VIDEO: Michael Matt's urgent plea to the cardinals in conclave

Michael J. Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper and Walt's favourite Catholic commentator, is in Rome covering the conclave at which a successor to Jorge Bergoglio will be elected. 

His latest report, filed last night, concludes with an impassioned plea to the more moderate Cardinal electors, begging them to remember the promises of their Baptism and to listen not to the radical “progressives” who would “reform” the Church into oblivion, but rather to the Tradition-leaning conservatives who, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, would make the Church Catholic again.

"Just be Catholic! Just go back to the things of the soul!"

On a personal note, Walt is pleased and gives thanks to God for the presence in Rome of Joseph Cardinal Zen, the Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong. Through God's grace, at the age of 97 he has been able to travel to the conclave to present the traditional Catholic point of view and urge the cardinals, as does Mr Matt, to turn away from globalism and progressivism and the "church of Francis", and back to the Faith of Our Fathers. God bless Cardinal Zen and grant him many more years! 

Please join all traditional Catholics in praying for the election of a good pope.

Further reading: "What are the chances of the next Pope being Catholic?", WWW 28/4/24.

VIDEO: Talking with American voters in Rome

Rome, Georgia, that is.

 

These are real Americans, folks, not the Hollywood and Left Coast elite types who keep telling you to vote for the Cackler to save democracy. Don't listen to them. Listen to these folks. That's all until tomorrow... [or Thursday, more likely. Ed.]

Further reading (quick!!!): "Growing Signs of a Trump Landslide: Has the Media Tipped Its Hand?", by Scott Pinsker, PJ Media, 4/11/24. Thanks to Blazing Cat Fur for the link.

Anti-immigrant backlash grows across Europe

While I was away [Watch this space for "Tales from Down East". Ed.], Agent 17 sent along the link to "'Enlightenment values': Austria enacts anti-burqa & compulsory integration law", RT News 9/6/17. "Enlightenment values" strikes me as a good phrase. What are those values? They must be the "values" -- a loaded word for the progressive do-good wienies -- which "enlightened" people share and hold dear. "Enlightened" is nowadays equated, quite properly, with the word "civilized". (See the article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.)

Enlightened civilization -- European civilization -- is under threat now as never before from the hordes of unenlightened -- read Muslim -- invaders pouring into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa. Even such famously tolerant peoples as the Swedes and the Austrians are getting tired of it, and fearful of being drowned in the wave of Islamization sweeping across the continent. That's what the article is about.

Like King Canute trying to turn back the tide, the Austrian parliament has passed a law that will fine women who wear Islamic dress covering the whole face, and takes away welfare benefits from immigrants who fail to learn the language. It says, remarkably frankly, that "those who are not prepared to accept Enlightenment values will have to leave our country and society."

According to the law, women will face a fine of €150 ($168 in real money) if they wear Islamic dress, either the niqab or the burqa, in public places. In addition to the fines, all new migrants -- even the "refugees" and asylum-seekers -- coming to Austria will now be forced, if they want to suck on the public tit [receive welfare benefits, surely! Ed.] to take a 12-month "integration course" that includes German language lessons.

But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's more! The new law also makes it illegal for newcomers to distribute "incendiary materials". Migrants will also be encouraged to volunteer -- do unpaid community work -- to prepare them for life in the workplace, before acquiring permanent work permits. Good luck with that one.

Austria's latest attempt to integrate new immigrants has come in response to the migrant crisis rocking most European countries. At least 90,000 migrants, mostly from Muslim-majority countries outside Europe, have arrived in Austria since 2015. Nothing like the hundreds of thousands who've entered Germany, but still you have to hand it to the Austrians for trying to do something about the problem before it's too late. Oh... wait....

Meanwhile... Virginia Raggi, the Mayor of Rome, has asked the Italian government to stop the flow of immigrants into the Eternal City. Here's why.

This is one of several "camps" -- read "instant slums" -- which have sprung up in Rome. The unenlightened people who live here in squalor are Roma. That's the PC name for "gypsies", the people our mothers warned us would pick our pockets, steal our horses and kidnap our children. They do do those things, except maybe for the horses, of which there's a dearth in Rome, which is why, this past Tuesday, Sra Raggi asked the Italian interior ministry to suspend migrant arrivals to the capital. "I find it impossible, as well as risky," she wrote, "to think up further accommodation structures." See
Rome mayor promises to close Roma camps in the capital , The Local it, 31/5/17.

Mayor Raggi cited as reasons for the request the "strong migratory presence" in the capital and "the continued influx of foreign citizens". According to the most recent figures published by the administration, on 1 January 2016 -- nearly 18 months ago -- there were approximately 364,632 foreigners living in Rome, almost 13% of the total population.

Across Italy as a whole [Ed., please check spelling] around 8.3% of the population is foreign. In Rome, around half of the foreign population were from Europe, with Romanians -- gypsies -- making up 23.2% of the total. Although over half the 170,000 or so Roma in Italy are Italian citizens with regular jobs and houses, attacks on the ousiders are common. According to a 2015 Pew Research Centre survey, anti-Roma sentiment is significantly stronger in Italy than almost any other European country. Not hard to understand, is it?

Second sex scandal in Rome! Pope asks forgiveness... from whom?

Wow! Another distraction from the work of the Synod on the Family currently splitting the fathers into two warring camps. (See "13 Cardinals write Pope to denounce manipulation of Synod" WWW 14/10/15)

First we had the scandalous affair of Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, a Polish theologian who, for the past 17 years, has been living in Rome. Until he was abruptly dismissed on October 3rd, he had worked as an official in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith! He was dismissed from his position in the CDF and relieved from teaching assignments in pontifical universities in Rome, following his coming out as a flaming homosexual. See "Priest in Vatican's Gay Mafia outs himself, gets fired" (WWW 3/10/15)

A Vatican spokesthingy bearing a passing resemblance to Fr. Federico Lombardi said at the time that Msgr Charamsa's high-profile coming out on the eve of the Synod was "grave and irresponsible". He was accused of trying to exert "undue media pressure" on the bishops' debate on family issues, including the Church's position on homosexuality and homosexuals.

Today, Pope Francis asked for forgiveness on Wednesday for scandals at the Vatican and in Rome, an apparent reference to the case of Msgr Charamsa and a scandal exposed in the Italian media last week about an order of priests who run a parish in an upscale neighbourhood of Rome.

According to Reuters, parishioners of Santa Teresa d'Avila parish wrote to local Church officials alleging that a clergyman there had had encounters with "vulnerable adults". Newspapers said these took place in an adjacent park often frequented by male prostitutes. Their letter said they had assembled evidence about the clergyman's illicit activities and were furious to discover that, instead of being disciplined, he had been transferred to another part of Italy.

The Holy Father was less specific. During his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis said, "Today...in the name of the Church, I ask you for forgiveness for the scandals that have occurred recently either in Rome or in the Vatican." That's all.

Asked what the Pope meant, Father Lombardi -- for it was he, as always -- was unwilling or unable to say which scandals His Holiness had in mind. But, he said, said Francis wanted to reach out to ordinary people who are "disturbed or pained" when they read about scandals caused by "the Church or men of the Church".

Further reading: "'Who am I to judge gays?', asks Pope" (WWW 29/7/13)

Look! Up in the sky! It's a plane, it's a dove of peace...

NO! It's SUPERPOPE!

Just in case you thought Walt was pulling your leg in the previous post, here's a picture of the Superpope graffito which has appeared in Rome this week.

I'm calling it a "graffito" now because, thanks be to God, there's only one, so far. The large painting by Italian street artist Maupal has appeared on a building near the Vatican. It shows Pope Francis taking off [not ascending! Ed.] into the air, his right fist clenched ahead of him in classic Superman style.

His white cape and cross flutter in the breeze and in his left hand he carries a black briefcase bearing the word "valores" (= "values", in Spanish). A scarf bearing the blue and red colours of his favourite Argentine soccer club, San Lorenzo, emerges from the bag. But unlike Superman, Francis flies with his glasses on!

Superpope apparently has the approval of the Holy See, as it was tweeted yesterday by the Vatican's Twitter account(@PCCS_VA).