De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

You might recall this post from 17th January " Things just get darker for Catholic Ireland " where I noted the lack of support given for the excellent Jason Evert from the establishment in Ireland after he had some talks cancelled. The Tablet reported that when they contacted the diocese on the issue they were told that the usually vocal bishop of Waterford & Lismore did not want to comment, apparently a spokesman for the Diocese told The Tablet: “Bishop Cullinan does not wish to comment on this matter.” Bishop Cullinan has made numerous spirited defences of the faith which I noted in the post  and I wanted to follow up on that point, given that he has just released a New Year's Pastoral Letter which you can read in full for yourselves here . In it, he seems to echo the title of that blog post and, to his credit, takes direct aim at that dark, modern Irish society telling the people of his diocese that the culture of 2020 is trying to ‘undo the truths’ of...

Argentina's senate has rejected a bill which would have legalised abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. After a marathon debate, 38 senators voted against it and 31 in favour. Its defeat means lawmakers must wait until next year to resubmit legislation. Currently abortion is allowed in Argentina only in cases of rape, or if the mother's health is in danger. Pro-abortion supporters react to failure in as extreme a manner as the Irish did to success. In Argentina they have responded to defeat with violence and burned the place down. This victory for those who reject the legality of abortion has international moral importance. It says not everyone agrees with the steam-roller of social consensus about this issue. Most interesting is the clear BBC bias on abortion - it is definitely one of their shibboleths against which they will have no dissent. No balance. No counterpoint. Instead they paint those who oppose the bill - which has democratically been voted...

Alfie Evans is a 21-month-old with an unknown neurological degenerative condition -- and a British court has denied his parent’s appeal to save his life support! Top bioethics expert Wesley J. Smith breaks down his concerns with the U.K. case in this EWTN Pro-Life Weekly interview. The Archdiocese of Liverpool have been conspicuously quiet, although there is this downloadable summary which would appear to offer no support whatsoever to Alfie's family, who it incorrectly labels as non Catholics, and mainly deals with the care of staff at the hospital. This would seem somewhat in contrast to the Pope's public support for the toddler: It is my sincere hope that everything necessary may be done in order to continue compassionately accompanying little Alfie Evans, and that the deep suffering of his parents may be heard. I am praying for Alfie, for his family and for all who are involved. — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) April 4, 2018 Following the "statement...

Gavin Ashenden brings some much needed clarity to the culture wars raging in our society at the moment in this short interview. Lucidly joining the dots, he shows what is really behind the bizarre anti-family agendas that seem to have gained so much favour in our society so quickly. He also explains with great clarity, why this is such a problematic path for society to travel. Ashenden was an Honorary Chaplain to the Queen from 2008 until his resignation in 2017. He was ordained in the Church of England, but left it in 2017. That year was consecrated a missionary bishop by the Christian Episcopal Church , a continuing Anglican jurisdiction outside of the Anglican Communion . In the interview he explains how we begin by entertaining problematic prinicples out of valid compassion, however we must be careful of darker agendas being played out. Interestingly, we can see direct evidence of this in the wake, this weekend, of   a video posted on the Facebook page of...

You may recall that, back in in 2016 Pope Francis praised Italian politico Emma Bonino as a “forgotten great” because of her work with refugees. This despite her abortion advocacy. In fact, between her abortion activism and being an abortionist herself, Bonino is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of roughly six million Italian babies between 1968 and today. Today in the Guardian, a left-leaning news organisation in the UK, carries a piece on Bonino  which ends in a particularly disturbing way. In contrast to her fight with the Catholic church 40 years ago, Bonino can, these days, count on at least one ally: Pope Francis. The two, she says with a grin, are in touch. “We have some connections, so we pass messages quite often, through friends.” “Many love humanity only in order to forget God with a clear conscience.” ― Nicolás Gómez Dávila

In a homily on May 13 , Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, the former prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and current archbishop of Valencia, took a solid stance against the culture of death. He said: “The family is being stalked today, in our culture, by endlessly grave difficulties, while it suffers serious attacks, which are hidden from no one.  We have legislation contrary to the family, the acts of political and social forces, to which are added movements and acts by the gay empire, by ideologies such as radical feminism, or the most insidious of all, gender ideology. When the family is attacked or is diminished, the most sacred forms of human relationship are perverted.” And he is dead right. Feminist groups in Spain have called for the government to prosecute Cardinal Cañizares for daring to denounce the influence of the “gay empire” and gender ideology. I can't help but wonder if this marks some kind of watershed moment, which w...