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This is Phil's second appearance on the show, after talking about his book Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock. This time, the veteran journalist doubles down and broads his analysis to include the widespread corruption and complicity of the bishops with a brand new book, The Smoke of Satan: How Corrupt and Cowardly Bishops Betrayed Christ, His Church, and the Faithful . . . and What Can Be Done About It. A daring book (the publisher explains that they didn't particularly want to publish it) and badly needed. Heavy sigh.

As ever, it's the uncomfortable truths that need to be told.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why the badly damaged brand and reputation of the Catholic Church is at stake and why books like this continue to be written today
• Why it's not a sin to charitably but directly call out bad leadership in the Church
• How the bishops seem, in so many cases, not to have learned the lessons of the 2002 scandal that broke in Boston
• The role played by gross misinterpretations of the Second Vatican Council led to the current crisis
• Why concern for the Church's reputation can never outdo concern for victims of priest predators
• The facts as to why the issue we're dealing with is not "pedophile priests" but homosexual predator priests

Resources recommended in this episode:

• The Smoke of Satan: How Corrupt and Cowardly Bishops Betrayed Christ, His Church, and the Faithful . . . and What Can Be Done About It by Phil Lawler
• Lost Shepherd: How Pope Francis is Misleading His Flock by Phil Lawler
• Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: The Church Since Vatican II by Kenneth Jones
• Pascendi Dominici Gregis Encyclical by Pope St. Pius X on Modernism