4000+ subscribers, nearly a million views: 2025 in review
The WM Review’s impact is growing. Part I of our Annual Report shows that we surpassed all our previous records in 2025.
The WM Review’s impact is growing. Part I of our Annual Report shows that we surpassed all our previous records in 2025.
The WM Review Annual Report for 2025 – Part I
Dear Readers and Friends of The WM Review,
Let’s not mince words.
The election of Leo XIV was a test. And most of Catholic media failed it spectacularly.
The outlets that had spent years chronicling every Bergoglian outrage suddenly discovered profound reasons to submit to Rome’s newest false claimant.
It seems that many personalities were riding a wave of conservative Catholic discontent, without ever intending to follow their own arguments to their logical conclusions.
The moment those conclusions became unavoidable, they folded.
Thousands of gaslit Catholics who’d trusted these voices were left stranded – questioning not just the legitimacy of “Leo XIV” but the faith itself. We watched it happen in real time.
The WM Review was built for this exact crisis.
While others compromised or went silent, we did what we’ve always done: presented the clear, sober, theological case for why Catholics can and must recognize that the Conciliar Church is not the Catholic Church.
We were happy to do so – but we had no choice.
The WM Review was founded to provide clarity and solutions for the fundamental spiritual and intellectual problems of our day.
Our objective has always been to help those who feel unable to continue as Catholics, because of the challenges posed by this crisis, and are on the brink of losing the faith.
Because Catholics are losing the faith.
Perhaps you know of someone who has lapsed from the faith
Perhaps someone you know is about to lapse from the faith, and you don’t even know it yet.
Perhaps that person is your son, or daughter, or spouse.
This terrible phenomenon is only going to get worse, following the latest enormities coming out of Rome.
The WM Review exists to help everyone to keep the faith. The way we do this is by…
Carefully and soberly presenting the case for a theological approach to the crisis in the Church
Translating important texts and getting the right ideas out to those who need them
Publishing wide-ranging array of other materials to nourish the mind, soul and heart
Maintaining personal contact with subscribers, readers and enquirers where possible
Providing FREE memberships to clergy/seminarians (please subscribe and reply to the email if this applies to you.)
There is so much low-quality and misleading material circulating online. In the modern minefield, Catholics need to be able to navigate the confusion with confidence – and we want to give them what they need to recognise and reject the modernist subversion of the Church.
And yes, “reject”: because unless there is a complete rejection of Vatican II and its new religion, the crisis will deepen, and the deception will continue.
If you want to help us out, then join WM+ plus today.
But wait!
We are now also offering a NEW way to subscribe, complete with an introductory discount.
Subscribing directly via Stripe allows us to cut some of the fierce platform fees, and makes The WM Review more independent and anti-fragile, in an increasingly difficult environment.
These fierce platform fees mean that we may need to raise Substack prices (only for new subscribers) early this year.
Growing concerns about Substack censorship, digital ID verification and “Online Safety Acts” in UK and Australia are making it unwise to rely on Substack’s payment systems.
That’s why we are offering a 10% reduction for 12 months on subscriptions taken out directly via Stripe – but only until Sunday 12 January.
This membership will be honoured wherever The WM Review operates – whether it be Substack or another platform.
Just use the code JAN2025 at the checkout with the links below:
(If you subscribe directly via Stripe, please give us a little time to upgrade your membership manually.)
We’ve split this year-end report into two parts. First, let’s consider how things stand – and in the next part, we’ll review the material covered.
The state of play at the end of 2025
We started the year with 1,266 email subscribers – and we’ve hit 4,036 at the start of 2026. That’s 3.19 times as many: more than triple what we started with.
Our total views for 2025 hit 906,969 – one more month, and we would have hit a million.
We were hitting an average of 100,763 views per month in the final quarter of 2025. That’s 3.53 times as high as the equivalent average from the final quarter of 2024. The higher proportion than our subscriber increase also suggests that more readers are reading more WM Review content.
Although this shows strong and sustainable development for The WM Review, we remain small compared to other outlets – which makes the growth of our influence with other influencers all the more remarkable.
But that’s not all.
2025 saw a massive increase in WM Review output.
We’ll review the highlights in the next part. But for now, let’s look at the numbers.
2025’s output in numbers
In 2025, The WM Review published 367 articles, while our project Father Coleridge Reader published 247 articles. These two sites – along with our social media and emerging YouTube activity – constitute a comprehensive “ecosystem” of theological analysis and spiritual formation, and put paid to the idea that “traditionalists” and “sedevacantists” are only focused on negativity and controversy.
Between both publications, we produced 480 unique articles across both publications (367 on WM Review, plus 113 FCR-exclusive pieces, with 134 articles shared across both platforms).
This marks a year of intensive output, increasing from only 168 articles in 2024 – whilst maintaining the high quality for which we are known.
These statistics are only of interest because they confirm something important: that Catholics are seeking clarity, and feel the need for careful, principled explanation in the present crisis.
That’s precisely what our new WM+ subscribers have been saying:
The WM Review’s wider impact on Catholic discourse
The WM Review’s name and material have been cropping up a lot across the Catholic media sphere in 2025, including with some more mainstream outlets – often giving us the opportunity to engage on the key issues.
Louie Verrecchio said:
“… the outstanding and scholarly web journal, WM Review, with which, I trust, nearly all regular readers of this space are familiar. (If not, you should be.)” – Louie Verrecchio
Ryan Grant and his co-hosts on The Rundown said:
Ryan: There’s The WM Review, which I have major respect for – Catholic, loves people, wonderful to deal with in every possible way… You know, they’re super, wonderful to deal with, honestly. WM Review, it’s like, the best sedes on twitter.
James: I would actually recommend people out there go follow them on Twitter.
Ryan: I do, and they produce great content that’s not even related to sedevacantism.
Mike: Yeah, I try to read everything they put out. I think they’re great, I love interacting with them, I have the same experience with you.
Political commentator Frank Wright (no relation) included the following in a recommendation for The WM Review:
“The omnicidal crisis we inhabit is at root a spiritual crisis, having sociopolitical effects by extension. This review is a treasure house of wisdom for the foundational restoration of the West.
“In a sea of endless trash, the jewel of the uncorrupted Catholic tradition is presented here. We are fortunate to have the WM Review. Support them if you can.” – Frank Wright
As you can see, The WM Review is exercising an influence disproportionate to its size.
Let’s consider a few more examples:
Fr Isaac Mary Relyea strongly endorsed The WM Review and Father Coleridge reader, calling the former “one of my favourite sites” – and doubled down on this endorsement when criticised for it. This gave us the opportunity to discuss “sede derangement syndrome”
Frs Dave Nix (Padre Peregrino) and Isaac Mary Relyea recommended our defence of Our Lady as Co-Redemptrix
Dr Anthony Stine of Return to Tradition referred to the same article
Fr William Jenkins of What Catholics Believe praised our research on the validity of the new sacramental rites – and later in the year, he also praised our article on “the synodal papacy” and the basis of our “general appeal” to Catholics of different views
Ryan Grant and the other hosts of The Rundown spoke very warmly of The WM Review and our write-up on Cardinal Robert Prevost – recommending viewers read the site, and calling us “the best sedes on Twitter.” They later discussed our article on Diane Montagna’s bombshell report which confirmed traditionalist warnings about ulterior motives for Summorum Pontificum.
Kevin Davis of Catholic Family Podcast, and David from Catholic Hub both offered strong endorsements of our Preparing for Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary series – and helped out immensely with its production.
The Catholic Men’s Podcast published a reading of our article on depression
S.D. Wright appeared on Theo Howard’s The Two Cities Podcast to discuss the Kingship of Christ and religious liberty – and on the same podcast later in the year, Will Tucker of Analogia Entis praised our articles on the Mosaic Covenant and the nature of the post-Christian Jewish religion.
Sean Johnson, author and long-time commentator on the SSPX/Resistance conflict, announced that he had become a “sede-doubtist” thanks to our material, which gave us the opportunity to discuss the merits and demerits of the term “sedevacantism.”
In addition to these positive mentions, we have had several opportunities to engage in direct controversy in 2025:
In 2024, Fr John Zuhlsdorf published some remarks about our research into the validity of the new sacramental rites, and acknowledged the legitimacy of our concerns – providing us with the opportunity in early 2025 to engage with a well-known personality on the topic
Anthony Abbate of Avoiding Babylon spoke positively about The WM Review to Kevin Davis of Catholic Family Podcast and Mario Derksen of Novus Ordo Watch – and a later livestream in which we were mentioned provided the opportunity to set the record straight on the whole gamut of controversial positions and opinions of the day
Bishop Donald Sanborn was asked a question which attributed a certain opinion (the “bishop in the woods” idea) to The WM Review – providing us with the opportunity to state what we really hold. We also published Michael Hudson’s critical engagement with the “sacramental policy” of Bishop Sanborn’s Roman Catholic Institute.
Here’s the take-home point. Our presentation of the ideas is having an impact – thanks to your help.
Not everyone wants to admit openly to reading The WM Review.
And that’s fine: what’s important are the ideas.
And we know for a fact – from private correspondence – that our presentation has been instrumental in a several big news events in 2025.
This is why most content on The WM Review is free for readers.We believe these ideas must reach as many people as possible.
But NONE of this work would be possible without your support.
If you are already a WM+ member, then thank you very much. You are what keeps the wheels turning at The WM Review, and what keeps the main body of the work free for all.
Without you, we would have to shut this whole thing down.
This’s why we provide exclusive WM+ articles – additional material for those incredible people who choose to support our work financially.
This allows us to say thank you to those helping us produce serious Catholic research, while ensuring that the main body of material remains accessible for all.
What’s more, WM+ supporters fund FREE memberships for all clergy, religious, and seminarians (available upon request).
Several dozen priests, religious, and seminarians – and even a few bishops – have taken advantage of this offer.
Some appreciate our work so much that they have chosen to pay or donate themselves, in spite of this complimentary membership!
Here’s what one priest wrote to us earlier this year – shared with his permission:
“I appreciate your writing on the various subjects that we have to deal with today. They give us much to think about.... thank you for your valuable work.”
Subscribing to WM+ is worth it – because you will be supporting work that is already making a proven impact.
If YOU find our work valuable, then take out a WM+ subscription TODAY.
You can also…
Beat the price-rises for new subscriptions
Avoid the platform fees
Future-proof The WM Review by reducing dependance on Substack and ever-increasing “Online Safety Acts”
Take advantage of a 10% reduction for 12 months
… by taking out a subscription directly via Stripe – but only until Sunday 12 January. Just use the code JAN2025 at the checkout with the links below instead of above:
(If you subscribe directly via Stripe, please give us a little time to upgrade your membership manually.)
Sometimes readers – existing WM+ members or not – like to support us with one-time donations.
Donations of $50 or $150 or $500 or even $1,000 make an incredible difference to our work, allowing us to focus on research and writing knowing that the costs are covered and the time can be justified.
If you make a one-time donation higher than the annual fee, we will gladly count that towards membership costs upon request.
Donations higher than that are a rarity, but they grant us even more independence and power to research, translate, create, publish and disseminate materials for the good of our fellow Catholics.
They could allow us to…
Commission articles from other writers, and even take on a team of writers in a stable way
Make much-needed upgrades to equipment, like microphones and other tech
Develop our reach in different areas (books, YouTube, and so on).
The sky is the limit. There is no reason why, with the right sort of major funding, The WM Review could not grow to the same size and reach as some of the Trad Inc. outlets – and challenge them on their own terms.
In the next part, we’ll provide a comprehensive review of the key themes and topics we handled in 2025.
In Christ,
S.D. Wright
M.J. McCusker
Editors – The WM Review
PS: The fact that we stayed true to our objectives, when so many others folded, is why 2025 so far surpassed 2024 – which had been our biggest and best year to date.
But I can tell you two things for certain.
It wouldn’t have been possible without our loyal WM+ members, who support us with annual/monthly subscriptions
It won’t be possible to continue without further support in 2026.
Both editors have many pressures on their time and demands on their headspace – and as much as we love it, output like this can only be produced if it can be justified against those other activities.
If you value The WM Review’s work and impact, then take out a WM+ membership TODAY.
We can’t offer you a big range of perks in return.
Less than 20% of our material in 2025 was behind a paywall for WM+ members – and we want to keep that percentage low.
But we can offer you one perk, in addition to those exclusive WM+ articles:
The knowledge that, by supporting The WM Review and joining us with WM+, you are part of something making a real difference to the Catholic discourse.
Reduced fee for 12-months directly via Stripe – only until 12 Jan – just use the code JAN2025 at the checkout with the links below instead of above:
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I am so happy to read of the positive impact that your work has had with so many Catholics; the doctrinal and theological quality of your articles is excellent, and your willingness to engage with your readers and critics in an intellectually honest and charitable way is to be commended. Hopefully 2026 will see even better results.
As usual: "keep up the good work"
M.W.
Thanks VM for your great works.