Roma Locuta Est

July 20, 2017 (Steven O’Reilly) – There has been much commentary on the Internet on whether Pope Benedict XVI freely resigned the papacy. If he did not resign freely, we must conclude: (1) his resignation would be invalid; (2) Benedict would still be Pope and (3) Francis as a consequence would be an anti-pope. Those … More Thoughts on Free Will and Hypothetical Papal Plots

July 17, 2017 (Steven O’Reilly) – Cardinal Schonborn recently spoke at an event in Ireland. In this talk reported by Austen Ivereigh in a Crux article and commented upon by Phil Lawler at CatholicCulture.Org (see here), Cardinal Schonborn made an interesting admission. Cardinal Schonborn said that after Amoris Laetitia was published that Pope Francis asked him … More Schonborn as Cardinal Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius

July 5, 2017 (Steven O’Reilly) –  The report today is that Cardinal Joachim Meisner, one of the four “dubia cardinals,” has passed away (see here).  God rest his soul. Now the “four” are three. Recent events of the last few days would seemingly suggest the “correlation of forces” are shifting toward the permissive interpretation of … More …And then there were three…

July 2, 2017 (Steven O’Reilly) – Cardinal Muller is now out – no longer the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Taking his place as Prefect will be Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, until now the Secretary of the Congregation (see reporting by Edward Pentin at NCRegister).  Folks are understandably trying to … More Time for Catholic Bishops Around the World to Request that Pope Francis answer the Dubia by October 13, 2017

June 28, 2017 (Steven O’Reilly) – Stephen Walford recently published an “open letter” to the four “Dubia Cardinals” on the Vatican Insider site, wherein he “humbly” requests that the four cardinals withdraw their Five Dubia. Mr. Walford says to the dubia cardinals in his final paragraph of his open letter: “I will end by humbly asking … More Mr. Walford Pelts the Great Wall of China with Popcorn, Again

June 23, 2017 (Steven O’Reilly) – Austin Ivereigh recently asserted the other day that no one had responded to articles written by Stephen Walford (in Vatican Insider) on the subject of the magisterium of Pope Francis in regard to Amoris Laetitia.  I think the implication was these articles were too powerful for an answer.  Yawn. For … More Responding to Mr. Walford: Been there, done that (several times, Mr. Ivereigh)

June 21, 2017 (Steven O’Reilly) – In a blog earlier this week, I commented on the publishing of Cardinal Caffara’s letter of April 25, 2017 to Pope Francis, wherein he requested an audience with the pope to discuss the five dubia previously sent to the Pope. The Cardinal went public with the letter earlier this … More Regarding a stealthy Pope and a ‘Pope-less’ Consistory

June 19, 2017 (Steven O’Reilly) – As reported on Canon212.com, Sandro Magister published on his Settimo Cielo site a letter written to Pope Francis by Cardinal Caffara (of dubia fame). In this letter, Cardinal Caffara respectively addresses the pope and requests – on behalf of all four “dubia cardinals” – an audience with him to … More June Consistory: The O.K. Corral?