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September 29, 2015, Tuesday — Kim and Francis “For there is not any thing secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden, that shall not be known and come to light.” —Luke 8:17“Holy Father, you visited the Little Sisters of the Poor and we were told that you wanted to show your support for them and their case in the courts. And, Holy Father, do you also support those individuals, including government officials, who say they cannot in good conscience, their own personal conscience, abide by some laws or discharge their duties as government officials, for example in issuing...

Moscow, September 30, Interfax - Russia should start combating ISIS militants without waiting for their infiltration into Russia, Kremlin administration chief Sergey Ivanov said. "The number of citizens of Russia and nationals of CIS member states who to our great regret join the ISIS terrorist organization is growing hourly rather than daily. The issue is about thousands of such Russians, not tens or hundreds," Ivanov told journalists after the Federation Council considered president's request to use Russian armed forces abroad. "Some of them have already returned to Russia, and it is easy to suggest - no need to be a...

and.com/compassion-the-refugee-crisis/' data-summary=''>While watching the movie The Good Lie about refugees from Sudan last weekend, I couldn’t help thinking about how vulnerable one must be as a refugee;  to have absolutely nothing, not even the basic necessities of life. It is not even to be dependent on another for these necessities, but to be looking for another to give them to you. It was poignant to see the depiction of Sudanese children surviving amidst death all around them, hunger, disease and unspeakable violence.This reflection was, of course, very relevant since I live in Europe and that is all we hear about...

A prominent politician in the Australian state of Tasmania has lodged a formal complaint against a pamphlet on marriage produced by the Catholic Church, saying that it causes “immeasurable harm” by arguing against acceptance of same-sex unions. Martine Delaney, the anti-discrimination commissioner of Tasmania’s state government, called for an investigation of the Australian bishops’ conference which issued Don’t Mess with Marriage. The pamphlet was distributed to 12,000 families with children in the state’s Catholic schools. Delaney charged that the publication denigrated the rights of homosexuals.

Sevastopol, September 28, Interfax - A holy cross was set up at the bottom of the Black Sea this Sunday on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross not far from the oldest in Crimea, St. George Monastery (Sevastopol). Before settling down the cross, there was a procession with the cross from St. Vladimir Cathedral in Khersones where the cross was kept. Among the participants were clerics and inspirers of the idea from the Materyye Bobry dive club and bikers from a local branch of the Nochnye Volki club, press service of the Sevastopol Deanery reports on Monday....

Jews are a contradictory people. Overall, achievement-oriented and very capitalistic, Jewish educational and self-employment statistics are among the highest for any religious group. They are also politically powerful; amounting to roughly 2 percent of the U.S. population – half their percentage a half century ago – Jews account for nine of 100 U.S. senators and 19 of 435 members of the House. Yet if Jews have achieved significant economic and political power, they have done so primarily as Democrats. Only one of the 28 Jews in Congress is a Republican – Lee Zeldin from New York’s Long Island – and...

Jeremiah 20:11,12 The Lord Stands Beside me like a Great Warrior, And Before Him, the Mighty, Awesome One, my Persecutors shall Stumble. They cannot Defeat me; they shall be Shamed and thoroughly Humiliated, And they shall have a Stigma upon them Forever. O Lord of Hosts, Who Knows those that are Righteous, And Examines the Deepest Thoughts of Hearts and Minds, Let me See Your Vengeance upon them. For I have Committed my Cause to you. Therefore, I will Sing Out in Thanksgiving to the Lord. Praise Him! For He Rescues the Life of the Needy from the Hands...

Did you see the Values Voter Summit straw poll results from the weekend? From The Hill: Sen. Ted Cruz won the Values Voter Summit straw poll for the third year in a row on Saturday, a strong showing of support from evangelical voters for his 2016 presidential bid. The firebrand Texas senator won a whopping 35 percent in the poll of summit-goers, ahead of runner-up Ben Carson’s 18 percent. That margin is significantly wider than last year, where he edged out Carson by just 5 percentage points. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.) took third with 14 percent, followed by Sen....

The Catholic Church is perceived to be anti-science. That perception is completely false, of course. The Church is one of the few institutions left that actually looks at human biology and acknowledges the facts. And I am not just talking about the fact that a new genetically distinct human organism is created when fertilization is complete. (In layman's terms, new life begins at conception.) In our hook-up culture, the Church also acknowledges that it is called the "reproductive" system not the "recreation" system for a reason. Biologically speaking, sex is not a recreational activity. The Church is also one of...

In Congress and at a parish school, at the United Nations and a city jail, Pope Francis spent a whirlwind U.S. visit bridging the realms of the disadvantaged and elite, trying to turn the attention of the mightiest nation on earth away from ideological battles and toward a world he said desperately needs help.

Mo Rocca, an openly gay TV reporter and comic, read from the Bible at Pope Francis' Mass at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday.

NEW YORK, September 26, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) - A scandal has erupted in the Big Apple after last night's Papal Mass at Madison Square Garden, where a famous open homosexual served as lector during Pope Francis' Mass. Mo Rocca, an American comedian, actor and journalist, well known for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and now a commentator for CBS, admitted his homosexuality during a podcast interview in 2011. The then 42-year-old Rocca spoke of his joy at being in New York at the site of the Stonewall Riots, when gay "marriage" was passed in New York state,...

More than three decades on from the events that shot him to fame, Lech Walesa, the co-founder of Solidarity, is enjoying himself as Poland’s ‘enfant terrible.’GDANSK – It was difficult to know whether Lech Walesa was cynical, joking or dead serious. Maybe all of the above. His direct approach to, and simplistic views of, a complicated international reality can embarrass the listener. Nevertheless, it is clear that the former president of the Polish Republic – a Nobel Prize laureate, who co-founded Solidarity, contributed to the collapse of the Soviet bloc and became an icon of liberty and freedom – can...

In a disturbing turn of events, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, a graduate of a Jesuit high school, reportedly used the appearance of Pope Francis in Philadelphia to push the gay agenda. Nutter had previously promised to ask the pope to "end judgment" of LGBT people by the church and then today, the mayor used his public appearance before hundreds of thousands of Catholics who gathered to see the pope to do just that. Speaking at Independence Hall before the pope, the mayor said "In America, everyone has rights...Our lesbian, gay and bisexual citizens continue to fight for equality." "Keep fighting...

<p>Pope Francis made a thinly-veiled swipe at Donald Trump as the Pontiff defended Latino immigrants who came to America at ‘great personal cost’ during a moving speech to 40,000 followers in Philadelphia.</p> <p>Francis called on migrants from Mexico and the rest of the world to “not feel discouraged by all the challenges and hardships” they face, saying they should never feel ashamed of their own traditions.</p>

To watch Ted Cruz speak at a gathering of religious conservatives in Washington Friday was to more fully grasp why the Republican senator from Texas could win the Iowa caucus next year. In two words: religious liberty. Cruz has only one rival in the Republican field — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — who raises the issue as aggressively. But between the two of them, Cruz has a reputation as a fighter, having tangled repeatedly with GOP leadership in Congress on a host of issues since he was elected in 2010. And the grassroots wants a brawler. Iowa conservatives, who...

When it comes to considering the arguments of newly resurgent Christian progressives, we hold these truths to be self-evident: Jesus was not a socialist, the Bible is not an economics textbook, and while scripture commands believers to help the poor, it also commands the poor to help themselves. As Pope Francis gains rock-star status on the economic left, Christians would do well to remember not just scripture, but the economic reality of recent world experience. This morning, the pope addressed Congress with relative restraint. Rather than decrying the perceived excesses of global capitalism — calling it, as he once...

A congressman stole the water glass Pope Francis was drinking out of during his address at the White House on Thursday. Representative Bob Brady, a devout Catholic and Democrat from Pennsylvania immediately made his way to the podium after Pope Francis finished speaking and grabbed the glass that was still filled with water. He then drank the water, gave some of the water to his wife Debra, and saved the rest for his grandchildren. Representative Brady took photos as well, and had his staff send them out to the press.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (John 1:1-5)

He cited an online post he had seen from a 17-year-old gay Catholic. "The church has a lot to say about what I'm not supposed to do," the youth wrote. "But ... I couldn't find any church document (about) what a gay person is supposed to do with his life. I feel abandoned by the church." He said the church teaches much about the beauty of marriage, but then tells its gay members they "can't have this wonderful thing."