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The Reign of Mary, Issue No. 181, Summer 2021

° Letter from the Editor
by Rev. Fr. Benedict Hughes, CMRI

The Neo Malthusians: Pushing the Overpopulation Myth
by Rev. Fr. Benedict Hughes, CMRI
...The appeal for reduction in the world’s population is not something new to the designers of the guidestones. In fact, that thinking has been around for more than 200 years, beginning with an Englishman named Thomas Robert Malthus. Born in 1766, Malthus was a Protestant cleric and scholar, who wrote a book in 1798 called An Essay on the Principle of Population. In this work he argued that, while an increase in a nation’s food production would improve the well-being of the citizens, this in turn would also lead to an increased population which would ultimately cause a food shortage.....

Is the Pope an Absolute Monarch?
The Authority of the Roman Pontiff in the Catholic Church

Reprinted with permission from NovusOrdoWatch.org
We live in a post-Traditionis Custodes world. It is not surprising, therefore, that it has become more fashionable than ever now for recognize-and-resist traditionalists to try to find all sorts of ways to limit or downplay papal authority, lest they should actually have to submit loyally to the decree their extremely valid “Pope” Francis released this past July 16, which gradually phases out the Traditional Latin Mass.

Not that Francis is actually Pope — it is glaringly obvious that the divine prerogatives Christ has bestowed upon St. Peter and his successors are not verified in the “pontificate” of Jorge Bergoglio. But the recognize-and-resist trads believe him to be, and still they stubbornly refuse to countenance Sedevacantism as the correct diagnosis of the malady that has afflicted the Catholic Church since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958....

Vatican Ends Toleration of the True Mass
Reflections on the Motu Proprio decree “Traditionis Custodes”

by Rev. Fr. Benedict Hughes, CMRI
For anyone who cared to see, the handwriting was on the wall. The modernists who have inhabited the Vatican since the death of His Holiness Pope Pius XII do not care for the Latin Tridentine Mass. It is odious to them. It was not long after the conclusion of Vatican Council II that Paul VI foisted a “New Order” of the Mass upon the faithful, to the great consternation of millions of devout Catholics who saw it for what it was—a Protestant service commemorating the “Lord’s Supper.”...

Holy Water — a Most Powerful Sacramental
By Rev. Herman Fischer, SVD
This article was written by a German priest and translated into English. It was published in Irish Messenger after receiving the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Dublin.
The subject of this article is Holy Water and its virtue. I hope the reader is not afraid of holy water; but if he is, then this little work has fallen into the right hands. At the same time it is intended for everybody. In more exact terms the subject matter is as follows: how the divine Power and the blessings of the Church are imparted by holy water; its preparation and its uses, and the purposes it serves....

American Heroes of the Faith
Early American Bishops: Part II
by Rev. Fr. Benedict Hughes, CMRI
Another of the prominent early American bishops was Ambrose Maréchal, a French-born Sulpician. He was the second successor to Archbishop John Carroll at Baltimore, and governed that archdiocese from 1817-1828. Archbishop Carroll, who had governed the first diocese in the United States from 1784 until his death in 1815, was succeeded by Archbishop Leonard Neale, who had been his coadjutor for twenty years. Bishop Neale, however, was elderly and in poor health when he assumed responsibility for the metropolitan diocese, which covered a vast territory....

Respice Stellam, Voca Mariam
The Most Holy Name of Mary
by Sr. Mary Agatha, CMRI
Among the many means used by devout souls to honor Our Blessed Mother throughout the day is the frequent invocation of her most holy name. The name of Mary is truly a holy name, “filled with divine graces and blessings,” as St. Methodius says. No other name given to men, after the name of Jesus Himself, says St. Alphonsus, is “so rich in every good thing, that on earth and in heaven, there is no other from which devout souls receive so much grace, hope, and sweetness.”...

In Season — Out of Season
Jesus Christ, Our King: A Review of the Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the Kingship of Christ
by Rev. Fr. Brendan Hughes, CMRI
From the very beginning of Christianity the term Christ the King was used in one way or another. The feast of Christ the King was instituted by Pope Pius XI at the end of the jubilee year in 1925. Still, some Catholics might not understand what this term Christ the King really means. In establishing the feast Pope Pius XI explained that the term Christ the King is more than simply a figure of speech referring to Our Lord’s pre-eminent excellence. The term Christ the King means more than the moral authority which is due to Our Lord on account of His exalted doctrine, unequalled holiness, His heroic death, and the establishment of His Church....

Servus Mariae
The Necessity of Frequent Reception of the Sacrament of Penance
by Rev. Fr. Dominic Radecki, CMRI
St. Augustine tells us, “To die well we must live well.” St. Francis de Sales explains this simply by saying, “As our life is, so will our death… The general rule for a good death is to lead a good life” (The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales for Lent, p. 142). Death often happens suddenly and unexpectedly: heart attacks, car accidents, shootings, etc. As St. Francis de Sales says, it “has cotton feet on which it comes so quietly that we scarcely perceive it, and it takes us by surprise. That is why we must be on our guard, so that when it comes it will find us ready.” People can be quick to make excuses as to why they go to confession so rarely, or even not at all....

Spiritual Aids for Confraternity Members for the months of October, November and December

World Watch:
A Conclave “in the Air”?
Biden’s Budget Uses Term “Birthing People”
FSSP Priests Evicted from French Diocese after 23 Years
China Introduces New Three-Child Plan
“Pope” Francis Greets Homosexual Activist
World’s Most Premature Baby Celebrates First Birthday
“Pope” Francis Calls Eucharist the “Bread of Sinners”
Congress Votes on Chimera Experimentation
New Interfaith Complex to Open in 2022