IS THE NAMING OF AN EWTN EXECUTIVE, A STRONG, ORTHODOX LAYWOMAN, LIKE MOTHER ANGELICA, ALTHOUGH SHE WAS A RELIGIOIUS, A BETTER GIFT AND AFFIRMATION OF EWTN FROM THE POPE AND THE VATICAN THAN THE MAGNIFICENT MONSTRANCE GIVEN TO EWTN FROM THE VATICAN AFTER MOTHER’S BROUHAHA WITH CARDINAL MAHONY OF LOS ANGELES IN 1997? WELL, YESSSSS!

Mother Angelica and EWTN were and are no shrinking violets. Mother spoke her mind and orthodox Catholics ate it up, especially when she stood up to power. She was prophetic and often recieved a prophet’s reward, like Jesus did, from those in power. 

Those promoting women’s leadership in the Church and the heterodox promoting of female ordination (now they also promote trans ordinations as a development of their heterodox doctrines) hated Mother Angelica, absolutely hated her and wanted her taken down. They were emboldened when Pope Francis also spoke ill of EWTN for their audacity in criticizing His Holiness—he called their criticism of him and the Church the work of the devil. It’s almost like Monsignor Rosetti saying UFOs are demons—but I digress!

The video above I saw at Rorate Caeli brings back so many memories of my time in the seminary and later in parish life in the 80’s and 90’s and also as vocation director when we were using some of the pagan things that Mother rails against in this video from 1997. In fact, I think I saw this live on Mother Angelica Live in 1997–as a disclaimer I also appeared on her program “Mother Angelica Live” around that same time touting the restoration of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Augusta, Georgia! No brag, just fact!

This is a time capsule to say the least. Most of what she is complaining about have been eradicated by Popes JPII and Benedict XVI. But the aging cabals, still alive, were trying to bring it back and under Pope Francis seem to be succeeding with Pope Francis’ brand of synodality—something most rank and file clergy and laity absolutely despise and wish would simply go away—we need a Mother Angelica today to call it out. 

With the appointment of a woman executive from EWTN to a Prefect for Communications at the Vatican, a woman shaped and formed by Mother Angelica and her EWTN network, the heterodox, aging cabals must be seeing the writing on the wall—Pope Leo is no Pope Francis, he’s more of a Pope Benedict XVII rather than a Pope Francis II!

Here’s AI description of the monstrance sent to her by the Vatican in the midst of all of what those in high places in the USA were trying to do to Mother to shut her up and shut her down” 

Mother Angelica's well-publicized controversy with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1997 stemmed from her on-air criticisms of his pastoral letter on liturgical changes, during which she urged Catholics to disobey his directives. [1]

While it is a popular legend that Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) directly sent a monstrance to EWTN in the aftermath of that specific clash, the famous monstrance displayed at EWTN's Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament has a different origin. [1, 2, 3]

The beautiful monstrance in question was originally a gift to Pope John Paul II from the people of Nowa Huta, a suburb of Kraków, Poland. During a papal visit to Poland on June 15, 1999, the Pope fell and was injured the day prior. As a result, Cardinal Angelo Sodano accepted the monstrance on his behalf. The Pope later entrusted and gifted this monstrance to Mother Angelica and the EWTN sisters in appreciation for their ongoing global evangelization and the perpetual Eucharistic adoration at their Hanceville shrine. [1, 2]

Mother Angelica and EWTN have long maintained a strong alignment with Cardinal Ratzinger and his theological perspectives. In the years following the conflict, Cardinal Ratzinger (and later as Pope) frequently spoke on Eucharistic mystery, and eventually awarded Mother Angelica the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal—the highest papal honor for religious—in October 2009. [1, 2, 3]