De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

  Just before Christmas, the Vatican’s new doctrinal chief Cardinal Victor ‘Tucho’ Fernandez unveiled a new style of blessing designed to make gay couples feel at home in church without changing the Church’s teaching on marriage. The Argentinian Tucho has for years been Pope Francis’s protégé – but for how much longer? The new gay blessings, supposedly blessing the couple but not their union, have been decisively rejected by all the Catholic bishops of Africa, forcing Francis to backtrack and say they could ignore Fernandez’s decree. Then, last week, it was revealed that in 1998 Tucho published a book on, of all things, the theology of orgasms. It is jaw-droppingly graphic, has been widely described as ‘creepy’, and has encouraged leading cardinals hoping to succeed Francis to distance themselves from this pontificate. Listen to this episode of  Holy Smoke  if you want to know about the new crisis tearing apart the Catholic Church – but be warned: the erotic musings of th...

In the Spectator, the seasoned Catholic journalist writes the following: "This headline may seem sensational, but the evidence is overwhelming. The Catholic Church is experiencing a bewildering range of crises, some of them long-term and familiar, such as demographic collapse and the continuing scandal of sex abuse. Others are being manufactured by a Pope who is allowing a faction of Catholic boomers to push an incoherent 'New Age' agenda. Whether Francis truly supports their ideas is anyone's guess – but he's increasingly willing to spout their inanities. On Saturday the Pope's official Twitter account  told the faithful : ' The plant paradigm takes a different approach to earth and environment. Plants cooperate with all the surroundings [sic] environment; even when they compete, they cooperate for the good of the ecosystem. Let’s learn from the meekness of plants!' This was tagged #TimeofCreation. But creation of what? Yesterday, Luke Coppen of  The P...

  Damian Thompson is in Rome and has secured an interview with Cardinal Pell. It is well worth a listen: As always, the Cardinal does a great job of clearly giving his opinion while being loyal and faithful to the Pope. On the Vatican/ China deal, Pell, the former Vatican Prefect for the Economy, states: 'I know high-up people in the Vatican are very dissatisfied with the way things are going,' The Cardinal uses this example to show how there is a lack of transparency in the Bergoglian Vatican: 'The agreement is there to try to get a bit of space for the Catholics. Obviously that's praiseworthy. [But] I don't think we've gained anything. The persecutions seem to be continuing. In some places they've got worse.' Nobody 'outside a small circle' knows the details of the agreement, 'which seems to me to be quite irregular.' Speaking on the weirdness of the synod, Pell remarks that there is a strange disconnect between Pope Francis' ow...

  Damian Thompson has followed the career of Archbishop Arthur Roche for many years. He is not a fan. Roche had earned a reputation for incompetence when bishop in Leeds. This 2014 article, from The Tablet reports on his legacy of debt. He also controversially closed almost half the parishes in the diocese in a brutal campaign which caused a great deal of hurt and frustration. Following the Responsa ad dubia this week, Damian has released a new podcast which talks about the man and his experience of him as well as what this means in the wider context of the Catholic Church under Pope Francis. Here's a hint: it isn't good! Listen here: 

What is wrong with the Catholic Church? After eight years of Pope Francis, a more appropriate question might be what is left? The "Synod on Synodality" seems the perfect expression of this papacy. A confusing, nonsensical navel gazing exercise with cartoonish logo and undecipherable documentation.  The Vatican has now LITERALLY taken to producing documents in crayon! God help us! pic.twitter.com/0qzaT1SsCv — Lepanto Institute (@LepantoInst) September 9, 2021 All the spurious wording about the Holy Spirit being present and leading us into "surprises" are all old and too familiar euphemisms for the changes which boil down to a whitewashing of Catholic teaching which have wrought so much damage on the Church in the name of " The Spirit of Vatican II ". All these changes have been tried and tested in other Christian denominations and the devastating results are well documented. So why are the Pope and his co-conspirators pushing ahead down this road to destr...

In the Holy Smoke podcast last week, seasoned UK journalist Damian Thompson analysed the Vatican's attempt to silence the USCCB criticism of newly elected President Joe Biden, which I first wrote about here . This is well worth a listen: I think the first thing to say is that it is obvious that this situation has only arisen because the USCCB did not point out these problems with Biden prior to the election. To me this lack of action sums up the lack of potency in the Church at the moment which means we are paying lip service only to the Gospel: it says to Catholics all over the world that doctrine doesn't matter - that you don't need to follow Catholic teaching - that no rules apply - that the Church could be "wrong" on these fundamental issues of life - that secular society has a point about killing unborn children being a good thing. This is antithetical to Catholic teaching, and, because it is so obviously antithetical, it requires regular, firm & loud ...

Watch Dr Damian Thompson on the claims of loony papal tailgaters that Cardinal Burke, not ze Germanz are causing a schism: Please check out my website for a wide range of gardening equipment hand and power tools and welding equipment:

Given the current anti-religious climate, it is well worth investing a few minutes listening to this Holy Smoke Podcast which looks at the disturbing  conviction here in Britain of Carl Beech , for inventing a non-existent Westminster sex ring in which VIPs supposedly raped and murdered children. He found a disgracefully gullible audience in the Metropolitan Police. Beech’s serial lies were designed to destroy the lives or posthumous reputations of Lord Bramall, former head of the British Army, Sir Edward Heath, former PM, Lord Brittan, former home secretary, ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor and Lord Janner, the late Labour politician. Beech has been jailed for 18 years. Journalist Catherine Lafferty, who was in court for his trial, talks to Thompson about the troubling parallels with the conviction of Cardinal Pell , former head of the Vatican finances, for child rape. This is legally sensitive territory – Pell is appealing against his the unanimous verdict of a Melbourne jury ...

In a new Spectator podcast, and following on from a scathing written assessment from Damian Thompson in which he states: the duplicitous pontiff depicted by Viganò is instantly recognisable as the cynical, backstabbing Bergoglio in Henry Sire’s book The Dictator Pope, which is based on first-hand testimony from Argentina and Rome. Every Catholic should read it. Thompson interviews the author of The Dictator Pope . Key insights in this interview include revelations about Pope Francis from his home in Argentina. Many have wondered why he has not returned home and speculated that it might be that the world would see he gets a less than cordial welcome. Henry Sire reveals that in Buenos Aires, Bergoglio consistently associated with clergy accused of sexual and financial wrong doing. Henry Sire suggests this allows Bergoglio to gain power over such individuals. Of course we see this evident in the men he has surrounded himself with at the Vatican. Sire also reveals that the fir...

In the latest Spectator Podcast, Dr. Ed Condon and Dr. Damian Thompson discuss recent calamitous developments in the Pontificate of Pope Francis: Chile and China . I am especially glad they talk about Cardinal Danneels inclusion in the synod on the family as Pope Francis' special guest, despite serious questions about his cardinalate, see here and here  as I can't believe more questions haven't been asked about this, especially given his claims about Pope Francis' election in his autobiography ( see here for the details ). There's also analysis of the Chinese betrayal: Thompson concludes "the bad guys have won", Condon says there are faithful priests and bishops within the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, however he points out that many are opposed to any deal and the CPCA bishops incur automatic excommunication under canon 1382 . Huang was also publicly excommunicated by Benedict XVI in 2011. Another example of Pope Francis' flagrant d...

The Catholic Herald has, in my estimation, been very cautious in its approach to a number of issues which have a vaguely political whiff about them this year. One is the CES Scandal, which it has barely addressed, even given a very benign spin, despite the obvious contradictions, problems and ambiguities, as documented here , for example. Another is with regard to the new book on Pope Francis The Dictator Pope . The Catholic Herald 's Editorial Director is the journalist Damian Thompson. Thompson is rarely backward in coming forward and has written some incisive and condemning pieces on Pope Francis himself over the last year or four. However he has released this interesting and intelligent  Spectator pod-cast wherein he discusses the new book The Dictator Pope with Ed Condon, Canon Lawyer, and Dan Hitchens, Deputy Editor of the Catholic Herald . The podcast relates how the book, though clearly a hatchet job, is credible as it is intelligently written and repeats a lot of ...

In the latest Holy Smoke Podcast, canon lawyer Dr Ed Condon suggests that Pope Francis style of governance is more akin to that of a Latin American dictator than the Supreme Bridge Builder (Pontifex Maximus). However, despite the scandals rolling out of the Vatican on an almost unprecedented basis, he reflects on the fact that the liberal media aren’t paying any attention. As Damian Thompson points out : Coverage in secular newspapers is patchy, biased and unreliable – The Times is perhaps the worst offender – while certain Catholic journalists who write about the Vatican appear to be taking dictation from a liberal faction in the Church that is trying to hijack this pontificate.   I say ‘hijack’, because the progressive churchmen who present themselves as Francis’s allies are pretending to be better connected than they are. The Pope frequently wrong-foots them by saying the opposite of what they expect. [case in point here is the terrible Charlie Gard affair] Dr Condo...

THIS is an excellent report from Carl E Olson in the Catholic World Report. In it he states: "Exactly right. For whatever reason, Francis seems to think that the past few decades have been marked by a dogmatic rigidity that is as merciless as it is obsessed with the fine details of law, causing countless innocent or near innocent Catholics to flee a Church that they perceive to be cold and heartless. That perspective is, to put it nicely, dubious and problematic. The impression often given, unfortunately, is that any emphasis on objective moral standards regarding actions and relationships is bound to quickly degenerate into a harsh and uncharitable condemnation. It doesn't help matters that Francis apparently plays a bit fast and loose with some of his arguments and sources." Read the whole article HERE . Meanwhile, Damian Thompson identifies all the most salient points about this debacle in THIS article in The Spectator . He concludes: In the end, the ...

I've been thinking about the difficult situation faced by much of our clergy in this country today. There are, what, 11 episcopal vacancies at present? That demonstrates a worrying lack of support for our priests. Priests should be united to their Bishops in a special communion of sacrament and ministry, through which the Church, the mystical Body of Christ, is built up. As St. Irenaeus testified, it is through those who were appointed bishops by the apostles, and through their successors down in our own time, the apostolic tradition is manifested and preserved. ( LG 20 ). Priests need bishops to refer to, to validate their commitment to the whole body of the Church; their unity. This is an key dimension, because a bishop has no authority apart from that of the pope, and unless he is teaching the faith of the Apostles ( LG 22 ). The fact that we have so many diocese where we have no bishops at the moment really worries me. Those bishops like ours in Brentwood who h...

America is waking up to the incredible news that three young women who vanished in separate incidents about a decade ago in the US state of Ohio have been found alive in a house in Cleveland. Amanda Berry disappeared aged 16 in 2003, Gina DeJesus went missing aged 14 a year later, and Michelle Knight disappeared in 2002 aged around 19. A six-year-old was also found at the home, who speculation suggests could be Amanda Berry's daughter. This is completely shocking story, for the length of time these young women were incarcerated, the seeming simplicity of the ultimate discovery or escape, and for the fact that the man who lived at the property was no recluse  but often seen playing with his dog or bbq'ing on the front lawn. I find it incredible that something like this can go on for such a length of time and no one knew anything about it. One cannot help but speculate if this might be a result of the 'none of your business', individualist attitude which pervades...

Today I notice that Gerry Braiden of the Glasgow Herald is reporting that friends of Cardinal Keith O'Brien have told him that the Cardinal has been ordered to leave Britain by the Vatican following the ongoing investigation into his admission that he made sexual advances to priests during his time as Primate of Scotland. As I mentioned on Monday , earlier in the week, there was news that made one think that Pope Francis had turned his eye toward our Islands and was paying attention to what was going on here. As I suggested there, the fact we are outstanding, what, eleven bishops now? And other bishops have been appointed by Pope Francis, but none have been appointed here, can surely only leave one to conclude that something serious is going on? I have to say that I hope this is the case!  Indeed, Braiden notes that the Vatican's notice to Cardinal O'Brien... "...is the clearest indication yet of the Vatican's unwillingness to let the matter drift and co...

Damian Thompson thinks it is. He makes an interesting point regarding Mitt Romney's beliefs: "Two points worth noting about this election. First, the Religious Right – and how dated that phrase already sounds – united around a candidate who, by most standards, is not even a Christian. The lack of an anti-Mormon backlash among orthodox Catholics and Protestants who were brought up to regard Latter-day Saints as sinister cultists tells its own story." I can't disagree. I witnessed a great deal of dismay at Romney's candidature from my American friends. I can't help but wonder if this means that a good number of Republicans did not vote for him? Certainly there is a broad swath of Christian American who would not have supported Romney, and probably, not Santorum either for his Catholic credentials. Everything I have read about Romney suggests his personal morality is of a very high standard, married to the same woman since he was seventeen, gave tons to ch...