(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s episode of Faith & Reason, John Henry-Westen, Father Charles Murr and Frank Wright discuss Pope Francis’s 21 new cardinals, including one who is radically pro-LGBT, Fr. James Martin’s event promoting the expression of homosexual “love” at the ongoing Synod on Synodality, St. Padre Pio’s vision of the Third Secret of Fatima, Elon Musk’s speech at former President Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, former first lady Melania Trump’s support for abortion and more.
The panel discussed Francis’s surprise announcement that he will create 21 new cardinals in December, including the promotion of radical pro-LGBT Fr. Timothy Radcliffe. Westen noted that Radcliffe was canceled from speaking at a Catholic conference by Pope Benedict XVI. “But now, who’s canceled? The faithful are canceled, Cardinal [Raymond] Burke is canceled, Bishop Joseph Strickland is canceled. These are who are canceled today in this new false church being set up by Pope Francis himself, it seems, or whoever’s working on this agenda; it’s unbelievable,” the host said.
“Yes, all of those men, good men, all were canceled by this new, inclusive, very clear and transparent and extremely honest new Church,” Murr quipped. Highlighting that under previous popes, cardinals were selected based on merit and had a variety of different viewpoints, contrasting this from what we’ve seen during Francis’s reign.
“They [The cardinals named under previous popes] came from all different spectrums, from all different ways of thought. There were conservatives, liberals, progressives, moderates. They were all from different places and [had] different ways of thinking. That was the idea. I keep seeing all of the cardinals, whether it be the last consistory or this one. They seem very like-minded; it’s all the same. They’re all on the same stamp. This is not good for anything; this is stacking the deck. We all know what’s happening here. We’re preparing for a conclave soon… somebody wants a particular outcome, and he’s going to make sure that that happens,” Murr said.
Turning to the Synod, Murr explained that there have been Synods throughout Church history, but never a Synod on Synodality. “This is unheard of; the whole thing that’s happening is ridiculous. Not only is the College of Cardinals basically all the same of one mind, but so is the Synod on Synodality. Are you telling me that a 19-year-old American is in the Vatican right now, representing me as an American Catholic? Is that what you’re telling me?” Murr said.
Wright emphasized that this is clearly not the same Church as before 1962, pointing to what two famous authors wrote about the Church and secular culture. “Matthew Arnold said in his book Cultural Anarchy that culture is really something that we need to retain from the Church, but without divinity so that instead, mass culture could become a kind of secular scripture. That was his phrase. What that meant was, is that you can replace the meaning of Christianity with popular beliefs from popular culture and popular practices like fashion shows, for example, or pop concerts.”
“And so you can see this constitutive change taking place in the Church. Now, when T.S. Eliot responded to this, he didn’t even bother with the offense to God, saying that you can’t subtract God from religion and expect the results to be the same. He just said, ‘If you substitute one thing for another, you cannot then maintain that those things are the same.’ He just insisted on the point of basic difference, and I think that gets lost a lot in theological debate and in technical objections and so on. Just look at it; is this what there was there before? No, it isn’t. Now, why is it different? Why were those changes made? What have they produced? This is not the same as what was there before.”
Later in the episode, the panel looked at a clip of Elon Musk speaking at Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, PA, the same location where the former president was shot in an assassination attempt in July. Musk told the crowd that November’s election was the “most important election of our lifetime” and that they had to vote because if Trump didn’t win, there would never be a fair U.S. election again.
Murr agreed with Musk’s assessment and stressed how important it is for listeners to get out and vote for the lesser of two evils than candidate’s faults. “I would say that there’s never been a more important election in the United States of America because this is the future. If it’s not done correctly, we’ve lost our future. I really believe that. Therefore, not to vote on principle; I think you’re following the wrong principle. Neither candidate is perfect; we understand that. But you have to look at who is offering the possibility of a real future, a good future, a better future for everyone,” Murr said.
Wright dove into what Musk means when he says the 2024 election could be America’s last should Harris and the Democrats win. “[T]he United States government, as is, is flying in illegal immigrants with United States taxpayers’ money, normalizing them to vote in elections in which they overwhelmingly vote Democrat. He says that they are bringing them into battleground states, and in the future, there will be no more swing states. And this means that you will get a permanent government because most of these people will be normalized within the next five years,” the journalist said.
For more discussion on Francis’s new heterodox cardinal selection, Musk’s endorsement of Trump, and much more, tune in to this week’s episode of Faith & Reason.
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