Free Republic

There's been an uproar in Chile ever since Pope Francis called critics of a controversial Chilean bishop "dumb." Bishop Juan Barros Madrid, appointed by Pope Francis early this year to head the diocese of Osorno, Chile, has been dogged by controversy for allegedly covering up sex abuse by priest-friend Francisco Karadima 20 years ago. Madrid has repeatedly denied the charges, and Pope Francis came to his defense back in May when he called the protestors in Osorno "dumb" and "led by the nose by the leftists who orchestrated all of this." The video was obtained by a Chilean TV station...

Back in September, I told you about the proposed Synod rules, which were being revised to reduce transparency and keep the inner workings a secret. There would be no controversial mid-term report, theyÂ’d keep the discussion in small groups to avoid cross-pollination, and no final report or post-synodal exhortation was expected. In other words, those in control of the Synod were locking things down. They werenÂ’t going to be embarrassed again by such strong backlash against their heterodox agenda. And they were doing this in the knowledge that it would be Pope Francis, not the Synod fathers, who would make...

Yayo Grassi, left, and his partner, Iwan, meeting with Pope Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature on Sept. 23. (Marisa Marchitelli) Yayo Grassi’s phone rang in early September. “Is this Obdulio?” said the caller, using a nickname given to Grassi 50 years earlier by a high school teacher. “Who is this?” said Grassi, spooked. “Who else calls you ‘Obdulio’?” “Only one person,” Grassi said, “and I’m not going to talk until you identify yourself.” “This is Jorge Mario Bergoglio,” the pope said, using his given name, according to Grassi. “I would like to give you a hug when I go to...

Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki gave a outline of Robert Cardinal Sarah's intervention on his Polish language blog. Here is my summary of his entry as you will not be hearing or reading about this from the Holy See Press Office. Firstly, the Archbishop noted that his colleague, Archbishop Henry Hoser was deeply impressed with the theological and intellectual depth of Cardinal Sarah's intervention. Cardinal Sarah outlined two main, immediate global threats against humanity. A dictatorship of moral relativism that is especially reflected in gender ideology, and Islamic fanaticism, as reflected in the various jihadi movement, especially the islamic State. The Cardinal...

The Ordinary Synod on the Family moved much closer yesterday to a repudiation of the teachings of the Catholic Church on human sexuality. The hopes of faithful Catholics were raised on Monday by the reassertions of Catholic orthodoxy made in the relazione introduttiva of the General Relator of the Synod, Péter Cardinal Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest. Yesterday Erdő’s report and position were seriously undermined after an intervention of Pope Francis indicated to the synod fathers that the question of Holy Communion for the “divorced and remarried” was still open. Cardinal Erdő was also undermined by remarks made by synod fathers...

Around a hundred people gathered at the Pilgrim Centre “Santa Teresa Couderc” in Rome, for the international conference entitled Ways of Love: Snapshots of Catholic Encounters With LGBT People and Their Families, sponsored by the “Global Network of Rainbow Catholics”, a worldwide network of organisations that, in the name of “social justice”, demand inclusion and dignity for LGBT people and their families within the Catholic Church and society in general. The meeting was attended by Catholic pastoral leaders from around the world, who came together to share, through their stories, their pastoral approach and work in favour of LGBT people...

At a Vatican press conference on the synod yesterday, language attachés for the meeting highlighted a number of subjects that appeared to take precedent in the opening debates. To take the English language attaché, Father Thomas Rosica, as an example, he placed a special emphasis on the need to end “exclusionary language” saying a synod father, (or was it synod fathers?) said the Church should “embrace reality as it is and not be afraid of new and complex situations.” Father Rosica was particularly focused on “homosexuals or gay persons,” saying “we don’t pity gay persons, but we recognize them for...

If the biggest news out of day one at the Synod on Monday was the clear call to uphold Catholic teaching in the opening report by a leading Synod organizer, Cardinal Peter Erdo, the biggest news of day two may be the evident push-back against him. While Erdo strongly opposed Kasper’s Communion proposal, among other favored causes of the liberal faction, both of the Synod fathers at Tuesday’s Vatican press briefing – Cardinal Claudio Maria Celli and Canadian Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher – indicated in one way or another that allowing Communion for Catholics who have divorced and civilly remarried is...

The Motu Proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus whereby you reformed the procedures for the canonical process on the sacramental validity of marriages gives a valuable indication of the spirit in which we approach this phase of work. Without questioning the sacramental tradition of our Church or her doctrine on the indissolubility of marriage, you invite us to share our pastoral experiences and to better implement the paths of mercy by which the Lord invites those who so wish and who are able to enter a process of conversion with a view to (receiving) pardon. It appears the Holy Father would...

The old Latin phrase "in cauda venenum" came to mind when the Bear read the Pope's homily at the synod. In his storied career as a trial lawyer, the Bear learned that he was the best lawyer in the world as a prosecutor. He had to adjust his expectations as a defense lawyer. He knew that nearly all defense pre-trial motions would be denied by the court. The Bear noticed something else. The judge would always praise his argument at first, and only at the end pivot and give his reasons for denying the motion. This happened every time. The...

A follow-up on the procedural rigging created by Cardinal Baldisseri and Archbishop Forte (and the other Bergoglian strongmen) for the 2015 Synod. The Synod has officially opened today (right now, in fact, with its opening mass), and Xavier Rynne II explains in the Catholic Herald why the manipulation of this year's Synod is even worse than last year's - in fact, it is not a "synod" at all, barely a chat at tea time. More than one Synod father has described both the procedures and the final-report commission as “unacceptable.” ... Speeches (“interventions,” in Synod-speak) to the full assembly of...

So we bring to those of you who don't follow us on Twitter this news, for the record. And, also for the record, the fact that the Vatican is now, for the first time ever, using words such as "in a gay relationship" on an official website to describe a sexually active homosexual priest. And, one other nugget: According to the pope's spokesman, this priest being an active homosexual, that was not what got him fired from his numerous posts.

It is widely considered that the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, held in Rome last October, was manipulated by those controlling it in order to promote changes in the teachings of the Catholic Church on questions relating to human sexuality, marriage and the family. The evidence for such a view has been very ably set out by experienced Vatican correspondent Edward Pentin in his recent book The Rigging of a Vatican Synod? (a review of the book can be found here). An overview of events can also be found in Voice of the Family’s document The Extraordinary Synod on the...

From the moment it was announced, traditionalist Catholics knew the "Synod on the Family" would have little to do with the family and a great deal to do with advancing the continued subversion of the Church by a resurgent neo-Modernism operating according to what Msgr. Guido Pozzo, head of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, calls the "para-conciliar ideology." The very title of Synod 2014's final report, "The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization," was a dead giveaway: "pastoral challenges" is Modernist code for "sins we would like to accommodate." That is why this writer, for one,...

We have already posted a comprehensive article on the growing number of critiques against the Instrumentum Laboris that will guide this month's Synod of Bishops on the family. Impossible to excuse or explain away: How the heterodoxy of the Instrumentum Laboris for the Synod of 2015 has been exposed. In addition to our own extended critique published on June 25 and critiques from Raymond Cardinal Burke, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Roberto de Mattei, LifeSite News and Voice of the Family, our report also includes First Things' open letter to the Pope against the threat posed to Humanae Vitae by the Instrumentum...

"The absurdity of the Synod organisers, including the pope, simply writing final documents for a Synod weeks in advance of the bishops even arriving in Rome, seems to be the final message. They no longer feel any need to hide their intentions..." The “good bishops” are not going to help us at the Synod. This is something we have to get used to right now, the weekend before the show starts. Every day I see in commboxes around the internet hopeful exclamations like, “Oh, but Archbishop Whosits is going to stand up to them.” Or, “Cardinal Youknowwho,” or “that guy...

Homosexuality is per se outside of the topics of discussion at the Synod convened to discuss matters of the family. But in fact it was present in a powerful way in the debates themselves. According to the media hype, the dominant leanings in the Catholic world are for a radical change in the doctrine and practice of the Church, with the full acceptance of the practice of homosexuality and with the blessing of unions between persons of the same sex. But there are also others who want to take a new path with respect to the pastoral ministry to homosexuals...

I have been a lesbian activist since I was a teenager when I was expelled from my all-girls school for being a lesbian. Unlike some, I see no conflict between my sexual identity and my identity of faith. I attend Mass every Sunday. As I have watched Pope Francis since his arrival in America and especially in my own city, Philadelphia, the confluence of my lesbianism and my Catholicism has only been strengthened.

Mo Rocca, an openly gay TV reporter and comic, read from the Bible at Pope Francis' Mass at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday.

NEW YORK, September 26, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) - A scandal has erupted in the Big Apple after last night's Papal Mass at Madison Square Garden, where a famous open homosexual served as lector during Pope Francis' Mass. Mo Rocca, an American comedian, actor and journalist, well known for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and now a commentator for CBS, admitted his homosexuality during a podcast interview in 2011. The then 42-year-old Rocca spoke of his joy at being in New York at the site of the Stonewall Riots, when gay "marriage" was passed in New York state,...