The Catholic Encyclopedia entry on St. Columbanus states:

On his arrival at Milan in 612, Columbanus met with a kindly welcome from King Agilulf and Queen Theodelinda. He immediately began to confute the Arians and wrote a treatise against their teaching, which has been lost. At the request of the king, he wrote a letter to Pope Boniface on the debated subject of "The Three Chapters". These writings were considered to favour Nestorianism. Pope St. Gregory, however, tolerated in Lombardy those persons who defended them..

On Monday, February 22, 1869 His Eminence, Cardinal Paul Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland submitted evidence to a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Primary Education in Ireland. Cardinal Cullen’s tenure as the Archbishop of Dublin is summed up by the catholic encyclopedia as follows:

The condition of the Catholic Church in Ireland, in 1878, in contrast with what it was in 1850, affords abundant proof of the fruitfulness of Cardinal Cullen's zeal and of the beneficent results achieved during his episcopate. Those twenty eight years marked a continuous period of triumphant progress in all matters connected with religion, discipline, education and charity. The eloquent Dominican Father Thomas N. Burke wrote in 1878: "The guiding spirit animating, encouraging and directing the wonderful work of the Irish Catholic Church for the last twenty eight years was Paul, Cardinal Cullen, and history will record the events of his administration as, perhaps, the most wonderful and glorious epoch in the whole ecclesiastical history of Ireland. The result of his labors was the wonderful revival of Catholic devotion and piety which in our day was restored so much of our ancient glory of sanctity to the land once called the 'Island of Saints'". No other Church in Christendom during the same period achieved grander religious results or yielded in richer abundance the choicest fruit of genuine Catholic piety. His remains rest beneath the apse of the Church attached to the diocesan seminary at Clonliffe.

In a piece on CatholicCulture.org yesterday entitled, "Vatican should crack down on liturgical abuses, not petty trademark cases" Phil Lawler opined, "Given my preferences, I'd like the Vatican to crack down on liturgical abuses, and let the vendors in Rome make a few more tainted dollars. It's the Year of Mercy, remember?"

Thus, Lawler has hope that Pope Francis will crack down on liturgical abuses. Mr. Lawler, please take a look at the following and let me know how that works out for you:

In an article introducing their latest roundtable discussion of Amoris Laetitia, our friends at Church Militant tell us that Amoris Laetitia, “reaffirms Church teaching on marriage, abortion, contraception and euthanasia.” Excellent news! You’d then expect them to be touting the document, selling it in their online store, and promoting its use marriage prep courses. Instead, they quote Cardinal Raymond Burke, who holds all of the magisterial authority of the patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (i.e., zero):

Can the Divorced and Remarried Receive Holy Communion?

Recently, Cardinal Walter Kasper gave an interview regarding Pope Francis’ plans for the Church. A summary of the interview includes the following:

[Kasper] continues, in the context of the question about “remarried” divorcees, by saying that Pope Francis has agreed with him about making some “humane decisions.” The German cardinal recounts how he once told Pope Francis about a priest whom he knew who had decided not to forbid a “remarried” mother to receive Holy Communion on the day of the First Holy Communion of her daughter. Cardinal Kasper himself concurred with that priest’s decision, saying: “That priest was fully right.” About his further conversation with the pope, he added these words: “I told this to the pope and he confirmed my attitude [with the following words]: ‘That is where the pastor has to make the decision.’” Kasper concludes: “There is now a tail wind to help solve such situations in a humane way.”

On April 26, 2016, the editors of National Catholic Register penned a delusional editorial called, “Amoris Laetitia Offers Marriage Motivation: U.S. bishops discuss the Christian vision of marriage that pervades papal document.” For those who have not read Amoris Laetitia, direct quotes from the tragic exhortation along with my commentary can be found here. I have included an excerpt below that clearly demonstrates Francis has allowed Holy Communion to those living in a state of adultery:

Now that Francis is officially allowing sacrilegious Communion to unrepentant adulterers, sane Catholics are starting to ask questions. Isn’t the pope supposed to be our guardian of orthodoxy? Isn’t he infallible? Isn’t the Church supposed to be indefectible? In that vein, I was fortuitous enough to come across the following article, which discusses possible scenarios regarding an heretical pope. I know that many articles have been written on this subject since Vatican II, mostly pertaining to the sedevacanist issue. However, I have never seen an article quite like this. The kicker? It was written in 1868. Therefore it cannot be accused in any way of being biased. The author speculates on possibilities regarding the pope I have never before seen in a Pre-Vatican II Catholic document. I think it is a fascinating read.

In the early 1900’s Britain set up a “Royal Commission on Divorce and Matrimonial Causes” in order to consider new legislation liberalizing divorce laws in the country. As part of the process, experts were called before the Commission in order to acquire diverse opinions about the issue. On 27 June 1910, a Roman Catholic priest, Monsignor James Moyes was called to testify before the Commission.

According to Msgr. Moyes' Wikipedia entry:

Moyes was born Edinburgh, Scotland. He was educated in Ireland, France, and Rome at the Venerabile. Ordained into the priesthood in 1875, he was later appointed professor at St Bede's College, Manchester, England. He was appointed canon theologian of Salford Chapter, 1891, and of the Westminster Chapter, 1895. In 1896, he served on the Papal Commission in Rome on Anglican matters on which he was an authority. In 1903 he was chosen as sub-delegate Apostolic for the Cause of English Martyrs. He edited the Dublin Review until 1903, contributed a vast amount of controversial literature on theological subjects to The Tablet, and wrote Aspects of Anglicanism, 1906. Moyes died in London, England in 1927.

The long awaited Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetita, is now out. As a lay Traditional Catholic with common sense, I will now lay out the reasons I found the exhortation an epic tragedy. Many of these reasons you will probably never hear from the Neo-Catholic pundits. I will first quote a selected portion of the exhortation in red, and then give my reaction. The number in parentheses is the paragraph in Amoris Laetita where the quote can be found. Predictably, I did not get past the first paragraph without spitting my coffee out.

As the Synod Fathers noted, for all the many signs of crisis in the institution of marriage, “the desire to marry and form a family remains vibrant, especially among young people, and this is an inspiration to the Church” (1)

Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth has done it again.  Olson, a Francis appointee, began his episcopal career by forbidding priests to say the Latin Mass at Fisher-More College resulting in its demise.  The reason? Bishop Olson wrote a letter to Fisher-More’s president saying it was “out of my pastoral solicitude and care for the students of Fisher-More College as well as for your own soul.” Yes, you heard that correctly. The good bishop forbade the Traditional Latin Mass on this college campus for the “care” of the students and the “good” of the president’s soul!