InfoVaticana published this week a story with real impact on that much-discussed seamless tunic of Christ these days. A truly relevant piece of news, one that causes scandal: a cardinal of the Church who participated barely a year ago in the conclave that elected Leo XIV—and with significant involvement—has publicly concelebrated a Mass of thanksgiving for the 50th anniversary of a homosexual couple, whom he also ritually blessed.
We are not talking about just any cleric. Timothy Radcliffe not only took part in the conclave: he was the cardinal chosen by Leo XIV to open with his meditation the first consistory of cardinals of his pontificate, in January 2026. We are therefore speaking of one of the figures of greatest doctrinal influence in the Catholic Church today.
What happened in London
According to what we published in InfoVaticana—and it is something perfectly public, because it was a public Mass, broadcast on video by the organizers themselves—on June 13, the church of Holy Apostles in London hosted a “Mass of thanksgiving for 50 years of friendship, union, and commitment” in honor of Julian Filochowski and Martin Pendergast, two well-known homosexual activists who have lived together as a couple since 1976.
Radcliffe preached the homily and concelebrated alongside two English emeritus bishops. At the end of the celebration, all the clergy present imparted a ritual blessing with a fixed text to the couple. And, adding extreme gravity, one of the two honorees distributed the Blood of Christ to the attendees during Communion, under the cardinal’s gaze.
This is extremely serious. This truly tears the tunic: not in administrative terms, but in doctrinal ones. It breaks the meaning of the sacraments, the sense of the sacredness of the family, what the Church has understood and understands about love and its proper channels, about the holy sacrifice of the Mass, about blessings. And the tear has been caused by one of the cardinals recognized today as a current doctrinal reference.
The silence of the Catholic media
So far, there has been no statement from Rome. But beyond the catastrophic absence of reaction from the Roman authorities, what also calls for deep reflection is that there has been no statement from virtually any Catholic media outlet.
Let us review. The thematic Catholic media in Spanish, which the reader surely already knows, the international agencies—some with television, others only press agencies—not a single one has said absolutely anything. Mention must be made of the exception of the North American outlet LifeSite and the Italian La Nuova Bussola; the rest of the Catholic press around the world, all in unison, has decided to remain silent.
“Don’t talk about the issue and, perhaps, if we don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist.” That may be the theory. It may also be an explicit strategy of protecting the hierarchy, of protecting the Pope—Radcliffe is a person chosen by him to preach to his peers. But then we have already assumed that the truth must be hidden, that the scandal must be concealed, that it must be deliberately covered up.
We understand, from an informational standpoint, the bitter, sour position of so often being the bearers of bad news. But in our internal discernment, we believe that bad news is necessary for purification, for general reflection, and for the improvement of the Church.
And the reaction of the media to this matter gives us a sense of loneliness and sorrow, because editors, colleagues, and journalists are observing ecclesial reality with a level of self-censorship and fear that is not proper to Catholics.
Double standards
This is news that should have made the rounds of the world in all Catholic media. Now then: rivers of ink have flowed these days over the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X. There has been no problem there; it is not, therefore, that controversial topics are avoided. Some are avoided and others are aired.
So, what is in the minds of our colleagues, of our fellow journalists from other outlets? What role does Catholic information really play, and where is it heading, if we lower these standards?