Contrary to media reports...

 

Try to have a more supernatural filter.

"Contrary to Italian media reports, the Register can confirm that Cardinal Raymond Burke never received the future Pope in his apartment during the period of the general congregations, nor any other pressure to vote for him." - @EdwardPentin dispels a rumor.

I think everything is unfolding wonderfully. Personally, I think it is a mistake to speculate and/or follow rumors and gossip regarding how the pope was elected and all the gossip associated with that type of 'court intrigue', even though it can be fun. I was reading a report at Rorate Caeli that reminded me of court intrigue from another era - it didn't help I was watching Marie Antoinette with scenes depicting all the gossip and treason within the royal court prior to the Revolution. I didn't find the report at all edifying. I now avoid everything unless it is celebratory and positive.

I'm convinced Leo XIV will be the best Pope for our time, just as I consider his predecessors to be. In fact, think he will be the best of all his predecessors and yet remain his own man. I think he has already brought much peace and good will. Going forward, I'm content to see how the grace of office develops and directs his papacy.

I am so grateful to be Catholic and that we have a pope. I love the pope. When a king dies, it is said, 'the king is dead, long live the king' - signifying the continuity of the monarchy. Just so, when the pope dies, we mourn of course, but another comes to fill his place, the Chair of Peter is occupied by another.

Even in authentic apparitions, prophecies and so on - when heaven asks us to pray for the pope, normally a particular pope is not referenced or specified. At Fatima, Our Lady mentioned the reign of Pius XI, yet her call to pray for the pope referred to whomever was pope down the line.

Perhaps an illustration of that is the Dream of S. John Bosco regarding the Barque of Peter, symbolizing the Church, with the Pope at the helm. In the dream a series of popes is clearly indicated. The part of the Church/papacy under assault could well represent the Franciscan papacy, while the Pope bringing the Barque to port and uniting everyone might indicate our new Pope, whom everyone seems to like. (I've thought of that Dream at each successive papacy BTW.)

Yet paradoxically - dreams and private revelations cannot be taken literally, and normally they can't be pinned down to specifics, which can be subject to change. Thus we can understand the papacy not limited to this or that man, but rather an office, established by Christ in Peter, extended in time, to guide the Church - the faithful, the People of God to eternal salvation.

Anyway, I have great peace and joy, confidence and love for Pope Leo XIV, just as I did for Francis, Benedict, JPII, JPI, Paul VI, John XXIII, and Pius XII.

There will always be enemies of the Church, of the papacy and they are very active now. There are those who despised Pope Francis and they continue their attacks, often comparing Leo and Francis, while some are active digging up negative stories, or making them up altogether, I can't spend the rest of my life addressing such opposition and hopefully I won't.

Happy feastday of Our Lady of Fatima. Pray the rosary every day. Pray for the Holy Father who will have much to suffer.

Yes. I am very happy we have Pope Leo XIV

 

My heart dropped at first. Because I knew he was American, but I had no idea who he was. Seeing him, his demeanor and emotion - I was pleased. I couldn't help but attribute his election to Our Lady's intercession. Due to his Augustinian roots, scholarship and devotion, I think he will have a charisma and sensibility much like Pope Benedict. Anyway, as a Catholic I'm all for him, as I have been for all his predecessors. I'm confident and unafraid and grateful. 

"In his address as Pope, Leo XIV said, “Today is the day of the Supplication to Our Lady of Pompeii. Our blessed Mother Mary always wants to walk with us, be close to us, she always wants to help us with her intercession and her love. So let us pray together for this mission, and for all of the Church and for peace in the world.”"

At the beginning of May, Cardinal Burke entrusted his prayers to Our Lady of Good Counsel, praying for God's will and good counsel, inviting the faithful to join him in novena.  It seems to me Our Lady answered. It's clearly due to her - Mediatrix of all Grace, especially considering May 8th is the Augustinian feast day of Our Lady of Grace, a title traditionally held by the Augustinians. Leo is part of the Augustinian Province dedicated to OL of Good Counsel and the shrine in Italy is in Augustinian custody. May 8th is also the feast of OL of the Rosary of Pompeii as well as the feast of St. Michael Archangel. People who look for signs need not look any further.

Cardinal Burke tweeted this statement yesterday:

"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!"

Indeed, I am most grateful for Pope Leo XIV.

The future Pope in Peru.

Pope Francis Lying in State inside St. Peter’s Basilica

 I am so grateful for the papacy of Pope Francis.  What a gift to the Church.  I am in such peace and I feel even closer to him now.  Such peace.

O God, we praise Thee, and acknowledge Thee to be the supreme Lord.
Everlasting Father, all the earth worships Thee.
All the Angels, the heavens and all angelic powers,
All the Cherubim and Seraphim, continuously cry to Thee:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts!
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy glory.
The glorious choir of the Apostles,
The wonderful company of Prophets,
The white-robed army of Martyrs, praise Thee.
Holy Church throughout the world acknowledges Thee:
The Father of infinite Majesty;
Thy adorable, true and only Son;
Also the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
O Christ, Thou art the King of glory!
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When Thou tookest it upon Thyself to deliver man,
Thou didst not disdain the Virgin's womb.
Having overcome the sting of death, Thou opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all
believers.
Thou sitest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father.
We believe that Thou willst come to be our Judge.
We, therefore, beg Thee to help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy
Precious Blood.
Let them be numbered with Thy Saints in everlasting glory.

V. Save Thy people, O Lord, and bless Thy inheritance!
R. Govern them, and raise them up forever.

V. Every day we thank Thee.
R. And we praise Thy Name forever, yes, forever and ever.

V. O Lord, deign to keep us from sin this day.
R. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

V. Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, for we have hoped in Thee.
R. O Lord, in Thee I have put my trust; let me never be put to shame.

On Easter Monday 2025

 

Happy Easter

Christians, to the Paschal Victim offer sacrifice and praise. 

The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb; 

and Christ, the undefiled, hath sinners to his Father reconciled. 

Death with life contended: combat strangely ended! 

Life's own Champion, slain, yet lives to reign. 

Tell us, Mary: say what thou didst see upon the way. 

The tomb the Living did enclose; 

I saw Christ's glory as He rose! 

The angels there attesting; shroud with grave-clothes resting. 

Christ, my hope, has risen: 

He goes before you into Galilee. 

That Christ is truly risen from the dead we know. 

Victorious King, Thy mercy show! Amen. Alleluia.

 

Risen Christ appears

in secret

to His Mother.

Good Friday

 

Eleventh Station

Jesus is nailed to the cross

From the Gospel according to Luke (23:32-34)

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

Nothing frightens us more than being unable to move. Yet here you are, bound, nailed, held fast. Still, you are not alone, but in the company of two others, resolved to reveal yourself even on the cross as “God with us.” Revelation never stops; it is not nailed to one place. Lord, you show us that in every situation there is a choice to be made. That is the amazing reality of our freedom. Not even on the cross are you stripped of your freedom: you decide why and for whom you are there. You are attentive to both the men crucified with you: you let slip the insults of one and you hear the plea of the other. You are even concerned for the men who crucify you: you peer into the hearts of those who “know not what they do.” You look up to the sky: you would like it clearer, yet you break through its barrier of gloom with the light of your intercession. Nailed to the cross you intercede: you “stand between” conflicting parties. And you bring them to God, because your cross tears down walls, cancels debts, quashes judgements, establishes reconciliation. You yourself are the true Jubilee. Convert us to you, Jesus; though nailed fast to the cross, you are able to do all things.

Let us pray, saying: Teach us to love

When we are strong and when we are not:		Teach us to love.
When we are bound by unjust laws or decisions:		Teach us to love.
When we are at odds with those uninterested in truth and justice:		Teach us to love.
When we are tempted to despair:		Teach us to love.
When everyone says, “There is nothing to be done:”		Teach us to love. - Pope Francis, Way of the Cross at the Colosseum

Suspended Priest James Altman Celebrates Novus Ordo In Florida

 

After saying the Novus Ordo in not valid.

Altman wrote the following yet celebrated the Ordinary Form of Mass with Strickland, as seen in the photo accompanying this post. That tells me he either doesn't believe what he wrote or, since Altman was restricted to saying Mass in private - he celebrated illicitly in a rite he considers NOT valid.

You see the lie? Do you see how these men are indeed manufacturing scandal and leading Catholics away from the Church and establishing what may be the Anti-Church, something St. John Paul warned about? They are (unwittingly?) creating the so-called counterfeit Church they accuse Vatican II of creating, based upon their searching private revelations and locutions and an assortment of interpretations of approved apparitions.

Fr. James Altman

@FatherAltman

The TLM is DOGMATIC.

The novus ordo new world order service was concocted by a not-infallible committe of lavedar mafia Masons and protestants. Their stated objective was to remove from Catholic Sanctuaries and from The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - QUOTE- "anything that would be even a shadow of a stumbling block to [protestants]

In other words, make it just another of the 40,000+ protestant denominations. it was damned from the start AND, when half or more of priests, bishops, cardinals and Bergoglio do not believe in the Real Presence, it is NOT valid.

Quit pretending that the handful of believing priests who validly and intentionally consecrate, using proper form and matter, The Holy Eucharist, that that somehow validates the Sacrileges of the new world order service.

As Jesus said, judge it by its fruits. The reason why up to 90% of "Catholics" do not go to Holy Mass and do not believe in the Real Presence is because of the new world order service destroyed it.

Go read Exodus 25-31, how Almighty God commanded us to worship Him, and then quit pretending that the protestant new world order service is valid because the rare experience we have with a reverent priest somehow validates it.

For the record, no bishop, cardinal nor pope can deny us reasonable access to the Dogmatic TLM, nor deny anyone the right to receive Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue. End of debate.

When they protest too much, they often “project” their own fears and inclinations.

Don't follow their lead.

In another tweet Altman rebuked an author at 1 Peter 5 for calling him out, resorting to accusatory language, calling out the author and the hierarchy with typical anti-LGBTQ slurs. My response:

I'm really fed up with recalcitrant priests/bishops who continually accuse everyone they disagree with, and/or those who may have had to discipline them, as sodomites and groomers. They contradict the teaching of the Church in the process. They defend their choice of words as speaking the 'truth in charity'. It's not charitable at all. Their contempt reveals much more about their character than those they slander and calumniate. They lack meekness and have no depth of charity. Their humility is feigned. Their piety is for show. Their followers who cheer and repeat their rhetoric, are often more experienced in vice than any of those whose humanity and reputation they attempt to destroy.

They pretty much preach an anti-Gospel.

It's Fascism

 

Crushing sorrow.

Crushing sorrow. I can't imagine the torment the abducted and falsely imprisoned experience. What anxiety do their loved ones feel?

I suspected people were saying the things we see in the conversation below. I have wondered how many share the same thoughts, were saying such things amongst themselves. It makes it all the more terrifying and desperate.

Again and again we are finding out how so-called 'good people' could have committed such atrocities in the Nazi deathcamps. How they could turn in their neighbors. How they could look the other way when people in their community or workplace were suddenly stopped, arrested, deported and disappeared.

To say "it" was only a gay barber, dismissing another man, a human being, reveals so much about how contempt for gay people seethes below the surface of certain segments of 'polite' society. It comes out in the strangest places, like when a Bishop accuses bishops and priests of 'surrendering to the siren call of homosexuality'. People like that will only acknowledge or accept homosexuals who are all cleaned up, vetted, no longer using terms like gay. The others are enemies or simply and 'it' is 'just a gay'. Expendable.

[I'm talking about "Andry," the gay make-up artist sent to a prison in El Salvador, up labeled by ICE as "Tren de Aragua". Keep his name public, since I'm seeing nothing on MSN.]

Crushing sorrow. My prayers and my tears mingle. If 'they' only knew how innocent, how childlike, how vulnerable many gay men are. They are called horrible names (used for) sodomites, predators, molesters, perverts. They associate all gay men with the exaggerated debauchery of Folsom St. or an orgy at the baths - yet most guys are not like that. But even if they are into that - so are their straight counter-types. What do you think went on at Studio 54, Epstein's mansion and island? Those guys patronizing those venues weren't gay. They were VIPs - exploiting girls and young women in their own exclusive 'service industry' - the girls were just nothings. Can't you see the total lack of humanity? That straight and gay commit the exact same sins when they do that stuff? Why can't people simply see that gay people are human beings who exist in the same reality? They are ordinary people. They can fall into sin, just like anyone else.

The abducted and imprisoned young man, a barber, is an ordinary man, living his life, just doing his job - but he is not an 'it' is 'just a gay barber'.

Crushing sorrow. I've never felt such crushing sorrow and outrage.

We can't keep doing this to human beings.

'America First' Americans

 

Catholics and the Anti-Gospel.

Today it occurred to me the reason I don't see many people I know objecting to Trump/MAGA initiatives and policies is because they must approve of the job he is doing. He's keeping his 'promises' and doing what they want him to do. That is why they voted for him. So long as his 'get-'er-done' executive orders do the job - they don't care how it's done or who it effects. They look for the good in his intentions and accept the bad stuff that happens to others as collateral damage. They may even accompany them with thoughts and prayers for a bit, or as many said about the Jews in Germany after the Holocaust, 'they brought it on themselves'.

As 'America First' Americans - they believe they are 'entitled' to get what they want, be it acquiring another country, exploiting protected land rich in oil and minerals, getting rid of unwanted migrants and so on. They have rights and they are entitled. Yet they approve of taking away their neighbors rights and entitlements - because those folks are parasites.

Many of the same people balked and resisted Pope Francis, sometimes to his face, when he invited us to show mercy, to be kind, to befriend the strangers who come to us for help. Monsignors and bishops split hairs on the meaning of mercy and discussed how charity isn't always nice and kindness is a sentimental ploy to approve sin and perversion. (Forget about acceptance and inclusion - that's for communists.) Yet they claim Trump is chosen by God and 'not far from the Kingdom of God', and Musk and crew have done good things too. (Ask them, and some will insist Hitler did some good things too.)

An amazing thing has happened with Christian MAGA, Christian Nationalists: The rich are exalted, shown mercy and given special dispensations, while the poor are sent away empty and homeless, their condition worse than before.

Yet they can't see, they can't perceive how the very words of the Gospel are therein inverted and twisted into the Anti-Gospel.

Tracking "The errors of Russia"

As they course through the years.

I've mentioned it many times before. Now I include Alexander Dugin and Putin as continuing to propagate the errors of Russia. Dugin is known as Putin's philosopher, his Rasputin. I believe the imperialist agenda of Putin and his Patriarch, influenced by Dugin, may also help explain the imperialism of Trump. After all, Bannon has been a big fan of Dugin, Evola and Guénon, favorite philosophers of the alt-right, including JD Vance.

It's all very dense, but the Fascist ties, Traditionalist ideology and anti-modernist influences are all there. Including links to Theosophy - always part of the errors of Russia.

Anyway - this involves so much reading, so much study. I hope someone more qualified will take up the study and reveal the ideology behind push towards war. I also believe the division in the Church is effected by these errors. I'm convinced this is why Pope Francis has responded as he has to the Traditionalist movement within the Church. Dugin has influenced the Orthodox Church, it's Patriarch and concept as the Third Rome very well, as has Putin.

>Dugin also read deeply in the Russian canon. The notion that Russia is more than a state or nation—that it is a holy empire with a world-saving duty—goes back at least half a millennium. “All Christian realms will come to an end and will unite into the one single realm of our sovereign, that is, into the Russian realm, according to the prophetic books,” the Russian theologian Filofei predicted in 1510. “Both Romes fell, the third endures.” The idea was brought to its highest polish in the nineteenth century, the apex of tsarist imperialism and, not coincidentally, of Russian letters. That era is the origin of Dugin’s views of the West and Ukraine, and of Putin’s recent thinking. Indeed, it can be seen as the true start of the Ukraine war.< - The Imperialist Philosopher Who Demanded the Ukraine War

I came across an Australian journalist who has added to the understanding of Alexander Dugin's influence upon Putin's war.  It's late, so I'll simply post his piece I found on FB and leave it at that. 

>To understand the civilisational battle confronting the world today, we need to discuss a little known 1997 book by a Russian neo-fascist and political philosopher named Alexandr Dugin, a man so closely associated with the belief systems and values of Vladimir Putin that he became colloquially known as "Putin's brain".

Dugin has spent his life warning of the evils of liberalism and democracy, and insisted that only Russia could save humanity through the advancement of Christian Russian Orthodox values.

The book provides the blueprint for how Russia could fight "the battle for the world rule of Russians". It laid out in detail how Russia needed to use information warfare, economic power, and military force, to establish a new Eurasian Empire.

It's been used a textbook in schools, indoctrinating a generation of Russians into a belief that the Russians had a God given right to rule the world from the "third Rome" (Moscow), and that notions like democracy and civil liberties were a uniquely Western invention that were bordering on satanic.

It called for Georgia, most of the Baltic States, Finland, and Central Asia to be annexed into this new empire though force, while Belarus and Moldova are expected to voluntarily join after a decades long propaganda onslaught.

He was adamant that an independent Ukraine could not exist if Russia was truly going to become a superpower, arguing that "Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning, no particular cultural import or universal significance, no geographic uniqueness, no ethnic exclusiveness, its certain territorial ambitions represents an enormous danger for all of Eurasia and, without resolving the Ukrainian problem, it is in general senseless to speak about continental politics".

Western Europe, meanwhile, would become a collection of weakened vassal states, subordinate to Russia's will, and argued that to achieve this Russia could help fund and organise a collection of right wing political parties to infiltrate and erode liberal democracy from within. To achieve this, Dugin suggested finding ways to weaken the NATO alliance, culminating in the removal of US military presence in Europe.

But perhaps most disturbing is Dugin's vivid advice on how Russia could subdue the greatest impediment to Russian ambitions, the great defender of the liberal values Dugin despised... the USA.

He argued that Russia should use special services to "...introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social, and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics'."< - Carrick Ryan

   

The Sadness of the Day

Respect yourself, respect others. Walk your own path, and let go of the path others have chosen for you.

I received a link to a post by a friend on another social media site.  I forgot I was on it actually.  I read his post and now can't even remember what he posted about.  I scrolled around and discovered another friend, whom I haven't heard from in ages, was on it as well. 

He appears to be immersed in Traditionalist Conservatism; the TLM and anti-Francis, pro-Trump/Putin world view.  I knew he was into conspiracy theories and related mythological thinking, but I was sure he was grounded in reality.  A comment he left on another guy's site was very telling of where he's at.  Introducing himself, he cited a couple aspects of his state which seemed offered more or less as credentials to validate the opinion he proffered.  We all do stuff like that, in order to be accepted.  Now that I'm older, not so much.  But I used to do it all of the time, especially on this blog or in work environments.  Now I let people think what they like.

Anyway - I was deeply disappointed.  For a trad, he has all the right signs of being a 'devout', 'fervent' Catholic, so who am I to judge?  I sense he's a fan of Bishop Strickland and his group of followers.  Many in my archdiocese seem to be as well.

I came across something from Pope Francis this morning, which I find especially consoling and perhaps challenging, may I strive to put it in practice.  One of the things I love about the Holy Father is his closeness to real people - we ordinary, sinful people of the streets.  He knows us.  He has taught me so much - I keep trying to put it into practice.

Pope Francis reflecting from hospital:

"The walls of hospitals have heard more honest prayers than churches...

They have witnessed far more sincere kisses than those in airports...

It is in hospitals that you see a homophobe being saved by a gay doctor.

A privileged doctor saving the life of a beggar...

In intensive care, you see a Jew taking care of a racist...

A police officer and a prisoner in the same room receiving the same care...

A wealthy patient waiting for a liver transplant, ready to receive the organ from a poor donor...

It is in these moments, when the hospital touches the wounds of people, that different worlds intersect according to a divine design. And in this communion of destinies, we realize that alone, we are nothing.

The absolute truth of people, most of the time, only reveals itself in moments of pain or in the real threat of an irreversible loss.

A hospital is a place where human beings remove their masks and show themselves as they truly are, in their purest essence.

This life will pass quickly, so do not waste it fighting with people.

Do not criticize your body too much.

Do not complain excessively.

Do not lose sleep over bills.

Make sure to hug your loved ones.

Do not worry too much about keeping the house spotless.

Material goods must be earned by each person—do not dedicate yourself to accumulating an inheritance.

. . .

You are waiting for too much: Christmas, Friday, next year, when you have money, when love arrives, when everything is perfect...

Listen, perfection does not exist.

A human being cannot attain it because we are simply not made to be fulfilled here.

Here, we are given an opportunity to learn.

So, make the most of this trial of life—and do it now.

Respect yourself, respect others. Walk your own path, and let go of the path others have chosen for you.

Respect: do not comment, do not judge, do not interfere.

Love more, forgive more, embrace more, live more intensely!

And leave the rest in the hands of the Creator."