America’s Catholics are facing a crisis of authority. The social and economic realities of mass migration contradict the Vatican’s facile theologizing on open borders. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in accord with Pope Francis’ globalist conceits, opposes President Donald Trump’s resolve to curtail illegal migration. Catholics are caught between fidelity to ecclesial leadership and obedience to the just laws of our own country. Francis’ hostility to Trump is no secret. Damian Thompson, former editor of Britain’s Catholic Herald, wrote: “In 2016, Francis gave his blessing to the Hillary Clinton campaign’s Catholic front organizations, motivated not just by their shared obsession with anti-racism and climate change but contempt for Donald Trump.” Continue Reading

Luce: Mascot of Vatican Surrender to Pop Culture

Maureen Mullarkey

January 13, 2025

Luce is the name of the official mascot/logo for Rome’s 2025 Jubilee. A kitschy cartoon pilgrim derived from the cult-of-cute in Japanese comic books and animation, it is the brainchild of the Dicastery for Evangelization. Artificially child-like, Luce signals Vatican surrender to the hegemony of Pop culture. Competing for ratings in an image-saturated culture—one that values spectacle over argument—Mother Church has to entertain the customers. She needs to lighten up, lift her hems a bit, and show a little ankle. That means renovating the Church’s traditional symbolic system. Continue Reading

The Vatican & The Medical-Industrial Complex, part 2.1

Maureen Mullarkey

August 2, 2021

At the outset, let me add a brief preface. Part 1 of this look at the Vatican series of conferences on cell research and the biotech industry began on this weblog last month. I had promised a Part 2. Much of that promise appeared in The Federalist, July 15th, under the title “Inside The Vatican’s Surprising Alliance With Biotech Venture Capital.” For clarity’s sake—and to avoid repetition here—it makes sense to read The Federalist piece first. Part 2 introduced the mystic marriage of Cardinal Ravasi and the entrepreneurial Robin L. Continue Reading

That Vatican Crèche: Misplaced Indignation

Maureen Mullarkey

February 2, 2021

Christmastide is over. Still with us, however, is Vatican preoccupation with youth culture and contemporary art. The showcased 2020 Nativity scene generated sneers and Mayday alarms. Demon-spotters went on high alert. Call the exorcist? By now, temperatures have gone down but the infection remains misdiagnosed. It matters that we get it right. Dislocated indignation distracts from real afflictions. While this arts-and-crafts manger scene would have been unremarkable at Florence’s annual Mostra Internazionale dell’Artigianato, it was a sore thumb in St. Peter’s Square. Continue Reading

Shrine to Migrants in St. Peter’s Square

Maureen Mullarkey

October 22, 2019

Last month, in honor of the Vatican’s World Day for Migrants and Refugees, Pope Francis unveiled a three-ton shrine to migrants in St. Peter’s Square. Lumpen and inert, the addition is no surprise. Less and less is art conceived or promoted in terms of aesthetic value. It has become a form of advocacy journalism. Even in the Vatican, a repository of centuries of cultured achievement, political significance is the primary measure of artistic significance. St. Peter’s spanking-new monument squats in proximity to the luminous twin fountains by Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Continue Reading