FLORIDA: CLICK https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=505212374514597 [7:55] to hear what the state has done this year. It’s impressive. Also, watch DeSantis handle agitators like a Supernanny. (Jo Frost would be proud.)
KETANJI BROWN: CLICK https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1504853393801633803 [:51] to hear part of a Fox News report about FAUXTUS’ SCOTUS nominee. CLICK the first link below to read about how she is a long-time support of leniency for child pornsters.
Then, CLICK the second link below to read how WaPo talked about Christine Blasey Ford’s attack on Brett Kavanaugh vs. how they now talk about the GOP’s questioning of Brown’s judicial decisions. Today’s Democrats are like sheep with small brains and no long term memory.
LADY DEMOSTHENES: Lady D. tweeted a sizzling response thread to Bloomberg’s pompous piece on how all the Little People can cope with inflation. “Okay, the Bloomberg opinion piece telling me to shut up and eat lentils and “no one said this would be easy” is my last straw. Look, @bopinion and everyone else pushing a socialist agenda, I’m not looking to join the Venezuelan quick diet.
“I’m not looking to turn my comfy first world country into a third world socialist country where the elected elites get to vote themselves more money while they try to convince me to eat bugs.
“I’m not looking to be told shut up and cope by people who technically work for ME and who are screwing up my economy by printing more money and SENDING IT OVERSEAS while voting in omnibus bills that steal away more of my individual freedoms.
“I’m sick of this. I’m sick of everyone who falls for it, and I’m sick of the willfully obtuse who think socialism means loft apartments and avocado toast for all!
“Take the freaking fleece off your eyes and look around you! They voted themselves pay increases at your expense.
“Politicians aren’t your parents. They are NOT the adults in the room, they do NOT care one iota about you and you can’t rely on them to fulfill any of their empty promises because they are useless liars, one and all.
“Stop telling me to eat cake. Portal was right, the cake is a lie, and y’all better wake up soon and make better choices or you are going to start looking at your local zoo like a grocery store.
“I was born in a first world country and damn it I’m handing my son a first world country to live in and I swear I’m willing to fight anyone who aims to take that from him. Be adults. Stop looking for daddy government to take care of you. Take personal responsibility. End rant.”
LENTEN MEDITATION: [9:34] – “During mental prayer, it is well, at times, to imagine that many insults and injuries are being heaped upon us, that misfortunes have befallen us, and then strive to train our heart to bear and forgive these things patiently, in imitation of our Savior. This is the way to acquire a strong spirit.” – St. Philip Neri
MIDTERMS: Yoga for Common Conditions tweeted, “Hi ‘bout spending 7 hours in Ukraine protecting innocent children from GQP supported Russian bombs – so you can pay a few cents less at the gas station? Get a real job grifter.” Hmm … a few cents less? I guess yoga pays well, cuz s/he/it/they obviously drives an EV and has no clue how much gas prices have shot up lately.
S&G: From now on, my blerbs about sexual perversion in our hand-basket to hell culture will be labeled for Sodom and Gomorrah. Ty to my cousin for the idea. – The Babylon Bee cannot get their Twitter account back unless they delete the tweet calling Richard/Rachel Levine a man. The Bee told Twitter to go suck an egg, because truth is not hate speech.
UKRAINE: “Photo of the Day from Kyiv” has me thinking about the importance of the Second Amendment.
GRAMMY NOTES: Here are photos of the project (inside and outside) for which Historic Ithaca selected my Dearest for an Award of Merit. They show how the barn looked when the vet bought it, 2 mid-renovation exteriors, and as it looks now. The practice is for high end, specialty services, like hydrotherapy, surgeries, MRI, that your regular vet would refer you to when needed.
ACLJ: Thank God for lawyers willing to defend our right to share the Good News! They’ve gone to bat for a second grader in Washington who was being searched for contraband (Bible tracts) and sent to the office repeatedly because parents didn’t like her asking their kids if they wanted to talk about Jesus. The school has backed down on every point.
FAUCI: It must’ve been agony for him to not be #1 media star for the past couple of weeks. Damn that Putin. Anyway, he’s back and, surprise NOT, he says the pandemic is not over! I watched an episode of Supernanny yesterday about a kid with severe separation anxiety. The solution was to not feed into her drama. Hmm … I “wonder” why that came to mind just now. 😉
JACKBOOTS: New York City’s vaxxx mandate for private sector workers who work on-site and school mask mandate for children 5 and under will remain in place indefinitely.
LENTEN MEDITATION: “My daughter … why do you not tell me about everything that concerns you, even the smallest details? Tell Me about everything, and know that this will give Me great joy.”
I answered, “But You know about everything, Lord.”
And Jesus replied to me, “Yes I do know; but you should not excuse yourself with the fact that I know, but with childlike simplicity talk to Me about everything, for my ears and heart are inclined towards you, and your words are dear to Me.
– St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in my Soul (2; 921)
MEDIA: NBC News used a soft filter to feminize “Lia” Thomas’ features. Cuz “news” … or something. It kinda reminds me of that time Vanity Fair photoshopped “Caitlyn” Jenner.
UKRAINE: Painting by Olga Soby, acrylic pour artist, YouTuber, and immigrant from Ukraine – According to the Newsmax story linked here, Russian soldiers want to go home so badly that some are seeking out Ukrainian ammunition so they can shoot themselves and get a medical discharge.
WAL*MART: CLICK https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1504159787692576768 [:10] to see footage of the incredible fire that engulfed the Walmart Distribution Facility in Plainfield, Indiana. The facility was over 1.1 million square feet, or about 27 acres in size, with more than 1,000 workers inside when the blaze began.
About 350 firefighters and 30 fire agencies, as well as other community partners, helped to fight the blaze, a task that took more than 50 hours. Thankfully and incredibly, only one firefighter suffered minor injuries, but was treated and released back to the scene, Plainfield Fire Chief Brent Anderson said. ATF will be investigating to find the cause, which is unknown at this time.
WOMEN’S SPORTS: An unidentified mother of an Ivy League NCAA swimmer said female swimmers are “frightened” by the prospect of professional, personal, and academic reprisals if they speak out about the intrusion of biological men, like “Lia” Thomas, into their competitions and locker rooms. Thomas reportedly still has his man parts and is sexually attracted to women.
GRAMMY NOTES: The Mascots had a fun and educational day at the zoo. Mama says they’re going to buy a membership so they can go often. There’s lots to do, both indoors and out, so weather won’t matter.
DISNEY: Several Disney employees were among 108 arrested as part of an undercover human trafficking and prostitution sting by Florida police. One of them, who worked as a lifeguard at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, sent inappropriate photos of himself to an undercover detective who pretended to be a 14-year-old girl. The others were arrested for attempting to solicit a prostitute.
On the same day as the arrests, Disney employees staged a walkout, demanding Disney do more to fight Florida’s anti-grooming, parental rights bill. DeSantis is expected to sign the bill into law, which will then take effect on July 1.
GENDER: On March 7, a bereaved mother spoke at a Heritage Foundation conference about how the pro-LGBT agenda in the school system and government led to her teenage daughter’s suicide. Lord, have mercy on her soul.
LENTEN MEDITATION: “Let us all resign ourselves into His hands, and pray that in all things He may guide us to do His Holy Will. … When thoughts of this or that come I turn to Him and say, ‘Only what you will, my God. Use me as You will.’” – Blessed Mary MacKillop
UKRAINE: [5:05] – This clip was taken from a recent livestream with Fr. Jason Charron on Cardinal Vigano’s letter about the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
VAXXX: In two separate cases this week, UK coroners concluded that a 34-year-old mother and a 31-year old father had each died from blood-clotting disorders caused by AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaxxxine. The AstraZeneca brand uses the same adenovirus technology as the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine authorized for emergency use in the U.S.
In the past week, VAERS has added 4,321 serious injuries, including 483 deaths to its ‘rona vaxxx ledgers. The totals now are 1,183,495 reports of adverse events following COVID-19 vaccines; of these, 208,209 qualified as serious and 25,641 died.
Of the 11,728 U.S. deaths reported as of March 11, 17% occurred within 24 hours of vaccination, 22% occurred within 48 hours of vaccination and 60% occurred in people who experienced an onset of symptoms within 48 hours of being vaccinated.
Meanwhile, in the land of Big Pharma, where Profit is King, Pfizer and Moderna are seeking approval for more booster shots.
WOMEN’S SPORTS: Because I care about the sanctity of competition, biological integrity, and saving women’s sports, I am celebrating Emma Weyant, the actual winner of the 2022 women’s NCAA 500-yard freestyle event on Thursday night.
The official winner of the 2022 women’s NCAA 500-yard freestyle event is a man who styles himself as “Lia” Thomas. Since coming out as transgender this year and switching from the men’s to the women’s team, Thomas’ ranking has shot from #462 to #1 in the 200- and 500- meter freestyle.
“Any woman – even those who have been highly regarded in the past as feminist and/or LGBT icons – who speaks out against the allowance of biological males in women’s sports gets told to shut up, sit down, and stay in their lane – and the shutuppery is coming from the very side of the aisle who just a few years ago repeatedly shouted through their megaphones about how the GOP was waging a ‘war on women’ because of pro-life bills and judges who appeared to share that philosophy who were being confirmed.” – Sister Toldjah
APPROVALS: Former President Trump has been out of public office for 14 months … and he’s still more popular than all of the top people in the federal government, including President Biden, Vice President Harris, Speaker of the House Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Schumer, House Minority Leader McCarthy, and Senate Minority Leader McConnell.
CHAOS: Dennis Prager says that “extreme secularism” is behind the policies that sacrificed the well-being of children on the “altar of safety. … If they win, you will have totalitarianism because people cannot live in chaos, so they will seek strong rulers to tell them what to do. And the proof is that they sought it during COVID.”
DEMS: You can smell their midterm desperation. Democratic Party activists in Wisconsin have filed a suit in federal court arguing that Sen. Ron Johnson, two-term Rep. Tom Tiffany, and freshman Rep. Scott Fitzgerald should be barred from running for office again.
Their “crime”? Speaking out on 2020 election irregularities and allegedly attempting to manipulate the congressional certification of the presidential election results. Johnson called the lawsuit “total nonsense”, noting that a similar one was dismissed by a court last week.
In other news, the Dem-majority House of Representatives in D.C. (which recently shelved a Republican attempt to reopen the XL pipeline) passed a major piece of civil rights legislation this week when they passed, in a vote of 235-189 along party lines, the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act, which, if enacted, would prohibit “discrimination based on an individual’s texture or style of hair.” The bill now goes to the Senate.
HUNTER: Well, well … the jerknalists who still style themselves as working for “the paper of record” have finally admitted (in paragraph 23 of an article on page 20) that Hunter Biden’s laptop and corruption investigations are real.
“Twitter suspended a major newspaper’s account for a story everyone is now forced to acknowledge was true. That’s fine, right? We’ll just be moving on?” –Karol Markowicz
CLICK https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1320621896480636929 [1:10] to see a clip from a Trump interview. Ted Cruz tweeted, “EVERY WORD Trump said to her has proven true. Will 60 Minutes issue an apology? Will they explain why they refuse to be actual journalists?”
Click the last link below to access an October 2020 by Richard Grenell about a Senate report that detailed how Hunter’s profiteering during the Obama-Biden administration was even worse than we tinfoil hatted GOPers thought.
MASKS: On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate voted 57-40 to express formal disapproval of the Biden administration’s continued mandate to wear masks on planes and public transportation.
BLM: A Black Lives Matter activist in Boston and her husband have been charged with 18 counts of fraud and conspiracy by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. According to court documents, the couple used tens of thousands of dollars meant for charitable efforts such as feeding needy children to pay for a vacation to Columbia, Maryland; groceries; Uber rides; car rentals; meals at restaurants; gas; auto insurance; purchases from retailers such as Old Navy; nail salons; hotel rooms; parking fees; and Walmart purchases.
ENERGY: House Democrats mothballed a Republican attempt to restart the Keystone XL Pipeline project, which would go a long way towards freeing us from Russian oil.
J6: For the second time in eight days, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols has dismissed a felony obstruction charge. In five other recent Jan. 6 cases, Judges Amit P. Mehta, Timothy J. Kelly, Dabney L. Friedrich, Randall D. Moss, and James E. Boasberg rejected motions to dismiss that charge. I smell appeals coming.
LENTEN MEDITATION: “For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” – Hebrews 10:30-31
MEDIA BIAS: The Left Stream Media is such a pathetic joke. Today’s “WTH” moment came when I read about USA Today’s “Women of the Year” which includes … you guessed it … a man. I looked through the other honorees, who all appear to be actual female type women … you know, the kind with XX chromosomes and uteruses and stuff. However, the one I was most interested in was the Virginia honoree, who was NOT Winsome Sears.
Surprise, surprise, also NOT. Sears is the first woman of color and first Jamaican-born American citizen to be elected to statewide office in Virginia, but she’s … you know … a REPUBLICAN. So, unlike “Rachel” Levine, “not a real woman.” Instead, USA Today chose Lashrecse Aird as Virginia’s honoree. Aird was a Democratic representative for Petersburg for three terms, but was defeated when she ran for a fourth term in 2021.
NYS: Comproller DiNapoli’s new 58-page audit report says then-Gov’ Cuomo’s Dept. of Health deliberately undercounted ‘rona nursing home deaths by as much as 50% to protect Cuomo’s rep as the national COVID Hero. What Cuomo really was is the Grim Reaper. Despite knowing the virus was especially lethal to old folks and the state had multiple, unused resources (like the Navy hospital ship), Cuomo ordered nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients. The fact that some of them had kept the virus out and/or had no means to quarantine new patients didn’t matter. The state also helpfully sent body bags along with the infected patients, which nursing homes quickly filled with the dead.
SEX TOYS: Bladder stones are hard masses of minerals that can grow around foreign object lodged in the bladder. After doctors performed surgery to remove this massive one, they cracked it open to find a glass tumbler the patient had shoved up her urethra years before.
TEACHER’S UNION: For the second time this week, Weingarten sent out (then deleted) a factually incorrect tweet about Ukraine. In the first one, she had the Ukrainian flag upside down.
From 1991 to 1997, Weingarten taught Law, Ethical Issues in Medicine, AP Political Science, and US History and Government at Clara Barton High School in Brooklyn.
UK: A report released by the UK government has confirmed that 9 out of every 10 deaths related to COVID-19 are found in those who are fully vaccinated.
VAXXX: Last November, Lt. Col. Theresa Long, MD, testified under the Whistleblower’s Protection Act to her deep concerns for the safety of military personnel forced to take the experimental mRNA gene therapy shots that are wrongly called “vaccines.” [14:57] – On March 10, Long testified in federal court that she and two other flight surgeons discovered certain disorders had spiked after the mandate went into effect, including miscarriages and cancers which had increased by 300%. Neurological problems had increased by 1,000%. Dr. Long also testified that the night before she was schedule to appear, she was contacted by high level officer who told her not to discuss these findings in court.
CALIFORNICATION: West Hollywood has allocated $300,000 in taxpayer money to fund a pilot guaranteed, $1,000/month income program that will run from April 2022 to September 2023. Applicants must reside in the City of West Hollywood, be 50 years or older, identify as LGBTQIA, and have an individual income of $41,400 or less.
CATHOLIC: This is worth the time, esp. if you’re Catholic and concerned about the state of the RCC in these hand basket times. – CLICK https://rumble.com/vx5uhn-obedience-to-god-not-man-fr.-james-altman.html [1:05:07] to hear Fr. James Altman give a talk entitled, “Obedience to God, Not Man.” I’m thinking Fr. Altman’s bishop made a tactical error when he fired him from his pastorate. He’s got so much more time now to speak out about the corruption in the RCC.
During the last ten minutes, he talks about the connection between Pope Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) and long-time sexual abuser of men and boys, now former Cardinal McCarrick. I didn’t know any of this stuff. It’s really damning. But it just affirms my suspicion that Bergoglio is a homosexual who, for many years, actively committed mortal sins. He’s pretty old now, but who knows … maybe those fires still burn. [See the section below, especially the Veritas Vincit article.]
UPDATE on McCreepick – He has been charged! The crime occurred in Massachusetts, where he wasn’t a state resident when the alleged abuse took place. The statute of limitations stopped when he went home. He’s pleaded not guilty and the judge has ruled his archdiocese be held accountable. There are other news stories at NY Post … if you’ve got the stomach for them. I want to cry just looking at the headlines. Click the bottom link.
EDUCATION: “Nothing speaks to our national decline quite like the country’s highest-ranking education advocate sporting a sign with an upside-down Ukrainian flag.” – Lafayette Lee
That’s a printed sign. Looks like somebody at the AFL-CIO got it wrong and these two brainiacs didn’t catch it until after they sent out the tweet … which has since been deleted. I’m guessing all those signs are probably being reprinted as well.
FYI: The flag’s orientation is easy to remember if you know that sunflowers are the national flower. Sky on top. Flowers on bottom.
EU: The pandemic is over and the vaxxx has been proven to be unsafe and ineffective. So the jackboots running the EU have decided not to cancel the passports, but to extend them until the middle of NEXT year!
“This really is total, unadulterated bullsh*t. The Council of Europe has agreed to extend the Covid digital pass until June 2023. The Orwellian twist is that it is in the name of ‘free movement’.” – David Quinn
LENTEN MEDITATION: “You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.” -St. Teresa of Avila
MANDATES: In the article linked here, David Brown argues that fighting vaxxx mandates with piecemeal arguments about effectiveness or safety or aborted fetal cells or natural immunity is a mistake. “We are free, or we are not. Science is not the arbiter of that freedom.”
After quoting Article 1 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights states that “all humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, Dr. Brown asserts, “In consequence, freedom cannot be conditional on medical status or choice of medical procedure. If we are born free, we do not acquire freedom through compliance.”
POPE FRANCIS: The pontiff recently removed a Puerto Rican bishop from office and replaced him with a 79-year-old retiree, because the bishop had publicly supported people who conscientiously objected to the COVID-19 vaccine.
The same pontiff has not even criticized two German bishops who had public denounced traditional RCC teaching on homosexuality. Last month, one of them said the teaching was “no longer correct”; the other said two weeks ago that same-sex relationships are not sinful.
The graphic refers to things Francis has said and written that seem to contradict RCC doctrine regarding salvation and damnation. See the Veritas Vincit link below. (FYI: veritas vincit is Latin for truth conquers.)
I think it is important to stress that Pope Francis has taught nothing ex cathedra, that is, from the chair (of Peter). These are the only papal teachings that are infallible. The rest of what spews out of his mouth and pen are ranked according to a hierarchy of truths that range from “Catholics should seriously consider this” to “some reporter says he said this.”
VFAUXTUS: An MSNBC analyst said of Harris’ performance in Europe, “Yet another piece of her lived experience that she really brings to this role as Vice President in this moment of crisis, and that is her role as prosecutor, right? This is somebody who is used to kind of taking on bad guys for a living. And so,her reallyputting her finger in the chest of Vladimir Putin and saying that there will be consequences.“
And back in the real world, President Zelensky’s former spokeswoman tweeted that it would be a “tragedy” if Harris ever became president.
You’re probably about 15 years old, so I don’t expect you to be very mature or for you to want a little girl on your skate ramp for that matter.
What you don’t know is that my daughter has been wanting to skateboard for months. I actually had to convince her that skateboarding wasn’t just for boys.
So when we walked up to the skate park and saw that it was full of teenage boys, she immediately wanted to turn around and go home.
I secretly wanted to go too because I didn’t want to have to put on my mom voice and exchange words with you.
I also didn’t want my daughter to feel like she had to be scared of anyone, or that she wasn’t entitled to that skate park just as much as you were.
So when she said, “Mom, it’s full of older boys,” I calmly said, “So what, they don’t own the skate park.”
She proceeded to go down the ramp in spite of you and your friends flying past her and grinding rails beside her.
She only had two or three runs in before you approached her and said “Hey, excuse me…”
I immediately prepared to deliver my “She’s allowed to use this park just as much as you guys” speech when I heard you say, “Your feet are wrong. Can I help you?”
You proceeded to spend almost an hour with my daughter showing her how to balance and steer, and she listened to you – a feat not attained by most adults.
You held her hand and helped her get up when she fell down and I even heard you tell her to stay away from the rails so that she wouldn’t get hurt.
I want you to know that I am proud that you are part of my community, and I want to thank you for being kind to my daughter.
She left the skate park with a sense of pride and with the confidence that she can do anything, because of you.”
BORDER: Remember the crisis at our southern border? Nobody’s had time to talk about it lately, what with the world going to hell in a hand basket, but just FYI, it’s getting worse.
FUEL: And just like that, we would find out how many of those 81 million Biden voters didn’t exist.
JIM JORDAN: [12:02] – I haven’t been able to find anything in the news or at Jordan’s website about when this happened.
LENTEN MEDITATION: “You don’t know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and as soon as you have said, ‘Lord, I don’t know how to pray!’ you can be sure you’ve already begun.” – St. Josemaría Escrivá
MEDIA BIAS: Former Fox News anchor in Phoenix, Kari Lake is now the Republican candidate for governor of Arizona. Trump-hating jerknalist Liam Bartlett interviewed her in February for “60 Minutes Australia.” His bias and attempts to get damaging sound bites got so bad that she walked out.
CLICK https://twitter.com/KariLake/status/1501639310386237443 [1:00] to see the clip shown in the graphic above. It reminds me of the chicken and broccoli casserole leftovers I inadvertently pushed to the back of the fridge and forgot about.
MEXICO: The Diocese of Culiacán has announced that all of the Catholic politicians who voted in favor of legalizing abortion up to 13 weeks will not be able to receive the Eucharist or be godparents.
In a statement, Father Miguel Ángel Soto Gaxiola, director of the Culiacán Commission for Life, Family, Youth and Laity, officially announced that Catholic lawmakers who voted in favor of abortion that the decision to deny them Communion is “the recognition of the objectively unworthy state of a person to receive the Body of Christ.”
PUERTO RICO: Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres, who has led the Diocese of Arecibo, Puerto Rico, for over ten years, has been removed by Pope Francis for allowing conscientious objections to COVID-19 vaccine shots.
The Pontiff has made it clear that he considers taking the shots a moral imperative, despite the fact that they were developed and tested with aborted fetal cells and have proven themselves to be unsafe and ineffective.
Sources say that Pope Francis had at least two secret meetings in 2021 with the CEO of Pfizer, the manufacturer of the vaxxx that Francis mandated for all Vatican employees.
Priests, parishioners, and Catholic and other Christian leaders have rallied behind Bishop Torres. Last Wednesday, there was a vigil where the faithful prayed the Rosary and sang hymns, while carrying signs thanking him for his leadership.
SEATTLE: Citing an increase in violent crime, Amazon announced it is moving roughly 1,800 employees are assigned to a building in a better neighborhood.
TREASON: Watch this one – CLICK https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=389444022993403 [18:08] to hear Tucker Carlson’s report on the Left’s current anti-Republican talking point. “Here you have a rich consultant who hates America — someone who has never served in the military — accusing Tulsi Gabbard, who’s been in the Army for nearly two decades, of treason. By the way that’s a death penalty offense.”
UKRAINE: On Monday, Fox News photojournalist, Pierre Zakrzewski, was killed in Ukraine. Correspondent Benjamin Hall, who was with him in the vehicle, was injured and remains hospitalized after the incident. It’s not clear who fired on their vehicle.
Since the beginning of Lent, the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, the men who will elect the next pope, have been passing this memorandum around. Its author goes by the name of Demos, that is “people” in Greek. Given his knowledge, he may be a cardinal.
THE VATICAN TODAY
Commentators of every school, if for different reasons, with the possible exception of Father Spadaro, SJ, agree that this pontificate is a disaster in many or most respects; a catastrophe.
1. The Successor of St. Peter is the rock on which the Church is built, a major source and cause of worldwide unity. Historically (St. Irenaeus), the Pope and the Church of Rome have a unique role in preserving the apostolic tradition, the rule of faith, in ensuring that the Churches continue to teach what Christ and the apostles taught. Previously it was: “Roma locuta. Causa finita est.” Today it is: “Roma loquitur. Confusio augetur.”
The German synod speaks on homosexuality, women priests, communion for the divorced. The Papacy is silent.
Cardinal Hollerich rejects the Christian teaching on sexuality. The Papacy is silent. This is doubly significant because the Cardinal is explicitly heretical; he does not use code or hints. If the Cardinal were to continue without Roman correction, this would represent another deeper breakdown of discipline, with few (any?) precedents in history. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith must act and speak.
The silence is emphasised when contrasted with the active persecution of the Traditionalists and the contemplative convents.
2. The Christo-centricity of teaching is being weakened; Christ is being moved from the centre. Sometimes Rome even seems to be confused about the importance of a strict monotheism, hinting at some wider concept of divinity; not quite pantheism, but like a Hindu panentheism variant.
Pachamama is idolatrous; perhaps it was not intended as such initially.
The contemplative nuns are being persecuted and attempts are being made to change the teachings of the charismatics.
The Christo-centric legacy of St. John Paul II in faith and morals is under systematic attack. Many of the staff of the Roman Institute for the Family have been dismissed; most students have left. The Academy for Life is gravely damaged, e.g., some members recently supported assisted suicide. The Pontifical Academies have members and visiting speakers who support abortion.
3. The lack of respect for the law in the Vatican risks becoming an international scandal. These issues have been crystalized through the present Vatican trial of ten accused of financial malpractices, but the problem is older and wider.
The Pope has changed the law four times during the trial to help the prosecution.
Cardinal Becciu has not been treated justly because he was removed from his position and stripped of his cardinalatial dignities without any trial. He did not receive due process. Everyone has a right to due process.
As the Pope is head of the Vatican state and the source of all legal authority, he has used this power to intervene in legal procedures.
The Pope sometimes (often) rules by papal decrees (motu proprio) which eliminate the right to appeal of those affected.
Many staff, often priests, have been summarily dismissed from the Vatican Curia, often without good reason.
Phone tapping is regularly practised. I am not sure how often it is authorized.
In the English case against Torzi, the judge criticised the Vatican prosecutors harshly. They are either incompetent and/or were nobbled, prevented from giving the full picture.
The raid by the Vatican Gendarmeria, led by Dr. Giani in 2017 on the auditor’s (Libero Milone) office on Italian territory was probably illegal and certainly intimidating and violent. It is possible that evidence against Milone was fabricated.
4. The financial situation of the Vatican is grave.
For the past ten years (at least), there have nearly always been financial deficits. Before COVID, these deficits ranged around €20 million annually. For the last three years, they have been around €30-35 million annually. The problems predate both Pope Francis and Pope Benedict.
The Vatican is facing a large deficit in the Pensions Fund. Around 2014 the experts from COSEA estimated the deficit would be around € 800 million in 2030. This was before COVID.
It is estimated that the Vatican has lost € 217 million on the Sloane Avenue property in London. In the 1980’s, the Vatican was forced to pay out $ 230 million after the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. Through inefficiency and corruption during the past 25-30 years, the Vatican has lost at least another € 100 million, and it probably would be much higher (perhaps 150-200 million).
Despite the Holy Father’s recent decision, the process of investing has not been centralized (as recommended by COSEA in 2014 and attempted by the Secretariat for the Economy in 2015-16) and remains immune to expert advice. For decades, the Vatican has dealt with disreputable financiers avoided by all respectable bankers in Italy.
The return on the 5261 Vatican properties remains scandalously low. In 2019, the return (before COVID) was nearly $ 4,500 a year. In 2020, it was € 2,900 per property.
The changing role of Pope Francis in the financial reforms (incomplete but substantial progress as far as reducing crime is concerned, much less successful, except at IOR, in terms of profitability) is a mystery and an enigma.
Initially the Holy Father strongly backed the reforms. He then prevented the centralization of investments, opposed the reforms and most attempts to unveil corruption, and supported (then) Archbishop Becciu, at the centre of Vatican financial establishment. Then in 2020, the Pope turned on Becciu and eventually ten persons were placed on trial and charged. Over the years, few prosecutions were attempted from AIF reports of infringements.
The external auditors Price Waterhouse and Cooper were dismissed and the Auditor General Libero Milone was forced to resign on trumped up charges in 2017. They were coming too close to the corruption in the Secretariat of State.
5. The political influence of Pope Francis and the Vatican is negligible. Intellectually, Papal writings demonstrate a decline from the standard of St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict. Decisions and policies are often “politically correct”, but there have been grave failures to support human rights in Venezuela, Hong Kong, mainland China, and now in the Russian invasion.
There has been no public support for the loyal Catholics in China who have been intermittently persecuted for their loyally to the Papacy for more than 70 years. No public Vatican support for the Catholic community in Ukraine, especially the Greek Catholics.
These issues should be revisited by the next Pope. The Vatican’s political prestige is now at a low ebb.
6. At a different, lower level, the situation of Tridentine traditionalists (Catholic) should be regularised.
At a further and lower level, the celebration of “individual” and small group Masses in the mornings in St. Peter’s Basilica should be permitted once again. At the moment, this great basilica is like a desert in the early morning.
The COVID crisis has covered up the large decline in the number of pilgrims attending Papal audiences and Masses.
The Holy Father has little support among seminarians and young priests and wide-spread disaffiliation exists in the Vatican Curia.
The Next Conclave
1. The College of Cardinals has been weakened by eccentric nominations and has not been reconvened after the rejection of Cardinal Kasper’s views in the 2014 consistory. Many Cardinals are unknown to one another, adding a new dimension of unpredictability to the next conclave.
2. After Vatican II, Catholic authorities often underestimated the hostile power of secularization, the world, flesh, and the devil, especially in the Western world and overestimated the influence and strength of the Catholic Church.
We are weaker than 50 years ago and many factors are beyond our control, in the short term at least, e.g. the decline in the number of believers, the frequency of Mass attendance, the demise or extinction of many religious orders.
3. The Pope does not need to be the world’s best evangelist, nor a political force. The successor of Peter, as head of the College of Bishops, also successors of the Apostles, has a foundational role for unity and doctrine. The new pope must understand that the secret of Christian and Catholic vitality comes from fidelity to the teachings of Christ and Catholic practices. It does not come from adapting to the world or from money.
4. The first tasks of the new pope will be to restore normality, restore doctrinal clarity in faith and morals, restore a proper respect for the law and ensure that the first criterion for the nomination of bishops is acceptance of the apostolic tradition. Theological expertise and learning are an advantage, not a hinderance for all bishops and especially archbishops.
These are necessary foundations for living and preaching the Gospel.
5. If the synodal gatherings continue around the world, they will consume much time and money, probably distracting energy from evangelization and service rather than deepening these essential activities.
If the national or continental synods are given doctrinal authority, we will have a new danger to world-wide Church unity, whereby e.g., the German church holds doctrinal views not shared by other Churches and not compatible with the apostolic tradition.
If there was no Roman correction of such heresy, the Church would be reduced to a loose federation of local Churches, holding different views, probably closer to an Anglican or Protestant model, than an Orthodox model.
An early priority for the next pope must be to remove and prevent such a threatening development, by requiring unity in essentials and not permitting unacceptable doctrinal differences. The morality of homosexual activity will be one such flash point.
6. While the younger clergy and seminarians are almost completely orthodox, sometimes quite conservative, the new Pope will need to be aware of the substantial changes effected on the Church’s leadership since 2013, perhaps especially in South and Central America. There is a new spring in the step of the Protestant liberals in the Catholic Church.
Schism is not likely to occur from the left, who often sit lightly to doctrinal issues. Schism is more likely to come from the right and is always possible when liturgical tensions are inflamed and not dampened.
Unity in the essentials. Diversity in the non-essentials. Charity on all issues.
7. Despite the dangerous decline in the West and the inherent fragility and instability in many places, serious consideration should be given to the feasibility of a visitation on the Jesuit Order. They are in a situation of catastrophic numerical decline from 36,000 members during the Council to less than 16,000 in 2017 (with probably 20-25% above 75 years of age). In some places, there is catastrophic moral decline.
The order is highly centralized, susceptible to reform or damage from the top. The Jesuit charism and contribution have been and are so important to the Church that they should not be allowed to pass away into history undisturbed or become simply an Asian-African community.
8. The disastrous decline in Catholic numbers and Protestant expansion in South America should be addressed. It was scarcely mentioned in the Amazonian Synod.
9. Obviously, a lot of work is needed on the financial reforms in the Vatican, but this should not be the most important criterion in the selection of the next Pope.
The Vatican has no substantial debts but continuing annual deficits will eventually lead to bankruptcy. Obviously, steps will be taken to remedy this, to separate the Vatican from criminal accomplices and balance revenue and expenditure. The Vatican will need to demonstrate competence and integrity to attract substantial donations to help with this problem.
Despite the improved financial procedures and greater clarity, continuing financial pressures represent a major challenge, but they are much less important than the spiritual and doctrinal threats facing the Church, especially in the First World.
BIDENOMICS: CLICK https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1503087865353453570 [1:22] to hear Pelosi assure us that “Government spending is reducing the national debt.” In other news, maxing out all your credit cards reduces your family’s debt.
CENSORSHIP: Google told Issues & Insights that the article in the graphic was being demonetized, because it supposedly contained “unreliable and harmful information.”
The poll was performed by the highly regarded polling firm, TIPP, which has been the most accurate of all pollsters in every presidential election since it started doing that polling. The article merely reported what the poll found.
DEFENDING PARENTS: Fourteen Republican attorneys general have sued President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, the U.S. Department of Justice, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, and the U.S. Department of Education for not responding to a FOIA request related to the Department of Justice calling for surveillance of parents expressing opinions at school board meetings and other forums.
DEMOCRATS: In a rare moment of clarity, their midterm campaign chief admitted, “The problem is not the voters… The problem is us. [Voters] think that we’re divisive and too focused on cultural issues. They think that we’re preachy. They think that we act like we know better than parents when it comes to their kids in schools.”
The leadership is apparently not listening. House Democrats, including Pelosi, want FAUXTUS to push failed legislation through via executive order.
FAUXTUS: “The press has set the bar so low for Joe Biden that when he makes a public appearance, it is considered a triumph if he manages to stay upright. No one expects anything he says to be coherent, and blatant disregard of the facts is overlooked.” – John Hinderaker
GOP: They didn’t have to wait long. Republican responses:
“Affordable living, strong economy and employment, national security, family and country. Everything DNC doesn’t stand for.”
“Lower taxes. Less government. Individual responsibility as a result of increased liberty.”
“Individual freedoms, free trade, personal responsibility, strong military, stopping government overreach…y’know American stuff.”
“Domestic energy independence, smaller govt, lower taxes, nuclear family unit, God, borders, law and order, prosperous capitalism, to name a few.”
“For starters: school choice, parental power, energy independence, low taxes, the dignity of work, peace through strength, life, equality of opportunity, individual freedom.”
LENTEN MEDITATION: Oh Lord, Your will is perfect, always, as You are perfect. Your will tells us that those who curse us You will curse (Gen. 12:3). I thank You, Lord, for cursing them (like it or not, we are to be thankful for His will). Make their curses a thorny wall around them that raps them and makes them helpless against You. In the Name of Lord Jesus, I bind them and cast them at your feet, Lord. You teach us it’s never Your will any perish (second death, cast into the lake of fire), that all men come to repentance and be saved. I ask You to open their hearts to You, to open their eyes to see you, their minds to accept you. Make them a blessing in all the earth. I command all their ungodly protection, all demonic advisors, and all their ungodly wealth to be exposed and destroyed. In the Name of my King and my Lord Jesus, I lift up my hands in praise, Amen.
MANDATES: Two days after Sr. Deirdre Byrne, M.D., filed her lawsuit, D.C. granted her religious exemption. Sr. Dede’s attorney says they’re continuing with the suit, because the exemption may be revoked by the D.C. government at any time.
Byrne is a member and superior of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a retired U.S. Army colonel who served overseas as a soldier and missionary, and a medical doctor who is board-certified in both family medicine and general surgery.
UKRAINE: Mariupol has had no food supplies, water, power or heat for more than a week. And now Russian forces have bombed a maternity and children’s hospital there, claiming it had been taken over by Ukrainian extremists to use as a base and that no patients or medics were left inside.
But Associated Press journalists documented the attack. They saw the victims and damage first-hand. They shot video and photos of victims fleeing the facility and they interviewed survivors in the hospital where they had been transferred. The mother and unborn baby in the photo above did not survive.
polination.blog 