A Priest Life ((((,,)))): Austen Ivereigh. The attacks on the Pope by the Santa Marta hacks

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Austen Ivereigh. The attacks on the Pope by the Santa Marta hacks

(N.B. Pope Leo likes traditions. This is a Catholic sensibility. The low- life hack opportunists who falsely attributed moral value to the jettisoning of such during the late unpleasantness now find themselves on the outside and desperately cling to relevance by attacking the new man for not apeing his predecessor in mindless lockstep.)

Rome - The criticism levelled this morning by Austen Ivereigh at Pope Leo XIV says nothing about the Pope’s gesture. It says a great deal, instead, about the method – and the standard – of a certain brand of journalism that for years built careers, reputations and income around the figure of Pope Francis, and that now, suddenly cut off from access, is trying to stay relevant by attacking the new Pontiff with false claims and ideological distortions.

As is well known, this morning Leo XIV received monks and nuns who, according to an ancient and well-documented tradition, brought with them the lambs blessed on the feast of St Agnes. Lambs that are not killed, not mistreated, not paraded as props: they are raised, shorn, and their wool is later used to make the pallia for metropolitan archbishops. This is an ecclesial, symbolic act, deeply rooted in the tradition of the Church.

It is a tradition that was observed in the early years of Francis’s pontificate and later set aside. Not for ethical reasons – because there is no ethical issue in that rite – but simply because these things did not interest Francis. Signs, rituals and liturgical tradition were not central to his vision of governance. What mattered to him was personal loyalty. And when that loyalty failed, bishops were removed with little hesitation, canon law included.

It is worth restating this, since some today pretend to be discovering it for the first time: the lambs are shorn with full respect for the animal; shearing is a relief, not a source of suffering. Because they are very small, they are presented to the Pope lying in a basket. The videos released show calm, serene animals, certainly not “terrified” as Ivereigh claims. This is not a matter of opinion: it is a simply false statement.