Weekly Summary 8/1/26

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A new Catholic bishop ordained in China; an imprisoned priest released on the same day. That looks like good news for religious freedom. But look again. As usual, Beijing sets the rules, steadily imposing controls on the Church.

In my native Massachusetts, lawmakers passed radical legislation that essentially allows abortion for any reason, up to the moment of birth. The state’s Catholic bishops issued a bland statement of opposition— released after the first key vote— that I consider disgraceful. What was wrong about the bishops’ statement? Everything.

Ralph Martin speaks and writes with the passion of an effective evangelist and the accuracy of a veteran scholar— probably because he is both. In his new book, The Coming Judgment, he continues to probe uncomfortable truths of the Catholic faith: in this case, the Four Last Things.

On the Home Front podcast, Leila and I came at the Fauci scandal for a somewhat unusual angle. Dr. Fauci asked (demanded, actually) that we take his statements on faith, and encouraged (demanded, actually) the suppression of dissenting views. We now know that the dissenters were right, and Fauci himself didn’t believe his own “scientific” public statements. It’s no surprise that, as he’s revealed in the past, his conception of religious faith starts and ends with himself. What’s disturbing is that Church leaders allowed Fauci’s “faith” to drown out the much-needed message of Christian belief.

JD Flynn of The Pillar hears rumors that Pope Leo might raise the Byzantine-rite Ukrainian Catholic Church to the dignity of a patriarchate. That might seem like ‘inside ball,’ but it would be a dramatic step. Most American Catholics might not notice, but Moscow certainly would.

Another new Chinese bishop was ordained this week, and the Vatican announced— after the fact— that the Pope had given his approval. Again Beijing took the lead, apparently ignoring the Vatican’s process.

Cardinal Roche said that Pope Leo will not remove restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass— restrictions that the cardinal has vigorously championed. I’m still hoping that he was speaking for himself, and that the Pope will remove Cardinal Roche.

Did you see videos of the sudden flood of migrants rushing into the Spanish enclave at Ceuto? They were all young men, looking healthy and energetic. Refugees don’t ordinarily look like that. Invaders do.

More on the appointment of Chinese bishops: The secret agreement between the Vatican and Beijing was supposed to speed up the process of placing bishops in all Catholic dioceses. By my count there are still 43 Chinese dioceses with no bishop, and new appointments are coming at the rate of 2.6667 a year. Do the math; this process isn’t working.

“Being a bishop is serious business with heavy responsibilities that I would not wish upon anyone,” writes the brother of an American bishop. The truth is that many good priests now don’t want to be bishops— more than a few are declining appointments— and those who are anxious to wear a miter probably shouldn’t.