Tag Archive: Catholic Church

Is Francis hostile to traditionalists?

That is the question prompted by a recent Vatican decree that priests of a certain Franciscan order may celebrate the Old Mass only with explicit permission from the Vatican. This would sen to flatly contradict the policy put into place by Benedict XVI that ay priest may celebrate the Old Mass, at any time, without…

Pope Francis broadens eligibility for Ordinariate membership

Back in March when then-Cardinal Bergolio was elected Pope, I expressed in this space my general optmism over the new Pope’s section, but raised a couple of caveats, including a question about the extent t which the new Pope Francis would support the Anglican Ordinariates initiated during the pontificate of Benedict XVI. It now appears…

On the Feast of St. Thomas More

Canon Law at the 7th Circuit

Very interesting ruling today from Judge Posner that involves an issue of Roman Catholic canon law, courtesy of Eugene Volokh, some choice excerpts from the opinion: These three interlocutory appeals arise from a complicated and acrimonious litigation, charging RICO, trademark, and copyright violations along with Indiana torts, that has been percolating in the district court…

Francis v. The West

Interesting column by Pat Buchanan on the challenges facing Pope Francis as he confronts a throughly secularized, culturally decaying West. The whole column is worth reading, but its also worth quoting at length: To be Catholic is to be orthodox. Indeed, let us presume the impossible—that the Church should suddenly allow the ordination of woman,…

Optimism, but some questions about Pope Francis

The election today of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to be the 266th Bishop of Rome is a truly exciting event. As the first pope from the developing world and from the Global South, Francis appears to be the ideal man to lead the Church’s New Evangelization. He is by all accounts theologically orthodox, and more than…

Viva Il Papa!

Thank you, Pope Benedict

Viva Cristo Rey!

“For Greater Glory”, starring Andy Garcia, Peter O’Toole, and Eva Longoria and due to be released in the United States in June, tells the story of the Cristero War, a counter-revolutionary uprising in 1920’s Mexico prompted by the brutal suppression of the Catholic Church by Mexico’s revolutionary government. The film has received rave reviews, and…

Would we be better off without the church?

Jennifer Fulwiler has a great post up today on her blog at the National Catholic Register in which she discusses five questions that folks ought to think about before leaving the Catholic Church. Her post, more broadly speaking, addresses a challenge to the “Christ without Christianity” folks, and those who claim to be “religious” but…