Signs of Hope, Signs of Contradiction

By Charlie Johnston

When St. John Paul II died my father, then a Protestant Pentecostal Pastor, cried. When I asked him why it affected him so deeply, he told me that, from his perspective, John Paul had climbed up onto the cross with Jesus and stayed there with Him until Jesus called him home…that it was a steadfast devotion few actually live. Admittedly, Dad was a very unusual Pentecostal Pastor. My conversion to Catholicism was almost as richly rewarding for him as it was for me. It prodded him to delve deeply into Scripture and the history of Christianity, Initially, it was to make sure I had not succumbed to some sort of terrible error. But it became a joyful celebration of our mutual faith – and acknowledgment of the reality and depth of that faith.

When I was in my teens and my 20’s, Dad and I loved to talk (mainly argue) about politics. We still did until he became enfeebled by some strokes…but we also loved to speak of the faith and the discoveries that are always there for those who contemplate deeply. Dad recognized and deeply admired true Christian devotion – and perhaps the only modern figure he admired as much as Pope John Paul was the Rev. Billy Graham.

I’m feeling a lot of gratitude right now. The last year was something of a gauntlet. I find myself having to watch my weight a bit. In the months after I discovered the cancer I lost 35 pounds. I did a lot of experimentation with the protocol I developed to fight it (always talking with trusted doctors and my most trusted scientific resource, our own Steve Baker). It was a pitched battle…still is, I guess. But where I started with the shock of the invasion of Poland, now I am in the  aftermath of the storming of Normandy. When my weight started ticking up just a little, I was pleased – and now that I am having to monitor it to make sure I don’t get anywhere near where I was pre-cancer, I am ecstatic. I fought a great battle and persisted when it was terribly hard to do so. Somewhere, I think, Dad is proud.

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Big Bill Thompson was the last Republican Mayor of Chicago – and probably its most corrupt. His last term ended in 1931. He built a political machine – and most Chicagoans were accustomed to some governmental corruption – and amused by Thompson’s showy antics. But just as pig farmers become accustomed to – and tolerate – the smell; when you start rubbing their noses in the source of that smell, backlash will soon follow. Thompson crawled into bed with Al Capone’s mob to secure his last term – and it was on his watch that the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre happened. Chicagoans were no longer amused.

The hubris of corrupt fanatics almost always leads to nemesis – the backlash correction. It is the nature of self-absorbed fanatics to get progressively more brazen the more they get away with – until, finally, their corrupt schemes can no longer be defended even by their partisans. This is why when I see systemic corruption, I often privately wish for it to get worse. Because when it gets bad enough, the whole corrupt edifice will come tumbling down, with the fraudsters wondering what happened.

Everyone has watched the Los Angeles Mayor’s race be stolen in real time. Yeah, I know, the idiot media and other lunatic partisans are saying this is just how the system works. Not for much longer. Even the most mild-mannered normies, wearing the rosiest colored glasses, see clearly what has happened here. I think it is likely we end up getting the SAVE Act now.  Anyone with even the smidgeon of honor of a degenerate, alcoholic, gambler now is embarrassed to say there is no evidence of vote fraud (which illuminates the refusal of luminaries such as the New York Times and Kirsten Welker to give up the gag). 

It will not just set up real revolt in sections of California. Nemesis usually takes down most of the known associates of Hubris at its terminal stage. Very bad news for the corporate media – and why they work so hard to prop up what is indefensible. We are on a glide path to a cultural awakening like you have never seen in your lifetime.

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There have been a lot of hot takes on the first Encyclical from Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas. It’s too long, it’s too scattered, it’s too unfocused, etc, etc.

It is long, it is scattered, and it is often unfocused. But I think the critics are missing the forest for the trees. To me, it is a VERY hopeful sign of what manner of Pope Leo intends to be.

It continues the conversation on what Catholic social justice actually is. That discussion was begun by Pope Leo XIII with Rerum Novarum in 1891. Then discussion was advanced in the most brilliant, erudite Encyclical of my lifetime, Pope St. John Paul’s Centesimus Annus. St. John Paul’s brilliant opus is, quite frankly, the sturdy foundation of my entire approach to economics and governmental philosophy. Heaven knows that if the world had taken it to heart when it was issued we would have much smaller, more responsive governments and almost universal prosperity and brotherhood. It is true that Magnifica Humanitas does not add much to the conversation and certainly does not end it, but it confirms the profound relevance and importance of both of those earlier Encyclicals.

Pope Leo XIV’s effort begins the conversation on the proper uses and limitations of AI. It does so without being either Luddite or enthused fanboy. It does so from the proper standpoint that man is the only being in creation made in God’s own image. There is both dignity and responsibility inherent in that.

Most importantly, it spoke in the terms of the “hermeneutic of continuity” that was so boldly called for by the late Benedict XVI, instead of a hermeneutic of rupture. After a decade that seemed devoted to rupture and disharmony, this is welcome, indeed.

The hot takes on the encyclical bother me, though. There is nothing wrong with criticism. Heaven knows, I do it enough, myself. But there seems to have risen a faction that decides what it thinks first and gathers evidence later, if at all. I saw that LifeSite News complained that Pope Leo had heretically elevated man above God in this Encyclical. He did no such thing. But it has seemed for some time that some otherwise orthodox authors and sites have become vested in showing that Pope Leo is some sort of dangerous madman. Having so decided, they do not read any communication for what it is, but restlessly look for a platform from which they can launch their next attack.

I think Pope Leo has all the political insight of an overeager middle schooler who is smart enough to understand a narrative, but not yet informed enough to see all the flaws and errors in that narrative. I hope he does continue to speak much more softly on purely political matters. But the reality is that, on the faith, he has been steady and orthodox. In fact, I think he is something of a physician, taking care to heal the wounds of the last decade and bring all things back into harmony in Christ.

It is not just the Scribes and the Pharisees that Jesus commanded to, “Judge righteous judgment.” It is us, as well.

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On a darker note, you probably heard that Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C. dismissed Msgr. Stephen Rosetti as the Archdiocese’ exorcist Priest. It was supposedly because of Rosetti’s comments on a YouTube video asserting that many UFO and alien sightings are actually demons and involve demonic activity. Cdl. McElroy said that Msgr. Rosetti’s remarks “gravely undermine the Church’s very precise teaching on the devil, demons, and exorcism.”

What arrant (and errant) nonsense! The Church’s Magisterial teaching on these things is NOT “very precise.” It mainly states general principles that leave a lot of room for interpretation – and is open to completely novel manifestations of demonic activity. Whether Msgr. Rosetti is objectively right or wrong, his statement was mundane enough to earn a nihil obstat. (Contrary to popular belief, a nihil obstat does not mean something is objectively correct; just that it is plausible and does not contradict formal Church teaching.)

I know and respect more than a few exorcist Priests. As some of you have picked up on, I am not always happy with some of the more public exorcists. I give them a lot of slack because they bear the scars of frequent battles with demonic entities, but all too often they get a bit full of themselves and fall prey to the temptation to denounce things that are merely not to their taste as demonic, among other temptations. It is a dangerous business and there is no sense complaining of the scars that those who engage in such noble battle bear. (It is MUCH different, more dire and dangerous, than the general population has any clue about). That said, though I don’t know him personally, Msgr. Rosetti is the steadiest, most disciplined, solid public exorcist Priest in this country. I frankly admire him – and have never seen him caught up in the common temptations that often mar public exorcists.

Cdl. McElroy, not so much. When he was merely Archbishop of San Diego, I often commiserated with friends who were heavily involved or in the hierarchy in San Diego. McElroy focuses almost entirely on left-wing politics to the detriment of Catholic doctrine. I have long-considered him the worst Bishop in America – and this in an American group that includes Chicago’s Cdl. Blaise Cupich. McElroy’s enthusiasm for LGBT nonsense and gender ideology, combined with his disdain for the pro-life movement actually IS in contradiction to the Church’s actual precise teaching on these subjects. (Perhaps we can hope that McElroy will dismiss himself from our capitol Archdiocese because of it. Probably not.)

In 2022 Pope Francis elevated then San Diego Abp. McElroy to the College of Cardinals. This was widely seen as an insult to Los Angeles Abp. Jose Gomez. The Archbishop of Los Angeles usually becomes a Cardinal; the Archbishop of nearby San Diego usually does not. Ah, but Gomez is spiritually orthodox, so this was a nice way for Pope Francis to express his disdain for Gomez.

Shortly after Donald Trump’s election, Pope Francis appointed McElroy to take over as Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, D.C. That was an “in-your-face” snub of Trump.

Msgr. Rosetti, who remains a Priest of the Diocese of Syracuse, is a giant in the modern Church. Cdl. McElroy is mainly known for being a Nastygram from Pope Francis. He is inordinately proud of being a stain on the honor of the Hierarchy in America.

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A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of participating in a Mass in Indian Land, South Carolina that was part of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage celebrating our nation’s 250^th Anniversary. It began in St. Augustine, Florida where the first Mass in America was celebrated. It continues up the East Coast, all the way to Maine, and then will double back to be in Philadelphia in time for the Fourth of July.

It was a glorious and memorable Mass. If you live on the eastern seaboard, I strongly encourage you to look at the link and get to any such Mass that will be celebrated near you. It is a great sign of the quiet renewal going on in both the Church and in America. It was a happy accident that I was able to attend this Mass. Actually, I think it was no accident at all. It was the Lord saying, “See? I make all things new.”

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Sadly, we are barreling down on July 1, when the Society of Pope Pius X (SSPX) asserts it will consecrate four new Bishops without leave of the Church. It saddens me because Pope Leo has been reaching out to disparate elements of the Church, trying to slowly and steadily pull them into full communion, while lending a serious and sympathetic ear to their grievances. Ah well, when the Protestant separation came, Martin Luther initially came as a reformer of genuinely bad practices that had arisen in the Church. By the time the separation was well underway, Pope Clement VII was on the papal throne. He was just the sort of reform Pope Luther had been demanding. But somewhere along the way, Luther’s mission went from, “Thy will be done,” to , “My will be done.”

If SSPX goes through with it, it will probably lead to the excommunication of many in the SSPX. Understand that excommunication is a tool of discipline in the Church. It is not an infallible doctrinal condemnation. When St. Joan of Arc was judicially murdered by Church authorities, she was first excommunicated by those same authorities. I have long held that when this tool is exercised with malice or for mere political reasons, the authority which excommunicates the subject in the Church Militant actually excommunicates themselves in the Church Triumphant, from which there is no appeal except open repentance.

That is not the case here. Pope Leo has tried valiantly to reach out and work things out. The SSPX is not having it, determined that everything must be their way. They treat it as a mere battle of wills over who is right in interpretation and who is not. Even if SSPX turned out to be right on the substance, insisting on this fight betrays a lack of faith that Christ can or will correct abuses without their disobedience to His command, in unum sunt. If it carries through with these consecrations, as much as I care for my many friends in SSPX, I will come to regard it as just another – and more exotic – variety of a Protestant denomination. Some of the most faithful people I know are Protestants, but the very foundation of Protestantism is that there are no rules you will abide by except those you determine for yourself.

The logic of rejecting the structure and authority of the Church Christ historically founded in order to serve Christ better completely escapes me. To criticize its human leaders, to plead for justice, even stridently, I get. But to pretend to greater purity by refusing to submit to the lawful authority of the Institution Christ said you must submit to is defiance of Christ, not just of men.

If this goes forward, as it surely will barring some last-minute miracle, it could very well lead to a real, open schism. Ironically, the vast schism that came to be known as the Protestant Reformation was presided over by Popes Leo X and Leo XI.

We are all in God’s winnowing fan now. Some will be corrected of their enthusiasm for remaking the Church in the image of the world – and leftist ideology. Others will be corrected for their hubris in refusing to submit to any authority but their own. It is a hard thing, but hard times make strong men – and the hard divine rebukes to come will make strong Christians.

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Some have objected to my insistence that the groundwork is being laid for the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart and the beginning of the Era of Peace. They object even more strenuously to my insistence that Donald Trump, of all people, is the primary architect of this historically unprecedented construction project. Some object because they have black-pilled themselves (some people are only happy when it rains); others objectively see the messy detritus of this construction project as the rubble of destruction. Either way, my insistence remains.

A decade ago I was this close to being a Never Trumper. Now I think he is the sort of world historical figure that only comes along every 300-400 years. If anyone sees it differently than I do (and most people do), even so, God is not allowing this for our destruction, but for the reclamation of all who would serve the Lord rather than their own egos. It is a hard thing, but as it is written, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12).

If Trump is clearing the temporal ground, there will still be major construction left to be finished after he is done – mainly on our hearts.

Some think because I say that the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart is on the horizon, all will soon be sweetness and light. It will not. Yes, the groundwork is being laid visibly around us for all who can see it. But our hearts have not humbled themselves before the Lord yet. Whether it is the anti-Scriptural push of some of the hierarchy or the sort of “super apostles” a group like SSPX thinks it has become, our whole culture has become addicted to the rallying cry, “My will be done!”

How does God bring our world – and our hearts – fully back into communion with Him? The fiery trials that now surround us will come to an end soon enough and the temporal world will largely be set right. Once that is accomplished, and we are busy patting ourselves on the back for how cleverly and decisively we fixed things, then comes a sudden great trial that will be undeniably from God, except for those who are invincibly ignorant. It may be that our technology fails; it may be the depredations of the public health system finally catch up to us all and mass disruption and die-offs begin. Whatever the mechanism, it can only be set right by our petition to – and open submission – to God. When our hearts have been fully scourged, then we will see the City of God rise anew. And when we do, we will find that the temporal ground has already been cleared.

If communication goes out for any length of time, meet outside your local Church at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Tell friends at Church now in case you can’t then. CORAC teams will be out looking for people to gather in and work with.

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