Taylor Marshall

Taylor Marshall is an American Catholic author, podcaster and YouTube commentator. A former Episcopal priest who became Catholic, he founded the New Saint Thomas Institute, an online Catholic education programme, in 2013, and hosts the Dr. Taylor Marshall Podcast, which is broadcast primarily on YouTube (Wikipedia).

His 2019 book Infiltration argues, according to its promotional website as quoted by Catholic World Report, that modernists and Marxists planned to subvert the Catholic Church from within in order to change its doctrine, liturgy and mission (Catholic World Report). National Catholic Reporter described the thesis as positing a secret network of Freemasons and Communists, assisted by liberals and reforming church leaders, infiltrating the Church, and reported that the book reached the top of several Amazon categories after release while drawing criticism from conservative Catholic outlets (National Catholic Reporter). For the wider debate see Freemasonry and conspiracy claims.

In July 2020 Catholic World Report wrote that Marshall's YouTube videos regularly drew more than 100,000 viewers, that he had recently been associated with the Society of St. Pius X, and that he had clashed publicly with Bishop Robert Barron, who reportedly called him an extremist (Catholic World Report). The same report noted that President Trump's Twitter account had promoted a July 2020 television appearance by Marshall. Marshall disputed that he had encouraged his supporters to attack Barron online (CNA).

He has also drawn criticism from within traditionalist circles. In 2022 the traditionalist blog Rorate Caeli alleged that a 2019 episode of Marshall's show about the Pachamama statues helped prompt Pope Francis's 2021 restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass, Traditionis Custodes; the allegation was summarised by the Aquila blog and has not been independently confirmed (Aquila). See Traditionis Custodes and liturgical law.

His Wikipedia biography states that he openly criticises members of the Catholic hierarchy, including Pope Leo XIV (Wikipedia).

He is also a frequent subject of rebuttals from Catholic commentators who defend recent popes. Michael Lofton, host of the Reason & Theology show, has published repeated responses — for example to a November 2023 livestream in which Marshall criticised those he calls "popesplainers", and in May 2024 to what Lofton presented as Cardinal Zen's attempt to correct Marshall and Carlo Maria Viganò on interpreting Vatican II. See Traditionalist Catholic online culture.