GK Chesterton on “Feminism”

“Feminism is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands.”

- G. K. Chesterton

The truth about the novus Ordo Missae from the man who best knew Paul Vi

“The French philosopher and writer Jean Guitton was the closest lay friend and key confidant of Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini). Their intellectual and spiritual relationship lasted for decades, allowing him to capture the pontiff's intimate thoughts in fundamental works of 20th-century Catholic literature that today are left in oblivion, hidden due to the revealing nature of their content. 

“Paul VI and Guitton met in the 1930s; it was a very close and public friendship. They maintained deep correspondence and constant meetings for more than 27 years. Thanks to his great closeness with the Pope, Jean Guitton was the first layperson invited to actively participate in the sessions of the Second Vatican Council. 

“In 1967 Guitton wrote a book titled Dialogues with Paul VI: It was a revolutionary work, marking the first time in history that a Pope openly dialogued with a layperson for a book. In 1979 he wrote another book; Paul VI Secret after the Pope's death, this book compiles Guitton's personal notes on the pontiff's confidences, doubts, and sufferings.

“Jean Guitton's statements about the history of the Novus Ordo Missae (the New Mass promulgated by Paul VI in 1969) are rarely mentioned, rather concealed, and this is because, as the Pope's closest and most intimate lay friend, they carry particular and immense importance.

“During an interview broadcast on French radio on December 19, 1993, Guitton stated the following about the liturgical revolution with the creation of the Novus Ordo Missae and the reasons for its creation, which his friend, Pope Paul VI, had confided in him: 

"’...Paul VI's intention was to make the Mass as similar as possible to the Calvinist worship, making Protestants feel comfortable with the new Mass.

“‘It was designed with the intention of eliminating everything that identified the Mass as unequivocally Catholic, everything that gave it a character of Sacrifice, everything that harmed Protestants.

“‘To make the Mass seem more like a fraternal gathering, a dinner among brothers...’”

“Jean Guitton also acted directly as a mediator and messenger for Pope Paul VI with Monsignor Marcel Lefebvre. Both Paul VI and, later, John Paul II entrusted him with the mission of interceding with Monsignor Lefebvre to try to stop and close the seminary in Écône, Switzerland.

“Guitton goes so far as to admit in his book that, deep down, Lefebvre was right in defending that the truth of the Church cannot change.

“On another occasion, Guitton asked Paul VI why he did not grant an exception or concession to maintain the Traditional Apostolic Mass in Latin for those who requested it; Pope Paul VI responded sharply:

"’ That, never! (...). The so-called Mass of Saint Pius V has become—as can be seen in Écône—the symbol of condemnation of the Council. This is something I will never accept, under any circumstances. If I consented to this exception, the entire Council would be called into question. And, consequently, its apostolic authority.’

“Paul VI's sharp response appears in the work "Paul VI Secret" (Paul VI secret, originally published in French in 1979). In this text, Jean Guitton meticulously compiled the detailed notes, diaries, and correspondences from his private meetings with the Pope over 27 years of deep friendship.”

N.B. In fear of the fragility of the Council, and its legitimacy, the organic traditional and apostolic liturgy must be replaced by an on-the-spot product ecpressly designed to avoid offending heretics. Not Catholic.

Oremus

 

BREAKING: Vatican letter leaves door open for Summorum Pontificum Mass to return to St Peter’s

Further details have emerged on the decision not to hold this year’s Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage Mass at St Peter’s.The restriction applies to the pilgrimage Mass itself, not to celebrations of the traditional Latin Mass in the basilica, where a daily TLM already takes place and solemn High Masses according to the older rite can still be requested.

A one-page letter dated 7 August, sent to the organisers through the Apostolic Nunciature, now gives further clarity on the scope of that decision.

It was signed by Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State and his  wording leaves open a future return to the basilica rather than closing the door permanently.

Organisers approached the Papal Household in December, April and June. Permission was not granted for 2026

Read the full insight on  @RealAdVaticanum

Bishop Eleganti warns against ‘decline of the Petrine office’

 

AdVaticanum

Aug. 11, 2026

 Bishop Marian Eleganti has questioned whether increasingly informal papal encounters risk obscuring the distinct dignity and purpose of the Petrine office

Bishop Marian Eleganti has criticised the growing informality surrounding the papacy, arguing that private audiences with public figures risk obscuring the authority and distinct purpose of the Petrine office. The former Bishop of Chur made the criticism in a piece entitled the Decline of the Petrine Office?, which was published on 10 August on various Catholic blogs. 

The comments follow Pope Leo XIV’s private meeting with the American musician, poet and artist Patti Smith at the Apostolic Palace on 31 July. The 40-minute meeting, attended by Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, was documented by official Vatican photographs and video. Pope Leo and Smith were both born in Chicago, and the encounter attracted attention because of Smith’s longstanding relationship with the Catholic Church and her previous meetings with Pope Francis.

Bishop Eleganti wrote that the meeting itself was apparently harmless and that he assumed the conversation consisted largely of courtesies rather than matters of significance for the Church. The circumstances of the meeting, however, led him to question why recent popes have increasingly engaged in informal encounters, spontaneous interviews and highly publicised meetings with figures from entertainment and culture.

The former Bishop of Chur argued that such appearances can reinforce the impression that the Pope is simply another figure within the international establishment rather than the holder of a unique ecclesial office. “In the end such a reception appears to many as a trivialisation of what these persons stand for,” Bishop Eleganti wrote. “In this way the pope himself obscures the position of the Church and even gives scandal to the faithful.”

More: https://x.com/realadvaticanum/status/2087090745224368400?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

“Fear not, little flock”: the kingdom here is comfort in travail

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke

Luke 12:32-35
At that time, Jesus said unto His disciples: Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And so on.

Homily by the Venerable Bede, Priest at Jarrow, and Doctor of the Church.
Bk. iv. Ch. 54 on Luke xii.
The elect are called a little flock, perchance because the reprobate are far more in number than they, but, more probably, because they love to be lowly, since it is God's will that however much His Church should grow in numbers, she should grow with lowliness even unto the end of the world, and should enter lowly into that kingdom which is hers by His promise. That kingdom He promiseth to her here, when He biddeth her to seek only the kingdom of God, and, to comfort her in her travail, He doth so sweetly and so graciously say that her Father will give it to her.

Sell what ye have and give alms. Fear not, He saith, lest, while ye fight for the kingdom of God, ye should lack such things as are needful for this life, nay rather, sell even that which ye have, and give alms. This doth, whosoever for the Lord's sake leaveth all that he hath, and then worketh with his hands, that so he may have to eat, and withal to give alms. In this doth the Apostle boast himself, saying I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel, as ye yourselves know for these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak. Acts xx. 33, 34, 35.

Provide yourselves bags which wax not old that is to say, by almsgiving, the reward thereof remaineth for ever. Nevertheless, we must not think here that this commandment forbiddeth the Saints to keep money for their own use, and for helping of the poor. The Lord Himself, to Whom Angels ministered, had a bag, and kept therein that which the faithful people gave unto Him John xii. 6, to relieve therewith the need of His disciples, and other poor folk. But we are commanded not to serve God for gain, nor to work unrighteousness for fear of poverty.

Artificial intelligence has succeeded in fully deciphering a charred papyrus scroll from Herculaneum

The news went almost completely unnoticed in the French media, overshadowed by the World Cup and the wildfires: artificial intelligence has succeeded in fully deciphering a charred papyrus scroll from Herculaneum, as fragile as cigarette ash, without unrolling it or even touching it! It revealed a philosophical treatise on Stoicism. It took a wealth of ingenuity and technology to achieve this result. The dream has thus become reality: soon, we’ll be able to read in record time the hundreds of scrolls from that library incinerated by Vesuvius 2,000 years ago, and Greco-Latin literature will be enriched by that many unpublished texts—new tragedies or epics, perhaps. In this depressing summer, here’s a true ray of light. Long live science!

Museo Archeologico di Napoli

Source: @william_marx