I have made no secret of my admiration for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That said, I must point out how wrong she is to resurrect, in the wake of the Georgia and Alabama abortion laws, the tired old “my body, my choice” rhetoric. She did this on Twitter, a place she frequents almost as much as the Dear Leader himself. I support her choice in this. Now, it is worth noting here that even Christopher Hitchens, atheist and abortion rights advocate,... Read more
Ben Shapiro, as you will have heard, was “destroyed” in an interview with BBC journalist Andrew Neil. Even Mr. Shapiro admits to his destruction, upon which he cried: “I’m popular and no one’s ever heard of you!” and ran away. (Embrace the argumentum ad populum.) If you’ve not heard about this, the gist of it is that Shapiro was first triggered by Neil’s description of the Georgia abortion law as “barbaric” and a “return to the Dark Ages”; and... Read more
Adebate has broken out online following Catholic radio host Patrick Coffin’s decision to invite pederasty apologist Milo Yiannopoulos on his radio show. Coffin used to be at Catholic Answers; Milo is in a same-sex marriage but presents himself as a critic of Pope Francis and “homosexualist leaders” in the Church. There’s your dose of irony, or hypocrisy (what you will), for today. When he was Cardinal Bergoglio, Pope Francis said that same-sex marriage is a “machination of the father of... Read more
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. When I have written about Church social teaching on this blog, that’s the only text I have ever cited. (Well, okay, I’ve also cited Gaudium et Spes and papal encyclicals that comprise Church social teaching, such as Rerum Novarum or Quadragesimo Anno or Caritas in Veritate.) But my point is: When I write about Church teaching, I cite Church documents. When I want to know what the Church teaches, I read... Read more
It’s not what you may have heard. Death Site News is promoting the words of Fr. Mark Goring; he says that “The blood of these unborn children is on your hands if you vote for and support an aggressively pro-abortion politician.” This is false. The Church nowhere teaches that a person who votes for a pro-choice Democrat incurs the guilt of abortion. Now, in 2004, the CDF—with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as its prefect—put out a document entitled “Worthiness to Receive... Read more
On Facebook there’s a funny little guy who runs around interrogating people on whether they agree with John Paul II that abortion is just like the Holocaust. He’s a self-appointed Inquisitor who seems to think that it’s not enough to accept Church teaching that abortion is a grave sin; you must also accept a particular metaphor, or historical comparison, one pope used to describe it. Even the metaphors are infallible on this topic. If you reject them, you’re a heretic,... Read more
At The Federalist, you can find this long and rambling article by Paul Rahe. Mr. Rahe goes on for almost 2500 words, attempting to tie together a bunch of disparate events scattered over a sixty-year period in order to prove that the Lavender Mafia “controls the papacy and the Vatican overall.” I can’t refute it all in one blog article. But I want to call your attention, dear reader, to this one sentence: “Since his election, Pope Francis has done... Read more
Last week: This week: You love me, you hate me, you know me, and then you can’t figure out the bag I’m in. Read more
Canon 332 tells us why. “If it happens,” the canon says, “that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested.” If the pope resigns under the pressure of a public campaign in the media, he does not act freely. Consequently the resignation is not valid. Consequently any one elected by a conclave is an antipope. Remember when a number of reactionaries claimed that Benedict XVI’s resignation was not... Read more
But Alt!” a reader cries. Sodomy cries to heaven for vengeance!” I hear this from someone who seems to think I am a defender of gay sex, an LGBT apologist. That’s bizarre. (Exhibit A / Exhibit B / Exhibit C / Exhibit D / Exhibit E / Exhibit F / Exhibit G / Exhibit H / Exhibit I / Exhibit J / Exhibit K / Exhibit L.) In spite of this clear track record, people have called me all sorts... Read more
To Give a Defense
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