Tag Archives: Pope Francis

by | June 13, 2025 · 5:58 pm

Worth Your Time

I was very moved by what Christine Niles said in the video I posted previously and below, so I copied the pertinent part of the transcript and cleaned it up so I could re-read and share it.

The following from Christine Niles begins at the 24:00 mark. I am adding graphics to break up the text, because I believe it makes multiple paragraphs of text easier to visually scan and mentally process on a digital screen.

“I know people say … Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo, … is a product of the Chicago machine. Very, very huge differences here. First of all, Prevost was closer to Cardinal Francis George, who was known to be a very holy Orthodox defender of the faith in Chicago. He was closer to Cardinal Francis George also as a priest.

“[Prevost] was formed under Father Dudley Day, who had close associations with a traditionalist parish, Saint John Cantius, and Father Day, according to multiple people who knew him, said that he was probably one of the holiest, most devout, orthodox priests that they had ever met. He was an Augustinian. He had his own confessional at Saint John Cantius. So this was the man who helped form Prevost and actually helped to enroll him in the Augustinians.

“And then during Cardinal Bernardin’s reign in Chicago, Prevost was actually in Peru. You know, he spent 20 years in Peru. So he just wasn’t really around during Bernardin’s time in Chicago. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that Prevost is a product of the Chicago machine, the way that Archbishop Casey is now.

“Casey was ordained by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. Anybody who knows about Bernardin’s reign. I’m not going into all the details here, but it’s just scandalous. Utterly scandalous. Accused by numerous men, including seminarians, of sexual assault. Just a scandalous. You know, when he died, they actually had the Windy City Gay Chorus sing at his funeral. Okay, just anyway, this was the man who ordained him.

“And not just that, Casey was appointed to head Chicago’s Casa Jesus. From 1998 to 2003, he served as associate director and then as rector, so he was there for a total five years leading and forming these men. And during that time there were homosexual scandals, cancer. Casa Jesus was a house of formation founded in 1987 by Cardinal Bernadin for Latin American seminarians.

“They would go down to Latin America, various Latin American countries, and they would recruit seminarians there for Chicago. But during the entire time of his existence, there were so many homosexual scandals to it. And these were not just vague rumors, allegations, these were actually reported publicly in the Secular News. And there’s so many, so many details. I mean, so many stories. I’m not going to go into all the details here.

If you want to learn more, just go to my website @ https://stellamaris.media/. I published an article titled Priest Porn Scandal in Cincinnati marred by Bishop’s Falsehoods @ https://stellamaris.media/f/priest-porn-scandal-in-cincinnati-marred-by-bishops-falsehoods. I go into the history of Casa Jesus. Some of the major homosexual scandals there, but especially the one that took place in 2015, 2016, which led to his use finally being shut down. It was quietly shut down in 2016 by Cardinal Cupich because the rector there, Octavio Munoz, he was busted for homosexual child porn found on his laptop. He was charged and he was convicted.

“Please keep in mind, he was rector for seven years of Casa Jesus. He would regularly go down to Latin America and recruit seminarians. This was the man who helped form these souls for seven years. Busted for child porn. Now serving his time. So 2016, it gets shut down after nearly 30 years in operation. But the point is that Father Robert, Father Robert Casey, now Archbishop Robert Casey, was rector of Casa Jesus for years, and during that time there was a gay subculture there, and he refuses to discuss his time there. … And now he’s in charge of the souls in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. And as I have already pointed out, his tenure has started out in a disastrous way. …

“When a bishop uses his sacred office, his spiritual authority to shame Catholics into silence, Catholics were scandalized and expressing sincere concerns over the behavior of a priest. When a bishop does that, that’s textbook spiritual abuse. I’ve seen it again and again and again, especially as an investigative journalist who’s reported on clergy sex abuse cover up. I’ve seen it again and again, and it’s disgusting and it’s sick and it’s abuse of the bishops office. Priests do it too. Many times. I’ve heard from whistleblowers or from victims who want to go report something. ‘Oh, you can’t do that. That’s a sin of detraction. That’s a sin of detraction. You’re sinning. You shouldn’t be revealing these things. It’s a sin.’ Spiritual abuse.

“But all of this is why we need to pray for Pope Leo. We need to pray for him. He’s got heavy burdens. He’s got a lot of work cut out for him. Pray that he has the wisdom, courage, and strength to clean house. Remember, Pope Benedict asked us to pray for him at the beginning of his pontificate. ‘Pray that I do not flee for fear of the wolves.’ How many of us actually prayed for him? He resigned.

“Pray for Pope Leo that he has the strength to clean house, and do so with fearlessness and courage. You know, you read about stories like this. You hear about stories like this, scandals like this, in which the bishop himself is possibly implicated in covering up for sexual misconduct. And you realize the church has a long way to go in being purged and purified of this filth.

“Now, one question I get asked a lot by people after hearing about these terrible things happening in the church, these scandals is okay, ‘Well, we can pray for the Pope. Obviously, but what can we actually do? What can we, as laity do to help turn this ship around? Well, Pope Leo actually gives us an answer. He said something significant and beautiful in his sermon for the commemoration of Mary, mother of the church, over the weekend. You know how how do you help the church? How do you help the Pope?

This is what he said. ‘The Holy See is holy as the church is holy in her original core. And the very fabric of her being. The Apostolic See thus preserves the holiness of its roots while being preserved by them. But it is no less true that it also lives in the holiness of each of its members. Therefore, the best way to serve the Holy See is to strive for holiness, each according to his particular state of life and the work entrusted to him or her.’

“What does this mean? It means we Christians are all part of the Mystical Body of Christ, and what we do affects others in the body of Christ. There’s no such thing as private sin because your sin affects others, whether you know it or not, whether you see it or not, it has a ripple effect in the body of Christ. It affects others for good or for ill. Just like the good things that you do, the holy things that you do also affect the body of Christ for good. Your sin affects the body of Christ for ill and only those with a spiritual view of things understand this. You don’t see the world in terms of the spiritual if you only see us as autonomous individuals, each doing our own thing, disconnected from everybody else. …

“God actually does want to reunite all of us into a single family unity matters, and it’s the message of Pope Leo. I’ve said this before, he’s the Pope of unity, and he said in numerous homilies and addresses, try not to demonize the other. Try to reach out and try to understand the other. Don’t make it about us versus them. But remember that the person on the other side, the other side of the political spectrum, theological spectrum, whatever that is a human being created the image of God endowed with dignity.

“Now, we don’t always act that way. Obviously, we can act very badly. We don’t act in conformity with our human nature, which is stamped with divinity. But even when we behave badly, even when we give way to evil urges and commit terrible crimes, we should try to resist the temptation to demonize such people. … Yes, of course, … they have to take responsibility. Nobody saying that they shouldn’t. But very often these people are in the grip of the evil one. They’re in the grip of Satan, who exists, who is real, an actual, real spiritual being. Which is why these people need prayers. Prayers to be set free from whatever evil spiritual forces are oppressing them, driving them to behave badly. … Some of them, quite frankly, I think, are partially possessed. They’re enslaved to evil, and God desires that they be freed from the grip of evil.

“It is why, after all, Christ came to earth to become man, to become one of us, to suffer on our behalf, to free us from our slavery to sin, and open the gates of heaven for us. This includes the worst sinners among us. He didn’t come to call the righteous, but the sick, so he came to call the lost the hopeless cases. God is constantly like a good, loving and merciful father, reaching out to the lost, bidding them come back, come back, turn back, repent. Allow Him to heal, heal them, transform them, sanctify them.

“You know, in the history of Christianity, the worst sinners have sometimes become the greatest saints. I did an episode on this. So this is why we should never lose hope for the salvation of others, no matter how wretched their lives may be, but also why we should try to resist the temptation to demonize others, because there are dark forces involved who wish to enslave us to sin, and to keep us there forever. Forever divorced from God, forever separated from God. That is the ultimate victory for Satan over souls.

“But Christ loves us and he wishes to help break free. Help us break free from that so he can heal us and ultimately bring us to be with him in heaven forever. That is the goal. Eternal union with God. It’s what God desires of all of us, without exception. And yes, even for those bishops who lie and cover up and commit spiritual abuse, even them, in fact, they need our prayers most of all, because if they don’t repent, they’re facing the most fearful judgment of all.”

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by | May 14, 2025 · 11:04 am

Catholicism and the Faith “versus” Science Myth

NOTE: I saw the text below labeled “Author unknown” on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/526277745167015/. I added the graphics and videos. – CtH

You know, it’s funny when people hear that Pope Leo XIV has a math degree, taught physics, and wrote a thesis on monastic leadership, they act like it’s some wild plot twist. The Catholic Church has always been low-key obsessed with education. I mean, did you know nearly every pope since the Renaissance has had a PhD? Benedict XVI had five. Cardinals today basically need doctorate-level expertise to even get a seat at the table.

Leo XIV isn’t an outlier; he’s following a 2,000-year-old playbook where faith and reason are BFFs. This is the same institution that gave us the Big Bang theory (thanks to a Jesuit priest, Georges Lemaître) and the guy who invented genetics (shoutout to Gregor Mendel, the pea-plant-obsessed Augustinian friar). Yet somehow, we still think of the Church as just incense and hymns.

The Church’s duality; defending doctrinal tradition while pioneering intellectual frontiers, is its defining paradox. Consider the Vatican’s astronomical observatory, which has operated since 1582, or the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which has included members like Hawking and Einstein.*

Let’s break it down. Those monks and nuns you picture copying manuscripts in candlelit monasteries? They weren’t just praying, they were preserving ancient Greek philosophy, advancing math, and basically saving Western civilisation during the Dark Ages. Fast-forward to today, and the Vatican still runs its own space telescope (yes, really, Jesuit brothers track asteroids). The Church condemned Galileo, sure, but now it funds ethical stem-cell research and partners with IBM on AI ethics. It’s like the ultimate comeback story: “Oops, we messed up on heliocentrism; here’s a think tank on quantum physics.”

And let’s talk about those religious orders. Jesuits? They basically invented the modern university system. The Jesuits founded in 1540, by a chap called Ignatius Loyola, (half monk, half soldier) ran over 800 universities globally.ǂ Franciscans gave us Occam’s Razor; you know, that “simplest explanation is best” rule you learned in science class? That came from a 14th-century friar who loved logic more than the Pope loved his fancy hat. The Dominicans had Thomas Aquinas, who merged Aristotle’s philosophy with theology. Augustinians, Leo XIV’s crew, were all about community and critical thinking, traits he took to Peru, where he spent 20 years teaching in slums while quietly holding dual citizenship. The guy’s got more layers than a medieval manuscript.

But here’s the upper-cut: the Church thrives on this weird paradox. It’s conservative enough to make your grandma nod approvingly (“No women priests? Classic.”) but progressive enough to have a Pope who trash-talks climate deniers and slams border policies. Leo XIV fits right in; he’s a Republican primary voter who also called Trump’s family separations “illicit,” a social media critic who warns bishops not to be divisive online. It’s like the Church says, “We’ll debate evolution with Darwinians by day and chant Latin psalms by night and we’ll look good doing both.”

So next time someone acts shocked that a pope knows quantum physics or tweets about refugees, just smile. The Catholic Church has been playing 4D chess with knowledge for centuries. It’s not a relic; it’s a living library, where friars argue about black holes over breakfast and nuns run coding bootcamps. Leo XIV? He’s just the latest chapter in a story where faith doesn’t fear science … it fuels it.

ADDITIONS by CtH:

*The Vatican Astronomical Observatory was established in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, the man that Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost chose to honor with his own papal name.

ǂ There are 35 craters on the moon named for Jesuits. https://ucatholic.com/blog/the-awesome-reason-35-craters-on-the-moon-are-named-after-jesuits/

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by | May 10, 2025 · 8:47 am

The Politics of an American Pope

The Daily Mail has published a story claiming the new pope is a registered Republican. This is incorrect. Illinoisans do not register by party. They may vote in one party’s primary per election, but can switch at any time.

Pope Leo XIV, who has lived in Peru and Rome for most of his career, has allegedly voted in some GOP primaries and presidential elections. Obviously, there is no record of whom he voted for when he did vote, but since he is staunchly pro-life, it is unlikely he voted for Harris last November. However, that doesn’t mean he’s a MAGA Trumper.

In January, J.D. Vance said, “There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.” The Daily Mail claims that then-Cardinal Prevost responded by writing an article entitled, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

I googled that title and got a hit at National Catholic Reporter; the article was written by Kat Armas. Prevost merely posted the link, without comment, on his X account. In his statement, Vance was referencing a concept in Catholic theology known as “ordo amoris” (Latin for “order of love”) which is based on the words of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In the words of St. Augustine, we are called to give “special regard” to those persons who, “by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection” with us.

Personally, I think it is odd that Pope Leo XIV appeared to criticize Vance with his tweet, given that he is an Augustinian priest and is certainly acquainted with this concept. I also doubt very much that he has not practiced ordo amoris in his own life. I mean … who hasn’t? Who couldn’t? If we were to reduce our most intimate personal interactions to only those that we grant to the billions of strangers living on the other side of the world, then we would have no personal interactions at all.

Jesus certainly practiced ordo amoris. He spent 30 years in intimate relationship with His mom, followed by less than 3 years in public ministry. But even during His public ministry, He treated His disciples differently than He did the people. Even amongst the disciples, He singled out some for special attention. E.g., only four of the twelve were at the Transfiguration.

The Left seems delighted to have found social media posts by Prevost that appear to be critical of the Trump administration. I noted a few reasons why they’re making way too much of it. One is that he rarely posts. There were no posts at all in 2024 and have only been five this year. Of these, two were about praying for Pope Francis’ health and three were links to published articles about Trump’s immigration policies.

Among other things, the American Magazine article entitled Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration by Jesuit priest Sam Sawyer says, “Catholic teaching both allows and calls for ‘development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration.’ No one, except those who are misrepresenting the church’s advocacy and care for migrants, claims that Catholics are in favor of illegal immigration or open borders.”

It concludes with, “The Gospel does not offer a charter for how to legislate about immigration. It does offer a standard for how far we are to go to love our neighbor, and a refusal to accept the limits we might be comfortable with on who our neighbors are. The question we need to answer is whether we judge our politics according to the Gospel or the other way around.”

The Catholic Standard article, entitled This Ordeal is the Passion by Bishop Evelio Menjivar, is much more biased, calling the early sweep of criminal illegals “shock and awe” campaign of “aggressive threats” and “questionable legality.” One wonders where God’s demand for honesty lies in this diatribe. One could say much the same about the previous administration’s open border and sanctuary welfare benefits. However, even that article comes around to pleading for putting the Gospel first, saying “we cannot let the dark side of anti-immigrant animus take hold.”

Let us hope and pray that the new pope’s focus will be more on the Gospel and less on propping up progressive political causes. And maybe we can also be just a little like these kids, even if our first ever American pope is from Chicago! https://x.com/Monocarp_/status/1920536512782889126 [:43]

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by | February 13, 2025 · 4:26 am

Pontifical Hypocrisy

Pope Francis has released another scolding to American Trump supporters. In it he says, “I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations.” Then he equates migration with necessity, as if all the millions who came here illegally did so to escape persecution. Clearly, he has not followed our open border crisis closely.

He claims that “the rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.” Sorry, but no. A criminal is someone who has committed a crime. A crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. Entering any locale in a manner that violates their law is a crime. What is hard about this? The United States has procedures for those who genuinely need to flee persecution. Those who follow them are genuine migrants. Those who sneak in are criminals as are those who have been denied asylum, yet have stayed anyway.

Pope Francis is a hypocrite. Although Vatican City does not require visitors to produce a passport or have a visa to visit, it does not permit overnight stays. And of the few areas that are open to visitors, most require an entrance fee and/or have a dress code. If you break the Vatican’s laws, its highly trained and well armed law enforcers will deal with you.

Just three weeks ago, Vatican City announced increased penalties for those who violate its borders:

  1. These sanctions apply especially to those who enter with expired permits, who do not meet the established requirements, who bypass border controls or security systems, or who enter by means of violence, threats, or deception.
  2. Penalties can be increased if the crime is committed with firearms, corrosive substances, by a person in disguise, or by several people together. Likewise, if illegal access is made in a vehicle, the penalty can increase by up to two-thirds.
  3. Anyone convicted of illegal entry will be banned from entering Vatican territory for a period of up to 15 years. If this sanction is breached, the offender may be punished with a prison sentence of one to five years.

Sources

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