Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
If Bishop Robert Prevost personally participated in a rite explicitly identified as Pachamama in 1995, then the Pope Francis’ 2019 Vatican Gardens spectacle begins to look less like an anomaly and more like an eruption. What broke on March 18 landed like a second Amazon Synod, except this time the issue was not whether Leo … Read more
Notre Dame’s abortion-activist debacle exposes a leadership untethered from the Church it claims to serve. The University of Notre Dame came under fire over the course of the past month for promoting an associate professor known nationally for her radical abortion activism, which, needless to say, is in direct conflict with one of the most … Read more
This year marks the ten-year anniversary of the martyrdom of Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old French priest who was brutally murdered on July 26, 2016, by two Muslim men inspired by the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, otherwise known as ISIS or ISIL. During the Prayers of Petition, the two men, … Read more
These first four days of the holy season of Lent serve as a preface, indicating the preparation that we ought to make in order to spend Lent well and to dispose ourselves to fast well. That is why I have thought to speak to you, in this exhortation, of the conditions which render fasting good … Read more
There’s a famous skit from the Irish sitcom Father Ted where, after hearing that his priest was caught making comedic caricatures of Asians, a parishioner greets him over a dry stone wall. “I hear you’re a racist now, Father,” he yells. “Should we all be racists now? What’s the official line the Church’s taking on … Read more
Failing to mention the Jews on Holocaust Remembrance Day reflects a deep moral sickness. It’s not often we can say JD Vance and the BBC have something in common. The bruising VP of the United States and the lily-handed woke-mongers of Britain’s public broadcaster probably disagree on every big topic. But this week, briefly, they … Read more
A new long‑term study from the United States has revealed that a significant number of women continue to experience deep regret years after having an abortion, prompting fresh reflection on how society supports women who face crisis pregnancies. Researchers tracked thousands of women over a period of years and found that around one in four … Read more
Many news organizations carried the story of the release of Bar Kuperstein two years after he had been kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. Kuperstein was a young security guard at the Nova Festival, the music festival targeted by Hamas for its fat genocidal possibilities, with sides of rape, torture, and kidnapping. After taking some … Read more
Every so often, a cultural moment exposes something far deeper than a policy disagreement. That happened again recently when comments from Stranger Things actress Maya Hawke resurfaced online — remarks she made several years ago but which gained renewed attention amid the show’s continued popularity. Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2022, … Read more
A Hong Kong court this week convicted Jimmy Lai, the territory’s most prominent champion of democracy and basic human rights, of breaching national security. The sham trial and conviction confirm Hong Kong’s tragic descent into tyranny. Hong Kong was long one of the freest places on earth, and Jimmy Lai, age 78, both symbolizes and … Read more
When she was writing in opposition to the Illinois assisted-suicide law that was just signed into law, the president of Illinois Right to Life wrote about a least-favorite topic of humans: death — and when preceded by suffering. (Even when death is sudden, I’ve yet to meet a human who has experienced no suffering.) Mary … Read more
Last month, Communist China launched its largest ever crackdown on Christians. The raids across Beijing, Shanghai and eight other cities mark the beginning of an escalation as the paranoid Xi regime sets out to suppress the growing number of Chinese Christians. While the Communist regime claims that the official number of Christians in China is … Read more
Earlier this week, Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC) crooned: “As we enter the Advent season, we remember that the Holy Family themselves were migrants seeking safety.” It is a recurring motif to validate the resistance of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to curtailment of illegal immigration. … Read more
The ancient rot at the heart of anti-Israel activism. . . . The surge of anti-Jewish hostility is particularly concerning in light of what sparked it: meticulously planned pogroms in Southern Israel on October 7, 2023, followed by the abduction of hundreds of innocents. The hostages were condemned to terrorist captivity, where they endured physical … Read more
Over the weekend, The Lepanto Institute received a tip that the Joseph and Mary Home, a project of the Sisters of Charity Health System, hired an “abortion rights” activist to be the new executive director of the organization. The person who submitted the tip also emailed the Sisters of Charity, Marisa Rohn (the interim executive … Read more
… you rarely (if ever) hear the following phrases. “Party like it’s A.D. 1570!” “We should sing more plainchant at this parish.” “I’d like to thank the choir for their sublime rendition of the Mass For Five Voices by William Byrd.” “I just love the way the four torchbearers process in with such dignity.” “People … Read more
If only they had been illegal aliens in Mexico. Pope Leo has no problem speaking forthrightly when it’s an issue that he really cares about, like global warming or illegal aliens. “We must pray for the conversion of many people, inside and outside of the church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring … Read more
It wasn’t 1985 anymore, and he wasn’t in Bedford Falls. It was 2016: Barack Obama sat in the White House as the most pro-abortion president in history, and same-sex marriage had become legal in every state. In just three years as pontiff, Pope Francis had unsettled the hearts of millions of faithful Catholics with a … Read more
Undoubtedly, it often happens that you try to correct certain depraved and dishonest people who are under your care, but every effort and concern is in vain. They are incorrigible, so they have to be put up with. Such incorrigibles are already in the Church. How then will you separate yourself from them so that … Read more
COMMENTARY: Reconciliation must never sacrifice the timeless truths of the Church, but sadly that appears to be the case in China. Cardinal Stephen Chow, the bishop of Hong Kong, defended the state of religious freedom in Hong Kong in a public dialogue in Parramatta, Australia, on Sept. 15. If what he said were true — … Read more
“Memory fades quickly,” says photojournalist Chen Schimmel when asked why she chose to publish her book. For Schimmel, that fading isn’t just a risk, it’s a form of loss in itself. “In a world where everything moves so fast,” she says, “the danger is that even the most painful truths can disappear into the noise. … Read more
Two years on from Hamas’s fascist pogrom, the fight for civilisation has never felt more urgent. For me, there are two anniversaries this week. There’s 7 October, two years since a 7,000-strong army of anti-Semites invaded Israel to wage a genocidal campaign of rape and terror against the Jews there. And there’s 8 October, which … Read more
Stage two has arrived in our “How-Catholic-is-the-Pope?” quest. First we had the interview with Crux and now we have “Cupichgate”. Pope Leo was asked about Cardinal Cupich’s award to the pro-abortionist Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat representing Illinois. In fact Senator Durbin has since refused the award but we are left with the papal commentary … Read more
Some two weeks before the 2nd anniversary of October 7, the UN, the UK, France, Australia, Canada and other failed radical governments rallied to commemorate the massacres, kidnappings and rapes by giving the Islamic terrorists responsible for it their own ‘state’. Along with a High Holidays gift to the Jews celebrating their new year. The … Read more
Islam is the mask that leftists wear when they attack us. The Left is the mask that Muslims wear when they attack us. What the last part of that means is that Islamists seek to redefine, normalize and justify every Islamic atrocity using the language of social justice. After the latest Muslim terrorist attack on … Read more