Habemus Papam

Today white smoke billowed from the chimney of the conclave, signaling the election of a new pope.  Shortly thereafter, Cardinal Robert Prevost was presented as Pope Leo XIV.  He is the first Augustinian and US native to be elected to the pontificate.

Prior to this, he was prefect for the Dicastery for Bishops.  That is to say he wielded great influence regarding the appointment of bishops.  Regrettably, he also played a key role in the removal of Bishop Joseph Strickland from the diocese of Tyler, TX.   He has made known his affinity to progressive causes such as the climate-change hoax, sympathy for George Floyd and unbridled border-crashing.

While this is troubling, it is not surprising.  Francis stacked the College of Cardinals.  Leo is said to have been highly favored by both Cardinal Cupich and Father James Martin.  On the positive side, when Leo stepped onto the balcony, he was dressed as a pope, unlike his immediate predecessor twelve years ago.  I for one am wary.

Cardinal Muller, a fairly solid prelate, warned that the election of a pope who didn't hold to tradition might well cause a schism.  If that comes to pass, it will be the infidelity to tradition that will be the cause of schism, for faithful Catholics must adhere to the Church's timeless teachings and Traditions, even if a reigning pontiff isn't.

Our Rosaries and prayers for Holy Mother Church must continue and increase.

The Conclave Is In Session

Saint John Eudes once stated that evil clergy are a manifestation of God's punishments upon His people.  I don't have time to enumerate the ways in which we, as a Church, more than merited such chastisement, save only to say that multiple infidelities occurred way before Vatican II occurred.

Francis' less-than-illustrious papacy has drawn to a close, but this is no time to breathe a sigh of relief.  Recall that he stacked the College of Cardinals with like-minded individuals.  It will take a miracle for a faithful and capable Catholic pontiff to be elected.  God can, if He is willing, work such a miracle.  

Are you praying for such a miracle?  The salvation of millions, perhaps some in your own families, depend on it.  At the very least, be offering your daily Rosaries for this intention.

His Eminence Cardinal Burke composed the following prayer.  True, the novena period is past, but this still is an excellent prayer that one can use.

The Church Is At A Crossroads

In the early phases of Francis' papacy, my morning offerings to Our Lord included the typical intentions, including "for the intentions of the Holy Father".  As time progressed, I started to wake up to his real intentions, but that awakening was gradual.  I soon amended my Morning Offering to "for the legitimate intentions of the Holy Father", thinking that the pope was a mixed bag.

My eyes continued opening as Francis' misdeeds multiplied.  The papal intention in my Morning Offering reflected my growing awareness, so I started praying "for the conversion of the Holy Father".  The malevolence behind his actions became all too apparent so my final change to the Morning Offering was for "a truly Catholic and capable pope".  Obviously that still included the possibility of his conversion, but my main concern was more for the souls of millions of Catholics and others worldwide, who were being led astray by this man.  If he wasn't going to be converted, then I prayed that he be replaced, and quickly.

Three days ago, the first phase of his replacement happened.  While I pray for God's mercy on him, I pray all the more that the souls he led astray would receive God's mercy if they died in the confusion that was fomented by Francis.  For those who are still on this side of the grave, I pray that any errors foisted upon them by Francis and his various cronies be corrected in their eyes.

A few days ago, the Grand Masonic Lodge of Italy eulogized Francis, saying that his work was "deeply resonant with the principles of Freemasonry".   Its "grand master" specifically cited Francis' encyclical Fratelli Tutti as elevating three masonic ideals of "fraternity, equality, and liberty".  The student of history will recognize these three words as being the motto of the French revolutionaries who wielded their guillotines with great ferocity, but I digress. 

New Way Ministries carries an article composed of the praises heaped upon Francis by prominent "gay Catholics".  That phrase in is quotes for they are Catholics living in mortal sin, endangering not only their own souls, but those whom they falsely profess to "love".  They cite the ways that Francis sought to mainstream their various perversions into Catholic circles.

So we have both freemasons and sexual perverts citing ways in which Francis promoted their dubious causes.  Sadly, they are correct.  Francis used his position in the Vatican to insinuate these spiritual poisons into Catholic circles, inducing confused souls into embracing these errors.  Some may have died in those resultant mortal sins, meaning that Francis jeopardized their eternal salvation.

To those who insist that we not "speak ill of the dead" and other such rot, STOP THAT NOW!  We must speak objective truth, no matter how "inconvenient" or "mean" it may seem.  We must call out the errors so that those flirting with the errors might see them for what the are, and reverse course.

Right now, we need to be praying that a pope be selected who is not only personally holy, but also one who is knowledgeable about Catholic doctrine, and who has the wisdom, strength and courage to deal with the threats to Holy Mother Church, especially those threats that lurk within the ranks of the prelates and the halls of the Vatican and chanceries throughout the world.

Pope Francis Is Dead

Less than three weeks after the passing of his former ally, Ted McCarrick, Pope Francis has gone to his reward, such as that reward might be.  I would suggest that we pray that God had mercy on him and granted him the grace of final repentance; else, his eternity doesn't look too promising.

Francis' chequered legacy includes (but is not limited to) these:

• the pachamama idol worship in the Vatican gardens and St Peter's Basilica
• dismissing the pro-life champions in the Pontifical Academy for Life and replacing them with pro-aborts
• issuing Amoris Laetitia that calls for admittance of active adulterers to Holy Communion
• contradicting Tradition regarding the death penalty
• hob-nobbing with abortionist Emma Bonino
• dissuaded Tony Palmer, a protestant official, from converting to Catholicism when the latter expressed his wish to do so.
• his vendetta against the Traditional Latin Mass, in direct disobedience to the Papal Bull, Quo Primum

I have a whole anthology of misdeeds of Francis', as do others.  I cannot list them all, as I lack both time and space.

In a few weeks' time, the process for selecting a new pope will begin.  Starting right now, we need to beg God to give to the Church a truly Catholic and capable pope, one who is "wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove" (Matt 10:16).  Ask God to give us a pope that we need, not what we deserve.

If you are not yet in the habit of praying a daily Rosary, now is a good time to start.

Theodore McCarrick Dead - God Have Mercy On His Soul

Earlier today, Friday April 4, disgraced ex-prelate Theodore McCarrick went to his eternal reward, such as it may be.   No one who has two brain synapses firing can be unaware of the devastation that he wreaked upon the Church, not to mention the lives of the boys and young men that he raped over his chequered tenure in the Church hierarcy.

This blog and its sister website were inspired by this man, but not because he was a paragon of virtue.  I did so to bring this man's evil deeds into the limelight so that others could see him for what he was.  He could be a charming guy, but such charm is deadly and seductive.  Lord knows the Catholic Standard wouldn't do so, since it functioned as McCarrick's mouthpiece.  When controversy arose because of McCarrick's stance on giving Holy Communion to adulterers, the Catholic Standard ceased its "letters to the editor" column and has never resumed it.  This blog attempted to fill that void.

At that time though, I was unaware of the depths of his depravity.  Oh, there were rumors swilling about, regarding his abuse of young men and seminarians.  However, since no victim came forward, I could not in good conscience promulgate those rumors lest I myself sin against honesty. 

The testimony of James Grein changed that, however.  Once he relayed the horrific nightmare inflicted upon him by McCarrick, others came forward.  Finally the Vatican had to take action, if only to save its own sorry face.  Francis, himself of like mind with McCarrick on a great many matters, reduced him to the clerical state.  Oh, I'm sure that there were considerations given to McCarrick.  He never served jail time, did he?

McCarrick was known as a "king-maker".  He was influential in appointing many like-minded guys (I have trouble calling them "men") into high places in the Church.  I speak of fellows like Blaise Cupich, Kevin Farrell, and of course, the current prelate of the Archdiocese of Washington.  He was instrumental in selling out faithful Catholics in red China to their virulently corrupt Communist government.  There are so many ways in which he besmirched Holy Mother Church.  Time prevents me from rehashing all that in this post, so please read what I wrote previously over the years.

Let's pray that he made a good confession, or that he at least made a perfect act of contrition before he drew his last breath.

Boycott The Catholic Relief Services Collection This Weekend

In most dioceses across the nation, the second collection at Masses on Sunday March 30 will benefit the Catholic Relief Services.  Locally, both the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Archdiocese of Washington will be collecting for the CRS.  The CRS is under the direct control of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

As you can see by my link, there have been multiple moral failings of the Catholic Relief Services, such as direct distributions of condoms, employing an openly "gay-married" man as a vice president, creating a "health network" in Africa that includes abortionists, etc.

Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) exposed the fact that CRS has been heavily funded by USAid.  Fortunately that is now drying up.  The CRS now needs to go away completely.  Please do NOT give them one red cent of your money this coming weekend.

Lepanto Institute has done much work in exposing the Catholic Relief Services.  Additionally, they have materials that you can place in the second collection when that basket is placed in front of your face.

Let's allow this faux-Catholic cabal to die its ignominious death.

Bad Music At Mass? It Isn't Just A Minor Annoyance

I've written about the lackluster dreck that is frequently sung at Novus Ordo Masses.  However, I had no idea, until I saw this, just how pervasive and inimical this problem really is.  I daresay that as we look at things closer, we will see how the serving up of musical inferiority is a tool of the Deep Church to deconstruct the Faith.  Recall that St Augustine said that "who sings, prays twice".  Thus the singing directly impacts our prayer.  Couple that with "lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivandi".  It is a problem to be taken seriously. 

Please watch this video.  The full report is here.

McElroy Off To An Inauspicious Start

Last Sunday a man posted on X that he walked out of Mass for the first time in his life, owing to the priest's screed against President Trump and Vice President Vance.  He went so far as to compare Trump to Satan during his homily. While he did his best to conceal the identity of the church, he left enough details to indicate that this slop happened at Holy Trinity Church, just south of Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Our newly-minted archbishop started off his tenure by plopping his own stinker regarding Trump's actions to slash governmental bloat and the flood of illegal immigrants into this country.  While he may not have been as brazen as that Jesuit priest, the fact that he is the local prelate renders his remarks all the more egregious.  From the Catholic Standard we read: "Cardinal McElroy said that when you label immigrants as criminals, “you dehumanize them, you say they’re the other, they’re not like us. And thus it is all right to treat them as lesser, as less human than us... Echoing the pope in decrying the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants now underway in the United States, Washington’s new archbishop said the idea “that we would go after them and in a mass, indiscriminate deportation, eject them from our country, would be a grave stain upon the United States in my view.”

Notice the deliberate obfuscation of the difference between immigrants coming legally and those coming illegally.  This is a common and rather old ruse that they use.  Of course McElroy and others know the difference.  Their attempts to muddy the waters in this matter can only be called deliberately dishonest.  We will not pretend that it is anything otherwise.

But try again he will.  We will be right there to rebuke the deception.

Gregory To McElroy - Same Plot, Different Cast - But There Is Much That You Can Do About It

The headline speaks about the installation of Cardinal Robert McElroy as Archbishop of Washington, succeeding Cardinal Gregory.  McElroy is just the latest in a string of progressive bishops that have been acting to deconstruct the One True Church.  In fact, the Church will never be totally defeated, but much havoc can, and is being, wreaked, to the harm and even damnation of many souls.

Rachel Mastrogiacomo was present at McElroy's installation, that took place at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.  Rachel was 23 years old when she was subjected to abuse, both sexual and satanic at the hands of Jacob Bertrand.  He was a priest at the time who has since been laicized.  McElroy played a large part in the cover-up of this sordid episode.  By the way, satanic ritual abuse is not uncommon among pervert priests, as evidenced by an open letter written to Pope Francis by Lisa Roer, another victim.  Be advised that Lisa goes into rather graphic detail about her ordeal.

Rachel had opportunity to confront McElroy as he processed out, despite the best efforts of the baby-sitter that the chancery assigned to her.

Note: This video came from the Facebook page of Michael Hichborn.  Also from the same page are pictures of Rachel and other concerned Catholics, protesting outside the Basilica.  They are standing at the Harewood Road driveway to the Shrine and around the corner to Michigan Avenue.  The parking lot is on the other side of Harewood so they got much visibility.  Here is a picture of the picket.

What Rachel did involved confronting the guy who was criminally responsible for so much pain and suffering that she endured.  Her example is not only to be admired, but emulated.  We faithful Catholics have a duty to confront this evil and not to allow the evildoers to be comfortable as they work to marginalize the Church.

God Bless Cardinal Muller And God Have Mercy On Cardinal Gregory

Cardinal Muller tells bishops to resist the destruction of the Latin Mass.  God bless this man for speaking out.  I regret, though, that some of the bishops are not so much timorous before Francis.  They are in full agreement and in league with Francis' obvious animosity towards the authentic teachings and traditions of the Church.  Many of these bishops implemented Traditionis Custodes with the utmost glee and alacrity.  I live in one such diocese - the Archdiocese of Washington, namely.  It is shepherded - until tomorrow - by Wilton Cardinal Gregory. Unless I am gravely mistaken, Robert Cardinal McElroy is cut from the same cloth as is Gregory.

Cardinal Gregory seems to have no problem with the codswallop featured below.

Granted, this wasn't an actual Mass.  However, before this "hip hop mess mass" premiered, Cardinal Gregory said Mass at an induction ceremony that honored the late Eunice and Sargent Shriver.  Guess what music was featured at that Mass?  Yep!  Hip-hop crap!  This article is unclear about whether or not any of this cast was performing the music.  I suppose we should be grateful that there was no break-dancing or moon-walking during the Mass.

So the reverence and dignity of the Traditional Latin Mass has to go, but this hip-hop drip-drop is just okee-dokee?