Free Republic

So, the inevitable has finally occurred: Pope Francis has speculated openly that President Donald Trump may turn out to be the next Adolf Hitler. I wish to note at the outset that I am not at all interested (at the moment) in defending the incoming American administration, or even in considering it directly. Let’s wonder instead about the characteristic way in which this Holy Father consistently tries to demonize others who might conceivably stand in the way of the accomplishment of his agenda. Since he has brought it up, let’s focus on this particular way--on Pope Francis playing the Nazi...

Bishop Edward J. Burns has been installed as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Dallas at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, taking the place of Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell. During Mass Burns asked for the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe and vowed to work side-by-side with his new flock. DALLAS — Seeking the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe and vowing to exhaust himself for Jesus Christ by working side-by-side with his new flock, Bishop Edward J. Burns was installed as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Dallas at the Cathedral Shrine of the...

TBILISI, Georgia - Police in Georgia have detained a high-profile priest who is suspected of plotting to poison a senior cleric, prosecutors said on Monday. The announcement comes after well-respected Rustavi 2 television channel reported about an attempt to poison Patriarch Ilia, head of the Georgian Orthodox Church. Irakli Shotadze, chief prosecutor in the former Soviet republic, told reporters on Monday that Father Georgi Mamaladze was arrested at the Tbilisi airport on Friday with cyanide in his suitcase. Mamaladze, chief of the property department of the Georgian Orthodox Church, was on his way to Germany where Ilia is undergoing hospital...

All sorts of rumors are now swirling about current events in the Church: Cardinal Burke has been cancelling engagements. Why?Cardinal Muller has resigned from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Was he forced or was it voluntary?A formal correction of the Pope has already been made in private and is about to become public.The Pope and his allies are intending to radically revamp the Novus Ordo Mass to make it even more amenable to Protestants and others.And these come against the background of significant public events and incidents: The official and public endorsement of a heretical understanding of...

ROME, February 13, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – In an odd note without explanation placed on the Vatican's daily press briefing today, the Council of Cardinals, a group of 10 Cardinals which Pope Francis has delegated to work with him on reform, has pledged allegiance to the Pope. “In relation to recent events, the Council of Cardinals pledges its full support for the Pope’s work, assuring him at the same time of its adhesion and loyalty to the figure of the Pope and to his Magisterium,” said the note. The statement comes in the wake of two public expressions of dissatisfaction or...

Pope Francis has never liked the Anglicans who become Catholic. He prefers that they stay where they are, and has said so. Meanwhile, however, he has received as a legacy from his predecessor, Benedict XVI, a special ordinariate set up in 2012, which takes care of none other than the faithful of the Unites States and Canada who have converted from Anglicanism.This ordinariate goes by the name of the Chair of Saint Peter and operates as an immense diocese headquartered in Houston, Texas. It is in charge of more than forty parishes. Its liturgies enshrine the Anglican tradition, which is...

On the far-left MSNBC cable television channel Sunday, Father James Martin said that Steve Bannon is a “radical traditionalist” opposing Pope Francis’s reforms and pining “for a time when the Church was purer.”In a segment titled “Steve Bannon vs. the Pope,” Martin suggested that Bannon uses Church teaching to promote “racist, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic sentiments.”Apparently, in Father Martin’s version of the gospel, it is wrong to oppose radical Islamists, but it is fine to bear false witness against a fellow Christian, running him down with baseless slanders and slurs.Bannon is not only an anti-Pope Francis, Martin alleged, “I would also...

The Tablet, the English Catholic "progressive" newspaper, has published an article by its Rome correspondent, Christopher Lamb, reporting concerns about Pope Francis becoming a "divisive" figure, and making a comparison with Pope St John XXIII, the "kind reformer": 'While Francis enjoys widespread popularity among ordinary Catholics, one Church source said he could be “alienating his core audience.” “John XXIII showed it was possible to be kind (sic) reformer,” the source explained. “There is a danger Francis is becoming divisive” ' These comments concluded Christopher Lamb's article on the pastiche of L’Osservatore Romano that was distributed in Rome last week satirically commenting...

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput told a radio talk show host Monday that he believes fewer than 25 percent of those working in the “mainstream … elite” media have religious faith, and expressed surprise at what he termed was media hostility to President Trump. “It’s just amazing to me how hostile the press is to everything the president does,” Chaput told the California-based Hugh Hewitt, a Catholic conservative. “I don’t want to be partisan in my comments here, but it seems to me if we are really serious about our common responsibilities, we support the president,” Chaput said, “whether we...

In his homily at a morning Mass on February 13, Pope Francis said that in the absence of a true sense of brotherhood, conflicts can fester and lead to destruction. The Pope spoke about how Cain allowed his resentments against Abel to grow until they led them to murder his brother. He said that in the same way, small complaints can grow and “end up destroying the bond of brotherhood.” The Pope said that these small conflicts can be visible “even among our episcopal colleagues.” He urged the faithful to fight against them, to preserve the sense of brotherhood. Pope:...

A top Chinese official has cautioned that the Beijing regime has not reached an agreement with the Vatican on the appointment of bishops, and dismissed any possibility that bishops of the “underground” Church will be recognized by the government. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Liu Bainian, the head of the Catholic Patriotic Association, said that the “underground” bishops (who have been recognized by the Holy See but not by the government) are “unfit for the [Communist] Party to work with.” Liu Bainian was reacting to an article in which Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong...

<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) - Thousands of people in Russia's second-largest city held competing demonstrations Sunday for and against the return of the renowned St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church.</p> <p>The cathedral, one of St. Petersburg's top tourist destinations, was seized by the state after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and became a museum. The city announced last month that it would be returned to church control.</p>

Cologne Cathedral is to introduce stringent new security measures amid ongoing security fears, with worshippers’ bags being searched and private security drafted in. Cathedral provost Gerd Bachner told a press conference on Saturday that people “must not be afraid” when they visit the building. “We have to do more to ensure safety,” the provost said. However, that personnel should still act “proportionately”. From 1 March, there will be a ban on bringing large suitcases, travel bags, and hiking bags into the cathedral. Kölnischer Rundschau also reports that a private security firm will join the traditional cathedral vergers in policing worshippers,...

The Pope faces criticisms, including over his handling of the abuse crisis.In Britain we are no strangers to political scandals, all of which have certain features in common. One such is the statement that the Prime Minister has “full confidence” in whoever the minister or MP might be who is in the eye of the storm. When the embattled politician hears that, he knows his days are numbered.Now something that sounds similar is happening in the Vatican. The council of cardinals have said that they give Pope Francis their “full support”. This public expression of support is quite unprecedented. One is left with...

On January 13, Robert González Nieves, archbishop of San Juan, revealed Pope Francis’ role in Barack Obama’s pardon of terrorist mastermind Oscar Lopez-Rivera. Speaking from the Cathedral of San Juan, Nieves announced that although the Holy Father made no public statement of his involvement, he had indeed worked behind the curtain on behalf of the unrepentant, bloody-handed Lopez-Rivera. The archbishop was pleased to say: “I know that there have been efforts made through diplomatic channels. The pope is very aware. We are grateful to the Holy Father for his support.” Papal complicity in this politically charged act received little notice...

“Jesus Christ was recklessly charitable,” a wise friar told me after hundreds of people lined up to use the restroom at a Dominican priory.There were not enough restrooms set up for the Women’s March that took place in Washington, DC, the day after the presidential inauguration. I found this out while visiting the Dominican priory on the southern side of the National Mall, where I saw many people from the March looking around for a restroom. Observing the desperation of those outside, some friars kindly offered to let a dozen marchers use the public restrooms in the priory. But,...

“It is the opinion of an Argentine official who works in the Vatican and who, logically out of fear, prefers not to be quoted: Bergoglio “is someone who above all knows how to infuse fear“. That is why he has an influence on the Holy See that surprises many. Although he painstakingly works to impress everyone with an air of sanctimoniousness, austere and mortified, he is a man of mentality of power. And always was.” One of the most curious aspects of this pontificate is the lack of curiosity about his past. I remember the day Benedict XVI was elected. After...

Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, has written a new book, released just a few days ago on February 8. The short, 30-page text is entitled, The Eighth Chapter of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia. Two facts — that it was printed by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana and that a press conference on its release has been scheduled tomorrow at the Vatican — gives the unmistakable impression, similar to the L’Osservatorio Romano publication of the Maltese bishops’ exhortation guidelines before it, that the text has implicit papal approval. It is unclear if any intended significance has been placed on...

In the shallow, liberal, Italian Catholic weekly Panorama we are informed about a booklet now out over the name of Card. Coccopalmerio, Prefect of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.  It is ballyhooed as “the response” to the Five Dubia of the Four “intransigent” Cardinals, who are dissenters because they are defending doctrine. Of course it can’t be that, can it?  The response to the Dubia should come from the Holy Father (to whom they were submitted) or from the CDF (whose Prefect has spoken unofficially about the issues but who hasn’t issued anything official).Beware. When you read Panorama your IQ is likely to...