St. Michael the Archangel Can You Please Defend Us from the Vatican Sculpture?

Traditionally St. Michael the Archangel is depicted in sculptures, icons, and holy cards wearing full armor and in a manly pose fighting God's enemy the devil. Here are a few traditional views of the great archangel:

Now take a look at the new sculpture of St. Michael placed in the Vatican garden unveiled and dedicated on July 5th with both Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict present. It is anything but manly, traditional, or clothed in armor. This nearly nude St. Michael stands, not in a position of strength, but like a girl arching her back for a Victoria's Secret ad with his left arm and hand in a very feminine position. And where exactly is he jabbing that spear? 

Now this is what the statue reminds me of: Just turn her in the other direction, give her a spear, and take her clothes off and voila -- St. Michael..

But maybe the sculptor had Victoria's Secret in mind all along. This angel actually has on more clothes than the Vatican's poor St. Michael. Under the Vatican dress code this St. Michael is banned from St. Peter's. Somebody cover him up with a Fatima T-shirt!

Read More

The Pope's Press Conference

There's been an awful lot of drivel written about things the pope said.during his long interview with the press on the plane during the return from World Youth Day. It might be useful for people to read what he actually said for themselves. So here's a link. I confess, some of it leaves me encouraged, some a bit baffled, but I trust in the Holy Spirit and following the lead of little Jacinta of Fatima I want to be truly committed to praying for the Holy Father. No pope can destroy the orthodoxy of the Church. The Holy Spirit promised to remain with the Church and many saints have emphasized the necessity of our connection to Peter. Where Peter is, there is the Church. So please pray for our Holy Father no matter what. Here's just one prayer to inspire you:

Prayer for the Pope

O Lord, we are the millions of believers, humbly kneeling at Thy feet and begging Thee to preserve, defend and save the Sovereign Pontiff for many years. He is the Father of the great fellowship of souls and our Father as well. On this day, as on every other day, he is praying for us also, and is offering unto Thee with holy fervor the sacred Victim of love and peace.

Wherefore, O Lord, turn Thyself toward us with eyes of pity; for we are now, as it were, forgetful of ourselves, and are praying above all for him. Do Thou unite our prayers with his and receive them into the bosom of Thine infinite mercy, as a sweet savor of active and fruitful charity, whereby the children are united in the Church to their Father. All that he asks of Thee this day, we too ask it of Thee in unison with him.

Whether he weeps or rejoices, whether he hopes or offers himself as a victim of charity for his people, we desire to be united with him; nay more, we desire that the cry of our hearts should be made one with his. Of Thy great mercy grant, O Lord, that not one of us may be far from his mind and his heart in the hour that he prays and offers unto Thee the Sacrifice of Thy blessed Son. At the moment when our venerable High Priest, holding in His hands the very Body of Jesus Christ, shall say to the people over the Chalice of benediction these words: "The peace of the Lord be with you always," grant, O Lord, that Thy sweet peace may come down upon our hearts and upon all the nations with new and manifest power. Amen.

Read More

Pope Francis' Encyclical on Faith

I just downloaded the pope's encyclical to my Kindle. It's available on the Vatican website. Go here to read it or download.

Read More

Talking about Conscience

People throw around the word "conscience" these days using it to justify all kinds of immorality. Nancy Pelosi claims a conscience right to call abortion "sacred ground."  Many a cafeteria Catholic justifies contraceptive use saying she's "following her conscience." How many Catholics have abandoned their marriage vows following their consciences? In all these cases the definition of conscience seems to be, "whatever sin I want to enjoy I can choose as long as I claim to be doing it with a good conscience" -- which is actually a bad conscience. Give me an honest sinner any day, one like St. Augustine who asked the Lord to make him chaste...but not yet. Yes, it's hard to set aside our sinful desires to follow God's will. Why else would Jesus call it the narrow way that's hard to follow? St. John Bosco saw the path to heaven  in a dream. It was filled with rocks and thorns. How easy can we expect the journey to be when we see the uphill road to Golgotha and the God-Man nailed to the cross there?

Pope Francis spoke about conscience last Sunday speaking to tourists in St. Peter's square. Here's a bit of what he said (Unfortunately the full text is not yet on the Vatican website. I got this from -- hmmm -- the Huffington Post):

“We must learn to listen more to our conscience,” said Francis, speaking from a window of the Apostolic Palace to the crowd in the square below. 

“This doesn’t mean following one’s own ego, doing whatever interests us, whatever suits us, whatever pleases us,” the pope said. Instead, “conscience is an interior space for listening to the truth, to good” and to God who “speaks to my heart and helps me to discern, to understand the path I must follow, and once the decision is taken, to go forward, to remain faithful.” 

“We have had a recent marvelous example of this relationship with God in our conscience,” Francis said, citing his predecessor’s resignation. “Pope Benedict XVI has given us a great example in this sense, when the Lord made him understand , in prayer, what step he had to take. He followed, with a great sense of discernment and courage, his conscience, that is, the will of God who was speaking to his heart.”

Note that conscience discerns the "will of God." And the will of God cannot conflict with the doctrine that Christ teaches through his Church. If someone claims, in good conscience, he can ignore the LAWS set down by God, he is either fooling himself or lying. God is not bi-polar or schizophrenic. He does not give us laws only to break them. We may not commit contraception; we may not commit abortion. If someone claims a conscience right to do these things, he is illustrating a badly formed conscience that is in line, not with the God of the universe, but with the prince of this world.

Pray for Nancy Pelosi and others of her mindset. She blasphemes God every time she claims her conscience allows her to endorse child killing, because that means abortion is the will of God. And that, indeed, is blasphemous!

In fact, abortion is the will of many gods described in the Old Testament among the idol worshipers of Cana. His name is legion: Moloch, Baal, Astarte, Ashtaroth, etc. Nancy Pelosi would have fit quite well among the pro-aborts at the Texas capitol chanting, "Hail, Satan" or among Jezebel's priests whirling and slashing themselves as they called on their idols. No wonder Joe Sobran called democrats the evil party. Most party leaders conform their consciences, not to God, but to the one who was a murderer and liar from the beginning. And, as they say, "birds of a feather flock together."

Read More

Surprised? Pope Confirms to CLAR that a "Gay Lobby" Exists within Vatican

In a private meeting with religious from the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious, Pope Francis lamented the "gay lobby" at the Vatican. The statement was quoted in a summary document from the meeting produced by a number of attendees who apologized to the pope that it was made public. Read more here and here. And read the CLAR statement (translated) at Rorate Caeli.

Is anybody surprised by the existence of a gay lobby at the Vatican? How else to explain the negligence associated with the sex abuse crisis. The CDF had to know about much of what happened because groups in the U.S. were reporting it. The only thing stunning about this is the admission, even if it was private. How could the pope not expect it to come out. And was he disappointed when it did?

The first thing necessary to cure a disease is to acknowledge that it exists. Pray for the pope!

Read More

Pope Francis and the Eucharistic Miracle

Today is the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Over the millenia the Church has documented many Eucharistic miracles. But the one described below is particularly significant because our current Holy Father Pope Francis oversaw the investigation himself. This miracle converted the cardiologist who examined the heart tissue and made the report. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us. O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine. 

Pope Francis A Witness To A Eucharistic Miracle!

[reprinted from The Catholic Eternal Truth blog]



In 1996 in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, Argentina, when the present Pope Francis was Auxiliary Bishop under Cardinal Quarracino, an amazing Eucharistic miracle took place. He himself had it photographed and investigated and the results are astonishing. At seven o’clock in the evening on August 18, 1996, Fr. Alejandro Pezet was saying Holy Mass at a Catholic church in the commercial center of Buenos Aires. As he was finishing distributing Holy Communion, a woman came up to tell him that she had found a discarded host on a candle holder at the back of the church. On going to the spot indicated, Fr. Alejandro saw the defiled Host. Since he was unable to consume it, he placed it in a container of water and put it away in the tabernacle of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament.

On Monday, August 26, upon opening the tabernacle, he saw to his amazement that the Host had turned into a bloody substance. He informed Bishop Jorge Bergoglio(Now Pope Francis, Auxillary Bishop that time), who gave instructions that the Host be professionally photographed. The photos were taken on September 6. They clearly show that the Host, which had become a fragment of bloodied flesh, had grown significantly in size. For several years the Host remained in the tabernacle, the whole affair being kept a strict secret. Since the Host suffered no visible decomposition, Cardinal Bergoglio(Who became Archbishop by that time) decided to have it scientifically analyzed.

On October 5, 1999, in the presence of the Cardinal’s representatives, Dr. Castanon took a sample of the bloody fragment and sent it to New York for analysis. Since he did not wish to prejudice the study, he purposely did not inform the team of scientists of its provenance(the source of sample was kept secret to the scientists). One of these scientists was Dr. Frederic Zugiba, the well-known cardiologist and forensic pathologist. He determined that the analyzed substance was real flesh and blood containing human DNA. Zugiba testified that, “the analyzed material is a fragment of the heart muscle found in the wall of the left ventricle close to the valves. This muscle is responsible for the contraction of the heart. It should be borne in mind that the left cardiac ventricle pumps blood to all parts of the body. The heart muscle is in an inflammatory condition and contains a large number of white blood cells. This indicates that the heart was alive at the time the sample was taken. It is my contention that the heart was alive, since white blood cells die outside a living organism. They require a living organism to sustain them. Thus, their presence indicates that the heart was alive when the sample was taken. What is more, these white blood cells had penetrated the tissue, which further indicates that the heart had been under severe stress, as if the owner had been beaten severely about the chest.”

Two Australians, journalist Mike Willesee and lawyer Ron Tesoriero, witnessed these tests. Knowing where sample had come from, they were dumbfounded by Dr. Zugiba’s testimony. Mike Willesee asked the scientist how long the white blood cells would have remained alive if they had come from a piece of human tissue, which had been kept in water. They would have ceased to exist in a matter of minutes, Dr. Zugiba replied. The journalist then told the doctor that the source of the sample had first been kept in ordinary water for a month and then for another three years in a container of distilled water; only then had the sample been taken for analysis. Dr. Zugiba’s was at a loss to account for this fact. There was no way of explaining it scientifically, he stated. Also, Dr. Zugibe passionately asked, “You have to explain one thing to me, if this sample came from a person who was dead, then how could it be that as I was examining it the cells of the sample were moving and beating? If this heart comes from someone who died in 1996, how can it still be alive?

Then did Mike Willesee inform Dr. Zugiba that the analyzed sample came from a consecrated Host (white, unleavened bread) that had mysteriously turned into bloody human flesh. Amazed by this information, Dr. Zugiba replied, “How and why a consecrated Host would change its character and become living human flesh and blood will remain an inexplicable mystery to science—a mystery totally beyond her competence.”

Then Doctor Ricardo Castanon Gomez arranged to have the lab reports from the Buenos Aires miracle compared to the lab reports from the Lanciano miracle, again without revealing the origin of the test samples. The experts making the comparison concluded that the two lab reports must have originated from test samples obtained from the same person. They further reported that both samples revealed an “AB” positive blood type. They are all characteristic of a man who was born and lived in the Middle East region.

Only faith in the extraordinary action of a God provides the reasonable answer—faith in a God, who wants to make us aware that He is truly present in the mystery of the Eucharist. The Eucharistic miracle in Buenos Aires is an extraordinary sign attested to by science. Through it Jesus desires to arouse in us a lively faith in His real presence in the Eucharist. He reminds us that His presence is real, and not symbolic. Only with the eyes of faith do we see Him under appearance of the consecrated bread and wine. We do not see Him with our bodily eyes, since He is present in His glorified humanity. In the Eucharist Jesus sees and loves us and desires to save us. (Archbishop Bergoglio became a Cardinal in 2001, this miracle was published after many researches, by that time he became a Cardinal, that's why he is addressed as cardinal in this post) Also watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APz1v8oz1ms where Dr.Castanon, Atheist turned Catholic explains this miracle!

Read More

And the Holy Spirit Descended in the Form of a Dove

This lovely photo was taken on Wednesday May 15th, a few days before Pentecost Sunday at the Wednesday audience. Some pilgrims presented the pope with a cage holding two doves. He released the first one. The second got its wings caught in the bars of the cage, and sat for a few moments on the pope's hand before flying away. I believe these are homing pigeons. They are often released at events like weddings and funerals. They return to their home coop.
But what a lovely gesture just a few days before Pentecost Sunday. And how happy Pope Francis looks as he releases the bird. He does have about him the aura of a joyful man. And look at the two men behind him. Joy is contagious. Smile a lot today. It will be a gift to everyone you meet! Rejoice in the Lord always.

Read More

Pope Francis' Angelus Message on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity

From Catholic News Agency:

"The light of Easter and Pentecost have renewed in us each year the joy and wonder of faith that recognizes that God is not something vague, abstract, but has a name: ‘God is love,’” the Pope said May 26, before reciting the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square. 

And this love “is not sentimental, emotional, but the love of the Father who is the source of all life, the love of the Son who died on the cross and rose, the love of the Spirit who renews man and the world,” he stated. 

Pope Francis then reflected on how the Trinity “is not the product of human reasoning, it is the face which God himself revealed, not from the top of a throne, but walking with humanity in the history of the people of Israel, and above all in Jesus of Nazareth. 

“Jesus is the Son who made us know the merciful Father and brought to the world his ‘fire,’ the Holy Spirit,” he said. 

On today’s feast, he explained, “we praise God not for a particular mystery, but for himself, ‘for his glory is immense,’ as the liturgical hymn says. We praise him and thank him because he is love, and for how he calls us to enter the embrace of his communion, which is eternal life.”

Read More

Pope Francis Says No Communion for Pro-Abort Politicians!

Are the U.S. bishops listening?

Read More

Hear the Screaming? It's the Nuns on the Bus!

They just knew that Pope Francis was going to:

• approve of contraception
• affirm homosexual "marriage"
• ordain women
• make celibacy optional
• approve of divorce 

It's such a surprise to find out he's (horrors!) actually Catholic!

Vatican reaffirms need for reform in LCWR

Read More

Tough Talk from Pope Francis

Read More

Pope Francis Makes First Two Episcopal Assignments for U.S....

...and both men were ordained for the Diocese of Lincoln, which seems to me to be an excellent sign. Bishop Bruskewitz was surely one of the most orthodox bishops in the country and one especially reviled by liberals.. The one time I met him, at a fundraising dinner, I also found him to be charming and humble. The two new episcopal assignments are:

Bishop Michael Jackels, current of bishop of Wichita, is being sent to Dubuque.

Msgr. John Folda, currently the rector at the Lincoln seminary, is going to Fargo, North Dakota.

It is interesting to see that his first two American assignments are going to men ordained for one of the most orthodox dioceses in the nation. It will be interesting to watch how these assignments are greeted by Am-church. Read more here.

Read More

Pope Francis: Meditation on Holy Week

Brothers and sisters, good morning!

I am pleased to welcome you to my first general audience. With deep gratitude and veneration I am taking up the "witness" from the hands of my beloved predecessor, Benedict XVI. After Easter we will resume the catechesis on the Year of Faith. Today I would like to focus a little on Holy Week. With Palm Sunday we began this week - the center of the whole liturgical year - in which we accompany Jesus in His Passion, Death and Resurrection.

But what does it mean for us to live Holy Week? What does it means to follow Jesus on His way to the Cross on Calvary and the Resurrection? In His earthly mission, Jesus walked the streets of the Holy Land; He called twelve simple people to remain with Him, to share His journey and continue His mission; He chose them among the people full of faith in the promises of God. He spoke to everyone, without distinction, to the great and the lowly; to the rich young man and the poor widow, the powerful and the weak; He brought the mercy and forgiveness of God to all; He healed, comforted, understood, gave hope, He led all to the presence of God, who is interested in every man and woman, like a good father and a good mother is interested in each child.

God did not wait for us to go to Him, but He moved towards us, without calculation, without measures. This is how God is: He is always the first, He moves towards us. Jesus lived the daily realities of most ordinary people: He was moved by the crowd that seemed like a flock without a shepherd, and He cried in front of the suffering of Martha and Mary on the death of their brother Lazarus; He called a tax collector to be His disciple and also suffered the betrayal of a friend. In Christ, God has given us the assurance that He is with us, in our midst. "Foxes", Jesus said, "have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest His head" (Mt 8:20). Jesus did not have a home because His house is the people -- that is, us; His mission is to open all God's doors, to be the loving presence of God.

In Holy Week we live the highest point of this journey, this loving plan that runs throughout the entire history of the relationship between God and humanity. Jesus enters Jerusalem to take the final step, in which His whole life is summarized: He gives Himself totally; He keeps nothing for Himself, not even His life. At the Last Supper, with His friends, He shares the bread and distributes the chalice "for us." The Son of God is offered to us, He consigns His Body and his Blood into our hands to be with us always, to dwell among us. And on the Mount of Olives, as in the trial before Pilate, He puts up no resistance, He gifts Himself: He is the Suffering Servant foretold by Isaiah, who stripped himself unto death (Is 53:12).

Jesus does not live this love that leads to sacrifice passively or as a fatal destiny; certainly He does not hide His deep human commotion in the face of a violent death, but He entrusts Himself with full confidence to the Father. Jesus voluntarily consigned Himself to death to respond to the love of God the Father, in perfect union with His will, to demonstrate His love for us. On the Cross, Jesus "loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal 2:20). Each of us can say, "He loved me and gave Himself for me." Everyone can say that "for me".

What does this mean for us? It means that this is my, your, our path. Living Holy Week following Jesus not only with the emotions of the heart; living Holy Week following Jesus means learning how to come out of ourselves - as I said on Sunday - to reach out to others, to go to the outskirts of existence, to be the first to move towards our brothers and sisters, especially those who are most distant, those who are forgotten, those who are most in need of understanding, consolation and help. There is so much need to bring the living presence of Jesus, merciful and full of love!

Living Holy Week means increasingly entering into God's logic, the logic of the Cross, which is not first of all that of pain and death, but of love and of self-giving that brings life. It means entering into the logic of the Gospel. Following, accompanying Christ, remaining with Him requires a "stepping outside". Stepping outside of ourselves - of a tired and routine way of living the faith, of the temptation to withdraw into pre-established patterns that end up closing our horizon to the creative action of God.

God stepped outside of Himself to come among us, He pitched His tent among us to bring the mercy of God that saves and gives hope. Even if we want to follow Him and stay with Him, we must not be content to remain in the enclosure of the ninety-nine sheep, we have to...step outside", to search for the lost sheep together with Him, the one furthest away. Remember well: stepping outside of ourselves, like Jesus, like God has stepped outside of Himself in Jesus and Jesus stepped outside of Himself for all of us.

Some might say to me, "But, Father, I have no time", "I have so many things to do", "it is difficult", "what can I do with my little strength?", "with my sin, with so many things"? Often we settle for a few prayers, a distracted and inconsistent presence at Sunday Mass, a random act of charity, but we lack this courage to "step outside" to bring Christ. We are a bit like St. Peter. As soon as Jesus speaks of the Passion, Death and Resurrection, of self-giving, of love for all, the Apostle takes him aside and rebukes him.

What Jesus says upsets his plans, seems unacceptable, and undermines the sense of security that he had built up, his idea ofthe Messiah. And Jesus looks at the disciples and addresses Peter with perhaps one of the strongest words of the Gospel: "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do"(Mk 8:33). God always thinks with mercy: do not forget this. God always thinks with mercy: our merciful Father. God thinks like a father who awaits the return of his child and goes to meet him, sees him come when he is still far away.

What does this mean? That each and every day he went out to see if his son was coming home. This is our merciful Father. It is the sign that he was waiting for him from the terrace of his house; God thinks like the Samaritan that does not approach the victim to commiserate with him, or look the other way, but to rescue him without asking for anything in return, without asking if he was Jew, if he was pagan, a Samaritan, rich or poor: he does not ask anything. He does not ask these things, he asks for nothing. He goes to his aid: This is how God thinks. God thinks like the shepherd who gives his life to defend and save his sheep.

Holy Week is a time of grace which the Lord gifts us to open the doors of our hearts, our lives, our parishes - what a pity, so many parishes are closed! - in our parishes, movements, associations, and to "step outside" towards others, to draw close to them so we can bring the light and joy of our faith. Always step outside yourself! And with the love and tenderness of God, with respect and patience, knowing that we put our hands, our feet, our hearts, but then it is God who guides them and makes all our actions fruitful.

May you all live these days well, following the Lord with courage, carrying within a ray of His love for all those whom we meet.

Read More

Pope Francis Has a Past and We Should Recognize It

I have high regard for Marielena Montesino de Stuart and her reporting.

Each of us has a personal history that tells something about us. Marielena's article below serves as a curriculum vitae of Pope Francis, although a partial one. It is better to enter this time with eyes wide open. Ignorance and naivete are not virtues. Let us pray for Pope Francis and our Church.

FRANCIS (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) an Argentinian Jesuit from "the end of the world"-- may end up taking you there...

Read More

And Then There are the Concerns about the New Pope

A commentator on one of my blog posts says I've presented an unbalanced picture of the new Holy Father and I probably have because I know little to nothing about him except what I've read in the past few days. But in the interests of balance I'll present this view of Pope Francis' work in Argentina. It does give one pause. And I would say, it also gives one great reason to pray.

The Horror! A Buenos Aires journalist describes Bergoglio

But as the first comment following the article said, "Mastai-Ferretti was a freemason before becoming Pope Pius IX. Point? All this despair is pure folly."

Agreed! Count two ten and say a novena for Holy Mother Church and our new holy father. 

Read More

Robert Moynihan on Pope Francis

There's been plenty of commentary on our new pope in the secular media. Don't waste your time on it. They rarely get it right. On the other hand, one of my favorite commentators on what goes on in Rome is the editor of Inside the Vatican, Robert Moynihan. Here's one of his letters written a few days ago that give a multitude of insights into the character of the new pope. Pope Francis sure isn't shy about breaking tradition - from going to pay his own hotel bill to not following the pro-forma act of renaming current Vatican officials to their posts. This pope will certainly be interesting to watch in the days ahead. A few random thoughts that occurred to me while reading Moynihan's letter. 


He has a great love for the Blessed Mother. I read yesterday about his devotion to Our Lady, undoer of knots. There will certainly be lots of knotty problems facing our Holy Father from dealing with the SSPX,  cleaning up corruption, etc. He couldn't choose a better helper.

How humble and lovely to go off and pay his own bill at the hotel. It shows a man who isn't too big to do little things and say thank you to those who serve him.

Urging his Argentina flock to stay home and give the money to the poor instead shows real detachment. Who wouldn't want to be surrounded by friends at a time like this. But he appears to have a real heartfelt love for the poor, unlike many "princes" of the Church who live like royalty and love the trappings and fawning attentions of worldly princes. I pray he is a John Fisher among the Cardinal Wolseys of the Church, with the spirit of the martyr, but the ability to successfully restore the bride of Christ.

Speaking of reform - he didn't reconfirm the bureaucrats breaking with the tradition of past popes. Good! Maybe we can hope he really will clear out some of the "smoke of Satan" from the Vatican bureaucracy.

His visit to the tomb of Pope Pius V may be a sign of his respect for the reforming pope. Was he attempting to dispel concerns about his respect for the ancient Mass? Does it hint at his own intention to bring about true reform like his predecessor?

He has eloquently defended marriage and has opposed homosexual unions and adoption. How many of his brethren have been that courageous? We need boldness as the world collapses everywhere into the Sodom and Gomorrah sinkhole. It looks like he has that kind of backbone.

The pope's installation Mass will be held in St. Peter's square -- NO TICKETS -- anyone may attend. Reading that made my heart leap with the joy. The hoi polloi are welcomed by this pope. Maybe he's a cleric that really does believe we are all essential to Holy Mother Church, not just the big donors, the powerful, and the celebrities.

Something tells me I'm really going to love this pope! He sounds like the "papa" we all need. Viva il papa!

Read More

Another Great Story about Pope Francis

I presume everyone has heard that the pope told his flock in Argentina to stay home and give their air fare money to the poor. But did you hear that his shoes were so shabby that, before he left for Rome, friends bought him a new pair? It reminded me of "Fr. Baby Doe," Fr. Norman Weslin who wore both a shabby cassock and shoes held together with duct tape. I like this man's simplicity. Francis is a good name for him.

And now for a little humor.

Read More

Will Pope Francis be the Mouse that Roars?

The blogs are a-twitter with posts about the humble style of our new pope. The photo says it all.

But as I look at our new pope's bold acts condemning abortion and euthanasia, homosexual marriage and adoption, liberation theology, etc. I think perhaps the cardinals have elected the mouse that roars.

I am particularly impressed with his simple lifestyle, something his brothers would do well to imitate.

So let's all pray for Pope Francis. He cares deeply about evangelization and, let's face it, we certainly need that with the sorry state of education among Catholics, many of whom reject fundamental doctrines.

As for the conclave watchers who wanted a new type of pope who would reject everything the Church teaches by approving contraception and abortion, blessing divorce, advancing the homosexual lifestyle, approving women's ordination, and generally turning the Catholic Church into ECUSA (Episcopal Church USA), eat your heart out. This man loves the Church. It ain't gonna happen.

Mary, Mother of the Church and Queen of the Clergy, pray for our new Holy Father and for the flock he shepherds.

Read More

Some Common Sense From Taylor Marshall on our new Holy Father

Take a deep breath and count to ten! Visit Canterbury.

Read More

Traditionalists Express Concern about Pope Francis....

...but that's not the entire story.

Apparently Cardinal Bergoglio was less than friendly to Summorum Pontificum when it was released and refused permission in his diocese for its implementation. Rorate Coeli has carried information on this. But that's not the entire story of this man and one of those commenting, Brian Kopp, (amidst the gloom and doom crowd) had this to say:

I have no concerns whatsoever about the continued growth of the TLM under our new Pope Francis. He will not do anything to undermine the freedom Pope Benedict granted to the TLM. And unlike Pope Benedict, I would not be at all surprised to see Pope Francis publicly offer a TLM some day. 

Seriously. 

The man has a deep devotion to Our Lady of Fatima, practices the Five first Saturday Devotions, and prays 15 decades of the Rosary each day. 

After he meets with Pope Emeritus Benedict, reads the 300 page dossier on the VatiLeaks scandal, and reads the rest of the Third secret of Fatima, he will be a different man than he was as Archbishop, then Cardinal, in Argentina. 

He just strikes me as the type who, once he learns something is the Lord’s Will, he will simply make it his own. I suspect under the influence of our Pope Emeritus and the rest of the Third Secret we will be pleasantly surprised by his pontificate.

It is too soon for people to hyperventilate over Pope Francis. First of all, the Holy Spirit allowed his election so it must "work together for good for those who love the Lord and serve according to His purpose." Secondly, the position can make the man as Brian Kopp says. Think of the change to Thomas Becket after being named Archbishop of Canterbury. If God could change so drastically a man committed to a sinful lifestyle, think what He can do with a man who loves Him and His mother.

Besides, I cannot believe) that the new pope's simple lifestyle in Argentina was put on. And I for one am tired of cardinals, bishops, and pastors who live like princes (or princesses) among poor parishioners. There is something nauseating about bishops with climate-controlled wine cellars, personal chefs, and houses filled with marble, mahogany, and masterpieces. A simple man who cooked his own dinner and rode the subway appeals to me. So everybody needs to take a deep breath and pray for our new pope.

Read More