This post will be modest in scope. It is my opinion, that the July 1st crisis was avoidable. Both sides have blundered, and in their blundering have - seemingly - boxed themselves in. 

The Pope and the Romans: Last year we are told the SSPX approached Rome for an audience, only to be ignored. I would say it is uncharitable and negligent to refuse to see the head of a Society of nearly a 1000 priests who requests to see his father. 

On the other hand the SSPX can perhaps be faulted for not approaching Pope Francis over his 13 years; especially after he granted full canonical authority to hear confessions and formalize marriages. Why no approach? 

A possible solution could have been that the SSPX had initially submitted 4 names to the Pope for the selection of 2 bishops. The Pope, as the "bridge builder", could have accepted this, and proposed back that the SSPX submit to him another 4 names within 12 months of the consecration of the first 2 bishops.

On the other hand, Rome in being intransigent regarding the authority of the Council - such as Tucho Fernandez claiming that every iota of a pastoral Council must be accepted - obviously is shutting down any discussion a priori. The limitations of the authority of the Council has already been dealt with from John XXIII onwards. Further, Rome's refusal to retract the uncharitable and unjust restrictions of Traditiones Custodes (which we now know were promulgated on lies and distortions told to the Pope) is an intolerable abuse of Catholics. While the Roman Mass is being crushed, the abuses in the liturgy continue unabated. 

The Abbe de Nantes:

 “One cannot save the Church by building on other foundations. But some people wanted to persuade me to do just that. As someone unjustly (although legally) deprived of all power of jurisdiction over souls by a Pope and bishops suspected of schism and heresy, I was supposed to consider myself a victim of persecution and to attribute to myself some kind of extraordinary jurisdiction directly derived from God ! The determining factor was meant to be the pressing necessity of souls who were in danger of perishing in a Church that had completely lost her direction. Well, my answer to this was : never, not at any price. Such jurisdiction has never been recognised by the holy canons except in the case of bishops in countries where persecution has totally destroyed or paralysed the local hierarchy. Presuming on the assent of the Holy See, these bishops would exercise this kind of extraordinary jurisdiction to save these Churches from total ruin and to provide for the urgent necessities of souls (Dom Gréa, L'Église, p. 235-238).

 

The proposals of Bishop Schneider, it seems to me, are Catholic and charitable. Let us pray that they are heard. 

Catholic Unscripted also has a very interesting interview with Fr. Perricone.  

Please pray for unity in the Church. Please pray ALWAYS with charity and without anger or hatred. It is easy to become angry on seeing the abuse, the heresy. But this can be a pathway to sin and perdition. The saints did not switch between piety and venom, nor should we. Our Lord did not spew venum on his persecutors: we are commanded by Our Lord to imitate Him. And imitate Him we must, even in the the most difficult of things and times. That is what makes us truly Catholic.  

BREAKING: Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Lay Cardinal by Pope Leo

 

His Eminence Arnold Cardinal Schwarzenegger

 

For immediate release:

October 4, 2025. Vatican City, Secretariat of State:

The Supreme Pontiff, Pope Leo, by his apostolic authority - all laws and customs notwithstanding - hereby conferred upon His Excellency, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former United States Governor of California, the title and full dignities of cardinalis laicum, Saturday, October 4th, 2025.

His Excellency, Mr. Schwarzenegger has been appointed Special Advisor on the environment and climate to the Supreme Pontiff as an ex officio Member of the dicastery, Dicasterium ad Integram Humanam Progressionem Fovendam.

Sec. Arb. Frederico Fabbricare

 

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Note for readers: His Excellency, Mr. Schwarzenegger, in his capacity as Cardinal is now formally: Reverendissimo et eminentissimum, Dominus, Arnoldus, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Schwarzenegger (The most Reverend and most Eminent Lord, Arnold Schwarzenegger of the Holy Roman Church). 

September 1, 1939 ~ World War II began: Poland will not forget

 

"Come on out, come on out, there's going to be a war". Reflections on the Anniversary of World War 2

This day, 86 years ago, the forces of Satan crossed the Polish border and unleashed on the world a torrent of bloodshed. In the early hours of that fateful day, Nazi aircraft began to bomb Warsaw leading to the eventual occupation of that nation with co-conspirator, Soviet Russia. The Bolsheviks attacked Poland on the 17th, following the secret protocols in the vile Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. In fact, Nazis had even been training in the Soviet Union in the late 1930s. The right and left hand of Satan met at the river San - the dividing line between the two totalitarian States. Eventually, due to far greater organization and international connections and assorted fellow travellers,  the communist empire would devour more than half of Europe and lead to its monstrous extension over the globe leading to such a death count, that even the fiendish Hitler would end up looking like a choir boy. 

 "Come on out, come on out, there's going to be  a war", were the words my mother recalled to me of her mother hurrying down to the ocean side as she played with my uncle at Southend-on-Sea. That fateful day was September 3rd, and Britain and France had just declared war on Germany. A few hundred miles away, in my father's country the forces of Satanic evil were busily at work, already bombing hospitals and murdering civilians. 

Stalin directing Hitler into a losing war 

The result for Poland was the virtual extermination of Poland's Jews - protected by King Kazimir the Great centuries earlier, when Jews were being hounded out of other European states. Nazi hatred for the Catholic Church too was on display with arrests and executions of priests. Mass was proscribed, with the sole Mass at the Wawel Cathedral under the eye of the Gestapo. It was in this environment that the great Archbishop Sapiecha would take on a seminarian named Karol Wojtyla. 

My father was a witness to Nazi brutality. Early during the war, he and my grandmother on a number of occasions would sneak food to the Jews of Przemysl and pass food through the wired off area where the Jews were kept, prior to deportation to the death camps. My father always remembered this, and he remembered to his horror seeing behind the wire a young teenage boy from his class in school. Eventually my father would be arrested in a "Lapanka" (or street catch) and sent to Germany for slave labour. He then ended up in Norway on an island doing tree cutting; transferred to a camp near the Swedish border, he and another teenager escaped up into the mountains and to freedom in Sweden. He always remembered seeing the German Army motorbikes travelling along the road far below looking for them. In fact, this escape was even more daring for two young men had tried it earlier and had been shot. From Stockholm he eventually he would end up in Scotland in the armed forces... from then, onto London where he met my very English mother (who left London and spent her war years in Llandudno, Wales) - and the rest is history. 

So, please pray for Poland that she may remain true to her ancient Faith.

Queen Victoria: Mother of the Nation

Today we celebrate "Victoria Day", (though the actual birthday of the late Monarch of Canada was on May 25th). To one and all, a very happy Queen Victoria Day. 

A few years ago this blog was informed by Vox Cantoris that "Queen Victoria Public School" had been covered up by the enemies of this country. Well, two year ago these traitors renamed the school itself. These ignorant oafs no doubt are completely unaware that it was the Royal Navy under the Queen that rid the high seas of the scourge of slavery; or that the Monarch took an African woman (Sarah Forbes Bonetta) - rescued from African slave traders as her ward and goddaughter. So much for all Europeans as evil, and all Africans as sainted innocents. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us". (1 St. John 1:8)

 

Ste. Therese de Lisieux - 100 Year Anniversary of her Canonization

Today, May 17, 2025, marks the 100th Anniversary to the day when Pope Pius XI canonized Therese Martin. May she intercede for the Church, the Pope, our bishops, and clergy that they may preach Jesus Christ "...in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine.". (2 Timothy 4:2)

 

 

You may wish to also watch a beautiful film on her life story: 

Habemus Papam: Leo XIV

 

 

 

Please join me in thanking Our Lord for the election of Pope Leo XIV, Successor of Saint Peter, as the Shepherd of the Church throughout the world. 

The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe at La Crosse has a particularly strong bond with the Roman Pontiff, especially through its affiliation with the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. 

I urge all pilgrims and friends of the Shrine to pray fervently for Pope Leo XIV that Our Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Saint Peter Apostle, and Pope Saint Leo the Great, will grant him abundant wisdom, strength, and courage to do all that Our Lord is asking of Him in these tumultuous times. 

May God bless Pope Leo and grant him many years. Viva il Papa!

Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE

8 May 2025

A Pre-Conclave Review of the Francis Pontifcate by Henry Sire

Two excellent interviews with Henry Sire on the Francis pontificate and the state of the Church on the eve of the Conclave. 

Archbishop Vigano Offers A Requiem Mass for the soul of Bishop Williamson

His Grace Archbishop Carl Maria Vigano, on January 31st offered a Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of His Lordship Bishop Richard Williamson, who fell asleep in the Lord this past Wednesday, January 29th. 

The following is from the Archbishop's sermon: 

A dear Friend, a venerated brother in the Episcopate, a comrade in battle has concluded his earthly pilgrimage and has passed into eternity. And in these hours of mourning, relieved only by the eyes of Faith, we cannot but mourn his passing, remember his strenuous fight, his fidelity, his work in the service of Holy Mother Church and resort to prayer in suffrage for his soul.

My fraternal friendship with Msgr. Williamson is relatively recent. It began when I found myself clashing with the Roman Authorities, after having matured the awareness of the conciliar revolution and its devastating effects, an awareness which His Excellency had reached well before me. From our meetings I retain the memory of his ability to reconcile unconditional adherence to the Catholic Truth with a breath of true Charity and a tireless strength in preaching the Word opportune importune . I remember his humble and affable manner. As a true British gentleman, he had a keen sense of humor . His vast culture did not prevent him from behaving in a simple and modest manner, even in the poverty of his clothing. I remember well the worn cassock he habitually wore and his reluctance to artificial pleasantries.

Converted from Anglicanism and educated in the traditional Faith at the school of a great Archbishop, Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre, he was able to remain faithful to him even in the face of the concessions of his brothers, when human convenience and diplomatic calculations prevailed over the legacy of the French Archbishop. Monsignor Williamson was disobedient to an apostate Rome; disobedient to a weakened conservatism that had forgotten the true reasons for its existence; disobedient to a world incapable of hearing the truth spoken to its face. This apparent disobedience of his – which binds him inextricably to the figure of Monsignor Lefebvre, the “rebel bishop” who dared to challenge the modernism of Paul VI and John Paul II – was the reason why in 2012 he was abandoned and expelled from the Society of Saint Pius X to which he belonged, due to his unavailability to reach an agreement with conciliar Rome and the pseudo-conservatism of Benedict XVI.

From then on, Msgr. Williamson committed himself to building a “Catholic resistance” that could effectively counteract, on the one hand, the apostasy of the Roman authorities, and on the other, the compromises and concessions of the Society of Saint Pius X, whose Superiors were increasingly occupied with the search for canonical normalization. Msgr. Williamson was a free man, especially in not conforming to political correctness , and he was never concerned with the image that the press gave of him. In his lucid geopolitical vision, he anticipated many ideas that are now supported by facts, starting with the role of Zionism in the attack on Christian society. He lived through trials and humiliations without fuss, maintaining serenity of mind and in everything seeking only the glory of God and his own assimilation to Christ the Priest.

The full sermon may be read here.

Please do not forget to pray for Bishop Williamson's soul