20 June 2025
The Worst People In The Church Are Scheming Against The Pope
Is Pope Leo XIV James Martin's ally or is he secretly working to restore the faith?
Leo XIV’s Gift to Sacré-Cœur for Its 150th Anniversary
Sacré-Cœur was built in atonement of the sins of the Paris Commune, including the martyrdom of SG Georges Darboy, Archbishop of Paris.
From Aleteia
From Aleteia
By Cécile Séveirac
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the laying of the first stone of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris, an exceptional jubilee is beginning.
“Up there, on the hill, in the clear sky, the Sacré-Cœur began to take shape, looking like a giant meringue; a stone host placed over the open wound of the city.” Émile Zola undoubtedly narrates this historic event better than anyone else in Le Ventre de Paris (“The Belly of Paris”). It was 150 years ago: on June 16, 1875, the first stone of the Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basilica of Montmartre was laid.
On this occasion, a jubilee rich in fervor begins on the famous hill in Paris.
On Sunday, June 15, about a hundred families consecrated themselves to the heart of Jesus with a prayer. And the icing on the cake: during the 11 a.m. Mass, the rector of the shrine, Father Stéphane Esclef, conferred the apostolic blessing granted by Pope Leo XIV.
“I made this request through the nunciature and was granted the opportunity to convey this blessing. What a grace!” Father Esclef told Aleteia with delight.
By participating in this Mass, the faithful were able to receive a plenary indulgence, provided they meet the conditions required by the Vatican: confession, Communion, prayer for the intentions of the pope, and detachment from sin.
The Sacred Heart of Montmartre is one of the jubilee shrines for the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025, which has the theme “Pilgrims of Hope.” Many pilgrims, therefore, have already been taking steps since December 2024 to obtain a plenary indulgence. However, this Mass with an apostolic blessing is "a very special Mass,” the rector says.
A special blessing on August 1
The year 2025 also marks the 140th anniversary of the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in Montmartre.
To celebrate this anniversary and give thanks, the shrine is launching a great novena of prayer from July 24 to August 1. During these nine days, 140 worshipers will keep vigil over the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the basilica.
“This is a challenge we have set ourselves, and I hope we will achieve this goal,” explains Father Esclef.
On Friday, August 1, during a vigil presided over by French Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, the faithful will consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, followed by another apostolic blessing.
Father Esclef will then go out onto the square in front of the basilica to bless Paris, France, and the world. “A blessing of peace and love,” because that’s what matters most, emphasizes Father Esclef.
"When we talk about Sacré-Coeur, we tend to immediately think of the basilica in its architectural sense. But the basilica is not just a monument. It’s first and foremost the house of the people of God, the house of the Heart of Jesus open to all," the rector explains.
The basilica’s monumental mosaic by artist Lucien Magne depicts five women and children symbolizing the continents devoted to the Heart of Christ. Today, the whole world still passes through the Sacred Heart of Montmartre.
And what do people find there? Perhaps many different things, depending on their individual circumstances, but "in any case, Jesus awaits them with his heart burning with love.”
Is Pope Leo XIV Protecting Francis’ Legacy?
From Joe McClane
Pope Leo XIV seems to be playing high-stakes chess. But the question is whether or not he is protecting or attacking Pope Francis' legacy. Cardinal Raymond Burke announced he met with Pope Leo to roll back TLM restrictions, which he suggested he was open to. The key to understanding it all seems to be Cardinal Fernandez and both sides agree.
Bishop Strickland: Statement on the Appointment of Bp Shane Mackinlay As Archbishop of Brisbane
Mackinlay placed a statue of the "Sacred Heart" in his Cathedral that, in the words of actual Catholics, "promoted non-Christian spirituality".
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From LifeSiteNews
By His Lordship Joseph Strickland, Bishop Emeritus of Tyler, TX
While we owe filial respect and obedience to the Holy Father in matters properly within his authority, this appointment raises serious pastoral and doctrinal questions.
Editor’s note: The following was originally published on Bishop Joseph Strickland’s X account on June 18, 2025.
With deep concern for the faithful of the Church, I feel compelled to address the recent appointment of Bishop Shane Mackinlay as Archbishop of Brisbane by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.
While we owe filial respect and obedience to the Holy Father in matters properly within his authority, this appointment raises serious pastoral and doctrinal questions.
Bishop Mackinlay has publicly expressed support for the possibility of ordaining women to the diaconate – a position that not only introduces grave confusion but directly challenges the consistent teaching and tradition of the Catholic Church. As Pope St. John Paul II stated unequivocally in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, “the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women,” and this principle extends, by logical and theological coherence, to the sacramental diaconate, which is a part of Holy Orders.
READ: Bishop Strickland: Statement on the UK House of Commons vote to permit abortion up to birth
The push to redefine the diaconate to include women is not a matter of minor discipline or pastoral adaptation – it is a rupture with the unbroken tradition of the Church and a step toward undermining the very nature of the sacramental priesthood. While women have always held an exalted place in the Church – as martyrs, mystics, and saints – their dignity is not advanced by imitating male roles, but by fully living out the unique vocation given to them by God.
Appointing a bishop who holds such views to shepherd a major archdiocese is a source of scandal and division. The faithful deserve clarity, not ambiguity; fidelity, not experimentation.
In this time of confusion, I encourage all Catholics to remain steadfast in the truth handed down from the Apostles. Christ is the Head of the Church, and His design for the sacraments cannot be altered by pressure from the world or misguided attempts at modernization.
Let us pray for Archbishop Mackinlay, that he may reaffirm his commitment to the unchanging teaching of the Church. And let us pray for Pope Leo XIV, that he may be guided by the Holy Spirit to appoint shepherds who uphold the fullness of Catholic truth without compromise.
In the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Bishop Joseph E. Strickland
Feria (Friday Within the Octave of Corpus Christi)
Today's Holy Mass from Corpus Christi Church, Tynong AUS. You may follow the Mass at Divinum Officium.
St Silverius, Pope & Martyr
From Dom Prosper Guéranger's Liturgical Year:
Papal succession is one of the principal facts in which is demonstrated the working of the Holy Ghost from the very first day of His descent upon our Earth. The legitimacy of the Popes as successors of Peter is indeed closely linked with the legitimacy of the Church herself in her character of Bride of the Man-God, and therefore His mission being to lead the Bride to the Spouse, the Holy Ghost cannot suffer her to wander in the footprints of intruders. The inevitable play of human passions, interfering in the election of the Vicar of Christ, may perchance for a while render uncertain the transmission of spiritual power, but when it is proved that the Church still holding, or once more put in possession of her liberty, acknowledges in the person of a certain Pope, until then doubtful, the true Sovereign Pontiff, this her very recognition is a proof that, from that moment at least, the occupant of the Apostolic See is as such invested by God Himself. This doctrine the Holy Ghost confirms by giving thereunto, in the Pontiff we are celebrating today, the consecration of martyrdom.
Saint Agapitus I died at Constantinople to which Theodorat the Goth had persuaded him to go in order to appease the anger of Justinian excited against this king by reason of his treasons. Scarcely had the news of this death reached the Arian prince than he, in terror of perhaps seeing someone unfavorable to his pretentions, raised to the pontificate, imperatively designated as successor to the deceased Pope, the deacon Silverius. Two months later the Justice of God struck the tyrant and the Church was set free. Doubtless Rome would have but exercised her proper right had she rejected the Head thus imposed on her by main force, for not to earthly princes has the Lord consigned the election of His Vicar upon Earth. But Silverius, who had been an utter stranger to the violence used on his personal account, was in reality a man in every way fitted to the supreme pontificate. Therefore, when the Roman clergy became free to act, they had no wish to withdraw from him their adhesion, until then certainly disputable. From that moment undoubtedly, Silverius could not but be Head of the Church, the true successor of Agapitus, the Lord’s Elect. In the midst of a period thronged with snares, he proved how well he understood the exigencies of duty in his exalted office, and preferred an exile which would eventually cost him his life, to the abandoning of a post wherein the Holy Ghost had truly placed him. Holy Church gratefully bears witness to this, in her short eulogy of him; and the army of Martyrs opened their ranks to receive him, when death at length struck the Pontiff in his land of exile.
Silverius was a native of Campania, and succeeded Agapitus in the Papacy. His doctrine and holiness shone forth in his pursuing of heretics; and his strength of soul, in his firmness regarding the upholding of the sentence passed by Agapitus. Agapitus had deposed Anthimus, from the Patriarchate of Constantinople for defending the heresy of Eutyches; and Silverius would never allow of his restoration, although the Empress Theodora repeatedly asked him to do so.
The woman was enraged at him, on this account, and ordered Belisarius to send Silverius into exile. He was accordingly banished to the Island of Ponza, whence, it is said, he wrote these words to Bishop Amator: “I am fed upon the bread of tribulation, and the water of affliction, but nevertheless, I have not given up, and I will not give up, doing my duty.” Soon indeed, worn out by grief and suffering, he slept in the Lord, on the twelfth of the Kalends of July: His body being taken to Rome, was laid in the Vatican Basilica and was made illustrious by numerous miracles. He ruled the Church for more than three years, and ordained in the month of December, thirteen priests, five deacons, and nineteen bishops for divers sees.
The waters of tribulation passed indeed over your soul, holy Pontiff. Your persecutors were not pagan Caesars: nor was it even (as in the case of John I who so shortly preceded you on the papal throne and in the arena of martyrdom), a heretical prince that over-powered you with sectarian hatred. No, a worthless woman having in her service treason emanating from the very Sanctuary was your oppressor. Even before death had done its work in you, there was to be found a son of yours coveting your dominion, heavy though such a burden was. But how could man rend asunder the indissoluble bond that bound you to Holy Church? The usurper could but be an intruder until such time as the all-powerful merits of your glorious death had obtained the transformation of the hireling into the legitimate Pastor, and had made this Vigilius become the heir of your own courage. Thus did the Invisible Head of the Church permit to Hell’s confusion that ambition should carry scandals even into the very Holy of Holies. The unshaken Faith of nations, in the age in which you lived, suffered nothing from all this, and the light resulting from these lamentable facts would but all the better serve to teach future ages that the personal character of a Pope, no, even his faults, cannot in any way affect the heavenly prerogative assured by God to the Vicar of His Christ. Keep up within us, dear Saint, the fruit of these teachings. If the Faithful be but well penetrated with true principles, they will never see waning in them that respect due to God in His representatives, whoever or whatever they may be, and scandal, no matter from where it comes, will be powerless to trammel their faith.
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