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| Pope Leo XIV channels Vatican II: Doubts Catholic teaching on sexual morality and the immutability |
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Posted by: Stone - 09-21-2025, 07:01 AM - Forum: Pope Leo XIV
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No one is surprised that once again a post Conciliar pope, who has consistently affirmed his allegiance to Vatican II, talks in a Vatican II-esque manner. Yet there are still those who are clutching their pearls that this is once again happening and use it as a reason to embrace sedevacantism.
As a reminder, the excellent articles by SiSiNoNo cataloguing the worst of the Vatican II errors is invaluable in understanding that the errors of the post Conciliar popes are not unique to them. They are 'simply' acting upon and expanding upon the tenets of Vatican II.
One of many examples where Vatican II would appear to support what Pope Leo says, is taken from The Errors of Vatican II:
Quote:Vatican II sports an erroneous concept of Sacred Tradition as a complex of teaching, thanks to which as the centuries succeed one another, the Church constantly moves forward toward the fullness of divine truth until the words of God reach their complete fulfillment in her (Dei Verbum§8).
This is to make it sound as though Tradition, which guards the deposit of faith from the time of the Apostles' preaching, does not already possess "the fullness of divine truth!" In the reading of the above, one is led to believe there might be something else to be added or that what is already there can be modified.
This idea of the Church being in "incessant tension" with the "fullness of divine truth" openly contradicts the Church's idea of the "deposit of faith" (I Tim. 6:20). In turn, this error is connected to "subjectivism"-the signature of modern thinking-typified by the "New Theology," of which the reigning idea is that everything is always moving in a continual upward progression, and that absolute truth does not exist, rather, only the endless tending of a subject toward a truth whose endpoint is himself.
Further, Vatican II teaches the incredible assertion, contrary to common sense, that all of Tradition, should be subjected to a "continual reform." Thus if, in various times and circumstances, there have been deficiencies in moral conduct or in church discipline, or even in the way that church teaching has been formulated-to be carefully distinguished from the deposit of faith itself-these can and should be set right at the opportune moment (UR §6; Gaudium et Spes [hereafter GS] §62). This last statement, proclaimed in the vernacular version of John XXIII's October 11, 1962 Inaugural Address and which Pope Paul VI confirmed to the letter, is a principle condemned by St. Pius X (Pascendi §11; Lamentabili§§63,64} and Pius XII (Humani Generis).
The intention in highlighting this link to Vatican II is not to legitimize the errors Leo XIV is repeating (Heaven forbid!) but to put them in context for those who wish to use this as a pretext for validation of the 'trad-Catholic' error of sedevacantism.
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Leo XIV publicly doubts Catholic teaching on sexual morality and the immutability of dogma
Leo's idea that 'attitudes' must be changed before doctrine can sheds new light on the recent events in the Vatican.
![[Image: GettyImages-2213411756.jpg]](https://www.lifesitenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/GettyImages-2213411756.jpg)
Pope Leo XIV is seen for the first time from the Vatican balcony on May 8, 2025.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Sep 18, 2025
(LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted, not all hyperlinks from original included below]) — In his first extended interview, Leo XIV fell short of affirming the immutability of the Church’s teaching on sexual morality, and strongly implied that changes could be possible in the future.
Although more muted, he also implied that he could “change the Church’s teaching” on women’s ordination.
When discussing his approach to “LGBTQ+” issues with Elise Ann Allen of Crux Now, Leo XIV struck an uncertain note, suggesting that Church teaching could shift if attitudes changed first:
Quote:People want the Church doctrine to change, want attitudes to change. I think we have to change attitudes before we ever change doctrine.
The idea that “attitudes” must be changed before doctrine can sheds new light on the recent events in the Vatican, including the audiences with Fr. James Martin, SJ and Sr. Lucia Caram, and the LGBT pilgrimage.
He continues, and rather than stating such changes were impossible, Leo says:
Quote:I find it highly unlikely, certainly in the immediate future, that the Church’s doctrine in terms of what the Church teaches about sexuality, what the Church teaches about marriage [will change].
Later, instead of stating that the Church’s teaching could not change, he merely said that he thought that it would remain the same:
Quote:I think that the Church’s teaching will continue as it is, and that’s what I have to say about that for right now.
This language is deeply inadequate. The central points of Catholic teaching on sexual morality – including the sinfulness of homosexual acts, as well as fornication, adultery and others – are not contingent, or matters of probabilities and personal conjecture. They are definitive, grounded in both the natural law and divine revelation, and incapable of alteration.
We can know with certainty from reason alone that sexual activity outside of marriage – and thus all sexual activity between persons of the same sex – is contrary to the natural law.
This is also a dogma of the faith, as divinely revealed in Holy Scripture and proposed by the universal ordinary magisterium of the Church. Vatican I taught that such truths are to be believed with divine and Catholic faith.
READ: Pope Leo vows to ‘continue’ Francis’s ‘prophetic vision’ for the Church
Female ordination
Leo also discussed the possibility of the ordination of women to the diaconate in similar terms:
Quote:What the synod had spoken about specifically was the ordination, perhaps, of women deacons, which has been a question that’s been studied for many years now. There’ve been different commissions appointed by different popes to say, what can we do about this? I think that will continue to be an issue.
In the early Church, there was indeed an office of “deaconess” – however, it is certain that these women were not ordained to any sacramental holy order of the diaconate. However, Leo calls this into question by equating the female diaconate with that of the permanent diaconate established after the Second Vatican Council:
Quote:Just one small example. Earlier this year, when there was the Jubilee for Permanent Deacons, so obviously all men, but their wives were present. I had the catechesis one day with a fairly large group of English-speaking permanent deacons. The English language is one of the groups where they are better represented because there are parts of the world that never really promoted the permanent deaconate, and that itself became a question: Why would we talk about ordaining women to the diaconate if the diaconate itself is not yet properly understood and properly developed and promoted within the church?
He also expressed his willingness for study and debate on the matter to continue:
Quote:I am certainly willing to continue to listen to people. There are these study groups; the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has responsibility for some of those questions, they continue to examine the theological background, history, of some of those questions, and we’ll walk with that and see what comes.
However, Leo claimed to have no current intention of “changing the teaching of the Church”:
Quote:I at the moment don’t have an intention of changing the teaching of the Church on the topic. I think there are some previous questions that have to be asked.
Needless to say, this necessarily implies the possibility of “changing the teaching of the Church.”
The immutability of dogma
Vatican I denied that the Pope could change the Church’s teaching or introduce new dogmas:
Quote:For the holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles.
The Church has also excluded the possibility of changing the meaning of such dogmas on the grounds of a “development of doctrine.”
Pope Pius IX condemned the following proposition in the Syllabus of Errors:
Divine revelation is imperfect, and therefore subject to a continual and indefinite progress, corresponding with the advancement of human reason. — (Qui pluribus, Nov. 9, 1846).
Vatican I declared:
Quote:That meaning of the sacred dogmas is ever to be maintained… there must never be any abandonment of this sense under the pretext or in the name of a more profound understanding.
The same council anathematized anyone who says dogma can be assigned “a sense… different from that which the Church has understood and understands.”
Pope St. Pius X cited these teachings in his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis against Modernism.
In the Oath against Modernism, he also required clergy to profess that dogma is handed down “in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport.” This oath also states that the idea “that dogmas evolve and change from one meaning to another different from the one which the Church held previously” is a “heretical misrepresentation.”
READ: Pope Leo says Latin Mass question ‘very complicated’
Grave implications
Leo’s comments – particularly those about the need to for attitudes to change before doctrine can – shed a new light on the recent events in the Vatican, including the audiences with Fr. James Martin, SJ and Sr. Lucia Caram, and the LGBT pilgrimage.
But the truth is clear: homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered, marriage is between one man and one woman, and these teachings cannot change.
As stated above, both the Church’s teaching on sexual morality and the immutability of dogma are the sorts of truths that Vatican I says must be believed with divine and Catholic faith; the censure attached to the obstinate denial or doubt of such truths is heresy. (Can. 751 of 1983 CIC, Can. 1325 of 1917 CIC)
We are thus left with the problematic situation of Leo XIV not only raising hopes for an impossible change of doctrine in the future, and not only claiming a power to execute such changes, but also publicly doubting (or even denying) these two sets of truths in a video interview.
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| Leo XIV vows to ‘continue’ Francis’ ‘prophetic vision’ for the Church |
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Posted by: Stone - 09-19-2025, 07:56 AM - Forum: Pope Leo XIV
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Leo XIV vows to ‘continue’ Francis’ ‘prophetic vision’ for the Church
In his first major interview, Pope Leo XIV stressed his intention to build directly on Francis’s legacy.
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Pope Leo XIV smiles to the audience as he arrives in the Popemobile ahead of the Inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV in St Peter's Square on May 18, 2025, in Vatican City
Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Sep 18, 2025
(LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted, not all hyperlinks from original included below]) — In his first extended interview since his election, Pope Leo XIV repeatedly positioned himself as the inheritor of Francis’s program, stressing continuity on synodality, women’s roles, ecumenism, curial reform, and liturgical disputes.
Speaking to Crux correspondent Elise Ann Allen for a forthcoming biography, Leo said his years in Peru deepened his connection to Francis’ outlook.
Quote:I believe (the time in Peru) was significant in both my connection with Pope Francis, my understanding of some of the vision that Pope Francis had for the Church, and how we can continue to carry that on in terms of a true prophetic vision for the Church today and tomorrow.
On synodality, he was explicit that the “process that began long before the last synod” must continue.
“I think there’s great hope if we can continue to build on the experience of the past couple years and find ways of being Church together,” he said.
Leo also tied his approach on women in the Church directly to Francis: “I hope to continue in the footsteps of Francis, including in appointing women to some leadership roles at different levels in the Church’s life.” Appearing to allude to the open study of the ordination of women to the diaconate, he said:
Quote:I am certainly willing to continue to listen to people. There are these study groups; the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has responsibility for some of those questions, they continue to examine the theological background, history, of some of those questions, and we’ll walk with that and see what comes.
On one count, he distanced himself from Francis. Referring to “LGBTQ questions” as “highly polarizing,” stating that he is “trying not to polarize or promote polarization in the Church.” However, even here, he positioned himself as continuing Francis’ legacy:
Quote:I’ve already spoken about marriage, as did Pope Francis when he was pope, about a family being a man and a woman in solemn commitment, blessed in the sacrament of marriage.
The Pope had negative comments about the implementation of Fiducia Supplicans while affirming the document itself. He also aligned himself with Francis’ approach:
Quote:What I’m trying to say is what Francis said very clearly when he would say, “todos, todos, todos.” Everyone’s invited in, but I don’t invite a person in because they are or are not of any specific identity. I invite a person in because they are a son or daughter of God. You’re all welcome, and let’s get to know one another and respect one another.
When addressing the question of whether teaching on homosexuality could change, Leo’s language strongly implied that it could change in principle, but would not do so for now:
Quote:People want the church doctrine to change, want attitudes to change. I think we have to change attitudes before we even think about changing what the Church says about any given question. I find it highly unlikely, certainly in the near future, that the church’s doctrine in terms of what the church teaches about sexuality, what the Church teaches about marriage, (will change) …
I think that the Church’s teaching will continue as it is, and that’s what I have to say about that for right now. I think it’s very important.
He also pledged to advance Francis’ emphasis on ecumenism and interfaith relations, and positioned this as “one of the goals of the Church” since “the time of the Second Vatican Council.”
“Pope Francis had already planned on going to Nicaea,” he said, speaking of the 1,700th anniversary celebrations of the Council of Nicaea, adding that it had become an ecumenical event on his own request.
He emphasized Francis’ dialogue with Islam, adding, “I would hope to continue that, and not only with Islam.”
On curial reform, Leo spoke of “continuing to break down or transform the isolated manner in which each dicastery works” – and stated that “we do have to continue the process of reform that Francis began.”
Speaking of China, Leo said, “(I)n the short term, I will continue the policy that the Holy See has followed for some years now (…)”
Addressing liturgical disputes, Leo promised “to continue the process” of the Amazonian rite. While he expressed willingness to talk to those who advocate for the traditional Latin Mass, the Pontiff presented no new direction, describing the Novus Ordo as “the Vatican II Mass” and echoing Francis’ critique of polarization:
Quote:People have used the liturgy as an excuse for advancing other topics. It’s become a political tool, and that’s very unfortunate.
The interview leaves no doubt: Leo intends his reign to be understood as building directly on that of Francis.
From his initial hope for “a synodal Church” to his complete commitment to Vatican II, from women’s roles to homosexuality, from ecumenism to the liturgy, he has cast himself as the successor who will “carry on” what Francis began.
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| Kash Patel says FBI officials have been fired for role in targeting Latin Mass Catholics |
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Posted by: Stone - 09-18-2025, 09:49 AM - Forum: General Commentary
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Kash Patel says FBI officials have been fired for role in targeting Latin Mass Catholics
Kash Patel also told Sen. Josh Hawley on Tuesday that the FBI is investigating 60 reports of anti-Catholic hate crimes.
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Dzelat/Shutterstock
Sep 17, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted, not all hyperlinks from original included below]) — FBI Director Kash Patel told Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) that FBI officials had been fired due to the bureau’s targeting of traditional Catholics, as shown by an infamous leaked 2023 memo.
Hawley questioned Patel about the FBI’s response to the persecution of Christians, especially Catholics, in the U.S. during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.
Referring to the bombshell memo, created under the leadership of former FBI Director Christopher Wray, Hawley asked Patel how the FBI came to recruit informants in Christian churches.
Patel said the FBI has made “permanent fixes” to ensure that informants are not placed in houses of worship unless needed for an “ongoing criminal or terrorism threat.”
“Has anybody been fired for this?” Hawley asked.
“There have been terminations related to this and resignations,” Patel said. The memo in question called for spying on and infiltrating traditional Roman Catholic groups, in particular, churches served by the traditional Society of St. Pius X (SSPX). The document claimed that so-called “Radical Traditionalist Catholic Ideology” was a magnet for “violent extremists.”
“Good… Because if this is gonna be standard at the FBI, nobody can trust the FBI,” replied Hawley. “You wanna talk about violation of the First Amendment? This has got First Amendment violation written all over it.”
“It is one of the most revolting chapters in the FBI’s history,” he added.
During the hearing, Hawley highlighted the heightened attacks on Christians in recent years, including shootings at Christian elementary schools and acts of vandalism and arson against churches across the country, as well as the assassination of Charlie Kirk, an outspoken Christian.
The senator cited a report that found that there were over 400 instances of hostility against churches in the U.S. in 2024, while another report found that there were over 500 attacks on Catholic parishes alone since May of 2020.
“What is the FBI doing to take on this rising tide of violence that seems to be motivated by anti-religious hatred?” asked Hawley.
Patel said the FBI is investigating 60 reports of anti-Catholic hate crimes, adding that he was able to disclose that the agency is conducting anti-Catholic hate crime investigations in the cities of Kansas City, Louisville, Houston, Nashville, and Richmond specifically.
When questioned about whether the FBI would investigate more deeply into potential “cells” helping to fund and facilitate such anti-Catholic attacks, Patel assured Hawley, “We are not stopping at the perpetrators themselves.”
The FBI director said his agency is “reverse engineering” the chain of events leading to such hate crimes to hold accountable those who fund them.
Months after the memo targeting traditional Catholics was released, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) announced that documents that he obtained from the FBI indicated that its field office in Richmond, Virginia, coordinated with two other offices across the country to spy on traditional Catholics.
The finding appeared to contradict Wray’s previous testimony that the FBI memo targeting traditional Catholics was only utilized at the one location in Richmond.
Violence against churches in the U.S. escalated after the leak of the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. That decision, Dobbs v. Jackson, inspired a wave of threats and vandalism against churches and pregnancy centers, which mostly went unpunished, with former Attorney General Merrick Garland citing the supposed difficulty of gathering evidence.
However, hate crimes against Christians had already been growing in the country. A 2023 report from the Family Research Council (FRC) found that anti-Christian attacks on churches steadily increased from 2018 to 2022.
FRC “identified a total of 420 documented acts of hostility that targeted 397 individual churches” in the U.S. during that period.
The recent high-profile assassination of evangelical Christian Charlie Kirk has been described by some commentators, including Tucker Carlson, as motivated by anti-Christian hatred.
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| The Müller Mirage |
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Posted by: Stone - 09-18-2025, 09:47 AM - Forum: Vatican II and the Fruits of Modernism
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The Müller Mirage
Why Conservatives Keep Crowning a Theologian Who Undid the Faith
Chris Jackson via Hiraeth in Exile | Sep 17, 2025
Gerhard Ludwig Müller is trending again. Diane Montagna just dropped Part I of a two-part interview (released today, September 17, 2025), and the Catholic commentariat is buzzing ahead of Part II tomorrow. Here at last, they say, is a prelate who calls Charlie Kirk a martyr, who calls the LGBT “Jubilee” a desecration, who names Islam and wokeism as cultural poisons. Traditionalists and conservatives alike are hailing him as a bulldog against Leo XIV’s Vatican.
But if Müller is our savior, then the Church has truly forgotten how to tell the difference between orthodoxy and camouflage. The record of his writings is the man. And that record reveals a disciple of Rahner, Kant, and Gutierrez.
Transubstantiation Replaced
In his theology manuals, Müller insists that “body and blood” do not mean the physical Christ under the accidents of bread and wine. Instead, he offers “transcommunication”: Christ’s presence is mediated symbolically, communicable in perception, a “reality-symbol.” Substance is no longer metaphysical reality but “food” and “human community.” The question of when the conversion happens he dismisses as meaningless.
This is the very dodge Pius XII warned against in Humani Generis: replacing the clear substance–accident language of Trent with elastic phenomenologies that empty the dogma while retaining its vocabulary. The altar is evacuated under the pretense of profundity.
The Virginity of Mary Dismantled
Worse still, Müller’s Katholische Dogmatik reduces the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God to metaphorical “horizons.” He flatly denies that the doctrine entails the bodily integrity of Mary during birth. Gone is the miraculous virginitas in partu defined by Fathers and popes, replaced with talk of “eschatological salvation” and the “personal relationship” of Mary to Jesus.
He approvingly cites Karl Rahner’s notorious minimization of the dogma; so notorious the Holy Office censored Rahner for it in 1962. Yet Müller, hailed as a “guardian of orthodoxy,” recycles the very error the pre-conciliar magisterium condemned.
Contrast this with St. Thomas and St. Augustine, who affirm that Christ was born utero clauso, as light passes through glass. That is the faith of the Church. Müller, by comparison, drowns it in transcendental gobbledygook.
Resurrection Reduced
The Resurrection fares no better. In his 2010 Dogmatik, Müller insists no camera could have recorded it; the event was not historical in the ordinary sense, but a “transcendental consummation.” What is historically verifiable, he says, is not the empty tomb or the risen Christ, but only the disciples’ belief.
This is Modernist reduction. It recasts the Resurrection as subjective faith-experience, precisely the tactic Pius X exposed in Pascendi: the “communication of an original experience.” If you believe because Peter believed, but the historical tomb does not matter, then Christianity is emptied into myth.
Vatican II Absolutized
Müller was no friend to Tradition in practice. As prefect of the CDF he told the SSPX that acceptance of Vatican II is as binding as belief in the Resurrection. He insisted they accept religious liberty and ecumenism as “fundamental human rights.” He demanded recognition of the legitimacy of the Novus Ordo Missae.
Here is the irony: Müller himself compared Vatican II’s pastoral novelties to the dogma of Easter, while in his own writings he stripped Easter of its historical core. This is the theologian conservatives now want to canonize as their lion.
Ecumenism and Liberation Theology
Müller publicly declared Catholics and Protestants already constitute “the one visible Church,” contradicting the dogma of the Mystical Body defined by Pius XII. He praised Gustavo Gutierrez, the Marxist-tinted liberation theologian, as one of the greats, and even coauthored a book with him. This reveals where Müller’s loyalties have long been.
Amoris Laetitia: From Resistance to Retreat
Conservatives often cite his resistance to Amoris Laetitia. But in 2017, after Francis stripped his allies from the CDF, Müller pivoted: Amoris, he said, posed “no danger to the faith.” The text was “very clear.” Clear in what? In ambiguity. Instead of standing up for the sanctity of marriage, Muller maneuvered to preserve status.
Why This Matters Under Leo
Leo XIV’s Vatican is a carnival of desecration. Transvestites in sanctuaries, rainbow-lit jubilees, and bishops outlawing the Latin Mass. The only antidote is dogma taught in eodem sensu, eademque sententia. Yet the man conservatives are celebrating as the antidote has already surrendered that ground. He denies the physical integrity of Mary’s virginity. He redefines transubstantiation into symbol. He relativizes the Resurrection into disciples’ belief. He binds Catholics to Vatican II as if it were revelation itself.
That is not a champion of orthodoxy. It is the revolution in disguise.
Stop Lowering the Bar
Traditional Catholics used to measure fidelity by adherence to defined dogma. Now they measure it by whether a man condemns gender ideology on camera. The Church deserves better. The martyrs did not die for soundbites. They died for the faith defined at Trent, Constantinople, and Lateran.
If Müller wishes to be counted among the defenders of the flock, let him repent of his errors, retract his Rahnerian evasions, and affirm the mysteries in the words the Church herself uses. Until then, conservatives coronating him are not resisting the revolution. They are laundering it.
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| Holy Mass in New Hampshire - September 21, 2025 |
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Posted by: Stone - 09-17-2025, 11:34 AM - Forum: September 2025
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Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - Feast of St. Matthew ApEv
w/ Commemoration of the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
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Date: Sunday, September 21, 2025
Time: Confessions - 10:00 AM
Holy Mass - 10:30 AM
Location: The Oratory of the Sorrowful Heart of Mary
66 Gove's Lane
Wentworth, NH 03282
Contact: 315-391-7575
sorrowfulheartofmaryoratory@gmail.com
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