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…
Tag Archive: Pope Francis
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…
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…