De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

It has been an extraordinary week or so in the Catholic World where we have seen some truly revealing reactions from the main social media voices who support Pope Francis no matter what. This firestorm was prompted, in the first instance, by Bishop Joseph Strickland's Pastoral Letter  issued on 23 August, the full text of which is available to read here . The next day, Dr. Scott Hahn innocuously thanks Bishop Strickland for his faithfulness. Mike Lewis, the editor of Where Peter Is , took this as a sign of schism and immediately started attacking Hahn in the most vociferous way. This went on and on and on - as it invariably does with Mike: It seemed he got considerable push back from the public. Little wonder really, Scott Hahn is a lovely guy, he is a genius and he is the author of many, many books and interviews all of which do nothing other than lead people to fullness of truth found in the Catholic Church. The tribalism between Catholics on social media continues apace, this is...

Dr. Gavin Ashenden gives his devastating analysis of the working document (the Instrumentum Laboris ) of the Synod of Synodality in the Catholic Herald . Gavin says that “By their fruits” but also their language “shall ye know them.” and laments that the document is saturated with "the fingerprints of progressive leftism whether you meet them in political, LGBTQ+ or climate change circles." His conclusion having read the document is that it ignores the basics of Christian teaching and the Jesus of the Gospels. He explains:  "There is of course too much war. But there is no recognition in Instrumentum Laboris that original sin is at the root of this; that repentance, conversion and salvation are the remedies. The proposed remedies are instead that the resources of “listening, inclusion and affirmation”- the constant reiteration of “walking together” will provide the remedy. This is of course profoundly sub-Christian, and perhaps worse." Gavin, who was the former cha...

If you want the word on the ground in Rome regarding the Synod on Synodality - you really need to listen to the podcast below. In it Dr Gavin Ashenden speaks to the veteran Catholic journalist Edward Pentin and attempts to get to the bottom of just what is going on in the lead up to October's Synod. Pentin says "We have never had a pope who has impinged on doctrine in the way this pope has" confirming what we already know about the belligerent, arrogant Argentinian Pontiff. Gavin asks Edward if it is correct that the Synod theology has an overarching direction which is geared according to the reader - the hypothetical person imagined in the text - which, as he explains, is a subjective approach which assumes too much and leads us to a strategy led by identity politics.  This pseudo-consultative methodology is an approach common to other politically motivated  progressive groups and it's pointlessness was probably best revealed in the minimal numbers responding to the ...

Two Cardinals go public over Amazonian Synod problems, how many have the same misgivings but choose to keep them to themselves? CNA reports Cardinal Burke and Cardinal Brandmüller (pictured above) have sent letters to fellow members of the College of Cardinals, raising concerns about the working document for an upcoming synod of bishops on the pan-Amazonian region scheduled to take place in Rome, Oct. 6-27. This fact alone is scandalous in my opinion. That these two brave cardinali are isolated to this point is a grave scandal for the universal Church. It raises concerns about unity and a systematic rejection of doctrine by Pope Francis and his supporters which cannot go unchallenged. CNA report reports some of the content as follows: “Some points of the synod’s Instrumentum laboris seem not only in dissonance with respect to the authentic teaching of the Church, but even contrary to it,” Cardinal Walter Brandmüller wrote to fellow cardinals in an Aug. 28 letter obtained b...