Free Republic

Ufa, November 16, Interfax - Thousands of people may have been subjected to repression for Orthodox faith under Soviet rule, church researchers said. "The total number of victims in the years of the repression currently cannot be determined because the archives of the relevant agencies are not accessible to the public. However, church researchers believe the number of people who suffered for their faith may reach 500,000 people," Metropolitan of Ufa and Sterlitamak Nikon said at the 6th Tabyn Recitals entitled '1917-2017: Centennial Lessons.'The names of 1,774 saints have now been included in the Assembly of New Martyrs and Confessors...

Vatican City, Nov 16, 2016 / 11:10 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ahead of the next international exposition, to be held in Kazakhstan during the summer  of 2017, the Vatican  announced Wednesday its participation under the theme “Energy for the Common Good: Caring for our Common Home.”The Church is the only religious group to be formally present at the Expo, participating in its capacity as a sovereign state, which it has done since the first “world’s fair,” known as the “Great Exhibition” in London in 1851.In keeping with their unique position, the Vatican’s exhibit at the Expo will include both a...

Rome, Italy, Nov 16, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA).- When it comes to talking about women and their role in the Church, discussion tends to focus almost exclusively on getting ordained or being placed in high ranking, decision making positions.However, amid all the buzz, it's easy to get lost in the debate and miss the fact that the entire discussion is rotating around the wrong axis.In simply addressing ordination or curial positions – a line that reduces both women and the discussion about them to clericalism – everyone on both sides of the issue has overlooked that the question...

Vatican City, Nov 15, 2016 / 11:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A year after Pope Francis released his encyclical on the environment, Laudato si', the Vatican has stepped up its efforts in the recycling game by creating a new central waste collection point within Vatican City.Announced Nov. 14 by the State Governorate of Vatican City Events Coordination, the new system builds on recycling practices already in place.With the implementation of the new, more organized system, the leaders of the Vatican’s State Governorate said they hope that the small state “can in some way become a good example of a ‘green’ and...

Did you see the comments which Our Holy Father made about money, capitalism, etc?Fr. Robert Sirico of ACTON INSTITUTE is well situated to add some comments of his own about money, capitalism, etc., to build on what the Holy Father said.This originally appeared in the Italian publication Il Foglio. The translation was sent to me by the kind folks at ACTON INSTITUTE (with some little adjustments):The Pope and the Condemnation of Money. Father Robert Sirico shares his thoughts. Rome. “It certainly would be absurd to criminalize money if one’s sincere concern is the well-being of the poor. Lamenting the struggle...

The underground church movement in Iran is growing despite the Islamic regime's crackdown on Christians. Hundreds are being baptized in large ceremonies and people are praising Jesus for saving them from despair and suicide, according to Christian ministries working in the region. Elam Ministries reported earlier this week that more than 200 Iranians and Afghans were baptized in a large service just outside the Islamic Republic of Iran, with eight different Persian-speaking churches attending. The group said that 20 years ago, estimates put the number of believers in Iran at only 2,000–5,000 people, but new statistics are saying there could...

Action 1: If you live near Portland, Oregon, please join the 2nd protest in front of Sacramento Elementary school at: 11:30am on Wednesday, November 16. Address: 11400 NE Sacramento St, Portland, OR 97220 Action 2: If you do not live near Portland, please pray and if possible call or email the school to register your disapproval. (please be polite but firm in all communication) School Website contact page: Sacramento Elementary School Interim Principal, Kathleen Copeland: Kathleen_copland@parkrose.k12.or.us School Secretary, Charlena Sirokman: charlena_sirokman@parkrose.k12.or.us Phone: (503) 408-2800 Action 3: Help us fly America Needs Fatima volunteers to help organize a new protest in...

COMMENTARY The most conspicuous is the change of the name from the “Rite of Marriage” to the “Order of Celebrating Matrimony.” This new name is more in accord with the Latin original, but it also adds something to the title that is not found in the simple word “marriage.” Not only does “matrimony” convey greater solemnity than “marriage,” but the Latin matrimonium also means “the state of being a mother.” This new title, therefore, provides us with a significant opportunity for a much-needed catechesis on the very nature of holy matrimony. In the face of a secular culture that values...

KENTVILLE, Nova Scotia, November 14, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Rev. Brent Hawkes, Canada’s most celebrated homosexual activist minister, is in court for allegedly sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy in the 1970s. The Court in Kentville heard the first witness testify that he saw Hawkes performing oral-genital actions on a teenage male at the pastor’s Nova Scotia home about 40 years ago. Witness Douglas Aylward said he was 16 years old when a group of friends returned to Hawkes’ home after drinking at a local tavern. At one point, the minister pulled the teenager inside a small bathroom, told him he had...

This is my solution for the Christian Baker dilemma nationwide....Make a cake for everyone....but make your product policy to include a Chrisitan fish symbol somewhere...on top, in the filling or wherever......send Christ's message into all events. Re-Name and Re-Frame the way you market your cakes....Call your cakes "Special Event Cakes", rather than calling them wedding cakes Pray for everyone.....Call it a 'Fish Cake'...great way to have Christ be present. My friend who owns a hotel has the same dilemma....when he rents a room, he has no idea if the guest couple is an extra-marital affair, unmarried people, etc etc.....so sin...

A few days before the U.S. presidential election and at a time when European countries are hastily constructing barricades along their borders, Pope Francis said that nations should not be building walls, but bridges. “Mercy,” said the Pope, “is much more effective than walls.” He added that “all walls fall.” Well, yes. At the Last Trumpet we can expect all the walls to come tumbling down, but until then, walls will still prove useful and even necessary. Despite the Pope’s suggestion that walls are somehow un-Christian, they are certainly not un-Biblical. In several places, the Bible acknowledges the importance of...

Bama Players including Jalen Hurts taking a knee before the Miss State Game: Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts (2) kneels in prayer with his teammates before Alabama's SEC football game with Mississippi State, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com

Christian communities around the world face marginalization, imprisonment, torture and even death on a massive scale. Advocacy group Open Doors USA has reported that more than 7,100 Christians were killed for their faith in 2015 alone, making it the deadliest year for Christians in modern history. A new documentary from the University of Notre Dame and the Religious Freedom Institute looks in-depth at how these communities respond. Titled “Under Caesar’s Sword,” the 26-minute film chronicles the experiences of Christian communities in Turkey, India and other countries where their religious freedom is violated. The film features interviews with Christian families, refugees...

“Nov. 8 was a game changer – and not for our essential work.” So lamented husband and wife atheists Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-presidents of the so-called Freedom from Religion Foundation, which is based in Madison, Wisconsin and which claims 23,500 members nationwide. In fact, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth within the nation’s anti-God community in the wake of Donald Trump’s seemingly improbable election this past week as America’s next president. “Mr. Trump has made a number of statements,” decried David Silverman, president of American Atheists, “that has given millions of Americans who value constitutional...

The “Donald Trump/Mike Pence Prayer Vigil” and “Heroes and Nation Prayer Thread” have combined to form the AMERICAN PRAYER VIGIL prayer thread! Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14 Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind

Wednesday, November 09, 2016 ELECTION THANKSGIVING NOVENA ​ Day 1: St. Jude, Patron of​ Impossible ​C​auses, ​​we thank you for your intercession with our elections. Day 2: St. Frances Cabrini, you who tirelessly built the Kingdom of God in America,​ thank you for your intercession with our elections. Day 3: St. Thomas More, martyred for your uncompromising faith, ​thank you for your intercession with our elections. ​Day 4: St. Jose Sanchez del Rio, martyred for your child-like, yet fearless faith in Christ the King, ​thank you for your intercession for our elections. Day 5: St. Kateri Tekakwitha, who fled...

Moscow, November 11, Interfax - Russia will finance the renovation of Star Street that abuts the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said. "Russia will also finance the upgrade of Bethlehem's historical and religious centre: the renovation of Star Street abutting the Church of the Nativity. Among other things, this is about our civilizational responsibility for the fate of Christian shrines in Palestine," Medvedev said in an article published by Palestinian media. Moscow is grateful to the Palestinian leadership for its energetic assistance to reinstate and strengthen Russia's cultural and historical presence in the Holy...

By popular liberty, we mean democracy; by democracy, we mean the democratic form of government; by the democratic form of government, we mean that form of government which vests the sovereignty in the people as population, and which is administered by the people, either in person or by their delegates. By sustaining popular liberty, we mean, not the introduction or institution of democracy, but preserving it when and where it is already introduced, and securing its free, orderly, and wholesome action. By Catholicity, we mean the Roman Catholic Church, faith, morals, and worship. The thesis we propose to maintain is,...

Full verse of Proverbs 24:17 KJV Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth Just a reminder to me of how hard it is sometimes to follow Biblical teachings . . .

Despite a major Muslim protest at the Colosseum against the closure of illegal mosques, Rome police have continued shutting down so-called “garage mosques,” and now Muslims are threatening to invade Saint Peter’s Basilica to pray there. This week, authorities closed down another makeshift mosque in Rome for failure to meet building norms and for non-compliance with safety standards, the sixth such mosque-closing in the last months.In response, Muslims in Rome have threatened to invade the Vatican to pray in Saint Peter’s Basilica, which Italian media are calling Islamic “blackmail.”“As many as 300 people can pray here; where will we go...