Avoiding Babylon

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!A single letter from Rome can change the whole temperature of the Catholic internet, and this one hits like a brick: Pope Leo pleads with the SSPX to “please turn back,” warns of a “schismatic act,” and points to the seamless garment of Christ. We slow the conversation down and read the letters themselves, because the hot takes are cheap and the stakes are not. If you care about the Society of St Pius X, the consecration of bishops, faculties, and what “unity” actually means in the middle of a Church crisis, you need the primary sources, not the caricatures.We also address the side drama that keeps poisoning the well: critics who misframe what we say, the temptation to turn every disagreement into a bad faith accusation, and the constant pressure to jump from “there’s a crisis” straight to sedevacantism. We explain why we won’t take the “no valid pope since 1958” route, why we think that conclusion creates a bigger ecclesiology problem, and why people owe their audience clarity if they’re going to flirt with sedevacantist arguments while denying the label.Then we get practical and painfully real about liturgy. We play a Bishop Williamson clip that cuts through slogans: the Novus Ordo Mass is not automatically invalid by its text, but it can still be spiritually dangerous in how it forms people, especially children, through irreverence and confusion. We talk about why so many cradle Catholics only found their faith by discovering the Traditional Latin Mass, and why this whole conflict should break your heart instead of feeding your ego. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s caught in the crossfire, and leave a review with your take: what do you think Rome and the SSPX should do next?Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The SSPX consecrations story isn’t just about bishops and Rome. It’s a stress test for the whole traditional Catholic world, and the reaction tells you more than the headline ever could. We talk through why people who never attend an SSPX chapel can seem the most obsessed, why sedevacantists and anti-SSPX critics both use the moment to drive wedges, and why calling everyone a traitor or a grifter is a lazy substitute for thinking.We also get concrete about the substance beneath the drama. We read through a blunt list of modern errors that traditional Catholics keep naming, from relativism and situational ethics to false ecumenism, synodality, and a liturgical focus that feels more human-centered than God-centered. Then we ask the uncomfortable question: how do you reconcile claims that “it’s all in Vatican II” with the day-to-day Vatican posture on interreligious dialogue and “fraternity”? If you care about the Latin Mass, the FSSP, diocesan TLMs, or the SSPX, these tensions shape your lived Catholic experience.The second half turns toward mindset and spiritual survival. We push back on the idea that it’s a Catholic duty to “cope” if that means pretending all is well, but we also warn against scandal addiction and doomscrolling. We close with a surprising historical lens: the real clash between Lefebvre and Paul VI, and why the Church can look like it’s in its passion without having failed. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s stuck in trad infighting, and leave a review so more Catholics can find the conversation.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!“Can we please be normal?” That’s the line we start from, because the Israel conversation rarely stays normal for long. We take a careful look at Michael Knowles’ comments and the broader conservative Catholic media instinct to treat the modern State of Israel as a purely political alliance, detached from theology. We don’t buy that split. When people invoke Scripture, prophecy, covenant language, or “God’s promises,” they are already doing theology, even if they call it foreign policy.We’re joined by Catholic State (Justin) and American Reform to sort out the terms that constantly get blurred: Israel as a people, Israel as a land, and Israel as a modern nation-state. From there we dig into Romans 9–11, what Saint Paul actually means by “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable,” and why Catholic fulfillment theology doesn’t fit comfortably with Christian Zionism or dispensationalism. We also discuss Vatican II language that’s often cited in online debates, plus earlier Catholic sources that shape how many traditional Catholics think about covenant, promise, and continuity.The conversation turns to a newer pro-Israel Catholic advocacy effort asking the Pope to clarify whether the founding and endurance of the State of Israel should be read as a sign of providence. We explain why that question isn’t neutral, why “right to exist” can smuggle in theology, and how Catholics can reject sensationalism while still refusing a forced, two-option script. If you want a more precise, historically grounded way to think about Catholic teaching on Israel, the Holy Land, and political theology, this one will challenge you.Subscribe for more long-form Catholic conversations, share this with a friend who argues about Israel online, and leave a review with your biggest unresolved question after listening.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!She was alone, spiraling, and ready to end her life. Then a single thought cut through everything: “What if the pain doesn’t end here?” That question didn’t just stop Nancy, it started a chain of events she still can’t explain away: five days of praying the Rosary, an unmistakable push to go see a priest, and the terrifying walk into a Catholic church where she felt like she didn’t belong.We talk with Nancy about the real backstory leading up to that moment: childhood trauma, secrecy, same-sex attraction, family upheaval, and years of addiction that moved from “normal” partying to isolation, overdoses, psychiatric holds, and repeated rehab cycles. She shares how the culture’s identity scripts can feel like relief at first, whether it is coming out or experimenting with gender transition, and why that “freedom” often collapses into deeper confusion when the underlying wounds stay untouched.Then we dig into the bigger questions her story raises for anyone trying to live and speak the faith clearly today: What is identity, and is it built from desires or received from God? Why does language like “gay Catholic” create a conflict of frameworks? How do we tell the truth about confession and Communion without turning it into a pride project? Along the way we get practical about healing, shame, conscience, and why the sacraments are not a side detail but the center of recovery and conversion.If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find it.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!You’ve probably heard the Saint Michael Prayer. The part most people miss is that its origin story is bound up with a Pope who believed the Church was facing more than bad politics, and he answered with something sharper than commentary: Immortali Dei, Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical on how a nation should be ordered, what authority is, and why the state cannot pretend God is irrelevant without slowly hollowing itself out.We walk through Leo’s core framework: two real powers established by God, the spiritual authority of the Church and the temporal authority of the state. That distinction is not a call for theocracy, but it is a direct challenge to the modern “religiously neutral” state. From natural law to public education to marriage, Leo argues that law and culture always point somewhere, and when they stop pointing toward truth, they don’t become neutral, they drift toward chaos. Along the way we dig into the thesis hypothesis approach, the idea that there’s an ideal political order, and there are also prudent concessions Catholics may accept when the ideal is impossible without greater harm.That sets up the tension a lot of Catholics still feel today: Immortali Dei’s “error has no rights” versus Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae and the modern language of religious liberty. We lay out why this debate keeps splitting the Catholic world, and we test it against real life examples, including a clip of JD Vance explaining how he weighs papal criticism against his duties in civil office. If you’ve ever felt like you didn’t have the words to explain what went wrong in the modern West, Leo XIII gives you a vocabulary worth recovering.Subscribe for the next installment as we move toward Rerum Novarum, and if this helped you, share it with a friend and leave a review so more people can find the series.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Something feels different lately: the same news cycle, the same platforms, but a heavier sense of pressure, anger, and exhaustion. We start with a last-minute scramble when Rob can’t make it, and Mike Pantile jumps in on short notice, then we get right into what’s behind the growing fatigue. From immigration anxiety to online outrage addiction, we talk about why so many people feel like the temperature is rising and nobody can agree on what’s real anymore.We dig into the Carmelo Anthony and Austin Metcalf case as a brutal example of how one event can produce two completely different moral stories depending on what your feed serves you. We react to viral clips, talk through the gap between courtroom reality and social media narratives, and ask what happens when algorithms reward the most divisive voices. The bigger issue isn’t just politics, it’s a crisis of trust, a crisis of community, and a culture trained to treat rage as a lifestyle.From there we zoom out to Belfast unrest and the temptation toward decentralized “solutions” when institutions won’t act. We wrestle with the Catholic and Christian perspective on borders, responsibility, and the weaponization of empathy, plus what it looks like to build real resilience without giving in to despair. We land on a practical question many families are asking: do we retreat from the city and rebuild local life, or is that giving up?If this conversation hits home, share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a review so more people can find it.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!For 146 years, pope after pope warns Catholics about a secret society and almost nobody listens. So Leo XIII does something different: he frames the whole problem as a war between two cities, the City of God and the City of Man, and then names the modern structure he thinks finally gives the “city of man” real organization. That document is Humanum Genus, and we dig into what Leo actually argues, why he goes theological instead of just issuing another ban, and how his critique of naturalism and religious indifferentism maps onto the modern secular state.We also slow down and do the unglamorous work: what is real history in Freemasonry’s development from medieval guilds to Enlightenment-era speculative lodges, and what is just romantic myth. We talk higher-degree esoteric influences, why the “all religions are equal” claim is not neutral, and why Leo ties these ideas to education, public life, and the replacement of Christian civilization with a functionally atheist public order.Joshua Charles joins us to connect Humanum Genus to Monsignor George Dillon’s The War of Antichrist with the Church and Christian Civilization, a book Leo XIII endorsed and helped circulate. We unpack Charles’s “sola natura” summary, the Catholic claim that grace perfects nature, and why a society trained to violate conscience becomes easier to steer. Then, because we’re us, the conversation spills into current events, media narratives, and a late-show pivot through the Carmelo Anthony verdict and JD Vance explaining his conversion to Catholicism.Subscribe for the rest of the encyclical series, share this with a friend who thinks “religion is private,” and leave a review if you want more deep dives like this. Where do you see the City of Man pressing hardest right now?Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!A few viral clips and one Vatican appointment raise a bigger question than most Catholic media wants to touch: when Church communications tries to sound modern, does it end up teaching something else entirely? We dig into the resurfaced audio around a former EWTN executive tapped for a Vatican communications role, including her comments on supersessionism, Catholic-Jewish relations, and the claim that “all Jews should become Christians… is wrong.” For us, that line isn’t a hot take, it’s a doctrinal fault line, because Catholic theology can’t treat salvation, evangelization, and conversion as optional without changing the faith into something unrecognizable.We also unpack the Phylos Project and the broader ecosystem of “dialogue” branding, Israel trips, and Catholic influencer pipelines that can nudge people toward a softer, more therapeutic version of Catholicism. The issue isn’t polite conversation or basic respect, it’s what gets quietly edited out: the uniqueness of Christ, the purpose of the Church, and the danger of confusing goodwill with agreement. We talk through why this messaging lands especially hard with the EWTN crowd, and why media-savvy appointments can calm headlines while pushing big changes underneath.Then the conversation pivots to Washington, DC, where Monsignor Stephen Rossetti is removed from his exorcist role after warning that some UFO or UAP encounters may be demonic deception. We read his response, play what he actually said, and sort speculation from doctrine while asking why the backlash got so loud that the story spilled beyond Catholic news into mainstream outlets.Subscribe, share this with a friend who follows Catholic current events, and leave a five-star review so more people can find the show.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Europe is declaring the Catholic faith “obsolete,” the Papal States are gone, and the Pope is effectively boxed into Rome. That’s the moment Leo XIII steps into, and instead of answering with another list of condemnations, he reaches back to a 13th-century friar and bets the future on Catholic intellectual formation. We walk through the history behind Aeterni Patris and why Leo thinks the real crisis of the modern world is a crisis of philosophy that spills out of universities into law, media, family life, and public morality.We break down the four big currents shaping that era and, honestly, still shaping ours: Kantian subjectivism, Hegelian historicism, positivism, and materialism. Each one chips away at the idea that truth is knowable and stable, and we talk about what happens when seminaries and Catholic education absorb those habits instead of resisting them. From Perugia’s Thomist experiment to Leo’s push for the Leonine edition and a worldwide revival of Thomism, you’ll hear why St. Thomas Aquinas becomes the Church’s chosen model for thinking clearly about God, the human person, liberty, authority, and the moral order.Then we make the jump to today: AI, advertising, “slop” content, and the uncomfortable question of what happens when powerful technology grows faster than moral reasoning. If you’ve been looking for a Catholic take on modern philosophy, Thomism, and AI ethics, this conversation is built for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves big ideas, and leave a review with the one modern assumption you think needs to be challenged first.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The modern world keeps telling you the problem is politics, policy, or personality. We argue it’s deeper: bad philosophy becomes bad theology, then bad culture, and eventually a society that can’t even explain what truth, freedom, or the human person are. That’s why we go back to 1879 and Pope Leo XIII’s Aeterni Patris, written when the Church is politically cornered, mocked by the academies, and squeezed by hostile states across Europe. We walk through the real intellectual enemies Leo sees rising behind the scenes: Kantian subjectivism that cuts reason off from reality, Hegelian historicism that turns doctrine into something that “evolves,” positivism that treats only lab results as knowledge, and materialism that reduces mind and soul to chemistry. Then we track Leo’s response: recover the Catholic intellectual tradition with St. Thomas Aquinas at the center, rebuild seminaries and universities, and use philosophy as a bridge to faith rather than a replacement for it. From there we bring Leo’s warnings forward into the AI era. We talk about media saturation, the coming ad-driven “slop” economy, and why technology without moral formation doesn’t stay neutral for long. We also ask the uncomfortable question nobody wants to face: will pornography and artificial intimacy become the profit engine that pushes AI into every corner of life? If you want a grounded Catholic take on faith and reason, Thomism, modernism, Catholic education, and AI ethics, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What part of modern life do you think is most shaped by bad philosophy?Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!100,000 subscribers is supposed to feel like a finish line. For us, it feels like turning on the camera, realizing the lighting is still bad, and choosing to fix it live anyway. This milestone stream is a behind-the-scenes look at how our Catholic podcast and livestream actually runs: the studio build, the sound and echo battles, why backlight matters, and how a “nice background” can still make you disappear on camera if you don’t shape the scene.We also get real about the creator economy. Subscriber counts don’t mean what they used to, the YouTube algorithm can reward clips while long-form shows stay steady, and the X algorithm can hijack your feed if you pause on the wrong video for eight seconds. That pressure fuels the negativity cycle, especially in Catholic media, and we’re tired of it. We talk about why keeping day jobs gives us freedom to experiment, joke around, and focus on content that actually lasts.So where do we go next? We want to keep at least one weekly deep-dive anchored in Catholic history: papal encyclicals, older councils like Trent, and even “faith in film” style episodes that start with real events like the French Revolution and the War in the Vendée. We share sponsor updates, a listener success story, and why we care more about real community than raw views.If you like candid creator talk mixed with Catholic commentary and history, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!A papal document tries to warn the world about artificial intelligence, but what happens when the warning itself is so ambiguous that it feels like it cannot guide anyone’s conscience? We dig into Pope Leo’s new AI text and ask the questions the average Catholic is already asking: What does “remain profoundly human” actually mean, what is “true progress,” and why does so much Church messaging sound allergic to naming sin, conversion, and the spiritual stakes of modern tech?From there, we zoom out to the bigger picture driving the anxiety: a Church leadership culture that often aims for unity without defining unity in Christ, and “solutions” that feel more humanist than Catholic. We talk about how social media dehumanizes people through anonymity, why AI can become an oracle if we treat it like one, and how older Catholic writing often delivered clearer moral reasoning in fewer words. We also explore why many Catholics see the current moment as a hostile takeover in slow motion, not a clean break from the faith, but a steady dilution that confuses the faithful while keeping the sacraments intact.Then the conversation gets blunt about ideology and influence: communism and apostasy in light of Pope Pius XII’s 1949 decree, the Vatican’s World Meeting of Popular Movements, and the danger of pairing local churches with activist networks that push revolution, abortion politics, and syncretistic spirituality. Along the way we touch prophecy, Jerusalem, Fatima timelines, and why end times talk keeps resurfacing when institutions look unsteady.Subscribe, share this with a friend who is trying to think clearly about AI and the Catholic Church, and leave a review with the one line from the conversation you cannot stop thinking about.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Death doesn’t schedule itself, and when it arrives suddenly it can make even strong people feel numb, angry, or terrified. We sit down with Father Anthony Amato to talk about what happens on the ground when a family gets that midnight phone call and a priest gets asked to step into the shock, the hospital room, and the aftermath. Along the way, we clear up the stuff Catholics constantly misunderstand, especially last rites, anointing of the sick, confession, and why waiting until someone is unconscious can mean missing the comfort and grace people actually need.We also dig into the spiritual and emotional side: what “cast your anxieties on Christ” looks like in real life, how Eucharistic adoration and the Blessed Sacrament can become the one place you finally stop performing and start trusting, and why abandonment to divine providence isn’t passive, it’s faith under pressure. If you’ve ever wondered whether God loves you personally, especially if you’re dealing with scrupulosity, shame, or despair, we talk through concrete ways to rebuild that trust without getting trapped in fear driven spiritual reading.Then the conversation takes a sharp turn into the “alien” moment in modern culture. We ask the uncomfortable Catholic questions about revelation, salvation, and whether the popular “non-human intelligence” narrative is really science fiction, spiritual warfare, or a replacement religion. From there we tackle discernment around demons versus mental illness, why it can be complicated, and why the ordinary sacramental life, especially a good confession, is still the most practical place to start.If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review. What topic should we tackle next: last rites misconceptions, scrupulosity, or the alien question?Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!A pope gets crowned as the hero of progress and then publishes a document telling bishops to treat modern ideas like a “fatal pestilence.” That swing sounds impossible until you walk the road with Pope Pius IX from 1846 to 1864, with riots in the streets, assassination in Rome, and the slow, methodical dismantling of the Papal States hanging over every decision.We start with the version of Pius IX the newspapers loved: merciful, pastoral, granting amnesty, loosening restrictions, embracing railways and civic reforms. Then the revolutions of 1848 hit, the Roman Republic rises, Church property is seized, religious orders are suppressed, and the Pope is driven out of his own capital. From that point on, Italian unification and liberal nationalism don’t just threaten a border, they threaten the independence of the papacy itself and the public place of Catholicism.With that backdrop, we dig into Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors: religious liberty, freedom of conscience, the press, state power over the Church, and the fight over who forms children through education. We also connect the arguments of “free church, free state” Catholic liberals to the long road toward Vatican I, where papal authority becomes impossible to ignore.If this helped you make sense of modern Catholic debates through real history, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The strangest part of the UAP “disclosure” wave is not a blurry video or a leaked memo. It’s the insistence that what’s coming will “rewrite history,” redefine our place in the cosmos, and trigger a new kind of spiritual awakening. When the Pentagon, politicians, and the media ecosystem all amplify that same promise, we think the real question becomes: what story are we being trained to accept?We dig into the latest disclosure chatter, the pastors-briefing rumors, and why we expect a controlled drip rather than a single moment of proof. From there we zero in on David Grusch, the way he frames “non-human intelligence,” and why the Catholic angle matters. If the narrative implies humanity is not the crown of creation, it presses directly on the Incarnation, on Christology, and on what Christians mean by revelation. That’s why we keep returning to spiritual warfare, discernment, and the possibility that “disclosure” functions as a religious psyop even if the underlying phenomenon is mundane, classified tech, or outright deception.We also zoom out to the long view: 1947 and the modern UFO wave, the decline of Christendom, occult and Freemasonic counter-stories about “restoring” an original religion, and the way AI and technocratic promises mimic salvation language. We end with the only response that holds up under pressure: stay grounded in the sacraments, refuse seductive framing, and don’t hand your theology over to the people selling you a managed apocalypse.Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who’s spiraling on UAP news, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. What part of the disclosure narrative feels like the hook meant to catch you first?Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!A pope in 1832 looks out at Europe and sees something most people still refuse to name: ideas can riot. Revolutions do not stay in streets and parliaments. They move into schools, pulpits, newspapers, and finally into the way ordinary people talk about truth, conscience, and God. That’s the world behind Pope Gregory XVI’s Mirari Vos, and it’s why we wanted to start a series that reads encyclicals with real historical context instead of treating them like disconnected quotes.We set the stage with the French Revolution’s de-Christianization, Napoleon’s assault on the papacy, and the postwar attempt to rebuild order at the Congress of Vienna. Then we track the flare-up of revolts in 1830 to 1831 and the strange internal pressure coming from inside the Church: the rise of a famous priest, Lamennais, who argues Catholicism will “thrive under liberty” if it embraces freedom of conscience, freedom of the press, and separation of Church and state. Gregory’s response is blunt, and we read the sections that hit hardest today: religious indifferentism, the claim that any religion can save if you’re “moral,” and the downstream collapse that follows when truth becomes optional.We also talk about publishing, propaganda, and why the Church historically used tools like the imprimatur and even bans on harmful books, plus Gregory’s warning about coordinated attacks on clerical celibacy. If you care about Catholic tradition, Catholic social teaching, and the roots of today’s Church-state arguments, this one will give you a framework that’s bigger than the latest headline.Subscribe, share this with a friend who argues about “religious freedom,” and leave a review. After you listen, drop a comment with the line from Mirari Vos that felt most controversial to you today.Support the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The mystery of iniquity is no longer hidden — it's operating in broad daylight. In this full episode, we take the long view on what Scripture, the Church Fathers, and Pope Benedict XVI all warned was coming: the unraveling of the Restrainer, the rise of lawlessness, and the unmasking of evil in our own time.This isn't a book review. This is a discussion about what 2 Thessalonians 2 actually means for us right now — politically, spiritually, ecclesially. Why does evil seem to operate without resistance? What was Benedict XVI pointing to in his final years? And what is being asked of faithful Catholics who can see what's happening but feel powerless to stop it?We get into:• The "mystery of iniquity" — what St. Paul actually meant, and why it matters in 2026• The Katechon (the Restrainer) — the doctrine almost no one in the modern Church talks about anymore• Benedict XVI's quiet warnings about the end of days and the apostasy from within• Why the Secular Forces feel emboldened — and what that tells us about the spiritual battlefield• What faithful Catholics are called to do when the restraint is liftedSupport the showGet 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!Check out our sponsor, Nic Nac, at www.nicnac.com and use code "AB25%" for 25% off of your first order!Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rss