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In his self-created role as the “contemplative member” of an “expanded papacy”, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger — aka “Pope Emeritus” Benedict XVI — has a lot of time on his hands these days, and he uses some of it to write on theological matters. Back in 1972, Fr. Ratzinger was very busy with a lot of things, such as arguing for the permissibility of public adulterers to receive Holy Communion in “individual cases”. At the time he also co-founded the theological journal Communio, together with such unsavory characters as Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar, Fr. Karl Lehmann, and others. Last year,...

“Ahead of Pakistan’s general elections later this month, the newly established Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party is gaining traction with its anti-blasphemy agenda.” This is because its Islamic message resonates with the serious Muslims in Pakiustan. Islam mandates death for non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic state who mention “something impermissible about Allah, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), or Islam” (‘Umdat al-Salik, o11.10), and such laws are based upon passages in the Hadith and Sira in which Muhammad orders the murders of people who have insulted him. These include Abu Afak, who was over one hundred years old,...

In the UK, the National Health Service has thrown out a doctor: A doctor has been “sacked” as a medical assessor for a government department after refusing to renounce his Christian belief that gender is determined at birth, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal. Dr David Mackereth has worked for 26 years as an NHS doctor but was told he could not be employed as a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) disability assessor if he refused to identify patients as being of a sex that they did not see themselves as. The 55-year-old father of four believes sex is genetic...

Christ Church Cathedral put up the display at their lawn on Monument Circle overnight. It shows statues of Mary, Joseph and Jesus in a cage. “On our lawn tonight we placed The Holy Family…in #ICE detention,” the church wrote on its Twitter page. The display has a sign saying #EveryFamilyIsHoly and its Spanish equivalent, #CadaFamiliaEsSagrada.

...Aftermath: Part 3 was the sermon that got the most attention -- the one where Stanley suggested that you need to "unhitch" your faith from the Old Testament as he insisted the New Testament writers did. To make his point, Stanley taught from Acts 15 and the story of the Jerusalem council. (snip) ...If Stanley said the conclusion of the Jerusalem council pertained to Mosaic dietary laws, how did he explain the command to abstain from sexual immorality? Not well. Moral Decay Stanley said, "If I were to hand everybody a 3x5 card, and I were to say, 'Tell me...

The theme of Monday night’s Met Gala, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” served up a whole procession of looks inspired by the church. Rihanna channeled the Pope, Katy Perry donned angel wings, and Sarah Jessica Parker had an entire nativity scene perched on her head. For fashion fans, it was a smorgasbord of over-the-top eye candy and designer creativity. For many Catholics, however, it was blasphemy. Gucci designer Alessandro Michele (left) dressed Lana Del Rey and Jared Leto for the occasion. (Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images) More Although quite a few former Catholic schoolgirls — including Madonna and Kim...

A LARGE section of St Paul’s Basilica had to be cordoned off by the Vatican after the roof partially collapsed above shocked worshippers, just hours after the Pope was forced to deny claiming that Hell does not exist. Plaster began plummeting from the ceiling as crowds gathered shortly after the Catholic leader was engulfed in a row about the existence of eternal damnation. No one was injured in the incident near Michelangelo’s Pieta statue, but the affected area was closed off for most of Good Friday. It comes during a difficult Easter period for the Vatican which, yesterday, slammed a...

The theology program at the Jesuit-run College of the Holy Cross has taken on a new tone ever since the school appointed a gender-obsessed Chair of New Testament Studies who claims Jesus was a “drag king,” a new article contends. Writing for The Fenwick Review, Elinor Reilly of the Holy Cross class of 2018 argues in a March 26 article that Professor Tat-Siong Benny Liew’s “unconventional readings of Scripture” have brought “a new theological perspective to Holy Cross.”

The theology program at the Jesuit-run College of the Holy Cross has taken on a new tone ever since the school appointed a gender-obsessed Chair of New Testament Studies who claims Jesus was a “drag king,” a new article contends. Writing for The Fenwick Review, Elinor Reilly of the Holy Cross class of 2018 argues in a March 26 article that Professor Tat-Siong Benny Liew’s “unconventional readings of Scripture” have brought “a new theological perspective to Holy Cross.”

Whole shocking shtick of 'Sweet Jesus' is mocking Christianity

Beginning on Sunday, November 5, in Rome, officially begins the " ecumenical Mass " a few steps from St. Peter's. From Santa Marta, in the past few days, an unofficial "bergogliano" invitation to these communities started to "organize" (since it is their style to be pioneers of ecclesial innovations) to start with the uterans experimenting with the "ecumenical mass". Base Communities have been organized for the most part. Meanwhile, publishing a document on the urgent necessity of Eucharistic hospitality within the Catholic and Protestant Church you find here ( http://www.cdbsanpolo.it/cartella%20documenti/Comunit%C3%A0%20di%20base%20e%20Noi % 20We are% 20Chiesa% 20sull'anno% 20luterano-1.pdf ). But that was...

‘Father Barack Obama‘ mocked the Sign of the Cross at the White House yesterday. It was an open mockery of the Christian prayer that is accompanied by the immortal words used by peasants and kings over the centuries: “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”. Obama, who is left-handed, made the sign of the cross with his left hand, which out of respect for the centuries-long Christian practice, no one ever does.

A Christian man in Pakistan was sentenced to death for blasphemy after he sent a WhatsApp message to a friend that insulted Islam, his lawyer said on Friday. His trial continued for more than a year at the Gujrat Jail, about 200 kilometres from the provincial capital Lahore. Lahore -- A Christian man in Pakistan was sentenced to death for blasphemy after he sent a WhatsApp message to a friend that insulted Islam, his lawyer said on Friday. Nadeem James Masih was charged in July after his friend Yasir Bashir told the police that he sent him a poem on...

This is the email Hillary Clinton's pastor, the Rev. Bill Shillady, sent her on the morning of November 9, 2016, the day after she lost the presidential election to Donald Trump. For more on how religion helped lead Clinton "out of the woods," read our interview with Shillady. Sunday is Coming November 9, 2016 It is Friday, but Sunday is coming. This is not the devotional I had hoped to write. This is not the devotional you wish to receive this day. While Good Friday may be the starkest representation of a Friday that we have, life is filled with...

(Photo: Q via The Christian Post)Eugene Peterson concludes his discussions with Q Ideas Gabe Lyons today with a conversation on Being Immersed In Scripture.Eugene Peterson, the Presbyterian pastor who wrote the The Message, has come out in support of gay marriage, saying that he would officiate a same-sex wedding if asked.In an interview with Jonathan Merritt at Religion News Service Wednesday, the author of more than 30 books said that he knows many gays and lesbians who "seem to have as good a spiritual life as I do," noting that he would not have said that 20 years ago. He...

The Christian governor of Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday for committing blasphemy against Islam. While running for governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as “Ahok,” said his opponents were inaccurately citing the Quran to say voters cannot vote for a non-Muslim. Despite trying to make Islam seem like a more tolerant religion, Purnama’s comments were reportedly edited and shared in a video that caused mass protest and outrage from the Islamic community. On Nov. 2016, at least 200,000 Islamic protesters took to the streets of Jakarta and demanded Purnama be thrown in jail...

There is very dangerous legislation making its way through both the House of Representatives and Senate that will finish the United States. The sharia bill calls for Islamic blasphemy laws — the criminalization of speech that offends or insults — who, exactly? Well, that is up to the enforcer, is it not? On Wednesday, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced “The Hate Crime Reporting Act of 2014″ (S.2219), which seeks “to examine the prevalence of hate crime and hate speech on the Internet, television, and radio to better address such crimes.” Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) introduced a companion bill in the...

The statement Tuesday from the U.S. embassy in Cairo apologizing to Muslims and condemning “the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims”—even as an angry, threatening mob was gathering outside the embassy compound—was no aberration. Though subsequently denounced by both the White House and the State Department, it has to be seen as part and parcel of Obama Administration policy, and it is not surprising at all that it would be the first reaction of the embassy’s communication staff. As recently as December 19, 2011, the U.S. voted for and was instrumental in passing “U.N....

Kim Kardashian has angered fans by transforming herself into the Virgin Mary for a new Kimoji. The 36-year-old reality star unveiled the image on her Kimoji Instagram page on Thursday and her fans wasted no time in expressing their displeasure at the new emoji which they called 'disrespectful'. Making matters worse, the colorful image is animated so it blurs in a psychedelic fashion, in honor of 420 - also known as Weed Day.

The instructions laid out two months ago by the general of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Arturo Sosa Abascal, on “what Jesus really said” regarding marriage and divorce have not fallen on deaf ears.On the contrary, some among the Jesuits have been the first to apply them in full. To conclude that “once a marriage is dead” Jesus too would allow divorce today.The Jesuit who has drawn this conclusion from the premises set up by his superior general is not a nobody. He is Fr. Thomas Reese, former editor of the magazine of the New York Jesuits, “America,” and a...