Religion, Nations, and Geopolitical Review: SATURDAY, JULY 24

by A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

HOMOSEXUAL CLERIC STEPS DOWN: Yet another scandal within the Church has emerged as Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, the general secretary of the U.S. bishops’ conference, was forced to resign over what appears his active homosexuality. A brilliant investigation from The Pillar revealed Burrill used a location-based phone app often used by homosexuals. Location data signals from the app further revealed that Burrill frequented gay bars and private residences. Burrill is a priest from the Diocese of La Crosse, the same diocese as the sacked Fr. Altman. Will this apparent active homosexual also be removed by his bishop and placed in permanent limbo? Meanwhile Steven P. Millies, associate professor of public theology and director of The Bernardin Center at the Catholic Theological Union, was given space in The Washington Post to defend Burrill. All of a sudden the paper finds cause to decry cancel culture, invoke "journalistic ethics", and quote the Catechism on detraction. Not only is the hypocrisy blatantly clear, but it's also further proof of corruption within the upper ranks of the American hierarchy.

VENERABLE ROBERT SCHUMAN? The "founding father" of the European Union has been declared venerable by Pope Francis, thus placing him on the path towards canonization as a saint. Schuman may have been a devout Catholic, but questions remain as to why he was selected for this honor beyond his work with what would become the European Union - perhaps the greatest disaster for Europe since World War II. What's more, it's much, much more likely that American military personnel and the advent of nuclear deterrence that kept Europe in peace since 1945.

TRADITIONIS CUSTODES REVOLT: Be on the lookout for a video from the Religion, Sex, and Politics YouTube channel regarding Francis' newest motu proprio. As bishops respond about Traditionis Custodes, it's becoming apparent how divisive the rollback on the Latin Mass has become. As the German clergy revolted against Francis on blessing gay couples, so many moderate and conservative bishops are doing in regards to the Latin Mass. Each case reveals a weakening of both papal authority and also Francis pontificate. Francis was well within his right and historical precedent to make his decision regarding the Latin Mass, but the rollout and time were ill-conceived and poorly enacted. 

BLASTING BISHOP TAYLOR: Meanwhile Church Militant's Headlines this week lambasted the bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas for doing exactly what Francis asked. He didn't ban the Latin Mass led by dedicated priests from Latin Mass groups such as the FSSP or Christ the King. Those Masses continue to this day. What Church Militant failed to mention was this nugget from his episcopal statement: "The 'Novus Ordo' Mass can be celebrated by any priest in any language, including Latin, and Latin service music can always be used, but elements of the traditional Latin Mass are not to be grafted onto the 'Novus Ordo' Mass, regardless of whether it is celebrated in Latin or the vernacular." The real issue regards what he means by "elements" from the Latin Mass. If he means ad orientam prayer and communion rails, then this is real scandal. While traditionalists cling to Latin - which this bishop is willing to permit in all Masses - what we need are many of the "elements" that induce pious divine worship among the faithful. In all the talk about Latin, Latin, Latin, we've forgotten to talk about how to direct people towards an encounter with the Living God through authentic worship.

II. AMERICAN POLITICS

THE FBI, WHITMER, AND JAN. 6: It turns out that the FBI was involved in almost every step of the kidnapping plot of Michigan's Governor Whitmer and the men accused now have a strong case for government entrapment. Could the FBI have been involved in a similar way on January 6? As the former head of the Capitol Police says he was denied six times when he asked for help from the National Guard. Kash Patel, at the time the chief of staff for the acting Secretary of Defenses, tells reporters that the Trump Administration was rebuffed by Democrats each time it offered assistance from the National Guard. Given that there are upwards of 20 unindicted co-conspirators in the January 6 "insurrection" how possible is that the FBI was doing something similar, using upwards of 20 FBI agents to induce people into the Capitol? Considering that the Democrats used January 6 to falsely accuse and impeach President Trump of inciting insurrection, blow half a billion dollars locking down the capital for months, fear-mongering American citizens, expanding the Capitol Police across the country, and locking away American citizens without trial or even charging them with insurrection, we think it highly likely that deep state actors colluded with swamp monster Democrats (and many Republicans) to coordinate for mutual benefit. Does anyone believe that a sized Lego set of the US Capitol is really evidence of insurrection?

DEMOCRAT SUPERSPREADERS? In order to avoid doing their constitutional duties, Texas Democrats crowded into a private jet and flew to Washington DC to visit their leftwing allies and leaders of the party. Though they claim everyone should take COVID precautions, selfies from the plane revealed everyone's maskless faces. Now at least six of them have the coronavirus and spread the disease to Congress and the White House. Democrats are refusing to update us on how many new cases of the coronavirus have struck the Texas Democrats while Jen Psaki won't tell America how many breakthrough cases of COVID are affecting vaccinated members of the White House staff. So much for safety and transparency.

BREAKING CHAIN OF COMMAND: Biden now supports taking investigations of sexual assault allegations by military personnel away from military officials. We've argued before that this breaks the military chain of command and thus weakens the military and it's authority to enforce its own strict rules. The move would come after a long line of victories for the woke Left in the military and is unsurprising as Democrats move to force more women into the military, thus placing more women at greater risk of assault.

BAD 2020 POLLS: Surprise, surprise. A new study reveals how - once more - the polls in the 2020 election were abysmal. The study found "a systematic error" that favored Democrats across the nation. While for some the election results are still in doubt - indeed audits continue even now - one has to wonder how many stayed home or cast their vote one way due to the false polls pushed by the liberal media.

KAVANAUGH WITCHHUNT CONTINUES: We at AoA haven't been big fans of the decisions by Brett Kavanaugh (or Amy Coney Barrett), but we detest the latest move by Democrats to influence the courts by effectively re-investigating Kavanaugh anew. Don't think for a moment that Democrats wouldn't seek to remove him and replace him with another Ginsburg.

III. THE NATIONS

HUNGARY LGBT REFERENDUM: As the EU attempts to bully Hungary into LGBT acceptance, Hungarian leader, Viktor Orban, has announced the nation will hold a referendum on national laws protecting minors from the LGBT agenda. The five question referendum, similar to an earlier national referendum on immigration, will give Orban the democratic firepower to resist pressure from the bullies in Brussels. Meanwhile EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is attacking Hungary's law, demanding that "EU citizens" be ensured their full set of "rights". Of course the EU leader refuse to base morality and "rights" in the natural law and she confuses Hungarian citizens for "EU" citizens. Let Hungarians live according to the natural law. Let the nation decide for itself what laws it wishes to enact.

TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN: As the Taliban begins regaining control of Afghanistan, a group of Taliban representatives met with Russia - the dominant non-Islamic nation in the region with a history in Afghanistan - that the Taliban would prevent Islamic terrorists from operating in Afghanistan while also working to eliminate the nation's illicit drug industry. As America finally withdraws, perhaps it's time for Russia to help win peace for the landlocked nation.

FOOD AND NATIONALISM: An interesting poll in India concerning religion, food, and nationalism. 

IV. CULTURE OF LIFE, CULTURE OF PROTECTION

KIDS AND KINK: Lauren Rowello at the Washington Post wrote, "Yes, kink belongs at Pride. And I want my kids to see it." Exposing children to disgusting sex acts would usually end in the removal of said kids from the home, but having captured virtually every cultural, religious, and political institution in the nation, this is the direction the sexual revolutionaries want to take America and our children. The San Francisco gay men's choir was right, they are coming for your children.

SCOTUS UPHOLDS TRANS BATHROOMS: In a further sign that the "conservative" Supreme Court is no bastion of sexual order as the court refused to strike down a lower court ruling that allowed a biological female to use the boy's bathroom. Again, they - conservatives and liberals - are coming for your children.

CHINA CRACKS DOWN ON LGBT: In China the cultural revolution was a disaster. It went far farther than anything we've seen in America thus far but China was able to come back from the brink. In a further step in the right direction, the Chinese social media giant WeChat has shut down LGBT accounts. 

DRAFTING WOMEN: Democrats are pushing ahead to force women into the draft, placing America's would-be wives and mothers in grave danger. Democrats in the Senate Armed Services committee have successfully voted to add language to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that forces women aged 18-25 into the draft. Will the USCCB speak up in protest about this or will they sit quietly as they did with the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and allowing women in combat? An amazing 1903 article from The Atlantic - written by a woman - presents an argument against women's suffrage in part because suffrage comes will the willingness to die in combat: 

"The question, 'Shall woman vote?' is really in the last analysis, the question, 'Ought woman to assume the responsibility for protecting person and property which has in the past been assumed by man as his duty alone?' It is because women see... that the first and fundamental function of government is the protection of person and property, and because women do not think that they ought to assume this duty any more than they ought to assume that police and militia service which is involved in every act of legislature, that they do not wish to have the ballot thrust upon them."

"...it is not woman's function to fight against human foes who threaten the home. She is not called to be a soldier. She is not to be welcomed with the volunteers nor coerced into military service by the draft. It is in vain to recite the story of Joan of Arc; it is in vain to narrate the efforts of the Amazons. The instinct of humanity revolts against the employment of woman as a soldier on the battlefield. No civilized man would wish to lay this duty upon her; no civilized woman would wish to assume it. This is not to say that her courage is not as great as his. Greater is it in some sense,—but it is different. For the Spartan mother to arm her son and send him forth with the injunction to come home bringing his shield or borne upon it, and then wait during the long and weary days to know which way he is to come,—this requires, surely, a heroism not less than his: but it is not the same heroism; higher in some sense it is—but it is not the same. In his courage are pride and combativeness and animal passion, sometimes well-nigh devilish passion; a strange joy in giving and receiving wounds, a music that grows inspiring in the singing of the bullets, an almost brutal indifference to the wounded and the dying all about him, which she could never get and remain woman."

Swedish Major, Eric Bonde, smokes a cigarette after being shot twice in battle