Is the Reinstatement of Westen a Cynical Ploy? One can only hope that this has been a wake-up call for John-Henry as it has been for the rest of us!

Anthony Stine

@pontificatormax

Breaking news. I expect this is temporary

3:25 PM · Jul 18, 2025

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11.6K

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Sorry, LifeSite--too little, too late!

After the recent roller coaster ride concerning the removal of John-Henry Westen as spokesman and CEO, we are now informed by LifeSite's powers-that-be--rather unceremoniously--that he is back.  Pending further review?  Is this bureaucratspeak for, "We see now that we screwed up royally by tipping our hand too far, so in order to stop the hemorrrhaging we are going to backtrack a bit, come up with some talking points featuring plausible deniability, and THEN re-trash John-Henry and all our readers who see things more or less the way that he does, without losing them as donors"?  Sounds like it from here.

Problem is, we've seen the man behind LifeSite's curtain, so there's not much point in closing it again.  We know now, among other things, that Deacon Fournier's charismatic background (other people, he contends, in a subjectivist and even narcissistic fashion, are obliged to recognize "speaking in tongues" as a manifestation of the Holy Spirit--and why?  Because it works for him! Case closed!) disqualifies him as a credible representative of a pro-life stance founded on objective moral standards.  We know now, as we have long suspected, that Steve Jalsevac rejects the Revelation-based underpinnings of Western civilization itself, seeking to base what he misidentifies as a "pro-life mission" on merely secular and utilitarian considerations instead.  We know also that LifeSite intentionally employs individuals--or one individual, at the very least--so intellectually dishonest as to dismiss all concerns about the newly-elected pontiff without examining them, even though those concerns extend to the celebration of the TLM, the appointment or retention of heterodox members of the Catholic hierarchy, and the handling of the abuse crisis itself.

"The Catholic Esquire" recently opined that people not professionally affiliated with LifeSite News, or who do not know the disputants personally, should not "bloviate" about the situation, given that those outside the organization cannot really comprehend what is going on.  Come again?  Anyone with an opinion but without a fedora doesn't get to express themselves?  Why should it be considered unreasonable to connect the dots based on publicly available information in this case as opposed to any other?  

The most crushing, but also the most compelling, of such conclusions regards Bishop Strickland himself.  In the leaked audio it becomes all too clear that his oft-repeated contention that the pope, as supreme legislator, can legitimately act in defiance of divine, natural, canon and human law is not a minor blip on the screen of his seemingly sound theological outlook, but is in fact a thoroughgoing metaphysical error leaving him open, for all his talk about the Deposit of the Faith, to John-Henry's criticism--that neoLifeSite's attitude towards Leo XIV is, at best, pie-in-the-sky.  Jesus Christ is the supreme legislator and the Holy Father, His vicar on earth.  The pope cannot substitute his private outlook for either fact or magisterial teaching, and neither can Bishop Strickland nor anyone else.

Is the reinstatement of Westen a cynical ploy?  One can only hope that that is what it turns out to be.  One can only hope that this has been a wake-up call for John-Henry as it has been for the rest of us, and that he ends up forging ahead with Sign of the Cross Media or something like it, letting all supposedly "pro-life" efforts that refuse to submit to the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life go by the wayside and fade into oblivion where they belong.

Note: This piece is by a Catholic Monitor contributor. 

Pray an Our Father now for reparation for the sins committed because of Francis’s Amoris Laetitia and for the restoration of the Church.

Stop for a moment of silence, ask Jesus Christ what He wants you to do now and next. In this silence remember God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Three Divine Persons yet One God, has an ordered universe where you can know truth and falsehood as well as never forget that He wants you to have eternal happiness with Him as his son or daughter by grace. Make this a practice. By doing this you are doing more good than reading anything here or anywhere else on the Internet.

Conclave Notes:

Has the Trad Media fallen into a COVID-like mass formation with Leo XVI? While it's humorous to see the former anti-Francis Trad pundits suddenly acting like teen age girls infatuated with Leo, it could lead to a Trojan Horse effect

It appears that a group of Bishops or Cardinals needs to give Leo XIV Dubia questions on if he still supports "Invalid and Sacrilegious" Confession

"Prevost’s reported support...allowing divorced & civilly 'remarried'...to receive Holy Communion": “Whoever…helps...promulgation of heresy…is suspected of heresy.” - The Catholic Monitor

 

--  Dr. Seifert, regarded as one of the greatest living Catholic philosophers, founding Rector of the International Academy of Philosopher & friend of John Paul II, to Cardinals: INVESTIGATE FRANCIS' HERESIES, VALIDITY BEFORE THE CONCLAVE.."If Francis is found guilty of heresy or apostasy, then: - His cardinal appointments would be invalid" [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/04/dr-seifert-philosopher-personal-friend.html] 

-- Are the Cardinals who will participate in the upcoming conclave authentically appointed & morally justified in voting, or will the shadow of Francis's possible illegitimacy cast itself over the next papacy?  [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/04/are-cardinals-who-will-participate-in.html]

-- Pray for the soul of Francis, but now it is time for all the Catholic Cardinals, Bishops & pundits who have been saying that nothing can be addressed until he dies to be held accountable to act [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2025/04/pray-for-soul-of-francis-but-now-it-is.html]

-- 5 Dubia Questions for 1P5's Steve Skojec & All faithful Catholics especially Francis is definitely Pope Cardinals, Bishops & pundits [https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/06/5-dubia-questions-for-steve-skojec.html]

Francis Notes:

– Doctor of the Church St. Francis de Sales totally confirmed beyond any doubt the possibility of a heretical pope and what must be done by the Church in such a situation:

“[T]he Pope… WHEN he is EXPLICITLY a heretic, he falls ipso facto from his dignity and out of the Church, and the Church MUST either deprive him, or, as some say, declare him deprived, of his Apostolic See.”
(The Catholic Controversy, by St. Francis de Sales, Pages 305-306)

Saint Robert Bellarmine, also, said “the Pope heretic is not deposed ipso facto, but must be declared deposed by the Church.”
[https://archive.org/stream/SilveiraImplicationsOfNewMissaeAndHereticPopes/Silveira%20Implications%20of%20New%20Missae%20and%20Heretic%20Popes_djvu.txt]

– “If Francis is a Heretic, What should Canonically happen to him?”: http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2020/12/if-francis-is-heretic-what-should.html

– “Could Francis be a Antipope even though the Majority of Cardinals claim he is Pope?”: http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2019/03/could-francis-be-antipope-even-though.html

– If Francis betrays Benedict XVI & the”Roman Rite Communities” like he betrayed the Chinese Catholics we must respond like St. Athanasius, the Saintly English Bishop Robert Grosseteste & “Eminent Canonists and Theologians” by “Resist[ing]” him: https://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/12/if-francis-betrays-benedict-xvi.html 

 –  LifeSiteNews, “Confusion explodes as Pope Francis throws magisterial weight behind communion for adulterers,” December 4, 2017:

The AAS guidelines explicitly allows “sexually active adulterous couples facing ‘complex circumstances’ to ‘access the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.'”

–  On February 2018, in Rorate Caeli, Catholic theologian Dr. John Lamont:

“The AAS statement… establishes that Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia has affirmed propositions that are heretical in the strict sense.”

– On December 2, 2017, Bishop Rene Gracida:

“Francis’ heterodoxy is now official. He has published his letter to the Argentina bishops in Acta Apostlica Series making those letters magisterial documents.”

Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church by the bishops by the grace of God.

Election Notes: 

– Intel Cryptanalyst-Mathematician on Biden Steal: “212Million Registered Voters & 66.2% Voting,140.344 M Voted…Trump got 74 M, that leaves only 66.344 M for Biden” [http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/intel-cryptanalyst-mathematician-on.html?m=1]

– Will US be Venezuela?: Ex-CIA Official told Epoch Times “Chávez started to Focus on [Smartmatic] Voting Machines to Ensure Victory as early as 2003”: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2020/12/will-us-be-venezuela-ex-cia-official.html

– Tucker Carlson’s Conservatism Inc. Biden Steal Betrayal is explained by “One of the Greatest Columns ever Written” according to Rush: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/tucker-carlsons-conservatism-inc-biden.html?m=1

– A Hour which will Live in Infamy: 10:01pm November 3, 2020:
http://www.thecatholicmonitor.com/2021/01/a-hour-which-will-live-in-infamy-1001pm.html?m=1

What is needed right now to save America from those who would destroy our God given rights is to pray at home or in church and if called to even go to outdoor prayer rallies in every town and city across the United States for God to pour out His grace on our country to save us from those who would use a Reichstag Fire-like incident to destroy our civil liberties. [Is the DC Capitol Incident Comparable to the Nazi Reichstag Fire Incident where the German People Lost their Civil Liberties?: http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/is-dc-capital-incident-comparable-to.html?m=1 and Epoch Times Show Crossroads on Capitol Incident: “Anitfa ‘Agent Provocateurs‘”:
http://catholicmonitor.blogspot.com/2021/01/epoch-times-show-crossroads-on-capital.html?m=1] 

Pray an Our Father now for the grace to know God’s Will and to do it.

Pray an Our Father now for America.

Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Church as well as the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.