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

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

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?

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 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 at Tübingen and had… Read More Biblical Interpretation in Crisis — Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1988

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.

The New Oxford Review Exchange on Whether Vatican II Was Necessary

It Ain’t Broke, But Let’s Fix It Anyhow June 2004, NOR We picked up a Catholic magazine, and on the cover was one big headline, and it was a striking one: “Was Vatican II a Mistake?” In the background to the headline were a litany of post-Vatican II disasters: “practicing homosexuals in the priesthood,” “pro-abortion… Read More The New Oxford Review Exchange on Whether Vatican II Was Necessary

St. Thomas Aquinas and the “Life-blood” of Catholic Theology

All the Church Fathers faithfully passed on the bedrock of the Catholic Faith which is the dogmatic teachings of the Sacred Scripture and the doctrines which which flowed from it. In the spiritual life, as well as in philosophical perspectives, a wonderful diversity of opinion existed, but always without prejudice to the unchangeable revelation contained… Read More St. Thomas Aquinas and the “Life-blood” of Catholic Theology

Traditionis Custodes. New Oxford Review.

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 funded nongovernmental organizations from performing or promoting abortions in foreign countries. The next Democrat… Read More Traditionis Custodes. New Oxford Review.

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”

The Living Magisterium

“The living magisterium makes extensive use of documents of the past, but it does so while judging and interpreting, gladly finding in them its present thought, but likewise, when needful, distinguishing its present thought from what is traditional only in appearance. “It is revealed truth always living in the mind of the Church, or, if it is preferred, the present… Read More The Living Magisterium