Free Republic

Leftist media is politicizing the bishops’ meeting — not the other way around. And their almost every interpretation of the meeting is misguided and blatantly false.Last week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to advance a document that will discuss “Eucharistic coherence,” which Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila called an “opportunity for me and all bishops to recommit ourselves to an unapologetic preaching of Jesus Christ.” In the aftermath, corporate media once again proved themselves to be arbiters of hypocrisy, with headline after headline criticizing the church for allegedly politicizing the Eucharist.Among others, NPR reported “Bishops Vote to Rethink...

As Italy debates a draft law that would punish discrimination and incitement to violence against gay, lesbian and transgender people, here's a primer on what the bill says – and why it has caused a row with the Vatican. ... Submitted to the Italian government on June 17th, the note points out that in the Concordat of 1984 – a pact between Italy and the Holy See that regulates their relations – Italy agreed to recognise the Church’s “full liberty to develop its pastoral, educational and charitable mission”, including what it teaches and publishes, as well as Catholics’ freedom “to...

A new international sports team may have a supernatural boost: Vatican representatives announced last week that the city-state has launched a national track and field team. The group will start with about 60 members, pending official clearance and a health examination required by the Italian government, Father Melchor Jose Sanchez de Toca y Alameda, team president and the head of the Vatican’s sports department in the culture ministry, told Runner’s World. Those members range in age from 18 to 62, and have a variety of professions within the Vatican. “There’s all types of people—it cuts across the Vatican world. There...

Pope Francis delivered a Holy Thursday homily for a congregation of priests attending Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome in which he told them that they “can” tell adulterers to “go and sin no more,” but should not do it “with the legalistic tone of truth as definition.” Instead, he told them, they should do it with the “tone of truth as fidelity.” “I suggest that you meditate on three areas of priestly closeness where the words, ‘Do everything Jesus tells you,’ need to be heard—in a thousand different ways but with the same motherly tone—in the hearts of...

Top cardinal Pietro Parolin and two close associates of Pope Francis have sidestepped giving evidence in the controversial and increasingly embarrassing Vatican trial of five people accused of leaking classified Holy See documents. Vatican number two Parolin, fellow cardinal Santo Abril y Castello and Archbishop Konrad Krajewski had all been asked to give evidence on behalf of one of the accused, PR consultant Francesca Chaouqui. The three clerics invoked an article of the Vatican's penal code which allows them to decline to testify for professional reasons. Parolin said in a statement to the latest hearing in the case on Saturday...

"This is a Machiavellian Pope. His encyclical is a very good issue for us progressives.” ~Tom Hayden, 60s radical, former environmental advisor to Gov. Jerry Brown The echo chamber from the anarchists at Occupy Wall Street chanting ‘down with the 1%’ reverberates in the pontifical palaces at the Vatican. Although the ‘60s radicals are greying, they are still around wreaking havoc. In 2011, they dusted off their Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, armed with Molotov cocktails, drugs, and revolutionary rage, and headed for lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. Make no mistake, the Occupy Wall Street (Occupy) movement was fomented by socialists from...

A former commander of the Swiss Guard, the small force of men whose job it is to protect the pope, has said there is "a network of homosexuals" within the Vatican, the latest in a series of claims about gay priests working at the heart of the Roman Catholic church. Elmar Mäder, who was commandant of the Guard from 2002 until 2008, said his time at the heart of the Vatican had given him an insight into certain aspects of life there. "I cannot refute the claim that there is a network of homosexuals. My experiences would indicate the existence...

The UN has invited Iran to the Peace Conference on Syria in Geneva on January 22 . It was confirmed last night by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki -moon, who stressed the potential positive role of Tehran in the future transition in Syria. The decision, however, has been challenged by the anti-Assad opposition that threatens a boycott of the conference, as well as by the United States : they have set support for points set out in Geneva in 2012 as a condition for participation. If Iran were to accept more than 40 countries will be present at the...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday that he had invited Iran to attend this week's Syria peace conference in Switzerland, also known as Geneva II. "I have decided to issue some additional invitations to the one-day gathering in Montreux. They are: Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Greece, the Holy See, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, and Iran," Ban told reporters here at a press conference. "I believe the expanded international presence on that day will be an important and useful show of solidarity in advance of the hard work that the Syrian government and opposition delegations will begin...

Steps are reportedly being taken to relocate the U.S. embassy to the Holy See onto the grounds of the American embassy to Italy. <-- Advertising --> Although no official decision has been announced, the move appears likely and is being justified on grounds of enhanced security.Previous American ambassadors to the Holy See contacted by the National Catholic Reporter have said they are opposed to the plans.Ambassador James Nicholson, who served as ambassador during the presidency of George W. Bush, said the proposed relocation would be a “massive downgrade” that would turn the embassy into “a stepchild of the embassy to...

British parliamentarians have concluded their three-day visit to the Holy See. Eleven members of the All Party Parliament Group, accompanied by the chaplain to Parliament Canon Pat Browne, met with the Pope on Wednesday, after the General Audience. MP Edward Leigh declared after the three day visit that “The Holy See is an enormous soft power, it represent a religion of 1.2 billion people and so the British government and the British parliament is very interested in what the Vatican says.” The Group, made up of representatives of both House of Parliament and all the major political parties, has encountered...

These links will take you to several selections for Christmas as well as many other Celebrations and events: Hymns for the Celebrations of the Liturgical Year, Pontifical Musical Chorus of the Sistine Chapel  Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra - L'Offerta Musicale in MP3 Please enjoy and share with friends :-)Merry Christmas!

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The Vatican won a major victory Monday in an Oregon federal courtroom, where a judge ruled that the Holy See is not the employer of molester priests. The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman ends a six-year question in the decade-old case and could shield the Vatican from possible monetary damages. The original lawsuit was filed in 2002 by a Seattle-area man who said the Rev. Andrew Ronan repeatedly molested him in the late 1960s. The plaintiff tried to show that Ronan and all priests are employees of the Vatican, which is therefore liable...

February 23, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Vatican has issued an ultimatum to a Peruvian Catholic university known for its deviation from Church teaching, giving it a deadline of April 8 to change its statutes to bring it into conformity with Church law. Although the Holy See’s communique on the matter, displayed on its website, does not state what the consequences would be should the institution fail to comply, various Peruvian publications and broadcasters are reporting that the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) would be required to jettison the words “Pontifical” and “Catholic” from its name. The ultimatum follows months...

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican is taking a leap into the world of new media next week with the launch of a news information portal that Pope Benedict XVI himself may put online with a papal click. Vatican officials said Saturday that Benedict has been following the development of the portal — http://www.news.va — .. a one-stop-shop for Holy See news. The portal is being launched Wednesday, ..

MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- U.S. and British diplomats discussed exerting pressure on Pope Pius XII to be silent about the Nazi deportations of Hungarian Jews, according to newly discovered documentation. The British feared that the wartime pope might make a "radio appeal on behalf of the Jews in Hungary" and that in the course of his broadcast would "also criticize what the Russians are doing in occupied territory." Sir Francis D'Arcy Osborne, the British ambassador to the Vatican, told an American diplomat that "something should be done to prevail upon the pope not to do this as it will have...

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDICTS HOLY SEE May 13, 2011 Catholic League president Bill Donohue responds to Amnesty International's 2011 Annual Report where it said the Holy See "did not sufficiently comply with its international obligations relating to the protection of children": Amnesty International's 2011 Annual Report lists not a single instance of a human rights violation that took place anywhere in the world in 2010 under the auspices of the Holy See, yet it still managed to condemn its human rights record. So what's going on? The Annual Report indicts the Holy See for "child sexual abuse committed by members of...

Easter and Christmas should not be discouraged by fear of offending others  Christians in public roles should be allowed to act according to conscience Lack of ethical foundation resulted in financial crisis, he tells politicians Applause for Pope as he continues without incident despite terror threatThe Pope issued a clarion call to defend Christianity last night, saying Christmas was at risk of being struck from the calendar.In a strongly worded speech delivered in Parliament, Benedict XVI bluntly told politicians not to ‘silence’ religion and discourage public celebration of its most important festivals.And in a thinly veiled attack on controversial...

Relations Upgraded to Full Diplomatic TiesVATICAN CITY, JULY 27, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Archbishop Antonio Mennini, until now the Pope's representative to the Russian Federation, is now the Holy See's first apostolic nuncio to the country, the Vatican is reporting. The archbishop presented his letters of credence to Foreign Affairs Minister Sergej Lavrov on July 15 in a ceremony that was followed by a "cordial" meeting, reported the Vatican press office. Last December, Benedict XVI and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to upgrade relations between the two sides to full diplomatic ties, which raises the level of representation to apostolic nuncio and...

Benedictus XVIJoseph Ratzinger  Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music - The Musical Offering in MP3 The Musical Offering A selection of sacred and classical music in Mp3 played by teachers and students of Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music