Organizers of a recent exorcism conference in Rome spoke to the Telegraph Newspaper about the growing problem of demonic possession:

…Giuseppe Ferrari, from GRIS, a Catholic research group that organized the conference, said there was an ever growing need for priests to be trained to perform exorcisms because of the increasing number of lay people tempted to dabble in black magic, paganism and the occult...

About 250 priests were trained as exorcists in Italy, but many more were needed, the conference organizers claimed.

“Just in the dioceses of Rome, around a third of calls that are received are requests for the services of an exorcist,” said Fr Cesar Truqui, a priest and exorcist from Switzerland and a member of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative Catholic order.

The hits keep coming fast and furious this week. On May 7, Commonweal Magazine published an interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper entitled, “Merciful God, Merciful Church.” The introduction to the article starts as follows:

During his first Angelus address, Pope Francis recommended a work of theology that “has done me so much good” because it “says that mercy changes everything; it changes the world by making it less cold and more fair.” That book is Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life by Cardinal Walter Kasper…

The article goes downhill from there. Nevertheless, since Cardinal Kasper is highly thought of by Pope Francis, what he thinks is unfortunately relevant. I will thus attempt to pick out some of the Cardinal’s interview “gems” and give some commentary.

Right out of the gate, the Cardinal gives an interesting commentary on Exodus:

Kasper: God’s relation to Moses in the Burning Bush is not “I am,” but “I am with you. I am for you. I am going with you.”

Hmm. Let me check that…

Exodus 3:14:God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM. He said: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: HE WHO IS, hath sent me to you.

Interesting…. Anyway, Kasper continues…

Today the National Catholic Register reported shocking statements made by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the Secretary General of the Synod on the Family:

According to the Belgian newspaper De Standaard, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri says it is time to update Church marriage doctrine, for example in connection with divorce, the situation of divorcees and people who are in civil partnerships…

In an interview given to the Christian weekly magazine Tertio, the Cardinal stated the following:

The Church is not timeless, she lives amidst the vicissitudes of history and the Gospel must be known and experienced by people today…

It is in the present that the message should be, with all respect for the integrity from whom the message has been received. We now have two synods to treat this complex theme of the family and I believe that these dynamics in two movements will allow a more adequate response to the expectations of the people…

In addition:

The Italian cardinal also notes that "Familiaris Consortio" of John Paul II, the last great ecclesiastical document on this subject, is 33 years old.

Today is the Traditional Feast day of St. Pius V, the pope who, in 1570, gave us the bull Quo Primum. Quo Primum established the Traditional Latin Mass as the Mass of the Roman Rite and gave all priests a right to say this Mass with no need for perission from any bishop.

In addition Quo Primum fixed the Traditional Latin Mass in perpetuity forbidding any substantive change to it. The Neo-Catholics, sadly, have attempted to minimize the importance of Quo Primum by a few stock arguments. One of those arguments begins by saying that St. Pius V cannot bind future popes in matters of Church discipline.

This much is true. Where the Neo-Catholics err, however, is believing that the Traditional Mass is a mere matter of Church discipline. By this logic the Mass becomes the personal plaything of the pope, subject to the whims of whatever pontiff happens to be in office. To take this logic to its extreme, a Neo-Catholic would be forced to admit that tomorrow Pope Francis could eliminate all Eastern Rite liturgies, replace them with Novus Ordo folk Masses and be completely within his rights to do so. If this logic sounds strange to you, it should.

In the below video Canon Gregory Hesse, (Canon lawyer, Doctor of Thomistic Theology and former Secretary to Cardinal Stickler), explains why the popular Neo-Catholic talking point on Quo Primum is wrong. St. Pius V, pray for us!

Today is the Traditional Feast Day of St. Athanasius, Bishop, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church. Although he lived nearly 1700 years ago, St. Athanasius’ example is very relevant for Catholics in our day. St. Athanasius lived in a time of severe crisis for the Church; a time when the vast majority of Churchmen and faithful followed the novel teaching of Arius, against the teaching of Tradition.

It was a time where bishops and priests “in full Communion” with the Catholic Church, not suspended or censured in any way, ran Catholic dioceses and parishes. They taught and preached Arianism from their sees and their pulpits. Catholics faithful to Tradition, led by St. Athanasius, were repeatedly banished and exiled from the “official” churches by these men and rebuked as disobedient schismatics.

As we celebrate the Traditional Feast of St. Catherine of Siena today, we remember how a great Saint and Doctor of the Church dealt with grievous papal failings in her own day. Her response stands as a forceful indictment of the many Neo-Catholic apologists who chastise Traditionalists for speaking out against any and all actions of the Pope.

For the Neo-Catholic, the only acceptable reaction is to stand by in absolute and abject silence. This was not, however, the view of St. Catherine. Her letter to Pope Gregory XI (below) stands as a testimony to the moral obligation of all Catholics to correct and admonish their erring pastors. Even, if necessary, the pope himself.

To do so is an act of charity not only for the sake of the pope, but for the sake of the entire Church. This has never been truer than in our time today. Sadly, we can all see that this letter to Pope Gregory XI in the 1370’s could be written to our own Holy Father today, practically word for word.

St. Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church, Pray for Us!

This, no doubt, will be a very tough weekend for many Traditional Catholics to have to endure. The party atmosphere alone will be enough to make us wince. But on top of this, we will have to watch and/or encounter thousands of faithful who will be blissfully unaware that they are witnessing one of the most grievous prudential errors in the history of the Church. Instead they will be laughing, singing, shouting, and cavorting, much like the atmosphere at a World Youth Day.

Even though the promoter of John Paul II’s cause himself said the late pontiff was not being canonized for his pontificate, we will no doubt, have to hear George Weigel and others disregard this unprecedented qualification and praise John Paul II’s pontificate anyway.

As everyone knows by now:

An Argentinian woman is claiming Pope Francis phoned her on Monday with some doctrine-breaking news.

The popular pontiff, who is known for making cold calls to lucky members of his flock, reportedly had an important message to share with Jacqui Lisbona and her previously divorced husband, Julio Sabetta.

“A divorcee who takes communion is not doing anything wrong,” the pontiff purportedly said during the call, according to the Telegraph and La Stampa.

A Vatican representative confirmed to CNN that the call took place, but said the content of the call was a private matter between a pastor and his parishioner. ..

The woman married Sabetta in a civil ceremony more than 20 years ago. Although she is happy with her current husband and has two teenage daughters from the marriage, she still isn’t allowed to take communion at her local church.

“[The priest] told me that every time I went home, I was going back to living in sin,” she said.

(Above Photo: Pope Francis Washing the Feet of a Woman on Holy Thursday 2014)

Michael Voris on March 30, 2012:

 "...as we advance into Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday it's worth noting that all over the United States and many other parts of the world, the Sacrifice of the Mass which brings an official end to Lent, the Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Last Supper, Holy Thursday, will be marred by abuse in thousands and thousands of parishes. Why? Because in a tip of the hat to political correctness, or wanting to make nice nice with everyone in the parish, or to go out of the way so as not to offend anyone, at all, whatsoever, or in some cases owing to a dearth about the dignity of their own office as priest, priests all over the place will wash the feet of women and children during that part of the Mass that most of us have come to recognize each Holy Thursday evening.

...The liturgically abusive practice of washing the feet of women and sometimes children has become so institutionalized and common practice that no one pays any attention to it anymore. Nevertheless it remains a very grave abuse.