Free Republic

German Pegida Priest Banned From Representing Church 21 January 2015 A Catholic priest in Germany has been banned from giving sermons or representing the church after speaking at a Pegida rally. Father Paul Spaetling, from the Diocese of Munster, told the rally that Europe had spent over a thousand years fighting against Islam. He said that he did not agree that Islam had a place in the country, which the German chancellor had said.

Archbishop Georg Gänswein says retired pope is not working behind-the-scenes with conservativesROME — A close aide to emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has denied the former pontiff is playing any behind-the-scenes role over the issue of Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, calling such reports a “pure invention.” The aide also dismissed suggestions that Benedict is a sort of “anti-pope” for conservatives upset with Francis, calling it “stupid and irresponsible,” and labeling such rumors a form of “theological arson.” Archbishop Georg Gänswein, prefect of the papal household and personal secretary of emeritus pope Benedict XVI, made the comments in an...

The following address—which Robert P. George has called “the greatest pro-life speech ever given”—was delivered on July 5 at the close of the 2008 convention of the National Right to Life Committee. Once again this year, the National Right to Life convention is partly a reunion of veterans from battles past and partly a youth rally of those recruited for the battles to come. And that is just what it should be. The pro-life movement that began in the twentieth century laid the foundation for the pro-life movement of the twenty-first century. We have been at this a long time,...

FULL TITLE: ‘Glamorization of promiscuity’ must end before abortion can, Cardinal O’Malley tells 11,000 at March for Life vigil Abortion will not end until the “glamorization of promiscuity” is reversed, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley told an overflow crowd of over 11,000 pro-life pilgrims attending the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Capitol’s Catholic Basilica Wednesday evening. “People who favor legal abortion claim they want to reduce the number of abortions. One of the logical ways to reduce the number of abortions would be to discourage the promiscuous behavior that is rampant in our culture,” he said in his homily...

Another sacrilegious scandal at a big papal pep really--this time in Manila. Why is the Vicar treated like God, while God is treated like a bag of Doritos? What part does the institutionalized abuse of Communion in the hand play in this ongoing outrage?

Featured Term selected at random:OMOPHORION A vestment of the Greek Rite corresponding to the pallium in the Roman Church. It is abroad band often of silk or velvet, ornamented with crosses, worn around the neck and over the shoulders and breast. Its is worn by Byzantine, Armenian, and Coptic bishops and archbishops. Originally made of wool, it symbolizes the duties of bishops as shepherds of their people. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Many Have Reduced Love to Kindness, and Kindness to Mere Affirmation – A Further Reflection on the Moral Troubles of our Time By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn yesterday’s post, there was a critique of a flawed moral perspective that sets up a false dichotomy between mercy  and moral teaching, and between love and the law. As noted yesterday, well-ordered love and mercy must be rooted in truth. The greatest mercy is to keep people out of Hell and to save them from all the suffering that comes from sin.Jesus exhibits this in His person, for He who is love insists on moral...

Pro-lifers must overcome indifference with love, says Cardinal O'Malley at March for Life vigilCardinal Seán O’Malley has said that indifference is the “greatest enemy” of the pro-life movement, adding that “to change people’s hearts we must love them”. The cardinal was speaking at the March for Life vigil Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. He cited Pope Francis’s words at Lampedusa about the “globalisation of indifference”, and added that the pro-life movement was “about overcoming that indifference, indifference to the suffering of a woman in a difficult pregnancy, indifference to the voiceless child who is...

A Catholic priest in Germany has been banned from giving sermons or representing the church after speaking at a Pegida rally. Father Paul Spaetling, from the Diocese of Munster, told the rally that Europe had spent over a thousand years fighting against Islam. He said that he did not agree that Islam had a place in the country, which the German chancellor had said.

On Aug. 6, 2014, after evening Mass on the feast of the Transfiguration, the Christian residents of Qaraqosh, Iraq, were threatened by the Islamic State to convert to Islam, pay a tax or be killed. That prompted the exodus of the city's 50,000 Christians, who fled to Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Qaraqosh, a bed of Christianity since the first century, was totally Syriac Catholic. Syriac-Catholic Bishop Barnaba Yousif Habash of the Syrian Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance, based in Bayonne, N.J., is a native of Qaroqosh. He describes...

January 22, 2015Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children    Reading 1 Heb 7:25—8:6 Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him,since he lives forever to make intercession for them. It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens.He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day,first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself.For the law appoints men subject to...

The recent and simultaneous canonization of not one, but two former popes brings to mind the rich and varied traditions surrounding the history of different Christian saints. Today, the process to create a saint is complicated with various stages, each requiring a certain amount of time, along with the need for particular forms of evidence which provide proof of miracles. The Pope can amend the process, if he so chooses, but the general pattern remains the same. In some cases the gap between the life of the individual and his or her canonization could be quite lengthy. Saint Joan of...

On Tuesday in the case of Holt v. Hobbs, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of a Muslim inmate in an Arkansas state prison who sought to wear a half-inch beard in accordance with his faith. “The decision in Holt v. Hobbs is a great victory for religious freedom,” said Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, “because it underscores that each and every person enjoys this basic human right.” “You don’t lose it if you subscribe to a minority faith, or even if you enter prison —...

A lamb is wreathed in flowers during a special Mass for the Feast of St. Agnes at the Basilica of St. Agnes Outside the Wall on Jan. 21, 2014. Credit: Paul Badde/CNA. Vatican City, Jan 21, 2015 / 01:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis observed the feast of St. Agnes with the time-honored custom of the blessing of lambs, whose wool will be used to make stoles worn by archbishops and known as palliums. The two small lambs, traditionally less than a year old, were placed in baskets and carried to the Casa Santa Marta on Wednesday where they received...

Some words spring up as the fashion “du jour” and linger longer than others. There are annoyances like the overwrought “awesome” and now the incessant “iconic” which betray a weak understanding of the meaning of those words and a limited vocabulary. A little more irritating a few years ago was “gravitas” which appeared in an election campaign and still is used by pundits unable to identify its declension.On a somewhat loftier plane is misuse of “prophecy” to mean predicting. Columnists, statesmen, stock analysts are “prophetic.” True, Aquinas includes prediction as an aspect of what prophets do, but not exclusively...

Featured Term selected at random:CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL A historic monument of Catholic England, in County Kent, it is the burial place of some of the Church's greatest leaders. At first it was forbidden to bury within the cathedral precincts. The rule was changed when St. Cuthbert (d. 687), arranging his own burial, ordained that all archbishops could be buried within their own cathedral churches. St. Dunstan, St. Alphege, St. Anselm, St. Odo have their tombs within its walls. But the saint who is most responsible for Canterbury's prestige is St. Thomas à Becket, who was murdered by the agents of King...

A Lowly Pastor Comments on Troubling Developments in the “Divorce Debate” By: Msgr. Charles PopeIt is sadly evident that the Church is currently divided into two camps over the question of divorce and remarriage, this in the aftermath (confusion) of the recent synod in Rome and in the rampup to the synod this coming October. Please pray a lot!If you read the blog here often, you know that I am strongly opposed to any notions that would seek to set aside what I regard as the ipsissima verba Jesu (the very words of Jesus) in this matter, words that are,...

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The numbers don’t lie. Once again, there are more Catholics in Congress than members of any other religious denomination. And the numbers stay strong term after term. Even though Catholics account for only about 22 percent of the U.S. population — admittedly the largest body of religious belief in the country — they make up 31 percent of the House and the Senate. If you’re looking for differences between the two major parties, there’s indeed some — but Catholics are still overrepresented in both the Democratic and Republican parties. There are 83 Catholics among the 234 Democrats...

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a Louisiana ruling that would force a Catholic priest to disclose what he heard in a sacramental confession or face imprisonment. Last May, the Supreme Court of Louisiana ruled that the confessional seal does not apply if the penitent waives the right to confidentiality. The Diocese of Baton Rouge appealed the decision, saying that violation of the confessional seal “cuts to the core of the Catholic faith.” By declining to hear the appeal, the US Supreme Court let the Louisiana decision stand. The case involves a lawsuit brought by...

January 21, 2015Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr  Reading 1 Heb 7:1-3, 15-17 Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High,met Abraham as he returned from his defeat of the kingsand blessed him.And Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything.His name first means righteous king,and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace.Without father, mother, or ancestry,without beginning of days or end of life,thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. It is even more obvious if another priest is raised upafter the likeness of Melchizedek, who...