinal Müller on ‘The Power of Truth,’ Our Times and the Magisterium

Cardinal Müller, former head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Benedict XVI, asks in his book The Power of Truth, “How do the pope’s Magisterium and the Tradition of the Church relate? When he interprets the words of Jesus, must the pope be in continuity with the Tradition and the previous… Read More Cardinal Müller on ‘The Power of Truth,’ Our Times and the Magisterium

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What Counts as Magisterial Teaching?

Edward FeserFebruary 25, 2024 Popes speak infallibly when they either proclaim some doctrine ex cathedra, or reiterate some doctrine that has already been taught infallibly by virtue of being a consistent teaching of the ordinary magisterium of the Church for millennia.  Even when papal teaching is not infallible, it is normally owed “religious assent.”  However,… Read More What Counts as Magisterial Teaching?

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“Inside the world’s most vicious liturgy wars.” Or… Monkeying Around With Ancient Liturgy.

Damian Thompson and Luke Coppen of The Pillar In the ancient Syro-Malabar Church of south India, clergy who try to change the liturgy do so at their peril. At St Mary’s Cathedral Basilica in Ernakulam last December, a long-standing dispute over whether the priest should face the people led to scenes in which protestors attacked… Read More “Inside the world’s most vicious liturgy wars.” Or… Monkeying Around With Ancient Liturgy.

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Fr. Frank Pavone and Contraception Rumors. Updated.

Newsmax. “The Vatican has defrocked Father Frank Pavone — who has been described as “the most vocal Catholic priest in America for the pro-life movement” — in a move that has shocked Church conservatives. This past weekend the Catholic News Agency (CNA) revealed the full text of a letter from Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio to… Read More Fr. Frank Pavone and Contraception Rumors. Updated.

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John Paul II on the Most Decisive Confrontation —and History’s ‘Last Lap’

Karol Wojtyla (JPII) wrote, “A non-Catholic philosopher once said to me: ‘You know, I just can’t stop myself reading and rereading  and thinking over the first  three chapters of Genesis.’ And indeed it seems to me that unless one does so reflect upon that fundamental Ensemble of facts and situations it becomes extremely difficult if… Read More John Paul II on the Most Decisive Confrontation —and History’s ‘Last Lap’

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Dogmatics Clarified, 2007: Second Vatican Council doctrine of the Church

Prescinding from any questions regarding the wisdom of calling the Council in the time and manner it did, regarding the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, and its Decrees on Ecumenism, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2007 clarified confusions, showing again that the Holy Spirit protects the Church from dogmatic errors through the… Read More Dogmatics Clarified, 2007: Second Vatican Council doctrine of the Church

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A Review of Roberto de Mattei’s “The Second Vatican Council: An Unwritten Story”

The who, what, where, when, and why of the Council by Michael J. Miller. Catholic World Report The famous black-and-white photograph of the Second Vatican Council in session, taken from a high balcony at the back of Saint Peter’s Basilica, shows more than 2,000 Council Fathers standing at their places in slanted stalls that line… Read More A Review of Roberto de Mattei’s “The Second Vatican Council: An Unwritten Story”

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