Free Republic

Two Chinese Christian pastors who are preparing to evangelize in North Korea say they are ready for whatever trials come, even death. According to ChristianToday.com, the two pastors are aware of the dangers they will face in North Korea, but they maintain committed to sharing the gospel with the North Koreans. North Korea is ranked as the number one worst country for Christian persecution by Open Doors World Watch List. One example of a Christian missionary facing horrendous violence in North Korea is the case of a Korean-Chinese church leader who evangelized in the country for 17 years before his...

As an old book editor, I’ve long felt the tension involved in the fact that most people don’t read a lot. They just don’t. I will admit that I’ve often wondered how a person can go through life and really not read much of anything. That sounds snobbish, but I don’t mean it to be. I genuinely wonder. I’ve “evolved” over the years in how I see all this. Twenty-odd years ago, I was miffed that people weren’t eager to read 400-page books. And I’m talking non-fiction! I absorbed information from books and newspapers, and it was like oxygen. Over...

It’s not often that a pope publicly takes his own bishops to the woodshed, accusing them of dropping the ball on something the pope himself put in their job description, but that’s in effect what happened on Saturday when Francis addressed implementation of his revisions to the annulment process at the two-year mark. As part of a broader reform of the Church’s pastoral approach to marriage and the family, Pope Francis in 2015 overhauled the rules for what are popularly known as “annulments,” meaning a declaration from a Church tribunal that a sacramental marriage never existed because one or more...

Cardinal Raymond Burke talks division, the End Times and what he would do if elected PopeCardinal Raymond Burke has been much in the news this past year. In November 2016, he and three other cardinals presented Pope Francis with the famous dubia – five questions regarding Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia. Then the American cardinal became embroiled in a power struggle within the Order of Malta, of which he is patron. This was followed by his surprise appointment as a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s highest court. He had been prefect...

Today as tensions between North Korea and the U.S. reach heights not seen since the 1950s, it is easy to forget that northern Korea used to be one of the Asian strongholds of Protestant Christianity. As Atlas Obscura recently explained, the city of Pyongyang became known to missionaries as the “Jerusalem of the East.” The city had great institutional strength for Protestantism, including Union Christian Hospital, Union Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and Union Christian College, the first four-year college anywhere in Korea. One hundred ten years ago, Pyongyang saw the outbreak of a massive revival, the high point of the season...

Excerpts from an interview conducted by Massimo Franco of Corriere della Sera:“There is a front of traditionalist groups, just as there is with the progressivists, that would like to see me as head of a movement against the Pope. But I will never do this. I have served the Church with love for 40 years as a priest, 16 years as a university professor of dogmatic theology and 10 years as a diocesan bishop. I believe in the unity of the Church and I will not allow anyone to exploit my negative experiences of recent months. Church authorities, on the...

A direct contradiction of Canon 915Church Militant is confirming that Pope Francis has officially approved the interpretation of Amoris Laetitia that opens Holy Communion to the divorced and civilly remarried in some instances, directly contradicting Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law, arguably making this interpretation binding on the consciences of the faithful. In a Papal Rescript granted on June 5, 2017 ex Audientia Sanctissimi to the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, and just now released by the Vatican in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the Holy Father has raised to the level of "authentic Magisterium" both the private...

The abusive deconstruction of the Mass began in the late 1960’s, introducing liturgical dancers and girl altar-boys to the Catholic Church. Organizations like Call to Action, FutureChurch, Pax Christi, and a host of others have done their utmost to tear down the Traditions of the Church, replacing them with neo-pagan practices. Now, an organization operating under the name “Association of U.S. Catholic Priests” (AUSCP) is actively working to complete the paganization of the Catholic Church by establishing Catholic parishes run by “ordained” deaconesses. Recent articles by the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and ChurchMilitant.com caused us to take notice of the...

In a November 25 address to participants in a course on annulment procedures, sponsored by the Roman Rota, Pope Francis said that the new streamlined procedure for annulments in special cases should “typically be concluded in one session.” The Pope stressed that these cases can only be decided by a diocesan bishop. “The streamlined process is not an option that the diocesan bishop can choose,” he said, “but rather an obligation that derives from his consecration and from the missio received. In these cases, the Pontiff explained, the bishop himself should hear the “absolute evidence of the facts proving the...

Beginning around the 6-minute mark, the current events part of the video discusses the North Korean missile test, the joining of Sudan in the Ezekiel alliance against Israel, and troubling days for Europe in the month of December as ISIS tries to make up for losses on the battlefield.Governments have a duty to protect their citizens. Amen and amen!A little history here, linking Clinton's help to North Korea to Obama's help to Iran: two presidents who still did not understand--or maybe they did--that not every country can be trusted to stand by what they promise.

Fr. Francesco Fragiacomo slammed by media for affirming true marriage"What sort of Church is this?!" These were the words of Fr. Francesco Fragiacomo, parish priest in the town of Staranzano, Italy in a striking letter directed to his local vicar. The letter comes many months after the priest objected to the gay civil union of a local scout leader, in charge of teaching Catholic youth. The controversy started in June, when scout leader Marco Di Just had a public gay civil union ceremony with his long-term boyfriend, a town councilor. The service was attended by Fr. Fragiacomo's parochial vicar, who,...

The Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday warned that churches must learn to live with a world in which families are no longer led only by married couples. Even Church of England schools are now filled with children from ‘myriad combinations’ of men, women and children, the Most Reverend Justin Welby said. In a speech that pointed at a fresh direction for the Church’s attitude towards marriage, the Archbishop said that ‘in the last 40 years there has been a great shift in the understanding and the reality of family life’. He threw his support behind the idea that different forms of...

The Pope in Mission Territory. But the Only One Talking About Jesus Is a Buddhist There was only one moment in which Jesus was named and his Gospel proclaimed, in the speeches on the first day of Pope Francis’s visit to Myanmar.Only that the one who spoke these words was not the pope, but the Burmese state counsellor and foreign minister Aung San Suu Kyi, who is of the Buddhist faith:"Jesus himself offers a 'manual' for this strategy of peacemaking in the Sermon on the Mount. The eight Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3-10) provide a portrait of the person we could...

An Inquiry into child sex abuse heard that priests should be forced to reveal Confessions in such casesBritish priests should be compelled to break the Seal of the Confessional in cases of child abuse, lawyers have told a national inquiry. Solicitor David Enright, representing former pupils at a Comboni missionary school, said it was a problem that “matters revealed in Confession, including child abuse, cannot be used in governance”. Richard Scorer, another lawyer representing victims, called for a “mandatory reporting law”, asking: “Why has the temptation to cover up abuse been particularly acute in organisations forming part of the Roman...

Bp. John Gaydos pushed LGBT agenda in Jefferson City dioceseEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (ChurchMilitant.com) - After a passionate battle over Bp. John Gaydos' commitment to a pro-gay policy, Catholics are hopeful for the diocese's vitality with the appointment of a new bishop. Announced Tuesday by Abp. Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bp. John Gaydos — one year earlier than the mandatory retirement age of 75. "Many of you may be surprised by the timing of the appointment of our new bishop," Bp. Gaydos said at a press conference on Tuesday. "I...

Moscow, November 22, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is alarmed by the rise of atheism in the West. "What we are seeing today, particularly in Western countries, is far more dreadful than what happened to religion in the Soviet Union: the rapid atheization, the expulsion of God from human life, disregard for the divine, the moral law," the patriarch said at a meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in Moscow. There was a time when atheism was being planted in the Soviet Union, but "the weakness of that atheization consisted in the fact that it...

Pope Benedict's 'prayer and his discreet and encouraging presence accompany us on our common journey,' Pope Francis saidThe theological work and papal teaching of retired Pope Benedict XVI “continue to be a living and precious heritage for the church,” Pope Francis said. On November 18, the Pope met with the winners of the 2017 Ratzinger Prize, named for the retired pope to honour those who make significant contributions to theology and culture. The three winners had met the day before with Pope Benedict in his residence in the Vatican gardens. Pope Francis told the group that Pope Benedict’s “prayer and...

DALLAS, Pennsylvania, November 20, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – A U.S. bishop is defending a local Catholic university’s invitation to a pro-homosexual priest to have him speak at its winter commencement in the face of almost 20,000 Catholics having signed a petition asking that the invitation be cancelled. Scranton Bishop Joseph C. Bambera is defending Jesuit homosexualist Fr. James Martin’s speaking engagement at Misericordia University’s winter commencement on December 17, saying that the priest’s latest book condoning homosexuality was “written with the full consent of his religious superiors and in conformity with Catholic Church publishing guidelines.” Martin “raises perspectives that challenge readers...

CATHOLICS COME HOME DISARMED BY LOVE, LED TO TRUTH Tyler Lynch, a young millennial convert, grew up as an intellectual Evangelical but found his way home to the Catholic faith through his studies. Hosted by Tom Peterson. CC TV-G Date Time Monday, Nov 27 11:00 PM Saturday, Dec 02 5:30 AM https://www.catholicscomehome.org/

Highlights Our Lady’s Fatima message as the countermeasure to cure today’s state of affairs. “At a time when the world has never needed more the clear and courageous witness of the Church, she appears not to know herself, her identity in Christ Who comes to us through the unbroken Apostolic Tradition,” Cardinal Raymond Burke said. “The urgent need of a new evangelization of the world, made possible by a prior new evangelization of the Church herself, has never been more urgent. The Message of Our Lady of Fatima has never been more timely.” ----- SNIP--------------- Briefly mentioning the Third Secret,...