Francis Derangement Syndrome hit a new low over the last fortnight, with the publication of a preposterous open letter from a handful of Catholics calling on bishops to “address the situation of Pope Francis’ public adherence to heresy”. Published on the ever-untrustworthy lifesitenews.com with the tagline ‘Prominent clergy, scholars accuse Pope Francis of heresy in…

“Unlike the Eiffel Tower, that other great emblem of Paris,” writes Tom Holland at spectator.co.uk, “Notre Dame provides the French with evidence that their modern and secular republic has its foundations deeply rooted in the Middle Ages.” There’s been much to criticise in The Spectator over recent years, but ‘Thank God for western values’ is…

While it may be many years before we learn what seeds were successfully sown during last year’s papal visit, such that the jury is out on whether or not it should be considered a success, there were few who attended 2012’s International Eucharistic Congress who do not think it a triumph, a real forward-looking sign…

Catholic blogging is, in many ways, a thing of the past. My own thethirstygargoyle.blogspot.ie site was last updated a year and a half ago, for instance, with just two posts from the previous 12 months,  while it’s been almost four years since the ‘Lux Occulta’ blog of the pseudonymous ‘Shane’ at lxoa.wordpress.com saw any new…

Anybody watching St Patrick’s Day festivities with a thoughtful eye last weekend must have wondered what exactly was being celebrated. Was it Irishness? Maybe so, but that’s missing the point of the day in spectacular fashion: St Patrick’s Day is, after all, a celebration of the gift that Patrick and other missionaries brought to Ireland,…

St John Paul II’s Theology of the Body isn’t just about sex. That might seem unlikely to those who’ve only ever encountered specific introductions to the late Pope’s biggest area of catechesis, or who’ve only ever heard caricatures of the late Pope’s teaching, but it’s important to understand for all that. Emily Stimpson at thecatholictable.com…

Samizdat, before the fall of the Iron Curtain, was the name given to the clandestine copying and distribution of banned literature; in David Foster Wallace’s 1996 novel Infinite Jest, however, it means something very different, a captivating film, also called ‘the Entertainment’, that saps wills and paralyses viewers, leaving them unable to tear their eyes…

Should young children be allowed in Church? Too many have commented on this question in recent times to skate through them here, but it’s been a big debate on the Catholic internet, with serious questions being raised about what actually happens at Mass, what we believe Mass is about and about whether a Church without…

“Wherever there is animal worship, there is human sacrifice,” declared the @GKCdaily Twitter account just last week, causing me to wonder whether the English author GK Chesterton ever said that. Sure, it sounds like something he would have said, but it also seems far too handy a quote for what some are dubbing ‘Veganuary’, and…

The very first Web Watch I wrote highlighted an unusual site, thenewemangelization.com, about “drawing men to Jesus Christ and his Catholic Church” and running an interview with Cardinal Raymond Burke, who claimed the Church has become too feminised, with “the goodness and importance” of men being obscured. Catholicism does tend to be practiced more assiduously…