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Dr. Taylor Marshall announces run for president & Bishop Strickland rebukes Pope Francis – LifeSite

(LifeSiteNews) – LifeSite’s John-Henry Westen is once again joined by Liz Yore and Father James Altman to discuss the fallout from the Durham Report, Taylor Marshall’s presidential campaign, and recent tweets by Bp. Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, about the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and Pope Francis. 

Early this week, John Durham released the report that bears his name detailing his investigation into the Russiagate scandal that plagued former-President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and his presidency. According to the report, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) worked on the behalf of Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign in an attempt to discredit Trump. 

Commenting on the report, Yore noted “Some people are calling [the FBI’s investigation] a soft coup, or silent coup d’état, to topple the Trump campaign. It was neither soft nor silent. The country was subjected to a constant drumbeat of pure, unmitigated lies that undermined our democracy, costing innocent people their jobs … And this was a flawed investigation ginned up by the Clinton campaign and promoted by the FBI.” 

The Durham report really told us much of what we knew already,” she continued. “But the sad thing is, is that Durham really was not able to mount any kind of legal consequences to any of these nefarious and malignant actors.” 

“The FBI … is a tool of the elites to now do an investigation into American citizens, because the [Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)] is not supposed to be able to do this. Part of the charter is that they can only spy, as it were, on foreign countries,” Altman remarked.  

“And the FBI, which is supposed to be just an investigative force that investigates true crime, has been used now as a Gestapo, as a KGB. That is what they have become. And it doesn’t matter that the guy on the bottom personally is opposed to doing it. He’s going to do what the guy above them tells them to do.” 

Late last week, traditional Catholic podcaster and philosopher Dr. Taylor Marshall announced on Twitter that he was running to become President. When asked by LifeSiteNews if he was serious about running, Marshall responded via text message “I am serious. I am running.” 

According to Yore, Marshall is running as a “forcing function,” or to bring attention to “real moral issues impacting the culture and the family to be raised for the first time ever, and to really be debated. And we’ve seen over the years, I think, that the culture as a whole, and certainly the culture in our Church, that there is a censoring, silencing, even a blackout of these important issues.”  

“And so by choosing to go into the political boxing ring, I think Taylor is bringing with him some issues that he’s spoken about, certainly in his books, on his podcast, and now is trying to bring these issues to the popular culture as a whole,” she continued. “I think the popular culture can only benefit from a discussion of these issues.” 

Altman agreed with Yore, specifying that Marshall’s run would bring attention to abortion. 

Over the weekend, Bp. Strickland of Tyler caused controversy on Twitter by stating that the SSPX was in a state of schism. Hours later, he corrected himself, tweeting that Bp. Athanasius Schneider pointed out that the SSPX is in communion with Rome, a statement echoed by Pope Francis. 

“While he may sometimes make mistakes, he’s quick and humble enough to admit them,” Yore commented on Strickland’s tweets. 

The fact of the matter is, is they are not in schism, or they couldn’t do what they could do, which they can do because Rome has said so,” Altman said. “So for … Bishop Strickland to issue that correction, I think he just misunderstood the facts of the matter. And so … in absolute humility, within hours makes a correction to point out that the SSPX is not in schism.” 

Strickland also tweeted that while he believes that Pope Francis is indeed the pope, he remarked that “it is time for me to say that I reject his program of undermining the Deposit of the Faith. Follow Jesus.” 

He acknowledged that Pope Francis is the pope, Because … as we know, there’s been a big discussion about that,” Yore said. “And interestingly that statement, probably it’ll be interesting to see what happens from the Vatican with respect to that.” 

Altman commented on Strickland’s tweet by pointing out that No pope, no bishop, no cardinal, no council can change the Deposit of Faith. It’s locked in stone. It is rigid. So if you do anything to undermine that, then it’s a direct attack on the Catholic Church, a direct attack on Jesus.” 

For this and more, tune in to this week’s episode of Faith & Reason. Happy Ascensiontide! 

Faith & Reason is available by video via LSNTV on YouTube, RumbleBanned, and right here on LifeSiteNews.

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