Catholic Unscripted Newsletter #14
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Now — here’s what mattered this week.
🗞️ This Week on Catholic Unscripted
1️⃣ The BBC, Trump, and the Shattering of Public Trust
📺 Article: The BBC, “Truth,” and the Rise of a Post-Reality West
🔗 Read here
The BBC, Truth, and the Rise of a Post-Truth Culture
Two separate flagship BBC programmes, Panorama and Newsnight, have now been shown to have manipulated clips of President Trump’s speeches in ways that materially altered their meaning and heightened the suggestion that he was encouraging violence. These were not small editorial oversights. They were serious distortions, aired on the Corporation’s most important factual platforms, and only acknowledged after outside scrutiny forced the issue. For an organisation that has been loudly advertising its impartiality, particularly through its “Trust Is Earned” campaign, the implications are grave. They raise questions about institutional culture, editorial judgement, journalistic recruitment, and ultimately the state of truth in our society.
This week the BBC edited a Trump clip to make it look like he was calling for violence — and Trump has threatened to sue. But the deeper story is not Trump.
It’s what happens to a society when its national institutions no longer even pretend to tell the truth.
We explore the cultural unravelling at the heart of the West’s crisis of trust — and what it means for Catholics trying to live honestly in a dishonest time.
2️⃣ Deep Dive with Dr. Sean Walsh: Müller, Barron, Rahner, and the Battle for Theology
🎧 Interview: Why Jesus Is the Only Answer
Why Jesus Is The Only Answer - Cardinal Müller in Conversation With Bishop Barron
Katherine and Mark are joined in conversation by Catholic Unscripted regular, Dr Sean Walsh whose doctorate in the Philosophy of Mind equips him to comment fruitfully on the recent conversation between Cardinal Müller and Bishop Barron, which can be found here:
This conversation goes straight to the heart of the Church’s intellectual crisis.
Dr. Sean Walsh helps us unpack the Müller–Barron exchange — a critique of Rahner’s transcendentalism, a defence of Balthasar’s realism, and a warning about the rise of new Gnosticism in modern culture.
Nietzsche, Ratzinger, the Incarnation, gender ideology, voluntarism, and the metaphysical foundations of Christian faith — it’s all here.
A genuinely rich philosophical episode.
3️⃣ Liturgical Clarity From Pope Leo XIV? A Week of Clues, Signals & Shifting Narratives
📰 Analysis: Beyond the Battle Lines: Leo XIV’s Emerging Liturgy Strategy
🔗 Read here:
Beyond the Battle Lines: Leo XIV’s New Liturgical Horizon
Pope Leo XIV held an audience this morning with participants in the 2025 Course for Diocesan Liturgical Pastoral Officers. His words offer an unexpectedly rich window into the liturgical priorities of this new pontificate.
Several seemingly unrelated events came together this week — and Mark pulled the threads into a clear picture.
What is Pope Leo really doing with the Traditional Latin Mass?
What is he signalling, and to whom?
And where might this all be heading?
A must-read for those trying to make sense of the rapidly changing liturgical landscape.
4️⃣ Michael Hichborn on the Misuse of Catholic Funds
🎥 Interview:
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Michael Hichborn of The Lepanto Institute joins us to discuss his latest investigation into how U.S. bishops are spending lay money — and some of the findings are disturbing.
A sober and necessary conversation about accountability, stewardship, and renewal.
5️⃣ The Jubilee Dinner: What the Pope’s Guest List Reveals
🗞️ Article: Does the Jubilee Story Reveal Pope Leo’s Strategy?
🔗 Read here:
Does the Jubilee Story Reveal Pope Leo XIV's Progressive Trajectory?
There are moments when the Catholic world seems determined to prove how quickly a narrative can harden into certainty. The Jubilee of the Poor, held in Rome on 16 November, has become one of those moments. Long before the pilgrims and the homeless and the volunteers had finished their coffee, headlines were already ricocheting around the internet, feeding the appetites of those who see Pope Leo XIV as either a liberal revolutionary or a closet reactionary, depending on the preferred echo chamber.
The fallout from the Pope’s Jubilee meal continues.
What message was intended?
What message was received?
And what does it tell us about the tensions in the current pontificate?
We examine the symbolic politics and the theological undercurrents.
6️⃣ Scotland & Sex-Selective Abortion — A Moral Line Crossed
✍️ Katherine Writes:
🔗 Read now
Are We Really Saying that Babies with Down Syndrome Can Be Killed, But Not Baby Girls?
I found myself talking about local hospitals with a group of homeschooling mums this morning. Yes, we’ve hit that age. One of my friends defended a particular hospital by reference to how they responded when she gave birth (6 years ago) to her daughter with Down Syndrome. “They were so lovely” she said “Welcoming and congratulating us, which was very different from the experiences a number of my friends had at [insert any of the woefully inadequate local hospitals] when they gave birth to a child with Down syndrome; they reported that the staff were saying how awful it was, how sad they must be, and even how sorry they were”.
Scotland is moving toward accepting abortion explicitly chosen on the basis of a baby’s sex.
Katherine’s reflection is searing — a cultural warning flare about relativism, the erosion of conscience, and the quiet return of a eugenic mindset.
7️⃣ Robert Cassidy: Homosexuality, Desire, and the Church’s Consistent Moral Teaching
📖 Feature Essay:
🔗 Read here
Homosexuality and the Desire for God: A Response to Falsehoods
Following the Italian bishops overwhelming approval of a document that expresses official support for homosexuality and transgender lifestyles, Robert F. Cassidy was inspired to write this excellent analysis for Catholic Unscripted:
One of the most thorough, charitable, and intellectually serious treatments of homosexuality and Catholic teaching published anywhere this year.
Clear, pastoral, uncompromising, and deeply needed.
8️⃣ A Classic Two-Way Discussion
🎥 Video:
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Mark and Katherine went “old school” this week — responding to stories that caught their eyes, offering commentary, laughter, and (occasionally) exasperation.
9️⃣ Catholic Education & the Future of the Faith – Conversation with Dr. Peter Kwasniewski
🎥 Interview:
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A rich discussion with one of the most articulate thinkers on tradition, liturgy, and the intellectual formation of young Catholics.
A hopeful and constructive conversation in a difficult time for Catholic schools.
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