Placating Tyrants and Playing Catch up with the Culture of Death

From Justin Trudeau’s eyebrow apparently falling off during a press scrum (apparently it may have been an optical illusion), to his tiff with President Trump, along with the imposition of crippling tariffs (just wait until they hit the automobile industry), it has not been a good week for our Prime Minister and Canada. I wonder what Trump really thinks of our boyish leader, and of this Dominion north of the border? It is difficult to believe there was a time, many moons ago, when British North America could have competed with the United States in money and military, but now, well, now we beg for crumbs like the Syrophoenician woman, our country mired in unmanageable debt, and sinking fast under Trudeau’s and the Liberal’s ineptitude. A trade war with the United States would be a decidedly one-way affair.

President Trump and Kim Jong Un met today in Singapore, the populist president and the ruthless chubby dictator, governing a police state, responsible for the torture, confinement, starvation and deaths of untold numbers of his people, their ‘beloved leader’, who just last year was threatening to nuke L.A. I wonder what history will make of this, all smiles and handshakes? A shrewd diplomatic move, or a Neville Chamberlian moment? Can peace flow from such a man as Jong Un? What they said of the ancient Greeks, applies here: beware communist tyrants bearing gifts.

There is currently a public inquiry into the nefarious deeds of Elizabeth Wettlaufer, the nurse who has confessed to murdering eight of her elderly patients, and attempting to kill another six. She would surreptitiously inject them with insulin while alone on night shift, for reasons that are not fully clear. There is a whole raft of lawyers, costing millions one may presume, all arguing and dealing over who is responsible, for there were numerous red flags over Ms. Wettlaufer’s behaviour before she was caught (murder by insulin is not easy to detect), none of which stopped her from working, if such be the term. May we not save the expense and rigmarole, cut through the morass and ask the simple question whether deliberately killing an innocent human being is an intrinsic evil. If not, then it is all a matter of circumstance. After all, was she not doing what many physicians are already doing under the auspices of M.A.I.D., murdering her patients, with the difference being that thin, vague, amorphous moral line of ‘voluntariness’? If a patient wants death, he can get it, all paid for, not too many questions asked (yet), but who’s to say who wants to die, and what if they should want to die, or, unconscious, you presume that, of course, they would want to die, suffering like that with bedsores, dementia, abandonment, loneliness, waiting for the black void to overtake them? I fear that we will soon catch up with Nurse Wettlaufer, as we did with Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and both will be hailed as secular heroes in the culture of death.

But the blood of its martyrs, even of its unwitting victims, builds the Church and the culture of life, as grace flows from sacrifice, touches souls and hearts, and some wake up and realize what is at stake. A priest, Father Richmond Nilo, was killed in the Philippines yesterday, shot four times through a window as he was preparing for Mass, with his blood pooling before a statue of Our Lady. Requiescat in pace, Padre, and intercede for us if you are already in heavenly bliss. There will be many more like Father Nilo, but fear not, for their, and hopefully our, reward will be great in heaven.

Carney’s Amoral Majority

After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→

Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress

This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→

A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop

As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→

A Tale of Two Benedicts

A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→

My Name is Bernadette

April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→

Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk

As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→

The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus

As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→

Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace

Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→

Payette’s Payout

I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→