Original Coverage & Source Attribution: pflawler.substack.com
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Still working on my secret project— which I plan to unveil this coming week. But I managed to keep busy on Substack as well, as you’ll see.
It’s a relief to learn that Pope Leo is cancer-free after the successful surgery. And more of a relief, really, to hear that his doctors persuaded him to postpone a trip to Assisi, making sure his recovery is complete before he hits full stride again.
At the Vatican, the Secretary of State has enormous influence, not just in foreign policy. His office guides the work of all other offices in the Roman Curia; his power is second only to that of the Pope. Cardinal Parolin has filled that office from more than a dozen years, through two papacies. The previous two Pontiffs replaced the Secretary of State within 18 months after taking office. As Pope Leo reaches that point, could he be thinking about replacing Cardinal Parolin?
This week, the big news from Rome (apart from the Pope’s health) was the release of a new document on the transmission of the faith. Venite ad Me is an odd document, which admits that there’s an “epochal” problem with keeping young people in the Church, but dodges the key question of why that problem exists. So the proposed solutions—nothing much new— don’t match the gravity of the situation.
The “Overton Window” refers to the topics that politicians feel free to discuss. Who’s responsible for opening, closing, or shifting the position of that window? In the Church, as in the political world, some topics should be out of bounds. We should be aware of how public opinion is formed, and ready to break the conventional boundaries when necessary. Leila and I talk about several things on this week’s Home Front podcast, but that’s the overall theme.
In Nashville, Bishop Beckham decrees that the prayer to St. Michael cannot be recited at the end of Mass. What?! A ban on an age-old prayer? The bishop explains that priests shouldn’t add (or subtract, I assume) prayers from the Mass. True (although after Mass is not during Mass). But there’s a reason why he’s putting the kibosh on this particular prayer.
Carrie Gress, who’s determined to show the errors of feminism, tries a new approach. She reveals how she guards against street thieves when she’s in Rome, and remarks that the same tactics might guard against feminist rhetoric.
Voters in Wisconsin will decide the fate of a proposed constitutional amendment to forbid the closing of churches by the government. The Wisconsin Catholic Conference, representing the state’s bishops, is neutral on the measure.
Great news for fans of my wife Leila! Her three-volume tour de force, The Summa Domestica, is back in print in hardcover form.
An interesting Wall Street Journal column looks at the rioting in France and asks whether the conservative presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (who’s now favored to win) could restore order to that country. It wouldn’t be easy. Any government effort to control the rioters would very likely bring more protesters out onto the streets.
Prince Alois of Liechtenstein used his veto power for the first time, to stop legislation that would have legalized abortion. A similar situation arose in Belgium in 1990, but in that case the late King Baudoin stepped down temporarily to avoid signing, and the legislation became law. This time, in Liechtenstein, the bill died.
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