Free Republic

Catholics in China’s Henan province have been warned that venues will be closed if they do not adhere to the revised regulations on religious affairs. Ucanews.com reported that a clampdown on religious freedom has intensified in the province in recent months, with crosses removed from churches, minors banned from entering churches, church-run kindergartens closed and children expelled from Mass.Now Henan Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and Henan Catholic Administration Commission have jointly issued a circular, warning worshippers to take the new rules seriously.It warned people to follow “the principle of religion and education separation” and the revised regulations on religious affairs....

Toronto, Canada, Apr 12, 2018 / 03:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archdiocese of Toronto is joining other Canadian dioceses withholding funds from the international development agency sponsored by the Canadian bishops’ conference. The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CCODP) is an overseas development agency sponsored by the Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops. A recent investigation found that the agency has partnered with organizations upholding policies contradictory to Catholic Church teaching, particularly on matters of abortion, contraception and gender theory. “A recent review of CCODP partners, conducted by representatives of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has produced alarming...

The decision comes as France is considering legalizing euthanasia REIMS, France (ChurchMilitant.com) - French Doctors are removing nourishment and hydration for an unconscious man with paralysis despite the fact other hospitals are willing to care for him. Vincent Lambert, who was injured in a 2008 car crash which left him severely brain damaged in a coma as a quadriplegic, is receiving basic hydration and nutrition at the Sebastopol Hospital in Reims, France. His doctors and specialists have shown that he is breathing on his own, responding to stimuli and his condition is stable. But Lambert's physician, Dr. Vincent Sanchez, ruled...

Alfie Evans’ father has said he is knocking “on the Church’s door” asking for help to save his son from being euthanized, and is pleading that his “voice be brought to the Holy Father” so that Alfie can be transferred to “the Pope’s hospital” in Rome. In a letter sent on Sunday to the archbishop of Liverpool, Thomas Evans also confirmed that he and Alfie are both baptized Catholics despite the archdiocese saying that they weren’t. So far the archdiocese has made no comment on the case.   Leaked internal memo According to an internal memo from the archdiocese leaked...

Have you been burned by a false prophecy? Did you lose your faith when a promised healing never came? Have you had it with flaky teaching in the name of "new revelation"? If so, you are not alone. There are more Charismatic casualties than many of us would care to admit. But let me start here with an honest confession. My own experience in Pentecostal-Charismatic circles has been far more positive than negative. I have worked with the same leadership team for more than 20 years. I have had the privilege of serving with men and women of integrity all...

Comes after parents ask for their son's treatment abroadLONDON (ChurchMilitant.com) - The appeals court in London is allowing the hospital to pull the plug, contrary to the wishes of the parents of a sick British infant who want to treat their son abroad. On Monday, Lord Justice Andrew Moylan from the British Appeals Court dismissed the appeal, effectively handing down previous court rulings from the Supreme Court, European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the appeals court and the High Court in London regarding the case involving Alfie Evans, the 23-month-old child with a rare degenerative neurological condition. Moylan summed up...

The Arameans are a well-integrated Christian minority in the Netherlands. Originally they came from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Southern Turkey. Dutch newspaper ‘De Telegraaf’ interviewed several of them and talked about the civil war in Syria. Christian refugee Johnny Shabo says that the same group responsible for the civil war in the eighties is now responsible for more chaos. The Muslim brotherhood that attacked the regime of Assad’s father earlier, are now attacking Assad junior’s regime. Shabo says that the leaders of ISIS and Al Qaeda who are fighting in Syria are part of the Muslim brotherhood. For Christian Arameans...

Please join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for President Trump, Vice-President Pence, and for 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. (I John 5:14) Religion forum threads labeled "Prayer" are closed to debate of any kind.

ROME- Christian leaders around the world, particularly from the Middle East, are raising their voices in favor of an “end to the bloodshed in Syria” in light of a bombing carried out by the United States, the United Kingdom and France this weekend, targeting military compounds that host chemical weapons. Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill spoke on the phone on Saturday, according to TASS, the Russian news agency, worried about the latest developments in the Syrian war. “We have come forward with this initiative knowing that the Christians cannot remain on the sidelines seeing what is happening in...

MANCHESTER, England, April 13, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A UK politician will raise the case of Alfie Evans in the EU parliament in Strasbourg on Monday. Wajid Khan, an MEP for Manchester, wrote to Alfie's parents today to offer his support and ask permission to show the child's photograph during his speech. "My heart goes out to you and your family," he wrote. "I am devastated to read and watch the circumstances at the hospital." The MEP's support comes as Alfie's parents Thomas and Kate battle to remove their son from a children's hospital in Liverpool that has been empowered by...

A perceptive and precise narration of what happened yesterday in Syria. We are cautioned not to argue about politics, as that is not our concern as believers. Nothing can change prophecy. And Amir stresses that he is not criticizing anyone, just giving the facts. Our concern should be to bring as many unbelievers to Christ as we can before it is too late.

Two of the most dodgy words in contemporary religious discourse are “fundamentalism” and “dialogue”. They don’t mean what they seem to mean; in fact, they are often used as a way to gain power.To explain what I mean, consider that Marquette University, a Jesuit university, is holding a “Pride Prom” this weekend. When some outside the university angrily questioned what a Catholic university is doing sponsoring an LGBT dance, a university spokesman responded:Notice the rhetoric here. Stolarski is justifying a Catholic university holding a dance for LGBT people by claiming that the university is actually being faithful to Catholic teaching...

Moscow, April 13, Interfax - A prompt decision needs to be made on the burial of the remains of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin and on the transfer of the remains of Joseph Stalin to Georgia, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, said. "If I was asked, I would make this decision today, without waiting until tomorrow. Why torture Lenin's dead body, clean it constantly, keep this mummy? Who needs it? He is not a holy person. I am firmly convinced that Lenin's remains should be buried and Stalin's remains should be sent to his homeland, to Georgia," he said in...

* Marquette University has devoted an entire page on its website to challenging Dr. John McAdams, a conservative professor who has been suspended since 2014 for a post on his personal blog.* McAdams reported that a graduate student instructor had forbidden her students from discussing gay marriage in class, telling them it would be "homophobic" to express opposition to legalizing same-sex marriage.* The case has gone all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is slated to begin hearing oral arguments on April 19.Marquette University has launched a public relations blitz as the Wisconsin Supreme Court prepares to hear...

Andrew Cuomo forces Fidelis Care "into 'voluntarily' writing billion-dollar checks"ALBANY, N.Y. (ChurchMilitant.com) - The governor of New York is going after a Catholic charitable organization, forcing it to foot the bill for the state. In an op-ed published Monday in the Wall Street Journal, Bill Hammond, director of health policy at the Empire Center, criticizes the deal orchestrated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Good Friday between Fidelis Care, a Catholic nonprofit healthcare plan, and Centene Corporation, a leading government-sponsored healthcare company. "Gov. Andrew Cuomo has a disturbing new way to raise revenue: using government muscle to squeeze private organizations into...

The Vatican has arrested a priest and high-ranking diplomat on suspicion of possessing, viewing, and distributing child pornography. Monsignor Carlo Capella served in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps since 2004. Ontario police accuse him of uploading child porn while visiting a “place of worship” during the 2016 Christmas holiday, USA Today reports.  He was most recently stationed at the U.S. embassy in Washington, D.C., but was recalled by the Vatican after the State Department notified it of the porn charges on August 21, 2017. American officials had requested that the Vatican waive Capella’s diplomatic immunity so he could face prosecution in...

No Justice: Francis Kills A Flourishing Fraternity Pope Francis has definitively decided to dissolve the Fraternity of the Holy Apostles in Brussels, Belgium, a flourishing new rite group consisting of priests and seminarians, but hated by the anti-Catholic Brussels Cardinal Jozef De Kesel. De Kesel replaced in November 2015 the courageous and Catholic Archbishop André Léonard who had recognized the group, founded by Father Michel-Marie Zanotti- Sorkine, in 2013. It consisted of six priests and 23 seminarians while for years there was not a single newcomer in the French-speaking seminaries in Belgium. The parish run by the group in Brussels...

A young Potter's House Fort Worth church volunteer said she quit her role at the church Sunday after she was handcuffed, assaulted and physically removed from the church during a dispute with an elder, that was partially captured on video, about her appearing on the church's stage. In the recording of the incident, Audrey Stevenson, the 22-year-old former volunteer who attended the church led by Patrick E. Winfield II, is heard having a discussion with the church elder, identified as Rhonda Lewis, backstage. "So I want to be clear. On the stage, you are not allowed to do anything on...

Washington D.C., Apr 11, 2018 / 01:12 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced questions from lawmakers about his company’s censorship of Catholic content during his two-day congressional hearing following the revelation that millions of Facebook users’ personal data had been compromised. Zuckerberg apologized and said that the company “made a mistake” in blocking an advertisement for a Catholic theology degree advertisement by Franciscan University of Steubenville, when asked about it by Washington state Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers on the second day of questioning. The ad, which featured a crucifix, was rejected by Facebook over Easter on the grounds...

April 6, 2018 (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children) – A couple whose frozen embryos were destroyed in a storage tank malfunction could seek action for wrongful death – if a judge rules that an embryo is considered a life. This is just one of the dozens of lawsuits facing The University Hospitals Fertility Clinic in Cleveland, after the failure in early March of a cryopreservation tank containing approximately 4,000 eggs and embryos belonging to at least 950 families. The accidental destruction of these very young human beings is raising a host of ethical and legal questions, and highlighting...