The Moynihan Letters

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 [...]

Bishop Joseph E. Strickland     Letter #152, 2023, Monday, November 13: Bishop Strickland     The embattled Bishop Joseph Strickland, 65, the first native-born Texan to head the Diocese of Tyler, in mostly-Protestant eastern Texas, was relieved of the leadership of his see by Pope Francis on Saturday, November 11, 2023.     Removing a bishop is rare. [...]

    Above, the late Marie Czernin, of Austria, who passed away after a long battle with cancer on October 28, 2022, one year ago, at the age of 51. (link and link)     Below, the Japanese violinist Tomoko Mayeda, who performed a concert in Marie's memory in Assisi, Italy, on October 29, two days ago. Paul Badura-Skoda [...]