Pope Leo XIV rejected on Wednesday the technological promises of indefinitely prolonging human existence —such as those proposed by “transhumanism”— and said that the resurrection of Christ “reveals to us that death is not opposed to life”. He warned that numerous current anthropological visions “promise immanent immortality [and] theorize the prolongation of earthly life through technology”. “Could science really defeat death? But then, could science itself guarantee us that a life without death is also a happy life?”. He explained that death and life are not opposed, and that in the Christian sense death is “a constitutive part of life, as a passage to eternal life”.
Leo XIV received an audience with a delegation from the Group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) of the European Parliament and invited them to not break the bond between Europe and its Judeo-Christian roots. Leo XIV acknowledged that the parliamentarians “reflect a variety of viewpoints that fit into a broad spectrum of divergent opinions” and that an essential purpose of a parliament is precisely to allow these positions to be expressed and debated. The core of the speech touches the essence of European identity. The defense of the continent’s religious heritage is not a nostalgic operation nor a claim for privileges. It is, above all, the recognition of a historical fact, of an intrinsic bond between Christianity and European history, a history that must not be denied or neutralized, but “appreciated and celebrated”. The “rich ethical principles” and “models of thought” of the Christian tradition are not a marginal chapter, but an essential resource to guarantee the rights granted by God and the inherent dignity of every human person, “from conception to natural death”. Leo XIV incorporated his speech into the wake of Benedict XVI, recalling the need for dialogue between “the world of rational secularity” and “the world of religious belief”.
Comments on the so-called German synodal path from Pope Leo are in the media: “I imagine there will be some adjustments on both sides in Germany, but I trust that things will be resolved positively.” It seems he expects “adjustments,” that is, a compromise, and offers a detailed and diplomatic response. “There are great similarities, but also some significant differences between how the Synodal Way has been carried out in Germany and how it might continue in the universal Church. On one hand, I would say that there is certainly room for respect for inculturation. The fact that synodality is lived in one place and differently in another does not mean there will be a break or fracture. I think it is very important to remember this.” “At the same time, I am aware that many Catholics in Germany believe that some aspects of the Synodal Way celebrated so far do not represent their hope in the Church nor their way of living it. Therefore, greater dialogue and listening are necessary within Germany itself, so that no voice is excluded, so that the voice of the most powerful does not silence or drown out the voices of those who, though numerous, lack space to express themselves and make their voice and participation in the Church heard.” “In recent years, the group of German bishops has met with a group of cardinals from the Roman Curia. There too, a process is underway to ensure that the German Synodal Way does not deviate, so to speak, from what should be considered the path of the universal Church. I am sure this process will continue.” The Pope trusts that “things will be resolved positively.”
Meanwhile, last Saturday, November 22, the German bishops and lay representatives, during the last meeting of the Synodal Commission in Fulda, laid the foundations for a new body of the German Church and unanimously approved a Statute for a Synodal Conference. The new body, a kind of super-national committee, will be composed of the 27 local bishops, an equal number of representatives from the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), and another 27 Catholics from all over Germany. According to the Statutes, the Synodal Conference will be responsible for commenting on significant events in the state, society, and Church in Germany. Bishops and laity, within the new body, will make decisions on important matters of national relevance in ecclesial life. The Synodal Conference will also have a say in the financial affairs of the Catholic Church in Germany. This means, concretely, that in the future, laypeople will be able to discuss with bishops the use of church taxes, a topic that, though it pains them to admit it, is the key to so many things. In the face of the decline of the Catholic Church in Germany, the underlying issue is who controls the bulging bank account. After this unanimous approval, Archbishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German Episcopal Conference (DBK), explained that the Statute must be presented in Rome. The Vatican already has a draft of this document. One of the points of controversy is that a decision-making body that equates bishops and laity in decision-making on ecclesial life in Germany is outside Canon Law. The Vatican also questioned the “authority” of the Synodal Way to “impose” its decisions on individual bishops, decisions that, in any case, would previously require the approval of the universal Church.
Archbishop Georg Gänswein has reignited a debate that has never completely disappeared from Church life: what to do with the rich, complex, and ever-evolving legacy of Pope Benedict XVI? In a televised interview on the Catholic channel K-TV, the longtime private secretary of Joseph Ratzinger made one of his clearest and most personal requests. He not only expressed his hope that the beatification cause would open soon, but also shared his conviction that the late pope could one day be proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. He described Ratzinger as a thinker convinced that the Christian faith, if lived sincerely, naturally flourishes in joy. Any faith that does not produce this indicates a deeper spiritual imbalance. His comments inevitably touched on a sensitive point in contemporary Catholic debates: the place of the Traditional Latin Mass. He defended the cautious approach established by Benedict XVI in expanding access to the traditional liturgical form, designed to reduce internal tensions, not exacerbate them, and to provide a stable framework in which different liturgical sensitivities could coexist. Benedict XVI’s death in 2022 closed a public chapter, but not the spiritual, theological, and cultural influence he continues to exert. Benedict XVI’s story is still being written, with serenity, firmness, and that same inner joy he considered the unmistakable sign of authentic faith.
Roberto Benigni performed in the Vatican Gardens his monologue «Peter. A Man in the Wind» a monologue broadcast on Rai Uno and later expanded into a book. One of the most impactful passages of the story is the reflection on Peter’s youth. Benigni highlights how, when he meets Jesus, Peter is under thirty years old. However, in the artistic world, he is almost always depicted as an older man, almost old from birth.
This perspective changes completely: the apostles are not distant figures, but young men, full of enthusiasm, mistakes, fears, and dreams. He recounts the friendship between Jesus and Peter, seen as an intense and transformative bond, and the alternation between doubt and faith, two movements of the human heart. But there is also fear and courage, especially before decisive decisions, and Peter’s fragility, which becomes not a limitation, but his greatness. Here one can watch the full episode broadcast on December 10, 2025 on RaiUno.
Marco Frisina has become a reference in current Catholic music, but he is also an tireless popularizer. It is not easy to work in Rome, his diocese, the Pope’s, is the most peculiar in all aspects of Christendom and his activity has very special merit. We already have the announcement of «𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐞 2025″ in its XLI edition, with an ambitious program from the Roman diocesan choir and the 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐚 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐎𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚, directed by the maestro himself 𝐌𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐚, will be on Sunday the 14th at 8:30 pm in the cathedral of Rome, St. John Lateran.
New publication «The mission at the heart of Vatican II. An ecclesiological re-reading» by Walter Insero, which “arises from a deep gratitude toward the Conciliar Fathers and from the awareness that the missionary nature of the Church must be re-examined and reinterpreted from an ecclesiological-synodal perspective, so that it has a concrete impact on the life of the current Church”. A reflection that, starting from the teachings of the Council, as the author develops, “reaches up to the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV, who, in his greeting after his election, stated: ‘We must seek together how to be a missionary Church.’ These words confirm the timeliness of the conciliar message”.
There are eroticisms with a certain ‘fineness’, others are vulgar and coarse. For a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church to fall into vulgarities is unacceptable, for him to publish and sign them is nameless. Perhaps, if he had a mother, he wouldn’t have a problem thinking that a pig son has come out of him. The erotic obscenities of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), formerly the prestigious Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is mired in mud, confusion, and chaos, do not end. The repugnant texts are held by The Wanderer , which described the newly discovered material as “not only pornographic but also detestable”. The “repugnant” erotic texts are in line with the previously known “theology” books of the DDF director, Heal Me with Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing and Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality , which use pornographic images. “What would lead a Catholic priest to write about the details of sexual orgasm, fornication, and all else?”. “The book is lascivious, it is arousing, it lacks any spiritual, moral, or redemptive value. It is, frankly, extreme pornography wrapped in a thin layer of mysticism loaded with lascivious eroticism”.
In one of the newly discovered books, Why Can’t I Finish Healing?, published in 2002, Fernández wrote lasciviously: “A body can be striking when dressed appropriately: clothing that awakens sensuality by accentuating interesting curves, in accord with the body’s shape. The sensuality of tanned shoulders and arms is enhanced with a t-shirt. Elegance is enhanced, disguising excess weight with a black vest and white sleeves. An exposed neck becomes more attractive with a delicate necklace, and so on. If, in a moment of dissatisfaction, when someone needs to find something to long for or enjoy, a body can seem impressive, wonderful, indispensable, then a body can seem something impressive, wonderful, indispensable”.
Then he laments: “But then, with routine and discovering other different bodies, one realizes that that mass of flesh had nothing extraordinary, that it has imperfections, defects, and pains like all bodies, that it deteriorates and loses its attractiveness over time”. In a second book, titled Spiritual Theology: Spiritual Depth in Action (2005), he wrote: “It consists of scanning the entire body, paying full attention to one organ at a time. It is very important to keep in mind that this is not about ‘thinking’ about that organ, imagining it or visualizing it. It is more precisely about ‘feeling’ it, perceiving it with your senses. It is about calmly experiencing the sensations of each organ, without judging whether those sensations are good or bad, but rather trying to allow that organ to relax and release tension. It is better to do this more or less in this order: jaw, cheekbones, throat, nose, eyes, forehead (and all the small facial muscles you can feel), scalp, neck and nape, shoulders. Continue with the right arm, wrist, and right hand; the left arm, wrist, and left hand. Then scan the back. Continue: chest, stomach, waist, hips, pelvis, buttocks, genitals, right leg, left leg, right foot, left foot. The key is to focus slowly on one point at a time, without letting the imagination stray to another organ or another idea, until we feel that the whole body has the same tone. There is no hurry”.
In a third text commented on by El Wanderer , To Free Oneself from Anxiety and Impatience (2009), he again used the image of orgasm to describe moments when life is “lived to the fullest”: “When we can pause and an object or person captures our attention for an instant, that moment is lived to the fullest. When our entire being unifies in a single direction, we achieve a true encounter, a fusion, a perfect union, even if only for a few minutes. This does not necessarily imply physical stillness, as this experience can also occur in the midst of the excitement of an intense activity. This happens, for example, during an orgasm between two people who love each other”.
“A person —priest, bishop, and cardinal, moreover— capable of thinking, writing, and publishing paragraphs so openly pornographic has a serious problem,” wrote the commentator from El Wanderer . “And it is precisely this problem, among other reasons, that explains why he was the author of Fiducia Supplicans ” , which allows the “non-liturgical” blessing of irregular and same-sex couples. “That cursed document has led not only to enormous confusion within the Church, but also to immeasurable scandal and pain among the faithful”. Why this horror of virginity and purity, virtues eminently embodied in the Mother of God? The answer is simple. For Leo XIV, the more time passes, the more Tucho is ‘his’ cardinal. Is Leo XIV free to get rid of such ballast? Holiness, resolve the Chiclayo case as soon as possible!
Cardinal Baltazar Porras, one of the most critical clerics of the Venezuelan regime, was detained by police and had his passport canceled after attempting to board a flight on December 10 to take a flight to Madrid. He was expected to participate in a ceremony where he would be named Protector of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem. Pressures and threats against Porras have increased since he described the situation in Venezuela as “morally unacceptable” during a conference in Rome prior to the canonization of the first two Venezuelan saints. In recent months, rumors had circulated on social media about his possible detention, and at the end of October Venezuelan authorities prevented him from boarding a domestic flight. “Early today, the authorities detained him at the airport for two hours, mistreated him, and even brought drug-sniffing dogs to search him.” “They canceled his Venezuelan passport and did not allow him to board the flight to Madrid despite also having a Vatican passport. The authorities say that one must leave the country with a Venezuelan passport if one is a Venezuelan citizen with a second nationality, but his passport was canceled on the spot, so he could not leave.” The cardinal had his phone taken away during the two hours of his detention and was not allowed to alert anyone to the situation, and he was verbally notified that he was formally prohibited from leaving the country until further notice. Porras said that a Venezuelan official informed him at the airport that he appeared as “deceased” in the airport system, and then they told him there were “problems” with his passport. After being detained for more than two hours, the Venezuelan authorities left Porras, 81 years old, in the airport baggage claim area. The Sacred College in silence, the Vatican is not expected, courage is not one of its most recognized virtues. Everyone waits for ‘Saint Donald’ to resolve the situation.
Canadians should be “very afraid” of the Liberal proposal to punish quoting Scripture, while advising religious leaders to express their opposition to the legislation. “Should Christians be concerned about this legislation?” “Does it really threaten the Bible and freedom of speech in Canada?” MP Brock speaks of the need for religious leaders to “speak loud and clear” against the proposed amendment and to communicate with their local Liberal and Bloc parliamentarians. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has already written an open letter to Carney’s Liberals, condemning the proposed amendment and calling for its elimination.
Not far from the above, Agostino Nobile enters the theme of secrecy and conspiracies. The key concepts of Pope Leo XIII’s anti-Masonic doctrine (Humanum Genus – April 20, 1884). 1) Irreconcilability: Freemasonry and Christianity are seen as two opposing forces, and adhering to one means distancing oneself from the other. 2) Objectives of Freemasonry: to conquer governments, to alienate rulers from the Church, and to use schools, newspapers, and books to spread their principles and deceive the people. 3) Ruin of the people: Under Masonic tutelage, the people would end up more oppressed than before, after having “freed” themselves from the Church and political power hostile to the sect.
“There is an extraordinary proliferation of more or less secret and more or less Masonic societies, whose existence the public generally ignores, but whose importance is sometimes very real. All work, more or less, in the same general direction, and their main points were summarized by Will L. Garver [associated with Blavatsky’s theosophical school] in the occultist novel The Nameless Order, published in 1894. “As we can see, the main strength of lobbies, Masons, and other organizations lies in secrecy. There is no more destructive and insidious power than one that acts in the shadows. While people work, eat, dance, read newspapers, or watch television, their adversaries sneak into their minds, working day and night for years and centuries, corrupting everything that can influence collective thought.” It ends with a question: “Did the Vatican purposely ignore the sincere warnings of Blessed Pius IX, St. Pius X, and the pre-conciliar Popes, who warned of the deadly dangers of modernism, or did it become complicit in it? How do they explain, then, that ‘whoever does evil hates the light and does not come to the light so that his works may not be exposed’? (Jn 3, 20).”
Francesco Rutelli has published the book «Rome, the City of Secrets. Mysteries, Enigmas, and Wonders of a Millennial Capital». A journey of 19 itineraries through the lesser-known places, stories, and characters of the Eternal City. The former mayor of Rome explains why many of the capital’s most beautiful places remain unknown to most people.
And we end with a forbidden topic: the situation of those who convert from Islam to Christianity. Receiving baptism implies family and community pressure, even living in the West, even living in Italy. It can be risky to make one’s conversion public, as returning, even on vacation or to visit family, can become very dangerous due to reprisals from individuals or pressure from government institutions. In some countries, apostasy (abandonment of Islam) is even a crime and prevents leading a normal life as a citizen. “We are many Muslims converted to Christianity in Italy. We know it. But we don’t say it to each other. Except when we have an intimate relationship. This happens more easily among women married to Italians. When mixed couples have children with Christian names, it’s easy to perceive the conversion. There are formally Muslim mothers who celebrate baptism, first communion, and confirmation of their children! But in public we say we are atheists. This is the strategy adopted unanimously: to pass ourselves off as atheists.”
“Why can a Christian who converts to Islam freely express his faith, even proclaim it without risking anything, while a Muslim who converts to Christianity lives in fear? We are afraid. I am terrified to enter the church. I choose a church far from the neighborhood where I live. I am very careful not to be seen. But I don’t stop going to church. I truly believe in it. The first time I heard a Mass in Arabic, I burst into tears.” The Church considers us a kind of taboo. They have the records. They know very well how many Abdallahs and Khadijas became Peter and Mary. They know it. Why don’t they say it? It’s right to protect people. But at least they could say that the phenomenon exists, that it affects a lot of people. Why do they remain silent? We feel abandoned. After our conversion, we have no one to support us.”
“He who has ears, let him hear.”
Good reading.