Few months earlier, SecState Pompeo. Why the interest by U.S.?

It is evident that the White House is aware that right now Rome represents a dangerous unknown factor in the global confrontation between the USA and China.

Seen from overseas, both the Vatican and the Italian government must appear wavering, confused and in disarray. Both of them have exposed themselves to Chinese influence, a bit like sorcerers’ apprentices.

Apart from U.S. concerns, there are those priests who won’t join the ChiCom govt. program and are in dire straits.

Like the (fellow) Jesuits in Buenos Aires whose faculties Francis, then SJ provincial, lifted. Later they paid dearly for this disavowal.

via Antonio Socci: VP Pence Warns the Vatican About China

At Kobe and Gianna Bryant’s parish, prayer and Masses for crash victims | Catholic Herald

Wholly predictable tack for him, long  opposed to pro-life activism, including in Spokane.

It must have bothered him no end to see Trump at that rally, the first-ever president to do so.

C. has been out of touch with his fellow U.S. bishops on the matter, losing out on their vote as to who heads their pro-life committee.

via Cardinal Cupich warns against the Church entering partisan politics

Neil Gorsuch’s rebuke to activist Judges had a closing (rhetorical) question:

“What in this gamesmanship and chaos can we be proud of?” Gorsuch asked, pointedly.

via Neil Gorsuch’s Savage Rebuke to Activist Judges, Nationwide Injunctions

On the mark.

via Instapundit 

She’s not gonna let anyone ignore her. I like how this looks and not just because she’s handing it to those three. It’s her being able to put subjects and predicates together, logically, for one thing.

For another, this:

“I think the American people are incrementalists. We’re not looking for revolution.

“We’re looking for somebody who is practical, who’s speaking to the values of the person, who’s worrying about whether they have a paycheck, whether they’re gonna be able to take care of their kids, may have savings, build a future, and somebody who is going to be smart and able and put together a good team to take on the challenges that Americans are facing.

She knows wild men and women when she sees one and has no use for the Biden man with his long history of off-the-wall comments and willingness to bend with the wind outrageously.

As for respecting the presidency but not the president, no points for that thin distinction, which she got out of a playbook.

Nor for her ignoring how “worrying about whether they have a paycheck, whether they’re gonna be able to take care of their kids” etc. has been addressed gloriously by Trump.

Off the wall herself with this omission.

Come on, Ms. Lori.

via Chicago Sun-Times

In an e-note:

May she rest in peace and her family be comforted by the memories of the holy and faithful woman that she was.

Holy and faithful.

Speaks volumes.

A bartender explains:

Just like a priest, a bartender serves a congregation and, at their best, bartenders can create community. They welcome each guest into the bar and provide food, drink and conversation. They become a guide to the city or connector to other people within the bar. There have been more than a few times at my bar when strangers have become friends, seeing each other off at the end of the night as if they have known each other for years.

Each sees or is told the seamy side of life too, as the man explains . . . via Confessions of a Catholic Bartender | America Magazine

It’s about the book he co-authored with the pope emeritus defending the celibacy requirement in the face of the pope’s seeming publicly to think it’s an open question.

But then it segues into discussion of big changes coming as officials hand in the required resignations on their 75th birthdays. All termed “reform,” by the way. Alleged or intended reform maybe?

As for Sarah, one of the 75-year-olds, the writer leads with that (as grabber, of course) and makes an interesting point about what’s “typically” done and what isn’t.

Though unprecedented is perhaps the wrong word to describe the bizarre episode, it was certainly odd, as Sarah, an active sitting cardinal who heads the Vatican’s liturgy office, took to social media to defend his credibility, issuing several statements and publishing correspondence between himself and Benedict – things that heads of Vatican departments don’t typically do.

Indeed not. But in the reign of a pope who does things almost every day that popes don’t typically do, right?

via Sarah’s last hurrah? 2020 could see major Vatican shakeups

To much to-do about it, says the bishop-elect.

The Roman Catholic bishop announces, with “great sadness”:

It is with great sadness that I have received a letter from Bishop-Elect Susan Haynes stating that, due to the controversy of the proposed use of St. Bede Catholic Church for her consecration as the bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia, she has decided to find another location for the ceremony to take place.

In granting permission for this ordination to be held at St. Bede, we were welcoming, as the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council encouraged, those who have in common with us “the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit” (Decree on Ecumenism, 3). We were following the example of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis who enthusiastically engaged in ecumenical outreach and hospitality.

Editorial note: If I can’t match the Catholic bishop’s sadness in this matter, I still find a respect for the Episcopal bishop-elect, whom I find typical of Episcopals, based on decades of sporadic contacts with them. If they are unduly easy-going in matters of doctrine and discipline, they are also, I have found, easy to deal with. So God bless the bishop-elect and may she find some other venue for her consecration.

via Bishop Knestout Statement Following the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia’s Decision to Change Consecration Location