Holy Smoke

Why the Catholic Church is facing chaos this Christmas

Listen & Subscribe

Pope Francis renewed his campaign against the Latin Mass this month, permitting his liturgy chief Archbishop Arthur Roche to issue all manner of threats to clergy celebrating the ancient liturgy. This “clarification” has been greeted with horror by bishops around the world, including many who aren’t keen on the old rite.

This episode of Holy Smoke puts this outrage in the context of what one distinguished priest calls the “Wild West” of the Bergoglio pontificate. Never have I known such widespread despair among all but the most hardline liberal clergy. That this should be happening at Christmas underlines the grim unfairness of it all — and the desperate need for regime change in the Church. And if that means the Vatican as we know it ceases to exist, perhaps that isn’t such a bad thing.

About the show

Holy Smoke
The most important and controversial topics in world religion, thoroughly dissected by a range of high profile guests. Presented by Damian Thompson.

More from The District

  • Pope Francis renewed his campaign against the Latin Mass this month, permitting his liturgy chief Archbishop Arthur Roche to issue all manner of threats to clergy celebrating the ancient liturgy. This “clarification” has been greeted with horror by bishops around the world, including many who aren’t keen on the old rite. This episode of Holy … Read more
  • Say what you like about Pope Francis, but he’s incapable of giving a boring in-flight interview. Last Wednesday, coming back from Hungary and Slovakia, he was asked about the problem of pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving Holy Communion. He immediately launched into a ferocious denunciation of abortion, describing it as homicide, saying there was no middle … Read more
  • America’s Catholic bishops are furiously divided among themselves this week, after a liberal faction led by the Biden loyalists Cardinals Cupich of Chicago and Wilton Gregory of Washington tried to stop them discussing the question of whether the radically pro-choice president of the United States should be allowed to receive Holy Communion. The US conference … Read more
  • Today’s Holy Smoke podcast is about the increasingly brutal bullying and silencing of people — especially Christians — who hold the ‘wrong’ opinions on controversial topics. A culture of censorship is becoming ever more deeply embedded in public institutions not just in Britain but also throughout Europe. In London last month we witnessed the nasty … Read more
  • This week’s Holy Smoke examines the fragmentation of American Catholicism following the election of pro-choice Catholic Joe Biden. It focuses on the strangest current of thought among the many conservative Catholics calling for an urgent change of approach in order to confront what promises to be an authoritarian liberal administration. It’s called integralism, a label … Read more
More Stories