Free Republic

The plans of the next president are personal to the officers of the Pentagon, who are threatening to quit if The Donald becomes commander-in-chief. Republican presidential candidate and business mogul Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to build up the U.S. military if elected president. But it is not clear he will have the experienced commanders within the ranks to do it. In the halls of the Pentagon, there is a different plan afoot for the Trump presidency. Here, officers are privately contemplating what they would do should Trump become their commander-in-chief. And more often than not, they proclaim they will...

Yesterday a friend sent me a photo of the sign at St. Columba-Brigid R. C. Church in Buffalo. The sign was so scandalous I had a hard time believing it was not photo-shopped. This morning I drove to the church to see for myself. With great sadness I report it is true. I snapped the above photos this morning. This pro-homosexual sign effectively mocks the Blessed Trinity, mocks the Hypostatic Union, mocks the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph – some of the most sacred components of our Catholic Faith. The Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost include the...

Drawing on 50 years of national and international dialogue, Lutherans and Catholics together have issued the "Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist," a unique ecumenical document that marks a pathway toward greater visible unity between Catholics and Lutherans. The October 30 release of the document comes on the eve of the anniversary of Martin Luther's posting the 95 Theses, which sparked the Protestant Reformation. "Pope Francis in his recent visit to the United States emphasized again and again the need for and importance of dialogue. This Declaration on the Way represents in concrete form an opportunity for Lutherans...

On September 29, Inside the Vatican and Liberty Counsel both announced that Pope Francis met privately with Kim Davis on September 24. Since the announcement, there has been a wide variety of reporting ranging from some who deny any meeting occurred to others who admit a meeting occurred but that Kim Davis was merely one of many in a sea of faces. The fact is, Kim Davis was invited to a private meeting with the Pope and did meet privately with him on the afternoon of September 24, during which meeting Pope Francis said to Kim, “I want to thank...

[The Argentinian War Machine with the German Engine is Stuck in the Mud] Antonio Socci ‘Libero’ “Is the audacious war-machine beginning to wane?” a Swiss Vatican reporter asks. Actually, the Argentinian war-machine with the German engine has gotten stuck in the mud at the Synod. Lately we have heard that German “engines” are being put on the scrap-heap plus the Argentinean bodywork is an old wreck of Peronism and rusty Liberation Theology. THE FIRST WEEK Well, the Synod opened with Cardinal Erdo’s report reaffirming Catholic Doctrine, demolishing Kasper’s heresies (and irritating Bergoglio). In addition, after the first week, one of...

On Tuesday, October 13, 2015, the Holy See Press Office held the daily press briefing for the Ordinary Synod on the Family. Normally, a small group of Synod Fathers are present to give a summary of the morning's efforts. The word on the street is the Synod Fathers are exhausted. They have 10 more days to go. Rwandan pastoral worker and consecrated laywoman Therese Nyirabukeye and Canadian bio-ethicist Moira McQueen were accompanied by the German abbot Jeremiah Schroeder. Father Federico Lombardi read a prepared text minimizing the importance of a letter sent to Pope Francis by a number of cardinals...

Buried within the article published today in the Catholic German newspaper Die Tagespost is the incredible news that helps to explain both the amazing way in which rules are changed by the hour at the 2015 Synod, and the constant leaks of threats and papal opinions. Every day a kind of miniature Shadow Synod meets at the Domus Sanctae Marthae with the Pope (including some Synod Fathers and some outside guests) to decide what steps should be taken at the Synod. Maybe not even the author realized how explosive the revelation he included nonchalantly in his piece below is: there...

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...