Never let a papal death go to waste

By Peter Wolfgang ( bio - articles - email ) | May 06, 2025

Oh, the horror!

You thought the Biden Administration offended Catholics by sending a swat team to Mark Houck’s home? Or giving 23 mostly-elderly pro-lifers disproportionate prison sentences? Or having the FBI infiltrate and spy on Latin Mass attendees? Or slow-walking investigations of domestic terror attacks on Catholic churches and pregnancy centers? Or dragging the Little Sisters of the Poor through the courts? Or trying to get religious institutions to mutilate minors?

Pfft. That was nothing!

Donald Trump tweeted a meme of himself as Pope! And during the nine days of mourning! How could Trump not know about the nine days of mourning?

Thus our outrage! And it’s not the least bit performative by those who barely raised a peep about the things mentioned above. No sir, not the least bit political. Totally authentic!

Oh my goodness, I just looked at the meme again! My eyes! It burns! It burns!

Also in the Hartford Courant today is an op-ed, “Time for the Catholic Church to re-examine its patriarchy”, by a professor at Quinnipiac University. An elderly nun “breaking protocol” to weep at the casket of Pope Francis is the professor’s hook for making an apparent argument for women’s ordination. You can read the op-ed here.

Where do I even begin?

1) It was the first day of Pope Francis lying in state, in a space where the general public were not yet permitted, and only clergy were allowed in that space. Yes, our clergy are male, but spare me the “only men” stuff. I’m a man and I would not have been allowed in that space either.

2) The ability to approach the Pope’s casket is not “the heart of sacred tradition,” professor.

3) When you write that “As a mother, I am deeply troubled that my daughter now has fewer rights over her own body than I did at her age,” you give away the game. Your daughter should not have the “right” to kill your granddaughter.

4) Oh, how nice that “[a]s a college professor” you’ve “noticed that the young women who confidently raise their hands and speak out in class often come from all-girls high schools,” that they’ve “learned to find their voice in spaces where their voice is not drowned out or dismissed” and that it makes you wonder “What if the Church created such spaces.” Hello? You are right here in Connecticut. Ever hear of Mercy High School? Lauralton Hall? Sacred Heart Academy?

5) You say you are not “a critic from the outside” because—wait for it—you “attended Catholic schools.” Whoop-de-do. At the very least, you are a critic from outside the magisterial teaching of the Church. See #3 above.

6) Finally, Pope Francis would have been the first to shoot down your “spiritual leadership = ordination” equation for the clericalism that it is.

But hey, thanks for working up a little faux outrage exploiting the death of the Pope in order to grind your ideological axe. It’s a thing lately.

Peter Wolfgang is president of Family Institute of Connecticut Action, a Hartford-based advocacy organization whose mission is to encourage and strengthen the family as the foundation of society. His work has appeared in The Hartford Courant, the Waterbury Republican-American, Crisis Magazine, Columbia Magazine, the National Catholic Register, CatholicVote, Catholic World Report, the Stream and Ethika Politika. He lives in Waterbury, Conn., with his wife and their seven children. The views expressed on Catholic Culture are solely his own. See full bio.

Show 3 Comments? (Hidden)Hide Comments

• Posted by: philtech2465 - May. 07, 2025 1:55 PM ET USA

  Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have been offensive toward Catholics and the Catholic Church. We should not shrink back from calling out the current President just because many of us like him better than the previous President.

• Posted by: Dr TJ Eckelberg - May. 06, 2025 10:07 PM ET USA

  “Angela S. Mattie is an attorney and professor at Quinnipiac University, where she hold an appointment in both the schools of business and medicine and has served on Catholic health care boards, as well as having published about leadership and policy.” SERVED ON CATHOLIC HEALTH CARE BOARDS!!! Arrrrrggghhh!

• Posted by: ewaughok - May. 06, 2025 11:39 AM ET USA

  There were plenty of memes floating around with Trump as pope before he posted this himself. I the fact that he posted one of them himself was clearly a buffoonish joke, typical of his brand of frat-boy, National-Lampoon-style humor. The outrage was both genuine (for those deeply devoted the the idea of the essence of the Papacy which should not be joked about) and fake (like the Perfesser of the OpEd you mention). Please Lord, give us a holy man for Pope this time!