Columnist: Phil Lawler
A Vatican Document That Undermines Itself
True, today’s declaration from the Vatican does not change Church teaching. Fiducia Supplicans earnestly insists on a distinction between giving a blessing to a homosexual couple and blessing their relationship ...
Cardinal Gregory and the ‘Dominant’ Rite
“Tradition dies a slow death, sometimes a bloody death,” said Cardinal Wilton Gregory told an audience at Catholic University earlier this month. Well, if tradition dies, so too does the ...
New Papal Document Puts Climate Change Before Faith
Laudate Deum, the new apostolic exhortation released by the Vatican on October 4, is an astonishing document, in which Pope Francis uses his authority to make definitive judgements—not on questions ...
Is Anyone Listening? A Look Back at a Week from Hell.
Ordinarily I love my work. I enjoy learning about the latest developments in the Church and in the world, explaining them to our readers, and engaging in the debates that ...
Hey Bishops: It’s Time for a Papal Intervention
For many years—during the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI—worried Catholics like me wished that the Holy See would intervene to fix the damage caused by liberal American ...
A Sin Today, but Not Tomorrow: The Curious Doctrine of Pope Francis
“Today it is a sin to possess atomic bombs; the death penalty is a sin,” Pope Francis told a gathering of Jesuits in Lisbon earlier this month. These are stern, ...
Please, Bishops, Promise Not to Lock Down Churches Again
“It may be time to break out the masks against Covid, some experts say.” That was the headline on a CNN report posted yesterday. Is Covid making a comeback, then? ...
With This Appointment, Pope Francis Repudiates His Predecessor
Since Archbishop (soon to be Cardinal) Victor Manuel Fernandez was named by Pope Francis to head the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), much criticism of the appointment ...
Cardinal Dolan’s Conscience Troubled? Not Enough!
Writing in Our Sunday Visitor recently, Cardinal Timothy Dolan revealed that he has been examining his conscience: Did we as a Church, here in the United States, go too far ...
14 Simple Steps To Eucharistic Revival
Last year, the US bishops’ conference launched a four-year program aimed at a National Eucharistic Revival, designed to “restore understanding and devotion to this great mystery here in the United ...
Is the Synod Asking the Wrong Questions?
Have you noticed that in recent years, before each meeting of the Synod of Bishops, public attention tends to fixate on one very specific topic? In 2015, before the Synod ...
Cardinal Hollerich: Church Teaching on Homosexuality is ‘FALSE’
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg made the astonishing suggestion that early Christians did not understand what homosexuality was, in a revealing interview with a Croatian journalist. Questioned about his statement ...
Will Other Bishops Have The Courage To Answer Paprocki’s Challenge?
From my personal perspective, the this week’s stunning First Things essay by Bishop Paprocki is easily the most important news story of the young year: a development that I have ...
Cardinal Cupich’s Shocking Misrepresentation of Pope Benedict
Taking his cue from Cardinal McElroy—and ignoring the strong cautions from Archbishop Aquila and Archbishop Naumann, among others—Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich has written a column in his archdiocesan newspaper calling ...
A ‘Hostile Takeover’ of Catholicism
Did you participate in the diocesan discussions leading up to next year’s Synod of Bishops? Neither did I. Were you invited to discussion groups and listening sessions? Neither was I ...
Cardinal Gregory Cannot Duck the Pelosi-Communion Ban
Canon lawyers disagree on whether Church law requires other bishops to honor Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s “Notification” barring Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Communion. But the logic of the matter is unavoidable ...
Discord Among Catholic Bishops Is A Healthy Sign
Up until recently, our bishops have apparently deemed it very important to avoid any public discord. But the façade of unity is disintegrating. And that, I suggest, is cause for ...
Spy vs. Spy at the Vatican
One Vatican office spying on another? It isn’t edifying. But read between the lines of the latest report emerging from the Vatican finance trial, and you can begin to see ...
The Backward Logic of Traditionis Custodes
Insofar as Traditionis Custodes provides any explanation for its open hostility toward Catholic traditionalists, that explanation lies in the claim that traditionalist communities have caused divisions within the Church. Therefore, ...
US Bishops’ Statement: An Invitation to Disobedience
After voting almost unanimously to approve a long-awaited statement on the Eucharist yesterday, the members of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gave themselves a hearty round of applause ...
Phil Lawler: Bishops’ Eucharistic Document “Worse Than Nothing”
ARROYO: During their full meeting this week in Baltimore, the U.S Catholic bishops approved that much anticipated and controversial document on the Eucharist, now titled “The Mystery of the Eucharist ...
