Report: Venezuela stabilizing after Maduro’s capture; GOP lawmaker requests Energy and Commerce Committee to launch inquiry into NFL and NBC for indecent halftime broadcast; Megyn Kelly rips Piers Morgan on NFL’s halftime show; Champion of tradition and outspoken critic of heresy chimes in on FSSPX consecrations; Mother Miriam: ‘Pro-Choice’ Catholics are not Catholics; Right to Life of Michigan sues state over law forcing hiring of pro-abortion employees; Daughter of Jimmy Lai says her father is committed to treating incarceration as a kind of ‘evangelization’; Catholics celebrate the Feast of St. Scholastica; and more —
[Brother of Venezuela’s acting president] to Newsmax: Venezuela Stabilizing After Maduro’s Capture
The brother of Venezuela’s acting president told Newsmax that Delcy Rodriguez is stabilizing the country following the capture of dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were returned to the United States to face federal drug charges.
Jorge Rodriguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, told “Rob Schmitt Tonight” during an exclusive interview in Caracas on Saturday that the turmoil from Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces has not led to lingering effects on the nation as a whole, despite the traumatic nature of the operation.
“So the country has been incredibly mature about it, even though it was a highly traumatic event which took place,” Jorge Rodriguez said through an interpreter.
Read more at NEWSMAX
[Former Archbishop of Caracas] calls for support for families of political prisoners: “Let’s not be spectators”
During the Candlemas Day mass held on Monday in Caracas, Cardinal Baltazar Porras, Archbishop Emeritus, called for solidarity with the families of political prisoners and asked Venezuelans not to remain indifferent to the suffering of those who expect the release of their relatives.
In his homily, Porras reflected on human fragility in the face of abuses of power and loss of freedoms, pointing out that these realities “make poverty, corruption grow and take away our freedom, taking away from our side loved ones who have had to go to other places to spend work.”
The cardinal stressed that the task of Venezuelans at this time is great and urgent: “We must not only take care of our own lives or those around us, but the lives of everyone,” he said.
Porras asked to actively accompany the families who remain at the gates of the prisons waiting for news from their political prisoners. He recalled that many of them survive thanks to the solidarity of those who carry food, water, clothing or basic items.
“And how do they stay there? For prayer, for closeness, for generosity,” said the cardinal, who compared these gestures with the humble offering of Joseph and Mary in the temple: “With those small gestures we also offer what we want: to be able to live in peace. But a peace that is built among all. We are not spectators.”
Read more at We Monitor; read more at El País (English translations available at both sources)
Bad Bunny’s Venezuelan connection
See @JennieSTaer
The Super Bowl Halftime Show Was Literally About Erasing ‘America’ – Essay by Brianna Lyman
Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny ended his abysmal halftime performance by rattling off dozens of Latin American countries before holding up a football that read: “Together we are America.”
The move was praised by celebrities and leftists alike.
“That made me feel more proudly American than anything Kid Rock has ever done,” Kacey Musgraves said on X.
Robert Griffin III said that even though most people couldn’t understand a word of what Bad Bunny said, “it was iconic because you could feel the love of people and culture. Puerto Rican culture is American culture. Together we are America.” …
Even former Republican Gov. John Kasich said “Love the halftime show which celebrates the wonderful Latino culture. Great pick and great show. Bad Bunny hit a grand slam home run!”
But Bad Bunny’s subversive message was obvious to anyone capable of critical thinking. …
Read more at The Federalist
Kid Rock’s addition to ”Til You Can’t”
Watch @NickSortor
GOP lawmaker requests Energy and Commerce Committee launch a formal congressional inquiry into the NFL and NBC for facilitation of indecent halftime broadcast
See @RepOgles; see also @gatewaypundit – WARNING: Sexually explicit content
Megyn Kelly rips Piers Morgan on NFL’s Halftime Show
Watch @MaryMargOlohan
Presidential Campaign Correspondent says GOP could use Zombie Filibuster to pass SAVE America Act
See @BrasfieldAshley
Mother Miriam: ‘Pro-Choice’ Catholics are not Catholics
Mother Miriam responds to an email from a listener who wishes to hear her speak on the crisis of abortion. The listener feels that they are wasting their time fighting when it seems that many Catholics are in support of the procedure. Mother firmly explains why those in support of abortion, including Melania Trump, are Catholic in name alone and why the fight to end abortion must march forward.
Watch at Mother Miriam Highlights
Abigail Spanberger Puts Abortions Up to Birth Measure on Virginia Ballot
On Friday February 6th, Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the bill that send the deceptive and misleadingly labeled “Right to Reproductive Freedom Act” to the fall ballot. While that is the only official role Spanberger has to play formally in this process, she has been outspoken in her support for the passage of this extreme and reckless amendment to the Virginia Constitution.
Now it is indeed, as she has said, up to the voters of Virginia to cast the deciding votes.
Unfortunately, the proposed language that was passed in both Chambers of the pro-abortion controlled General Assembly does not present an accurate understanding of exactly what the Act will do to the status of abortion law in Virginia. In fact, it is incredibly deceptive and downright misleading.
Read more at LifeNews
Right to Life of Michigan sues state over law forcing hiring of pro-abortion employees
Right to Life of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit Feb. 6 against Michigan officials, alleging that a state amendment violates its First Amendment rights by forcing it to recruit and hire pro-abortion individuals.
Michigan amended its employment discrimination law in 2023 to include abortion under the umbrella of discrimination on the basis of sex. Under the law, it is illegal to refuse to hire, recruit, or otherwise discriminate against an individual because of their support for abortion or their decision to have one, according to the suit.
Right to Life of Michigan says the law restricts it from explaining its pro-life mission and requirements to job applicants and forces the organization to cover abortions in its employee insurance plans. Failure to comply with the law carries large fines and loss of state-issued licenses, among other penalties. …
“Governor Whitmer’s abortion-only response to unplanned pregnancy is a disservice to women, families, and the people of Michigan,” she said. “The governor and her allies in the state legislature have proven time and again that they are hell-bent on curbing the good work of our state’s non-profit organizations that offer women life-affirming options for unplanned pregnancy care.”
Read more at Zeale
China’s demographic crisis threatens the Party’s grand plans – commentary by Phil Lawler
Americans are understandably worried about competition—economic, military, and ideological—from China. Can our society resist China’s drive for world dominance? The long-term outlook is worrisome.
But China has a long-term problem of its own. The country’s population is shrinking, and the rate of shrinkage is accelerating. Once not too long ago, any high-school student, asked to name the world’s most populous nation, would confidently name China. Then for a few years the answer was in doubt. Now there is no longer a doubt: the correct answer is India.
A decade or two ago, Chinese leaders would have welcomed that news. The Communist Party was determined to curb population growth, convinced that the pressing needs of young children would interfere with the Party’s all-important plans for economic growth. So the Party imposed a brutal “one child only” policy, using political pressure and fines and even forced abortion and sterilization to curb the size of families.
Read more at Catholic Culture
Jimmy Lai is a ‘hostage’, says daughter, as HK court issues 20-year sentence
After Catholic newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison, his daughter Claire Lai told The Pillar that her father is committed to treating his incarceration as a kind of “evangelization.”
Claire Lai added her family’s hope that international pressure on the Beijing Chinese government might eventually secure her father’s release.
Lai, who has been in prison since 2020, much of it spent in solitary confinement, was convicted in December of “seditious activity” under the terms of the National Security Law imposed on the Special Administrative Region by the mainland government in 2019.
The media magnate, who saw his company shuttered by state authorities in 2021, and with it Hong Kong’s last pro-democracy publication, Apple Daily, has repeatedly stressed the importance of his Catholic faith — both as inspiration for his championing for civil rights and as a sustaining force during his imprisonment.
Read more at The Pillar
Freedom of religion advocate Sam Brownback weighs in on Jimmy Lai’s sentencing
Watch @EWTNNewsNightly
Sheen beatification confirmed; date and place remain TBD
Peoria Bishop Louis Tylka announced Monday that the Vatican has approved the beatification of American Archbishop Fulton Sheen, setting the stage for a beatification Mass later this year.
While Tylka did not announce when the beatification Mass will take place, sources close to the process have told The Pillar that a September date is likely, and the Mass is likely to take place outside Peoria, the largely rural diocese where Sheen was ordained a priest, and where his canonization cause was initiated. …
“Archbishop Fulton Sheen was one of the greatest voices of evangelization in the Church and the world in the 20th century. I have long admired his lifelong commitment to serve the Church as a priest, rooted in his deep devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist. As he journeyed through the different stages of his life, his ability to share the Gospel and truly relate to people drew countless souls into an encounter with Jesus—one that transformed not only his life, but more importantly, the lives of those he touched,” [Tylka said in a statement Monday] …
Read more at The Pillar; read Bp. Louis Tylka’s statement here
Teenager testifies to Venerable Sheen saving his life
See @OSVNews
Venerable Fulton J. Sheen’s words live on
See @CforCatholics
Priest kidnapped and three killed in terrorist attack [in Nigeria]
A Catholic priest alongside 10 of his parishioners has been kidnapped in northern Nigeria. During the attack, three parishioners were also killed. The attack took place at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in the Kafanchan Diocese at 3:20am Nigeria time.
The diocese announced with “profound sadness” that Rev. Fr Nathaniel Asuwaye was “kidnapped alongside ten other people at Karku, Kauru LGA of Kaduna State, Nigeria”. The statement continued that the abduction took place at his residence and that “the situation was described by the villagers as an act of invasion by a group of terrorists”.
The statement, signed by the Diocesan Chancellor, the Very Rev. Fr Jacob Shanet, further urged “all priests, Christian faithful, and men and women of goodwill to pray for Fr Nathaniel, the other ten people, and the repose of the souls of those who were killed during the attack”, and added that the “entire Diocese of Kafanchan entrusts them to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of all priests and help of Christians, for their speedy and safe release from the hands of these evildoers”.
Read more at The Catholic Herald
The new FSSPX schism is not justified: Mons. Marian Eleganti
The universal jurisdictional primacy of the Pope (ex sese) over the whole Church is an infallible and dogmatized truth since the First Vatican Council. Therefore, in this article, we cannot claim that we have legally misunderstood our obedience to the Church when we classify the announced consecration of bishops by the Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX) without the express consent of the Pope as a schismatic act, and when we recognize it for the second time with pain and condemn it with the utmost firmness. By “we” I mean all the faithful who share my assessment presented here. Based on the press release of the Fraternity of St. Pius X, I assume that the bishops who will be consecrated on July 1, 2026 will not have been appointed by Pope Leo XIV.
The main argument of the so-called “St. Pius X Brotherhood” concerning a historically unique ecclesiastical emergency and its emphasis on the priority of the salvation of souls – in particular those belonging to the St. Pius X Fraternity – cannot in any way legitimize such a serious step. Since my youth, I have always expressed myself against a “Church” next to the Church or a “Church in the Church” – the first always understood as the faithful and true one, the second (universal) as the unfaithful one, deflected by the right path. There is only one Church: the universal Church, one, holy, apostolic and Catholic, which Jesus Christ founded on Peter, the rock. It is visibly realized in unity with the Pope: this unity should not be understood ideally (as a general recognition of the papacy or the reigning Pope in prayer), but must be realized in fact and canonically by refraining from evident acts of canonical disobedience. …
Read more at Messainlatino.it (English translation available)
Today is the Feast Day of St. Scholastica
See @CatholicSat; read more about St. Scholastica at Catholic News World
