The Moynihan Letters

    In better times — Pope Francis, 86 (left) with Cardinal Raymond Burke, 75 (right, link, link), some years ago. Burke has been critical of some of Francis' decisions and actions, and now Pope Francis is contemplating actions against Burke, including taking away his Vatican apartment and his cardinal's salary. Burke does not presently have any [...]

    “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” —Jesus, Gospel of Mark 3:25     "To believe in Christ means to desire unity; to desire unity means to desire the Church; to desire the Church means to desire the communion of grace which corresponds to the Father's plan from all eternity. Such is [...]

Cardinal Raymond Burke, 75 (link, link)     Pope Francis is reportedly contemplating actions against Burke, like taking away his Vatican apartment, and his cardinal's salary, according to reports today in Rome (link and link)     "You would be wise to take another path"     "A te convien tenere altro viaggio,"     rispuose, poi che lagrimar mi vide,     "se vuoi [...]

    Vladimir Soloviev (1853-1900). This profound Russian Orthodox theologian was deeply attracted to the Roman Catholic Church. He wrote many theological works, and dealt at length with the question of the Petrine primacy — the role of the Pope as the enduring "rock" upon which the Church is founded and due to which she will always [...]

Pietà (detail), by Giovanni Duprè, 1867, Siena, Cimitero della Misericordia (Cemetery of Mercy). The moment when the body of Jesus is taken down from the cross and given to his mother, Mary, for burial, is the moment of the intersection of the deepest love, deepest faith and deepest sorrow in our tradition, and so, in [...]

    "It was an era in which people were disappointed by charlatans and false prophets who claimed to be messengers of God." --Flavius Josephus (37 A.D-100 A.D.), about the first century after Jesus (see link). His most important works were The Jewish War (c. 75) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94). The Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation. Antiquities of [...]

    Today, a beautiful day in Rome, warm, sunny, clear, fresh, I received in my email from a friend a link to a video about a woman — Tammy Peterson, the wife of the Canadian author Jordan Peterson — who learned that she had a very rare, and seemingly inevitably fatal form of cancer, which would [...]

    A new report asks if Pope’s signature on a recent, controversial document (the entire text of the document, and the signatures, are below) is a "photo-shopped insertion" rather than an actual papal signature.     How and why did this happen?     (See this link for the original report which sparked this letter... it is in Croatian — [...]

Photo Credit | Archdiocese of Warsaw      Letter #154, 2023, Wed, Nov 15: Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki     We send out below an interview of rare clarity, insight and calm wisdom.     It was published two days ago by Catholic World Report and is quickly going viral on the internet.     The interview is with a prominent Synod [...]

    Letter #153, 2023, Wed, Nov 15: Freemasonry     Freemasonry is again in the Catholic Church’s spotlight.     Even after 300 years of the Church’s repeated condemnation of Freemasonry as incompatible with the Roman Catholic faith, many continue to be drawn into its rituals and teachings in various parts of the world.     This time it is in the [...]