African Catholics Shock the World by Asking the Pope for a White Bishop

What does the colour of the skin have to do with anything?

The Day Medieval Warfare Died: The Battle of Pavia 1525

From SandRhoman History

After months of exhausting siege warfare, two of Europe’s leading powers—the Kingdom of France and the Habsburgs—clashed at the Battle of Pavia. The battle marked the dramatic climax of their decades-long struggle for supremacy on the continent, fought primarily on the battlefields of Italy. It was also a pivotal moment in military development. At Pavia, the modern pike-and-shot infantry of Emperor Charles V faced the most formidable heavy cavalry in Europe—the French gendarmes. Would the old elite prevail once more, or was a new era about to begin? This is how modern historiography recounts the Battle of Pavia.

Traditional Catholic Morning Prayers in English | August

Traditional Catholic morning prayers to help start your day in a godly way! The month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I hope these prayers increase your devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary this month and draw you closer to her Divine Son, Jesus Christ. Begin each day with morning prayer! This video is a compilation of many traditional evening prayers Catholics say, and should not be considered a replacement for those who have an obligation to pray the Divine Office evening prayers.

5 Deathbed Mistakes Catholics Make That the Church Warns Against

From Totus Catholica

I have sat beside more hospital beds than I can count, and I have heard Catholics say things to the dying that come from real love, things the Church's own documents, paragraph by paragraph, forbid. Not matters of taste. Written instructions, ignored by people who would never dream of disobeying the Church on purpose. In this video I show you five things good Catholics say to someone who is dying, and the exact document, the exact paragraph, that says do not say that, plus what the Church actually asks you to do instead. The instinct to call a priest is not new. It is ancient canonical law, defended at the Council of Nicaea in the year 325, and it goes back further still, to Sirach's command that covenant kindness, chesed, follows a person into the grave, and to Joseph on his own deathbed in Genesis 50, making provision for what comes next. The Church inherited that custom and completed it in the Viaticum, food for the journey: confession, anointing, and the Eucharist, offered while a soul can still receive them consciously. What is at stake is whether a dying person crosses over with all of that and the Church's own plenary indulgence for the dying, or with none of it, because the people who loved them most never knew the rules were there. In this video: • The exact Catechism paragraph that names "don't worry, you're going straight to heaven" as a sin against hope • Why the Council of Nicaea calls a priest at death "the last and most indispensable" provision • The real difference between refusing extraordinary treatment and euthanasia • What Viaticum actually is, and why it is three sacraments, not one blessing • Why the Church still asks you to pray and have Masses said long after the funeral is over ⏱ CHAPTERS 0:00 5 Things You Should Never Say to the Dying 1:02 Who Is Actually in Charge at a Deathbed 1:58 The Five Forbidden Deathbed Sayings 2:45 Council of Nicaea and the Right to a Priest 4:13 Viaticum: Confession, Anointing and Eucharist 6:04 Euthanasia vs Refusing Extraordinary Treatment 7:46 Presumption: Promising Heaven Too Soon 📖 SCRIPTURE REFERENCED • Sirach: "Give graciously to all the living and withhold not kindness from the dead," the covenant kindness that follows a person into the grave. • Genesis 50: Joseph on his deathbed instructs his brothers about his bones, provision made for the journey ahead. • Isaiah 38: "Set your house in order, for you shall die," told plainly to a dying King Hezekiah, who wept, prayed, and was given 15 more years. • Hebrews 9: the judgment appointed for all people once. • 2 Maccabees 12: Judas Maccabeus takes up a collection for sacrifice for dead soldiers, closing with "it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead." ⛪ FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS & THE CATECHISM • St. Cyprian of Carthage (3rd century, during the plague of the year 250): stayed with his people when pagans fled their own dying relatives, and wrote, "We pass by death to immortality." • CCC 1525: confession, anointing, and the Eucharist as Viaticum together, the sacraments that prepare us for our heavenly homeland. • CCC 2278 to 2279: refusing burdensome or disproportionate treatment is not euthanasia, and pain relief is permitted even at the risk of shortening life, so long as death is not willed. • CCC 2092: presumption, a sin against hope, trusting God's mercy without any regard for conversion. 📜 SOURCES & FURTHER READING • Council of Nicaea (325), Canon 13: the dying must not be deprived of "the last and most indispensable Viaticum," a canon defending an already ancient custom. • Deacon Pontius' account of Bishop Cyprian during the Carthage plague, around the year 250. • Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae (1995): euthanasia is "a grave violation of the law of God," the deliberate killing of a human person. • Samaritanus Bonus (Vatican, 2020): "incurable does not mean uncarable." • Canon 976: in danger of death, any priest, even one without normal faculties, can validly absolve any penitent of anything. • CCC 1452: perfect contrition can reconcile a soul even without a priest physically present, provided the person intends to confess sacramentally as soon as possible. 🔗 EXPLORE MORE 🌍 Website: https://totuscatholica.org/ Rosary Guide: https://totuscatholica.org/rosary ✉️ Contact: https://totuscatholica.org/contact 🔍 Examination of Conscience: https://catholicexaminationofconscien... 📚 Free eBooks: https://buymeacoffee.com/totuscatholi... 👥 Become a Totus Insider: https://buymeacoffee.com/totuscatholi...

3 Things You Should Know About Rerum Novarum

Rerum Novarum was my introduction to Catholic Social Teaching. It led to a deep dive into the subject, including Quadragesimo Anno and Papal statements up to John XXIII and Paul VI.

From Aleteia

By Danirl Esparza

As Pope Leo XIV takes the reins, his papacy could become a defining moment for how the Church engages with the digital age.

As the Church enters a new chapter under Pope Leo XIV, many are looking to past papal teachings for clues about his priorities. One foundational text influencing his approach is Rerum Novarum – the landmark encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891, “on capital and labor.”

This document, which addressed the social and economic upheavals of the Industrial Revolution, remains strikingly relevant as the world now faces the challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) and rapid technological change.

Here are three key takeaways from Rerum Novarum and how they might shape the direction of this new papacy.

1. The dignity of work and the rights of workers

At its core, Rerum Novarum insists on the dignity of human work and the rights of workers to fair wages, safe conditions, and reasonable hours. It was a bold response to the harsh realities of 19th-century factory life, where many laborers were reduced to mere cogs in a machine. Pope Leo XIII argued that work is not just a means of survival, but a vital expression of human creativity and dignity.

Why this still matters:

As AI reshapes entire industries, displacing workers and automating once-secure jobs, this principle is more relevant than ever. Pope Leo XIV, known for his pastoral sensitivity and deep connection to the working poor during his years in Peru, might draw on this tradition to advocate for policies that protect workers in the digital age. This could include pushing for ethical AI standards that prioritize human dignity over profit and ensuring that technological progress does not come at the cost of widespread unemployment or economic inequality.

2. The call for solidarity and the common good

Rerum Novarum also emphasizes the interconnectedness of all people, calling for solidarity in the face of social division. It rejects the extremes of both unchecked capitalism and radical socialism, promoting a vision of society where the needs of all, especially the most vulnerable, are prioritized.

Why this still matters:

AI, with its ability to rapidly amplify wealth but also deepen divides, presents a new kind of economic and social risk. Just as the Industrial Revolution concentrated power and wealth in the hands of a few, today’s tech-driven economy risks doing (and indeed does) the same. Pope Leo XIV, as a leader familiar with the struggles of the poor, may seek to address these gaps, calling for a more equitable distribution of the benefits of technological progress. His past work in Latin America, a region marked by stark economic disparities, could shape his approach to this modern challenge.

3. The role of the State in promoting justice

Finally, Rerum Novarum insists that the state has a duty to protect the rights of workers and ensure social justice. It argues that governments should not merely serve economic interests, but act as guardians of human dignity and the common good.

Why this still matters:

As governments grapple with how to regulate AI and protect their citizens from its potential harms, this principle takes on renewed importance. From data privacy to the ethical use of surveillance technologies, the Church’s moral voice could play a critical role in shaping global norms. Pope Leo XIV, as a former bishop deeply engaged in social justice, might push for a Church that stands as a moral counterweight to unchecked technological power.

As Pope Leo XIV takes the reins, his papacy could become a defining moment for how the Church engages with the digital age. By drawing on the lessons of Rerum Novarum, he has a powerful framework for navigating the ethical, economic, and social challenges of a rapidly changing world – one that insists on human dignity as the ultimate measure of progress.

The Dominicans Are Booming. Here’s Why. | Sr Mary Madeline Todd, OP

From The Conor Gallagher Show

Why are vocations surging in the Dominican Order today? Sr. Mary Madeline Todd, O.P. joins Conor again to explore the rich spiritual tradition of the Dominican Order, from its origins under St. Dominic to the four pillars that shape Dominican life: prayer, common life, study, and preaching. Sr. Mary Madeline shares what drew her to religious life, what daily life in a Dominican community looks like, and how a life of study, contemplation and community nourishes the mission of preaching Christ to the world. ⛪ Learn more about the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia here: https://nashvilledominican.org/ 👍 Like, Subscribe, or Follow The Conor Gallagher Show on your favorite podcast platform, and follow us on social media!   / conorgallaghershow     / conorgallaghershow     / conorgallaghershow   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qtdMK8... Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... 📱TAN Digital: The Catholic App You Can Trust. Browse and listen to over 1,200 spiritual classics: https://tanbooks.com/tan-digital-app/ CHAPTERS 0:00 - Trailer 1:45 - Sister Mary Madeline's Vocation Story 12:10 - Saint Dominic 30:06 - Prayer 35:11 - Community Life 52:43 - Study 1:01:23 - Preaching 1:06:00 - How Parents Can Help Their Older Kids Discern a Religious Vocation

Mercy to the Cruel Is Cruelty to the Innocent

"Vatican apologists will say the Church does not make criminal policy." Bollocks! That's exactly what Francis and Leo have done in declaring the death penalty "inadmissible".

From Crisis

By Michael P. Tremoglie

The Vatican has departed with twenty centuries of Church and biblical teaching to align the magisterium with “critical criminology,” which denies individual moral agency.

"Nothing is more scandalous than a man who is proud of his humility." Marcus Aurelius did not have Pope Francis in mind when he wrote this, but he could have. Francis was proud of his humility. He carried his own luggage and chose an austere domicile over the Apostolic Palace.

While these gestures were seen as innocuous, one ostentatious display of humility was pernicious. He washed and kissed the feet of imprisoned criminals—including those convicted of serious offenses or mafia ties. His April 13, 2017, ritual included two criminals serving life sentences—a remarkable display of humility and compassion.

But Pope Francis never washed the feet of crime victims. They were literally the great unwashed. The individuals chosen for the rite were inmates convicted of violent crimes, migrants, young offenders, and the institutionalized rather than victims of crime.

One must wonder how Pope Francis’ preferential option for criminals affected his judgment when he wrote in Fratelli Tutti (263): “Today we state clearly that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible’ and the Church is firmly committed to calling for its abolition worldwide.” It was an unsubstantiated assertion that gave no thought to protecting the innocent.

This past April, Pope Leo XIV reiterated his predecessor’s call to abolish capital punishment in a speech at DePaul University. Like Francis, Leo grounded his message in “the dignity of the person,” which he asserted “is not lost even after very serious crimes are committed.”

“Human dignity” is the pretext for justifying the Church’s opposition to capital punishment and life imprisonment. Human dignity is an ill-defined, nebulous term. Invoking it absent a consideration of how not punishing criminals hurts crime victims is unconscionable. Furthermore, abolitionist popes such as Francis and Leo imply that Church Fathers such as Sts. Thomas Aquinas, Alphonsus Liguori, and Robert Bellarmine were not concerned with human dignity.

Vatican pronouncements about crime and punishment lack compassion for the human dignity of victims of murder, rape, robbery, and other crimes. The abolitionist popes repeat platitudes about justice and not absolving criminals of responsibility. But the Vatican makes no powerful declarations about protecting the innocent using terms comparable to “inadmissible” or “abolish.”

Vatican apologists will say the Church does not make criminal policy. But by calling for the abolition of the death penalty, the Catholic Church has done exactly that. They have weighed in on criminal policy and tried to influence the legal policies of the various governments for 1.4 billion Catholics across the globe.

Abolitionist popes such as Francis and Leo imply that Church Fathers such as Sts. Thomas Aquinas, Alphonsus Liguori, and Robert Bellarmine were not concerned with human dignity.

Remarkably, the Vatican declared the death penalty “inadmissible” and claimed society can protect the innocent from murderers without execution. Yet no serious evidence was offered that there are practical means to protect the innocent from cruel murderers without capital punishment. The Church replaced centuries of moral reasoning and common sense with an assertion it cannot prove.

Traditional Catholics note that this departure from centuries of Church teaching amounts to a novelty driven by contemporary secular attitudes rather than consistent doctrine. Both Leo and Francis completed a criminogenic and penological arc begun with Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes (25), which said: “it cannot be denied that men are often diverted from doing good and spurred toward evil by the social circumstances in which they live…human freedom is often crippled when a man encounters extreme poverty.” The phrasing of Gaudium et Spes adopted concepts that were used to substitute systemic blame for Thomistic personal guilt—concepts that were created in the early 20th century by people like Willem Bonger and Karl Kautsky, who crafted Marxism into a criminogenic theory later called critical criminology.

Not long after Vatican II, one of critical criminology’s earliest proponents, Richard Quinney, wrote in his landmark books The Social Reality of Crime, Critique of Legal Order, and Class, State, and Crime that crime was a function of economic structures. About the same time, Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez wrote in A Theology of Liberation that sin is not just an individual reality but a “social fact.” He maintained that sin is evident in oppressive structures. He equated liberation from sin with political liberation.

These are in stark contrast to the ideas of St. Thomas Aquinas. The Angelic Doctor viewed the criminal who commits a heinous act as having fallen below the level of human dignity, degenerating into the status of a beast. For Aquinas, the state’s authority to execute was a direct delegation of divine justice. The Thomistic tradition did not merely tolerate execution; it integrated it into a coherent framework of natural law and civic duty. Aquinas permits death when the man is “dangerous and infectious to the community.”

Modern Vatican policy, however, forbids death even when the perpetrator remains dangerous and infectious, while simultaneously seeking to abolish its functional equivalent, life imprisonment without parole. By subscribing to this hypothesis, the modern magisterium has aligned itself with a failed secular ideology: that crime is an environmental byproduct rather than a moral choice. In its rush to extend an asymmetrical mercy to the perpetrator, the Vatican does not elevate human dignity; it reduces the human being to a mere automaton incapable of moral agency.

Ultimately, by trading the timeless natural law of the Church Fathers for 20th-century conflict theory, Rome has emphasized, if not outright abandoned, the innocent victim.

The Catholic opposition to the current Vatican leadership’s progressivism wants not only a liturgical return but also a return to a social doctrine that restores the Thomistic and New Testament ideas of personal responsibility, the dignity owed to crime victims, and the dignity of punishment for the offender. They are adherents to the Midrash maxim: “Whoever becomes merciful to the cruel will end up being cruel to the merciful.” 

Feria (Commemoration of Ss Tiburtius & Susanna, Virgin, Martyrs)

Today's Holy Mass from SSPX Australia. You may follow the Mass at Divinum Officium.

Ss Tiburtius & Susanna, Martyrs (11 August) ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger

Ss Tiburtius & Susanna, Martyrs

From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:

Laurence is followed today by the son of Chromatius, prefect of Rome, Tiburtius, who also suffered upon burning coals for the confession of his faith. Though forty years intervened between the two martyrdoms, it was the same Holy Spirit that animated these witnesses of Christ and suggested to them the same answer to their executioners. Tiburtius, walking upon the fire, cried out: “Learn that the God of the Christians is the only God, for these hot coals seem flowers to me.”

Equally near to the great Archdeacon stands an illustrious virgin, so bright herself as not to be eclipsed by him. A relative of both the Emperor Diocletian and the holy Pope Caius, Susanna, it is said, one day beheld the imperial crown at her feet. But she obtained a far great nobility; for, by preferring the wreath of virginity, she won at the same time the palm of martyrdom.

Now, as St. Leo remarks, on the glorious solemnity whose Octave we are keeping, if no one is good for himself alone, if the favors of Divine Wisdom profit not only the recipient, then, no one is more wise than the martyr, no eloquence can instruct the people so well as his. It is by this excellent manner of teaching that, as the Church tells us today, “Laurence enlightened the whole world with the light of his fire, and by the flames which he endured he warmed the hearts of all Christians. By the example of his martyrdom, faith is enkindled and devotion fostered in our souls. The persecutor lays no hot coals for me, but he sets me on fire with desire of my Savior.” (Pseudo-Augustine, Sermo 30 de Sanctis) If, moreover, and it is not mere theory to repeat it in our days, if, as St. Augustine remarks, “circumstances place a man in the alternative of transgressing a divine precept or losing his life, he too must know how to die for the love of God, rather than live at enmity with him.” (Augustine, Tract. in Joan. 51)  Morality does not change, neither does the justice of God, who in all ages rewards the faithful, as in all ages he chastises cowards.

The Mozarabic Missal eloquently expresses the grandeur of St. Laurence’s martyrdom in this beautiful formula which precedes the Consecration on the day of this feast.

POST SANCTUS

Hosanna in the highest. It is truly meet and just, at all times, but especially in honor of thy saints, to return thanks to thee, O God, co-eternal Trinity, consubstantial and co-operatrix of all good things, and to offer sacrifice of praise on this illustrious day of thy most blessed martyr Laurence. The glorious triumph of whose passion brought round again by the circle of the year, the Church doth joyfully celebrate: for in teaching he was nearly equal to thine Apostles; but in the confession of Lord not unequal. He adorned the snow-white robe of the Levite with the purple of the blood of martyrdom: thou didst so inflame his heart with thy fire which thou camest to cast on the earth, that he felt not the invisible fire; by the strong purpose of his mind he overcame the flames that surrounded his body; and strong in faith, feared not the burning coal.

Placed upon the gridiron, thy chaste minister offered himself a new sacrifice to thee: and burnt as a holocaust upon the altar, sent up a sweet savor to the Lord. There, the incomparable Martyr, while his heart and bowels and the marrow of his bones were melting away, suffered his limbs to be roasted, with invincible virtue of patience. There stretched out he lay hanging over the fire: crude impiety broiled the holocaust of piety, and inhaled the hot vapors from the liquefying members. Thy minister laid his own body on the altar, a new kind of sacrifice to be celebrated. The praiseworthy Levite was to himself both pontiff and victim. And he who had been a minister at the offering of the Lord’s Body, in offering himself performed the office of priest.

It is therefore, O Lord, thy power and thy might that we praise in him. For who would believe that a body formed of fragile structure could, without thee, endure such torments? Who would not think that human members would yield before the heat of the fire, had not a fiercer flame, coming from thee, fired the interior man? By thy power it was, that the soul, rejoiced with spiritual dew, exulted at the broiling of its own body: the Martyr bade them turn him and devour him: lest he should obtain the crown by only one death; and thus, the mildness of the torments should retard life-giving death, and he should be less gloriously crowned. Through thee, our Lord, who art the Savior and Redeemer of all souls.

The following commemoration is made of SS. Tiburtius and Susanna:

ANT. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven, who despising an earthly life, have obtained heavenly rewards, and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

℣. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye just.

℟. And glory all ye right of heart.

COLLECT

May the constant protection of Thy holy martyrs Tiburtius and Susanna, support us, O Lord: for Thou never ceasest mercifully to regard those whom Thou grantest to be assisted by such helps. Through, etc.

Ss Tiburtius & Susanna: Know Your Saints

A sermon for today. Please remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the Priest.