Free Republic

A television presenter with Poland’s state broadcaster has apologised for the years of “shameful words” directed at LGBTQ+ people, in a moment hailed by a prominent rights campaigner as the closing of a chapter in Polish society. Bart Staszewski, an activist and film-maker, said the apology made to him live on air on Sunday showed the transformation of a broadcaster that served as a mouthpiece for the Law and Justice (PiS) party during its time in power. Looking directly into the camera, Szeląg said: “For many years in Poland, shameful words have been directed at numerous individuals because they chose...

[Catholic Caucus] Church must rethink its 'anachronistic' sexual ethic: priestRonaldo Zacharias, a moral theologian, feels Catholic theology not helping people integrate sexuality into their personhood Father Ronaldo Zacharias (left) is pictured with Pope Francis while attending the International Congress of Moral Theology from May 13-14, 2022, at the VaticanThe Catholic Church's "established, dogmatic models of the theological approach to sexuality have become anachronistic," a moral theologian told a conference on sexuality and culture at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome.Developing a new theological ethics of sexuality is "a task for the entire church...

With just five days to go until the government shuts down without a spending deal, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is at a crossroads. He can either shut down the government and possibly save his standing with the GOP hardliners threatening to oust him, or work with Democrats to pass a short-term spending bill and avert a government shutdown—potentially at the expense of his own speakership. Caught in the middle of the California Republican's political calculus are including hundreds of thousands of federal workers millions of Americans who would be impacted by even a short government shutdown, and scores of everyday...

Republican infighting reached new heights this week as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy engaged in a war of words with conservative hard-liners on his right flank. Republicans in the Senate watched their counterparts in the House with dismay as internal squabbles over spending put McCarthy’s future as speaker in doubt and increased the odds of a government shutdown at the end of the month. “It’s a shitshow in the House. It’s always a shitshow in the House,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said. “Eventually, what’s going to happen is a government shutdown, [and it] will not go well for us.” Rep. Steve...

Cardinal McElroy bans EWTN from San Diego diocese mediaSan Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy sharply criticized the Eternal Word Television Network, the conservative Catholic U.S. media conglomerate, in an interview with Spanish magazine Vida Nueva published on March 24.Vida Nueva asked McElroy about the decision of newly installed Bishop Fernando Prado of San Sebastián, Spain, to ban diocesan television from carrying content produced by EWTN. Prado wrote that he made the decision “trying to support the communion of the diocese with the Successor of Peter.”“I would not have EWTN on diocesan media either,” McElroy responded.“EWTN worries me because it represents a...

The Dalai Lama has apologised after footage showed him asking a boy if he wanted to suck the Tibetan spiritual leader's tongue. His office said he wanted to apologise to the child and his family "for the hurt his words may have caused". The video also shows the Dalai Lama kissing the child on his lips. "His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident," his office said.

Transgender Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine says that gender-affirming care for minors has the 'highest support' of the Biden administration. Levine has promised that medically changing children's gender will soon be normalized, praising the controversial medical intervention which has been banned in several states at the Pediatric Grand Rounds Session at Children's Medical Center in Hartford. Levine was invited to speak at the event about the Florida Parental Rights in Education law and the political implications of gender reassignment surgery taking place at children's hospitals. 'I think that it's not going to be politically advantageous. It wasn't particularly in...

Responding to critics of his January article on “radical inclusion“ for “LGBT people, women, and others in the Catholic Church,” Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego characterized “the moral tradition in the church that all sexual sins are grave matter” as a 17th-century innovation that is “jarringly inconsistent with the larger universe of Catholic moral teaching.” “For most of the history of the church, various gradations of objective wrong in the evaluation of sexual sins were present in the life of the church,” Cardinal McElroy wrote in an article published on March 2 in the Jesuit periodical America. “But in...

A couple of days ago, I noticed ministry friends of mine sharing videos of a well-known pastoral voice, Senior Pastor Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church located in Alpharetta, Georgia. After looking around for the video myself, I discovered the video was an excerpt from the Drive Conference at North Point in 2022. Many people are familiar with this pastor in Georgia. Some of his statements diminishing the authority of Scripture, and his callous jest at Christians who think it more authoritative, led those in the Church to surmise that his issues with biblical authority indicate a much more...

[Catholic Caucus] Jesuit Father James Martin Says Gay Marriage Is MarriageROME — Jesuit Father James Martin, an LGBT advocate, affirmed Saturday his belief that two men can enter into a real marriage that must be recognized as such.Responding to Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, who proposed that Pete Buttigieg’s same-sex marriage to his partner Chasten is not a true marriage but rather a “legal fiction,” Father Martin countered that “Pete Buttigieg is married.”

An education professor delivered a lecture in early January at a major mathematician meeting that described college math as “white” and “cisheteropatriarchal.” “Undergraduate Mathematics Education as a White, Cisheteropatriarchal Space and Opportunities for Structural Disruption to Advance Queer of Color Justice” was the full title of the lecture given by Luis Leyva, associate professor of mathematics education at the Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University. Leyva delivered the lecture Jan. 4 in Boston at the Joint Mathematics Meetings 2023. The summit is the “largest mathematics gathering in the world,” according to its website. “Cisheteropatriarchal” is a...

Paglia used charity funds to renovate apartment Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia diverted hundreds of thousands of euros allocated to support missionary and charitable works while he served as president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Paglia used much of the money to finance building projects in Rome, including the renovation of his personal apartment, The Pillar has learned.According to multiple independent sources with knowledge of the events, Archbishop Paglia confirmed in a 2015 memo to Holy See financial officials that hundreds of thousands of euros had been paid to an Italian construction contractor instead of going to missionary and charitable...

[Catholic Caucus] Head of John Paul II Institute: Same-sex couples shouldn’t be ‘deprived of God’s blessing’Monsignor Philippe Bordeyne continued his previous defence of blessings for individuals in same-sex unions, saying 'behind the request for a blessing, there is often the same thirst for inclusion.'VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The president of the “John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family” – gutted by Pope Francis in 2019 – has defended blessings for same-sex couples, arguing that “no one can be deprived of God’s blessing.”Monsignor Philippe Bordeyne issued his statement in a recent interview published by La Croix International,...

The first openly gay Republican elected to Congress said he won a Long Island House seat by running a “common sense” platform. George Santos noted the historic nature of his candidacy during an interview with the Post on Wednesday. “I kept my message true to the people,” he said. Santos will become the first openly gay Republican elected to the House — a handful of other candidates came out after they were elected. “It’s a different world and we’re better for it,” Santos said. *** Santos, 34, will succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi in the 3rd Congressional District that...

It was announced on Monday, October 10, that the late Queen had approved the appointment of The Very Rev. Dr. David Monteith, Dean of Leicester, as Dean of Canterbury. Dr Monteith is in a same-sex civil partnership with David Hamilton, a counselling therapist working in palliative and bereavement care. Will this not perplex and shock millions of faithful Anglicans across the globe? The cathedral is claimed by the Church of England Establishment to be the mother church of the Anglican Communion, an iconic landmark founded in 597 AD. It is a World Heritage Site unlike any other, having seen some...

St. Louis, Mo., Oct 16, 2022 / 12:50 pm (CNA). A well-known Chicago priest has been asked to step aside from ministry during an investigation into an allegation of sexual abuse against a minor. Father Michael Pfleger, senior pastor at St. Sabina parish and a well-known social activist, will live away from his parish while the allegation — which he denies — is investigated. The alleged abuse occurred more than 30 years ago, the archdiocese says. In an Oct. 15 letter, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago said Pfleger has “agreed to cooperate fully” with the request to step aside from...

West Hartford, CT — A 71-year-old West Hartford man was arrested after making a homophobic slur to a Home Depot cashier and referencing the Orlando, Florida, nightclub shooting on Wednesday, according to police. West Hartford Police responded to the Home Depot on New Park Avenue around 11:30 a.m. to speak with an employee regarding a report of a hostile customer. The employee told police he was talking to the customer about why he was wearing gloves at the register before it “quickly evolved into a harassing discussion about the employee's sexuality,” according to the police report. The employee told police...

"We're a nation of laws. Nobody's above the law. That's for darn sure," the South Carolina Republican told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “

MOSCOW. July 18 (Interfax) - Ukrainians will never accept Canada's decision to return a turbine for the Nord Stream gas pipeline to Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. "I talked today with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. We discussed our cooperation, and I thanked him, thanked Canada for support. But I also pointed out that the Ukrainians would never accept Canada's decision regarding a turbine for Nord Stream, which it decided to transfer to Germany essentially in violation of the sanction regime," Ukrainian media quoted Zelensky as saying in a video address on Sunday evening. Gazprom has officially addressed Siemens...

Tory deputy chief whip Chris Pincher has resigned from the government, as a newspaper alleged he groped two men at a private members' club. In his resignation letter, he told the PM he "drank far too much" and "embarrassed himself and other people". Witnesses told the BBC he was seen "extremely drunk" at the Carlton Club, the Conservative Party members club in London on Wednesday night. The BBC has approached Mr. Pincher for comment. A Downing Street source said as things stood he would face no further action from the party...