Pope Says He Doesn’t Fear Possible Schism With U.S. Conservatives

He handles nay-sayers neatly.

“The criticisms aren’t just from Americans, they are a little bit [?] everywhere,” even in the Vatican, the pope said on Tuesday, adding that he welcomes such feedback as long as it is straightforward.

News to many. He usually ignores critics.

“At least those who criticize have the honesty to say it.

Would be good if he would name one.

“I like that. I don’t like it when the criticisms are under the table and they smile and show their teeth and then there is a knife in the back,” he said.’

He likes public criticism? Wow. Holy father!

via WSJ

SPEAKING OF DUMB FADS: Trump Administration Jumps Aboard Vaping-Ban Bandwagon. By all appearance…

. . . “vaping deaths” are coming from illicit THC products, not commercial preparations.

It’s not vaping but what you vape that matters, this argument goes. What’s that tobacco in your pipe?

Is it marijuana (as in the old days)? You’re under arrest!

Is it what Grandpa puffed on the porch of the old homestead? Have a nice day, Dad.

Goes for vaping too? Apparently, reports Instapundit.

Catholics walk the path toward healing

Nicely said by one of the participants in a session held recently at St. Giles parish, Oak Park (IL):

Pat Nelson, 78, and a lifelong Catholic, said, “I don’t feel I need healing. I feel the Church as an institution needs great healing.

I feel some of my 40- to 50-year-old adult children are more impacted by this scandal than I am. I think some young people have lost respect for the special calling and life dedication of the priesthood — off the pedestal so to speak.

My personal grieving is for all the good priests out there who are … being grouped with the horrible actions of other clergy.”

Her supernaturalism is refreshing, as in her remarks:

“I choose hope, dependent on faith and love,” said Nelson. “Being made up of human beings, the Catholic Church has some awful skeletons in its closet, but the Church survives because of the Resurrection, and belief in that.”

Nice going, girl!

And excellent reporting, Tom Holmes. (I know them both and endorse their messages.)

via OakPark.com

Ex-President of John Paul II Institute: Francis Simply Throws Away People

Pope Peremptory.

The dismissal of Catholic professors from the John Paul II Institute in Rome was a “conviction without a trial,” its former president, Monsignore Livio Melina, told La Verit?? (August 3).

Melina and three of his colleagues were dismissed by Archbishop Paglia, the Institute’s Grand Chancellor, ???for not following a particular interpretation??? of Francis??? Amoris Laetitia.

Melina spells out what this decision means: ???It is intolerable in the Church to interpret the magisterium of Pope Francis in continuity with the previous Magisterium.???

This Amoris Laetitia is the statement where Francis upended marital morality and of which he is verrrrry protective.

‘The term ‘life’ must be redefined,’ new head of Vatican Life Academy declares | News | LifeSite

Age of Aquarius. Sickening.

???[Francis] warns us that it is risky to look at human life in a way that detaches it from experience and reduces it to biology or to an abstract universal, separated from relationships and history,??? Paglia said.

???Rather, the term ???life??? must be redefined, moving from an abstract conception to a ???personal??? dimension: life is people, men and women, both in the individuality of each person and in the unity of the human family.???

Ah. New terms are what we need. Francis’ man at helm of?? “life” academy. Chip, chip, chip away at the old ways. Lead on, Francis.

Jesuits. Corruptio optimi pessima . . .

?? . . . which as you all know means “the corruption of the best is the worst kind of corruption. Or: try “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

This priest is down on the “least society,” while allowing that??

There were truly great Jesuits.?? There still are!?? I know and respect some, and they are not all elderly.

But . . . they

. . . need a massive reform from top ??? especially from top ??? to the last and most recent of their ranks.

So . . .

Pray for a new St. Francis Xavier to rise up.?? Can you imagine what he would say, looking around???

We need Jean de Br??bouf, not Jasmine the Poof.?? When the Iroquois were torturing St. Jean to death, they drank his blood because they wanted to have his courage.?? We need new Edmund Campions, Robert Southwells, John Gerards.?? We need Rupert Mayers, not Daniel Berrigans.?? We need John de Brittos, not Roger Haights.?? We need Peter Clavers, not Thomas Reeses.??

We need Walter Ciszeks not George Tyrells.?? We need Peter Fabers, not Jon Sobrinos.?? We need Robert Bellarmines, not Daniel Maquires.?? We need Alfred Delps, not Robert Drinans.?? We need William Doyles, not Ernesto Cardenals.?? We need Aloysius Gonzagas, not Jacques Dupuis. We need John Hardons, not John Dears.

We need Miguel Agust??n Pro Ju??rez, not Antonio Spadaros.?? We need Jean Pierre de Caussades, not??Pierre Teilhard de Chardins. We need Francis Borgias, not Pedro Arupes.?? We need??Claude de la Colombieres, not?? Carlo Maria Martinis.??We need Peter Canisius, not Karl Rahners.

It’s a list featuring today’s headliner mischief-makers vs. saints and other honorable headliners, mostly of times gone by.????

Trump Supporters Have ALL The Moral High Ground. Don’t Cede One Inch Of It To The Left.

Little realized situation:

Despite the fact that roughly three out of four evangelical Christians support President Donald Trump and most of his policies, the #NeverTrump ???right??? and the anti-Trump left have somehow managed to fool people into thinking they have at least a solid piece of high ground when it comes to ???principles,??? ???morality??? and ???values.???

I purposefully put those three words in quotes because their mere utterance doesn???t mean the people who pronounce them have an iota of a clue what they really mean. Nevertheless, anti-Trump folks of all political persuations love tossing them around as a way of signaling their ???virtue??? to the rest of us.

A cagy maneuver that keeps them happy and mad at the same time.

Read the rest of this here.