We begin the week, February advances and we continue scanning the information that falls abundantly in a world increasingly informationally complicated. Between false and true news, between half-truths and blatant falsehoods, between failed influencers and genetic cowards, between clamorous silences and empty blabbermouths… we advance with lead feet but with a desire to scan a future that shows itself to us misty and resistant to the only Light that can save it from its sought-after darknesses.
It is well known that «he who sows winds reaps tempests», or if you prefer, a bit more biblical when God got angry with Israel because they had fallen into idolatries, and shouted at them: “Because they sowed wind, they will reap whirlwind”. We greatly fear that we are in the midst of a good harvest, much has been sown and it seems we have much more to reap. Highly recommended is the latest weekly report by Santiago Martín in Iglesia: Dos cismas, un mismo peligro: lefebvrianos y Alemania, que caminan sin Roma Santiago Martín.
Pope Leo with His Vatican Workers.
When we think of the Vatican and the Holy See, an endless array of names with sonorous surnames and endless strings of interests comes to our imagination; very rarely do we think of the hundreds of workers who make the Vatican machinery function every day. In the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace, before the Angelus, Leo praised the diligent management of the directors and the staff in charge of the decorum and security of the installations of Vatican City. He expressed special gratitude for the welcome provided to millions of pilgrims who, during the Jubilee, were able to cross the Holy Door with order and serenity.
The care of sacred spaces is not something secondary, something that can be neglected. Before today’s Angelus, the Pope received this morning, February 8, in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace, the directors and staff of the Floreria and the Building Office of the State of Vatican City. He expressed his thanks for their daily work, especially for that carried out during the past Holy Year. They are the directors and staff of the Floreria and the Building Office of the State of Vatican City, along with their families. Last Sunday, Leo XIV met with the Gentlemen of His Holiness, the Chamber Assistants, and the Pontifical Sediari.
The Pope recalled two symbolic places: «In particular, St. Peter’s Basilica is a sacred place that demands protection, above all as a temple of contemplation, meditation, and spiritual awe». It seems that Leo XIV does not like seeing his basilica turned into a stage for events, appetizers, dinners, media tours, and now another disfigurement: the works on the dome to expand the bar-restaurant. The Pope also spoke of the square: «The square in front, which embraces the world with its imposing colonnade, is the ‘visiting card’, as they say, of our welcome to all ». In recent years we have seen everything in the square; perhaps it is not the best visiting card that a Catholic can find when he arrives at Peter’s tomb.
Pope Leo XIV and Chiclayo.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Peace in Chiclayo, Peru, will host the World Day of the Sick on February 11, 2026, an event that annually calls the universal Church to a profound reflection on suffering, healing, and hope. Representing the Pope will be Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, who has been his special envoy to preside over the liturgical celebrations in memory of the Most Holy Virgin Mary of Lourdes, who has always been linked to prayer for the sick. The 2026 celebration also responds to the desire expressed by Pope Francis, who decided to hold this edition of the World Day of the Sick in Peru, and this decision was confirmed by Leo XIV, according to the Peruvian Episcopal Conference.
The Sanctuary of Our Lord of Peace, of the Diocese of Chiclayo – our image of today – is an idea to which the bishop Ignacio María de Orbegozo y Goicoechea dedicated much effort; he was the first from Opus Dei to govern Chiclayo and the Sanctuary belongs to the Bishopric of the Diocese of Chiclayo. It is the ‘Torreciudad of Peru’ born completely new and without any previous devotion, more sober than the Spanish one, but very impressive in the Peruvian context. We hope that the representative of Pope Leo XIV on such a significant day knows how to attend to the abused of Chiclayo and prepare the desired meeting with Pope Leo to heal the wounds after so many years of contempt. Perhaps we are malicious, but we fear it will not be so; we would love to be wrong.
Luis Badilla on the Threats of Episcopal Appointments of the FSSPX.
«Until February 2, the appointment and consecration of new bishops in the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX) was a more than plausible hypothesis, openly declared and justified as necessary for hierarchical renewal and to thus ensure the survival of the community». «It is evident that the project and intentions of the Society that will be discussed with Leo specifically refer to episcopal succession in the FSSPX community, previously excommunicated (Motu proprio of St. John Paul II, July 2, 1988) and restored years later by means of a decree signed by Cardinal Giovanbattista Re, prefect of the Faith. It is worth recalling the famous Letter of Benedict XVI, which in March 2009 explained the reasons for the remission. Now, the schismatic announcement of the Superior of the Fraternity, Father Davide Pagliarani, sets the clock back almost 38 years. However, these events have created a painful agitation within the Church that was believed to be gradually surmountable. We remain on June 30, 1988, a very sad day for Catholics, when the now famous Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four bishops (Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson, and Alfonso de Galarreta) in Écône, Switzerland, without papal mandate.
Francesco Capozza and the Conclave.
In an article in Il Tempo it is stated that the votes of Cardinal Parolin ultimately did not converge toward Prevost. «It often takes years to reconstruct testimonies provided under the protection of anonymity, compare data, and sometimes contradictory accounts, and verify the accuracy of memories clouded by the senility of many participants. Added to this is the absolute secrecy that all cardinals must maintain by swearing the Constitution (the one still in force is «Universi Dominici Gregis», issued by John Paul II in 1996), which governs the detailed rules of the Conclave».
«For months, rumors, incidents, and speculations have been circulating about the election of Roberto Francisco Prevost/Leo XIV regarding how many votes the new Pope would have received, as well as various hypotheses about the results obtained by the other candidates in the four votes that gave the Church the 267th successor of St. Peter. The figures are contradictory, of course, but by cross-referencing various testimonies and numerous sources, Il Tempo can now refute what many wrote immediately after the Conclave last May: it is not true that the block of votes supporting Pietro Parolin had fully coincided with Prevost between the second and third vote. In fact, a sizable group of eminent figures who would have liked to see the outgoing (and returning) Secretary of State dressed in white did not even vote for the future Leo XIV in the fourth and decisive election held in the afternoon of May 8, 2025.
«Just hours after the 133 cardinal electors secluded themselves in the Sistine Chapel, we wrote that Cardinal Pietro Parolin had an initial total of between 35 and 45 preferences. We also spoke with a cardinal who was keeping track of the votes considered ‘secure’ for the Vatican’s second candidate. The exact number of votes Parolin received in the first vote, held late in the afternoon of May 7, is unknown. Some speak of about twenty, others of more than thirty, and there are even those who claim that the Secretary of State received nearly forty preferences. The only certainty confirmed by almost all sources is that the only truly united group from the start of the voting was the so-called ‘conservatives’, who in the first round voted en bloc for their star candidate: the Hungarian archbishop Péter Erdő».
«Subsequently, many reconstructed that during the night of May 7 to 8, some representatives of the various groups met in the modern halls of Santa Marta to fine-tune their strategies for the next day, which all considered decisive. According to the initial testimonies gathered after Prevost’s election, Parolin’s supporters apparently reached a sudden agreement that, broadly speaking, boiled down to this: the American cardinal would obtain the papacy, while the Venetian cardinal would be confirmed as Secretary of State for at least two years. It is difficult to determine if the agreement, as described, took place, but what we can reveal is that, of the 133 electors, at least 25 did not vote for Prevost in the decisive vote. The figures for the new Pope, according to testimonies, fluctuate between 105 and 109, but the number of votes Parolin received in the fourth round never drops below ten, and some claim he received up to 15».
The United States Can Wait.
Trump had invited the first American pope to the United States in the year of the 250th anniversary of Independence. Until a few days ago, a trip in September for the UN General Assembly seemed feasible. But on Friday night, at the inaugural gala dinner of the Winter Olympics, the bad news arrived. During the inaugural gala dinner of the competitions, after speaking with the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, he realized that he could do nothing. That the objective of the US administration, so firmly supported by Trump, had failed.
To date, none of the visits scheduled for 2026 has been officially announced by Pope Leo XIV. Currently, along with Spain and the Canary Islands, Africa also awaits official confirmation from the Holy See, although preliminary on-site inspections have already been carried out in four interested African countries (Angola, Algeria, Cameroon, and New Guinea). And this very morning, the Holy See denied that the Pope intends to visit the United States this year, suggesting that it might be better to wait a little longer for that destination. It seems that the Pope will visit Peru in the second half of 2026, between November and December.
«…and all who touched him were healed.»
Good reading.