THE FRATERNITY EXPLAINS TO THE POPE THE MEANING OF EPISCOPAL CONSECRATIONS: "WE WANT TO SEW THE ROBE OF CHRIST, NOT TEAR IT."

Just hours after the episcopal consecrations held on July 1st in Écône, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, responded with a highly respectful letter to Pope Leo XIV explaining their meaning.

Fr. Pagliarani expressed his "deepest" gratitude for the Pope's paternal gesture in the letter and explained the Fraternity's sincere desire to serve the Church: "It seems to us that it is precisely our duty to do everything possible to sew the robe of Christ, torn by forces and pressures incompatible with an authentically Catholic spirit." The Fraternity does not see itself as one who tears, but as one who tries to repair.

The superior of the SSPX also invoked the case of thousands of souls who, he affirms, have recovered their faith and religious practice thanks to the apostolate of the Society, and asked the Pope to let his pastoral heart be "sensitive to this very particular situation." He closed the letter with a note of almost intimate hope: "For some time now I have been praying to Saint Rita for the present situation. I have seen in the election of an Augustinian Pope a sign of hope. I am certain that the saint will intercede. It is never too late."

Father Pagliarani noted that "One day, all the difficulties between the Holy See and the Society will be resolved. A gesture of understanding on the part of Your Holiness, far from harming unity, can only demonstrate to the world and to all Christians your concern for unity and your paternal kindness."

Below is the full text of the letter to the Pope, in which the SSPX emphasizes that the consecrations are not intended as a rupture but are an act that it believes will benefit and was necessary for the Catholic Church:

The Superior General

To His Holiness

Pope Leo XIV

Ecône, June 30, 2026

Most Holy Father:

I sincerely thank you for the letter you kindly sent me.

I was deeply moved by your paternal concern.

For a long time, I have long desired the opportunity to meet with Your Holiness to express to you personally our sincere desire to serve the Church. Unfortunately, that opportunity has not arisen.

I only ask that you consider the authenticity of this intention, which is in no way fictitious. Paradoxically, in the current circumstances, it seems to us a necessary duty to do everything possible to mend the garment of Christ, torn by forces and pressures incompatible with a truly Catholic spirit.  I simply ask that you consider the authenticity of this intention before making a decision regarding the Society of Saint Pius X. It is not too late.

Far be it from us to separate ourselves from the Roman Church; on the contrary, we wish to serve her through extraordinary means, as one helps a mother going through a serious difficulty who needs particular assistance that not everyone understands. But I am certain that the Holy Father could understand.

The Holy See has already demonstrated its ability to understand very complex situations and to grant the necessary time.

I humbly ask you to take the necessary time for this discernment.

If my words are not enough, I would ask you to reflect on two very simple facts. First, the Society was already declared schismatic in 1988, for reasons and under circumstances entirely analogous to the present ones; and yet, after so many years, we are speaking like a father to his son.  His Holiness paternally exhorts me to avoid a schism that, theoretically, has already occurred. Does Your Holiness not believe that this very attitude of yours, for which I am so grateful, constitutes proof that the Fraternity is neither schismatic nor hostile to the Church?

Secondly, some years ago, the Holy See entrusted two bishops of the Church with the mission of dialoguing with the Priestly Fraternity St. Pius X: Mons.  Vitus Huonder, then Bishop of Coira, today deceased, and Mons.  Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Astana.  Both, after taking the necessary time to discern, recognized the deeply Catholic spirit of the Fraternity and testified to it publicly.

But, above all, allow me to address Your Holiness on behalf of the thousands of souls who have rediscovered the Catholic faith and religious practice through the apostolate of the Fraternity.  It is a fact that his predecessors took note of.  These souls have no greater desire than to attain salvation by this instrument which Providence has placed at their disposal.  They have suffered and they are sincere.  I am sure that his fatherly heart as a universal Shepherd will be sensitive to this particular situation.  One day, all difficulties between the Holy See and the Brotherhood will be resolved.  A gesture of understanding on the part of Your Holiness, far from harming unity, will only be able to manifest before the world and before all Christians his concern for unity and his fatherly kindness.

I leave all this to your consideration.  I renew my prayer for Your Holiness.

For a long time, even before his election, I have been entrusting the current situation to Santa Rita.  I saw in the election of an Augustinian Pope a sign of hope.  I am sure the Saint will intercede.  It's never too late.

I beseech Him to grant us His blessing.

I gladly take this opportunity to reiterate Your Holiness, very devout in the Lord.

Don Davide Pagliarani

Declaration of Catholic Faith to the Pope by the SSPX.

May 14, 2026, Menzingen. In a powerful letter, the Society of Saint Pius X has presented a declaration of Catholic faith to Pope Leo XIV.

The document, signed by Father David Pagliarani, reaffirms the pillars of Tradition in the face of modern errors that undermine morality.

The declaration is clear: the Catholic Church is the only path to salvation, and the Mass is a sacrifice, not merely a meal.

Furthermore, it defends the social reign of Jesus Christ and categorically rejects any changes to sexual morality or blessings outside the natural order.

This text seeks to confirm the faithful in the unchanging Roman Catholic faith, emphasizing that unity is only possible through shared truth.

A firm stance that marks the future of traditionalist dialogue in the Church and that deserves not only a response from His Holiness Leo XIV, but also the acceptance of an interview with Father Pagliarani before July to discuss the authorization of episcopal consecrations. If dialogue is to be practiced with everyone, it should also be practiced with those who share the same faith.

The full text follows:

Declaration of Catholic Faith addressed to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV by Fr. Davide Pagliarani Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X 

 Most Holy Father, 

 For more than fifty years, the Society of Saint Pius X has endeavoured to set before the Holy See a matter of conscience in the face of the errors that are destroying Catholic faith and morals. Regrettably, all the discussions entered into have remained without result, and none of the concerns expressed have received any truly satisfactory response. 

 For more than fifty years, the only solution truly considered by the Holy See has appeared to be that of canonical sanctions. To our great regret, it seems to us that canon law is thus being used, not to confirm in the Faith, but to lead away from it. 

 In the text that follows, the Society of Saint Pius X is glad to express to You, filially and sincerely, its devotion to the Catholic Faith, concealing nothing, either from Your Holiness or from the Universal Church. 

 The Society places this simple Declaration of Faith in Your hands. It seems to us to correspond to the minimum indispensable to be in communion with the Church, and to truly call ourselves Catholics and, consequently, your sons. 

 We have no other desire than that of living and being confirmed in the Roman Catholic Faith. 

 “Thus, remaining firmly rooted and established in the true Catholic Faith, strive always to be worthy ministers of the divine Sacrifice and of the Church of God, which is the Body of Christ. 

 For, as the Apostle says: ‘all that is not of faith is sin’,1 schismatic and outside the unity of the Church.”2 

 DECLARATION OF CATHOLIC FAITH 

 In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, divine Wisdom, the Word Incarnate, Who willed one sole religion, Who rendered the Old Covenant definitively null and void, Who founded one sole Church, Who triumphed over Satan, Who conquered the world, Who remains with us until the end of time and Who shall come again to judge the living and the dead. 

 He, the perfect Image of the Father, the Son of God made man, was appointed the sole Redeemer and Saviour of the world through the Incarnation and the voluntary offering of the Sacrifice of the Cross. Our Lord satisfied divine justice by shedding His Most Precious Blood, and it is in that Blood that He established the New and Eternal Covenant, abolishing the Old. He is therefore the sole Mediator between God and men and the sole way to come to the Father. Only he who knows Him knows the Father. 

 By divine decree, the Most Holy Virgin Mary has been directly and intimately associated with the entire work of Redemption; to deny this association — in the terms received from Tradition — is therefore to alter the very notion of Redemption as willed by divine Providence. 

 There is only one Faith and one Church by which we may be saved. Outside the Roman Catholic Church, and without the profession of Faith that she has always taught, there is neither salvation nor remission of sins. 

 Consequently, every man must be a member of the Catholic Church in order to save his soul, and there is but one baptism as the means of being incorporated into her. This necessity concerns the whole of humanity without exception and embraces without distinction Christians, Jews, Muslims, pagans, and atheists. 

 The mandate received by the Apostles, to preach the Gospel to every man and to convert every man to the Catholic Faith, remains binding until the end of time and responds to the most absolute and most pressing necessity in the world. “He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned.”3 Therefore, to renounce the fulfilment of this mandate constitutes the gravest of crimes against humanity. 

 The Roman Church alone possesses simultaneously the four marks that characterize the Church founded by Jesus Christ: Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity. 

 Her unity flows essentially from the adherence of all her members to the one true Faith, faithfully preserved, taught, and handed down by the Catholic hierarchy throughout the centuries. 

 The denial of even a single truth of the Faith destroys faith itself and renders radically impossible all communion with the Catholic Church. 

 The only possible path to restoring unity among Christians of different confessions consists in the urgent and charitable appeal addressed to non-Catholics to profess the one true Faith within the one true Church. 

 The Catholic Church can in no way be regarded or treated on an equal footing with a false form of worship or a false church. 

 The Roman Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ, is the sole possessor of supreme authority over the whole Church. He alone directly confers on the other members of the Catholic hierarchy jurisdiction over souls. 

 “The Holy Ghost was not promised to the successors of Peter that they might make known, by His revelation, a new doctrine, but that, by His assistance, they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the revelation transmitted by the Apostles, that is, the Deposit of the Faith.”4 

 To a unique Faith there corresponds a unique form of worship, the supreme, authentic, and perfect expression of that same Faith. 

 The Holy Mass is the perpetuation in time of the Sacrifice of the Cross, offered for many and renewed upon the altar. Although offered in an unbloody manner, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is essentially expiatory and propitiatory. No other form of worship offers perfect adoration. No other form of worship that is not ordered to it is pleasing to God. No other means is sufficient for the sanctification of souls. 

 Consequently, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can in no way be reduced to a mere commemoration, to a spiritual meal, to a sacred assembly celebrated by the people, to the celebration of the Paschal mystery without sacrifice, without satisfaction of divine justice, without expiation of sins, without propitiation, and without the Cross. 

 The help afforded to souls by the Sacraments of the Catholic Church is sufficient in every circumstance and in every age to enable the faithful to live in a state of grace. 

 The moral law contained in the Decalogue and perfected in the Sermon on the Mount is the only one practicable for obtaining the salvation of souls. Every other moral code — founded, for example, on respect for creation or on the rights of the human person — is radically insufficient to sanctify and save souls. In no way can it replace the one true moral law. 

 Following the example of St. John the Baptist, true charity obliges us to warn sinners and never to renounce the means necessary to save their souls. 

 He who eats the Body of Our Lord and drinks His Blood whilst in a state of sin eats and drinks his own condemnation, and no authority can alter this law contained in the teaching of St. Paul and in Tradition. 

 Sins of impurity that are against nature are of such gravity that they always and in every circumstance cry to God for vengeance, and are radically incompatible with every form of authentic Christian love. Such a ‘lifestyle’ can therefore in no way be recognized as a gift from God. A couple practising this vice must be helped to free themselves from it, and can in no way be blessed — formally or informally — by ministers of the Church. 

 The submission of institutions and nations, as such, to the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ flows directly from the Incarnation and the Redemption. Therefore, secularism of institutions and nations constitutes an implicit denial of the divinity and universal kingship of Our Lord. 

 Christendom is not a mere historical phenomenon, but the only order willed by God among men. 

 It is not for the Church to conform herself to the world, but for the world to be transformed by the Church. 

 It is in this Faith and in these principles that we ask to be instructed and confirmed by Him Who has received the charism to do so. With the help of Our Lord, we would rather die than renounce them. It is in this immutable Faith that we desire to live and die, in the hope that it may give way to the direct vision of the immutable eternal Truth. 

 Menzingen, 14 May 2026, on the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord 

 Davide Pagliarani

The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) states that the bishops it will consecrate "will not assume any jurisdiction against the will of the Pope" and therefore "will not be schismatic."

ACN

Published: February 19, 2026.

The Society of Saint Pius X has reiterated two points:

That it will consecrate new bishops next July.

That they will not be "schismatic."

It explained that, "based on all traditional theology and the constant teaching of the Church, an episcopal consecration not authorized by the Holy See, when it is not accompanied by either a schismatic intention or the conferral of jurisdiction, does not constitute a rupture of communion with the Church."

The argument is set forth in Annex II, which it sent to the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and which we reproduce below.

ORDER AND JURISDICTION: THE INANITY OF THE ACCUSATION OF SCHISM.

February 19, 2026.

The Society defends itself against all accusations of schism and maintains, based on all traditional theology and the constant teaching of the Church, that an episcopal consecration not authorized by the Holy See, when it is not accompanied by either a schismatic intention or the conferral of jurisdiction, does not constitute a rupture of the communion of the Church.

The constitution Lumen Gentium on the Church states in Chapter III, no. 21, that the power of jurisdiction is conferred by episcopal consecration at the same time as the power of orders.

The decree Christus Dominus on the pastoral ministry of bishops in the Church states the same in its preamble, no. 3.

And this affirmation is reiterated by the 1983 Code of Canon Law, in canon 375 § 2.

Now, in the Church, the reception of episcopal jurisdiction depends, by divine law, on the will of the Pope, and schism is defined precisely as the act of someone who arrogates jurisdiction autonomously and without regard for the Pope's will. Therefore, according to these documents, an episcopal consecration performed against the Pope's will would necessarily be a schismatic act.

This argument, which seeks to conclude that future episcopal consecrations within the Society would be schismatic, is based entirely on the postulate of the Second Vatican Council according to which episcopal consecration confers both the power of Holy Orders and the power of jurisdiction.

However, in the opinion of pastors and theologians whose authority was recognized at the time of the Second Vatican Council, this postulate is not traditional and lacks a solid foundation.

During the Council, Cardinal Browne and Archbishop Luigi Carli demonstrated this in their written commentaries on the outline of the future constitution Lumen Gentium.

Archbishop Dino Staffa did the same, basing his argument on the most reliable sources of Tradition.

Pius XII declared on three occasions—in Mystici Corporis in 1943, in Ad Sinarum Gentem in 1954, and in Ad Apostolorum Principis in 1958—that the ordinary episcopal power of governance enjoyed by bishops, and exercised under the authority of the Supreme Pontiff, is communicated to them directly, that is, without the mediation of episcopal consecration, by the Supreme Pontiff himself: “immediate sibi ab eodem Pontifice Summo impertita.” If this power is conferred upon them immediately by the sole act of the Pope’s will, it is unclear how it could derive from consecration.

This is all the more true since the majority of theologians and canonists absolutely deny that episcopal consecration grants the power of jurisdiction.

And Church discipline contradicts this view.

Indeed, if the power of jurisdiction is conferred through consecration, how is it that an elected Supreme Pontiff, who has not yet been consecrated a bishop, possesses by divine right the fullness of the power of jurisdiction, as well as infallibility, from the very moment he accepts his election?

Following this same logic, if it is consecration that confers jurisdiction, residential bishops appointed but not yet consecrated, even though already established at the head of their diocese as true pastors, would have no power of jurisdiction nor any right to participate in councils, when in fact they do possess these two prerogatives before their episcopal consecration.

As for titular bishops, who do not have authority over any diocese, they would have been deprived for centuries of the exercise of a jurisdictional power which, according to Lumen Gentium, they would have received by virtue of their consecration.

If it is objected that consecration already confers a power of jurisdiction properly speaking, but that it requires the intervention of the Pope to be exercised concretely, we respond that this distinction is artificial, since Pius XII clearly affirms that it is the power of jurisdiction in its essence that is immediately communicated by the Pope, who, therefore, does not merely fulfill a necessary condition for the proper exercise of said power.

The bishops who will be consecrated on July 1 as auxiliaries of the Society will therefore not arrogate to themselves any jurisdiction against the will of the Pope, and will in no way be schismatic.

Note: Regarding the penalty of excommunication, the Fsspx has pointed out that Canon Law itself establishes that it does not apply when there is a state of necessity, as is the current case.

Modernist Cardinal Fernández Backs Down in the Face of Massive Protests and Allows the Faithful to Continue Using the Term Co-Redemptrix as a Title for the Blessed Virgin

Faced with the wave of protests and disagreements that arose worldwide over his document against titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary that he considered could be confusing despite being true, Cardinal Fernández "Tucho" clarifies that the use of the expression "Co-Redemptrix" has not been censored in any way in the private devotion of Catholics. The restrictions in Mater Populi Fidelis on calling Mary Co-Redemptrix apply exclusively to official Church documents and do not extend to acts of piety, spiritual writings, or the private devotion of Catholics, etc.

In other words, we can all continue using the title as we always have, and since it was clear that the faithful would continue to do so anyway, the Cardinal came forward to "permit" it.

A direct quote from the Cardinal: "If you, along with your group of friends, believe you understand the true meaning of this expression (Co-Redemptrix) [...], and you wish to express it precisely in this way within your prayer group or among friends, YOU MAY USE THE TITLE."

According to the Cardinal, the document sought theological precision, not to prohibit personal devotion. Therefore, it continues to be permitted, as it is an expression used for centuries by saints and popes and is true.

As we explained in a previous post: "It is absurd to silence (in practice suppress) a doctrine when what is needed is to explain and disseminate it, as should be done with all others. Otherwise, under the same pretext (that they could be misunderstood), all other truths would also have to be silenced (in practice suppressed). Everything suggests that what Cardinal "Tucho" actually intends is, under "ecumenical" pretexts, to eliminate that doctrine which is TOO CATHOLIC for Protestants (and also for modernists like himself)."

In reality, it seems that the new "clarification" is a necessary step backward due to the protests and discontent expressed by the faithful, with the hope—in the Cardinal—that Modernism will take two steps forward in the future, according to the old strategy of the fifth columnists.

Photo: Diane Montagna.

José Antonio Ortega: “THE ACCEPTANCE AND NORMALIZATION OF SIN IS INTOLERABLE IN THE CHURCH”

A video has recently gone viral in which a young man from Seville confronts a Dominican priest, calling him a traitor, while he was presiding over a Mass for the LGBTQ+ community at the Church of Santa María la Real in Seville. We contacted the young man, who reflected on the incident.

Could you briefly describe the circumstances surrounding the events?

The association “ICHTYS,” which organizes events, workshops, and “welcoming” Masses for the LGBTQ+ community, held a Mass on November 15th at the Church of Santa María la Real. This same church, just a week earlier, denied funeral rites to young victims of communist and socialist terrorism, which is against the Code of Canon Law.

A group of disaffected young people from the Orate group approached the church to see exactly what the event was about (it wasn't very clear whether it was a Mass, a talk, etc.). Indeed, confirming our suspicions, it was an event welcoming the LGBTQ+ community, but not with the intention of enlightening them with the light of Christ and his Gospel, nor of converting them. Rather, it was clearly intended to perpetuate their sin and allow them to continue living in it proudly.

Upon discovering it was a Mass, the young people planned to take action at the end. However, given the numerous liturgical abuses and the farcical spectacle we were witnessing, during the Prayer of the Faithful, when parishioners could share (with the priest's approval) personal petitions (each more lengthy and heretical than the last), I decided to intervene, seizing the opportunity to rebuke the priest for his disloyalty to both Christ and his ministry.  Of course, we couldn't endure that disgrace for another second, and that's why we decided to act immediately (not waiting until the end of Mass) and then leave the church.

Why did you so strongly denounce the LGBT advocacy coming from some sectors of the Church?

The acceptance and normalization of sin is intolerable in the Church. Would anyone imagine an altar draped with a flag supporting abortion? Frankly, as soon as I learned that this event or Mass was going to take place, I didn't hesitate for a second about my intentions. I believe that the LGBT infiltration and the spread of gender ideology, consequences of an increasingly modernist Church, is one of the main problems we face today, and it must be addressed immediately. We only have to look at Northern Europe and see the German bishops.

Spain, “hammer of heretics, cradle of Saint Ignatius, light of Trent…”, that same Spain, that same Spanish Church cannot be allowed to prostitute itself or sell itself to the world and worldliness for thirty pieces of silver.

Why is it essential that Catholics react to the whitewashing of sin?

Christ, given the opportunity, did not hesitate for a second to proclaim the Truth, to take up the whip and use it in the Temple against all the Jews who entered it. This is the attitude that every Catholic should have in the face of these shameful acts and barbarities. If anyone thinks that in these cases dialogue and peaceful, democratic resolution are the way to go… they have chosen the wrong religion. Our religion is defended with the sword and a Rosary in hand, not with the “hippie” Catholicism that modernists want to sell us.

The apostles had the same attitude, who, despite being persecuted and threatened with death by the Jews, continued preaching the Gospel regardless of the consequences.

We have a legion of saints and martyrs behind us who impassively observe our actions. We must rise to the occasion, and let me be clear, that cannot be achieved with lukewarmness and foolishness.

Did you expect such a reaction to your complaint and for the video to go viral?

I expected it to appear in some newspapers and go viral on social media, but certainly not that it would be on the news, that major television channels would contact me to appear live (which, of course, we refuse to do), and that it would make headlines in dozens of renowned national newspapers.

Have you received many expressions of support?

Many: hundreds and thousands of expressions of support both online and in person. Expressions of support from friends, acquaintances, and parishioners and priests from all over the world who simply saw the video and contacted me to congratulate me.  These expressions of support fill me with hope and make me think that some resistance still remains within the Church… now all that remains is for decisive action to be taken, and if possible, for it not to be the laity who have to teach sound doctrine to priests and bishops.

On the other hand, have you endured insults and threats?

Just like with praise, I've also received hundreds and thousands of insults, threats, social and media pressure, etc. As you can imagine, I couldn't care less what these people say, especially because: 1) they're wrong; 2) they haven't set foot in a church since their First Communion.

Would you like to add or clarify anything?

I encourage all readers, especially younger ones, to take a step and actively collaborate with groups like Orate that defend Hispanic and Church Tradition. I also encourage you to take the step and actively participate in the patriotic organization you deem most appropriate. What will you tell your children when they ask you what you were doing while Spain, Europe, and the Church were rotting away?

By Javier Navascués

Source: InfoCatólica

THE MURDERER BELIEVED THAT HIS COWARDLY ACT WOULD SILENCE HIM...

Note: We didn't know him, nor do we know all of his beliefs, only that he was pro-life, but whatever his beliefs, we don't need to agree with everything to condemn the treacherous murder that left two young children orphaned and an inconsolable widow and made him famous in ways he never imagined in life.

THE POPE DIED

 At 7:35 a.m.

Pope Francis died this Monday at the age of 88, according to Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Vatican Camerlengo.

April 21, 2025 10:03 AM

(InfoCatólica) Pope Francis died this Monday at the age of 88, according to Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Vatican Camerlengo. The Holy See made the announcement at 9:52 a.m. with a statement:

"A short time ago, His Eminence Cardinal Farrell sadly announced the death of Pope Francis, with these words: 'Dear brothers and sisters, with profound sorrow I must announce the passing of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 a.m. this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the Father's house. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and his Church.' He taught us to live the values ​​of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we entrust the soul of Pope Francis to the infinitely merciful love of the Triune God.

Francis, who left the hospital on March 28 after a long 37-day stay due to pneumonia, appeared in public for the last time yesterday, Sunday, in St. Peter's Square to give the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing.

Sede vacante

From this moment on, the See is vacant, and will remain so until his successor is elected in the next conclave.

The procedure for confirming his death began with the traditional rite performed by the Camerlengo, who pronounced the Pope's baptismal name three times. In the absence of a response, his death was officially declared. As tradition the Fisherman's Ring, a symbol of papal authority, was destroyed in the presence of witnesses to prevent any misuse. Furthermore, the papal apartment has been sealed in accordance with current canonical regulations, and the formal process of organizing the funeral has begun.

The funeral ceremonies will follow the provisions revised in the second edition of the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis, reforms initiated by Pope Francis himself during his pontificate. The body will lie in state in St. Peter's Basilica for three days so the faithful can pay their respects, abandoning the traditional raised coffin used in previous papal funerals.

Pope Francis will be buried in a single wooden coffin, breaking with the custom of three successive coffins of cypress, lead, and walnut used for the deaths of Popes. His wish, expressed during his lifetime, is to be buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, a place he visited every time he made an apostolic journey.

The requiem Mass will be presided over by the Dean of the College of Cardinals and is expected to be attended by political leaders, international dignitaries, and representatives of various religious denominations.

After the funeral, Novemdiales will be celebrated, nine consecutive days of Masses in St. Peter's Basilica. These celebrations, presided over by various cardinals, are intended to pray for the soul of the pontiff and spiritually prepare the Church for the upcoming conclave.

Role of the Camerlengo and Temporal Government of the Church

During the period of sede vacante, the College of Cardinals assumes responsibility for the temporal government of the Church, albeit with limited powers. The Camerlengo will be responsible for the temporal government of the Church, albeit with limited powers. The Camerlengo will be responsible for administering the ordinary affairs of the Vatican, managing day-to-day functions without making decisions that could compromise the authority of the next pontiff. No doctrinal decisions will be made or major appointments made until the new Pope is elected.

The prefects of the Vatican dicasteries automatically cease their functions upon the death of the pontiff, except for the Major Penitentiary, who will continue to serve to address matters related to the absolution of grave sins until the election of the new leader of the Catholic Church.

This concludes the note.

__________________________

Let us pray for the Pope.

______________________

IMPORTANT LETTER FROM BISHOP ATHANASIUS SCHNEIDER TO BISHOP JOSEPH STRICKLAND

Your Excellency, Bishop Strickland, dear and esteemed brother in the episcopate!

It is for me a privilege and a joy to express to you all my gratitude and appreciation for your intrepid dedication to uncompromisingly keep, transmit, and defend the Catholic faith, which the apostles handed over to the Church and with which all the generations of Catholics, especially our ancestors, our fathers and mothers, our priests and religious sisters-catechists, were themselves nurtured. In all truth we can apply to you, dear Bishop Strickland, what St. Basil once stated in his time: 

"The one charge which is now sure to secure severe punishment is the careful keeping of the traditions of the Fathers." (Ep. 243)

Let me share with you the following highly timely words of the same great and saint bishop:

The doctrines of true religion are overthrown. The laws of the Church are in confusion. The ambition of men, who have no fear of God, rushes into high posts in the Church, and exalted office is now publicly known as the prize of impiety. The result is that the worse a man blasphemes, the fitter the people think him to be a bishop. Clerical dignity is a thing of the past. 

There is a complete lack of men shepherding the Lord's flock with knowledge. Churchmen in authority are afraid to speak, for those of them who have reached power by human interest are the slaves of those to whom they owe their advancement. Faith is uncertain; souls are drenched in ignorance because adulterators of the word imitate the truth. The mouths of true believers are dumb, while every blasphemous tongue wags free; holy things are trodden under foot. (Ep. 92)

We are living indeed in such a time, as described by St. Basil with such a striking similarity.

The words of St. Basil in his Letter to Pope St. Damasus, in which he was asking the pope's help and efficacious intervention, are fully applicable to our situation today:

The wisdom of this world wins the highest prizes in the Church and has rejected the glory of the cross. Shepherds are banished, and in their places are introduced grievous wolves hurrying the flock of Christ. Houses of prayer have none to assemble in them; desert places are full of lamenting crowds. The elders lament when they compare the present with the past. The younger are yet more to be compassionated, for they do not know of what they have been deprived. (Ep. 90)

Dear Bishop Strickland, unlike St. Basil who addressed Pope Damasus, you don't have, unfortunately, the real chance to address Pope Francis in order that he may help you to keep zealously the holy traditions of the past. On the contrary, the Holy See put you now under scrutiny and threatens you with intimidations and deprivation of the episcopal care of your flock in Tyler, basically only for the one reason, that you, like St. Basil, St. Athanasius, and many other confessor-bishops in history, are keeping the traditions of the Fathers; only because you are not silencing the truth, only because you are not behaving like not a few of the bishops of our day, who -- using the words of St. Gregory of Nazianzus -- "are serving the times and demands of the masses, leaving their boat to the wind which happens to blow at the moment, and like chameleons, know how to give their word many colors" (De vita sua (Carmina) 2, 11)."

However, dear Bishop Strickland, you have the happiness, that all the popes of the past, all the courageous confessor-bishops of the past, all the Catholic martyrs, who in the words of St. Theresa of Avila, were "resolved to undergo a thousand deaths for any one article of the creed" (The Life of Teresa of Jesus, 25:12), are supporting and encouraging you. Furthermore, the little ones in the Church pray for you and support you; they are an ever growing, yet small, army of lay faithful -- in the United States as well as all over the world -- who were put on the periphery by high ranking churchmen, even in the Vatican, whose main concerns seems to be pleasing the world and promoting their naturalistic agenda and the approval of the sin of homosexual activity under the guise of welcoming and inclusion.

Dear Bishop Strickland, thank you, that you are resolved "to serve the Lord, and not the time," as St. Athanasius once admonished the bishops (Ep. ad Dracontium). I pray that more bishops in our day may, like you, raise their voice in defence of the Catholic Faith, providing thereby the spiritual nourishment and consolation for many Catholics, who feel themselves often abandoned like orphans.

For sure, future popes will thank you for your intrepid fidelity to the Catholic Faith and to its holy traditions, by which you contributed to the honor of the Apostolic See, which was partly darkened and stained by our unfavourable time.

St. Joseph, your patron, the "good and faithful servant," be always on your side and the Blessed Virgin Mary, our sweet heavenly Mother, the destroyer of all heresies, be your strength and refuge.

With deep esteem, united in the holy battle for the Faith and in prayers,

Bishop Athanasius Schneider of St. Mary's in Astana, Kazakhstan, August 2, 2023

SPAIN, LUXEMBOURG, QUEBEC: THE FRUITS OF VATICAN II

 

On the Catalan Daily website, La Vanguardia of December 24, 2022, we learned that the number of seminarian in Church in Spain has dropped by 40% over the past 20 years. At the end of the Council, in 1965, there were 8,000 seminarians, in 2000 there were still 1,737, in 2020 there were only 1,028.

The Archdiocese of Barcelona, which has 2 million Catholics, has only 26 seminarians. In the same Catalan province, the diocese of Girona has just over 100 priests, whose average age is 73, to serve 394 parishes, and in the diocese of Vic, 144 priests have died since 2003, and only 15 have been ordained.

At the European level: from 2000 to 2019, Spain went from 227 ordinations to 125; Germany from 140 ordinations to 55; France from 150 to 94; Italy from 520 to 310.

Great spiritual misery in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

An article from the Luxembourg site Wort on February 16, 2023 shows the dramatic spiritual decline in Luxembourg between 2008 and 2021. While 75% of residents believed or practiced a religion in 2008, they number only 48% in 2021.

Conducted at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, this inquiry by the European Value Survey relayed by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (STATEC), reveals that among those questioned, 59% said they never go to places of worship. While 4% go there once a week and the same proportion once a month, 15.5% only attend a religious service on great feast days or ceremonies.

While in 2008 only 39% of residents said that “God was not important in their life,” this proportion has exploded to reach 60% in 2021. It should be noted that the share of residents without religion rose from 35% to 44%, while the share of atheists rose from 10% to 18%.

However, since 2011, the Archbishop of the Grand Duchy has been the Jesuit Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, president of COMECE, the episcopal commission to the European Union, and general rapporteur for the next synod on synodality.

From 1990 to 1994, Cardinal Hollerich, well known for his ultra-progressive ideas, was the spiritual guide of Luxembourg seminarians and the person responsible for the pastoral care of vocations in Luxembourg. It is therefore with these eloquent results that the general rapporteur of the next synod will provide pastoral proposals for better evangelization.

Churches for sale in Quebec

On the Quebec site Estrie plus of January 24, it was reported that the Archdiocese of Sherbrooke is selling three more churches, because of the dechristianization which forces the closure of places of worship: “Three other churches in Estrie will close their doors. St. Ephrem Church, in  Fitch Bay, St. Malo and St. Hermenegild, in the municipalities of the same name, are starting the request for proposals process.  

“The objective will be to find a new buyer for these buildings while ensuring that they can remain at the service of the community.” Already last November, the archdiocese sold the Church of the Resurrection of Christ for 1.2 million Canadian dollars to the city of Sherbrooke, which will build a child care center and public housing there.

Faced with this acceleration of church sales in the once Christian West, many are questioning their reassignment. The Vaticanist Sandro Magister on his site Settimo Cielo on February 14, writes: “Thousands of churches in Europe suffer from abandonment. With even fewer Catholics at Mass, they find themselves empty. And so they are being closed.”

“In Germany, in Holland, in Belgium, the figures are dizzying. But in Italy as well there is a growing number of churches in disuse. Here, at least, the churches are not state but ecclesiastical property, and therefore enjoy spontaneous and lasting protection on the part of their respective diocesan and parish communities.”

“But when these communities dwindle and disappear, for their churches it is the end. They are at serious risk of going under and ending up on the market, perhaps turned into supermarkets or dance halls, or in any case into something contrary to the purpose for which they arose.”

How are churches reused?

This is why, continues the Italian journalist, “in the Vatican they have tried to study how to remedy this. At the end of November 2018, the Pontifical Council for Culture, headed by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, organized a conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University with delegates from the episcopates of Europe and North America, entitled: ‘Doesn’t God live here anymore?’”

“This produced ‘guidelines’ advising against ‘commercial reuse for speculative aims,’ and instead encouraged ‘reuse for aims of solidarity,’ with ‘cultural or social’ purposes: museums, conference halls, bookshops, libraries, archives, art studios, Caritas centers, clinics, soup kitchens, and more. Still leaving the option of ‘transformation into private homes’ in the case of ‘more modest buildings with no architectural value.’”

But it is clear that “the number of abandoned churches is growing rapidly, with an even stronger need to identify sensible reuse criteria.” Sandro Magister quotes an article by Fr. Giuliano Zanchi, entitled Diversamente chiese, la posta in gioco [From churches to other uses, what is at stake] which appeared in the latest issue of Vita e Pensiero (2022, n°6), a magazine of the Catholic University of Milan.

According to the Roman Vaticanist, “there are two criteria that Zanchi suggests be followed in the reuse of churches that have ceased to be such but want to ‘relaunch themselves in civil life with the function of cultural crossroads and spiritual threshold.’”

The first criterion, he writes, is that which “harnesses the artistic dignity normally connected to historical sacred buildings, which in this particular spirit of the time, defined as ‘post-secularism,’ has universally taken on the faculties of acting as indicator of transcendence.” [sic]

“The second criterion, Zanchi continues, instead consists in ‘that typical need of the contemporary city’ to have liminal areas, thresholds, ‘capable of steering toward the profound and the transcendent, which in the absence of anything else are identified in theaters, museums, libraries, and other places of non-utilitarian ulteriority.’” [re-sic]

With the same sociologizing jargon, the author affirms that “in order to achieve this, the ‘essential precondition’ is that there be in the Church ‘a pastoral vision that is spiritually free and capable of imagination, that has a sense of perspective, the talent for creativity and a fraternal vision of its own presence in the world.’” [re-re-sic]

We propose to Fr. Zanchi reassignment criteria using much less jargon than his own: some of these churches being threatened with decommissioning, for lack of faithful and priests, could be entrusted to communities attached to Tradition who would then celebrate there the liturgy for which those churches have been built.

The misfortune is that today it is Rome which, with Traditionis custodes, persists in disaffecting not the churches, but indeed the Tridentine Mass, and in promoting a reformed liturgy which further empties the churches and the seminaries. To get out of this vicious circle, they would have to allow the “experience of Tradition” to take place, which supposes extracting oneself from a conciliar ideology, which has become de facto suicidal.

ROME: A BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN FOR THE TRADITIONAL MASS

From Monday March 27, 2023 to Easter Sunday April 9, a billboard campaign in favor of the Tridentine Mass appears in Rome.

In a press release, those responsible for this campaign declare that they want to publicly demonstrate their “deep attachment to the traditional Mass at the very moment when it seems that its extinction is being programmed: out of love for the Pope, so that he may be paternally open to the understanding of these liturgical “peripheries” which for some months have no longer felt welcome in the Church, because they find in the traditional liturgy the full and complete expression of the Catholic faith in its entirety.”

The period chosen for this poster campaign is not by chance. Indeed, according to the German-language site Summorum Pontificum of January 13, 2023, and reposted by the German site katholisch.de and the Swiss agency cath.ch on January 26, a new Apostolic constitution would further limit the possibility of celebrating the Tridentine Mass.

This constitution might be published during Holy Week, on the occasion of the anniversary of the promulgation of the constitution Missale romanum of Paul VI (April 3, 1969) establishing the Novus Ordo Missæ. 

The organizers of this campaign belong to the Italian blogs Messainlatino and Campari & de Maistre, and to the associations National Coordination of Summorum Pontificum and San Michele Arcangelo.

In their statement, they quote Benedict XVI: “What was sacred for previous generations remains sacred and great for us too, and cannot suddenly be completely forbidden or even deemed harmful.”

And to add: “The growing hostility towards the traditional liturgy finds no justification either on the theological level or on the pastoral level. The communities that celebrate according to the Missal of 1962 are not rebels against the Church.

“On the contrary, blessed by a constant growth of the faithful and of priestly vocations, they constitute an example of unshakable perseverance in Catholic faith and unity, in a world increasingly insensitive to the Gospel, and in an ecclesial fabric increasingly subject to disintegrating thrusts.”

They insist, underlining the contradictory attitude of the Roman authorities: “In the Church today, where listening, welcoming, and inclusion inspire all pastoral action, and where ecclesial communion is to be built ‘with the synodal method,’ these people of ordinary faithful, of young families, of fervent priests, nourish the confident hope that their voices will not be stifled, but welcomed, listened to, and seriously considered.”

“Anyone who goes to the ‘Latin Mass’ is not a second-class believer, nor a deviant to be re-educated, nor a weight to be shed.”

This initiative has the merit of bringing the dispute to Rome, before the Pope and the Curia. But we must remember that the current Roman attitude has its source in the Council and its texts. Thus, on March 19, Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, affirmed: “The theology of the Church has changed.… Previously, the priest represented all the people from a distance, but today it is not only the priest who celebrates the liturgy, but all the people.”

For the cardinal, the followers of the Traditional Mass are opponents of the Second Vatican Council, which is why it must be restricted, even abolished. And it is true that the Traditional Mass is opposed, by nature, to current deviations. This is why the defense of the Mass goes hand in hand with criticism of the Council.

(Source: Comité directeur de la campagne d’affichage – FSSPX.Actualités)

In Spain, the truth is challenged: it is prevented from offering pregnant women to hear the heartbeat of the unborn child before abortion: an infamy

 

In Spain as a result of the so-called Aido Law of 2010, free abortion is allowed at 14 weeks of pregnancy. This law is contrary to the decisions of the Spanish Constitutional Court, which has said that the unborn child embodies a fundamental value: that of human life, constitutionally protected. But that is irrelevant to the electoral calculations of the abundant politicians and henchmen of an alienated, ignorant, hedonistic and consuming citizenry.

Very recently, a case occurred in Spain that eloquently illustrates such a fashion that challenges the truth. The rulers of the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla y Leon issued a protocol to offer mothers the possibility of hearing the heartbeats and seeing echosonogram images of their unborn children, before making the decision to abort in light of the so-called Aido Law that, we insist on, violates the Spanish constitutional principles that protect all human life, including that of the unborn.

When the content of the Castilla y Leon protocol became known, the furies of those who challenged the truth were unleashed, and after unprecedented pressure, the protocol was repealed. It must be clear that said protocol did not impose on mothers listening to said heartbeats and seeing such images, but simply offered them the possibility of doing so as the last opportunity for reflection, discernment, and prudential deliberation, typical of all rational and free human beings.

Hearing the heartbeat of an unborn child, of a human being who lives in the mother’s womb patiently waiting to see the light of day, awakens consciences numbed by perverse ideologies and propaganda, enemies of the truth of things, as was well said recently by a Spanish wise scholar

Seeing images, not of a mass, not of a clot, but of a human person in «transit towards birth», cures blindness and pettiness camouflaged with a legal and moral absurdity: the slogan of a supposed «right» to abort, that is, to murder defenseless human beings, the most vulnerable, as said by a wise man from Spain.

The challengers of the truth at all costs prevent that truth from emerging in the conscience of mothers by listening to the diastole and systole of the little hearts of those who inhabit their blessed wombs, so that the ideology of legalized crime prevails: totalitarianism without precedents. But those same Spanish enemies of life applaud, like seals, that images of blackened lungs, decomposed by smoking, which are reproduced on cigarette packs, in order to discourage smokers in view of the terrible damage to their lungs caused by tobacco.

But the fact that mothers are discouraged from having an abortion when accepting the cited offer, from turning off the heartbeat of a human being forever, is not acceptable, it is something intolerable for the challengers of truth. Pure hypocrisy of those individuals who use double standards at convenience. One defends lungs, the other promotes the annihilation of human hearts that beat defenseless against the evil of the necrophilous world.

It is unfortunate that politicians and followers of the left, center and right in Spain, in Europe as general rule, betray the Christian values that one day gave life and strength to that Europe, to the first parliaments -the first one in Huesca, Spain, before that in England-, later emulated by the nations of the world; that gave life to the first universities, Gothic cathedrals, divine comedies and theological sums, in glorious centuries, the XI, XII and XIII, which encompass the «highest and best civilization of all that history remembers», in words of the brilliant historian Hilaire Belloc, a friend of G. K. Chesterton with whom he fought intellectual struggles in favour of Catholic, universal values in modern England.

Brilliant centuries those of Dante, Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great, Louis IX of France, Ferdinand III of Castile, Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua, Clare of Assisi. Today Europe is a vile divestiture at the service of the Yankee government, of the imperial hegemony of arms, money, abortion, gender ideology that is ignorant of the truth of the nature of things.

I hope that fresh winds will soon blow from other latitudes to restore Europe, the West, the aging, out-of-date, decadent civilization, with scientific and technological advances that amaze but which at the same time, with unusual frequency, dehumanize, terrify in terms of weapons and eugenic tests to calculatingly supply some of the millions of aborted human beings. It is time to challenge the enemies of the truth with the noble weapons of the spirit, aware that in the end the truth will win the battle.

La Gironda

GREAT TRIUMPH OF LIFE

Life won! The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturned the famous Roe vs. Wade ruling, returning to the US Constitution its original nature of defending life. This is a decision that will surely impact many Latin American constitutions.

Providentially, on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Roe v Wade has been overturned, in a ruling that clearly indicates that, beyond the slogans, the "supposed right to abortion IS NOT constitutional." And so, Clarence Thomas, Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, stated: "The purported right to abortion is not a form of liberty." Meanwhile, Judge Samuel Alito wrote in the decision: “Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each state from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”

OKLAHOMA PASSES THE MOST RESTRICTIVE ABORTION LAW IN THE UNITED STATES, FROM THE MOMENTO OF CONCEPTION

THE ONLY THING MISSING IS THE SIGNATURE OF THE GOVERNOR, WHO HAS ALREADY ANNOUNCED THAT HE WILL DO IT 

InfoCatolica. May 20, 2022. As reported by The New York Times, the Oklahoma legislature gave final approval on Thursday to a bill banning nearly all abortions from conception, making it the nation’s strictest abortion law.

(NYT/InfoCatólica) The bill allows individuals to sue abortion providers and anyone who “helps or encourages” an abortion. It would take effect immediately when signed by Governor Kevin Stitt, a Republican who has pledged to make Oklahoma the most anti-abortion state in the country.

“There can be nothing higher or more critical than defending innocent, unborn life,” State Representative Jim Olsen, a Republican, said Thursday on the floor of the Oklahoma House, where the bill passed by 73-16 votes. 

The measure is modeled on a law that went into effect in Texas in September that banned abortion after about six weeks and relied on civil rather than criminal enforcement to evade legal challenges. Because of that provision — the law explicitly says state authorities can’t bring charges — the U.S. Supreme Court and state courts have said they can’t block the ban, even if it violates the constitutional right to abortion enshrined in Roe v. wade.

The Oklahoma ban goes beyond Texas law, which prohibits abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. The bill defines an unborn child as “a human fetus or embryo at any stage of pregnancy from conception to birth.” Anti-abortion groups, which believe abortion is murder, have tried unsuccessfully since the 1973 Roe decision to pass federal or state legislation defining life as beginning at conception.

Thursday’s vote was the latest move by the Republican-led Oklahoma legislature, in conjunction with Mr. Stitt, to scrap abortion rights until the procedure is almost completely banned. Together, they have placed their state at the head of the pack of Republican-led states rushing to pass laws restricting or banning abortion in the expectation that the Supreme Court will soon overthrow Roe. A leaked draft opinion written by Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. — along with oral arguments in the present case, regarding a Mississippi law prohibiting the procedure beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy — indicated the court was willing to do so. 

In Oklahoma, multiple Democrats in the State House begged their colleagues not to pass the bill on Thursday. Several urged Oklahoma to focus more on financing family planning services, or improving the lives of young Oklahomans living in poverty.

The bill makes exceptions for rape and incest cases, but only if those crimes have been reported to the police.

Panic Among Abortion Entrepreneurs

Opponents of abortion increasingly rely on civil enforcement to achieve long-standing goals. Even in the absence of lawsuits against abortion providers, civil enforcement laws have left a chilling effect on abortion providers and distributors of abortion pills who stop working for fear of prosecution.

“This is not a fire drill,” said Emily Wales, the president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which has operations in Oklahoma. “This is not a rehearsal for what is to come. We now live in this real world. The Supreme Court will make that final this summer.”

Other states have tried to ban abortion during pregnancy but have been held back by court order because the Roe decision states that states cannot ban abortion before viability, or about 24 weeks. States, including Mississippi, have attempted voting initiatives that define fetuses as persons, leading abortion to murder, but have failed.

No state currently prohibits abortion after conception. Oklahoma law attempts to do this by using a legal tactic that the courts have allowed: civil enforcement.

If signed by the governor, the Oklahoma law would cut off another option for Texas women flooded across the state line to seek legal action, and it aims to punish even those out of state who assist Oklahoma women in getting abortions.

In 2017, the last year for which statistics were available, there were 4,780 abortions in Oklahoma, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. As in most states, the number of abortions in Oklahoma had fallen. But Texas law resulted in an influx of women entering Oklahoma to have abortions. Planned Parenthood said its Oklahoma health centers saw the number of patients from Texas increase by 2,500 percent in the first three months of the law.

Oklahoma already has a trigger ban that would immediately ban abortion if the court overturns Roe, as well as an abortion ban that has been on the books since the Roe decision. Two weeks ago, just after Alito’s draft advice was leaked, Mr. Stitt issued a six-week ban that was closely modeled on Texas law. The previous month, he had signed a law that will come into effect at the end of August banning abortion completely except to save the mother’s life. That ban imposes criminal penalties on abortion providers.

The latest bill in Oklahoma was denounced by the Biden administration as the most extreme example of lawmakers overturning the right to abortion.

BISHOPS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE INVITED TO JOIN IN THE CONSECRATION OF RUSSIA AND UKRAINE TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY BY THE POPE ON FRIDAY, MARCH 25

See the note

Catholic News Agency. The Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis is inviting the world’s bishops to join him in consecrating Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See press office, issued the confirmation on March 18.“I confirm that Pope Francis has invited the bishops of the whole world and their priests to join him in praying for peace and in consecrating and entrusting Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary,” he said.

CNA reported on March 17 that the pope intended to invite all Catholic bishops and priests around the world to join in the act of consecration.

In a letter sent urgently on Mar. 17 to all U.S. bishops, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, revealed that Pope Francis intends to invite all Catholic bishops and priests around the world to join the Act of Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The letter, sent by Reverend Michael J.K. Fuller, General Secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and signed by Archbishop Pierre, reveals that "(t)he Holy Father intends to invite each Bishop, or equivalent in law, together with his priests, to join in this act of consecration, if possible, at an hour corresponding to 5:00 pm Rome time."

"In the coming days," adds the letter, “the Holy Father will address a letter of invitation to the Bishops, enclosing the text of the Prayer of Consecration in the various languages."

Catholic bishops in Latin America and the Caribbean have already indicated that they will take part. The Catholic bishops of the Philippines have also signaled their intention to join in the act of consecration, as have the bishops of England and Wales.

On the same day that the pope carries out the consecration in Rome, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, will recite the act of consecration at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal.

NOTE FROM THIS BLOG:

Today (22‐III‐22) the Pope has said that it will be a solemn Act of Consecration OF HUMANITY, and Russia and Ukraine in particular, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. 

It was not the consecration of humanity, although Russia and Ukraine are especially mentioned, that was requested at Fatima.

We have no doubt that this consecration will certainly be valid and will have some good effect, but again it will be incomplete as the previous ones have been. The grace of Russia's conversion to the Catholic faith -promised by the Virgin of Fatima if her request were fulfilled- will not yet be given, at least not completely.

The fulfillment of what Our Lady asked in Fatima so that her Immaculate Heart finally triumphs, is still pending.