Free Republic

Part 1 Q. We are in the midst of celebrating the centenary year of Our Lady’s apparitions to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal from May to October of 1917. The eldest of the seers, Sr. Lucia dos Santos, in a letter to Carlo Cardinal Caffarra penned in 1983 or 1984, indicated that “the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family.” With all the attacks on marriage and the family that have occurred in recent years and which continue to escalate, do you think we have entered into that period of...

Catholics have never been and never should be expected to dodge bullets in order to negotiate an enemy minefield in their search for truth in the hands of the Church’s shepherds. Teaching should be clear consistent and unambiguous. This Amoris Laetitia (AL) is not. Amoris Laetitia cannot be recommended reading for everyone because it is not safe. As a Catholic teaching document it is not sustainable and will one day have to be heavily edited and stringently corrected in order to be a reliable help to souls. We find ourselves in a situation of ecclesial disorientation where, for the first...

Sophistry is the use of subtly deceptive reasoning or argumentation to mislead the hearer.  Perhaps sophistry is too generous a description of Cardinal Christoph Schönborn’s defense of the idea, introduced into the Church via Chapter 8 of Amoris Laetitia (AL), that people living in “second marriages” condemned by Our Lord Himself as adultery can receive absolution and Holy Communion while continuing to live as if they were married and indulging in the marital act. Schönborn’s arguments are not particularly subtle and could be refuted by any well-catechized child.  But let us give him the benefit of the doubt and say...

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) wasn't interested in commenting on whether Amoris Laetitia means same-sex couples must be given Holy Communion if their "conscience" tells them it's OK. As LifeSiteNews asked the question at a Thursday press conference, the bishop of Burlington, Vermont, whispered something to the USCCB's director of public affairs, who then said questions should only relate to topics the bishops discussed that morning. "OK, I – you know, the press conference, the panel has been put together pertaining to topics from today's news agenda, so I think we really need to stick to topics that ... were...

With respect, Cardinal Müller, it's not "impossible" by Christopher A. Ferrara June 1, 2017 In my column of May 30, I discussed the important EWTN interview of Cardinal Gerhard Müller concerning Amoris Laetitia (AL) and the prospect of women “deacons in the Church.” The interview continued Müller’s line of simply denying that Pope Bergoglio intends to do what he is obviously doing in authorizing the intrinsically impossible reception of Holy Communion by people living in adulterous “second marriages.” One remark in the interview warrants a column on its own. Respecting AL, Müller declared to Arroyo that “It is absolutely impossible that...

I drove to the NRA Meeting in Atlanta yesterday, the 26th of April, 2017.  I had been visiting family in Dallas, Texas, so it was only 800 miles. On the way, I reflected on the last time I was in Atlanta for more than a flight change. It was over 40 years ago, when I was in the Army. What happened then was not important. But what has happened in the last 40 years has been phenomenal for Second Amendment Supporters. In 1974, the Gun Control Act of 1968 was only six years old. It had not been improved...

The leading Vaticanist Sandro Magister continues his indispensable role in chronicling what can only be called "the Bergoglian debacle," which has reached its nadir with the publication of Amoris Laetitia (AL). In his blog post of April 22, Magister provides a link to the integral Italian text (translations mine) of an intervention by Dr. Claudio Pierantoni, Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the University of Chile. His was one of six addresses delivered in Rome at a conference of lay academics, the theme of which was AL's attack, in Chapter 8, on the Church's traditional teaching concerning the moral law. Pierantoni...

The Alabama legislature is moving toward passing Constitutional Carry. The bill, SB 24, has passed the Senate, 26 to 8 on Tuesday, 18 April, 2017.  The bill would enforce the Alabama Constitutional amendment passed in 2014. Amendment 3 passed with 72.5% of the vote in 2014. SB24 is the legislature enforcing the Constitutional amendment with statutory reform. Here is a description of Amendment 3. From ballotpedia: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to provide that every citizen has a fundamental right to bear arms and that any restriction on this right would be subject to...

The resignation of Gov. Robert Bentley is expected later this afternoon, the political culmination of more than a year of controversy surrounding his relationship with former aide Rebekah Caldwell Mason. The official announcement from the governor's office is expected at any time. At around 4 p.m., Bentley was booked into Montgomery County Jail on two misdemeanor charges related to campaign finance violation. Each carried a $300 bond. The resignation comes after Friday's report from the House Justice Committee detailing Bentley's relationship with Mason, including allegations the governor used state law enforcement and other state resources to facilitate the relationship. Bentley...

Adultery Legitimized by Francis: Supreme Vatican Lawyer explains how (full text) Can one be at once an impenitent adulterer and in the grace of God? Christ said not, but Francis says yes, and the Supreme Vatican Lawyer, Cardinal Francisco Coccopalmerio, explains how to square the circle. Yes, yes, "scribes and doctors of the law..." -- the true pharisees are on Francis' side. Translation of the his book (which should have been released in a groundbreaking Vatican press conference, but from which he was absent at the last minute) provided by Andrew Guernsey: Chapter Eight of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris...

The evils of Amoris Laetitia: The Church and Asmodeus - Part IV By Don Pietro Leone A spiritu fornicationis libera nos, Domine (invocation from the Litany of the Saints) IV AMORIS LAETITIA How can we doubt that this encyclical, publically called into question by the same Cardinal Caffarra (amongst others) to whom Sister Lucia had written, is not part of the clash between the Church and Satan that we have mentioned above?   In this brief glance at Amoris Laetitia we consider marriage, adultery, and ‘sex education’.     1.  MARRIAGE The Exhortation Amoris Laetitia states in § 80: ‘Marriage...

UK scientists are warning they may be unable to carry out crucial research on climate change if Donald Trump cuts climate science funding in the US. Trump tweeted in 2014 that research on global warming is “very expensive bullshit” that “has to stop”. Scientists are braced to find out whether his administration will put these words into practice. The early signs are not good. British scientists say moves to squeeze funding of climate-related research in the US – and of facilities at government laboratories in particular – could be disastrous for work in the UK. And they say Trump’s travel...

Editor’s Note: LifeSiteNews brings you a list of bishops and cardinals who have publicly indicated their support or opposition to the September 2016 “dubia” submitted to Pope Francis by the four cardinals. This list includes high-ranking prelates whose comments relate directly to the dubia after their public release on November 14, 2016. The list does not include prelates who have merely made statements supporting or opposing the writings, decisions, and actions of Pope Francis, but haven’t commented directly on the dubia. Cardinals who signed the dubia Cardinal Walter Brandmüller Cardinal Raymond Burke Cardinal Carlo Caffarra Cardinal Joachim Meisner READ: Who...

On February 9th, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange was sworn in as a replacement for Senator Sessions.  Senator Sessions joined the Trump administration as Attorney General of the United States. From al.com: "This is truly a remarkable time in our state's history," Bentley said in a press release this morning. "Alabama has surely been well represented by Senator Sessions, and I am confident Senator Strange will serve as a fine representative for our people. His leadership on a national level, service as a statewide elected official and long record of taking on tough federal issues are the very qualities...

State Senator Gerald Allen, R-Tuscloosa, is pushing to restore "permitless" or Constitutional carry in Alabama. He pre-filed a bill on 18 January, 2016, for that purpose. From al.com: Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, has pre-filed a bill to end a requirement that he said is an improper limit on the constitutional right to bear arms, according to a news release. "It's time we give our citizens the right to bear arms without first seeking the government's permission," Allen said. Alabama already allows people to openly carry a holstered pistol without a permit. Allen said there is no logical reason to...

This morning there was to have been an eagerly anticipated press conference featuring Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, answering questions about his recently published pamphlet endorsing the "liberal" interpretation of Amoris Laetitia. However, Cardinal Coccopalmerio failed to show up, pleading a "diary clash." This was later explained as a conflict with a meeting at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. In his short work, published by the official Vatican publishing house on February 8, Coccopalmerio had argued that all the sacraments including communion should be open to those "living in situations not in...

What in the world is going on in Rome this week? First the Vatican press office issues a statement from the Council of Cardinals, supporting the Pope. It would certainly be news if the Council of Cardinals did not support the Pope. But why was this statement newsworthy? Why did the Council thank the Pontiff in February for a speech he delivered to the Roman Curia in December? Is there any way to see this message as something other than damage control—as a bid to reassure the world that the increasingly evident tensions within the Catholic hierarchy are not tearing...

In face of the confusion caused by the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, and after having shown in two recent studies the lamentable incoherencies and falsities in the document (see here and here), and Denzinger-Bergoglio would like to remind its readers of the teachings that the Church has always conveyed to the ‘remarried divorced’ and to sinners in general.

The L’Osservatore Romano is raving about the letter of the German bishops introducing communion for adulterers, a decision that reduces the indissolubility of matrimony to a meaningless principle while in the individual case adultery is allowed. The German bishops are known for their heterodoxy that has led their local church in an unprecedented crisis with over 100,000 Catholics leaving their Church every year and the number of priestly ordinations down to 58 in 2015. https://gloria.tv/video/4phXZ3ju4Ssg4w2KnZCFEV6Yy

Criticism of the alarming and quite unprecedented direction of the current pontificate is now firmly established in the mainstream Catholic commentariat. This is most encouraging as the post-Vatican II crisis in the Church, now approaching the Arian crisis (which lasted some sixty years) in duration, enters a new and critical phase. Father Gerald E. Murray is one of the leaders in this auspicious development. His training and doctorate in canon law give him a perspective that permits a precise diagnosis of the raging controversy over Amoris Laetitia (AL), which continues to expand as it convulses the human element of the...