CHARLOTTE — When Bishop Michael Martin met April 1 with Cardinal Robert Prevost in Rome, he had no idea he was sitting down to talk with a future pope.
On Thursday, Bishop Martin said he is thrilled that the Chicago-born cardinal – now known as Pope Leo XIV – had become the 267th pope. At a press conference at the Diocesan Pastoral Center in Charlotte, he called the election “a unique blessing” for Catholics worldwide and in the Diocese of Charlotte.
“I’m very surprised – I never would have dreamt that we would see a pope born in the United States in my lifetime,” Bishop Martin said. “I admit that as I was sitting there watching him walk out onto the loggia, I was very shocked. At the same time, I knew he had been considered, and at least in my dealings with him I felt he certainly had the qualifications for it and has had experiences in diverse parts of the world that allow him to bring to this position a unique blessing that I think we’re going to see very quickly.”
Bishop Martin’s meeting with Cardinal Prevost came in the pope’s former capacity as the Vatican’s head of the Dicastery for Bishops, the office that handles appointments of bishops worldwide. During the hour-long meeting, Bishop Martin said he gained a sense of the future pope’s personality as well as his deep knowledge of issues affecting the Church…
He was their man all along. He didn’t emerge as a surprise during the Conclave. He was hand picked ahead of time. We warned of this beforehand. Now this notorious blabbermouth Ivereigh cannot help himself but to rub your nose in it.
It is normal and humanly understandable that more than a decade of open persecution of Catholics by the one who presented himself as their Pope would lead many of us to desire a truce, hoping that Our Lord would give His Church – if not a new Pius X – at least another Benedict XVI.
But this legitimate desire – certainly animated by good feelings and love for the Church – cannot transform itself into a virtual reality in which, even against all evidence, everything must necessarily be read as a confirmation of what we would like, and not of what is really happening. We cannot build for ourselves a “virtual church” with a “virtual papacy” that we love and serve in a consoling but unreal fiction.
The confirmation of a notorious heretic to the Cathedra of Saint Gallen in Switzerland; the appointment of a nun as Secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, in line with the appointment of a Prefectess by Bergoglio; the repeated references to the heretical documents of his predecessor and to Vatican II; the declarations on ecumenism and synodality, and finally the acceptance of climate fraud; all place Robert Francis Prevost in evident and disturbing continuity with his predecessor, and it will certainly not be the stole and mozzetta that will change reality.
May looking at reality with supernatural eyes help us to recognize the deceptions of the Evil One and push us, today more than ever, to place all our hope in Christ the King and Pontiff, so that He may help and protect His Church. May He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life be our guide in a rebellious world doomed to perdition, lies, and death.
The head of the City Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) in St. Louis has been suspended pending an investigation into into why tornado sirens did not sound before an EF-3 tornado hit parts of Central West End and North City last week. A physical button must be pushed by officials at the CEMA office in order to activate warning sirens; this was never done. Five people died when the storm struck.
Sarah Russell, (a biological woman) who identifies as transgender and goes by they/them pronouns, was promoted to the CEMA leadership position in 2022 in the midst of the widespread DEI hiring blitz within Democrat run cities across the US. CEMA is a local partner organization to FEMA.
CEMA staff, including Russell, were at a workshop on Market Street and not at the CEMA office located on Olive, where the siren activation button is located. The Mayor’s office said Russell contacted the fire department, apparently at the time the tornado was approaching the city. City officials say there was then a breakdown in communication, with the directive to activate the sirens being vague.
Why didn’t Russel go to the office to set off the alarm herself? This is not known but the two locations are approximately four blocks away – A very short distance.
In April of 2024, Russell’s office received a $3.9 million grant to improve the siren system in St. Louis which she said needed to be updated. This included adding multiple languages to alarm PSAs, such as Spanish, Vietnamese, Hindi, Swahili, Bosnian and Dari/Patscho. However, no amount of siren improvements will matter if no one is there to push the button…
It is an ontological impossibility for a woman to hold ecclesiastical office. Because the power of governance and jurisdiction flows through Holy Orders: Can. 129 §1. “Those who have received sacred orders are qualified, according to the norm of the prescripts of the law, for the power of governance, which exists in the Church by divine institution and is also called the power of jurisdiction.”
Since both Prevost and Sister Tiz have degrees in Canon Law, there is no question they know this. This is about inversion of reality. And the matter at hand is not just Canon Law, it is Divine Law, which no one can touch. It is unchangeable Dogma that Christ instituted the Church as a hierarchy, ruled through its Prelates, the successors of the Apostles.
It was widely speculated mere days ago that Prevost might remove the woman Prefect named by Bergoglio. Nope. He doubled down. So now priests are ruled by two um, chicks.
As a lifetime Chicago cradle Catholic and clergy sex abuse investigator and child advocate attorney, the address by Cardinal Prevost in May of 2023 at the Universidad Católica Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo, portends alarming theological and ecclesiastic tribulation for the Catholic Church as the newly elected Pope Leo XIV guides the Catholic Church—I mean the “New Synodal Church.”
Frankly, it’s shocking and inconceivable that a newly elected pontiff would cite as his guiding light the theology of Joseph Bernardin, a known sexual predator and radical collaborator of Marxist and community activist, Saul Alinsky. Here are a few books for Pope Leo XIV to read in the first months of his pontificate: 1)Malachi Martin’s Windswept House- Special attention should be given to the grotesque and demonic first chapter where a priest assists in the Satanic Enthronement of the Fallen Angel Lucifer Ceremony. That person in the satanic ritual is known as Cardinal Leonardine aka Joseph Bernardin. Malachi Martin described the scene as pure fact, only the names were changed. 2) The Rite of Sodomy-Homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church authored by Randy Engel. In grueling and authoritative detail, Ms. Engel lays out the radical progressive agenda of the Catholic clerical homosexuals which not only shaped the “AmChurch” and destroyed the lives of thousands of innocent boys. To learn about your mentor, Joseph Bernardin begin on page 562 where he is described as “a flaming homosexual.”
In 1986, Bernardin paid to send Barack Obama to California to attend an Alinsky community organizing Marxist training seminar. The radical alignment of the Chicago Catholic Archdiocese under Bernardin and the Alinsky Marxists undermined the American Catholic Church and gave birth to the moral relativism of Bernardin’s seamless garment religion, which is referenced in Prevost’s speech.
Prevost espouses the “seamless garment” radical ideology of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, former Archbishop of Chicago. It is long overdue that American Catholics wake up about the real Joseph Bernardin, not the slick media puff pieces that defined his time in Chicago as Cardinal Archbishop. Pope Leo XIV better brush up on the Chicago Way of catholicism which ruined the American Catholic Church.
Below is the speech of Cardinal Robert Prevost-Translation provided by Mike Lewis at https://wherepeteris.com/pope-leo-xiv-on-cardinals-bernardin-and-cupich-and-the-value-of-life/
Discurso de Robert Francis Prevost
First of all, I would like to greet all the authorities present here today: His Eminence Cardinal José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça, who shares with us this great privilege this morning; His Excellency Archbishop Paulo Waltier, Apostolic Nuncio in Peru; His Excellency Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, Metropolitan Archbishop of Trujillo and President of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference; His Excellency Bishop Jesús Moliné Labarta, Bishop Emeritus of Chiclayo—to whom we all owe a great deal for his many years of service to this diocese and this university—and all the bishops present.
I also extend my greetings to Monsignor Guillermo Cornejo, who is today the Grand Chancellor of this university, Dr. Patricia Campos, Rector of the Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Catholic University, the academic and civil authorities, others who are here today, my brother priests, the professors who are members of this faculty, and all distinguished participants in this ceremony.
I deeply thank the Rector and the authorities of this Catholic university for the meaningful gesture of conferring upon me the title of Doctor Honoris Causa. I am sincerely grateful, and if you’ll allow me to briefly step away from my prepared remarks, it feels as if, after hearing all these generous words, I should be heading straight to confession—because surely all of this cannot be true!
I have come here accompanying Cardinal José Tolentino, who was invited to celebrate the university’s silver anniversary. Indeed, we are truly blessed by his presence this morning. I thank him sincerely for his kind words, his goodness, and his generosity in participating in today’s ceremony, which holds great significance for our beloved Catholic university. This is a beautiful occasion as we celebrate within the framework of the 25 years of life of this cherished institution. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all those who have been part of the wonderful history of these years.
Now, I wish to share a few thoughts and reflections that perhaps align with what the sponsor, Dr. Rosa Sánchez, mentioned during her presentation, touching upon the mission of this university, which proudly carries the word “Catholic” in its name. Indeed, it aims to genuinely fulfill its mission of forming students from a perspective that transversally embodies the principles of the Gospel as well as the teachings of the Church.
Allow me to share reflections drawn from the discourses and insights of three cardinals—all from Chicago: Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who was Archbishop of Chicago in the 1990s; Cardinal Blase Cupich, who is currently the Archbishop; and myself, as you know, born in Chicago. As the Apostolic Nuncio humorously mentioned earlier, “Chicago, Chiclayo—what’s the difference? Just a single letter.”
Forty years ago, in the month of December, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago, delivered a speech at Fordham University in New York. This speech was truly historic for the Church, at least in the United States. It established a very significant direction in his ministry, presenting a new way of thinking about how the Church might respond to ethical challenges and problems that arose both at that time and continue to arise today.
These reflections particularly concern issues related to the value of human life. Last week, Cardinal Blase Cupich delivered another address at Fordham University in New York, marking the 40th anniversary of Cardinal Bernardin’s original speech. Cardinal Bernardin, deeply concerned about how abortion and other social justice issues had come to divide certain sectors within the Church, offered an important response rooted firmly in Church doctrine. From this teaching, he proposed looking outward, towards society, within a framework he called a “consistent ethic of life.” Cardinal Bernardin continued developing this idea up until his death.
Bernardin’s vision suggested understanding the Church’s moral teachings as responding holistically to the many challenges affecting human life, as if they were threads woven into a single garment. This perspective outlines a path for the Church, one which remains relevant today. For instance, a Catholic cannot truly claim to be “pro-life” by maintaining a stance against abortion while simultaneously advocating in favor of the death penalty. Such a position would lack coherence with Catholic social teaching. Our thinking and teaching must manifest coherence, consistently defending the value of human life from its beginning to its natural end.
As a community of believers—and also as members of broader society—we frequently find ourselves deeply troubled by divisions, perplexed, and occasionally confused by a series of emerging questions concerning life, the relationship between the Church and society at large, and even about personal identity and our relationship with ourselves. Divisions exist among Christians. For example, within the Church, there are people who harshly criticize the Holy Father or certain bishops, rejecting their teachings, actively fostering division. Merely glancing at blogs or interviews published over the last few months, particularly before and during the concluding month of the Synod on Synodality, one encounters numerous examples of misinformation, distortions, conspiracy theories, and erroneous interpretations about many beautiful experiences we shared during the Synod.
In a certain sense, I propose that we again embrace Cardinal Bernardin’s proposal—perhaps now more urgently than ever. Building upon Bernardin’s foundation, Cardinal Cupich has recently suggested reclaiming and further developing the concept of the consistent ethic of life, expanding it into what he calls a new, integral ethic of solidarity. By embracing this proposal, the Church can offer a precious gift to the People of God and indeed to all who seek the common good. If the Church takes seriously Pope Francis’s call to embody a synodal Church, we must instill an integral ethic of solidarity into every dimension of our lives.
The consistent ethic of life emerged from recognizing that a variety of moral questions spanning the entire spectrum of life—from conception to natural death—were increasingly pressing, partly due to the rise of new technologies. Today, these advances continue to pose profound challenges to the Church, families, individuals, and society as a whole. In Cardinal Bernardin’s words, across the spectrum of life—from genetic research, abortion, capital punishment, modern warfare, to the care of the terminally ill—these diverse issues are fundamentally rooted in one essential Catholic principle: the loss of even a single human life is a profoundly significant event.
Seen in this context, abortion, war, poverty, euthanasia, and capital punishment share a common identity: each one is rooted in a denial of the right to life. We could add other contemporary issues to this list, such as the implications of artificial intelligence, human trafficking, and the rights of immigrants, among many others.
Our response to all these challenges demands coherence, anchored in respect for human dignity and a genuine reverence for the image and likeness of God inherent in every human being. If we hold—as indeed we do—that the right of every unborn child must be protected by civil law and backed by civil consensus, then our moral, political, and economic responsibilities cannot end at the moment of birth. We must strive to ensure that every child born into this world receives the care they require, safeguarding their rights to life, health, and education. Those who champion the right to life for the most vulnerable among us must be equally visible in supporting the quality of life of others who are vulnerable, including the elderly, children, the hungry, the homeless, and undocumented immigrants.
At the same time, Cardinal Bernardin emphasized clearly that each issue has its distinct moral character. Any effort to conflate these issues, without properly understanding their relative moral importance, would diverge from Catholic teaching. In other words, the Cardinal did not claim that all life issues were morally equivalent. Rather, he stressed the unique character of each challenge or dilemma—each requiring its own criteria for analysis—while simultaneously underscoring the interconnectedness of all threats to human dignity.
One of our greatest challenges today, particularly within this Catholic university and indeed across all Catholic universities, is to discover the best way to teach and promote precisely this kind of thinking. We must strive to unify efforts within the Church, in politics, and across all sectors of society, working harmoniously to build a society in which the value of every human life is respected and protected.
Catholic universities carry an immense responsibility to deepen this reflection and, following the spirit of synodality, to accompany society in this vital task: illuminating challenges and proposing viable solutions. I thank you once again and congratulate everyone for the work done at this university, particularly on this special occasion celebrating the 25th anniversary of Universidad Católica Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo.
Happy anniversary to you all, and thank you very much.
