Reflections on Pope Leo XIV

Posted on May 23, 2025 by Francis

We’ve had a new pope for exactly two weeks now and from comments I am seeing online, some are elated while others are positively dismayed by the choice of Robert Cardinal Prevost as the new Vicar of Christ. My first reaction was a rather personal one ~ for the first time in my life there is a pope sitting on the throne of St. Peter who is younger than I am! That in itself is a lot to digest. Popes were supposed to be old guys and suddenly this “youngster” (to me) is prancing around in the white robes and skullcap of the Petrine office. It feels like that moment when you meet your new doctor for the first time and you realize, “He looks like a teenager!”

But now that I have overcome the initial unsettling wave of chronological dysphoria, I am ready take a more balanced, objective view of the situation. Leo XIV is not only the first pope younger than myself but he is also the first American pope, Chicago born and bred, something that was considered unthinkable even a year ago. The cardinals in conclave were willing to pursue this pragmatic option in my opinion because the scandal plagued Vatican finances are in such a disheveled state that they needed someone able to tap more easily into our vast national wealth. That is not a criticism but merely an observation. Fiscally, the Vatican has its back to the wall, a problem which the Bergoglian papacy only exacerbated by purposely alienating American Catholics, who also happen to be the Vatican’s largest donor class. The hope is that Leo, as an American, can right the ship.

From the moment he first appeared on the Loggia wearing the traditional papal robes of office Leo appeared to be a conciliator. But what most struck many was his choice in taking the name Leo XIV, a clear sign that he envisions a dramatic change in direction for the Church after 12 chaotic years of “Francis the agitator.” This Leo’s predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, likewise stepped into a supercharged time of crisis for the Church back in 1878, as it came under full frontal assault by Freemasonry. The Industrial Revolution was raging like a wildfire upending Christian civilization wherever it laid down smoke belching factories and massive urban slums. Leo responded with his great encyclical Rerum Novarum which afforded dignity to the workers yet defended the rights of property, threading a common sense course between the excesses of unrestrained corporate capitalism and the equally soul deadening mosh pit of Marxist socialism.

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Pray ‘like never before’ for this Conclave

Posted on April 21, 2025 by Francis

Although it has only been four days since my last post (about Theodore McCarrick, see my “The Essential Priesthood” April 17 article), the news of Pope Francis’ demise a mere 18 days after McCarrick’s death should make us all seriously ponder upon that inescapable day when each one of us will be required to render an account for our lives and actions. Tragically, both of these men called to the priesthood became, in the end, sources of grave scandal for Christ’s Church, and we should prayerfully commend them to God’s just mercy.

Their baneful legacy remains, however ~ a Church in greater disarray than perhaps at any time in its 2,000 year history, not that they are solely responsible but each played a singular role in creating the discord and confusion with which loyal Catholics are now contending. That we now need healing and a renewed leadership to begin to repairing and restoring an authentic Catholic voice in our troubled world is undeniable. The forthcoming conclave will be a crucial step in restoring orthodoxy and clarity after 12 years of ambiguity and dogmatic obfuscation. But such needed reform cannot be taken for granted. We must pray without ceasing that our prelates and cardinals will recognize the gravity of the situation and act according to the dictates of the Holy Spirit; not swayed by personal or political agendas in choosing the next Vicar of Christ (a title mysteriously rejected by the Bergoglian papacy.)

There are still many wolves among our shepherds, so do not assume that the ship will right itself. As such I am including a Litany for the Church under Siege which I hope you will share and pray every day until the successful election of our next Pontiff. If possible, to render our petition more powerful, try and pray it before or at the end of daily Mass.

Litany for the Church Under Siege

Lord have mercy on us. Lord have mercy on us.
Christ have mercy on us. Christ have mercy on us.
Lord have mercy on us. Lord have mercy on us.
Christ, Divine founder of the Church, Hear us.
Christ, who warned of false prophets, Hear us.

God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God. Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Mother of the Church, Pray for us.
St. Joseph, protector of the universal Church, Pray for us.
St. Michael, our defender in the day of battle, Pray for us.
St. Peter, the rock on which Christ built his Church, Pray for us.
St. Paul, guardian of the faithful remnant, Pray for us.
St. Francis of Assisi, restorer of God’s holy Church, Pray for us.
St. Anthony, gentle hammer of heretics, Pray for us.
St. Pius V, champion of the Mass of the Ages, Pray for us.
St. Pius X, foe of Modernism, Pray for us.
All you holy angels and archangels, Pray that we may resist the snares of the devil.
St. Catherine of Sienna, Pray that Christ will send us a Vicar who will oppose the spirit of the world.
St. John Fisher, Pray that bishops have the courage to combat heresy and irreverence.
St. John Vianney, Pray that zeal for souls will be rekindled in all the clergy.
St. Charles Borromeo, Pray that seminaries will be protected from false teachings.
St. Vincent de Paul, Pray that seminarians may return to a life of prayer and meditation.
St. Therese of Liseux, Pray that religious may rediscover their vocation of love and sacrifice.
St. Thomas More, Pray that the laity may courageously oppose the great apostasy.
St Francis de Sales, Pray that the Catholic press may again become a vehicle of truth.
St. John Bosco, Pray that our children may be protected from immoral and heretical instruction.
St. Pascal Baylon, Pray that profound reverence for the Most Blessed Sacrament may be restored.
St. Dominic, Pray that we may ever treasure the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Let us Pray:
Jesus, Our Lord and God, in these dark hours when Thy Mystical Body is undergoing its own crucifixion, and when it would almost seem to be abandoned by God the Father, have mercy we beg Thee on they suffering Church. Send down upon us the Divine Consoler to enlighten our minds and strengthen our wills.
Thou, O Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived, Who has promised to be with Thy Church until the end of time, grant us a mighty faith that we may not falter; help us to do Thy Holy Will at all times, especially during these hours of grief and uncertainty. May Thy Most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart of Thy Holy Mother be our sure refuge in time and eternity. Amen.

Francis J. Pierson +a.m.d.g.

Blessed Are the Pure of Heart

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Francis

There is little question among more observant Catholics that the current situation in the Church is critical, especially as one watches the train wreck which the Vatican increasingly resembles. History, fortunately, comes to our rescue, however. I mean that, looking over the past centuries, it becomes apparent that as regards the Western Church we can see a recurring cycle of reform and decay every 500 years. Beginning with the great reforms of St. Benedict and Pope St. Gregory the Great in the latter 6th century we witness how their reforms shaped and gave rise to the Carolignian renaissance. Still, corruption gradually crept in and by the 10th and early 11th centuries a very dark period emerged for both the papacy and Church discipline. Just when it seemed things could get no worse under the infamous papacy of Benedict IX, a new Ecclesial reformation sprang up under the guiding hands of St. Peter Damien, Hildebrand who became Pope St. Gregory VII, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

The following few centuries would see the Medieval Church reach its greatest glory in the 13th century guided by St. Francis of Assisi, St. Dominic, and St. Thomas Aquinas to name just a few luminaries. Once again though, faith and moral discipline began to wane as corruption set in at both the papal and local levels so that by the time of another corrupt Pope, Alexander VI, the stage had been ably set for Martin Luther’s revolt. Again, it was not until the latter half of that 16th century that a genuine Church Counter-reformation began to take effect led by new saints of great stature: St. Charles Borromeo, St. Philip Neri, Sts. Ignatius and Francis Xavier, and Pope St. Pius V who finalized the great reforms of Trent as well as securing the expulsion of the Muslim Turks from Christendom at Lepanto.

500 years from Pope St. Gregory the Great to Hildebrand’s (Pope St. Gregory VII) reforms. 500 more years elapsed from the late 11th century reforms to the late 16th century reforms at Trent under Pope St. Pius V. We are currently standing 500 years out from the revolution of Luther and Calvin and the Church again seems to be at her nadir, especially when viewing the current papacy. This suggests that we are again on the eve of another great reform movement in the Church. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we need to survive the current imminent disaster, trusting that God already has the next Hildebrand or Borromeo lined up to reverse the course of a (Masonic) trajectory which appears to lead towards the Church’s planned demolition. It is a situation similar to what Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher were facing in Henry VIII’s England, again just 500 years ago.

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Fiducia Supplicans, a False Blessing

Posted on December 20, 2023 by Francis

I was naive enough to hope that the Vatican had finished inflicting its yearly quota of modernist damage via Pope Francis’ pet Synod on Sin-odality accompanied by the brutish cancellations of Bishop Joseph Strickland and Raymond Cardinal Burke. It appears I was either too hasty or perhaps overly optimistic. As a parting Christmas sock filled with coal delivered to the entire Catholic world, Jorge Bergoglio’s doctrinal strong man, Victor Cardinal Fernandez, released a new Declaration, Fiducia supplicans, one week to the day before the solemn celebration of Christ’s birth. This latest Francis bombshell, released with his full approbation, appears designed not so much to clarify pastoral questions regarding the dispensation of blessings as to intentionally create confusion,chaos, and agitate controversy. Such divisive aims were certainly accomplished cum laude based on the immediate and wildly divergent responses, both pro and con, from various bishops around the world.

These days, the Vatican routinely launders heresy the way organized crime launders money (although the Holy See has engaged in its fair share of that as well) by burying its poison in fine sounding phrases. One example could be where the new document quotes Francis directly, “We are more important to God than all the sins we can commit because he is father, he is mother, he is pure love…(par. 27) Wait a minute, did Bergoglio just go radical feminist and call God our mother or is this just another of his patented shock value statements? In the Declaration, Cardinal Fernandez employs a bucket full of verbose linguistic sophistry to hide and obfuscate his underlying intentions, which seems to be clearing a pathway for persons in irregular marriages and homosexual unions to have those unions somehow recognized, whether in an official or unofficial capacity, by the Church. After all his boss, Jorge Bergoglio, has made no secret of his view that same-sex couples are entitled to civil recognition, and with the latest Declaration he seems to be laying the groundwork to impose some kind of “quasi-legitimate” status on same-sex unions within the Church itself.

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The Fall of Rome ~ Part II

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Francis

History moves in a circular motion. The old civil / military Roman Empire was a power which disintegrated in the 5th century mostly from internal rot and corruption. In the vacuum left behind there arose a new kind of Ecclesial Roman Empire. We know it today as the Roman Catholic Church. But, like its predecessor, this ecclesial empire is on the verge of crumbling, again mostly from the effects of internal corruption. Granted, throughout the intervening centuries it has threatened to topple more than once, beset by mismanagement and even moral corruption, yet it is still with us, undoubtedly through Divine support and assistance. But the present crisis is acute and alarming as any that Ecclesial Rome has ever had to face to date. It seems many in the highest echelons of the Church’s leadership have decided to align themselves with the Freemasonic secular globalist agenda, even to the point of persecuting their own clerics who remain faithful to the Church’s most long-held traditions.

The following is excerpted from my recent follow up essay on Masonic Illuminism (which I will shortly post in its entirety) entitled: Masonic Illuminism ~ “Elites” Waging War on Humanity; on Religion; on your Family. Please read this section, and share widely with your friends and family, concerning the subtle attack on the historic Faith of our Fathers at the hands of “progressive” theologians such as Karl Rahner, beginning back in the 1960s. If we are not aware of a threat we cannot intelligently oppose it and, following the example of our neighbors and great patriotic Canadian truckers, this fight cannot wait till another day.

Taken from Masonic Illuminism, Part 3 ~ Illuminism’s Final Assault

Renowned theologian Dietrich von Hildebrand rightly notes that (Rahner’s) ambiguity (regarding Communism, Freemasonry, etc.) is less an error than an outright deception which only gives the impression of sharing common ground. He goes on to observe, “Such a misrepresentation of the facts leads not to dialogue, but rather to a wishful (and dangerous) minimizing of the differences between Christianity and Communism… The ambiguous use of terms by (such) Catholics, therefore, only serves Communist propaganda and spreads confusion among Catholics themselves.”

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“Laudate Si’s” Disturbing Echoes

Posted on August 8, 2015 by Francis

The great 19th century thinker and apologist John Henry Newman observed that the Church exhibits three characteristics: first she is pastoral thereby sanctifying her members, next she is pedagogical (a fancy word for her teaching mission), and finally she is political because the Church is made up of humans. It was this third characteristic that caused Newman the greatest concern and, in fact, any cursory glimpse of Church history quickly reveals her many political struggles from the beginning, when Paul took Peter to task over his attitude towards the gentiles as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.

. The problem is that the lines are not clearly demarcated and sometimes political considerations become entangled with the Church’s pastoral and pedagogical mission Continue reading →

Abiding Truth – Dwelling Among Us

Tag Archives: Pope Francis

Reflections on Pope Leo XIV

Pray ‘like never before’ for this Conclave

Blessed Are the Pure of Heart

Fiducia Supplicans, a False Blessing

“Laudate Si’s” Disturbing Echoes