#pope-john-paul-ii — Public Fediverse posts

Poland.us: Digital archive of photographs from John Paul II’s pontificate to be created. “The history of nearly three decades of John Paul II’s pontificate, including his 104 apostolic journeys and 146 pastoral visits, has been captured in 4.7 million photographs. This unique visual heritage will finally be digitized so that it can be made available to the whole world.”

Society of St. Pius X

This is the Catholic organization that’s been in the news, as of late. We here try to keep up with the news of religious organizations. So here’s about the Society of St. Pius X & why they’ve been in the news lately.

In Latin, their name is: Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X. It literally means “Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X.”

This is an ultra-conservative traditionalist Catholic priestly fraternity founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Members are commonly called Lefebvrists or Lefebvrians. The organization rejects these terms. Following decades of canonical disputes, the Holy See formally declared the society excommunicated in July 2026.

This society is named after Pope Pius X for his anti-modernist stance. The society retains the Tridentine Mass & pre-Vatican II liturgical books in Latin. And holding the traditional Latin Mass. It’s led by Superior General Davide Pagliarani & has more than 700 priests among 1,482 total members.

Estimates of the number of laypeople who attend this society’s Masses vary widely. The society cites a figure of 600,000. While media estimates have suggested an active following of 150,000-200,000.

There have been groups resulting from this group, including the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (authorized by Pope John Paul II in 1988), & the sedevacantist Society of St. Pius V.

Tensions with the Holy See 1st peaked in 1988, when Lefebvre consecrated 4 priests as bishops (Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tisser de Mallerais, Alfonso de Galarreta, & Richard Williamson) without an apostolic mandate (this sounds like what Protestants had a problem with during the Protestant Reformation, to some extent) & against a personal warning from Pope John Paul II, incurring an automatic excommunication (latae sententiae).

The society disputed that any penalty had been sustained, citing a moral & theological crisis in the church. This excommunication was lifted in 2009, at the bishops’ request.

The society’s broader canonical status remained unresolved for decades. Though Pope Francis extended ecclesiastical jurisdiction to the group-administered confession (2017) & marriages.

In February 2026, the group announced plans to consecrate new bishops on July 1, 2026, without a papal mandate, declining further dialogue with the Holy Office. The Holy Office is a department of the Roman Curia responsible for the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. This is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia.

The Vatican warned this would constitute schism. But the consecrations took place on July 1, with Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta as consecrator and Bishop Bernard Fellay as co-consecrator.

The Holy See decreed the excommunication of the entire society the following day. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith revoked the confession & marriage faculties previously granted to the group priests, because schismatics lack the jurisdiction necessary for such sacraments to be valid. The 2017 provisions granted the group’s priests this faculty & delegation. The 2026 decree withdrew them.

Like Traditionalist Catholicism in general, the society was born out of opposition to changes in the Catholic Church that followed the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). The founder & central figure of the society was the French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who had served the Catholic Church as Apostolic Delegate for French-speaking Africa, Archbishop of Dakar, & Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, a missionary order of priests.

In September 1970, shortly after his retirement as Superior General of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, Lefebvre was approached by 11 members of the Pontifical French Seminary in Rome, who asked him to help them find a seminary with a more traditional formation.

They sought Lefebvre’s advice on a conservative seminary where they could complete their studies. He directed them to the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

In late 1970, Lefebvre was urged by the abbot of Hauterive Abbey & the Dominican theologian Marie-Dominique Philippe to teach the seminarians personally, but he felt he was too old to undertake such a project. He told them he would visit Francois Charriere, Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva & Fribourg, with a request to set up a religious society.

He told them that if he agreed to go through with it, he would see in it a sign of Divine Providence. Charriere granted Lefebvre’s request &, with a document predated 6 days to November 1, 1970, he established the Society of St. Pius X as a pia unio (Latin, for “holy union”) on an ad experimentum (“provisional”) basis for 6 years.

The Society of St. Pius X was formally founded, adhering to all canonical norms, & receiving the episcopal blessing & encouragement of the local ordinary. An ordinary is an officer of a church or civic authority who, by reason of office, has ordinary power to execute laws.

Some Swiss laymen offered the International Seminary of St. Pius X at Econe to the newly formed group, & in 1971, the 1st 24 candidates entered, followed by a further 32 in October 1972.

Lefebvre attempted to bypass the normal period of experience & consultation with the Holy See & contacted 3 different Holy See departments to secure early recognition for his society. He successfully obtained a letter of encouragement from Cardinal John Wright, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

But there was no approval from the Holy See congregation responsible for raising an association to the level desired by Lefebvre. Cardinal Wright was still recommending prospective seminarians to apply to Econe as late as 1973.

The establishment of the society was unwelcome to some churchmen, most notably the French bishops, whose theological outlook differed from Lefebvre’s & who had important connections with the Holy See, Cardinal Secretary of State, Jean-Marie Villot.

According to 1 defender of Lefebvre, at the meeting of the French Episcopal conference at Lourdes in 1972, the seminary at Econe was nicknamed ‘le seminaire sauvage,’ the “wildcat seminary.” By November 1974, the French episcopate indicated that they wouldn’t incardinate any of Lefebvre’s priests in their dioceses, the opposite of the desire to incardinate the society’s priests shown by some Swiss bishops.

They also publicly criticized Catholics who remained attached to the Tridentine Mass. By this time, the society had opened additional seminaries in Armada, Michigan (1973) & Rome (1974).

The 1st sign of curial intervention was a Vatican meeting on March 26, 1974. By June 1974, a commission of cardinals had been appointed to inquire into the society, & dedicated on a canonical visitation of the seminary by 2 Belgian priests was held on November 11-13, 1974.

Franz Schmidberger, later the society’s superior general during 1983-94, said that their report was favorable. However, the seminaries & staff at Econe were shocked by some liberal theological opinions expressed by the 2 priests.

In what was later described as a mood of “doubtlessly excessive indignation,” Lefebvre wrote a declaration of liberal trends, “clearly evident” in the council & in the subsequent reforms. This document was leaked & published in January 1975, in the French Traditionalist Catholic journal Itineraires.

Lefebvre was in serious difficulties. On January 24, 1975, Bishop Pierre Mamie, Charriere’s successor as Bishop of Fribourg, petitioned the Sacred Congregation for Religion in Rome to suppress the society’s status as a pia unio, even before the end of its 6-year experimental period.

The congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Arturo Tabera, replied on April 25, 1975, stating that Mamie had the authority to withdraw his predecessor’s approval & that the congregation agreed the society should be suppressed immediately.

In the same period, Lefebvre was summoned to the Vatican, meeting with the cardinals on February 13 & March 3. Lefebvre was surprised by their hostility. At 1 point, a French cardinal, Gabriel-Marie Garrone, reportedly called him a “fool.”

On May 6, 1975, with the cardinals’ approval, Bishop Mamie formally withdrew the society’s pia unio status. On the same day, a commission of cardinals that had interviewed Lefebvre in January issued a separate letter, approved by Pope Paul VI, detailing the conditions of the suppression.

Lefebvre instructed his lawyer to lodge appeals, & he ultimately petitioned the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, which turned down the appeal. From this point onward, the society was no longer recognized as a canonical organization.

Lefebvre & the society’s leadership always maintained that he was treated unfairly by the Roman Curia, that the suppression of the society was unjust, & that the procedures violated the 1917 Code of Canon Law.

In the consistory of May 24, 1976, Pope Paul VI rebuked Archbishop Lefebvre by name! Reportedly, the 1st time in 200 years that a Pope had publicly reprimanded a Catholic bishop, & appealed to him & his followers to change their minds.

The following day, in opposition to the Holy See, Lefebvre confirmed hundreds of confirmandi during an unauthorized ceremony at the Huntington Townhouse, a large banquet hall in Huntington, Long Island, New York.

Lefebvre announced that he intended to confer the ordination of some of his students at the end of June 1976. On June 12, 1976, the Nuncio in Switzerland was given instructions to inform Lefebvre that, by special order of Pope Paul VI, he was forbidden to do so.

On June 25, 1976, Archbishop Giovanni Benelli, the deputy Secretary of State, wrote directly to Lefebvre, confirming, by the Pope’s special mandate, the prohibition to administer the holy orders, & warning him of the canonical penalties for Lefebvre himself & those he would ordain. Lefebvre ignored the warnings & went ahead with the ordination of June 29, 1976.

The next day, July 1, 1976, the Press Office of the Holy See declared that, following canon 2373 of the then Code of Canon Law, Lefebvre was automatically suspended for 1 year from conferring ordination & that those whom he had ordained were automatically suspended from exercising the order received. It was also announced that the Holy See was examining Lefebvre’s disobedience that the Holy See was examining Lefebvre’s disobedience to the Pope’s orders.

On July 11, 1976, Lefebvre signed a certificate of receipt of a letter from Cardinal Sebastiano Baggio, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, intimating that further penalties would be imposed per canon 2331-1 of the then Code of Canon Law concerning obstinate disobedience to legitimate precepts or prohibitions of the Roman pontiff.

He was expected, within 10 days of receipt of the letter, to take steps “to repair the scandal caused.” In a letter of July 17 to Pope Paul VI, Lefebvre declared that he judged his actions of June 29 to be legitimate.

The Pope considered this response inadequate, & on his instructions, the Congregation for Bishops, on July 22, 1976, suspended Lefebvre for an indefinite time from all exercise of holy orders: he couldn’t confer any of the Sacraments, save Reconciliation or Baptism in an emergency (suspension a divinis).

On February 2, 2026, the Superior General announced confirmation of their plans to proceed with consecrating bishops for the society on July 2, 2026. The decision has been taken in harmony with the unanimous advice of his Council & has been publicly announced on the occasion of the feast of the Purification of the ever Blessed Virgin, during a ceremony he presided over at the International Seminary of Saint-Cure d’Ars in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, France.

On February 12, 2026, Davide Pagliarani met with Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, the head of the Dicaster for the Doctrine of the Faith. The discastery stated its openness to begin talks with the society. While warning against the planned consecrations.

On May 13, 2026, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, explicitly warned the society that the planned episcopal consecrations in July would be considered an act of formal schism & result in the excommunication of the new bishops & all involved in the consecrations.

On May 26, 2026, the society announced the names of the 4 bishops to be: Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, & Marc Hanappier.

On June 16, 2026, Pope Leo XIV urged the society not to proceed with the announced consecrations. Then, on June 30, 2026, Pope Leo XIV addressed an open letter to the Superior General of the Fraternity in which he asked to renounce consecrations.

On July 1, 2026, roughly 15,000 traditionalist Catholics gathered at the society’s international seminary in Econe, Switzerland, to witness the consecration of 4 new bishops (Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, & Marc Hanappier) by Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, with Bernard Fellay acting as co-consecrator.

The very next day, the society was then excommunicated the next day. The Vatican explicitly ruled that the sacraments of penance (confession) & holy matrimony (marriage) performed by the society’s priests are now completely invalid worldwide.

The fallout from this decree is expected to be messy. Local bishops around the world are currently establishing procedures to hand the society’s chapels & parishes within their dioceses. For the global traditionalist movement, this creates a choice. Millions of traditional Catholics prefer the Latin Mass. But remains strictly loyal to Rome.

With this society being officially branded as schismatic, those regular churchgoers must decide whether to completely sever ties with the society’s chapels or accept being viewed by Rome as completely outside the Catholic Church.

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"He could send Opus Dei there to do his work or be his eyes and ears. He gave them this special status that has never been granted before or since in the history of the Catholic church."

Wolfson: "What is that status?"

Gore: "He made them into this thing called the 'personal prelature', which basically meant that they were answerable to no one but the pope."

#OpusDei #PopeLeo #Vatican #MAGA #SupremeCourt #LeonardLeo #PopeJohnPaulII
/3

Wolfson asks Gore if the Vatican has the power to rein in Opus Dei. Gore responds:

"The Vatican helped to create this monster, not least Pope John Paul II because he saw them as political allies in his conservative crusade. He saw them almost like his personal green berets that he could send off to any part of the world where there was some kind of progressive priest or bishop who was causing trouble."

#OpusDei #PopeLeo #Vatican #MAGA #SupremeCourt #LeonardLeo #PopeJohnPaulII
/2

This Act should've never passed, now it's finally time for us to repeal it: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/14p03
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HIIfCb808Kw?feature=share

#onpoli #PopeJohnPaulII #Epstein

Catherine of Siena

Her birth name is: Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa. She lived from March 25, 1347 to April 29, 2380, making her 33 years old when she passed away. She was an Italian mystics & pious laywoman who took part in papal & Italian politics through sizable letter-writing & advocacy. She was canonized in 1461. She’s revered as a saint & a Doctor of the Church because of her considerable theological authorship.

She was born & raised in Siena. At an early age, she wanted to devote herself to God. Her parents were against this. Her parents wanted her to marry. She ends up cutting her hair. She resisted any attempts to conform.

Her dad relents, eventually. He gives her a room dedicated to prayer & contemplation. She developed the spiritual practice of building an inner cell in her mind. This is a place of constant prayer from which she could never flee. This would become a core tenet of her mystical teaching.

She joined the Mantellates at 18. This was/is a group of pious laywomen informally devoted to Dominican spiritually. Later on, these types of urban pious groups would be formalized as the Third Order of the Dominicans. This wasn’t until after Catherine’s passing. She lived in near solitude initially.

Shortly after joining the Mantellate, Catherine started fasting for longer periods. But she found it challenging. While tending to a woman with cancerous breast sores, she was disgusted. Intending to overcome her disgust, she gathered the sore pus into a ladle & drank it all. (Yep, yep. You read that right.)

That night, she was visited by Jesus who invited her to drink the blood gushing out of his pierced side. It was with this visitation that her stomach “no longer had need of food and no longer could digest.”

Around the age of 21, following an experience she described as a “Mystical Marriage” with Christ. She received a divine command to leave her solitary life & dedicate her life to public ministry. She started serving the sick & poor in the hospital, particularly during the Black Death. Her wedding ring wasn’t the traditional gold band that nuns wear after they become nuns. Catherine’s wedding ring was the Holy Prepuce, or Jesus’ foreskin. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Her influence with Pope Gregory XI played a role in his 1376 decision to leave Avignon for Rome. The Pope sent Catherine to negotiate peace with the Florentine Republic. After Gregory XI (March 1378) & the end of peace (July 1378), she went home to Siena. The Great Schism of the West led Catherine to go to Rome with the Pope.

She sent many letters to princes & cardinals to encourage obedience to Pope Urban VI & defend what she calls the “vessel of the Church.” She passed away on April 29, 1380 after she was weary by fastidious fasting. Urban VI celebrated her funeral & burial in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. This is 1 of the major churches of the Order of Preachers in Rome.

The people of Siena wanted to have Catherine’s body after she passed away. A story is told of a miracle where they were partially successful. They knew they couldn’t smuggle her whole body out of Rome. They decided to take only her head, which they put in a bag. When they were stopped by the Roman guards, they prayed to Catherine to help them. They were confident she (Catherine) would want her body (or at least part of it) in Siena. When they opened the bag to show the guards, it appeared to not have her (Catherine’s) head but it was full of roses.

Devotion around Catherine of Siena developed rapidly after her passing. Pope Pius II canonized her in 1461. She was declared a patron saint of Rome in 1866 by Pope Pius IX. She was only the 2nd woman to be made a Doctor of the Church, on October 4, 1970 by Pope Paul VI. This was only days after Teresa of Avila. In 1939, Pope Pius XII named her joint patron saint of Italy, along with St. Francis of Assisi. In 1999, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a patron saint of Europe. Along with Teresa Benedicta of the Cross & Bridget of Sweden. She’s also the patroness of the historically Catholic American sorority, Theta Phi Alpha.

There are 3 main churches in honor of Catherine of Siena:

• Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. This is where her body is kept. This church gets its name from that the 1st Christian Church structure on the site was directly over (or Italian sopra) the ruins or foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian deity Isis. This had been mistakenly thought to be the temple of Minerva. Possibly due to interpretatio romana, meaning that the ancient Greeks had a tendency to identify foreign gods with their own gods.
• Basilica of San Domenico, in Siena. This is where her incorrupt head is. This incorrupt head doesn’t look like the incorruptible bodies of other saints.
• Shrine of St. Catherine, in Siena. This is a complex of religious buildings built around Catherine’s birthplace.

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#1376 #1461 #1999 #25March1347 #29April1380 #4October1970 #Avignon #BasilicaOfSanDomenico #BasilicaOfSantaMariaSopraMinerva #BlackDeath #Canonized #CaterinaDiJacopoDiBenincasa #CatherineOfSiena #CoPatronSaintOfItaly #DoctorOfTheChurch #DominicanSpirituality #fasting #FlorentineRepublic #GreatSchismOfTheWest #HolyPrepuce #Italy #JesusForeskin #July1378 #Mantellates #March1378 #MysticalMarriage #Mystics #OrderOfPreachers #PatronSaintOfEurope #PopeGregoryXI #PopeJohnPaulII #PopePaulVI #PopePiusIX #PopePiusXII #PopeUrbanVI #Rome #Roses #ShrineOfStCatherine #Siena #StBridgetOfSweden #StFrancisOfAssisi #TeresaBenedictaOfTheCross #TeresaOfAvila #ThetaPhiAlpha #ThirdOrderOfTheDominicans

"A modern State cannot make atheism or religion one of its political ordinances.

~ Pope John Paul II

#popejohnpaulii #johnpaulii #jpii #politics #government #religion #religions #atheism #fanaticism #secularism #freedomofreligion #spirituality #quote #quotes #rememberthis #faith #thisispolitical #sofiaflorina #ソフィアフロリナ

81-Year-Old Nun, Close Friend of Pope Francis, Pays Respects Beside Pontiff's Coffin

#nun #PopeFrancis #PopeJohnPaulII #protest #Vaticanrules
https://blazetrends.com/81-year-old-nun-close-friend-of-pope-francis-pays-respects-beside-pontiffs-coffin/?fsp_sid=19985

With 263,814 views on Tuesday, 22 April 2025, the popular Wiki of the Day is Pope John Paul II.

Listen to the new episode here: https://wikioftheday.com/wotdep.php?pod=popular&epnum=2912

See our archives or subscribe here: https://wikioftheday.com

#PopeJohnPaulII #wiki #wikipedia #podcast

#Vatican #guide turns a gift to #Pope John Paul II that has always divided opinion in the “city within a city”.#Ciao!

#PopeJohnPaulII
#PopeJohnPaul2

Contrary to the #ColdWarrior #PopeJohnPaulII,who made the #HolySee a U.S. ally in the #ColdWar and in the #WarOnTerror,#PopeFrancis has an uncompromising #pacifist stance on the #Ukraine and #Gaza wars

(Italian)

https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/in-edicola/articoli/2024/03/10/il-papa-a-kiev-serve-coraggio-bandiera-bianca-per-salvarsi/7474412/

The best white #HybridTeaRose, highly fragrant, prolific re-bloomer, photograph from June 5, 2023. It was introduced in 2008 by Jackson & Perkins, hybrid by Keith Zary, & named #PopeJohnPaulII.
#FlowerAdventCalendar
#GardenAdventCalendar
#BloomScrolling

Jezebel: Sex. Celebrity. Politics. With Teeth: When Pee-Wee Was Canceled https://jezebel.com/when-pee-wee-was-canceled-1850693275 #Jezebel #the1991mtvvideomusicawards #buffythevampireslayer #entertainmentculture #thepeeweehermanshow #mtvvideomusicawards #saturdaynightlive #peeweesbigholiday #cassandrapeterson #peeweesplayhouse #popejohnpaulii #acurrentaffair #kellybushnovak #thegroundlings #monicalewinsky #charlesmanson #batmanreturns #humaninterest #peeweeherman #billclinton #paulreubens #wee

"In over 25 years as the most powerful religious figure on the planet, John Paul II did almost nothing to safeguard kids worldwide. He repeatedly and effectively brought his unparalleled global influence to bear on other crucial issues but ignored or promoted stunningly complicit church officials. So Pope Benedict may indeed have ‘done more’ on abuse than his predecessor. But did he do BETTER than his predecessor? Not likely."

#PopeBenedict #PopeJohnPaulII #SexualAbuse

(4 of 4)

"If the deceased or retiring CEO or bishop or school principal mishandled 95% of all abuse reports and if his or her successor mishandled only 90% of all abuse reports, then should the successor be praised?

That can’t be the standard of judgment when it comes to the well-being of children – that the current boss ‘did more’ than the old boss did regarding kids’ safety, so everything’s fine?"

#PopeBenedict #PopeJohnPaulII #SexualAbuse

(3 of 4)

Recalling Benedict’s grace but also the storms of his papacy https://apnews.com/article/pope-benedict-xvi-religion-vatican-city-lebanon-syria-74bb1027a0bac8764819ff4975d2ccfd #PopeBenedictXVI #PopeJohnPaulII #VaticanCity #APTopNews #WorldNews #Religion #Lebanon #Europe #Syria #Rome