Free Republic

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German bishops' conference (CNS) Are we witnessing the beginnings of an international campaign of defiance against the Catholic moral law?I begin with two apparently different questions, which are, however, closely related.Have the German bishops moved decisively towards an Anglican-style (or maybe perhaps a Gallican-style) secession from the doctrinal authority of Rome?Are we witnessing an international liberal-Catholic campaign towards the Church’s acceptance of same-sex marriage?Germany first.On July 30, the website of the German Bishops’ Conference reported that a woman who heads a Caritas Day Care Centre in Bavaria, had been asked in April to...

On July 16, 1945, the United States Army detonated the world’s first nuclear weapon in New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto desert. The test, code-named “Trinity,” was a success, unleashing an explosion with the energy of about 20 kilotons of TNT and beginning the nuclear age. Since then, nearly 2,000 nuclear tests have been performed. Most of these took place during the 1960s and 1970s. When the technology was new, tests were frequent and often spectacular, and they led to the development of newer, more deadly weapons. Since the 1990s, there have been efforts to limit the testing of nuclear weapons,...

Invading the North American mainland can be safely left in the realm of bad Hollywood films. And that's even today, with larger ships, jet cargo aircraft, and more people. While it makes for a great strategy, in the end, it's just a nonstarter. Why? The Germans had no forward base in the New World. If they had seized Iceland, any of the French protectorates in the Caribbean, or northern South America, then an invasion, while still a stretch, could have been conceivable. Without forward bases to deploy to and from, an invasion isn't going to happen.

'Joe Shute reveals how a son’s mission to honour his father uncovered one of the most dramatic - and touching - stories of the Second World War.'

"Let me explain first of all — this is Europe's problem much more than ours, OK?" Trump told CNN during a trip to Scotland. "And Europe isn't complaining as much as we are. But this is more of a Europe problem," Trump continued. "And when Europe comes to us and says, 'We want your help, we want your help,' but they're not really doing that. They're dealing with Russia, they're taking in the gas, they're taking in the oil — they're not really doing that. And you know, we're making a big deal out of it." "But why isn't Germany...

UPDATED: French farmers said on Monday they had blocked and turned back as many as 300 trucks importing food from Germany, the latest protest against a fall in food prices.Farmers set up checkpoints on six roads between Germany and France late on Sunday night and said they would continue their action until later Monday. "We've already held back between 200 and 300 lorries transporting products that are distorting competition for us," said Franck Sander, local head of the FNSEA farming union. "For example, we made a lorry carrying Babybel (cheese) turn back. Consumers think this is French but the cheese...

SCENE LAST NIGHT: Less than a mile or so from Chabad Lubavitch's HQ at 770 Eastern Parkway, around 80 Hillary for America supporters gathered at the home of former White House Jewish Liaison Jarrod Bernstein and Hildy Kuryk, currently communications director at Vogue, to hear from the Clinton campaign's senior advisors including manager Robby Mook, vice chairwoman Huma Abedin and finance director Dennis Chang. SPOTTED: Recent Chairman of the Conference of Presidents Bob Sugarman, Obama mega-bundler Sarah Kovner, Tusk Ventures' Seth London, Anya Hoerburger of Intermedia Partners, Samantha Maltzman, Jill Strauss, Samantha Vinograd of Goldman Sachs and formerly at office...

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With the turmoil in Greece proving once and for all that in the absence of a fiscal union, the EMU simply cannot function or if it does, it will be subject to episodic crises stemming from endemic differences of opinion on fiscal policy, outsiders could be forgiven for looking upon the currency experiment as an abject failure. Indeed, the struggle to secure a bridge loan for Athens last week underscored the degree to which non-euro countries are reluctant to put their taxpayers on the hook for problems which they believe are the result of an ill-fated attempt to unite fundamentally...

Suppose we had a war and Britain didn’t come? Which is sort of what happened in Syria when President Obama, on the advice of Samantha Power, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, declared that we must go in now, this afternoon. No time to discuss. Much as we had heard before in the maelstrom which is the Middle East. Surely, our allies, by which I think we mean Europe, the Atlantic Alliance or “the West,” led of course by our trusty sidekick, Britain, will fall in line. But overnight, the British Parliament voted to just say no. And we...

Leading anti-discrimination campaigners issued a stinging attack on Russia’s racism record on Saturday night and said England should boycott the 2018 World Cup if they qualify unless the situation improves. Brazilian striker Hulk, Russian football’s record signing, was pulled out of yesterday’s draw ceremony for what organisers said were ‘purely sporting reasons’ in order to play for Zenit St Petersburg. But just days earlier, Hulk said racism happens at ‘almost every game’ in the Russian league and was a genuine threat to the World Cup. Meanwhile, Ghanaian officials condemned the ‘vile racist abuse’ meted out to former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel...

IT WAS a winter night in 1854 when nine men broke into the building site of the Washington Monument, stole a slab of marble and—according to a later confession—heaved it into the Potomac river. The stone, which once belonged to the Temple of Concord in Rome, was a gift from Pope Pius IX. The attackers belonged to an anti-Catholic political movement, nicknamed “Know-Nothings” on account of their strict code of secrecy. Their movement considered Catholic immigrants a menace to the republic. At its peak, followers included dozens of congressmen, some governors and an ex-president. The Know-Nothings feared that the papal...

Members of the Berlin faction of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) voted against gay marriage in a poll on Friday, denting hopes the Chancellor’s staunch opposition could be swayed. The Berlin faction of the CDU announced on Friday that 45 percent of its members voted against gay marriage while 35 percent voted in support in a survey, newspaper Tagesspiegel reported. […] The recent passage of same-sex marriage in Ireland and a US Supreme Court decision in favour of gay marriage has put more pressure on Merkel and her conservative Union (CDU and Christian Social Union parties), who...

“(The EU) is part of the cornerstone of institutions built after World War Two that has made the world safer and more prosperous. “We want to make sure that the United Kingdom continues to have that influence,” Mr Obama told the BBC, reinforcing the importance Washington places on the UK remaining in the EU. He has previously acknowledged the need to try and “fix what is broken” with the EU before breaking the relationship. Mr Obama said David Cameron was an outstanding partner and praised the Government for committing earlier this month to Nato's defence spending pledge of two per...

I am alabaster in beauty ; the pearl in your crown , The voice of wisdom ; my words never fall to the ground , My majesty surrounds you for my heart you obey , My kingdom goes before you each and every day , There is no other that you serve , Your feet remain steady ; they never swerve , My heart is the path you joyfully anticipate , I AM your inheritance you pant for yet never need to wait , I AM your Shepherd ; your gateway , the pool of mercy you know , My...

Thousands of desperate migrants are camping out on roundabouts amid squalid camps overflowing with rubbish on the Greek holiday islands of Lesbos and Kos. Around 5,000 people have arrived in Lesbos in the past few days and many are forced to sleep outside amid broken glass and piles of rubble without access to water, shelter, toilets or medical care. Shocking images taken at the official Moria camp near the main town of Mitlini show filthy and overflowing latrines strewn with discarded plastic bottles and tents perched next to piles of rubbish.

The strong bias that many European media hold against Israel has been documented for decades by a great variety of analysts. One of the first to do so was The Jerusalem Post editor David Bar-Illan. He gave many examples of media prejudice in his book, Eye on the Media, published in 1983 and based on his columns in the daily. […] During an interview some ten years after the publication of his book, Bar-Illan told me that the BBC was “by far the worst offender when it comes to Israel.” He said that there were hundreds of examples of BBC...

Aldi and Lidl, Germany’s toughest discount food retailers, are invading the US. Both operate small, efficient no frill self serve supermarkets with a strong non-food assortment, and very low prices. Both have permanently changed the competitive landscape wherever they have gone. Lidl is about to open its U.S. headquarter in Arlington, Virginia and a distribution center in Alamance County, North Carolina. These are early steps in its U.S. invasion by this formidable company that operates about 11,000 stores in 26 countries throughout Europe. I am told that the company has already selected 80 locations in the Greater Washington, D.C. area...

When traveling through Europe accompanied by a copy of Martin Gilbert’s magisterial one-volume biography, “Churchill: A Life,” you cannot ignore the parallels between today and the 1930s. With the enemies of freedom prowling along on the periphery of civilization and the economy wobbling, the West once again finds itself at an existential crossroads. This time, there is no Winston Churchill to set us upon the road toward victory. Europe is different from when I first lived there in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was not as superficially wealthy then, although this time I rarely wandered far from where...

Closer ties between Iran and Germany will help bridge the gap between Europe and the entire Middle East, Iran’s president said as Iran and Germany announced plans to hold their first joint economic conference in a decade, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday. Hassan Rouhani, who met visiting German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, said he hopes Germany plays a “positive role” in improving relations between Iran and the EU, “as it played a positive role in nuclear talks.” […] But despite the optimism, Gabriel warned that obstacles still remain that could affect the pace of German investment in...