The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in its Responsum of August 6, has clarified that arbitrary sacramental forms are invalid, such as “We baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” and that it is necessary to baptize “in an absolute form.” In the attached Doctrinal Note, it recalls that the Sacraments are not subjects of personal taste but are to be administered in fidelity to Christ who instituted them. It is a truly Catholic document that should always be applied

Recorded Future, a US-based company, reports Chinese hackers (RedDelta) broke into servers at the PIME headquarters and the Holy See’s Study Mission in Hong Kong. Why? To gather information in view of a renewal of the controversial agreement on the appointment of Chinese bishops.

Faithful and seminarians of the San Rafael Dioccese have protested the prohibition of receiving Communion on the tongue. After a Rosary was interrupted by police, the local bishop closed the diocese’s model seminary with 39 seminarians and more than 150 families associated with the institution, all active Catholics in a region called the “Vendée of the Andes” where Christianity is lived according to the Benedict Option. This is why it is suspected that the moment was exploited to close a thriving community filled with vocations and one which is "too Catholic" for our times.

Communion in the hand was not talked about either at the Council or in the liturgical reform movement. It is rooted in the post-conciliar period in the rebellious diocese of Northern Europe. Paul VI sought to curb it with his 1969 Instruction Memoriale Domini, which was intended to prohibit it and granted an indult only to the rebellious diocese in which there had not been success in curbing the abuse. On the first anniversary of his death, The Daily Compass remembers Bishop Juan Rodolfo Laise, the bishop who wrote the truth about communion in the hand and who opposed this practice, which is contrary to the universal law of the Church, in his diocese. 
2. A PROTESTANT ATTACK ON THE PRIESTHOOD, by Nicola Bux

The practice of receiving communion in the hand, which was “neutral” in the Patristic age, was adopted by the Protestant reformers with a clear doctrinal connotation. According to Martin Bucer, who promoted the Anglican “reform” in the 16th century, the practice of not giving communion on the hand is owed to a Protestant rejection of two Catholic “superstitions” – the “false honor” that is claimed to be attributed to this Sacrament and the “perverse belief” that the hands of the ministers are more holy than the hands of the laity as a result of the anointing they receive in the rite of ordination. From this moment on, the act of receiving Communion on the hand has a markedly polemical significance which attacks the Real Presence and the priesthood.

The new document of the Pontifical Academy for Life on Covid-19 is embarrassing: it says nothing – nothing about life and nothing Catholic. It calls for environmental conversion and solidarity, completely excluding any religious dimension. It is a document that will please many among the global elite.

The churches that have been burned in France are only the tip of the iceberg of a climate of hostility against Christians. There is an obvious convergence between secularist forces and the ever more significant presence of Islam. While mosques are being built, Christian churches – whose maintenance is the responsibility of the State – are being abandoned and closed. The Bishop of Montauban, Bernard Ginoux, says with regard to Hagia Sophia: “The Abu Dhabi agreement has been abandoned; Erdogan is implementing a policy of expansion and hegemony in the Mediterranean in the name of Islam; dialogue with him is impossible.”
 

Lay people at the altar for a celebration identical in every way to Mass with the exception of the consecration, and for two Sundays a month a woman in a cassock and stole. In Lucerne, in German-speaking Switzerland, the dream of the layman in place of the priest and of women-priests is approaching in leaps and bounds, with the blessing of the bishops after a four-year experiment: “The women and men who serve in church have developed an independent liturgical form”. Independent from Rome, of course, and from the sacramental nature of the Mass. This happens when the clericalism of the laity is used to attack the figure of the priest with the excuse of a decline in vocations. Even if the numbers do not justify it at all.

The most incredible phenomenon of the Covid period is the worldwide restrictions on masses and access to churches. The fact of having accepted without even fighting to renounce what we hold dearest, the Eucharist, adds to the astonishment. It calls us to recognize our misery and embrace conversion. This is the only way to ensure that this time will not have been in vain.

The devotion of the Carmelite scapular has its roots in the 13th century, a gift of the Blessed Mother to offer protection from the fires of hell. Saint John Paul II was wearing it on the day of the assassination attempt on his life, and that scapular, soaked in blood, has become a relic.

Today the Church celebrates the 120 Chinese martyrs: bishops, priests, nuns, lay people. An awkward story for those today, who have overturned the values at stake to indicate compromise rather than martyrdom as a model. Moreover, what happens in the relationship between the Holy See and China concerns each one of us.

Two recent contributions by monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò and monsignor Athanasius Schneider radically criticise the Second Vatican Council, which is held responsible for the current deviations from authentic faith. In the first case, they even go so far as to propose quashing that Council. But this is a serious error of perspective because the possible ambiguities or uncertainties of the conciliar documents have already been clarified by the subsequent magisterium of Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI. As has always happened after a Council.