Avoiding Babylon

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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.
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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 lifted

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Pope Leo XIV just shut the door on the German bishops' push to formally bless same-sex couples — and the four-word line everyone is repeating tonight is "We do not agree." Leo's response, aimed squarely at Cardinal Reinhard Marx and the German Synodal Way, didn't stop there. He reframed the entire conversation away from sexual morality and toward "justice, equality, the freedom of men and women, and religious freedom." We're going live tonight to read the full statement in context, unpack what it actually means, and get into the bigger questions it raises about the state of the Church.

Plus — biblical scholar Sam Shamoun joins the stream to clarify scriptural passages on the Antichrist, the Great Apostasy, and how the early Church Fathers actually interpreted these prophecies. You don't want to miss this one.

🔴 LIVE TONIGHT: Anthony and Rob break down the Holy Father's full statement, the German bishops standoff, Leo's surprising comments on borders and immigration, and where this leaves Fiducia Supplicans and the Vatican II legacy.
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Get 10% off an amazing Black Monk Rosary by going to https://www.blackmonkrosaries.com/?ref=AVOIDINGBABYLON and using code AVOIDINGBABYLON at checkout!
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Cardinal Manning warned that before the Antichrist arrives, Rome would be surrounded — and the Pope, even a weak one, would be the last thing standing between the Church and the secular powers gathering against her. Tonight we read that prophecy through what's unfolding right now between Trump and Pope Leo.

Drawing from Cardinal Manning's The Present Crisis of the Holy See and Tychonius's Commentary on the Apocalypse, we walk through why the Catholic Church is hated not as a belief system but as a rival government — an "empire within an empire" — and why the Sedevacantist read of this moment is dangerously premature.

We cover:
• Why the Pope is the "Restrainer" of 2 Thessalonians
• The "anti-church" that grows inside the true Church before the end
• What Benedict XVI's resignation looks like through Tychonius's lens
• Why Catholic unity terrifies the secular forces — and how the left/right dialectic is engineered to prevent it
• Where Trump, Pope Leo, and the current Vatican drama actually fit in salvation history

This isn't reaction content. It's a sober reading of the present crisis through the saints, the Doctors, and the prophetic tradition the modern Church has tried to forget.

📖 Referenced in this episode:
– Cardinal Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See
– Cardinal Manning, The Eternal Priesthood
– Fr. Charles Arminjon, The End of the Present World
– Tychonius, Commentary on the Apocalypse
– St. Augustine, City of God

🕊️ Avoiding Babylon exists to give serious Catholics a higher, aspirational vantage point on current events, spiritual warfare, and the times we've actually been given. Subscribe, share, and pray for one another.

⏱️ Chapters
00:00 – Cold open
07:39 – The Antichrist comes — but it's not the end of the world
09:40 – Manning's case: the Pope as the Restrainer
11:06 – Why the Church is hated: a government, not just a religion
14:58 – "The Catholic Church has government over your will"
20:00 – Rome will apostatize before the Antichrist
25:47 – The bishops who serve the devil under the gift of the Church
26:56 – The true Church will have to withdraw
33:04 – The greatest evil is hidden inside her
34:57 – Why we're addicted to imagining triumph
37:51 – Trump vs Pope Leo: even a weak Pope restrains
39:40 – Benedict XVI, Tychonius, and the laying down of authority
50:39 – "I never want to be on the sid
Support the show

Get 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=1
https://www.avoidingbabylon.com
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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 city that called itself Rome is surrounded, outnumbered, and running out of time. We bring on Ryan Grant to walk us through the fall of Constantinople in 1453, from the long fuse of Byzantine decline to the moment Mehmed II finally gets his prize. You’ll hear why Constantinople mattered so much to the Ottoman Empire, why Europe can’t get its act together, and how the Council of Florence and the attempted union with Rome becomes a pressure point inside the city when every decision is political and personal.

Then we get into the siege warfare that makes this story feel modern: the Theodosian Walls under artillery fire, Orban’s massive cannon, trenching and mining, desperate sorties, and the naval chess match around the Golden Horn. We talk about the chain across the harbor, the relief ships that slip through when the wind shifts, and the move that still sounds unreal the Ottoman fleet getting hauled over land to bypass the blockade. At the center is Giovanni Giustiniani holding the defense together and Constantine XI choosing to die with his people instead of becoming a refugee emperor.

After the walls fall, the aftermath matters as much as the battle. We follow how Ottoman rule reshapes church politics, why “better the turban than the tiara” becomes a tragic slogan, and how the shockwaves roll straight into the Battle of Belgrade with John Hunyadi and St John Capistrano. We even detour into Vlad the Impaler, medieval weapons, Greek fire, and the uncomfortable reality that history is often held together by men willing to do hard things when institutions fail.

If you’re into Byzantine history, Ottoman military strategy, medieval warfare, and the religious politics that shaped Europe, this one is for you. Subscribe, share it with a friend who loves history, and leave us a review with your take: what actually doomed Constantinople, the cannons or the divisions?
Support the show

Get 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=1
https://www.avoidingbabylon.com
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