De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

  The essential questions for journalists now must be: who are Becciu's allies? Who are his supporters, his advocates, his followers? Who can he be connected to in the curia? Becciu denies interfering in Pell's trial - so where did the AUS$1M he transferred to Australia go to? Why was it sent? It needs to be laid out clearly with a full accounting! I would speculate from Beciu's reaction that he was surprised by his sudden defenestration. This would mean that however problematic his actions, he was acting with the knowledge of his superiors (Parolin & the Pope) and he is the fall guy for something...We do not know what yet (and we may never know). It is hard to see how anyone could think Becciu could have acted unilaterally here: anyone who has even a basic idea about how the Vatican works knows that he could not have blocked inspections, paid out bribes and cooked the books without full knowledge of his superiors. So what was his relationship like with Parolin? Both P...

Canon Lawyer Dr. Ed Condon offers some complicated but vital detail regarding the Vatican trial of disgraced Cardinal Theodore McCarrick: While recent media reports suggest that a trial of Archbishop Theodore McCarrick is underway, Vatican sources have told CNA that his case is not being handled by a full judicial process. Sources at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have confirmed that allegations against McCarrick are being considered through an abbreviated approach called an “administrative penal process.” Ed explains that this is a much-abbreviated mechanism that leaves out many of the procedural stages of a full judicial process or trial, including the back-and-forth argumentation between prosecution and defense. An administrative process is only used when the evidence collected during the preliminary investigation is so clear as to make a full trial unnecessary. The fact that this is the direction being taken in the McCarrick case strongly suggests that the...

72 days since McCarrick resigned. 55 days since PA grand jury report. 47 days since first Vigano letter. McCarrick is still an Archbishop. Wuerl is still Card Archbishop of DC. No Vatican response to Vigano. Pope and his surrogates attacking Vigano. Archbishop Scicluna says we need to give Pope Francis more time. . @GregBurkeRome visibly frustrated by all the questions on sexual abuse crisis at today's #Synod2018 Presser. pic.twitter.com/HpiJpJSJ8q — Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) October 8, 2018 — Is this what reform looks like? Is this accountability?

A must read post from the LMS Chairman: "The world is looking to see if Catholics, ordinary Catholics, Bishops and Cardinals, and every kind of Catholic commentator and leader, are going to demand action over what appear to be serious and credible accusations, or if they are going to pretend everything is all right while the Church's moral authority is being systematically dynamited and bulldozed around them." ... "The next key claim of Viganò is that having been told to cease his public ministry by Pope Benedict, McCarrick resumed travelling, speaking and so on under Pope Francis, who made use of him as a trusted adviser. Of this one can say: it would be incredible, it would simply not cohere with publicly known facts, if this were not true. As Cardinal and Pope, Ratzinger tried hard to rein in abusers, but he drew back from public actions which would cause grave scandal. Thus, as Pope he finally managed to cashier the monster Maciel, but did not grasp the ne...

I think this is a great piece from Steve Skojec at 1 Peter 5 . It starts by presenting Steve's experience as a Catholic, an experience which does not involve any knowledge of abuse or inclination to abuse: Never in my life has any priest made a pass at me. Never have I been touched inappropriately or even given a hint that a priest I knew was so inclined. Neither have any family members disclosed this to me. Nor have any friends. Thank God! And thank God this is the experience of many of us. It is important to remember and affirm that the majority of us do not have any experience of this sort of horror within our Church and that the vast majority of clergy are good, hard-working, honest men who have dedicated their lives to the service of others. Steve expresses his own disbelief and desire to defend the Catholic Church from the first accusations of abuse: In 2002, when the sex abuse crisis broke, I did not believe it at first. I thought it was exaggerated. I reacted wi...

In the wake of the revelations about Cardinal McCarrick we are seeing a profusion of articles written from across the Church, suddenly acknowledging that the behaviour he has been exposed for is a reality and desperately trying to put it in to some kind of context. Some, like Robert Mickens, seek to use it as a political tool and throws mud at his political enemies: What is going to happen when one or more of the cardinal-darlings of traditionalist Catholics are credibly accused of sexual abuse or inappropriate sexual behavior? — Robert Mickens (@robinrome) July 31, 2018 The first responder to this tweet provides the perfect answer to my mind: Here is the thing Bobby. Those of us who accept the teaching of the Church, want it applied to everyone. We don’t care if the wicked are “on our side”. We want the wickedness dealt with. We want an end to the cover ups. — Pétrus (@MenAreLikeWine_) August 1, 2018 The notorious pro-homosexualist Jesuit priest, papal tailgater and pr...

It has been infuriating and heart-breaking in equal measure observing the machinations and ramifications that have followed the exposure of Cardinal McCarrick as an active homosexual and abuser of boys and men over decades. The reason it is so devastating is that this was an "open secret", much like the romantic dalliances of our own former Bishop of Arundle and Brighton, Kieran Conry  whom Cardinal Nichols made Head of catechesis and evangelisation for the Bishops' Conference! Everyone knew what was going on, especially priests and seminarians, but they closed ranks and kept quiet. McCarrick was promoted, and in turn promoted others. Most concerning is that the names of those he promoted are well known campaigners for a new direction in the Church. Pope Benedict "put McCarrick out to pasture", Pope Francis restored him, as he did Cardinal Danneels and Cardinal Mahony . McCarrick is responsible for the promotion of Farrell, Cupich and Joseph "nighty-n...

This is really important from Steve Skojec. The 45 year old abuse case against Cardinal McCarrick has brought an important point back to light: the abuse crisis in the Church is largely a homosexual problem, and the gay inmates are running the asylum. There's no way around it, and the more we ignore it, the worse it gets.