Four days ago, from Phil Lawler (emphasis added):

A research team at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has raised a new concern about the Covid epidemic. Their data show that “for some people, societal and lifestyle disruptions during the pandemic may have triggered inflammation in the brain that can affect mental health.”

The study found “higher levels of translocator protein in certain brain regions” among people who experienced “severe mood, mental, and fatigue symptoms.” These results were evident both in people who had contracted the virus and those who had escaped it. In other words, their research suggests that the brain inflammation might have been caused not by the disease, but by the lockdown.

We already know some of the costs of the lockdown: the jobs lost, the businesses ruined, the school-years missed, the strain on families, the spike in suicides and drug overdoses, the medical screenings postponed, the undetected…

Very, said an 18th-century pope:

Pope Benedict the Fourteenth, alarmed at the excessive facility wherewith dispensation were then obtained, renewed, by a solemn Constitution, (dated June 10, 1745,) the prohibition of eating fish and meat, at the same meal, on fasting days.

The same Pope, whose spirit of moderation has never been called in question, had no sooner ascended the Papal Throne, than he addressed an Encyclical Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic world, expressing his heartfelt grief at seeing the great relaxation that was introduced among the Faithful by indiscreet and unnecessary dispensations.

The Letter is dated May 30th, 1741. We extract from it the following passage:

The observance of Lent is the very badge of the Christian warfare. By it, we prove ourselves not to be enemies of the Cross of Christ. By it, we avert the scourges of divine justice. By it, we…

Now you see a U.S. president, now you see someone who thinks we are dumb people.

From Marc Thiessen: Remember the uproar last month when President Biden declared that the U.S. response to a Russian invasion of Ukraine would depend on whether it was a “minor incursion”? Critics rightly pointed out that Biden had effectively given Russian President Vladimir Putin a greenlight to invade eastern Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky quickly rebuked Biden, tweeting, “There are no minor incursions.”

Biden had to quickly backtrack, declaring the next day that “any — any — assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion.” Well, on Monday Putin sent assembled Russian units across the border into eastern Ukraine. And what was the Biden administration’s immediate reaction? To excuse Putin’s actions and downplay them as nothing more than a minor incursion (Washington Post).

Let’s go, Joe.

Do not be fooled by the near-unanimity of support, writes Fr. Hunwicke.

“Only four bishops voted against Sacrosanctum Concilium“. Dishonest commentators glibly use this fact to imply that all the changes which were introduced after the Council were enthusiastically mandated by the Council.

Not in a million years. The point is that the vote for SC [the council document on liturgy] would not have been anything like so overwhelming if the Fathers had realised that, as far as the radicals were concerned, they were being dishonestly tricked into signing a blank cheque.

The chief architect of post-council changes, Msgr. Bugnini, at one point telling Pope Paul VI one thing and the commission he ran another. Oh boy.

150 Research Studies Affirm Naturally Acquired Immunity to Covid-19: Documented, Linked, and Quoted ⋆ Brownstone Institute

We should not force COVID vaccines on anyone when the evidence shows that naturally acquired immunity is equal to or more robust and superior to existing vaccines. Instead, we should respect the right of the bodily integrity of individuals to decide for themselves.

Public health officials and the medical establishment with the help of the politicized media are misleading the public with assertions that the COVID-19 shots provide greater protection than natural immunity.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, for example, was deceptive in her October 2020 published LANCET statement that “there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following natural infection” and that “the consequence of waning immunity would present a risk to vulnerable populations for the indefinite future.”

She should look to the research!

Francis makes exception to his ban, keeping supporters of the ban off-balance just a little, lest any take him for granted.