The Vatican Is Wasting Its Authority, by Michael Brendan Dougherty

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures, by David Carlin
September 2, 2022
A Different Kind of Catholic, by Jennifer Hartline
September 2, 2022

By Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, Aug. 31, 2022

Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at National Review Online.

 

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Under Francis, the Church is trying to use the extraordinary authority granted to the Apostles and to Peter to question the Church’s own divine mission.

 You may not have noticed, but the Vatican under Pope Francis is busy destroying the Catholic Church’s own claims to divine authority to instruct man about matters of faith and morals — its claim to be Mater and Magister, mother and teacher. To take the latest example, look to the recent televised interview of Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, in which he said that the law that liberalized abortion in Italy was “now a pillar of our social life.” When pressed on whether it was up for debate, Paglia said, “But no, absolutely not, absolutely not.”

An Italian commentator Thomas Scandroglio said, “We have hit rock bottom. We are at a point of no return, at ground zero of morality, faith, reasonableness and consistency. We have the president of an academy founded to protect life protecting a law that destroys life.” …