Joe McClane is joined today by Bishop Joseph Strickland and Dr. Anthony Stine of Return to Tradition for three stories. FIRST: Bishop Strickland's reflection on Dei Verbum 13 and what the Council calls "the marvelous condescension of eternal wisdom" - God stooping to reach us in our own language, then in our flesh, and finally under the appearance of bread. His warning is blunt. False mercy sits down with a man in the pit and tells him he need not leave. True mercy climbs in and pulls him out. "Go, and sin no more."

SECOND: The International Theological Commission's document "Caring for Our Common Home - A Responsible and Fraternal Response to the Triune God," released September 2 with Pope Leo XIV's authorization. It is a study text of the ITC, not an encyclical and not magisterial teaching, and it proposes that the Church begin speaking of "sin against Creation and against the Creator." Dr. Stine on what that language would actually do.

THIRD: Pope Leo's September 2 general audience, the first of his catechesis on Gaudium et Spes, in which he recalled Saint John XXIII's 1962 rebuke of the "prophets of doom" who say our age is entirely worse than the ages before it. LifeSiteNews read it as aimed at critics of the post-conciliar settlement. The Holy Father named no one. So we put the question to a bishop.

SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 3:9 - "Adam, where art thou?"
• Hebrews 1:1-2 - God spoke "at sundry times and in divers manners"
• John 1:14 - "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us"
• Philippians 2:5-8 - He "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant"
• John 8:11 - "Go, and now sin no more"

DOCUMENTS REFERENCED:

• Dei Verbum 13 - Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, November 18, 1965
• Gaudium et Spes 4 - Vatican II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, December 7, 1965
• Gaudet Mater Ecclesia - John XXIII, opening address to the Council, October 11, 1962
• Caring for Our Common Home - International Theological Commission, September 2, 2026

SOURCES:

• Bishop Strickland, "How Far He Has Gone: The Marvelous Condescension of God" - https://pillarsoffaith.net/podcasts/how-far-he-has-gone-the-marvelous-condescension-of-god/
• Vatican News, "Care for Creation is a theological question" - https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2026-09/ict-document-care-for-creation-ecology-theology-church-pope.html
• LifeSiteNews, "Pope Leo criticizes prophets of doom, quoting John XXIII at Vatican II" - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-leo-criticizes-prophets-of-doom-quoting-john-xxiii-at-vatican-ii/
• General Audience of September 2, 2026 - https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/audiences/2026/documents/20260902-udienza-generale.html

GUEST:
Dr. Anthony Stine, Return to Tradition - https://www.youtube.com/@ReturnToTradition

#ACatholicTake #BishopStrickland #PopeLeoXIV #Catholic #DeiVerbum #ReturntoTradition

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