Library of St Michael

Excerpts of @RealAdVaticanum obituary for Archbishop Héctor Aguer: "Two days later, at his first Mass, according to Fr Christian Viña, the Archbishop’s secretary, Fr Gustavo Podestá delivered words that would acquire particular significance in retrospect. “Héctor, you will live your priesthood in a world clouded by fear. You will live in a bleeding and torn Church. And how much we need you, man of God!”" "According to Fr Viña, Archbishop Aguer believed that speaking too openly about developments within the Church while still governing La Plata could have resulted in his premature removal.... On 16 December 2024, during a visit from Fr Viña, the priest told him that he had begun preparing his obituary under the proposed title Monsignor Aguer: Bishop with the scent of Christ, who knew how to face the wolves. Archbishop Aguer smiled and responded: “It’s true the wolves lashed out at me a few times, but they didn’t stop me…” The interview, conducted during the preparations for Leo XIV’s visit, would become his last. It was a final opportunity to hear directly from an archbishop who had spent much of his retirement defending positions he believed were being abandoned or weakened within the Church. Read in full at @RealAdVaticanum advaticanum.com/article/arch…

EXCLUSIVE: As the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage takes place this week, Bishop Fernando Rifan sits down with me and tells me his successor and any bishop consecrated for Campos to govern according to the old rite, depends entirely on Pope Leo. In an exclusive interview with me for @RealAdVaticanum , the Apostolic Administrator of the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney looks back on the 2002 reconciliation of Campos and the decree Animarum bonum. Twenty-four years on, he calls the return to Rome “truly providential.” On what Rome should do next with the traditional Mass, His Excellency says the best thing is to pray, and that the polarization in the liturgy must be overcome if there is to be “a genuine liturgical peace.” On the Society of Saint Pius X, he is blunt. Of the irregular path taken in 1981 and 1988, he says, “To err is human; to correct oneself and to forgive is Christian; to persevere in error is diabolical.” Read the full interview at @RealAdVaticanum advaticanum.com/article/excl…

@RealAdVaticanum sat down with social media superstar Braden Peters, aka @Clavicular0 , for a wide-ranging interview on Catholicism, looksmaxxing, morality, Protestantism and the importance of order in society. On why he was drawn to Catholicism: “I really liked the order that followed, having some sort of authority that I believed to be virtuous, keeping people in line, because I do not think that the average person is very smart.” On the Catholic Church’s aesthetics — and Protestant churches: “If you look at those Gothic cathedrals in countries like France and Germany, that is definitely a huge draw, because aesthetics is something that is hugely influential...Then you look at Protestant churches. They are not really as beautiful...Sometimes they are in the basement of a building, or they just do not take a lot of pride in the aesthetics.” Clavicular also challenges the reasoning of St Alphonsus Liguori on the relationship between temptation, beauty and virtue: “You are not a moral person if you are not moral by choice — if it is just moral by the consequences of your genetics or your laziness...If you do not have the opportunity to turn down these opportunities from women, I do not really consider that a just person.” Read the full interview on @RealAdVaticanum or watch it on YouTube here: youtu.be/q-aYWZs73uU?si=mwA7…

EXCLUSIVE: Dom Alcuin Reid, founding prior of Monastère Saint-Benoît, tells @RealAdVaticanum that Traditionis Custodes left his community facing “the threat of sacramental euthanasia.” Dom Alcuin Reid adds that Traditionis Custodes “now simply needs to be set aside” and left to history “as one of the last desperate and embarrassing salvos of a particular generation of narrow-minded Vatican II extremists.” Read full interview at @RealAdVaticanum advaticanum.com/article/quan…

NEWS: Andrea Grillo, “the mind behind” Traditionis custodes, has stated that “the invention of the Vetus Ordo appears to be a theological and bureaucratic ploy” and that the TLM was abborgated as “the old rite no longer exists since the approval of the New Ordo.” Read my full article on @RealAdVaticanum

Latest: Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz has criticised the Vatican’s June 17th Ruling for maintaining the ban on lay preaching during Mass, arguing that its interpretation of the rule is “not entirely coherent”. The Bishop went further and stated “In practice, however, it has become customary for lay people to preach,” Bishop Kohlgraf said. “If I learn of this, I will not intervene disciplinarily or impose canonical sanctions.” Full report coming on @RealAdVaticanum

NEW: Bishop Athanasius Schneider has called for uncompromising fidelity to the Catholic faith in Ireland. “We have to be 100% Catholic, not 50% Catholic or 80%, but 100%. This is the divine faith,” His Grace said. Recalling the Arian crisis and the underground Church in Kazakhstan, Schneider quoted St Athanasius: “It is not right that we serve the time. We must serve the Lord.” More detail to come @RealAdVaticanum