It will be interesting to see how Pope Leo handles radical traditionalism. Although he was clearly the "continuity candidate," he's already demonstrated that he's more formal than Francis, and apparently has an affinity for the TLM. But the trad problem isn't about liturgy. 1/ In 2021, Francis issued Traditionis Custodes (TC) restricting the Latin Mass after 8 years of constant attacks from the trad movement. Taylor Marshall's racist publicity stunt in October 2019 was allegedly the straw that broke the camel's back. 2/

wherepeteris.com/taylor-marshal…

Is the traditionalist campaign for the pre-1955 Holy Week motivated by anti-Jewish sentiment?

This is the most antisemitic thing I've ever seen.

This (thankfully suspended) priest is basically describing the pre-1955 Holy Week as a celebration of antisemitism (which he agrees with), and is describing the later reforms as the result of Jewish infiltration.

Very weird timing.

In the past week, Fr Chad Ripperger and his groupies suddenly decided to mount an offensive against me personally and in response to the September 18 article I wrote about Ripperger's heterodox and dangerous views. 1/

wherepeteris.com/the-bizarre-an… x.com/ChrisStefanick… As I mentioned in a followup article on Oct 21, the FORMED streaming platform removed @ChrisStefanick's interviews with Ripperger - some with over a million views.

These tweets seem to be Stefanick's way of indicating that it wasn't his decision. 2/

wherepeteris.com/ripperger-911/

That 2019 article about Melina - a photo op that relied on an anonymous "source" claiming Pope Benedict supported the former JP2 Institute president's grievance against Pope Francis was outrageous. I challenged @jdflynn over it at the time but he stuck to the story. 1/

https://twitter.com/DawnofMercy/status/1839894683335512311

Pope Francis apparently took notice and mentioned the incident in a recent book-length interview, which I quoted in an article this year. 2/

wherepeteris.com/not-a-dictator/

The latest letter from @BishStrickland (probably written by @KeithFournier7) contains a large number of historical lies and distortions, one of which is a fake quote by Pope Pius X about how modernists should be "beaten with fists."

1/
bishopstrickland.com/blog/post/lord… These days, it's a popular meme with radical traditionalists who like it because it is titillating to their juvenile psyches and they think it makes St Pius X look like a based edgelord or something. 2/

What are we to make of the the GOP removing its longstanding anti-abortion language from its platform and now Trump's support of reproductive rights?

A theory:

Dobbs set into motion a sequence of events that is rapidly moving US abortion politics to the Western "mean." 1/ In 2013, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued that Roe "seemed to have stopped the momentum on the side of change."

In 1973, abortion laws in the US had gradually begun to change (legislatively) across the country. Roe ended that process. 2/

law.uchicago.edu/news/justice-r…

OK, what in the world is going on here? Fr. PeterChudy Sixtus Simeon-Aguinam (they call him Fr. Chudy) became pastor in January of a mission church on an Apache reservation in New Mexico. He seems to have taken an immediate dislike to the church's icon of Apache Jesus. 1/

https://twitter.com/rsnunez/status/1807909331926466748

The building was dedicated on July 4, 1939.

"The icon of the Apache Christ above the altar in the front of the Mission was painted for the Mescalero Apache people in 1989 by artist Robert Lentz of Albuquerque, NM." 2/

stjosephmission.org/history.htm

Are you a hopeful Catholic or a "prophet of doom"?

Insisting on *Massa Damnata* (most are damned) when the Church "allows" us to hope for the salvation of others - non-Catholics, unbaptized infants, suicide victims, even to hope that hell is empty - seems to be a sign. 1/ "Prophets of doom" think that a constant and acute fear of eternal damnation is necessary for living a life of virtue and good morals, and that the Church would be best served by instilling this fear in its members.

I'd say this is fundamentalism or even spiritual abuse. 2/

Some Catholics apparently think the continuity of every doctrinal development must be mapped out to their personal satisfaction in order to be legitimate.

This inverts the Church's position, which is that the authentic Magisterium decides what's in continuity and what isn't. 1/ When the Church promulgates a teaching on a matter of faith and morals, Canon Law (based on the teaching in Lumen Gentium 25 from Vatican II) calls on the faithful to grant assent to it according to the intention with which it was promulgated. 2/

There may have been confusion about "couples" and "unions" in the mainstream media on the first day, but now the major outlets - NYT, BBC, Washington Post, CBS, ABC, NPR, CNN, Al Jazeera, The Guardian - have the more accurate wording.

"Catholic" outlets? Not quite so much. NPR article's first three paras are pretty clear.

npr.org/2023/12/18/122…

A few things @DrKwasiewski fails to note, in his mean-spirited and melodramatic response to the parody:

- The author of the satire is a former SSPX priest. Kwasniewski gives this "rebuttal" as if he is some kind of ignoramus who is unfamiliar with radtrad arguments.

https://twitter.com/DrKwasniewski/status/1711851442003169390

2) @DrKwasniewski (and DiPippo) concede the author's first point. How do they *know* that "the author has no idea" why "Quo Primum did what it did"? Why would the author not have learned the reasons in his SSPX formation?

In light of the doubts many Catholics have about Pope Francis and his orthodoxy, and because many practicing Catholics are worried about the Synod, I re-share this article about my own growth in understanding about the role of the pope and Magisterium.1/

wherepeteris.com/finding-orthod… I think I can relate pretty well to many of the fears and concerns of conservatives and traditionalists today, especially with regard to their worries of a hostile takeover of the Church by modernists and leftists.

2/

🧵
On the flight back to Rome, Pope Francis answered a question from Antonio Pelayo of Vida Nueva, who mentioned a recent book for which Cardinal Burke wrote the prologue, "The Synodal Process Is a Pandora’s Box."

vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2…
The authors of the book are affiliated with the Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) movement, a loose confederation of hardline reactionary Catholic organizations, founded in Brazil by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira in 1960.

I've made this point before, but given the latest "debate" about the death penalty and life imprisonment, it's worth repeating. 🧵

https://twitter.com/mfjlewis/status/1679518466007498753

In reality, there are three questions being debated:

1) What does the Catholic Church teach about the death penalty?

2) Is the Catholic Church's teaching on the death penalty justified?

3) should the Catholic Church change its teaching on the death penalty?

This might be news to some Catholics, but when the Church teaches authoritatively that "the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person," clever arguments don't change that, even if you think they are super convincing. 1/ There is a difference between the objective fact that the Church teaches a doctrine ("marriage is indissoluble," "torture is intrinsically evil," "contraception is immoral," "only men can be ordained to the priesthood") and the arguments of those who disagree with them. 2/

Today's Moynihan Newsletter is 🤡🤪👽

Wherein the fugitive churchman welcomes the founding of the "International Movement of Russophiles."

TWO DOZEN US BISHOPS PUBLICLY VOUCHED FOR THIS GUY AGAINST POPE FRANCIS.

Not a single one has publicly retracted.

Think about that. 1 Paging George Weigel. Neoconservative foreign policy: how far we've come in a few short years. 2

firstthings.com/web-exclusives…

Reactionary and inattentive admirers, maybe.

"It seems very hard for any admirer of Benedict to look at the events that followed his resignation and see a vindication of his decision to retire"

@DouthatNYT at his absolute worst here. 1/

nytimes.com/2023/01/01/opi… No pope is perfect. Some of Benedict's pastoral and administrative decisions were disastrous. Some of @Pontifex's decisions may prove to be disastrous as well. But to fail to see the internal continuity and the mutual admiration between them is willful blindness. 2/

Perhaps too early for this, but I assume some "Benedict is (was) still pope" people follow my account.

Following the precedents of Pope St Martin I and Pope St. Eugene I, it seems like it's time to recognize Francis as pope. Martin was elected pope in 649.

Martin was carried into exile in 653.

Eugene was elected pope while Martin was in exile, in 654.

Martin died in 655.

Eugene died in 657.

Both are recognized as popes and saints by the Church.

newadvent.org/cathen/05598a.…

Twitter is probably not a great place to crowdsource on this issue, but something I've been trying to get a sense of is (roughly speaking) how many priests appeal to the Vatican to get automatic excommunications lifted?
1/ In light of the revelation of the Rupnik case and considering the number of offices and employees the Church has dedicated to resolving such cases (DDF, Apostolic Penitentiary, Cong for Clergy) and the secrecy they operate under... is this sort of thing routine or rare? 2/

If you think priests today are bad, I am reading this new Mcgreevey book on Catholicism after the French Revolution and I am pretty sure every priest in the late 18th century and early 19th was either a political revolutionary, a heretic, or had a common law wife and 6 kids. I mean they might be just as bad in the second half of the 19th century but so far I've only gotten to the part where Pope Pius IV has to flee Rome after his Prime Minister gets assassinated in 1848.

It's kind of telling that the best Archbishop Broglio can muster when asked if he's opposed to Pope Francis is basically "that's silly."

Let's be clear: although Francis agrees that the Covid vaccine must be voluntary (must be given with consent), he never opposed mandates. 1/ Some who have fixated on the word "voluntary" have taken this as license to grant exemptions, to treat it as if the Church said it's an equally valid option, or that skipping the vaccine could be the morally superior choice. That is not true. 2/

wherepeteris.com/pope-francis-v…