Free Republic

U.S. President Donald J. Trump evoked images of the Cold War during his speech in Warsaw’s Krasiński Square Thursday, and reminded listeners of one Pole whose tenacity helped lead to the defeat of an atheistic communist regime. “When the day came on June 2, 1979, and one million Poles gathered around Victory Square for their very first Mass with their Polish Pope, that day, every communist in Warsaw must have known that their oppressive system would soon come crashing down,” Trump said to applause. “They must have known it at the exact moment during Pope John Paul II’s sermon when...

Synod calls for government to ban practice aiming to change sexual orientation after hearing experiences of ‘spiritual abuse’ in emotional debateThe Church of England has called on the government to ban conversion therapy and has condemned the practice, which aims to change sexual orientation, as unethical and potentially harmful. At the end of an emotional debate in which two members of the C of E synod described their experiences as spiritual abuse, the church’s governing body overwhelmingly backed a motion saying the practice had “no place in the modern world”. Conversion therapy is usually described as an attempt to change...

A senior Church of England figure is calling for bishops to ditch their mitres because they symbolise a "culture of deference". Revd Ian Paul, a member of the Archbishops' Council, said the traditional hats were part of a "world of the past" and meant the bishops appeared elevated above the rest of the church. "The mitre has become a sign that 'this person is a bishop'. It's not a very good one because it looks daft and it doesn't signify anything in the Church of England. "It makes them distant and it makes them look silly," he told the Telegraph,...

uly 7, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican’s hand-picked pro-homosexual communications consultant Fr. James Martin said parish priests who secretly identify as homosexual should publicly “come out” to show their congregations “what a gay person is like and, incidentally, how gay people can live chastely.” Martin’s July 6 interview with CNN ironically comes about a week after news broke of the arrest of a Vatican gay-priest, Monsignor Luigi Capozzi, who frequently hosted cocaine-fueled homosexual orgies in a building right next to St. Peter’s Basilica. In the interview, the Jesuit priest and editor-at-large of America magazine spoke about his new pro-homosexual book...

Pope Francis declined to renew the appointment of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gerhard Cardinal Müller, on the very day—July 2, 2017—on which his five-year term came to an end. It is a gesture unprecedented in the Church’s recent history. In the last sixty years, prefects of the Church’s most important congregation (it has been called La Suprema) have retired due to age or health reasons, or have been called, in the case of Joseph Ratzinger, to become the pope. After a few reflections, I will examine the reason for this strange act.Though...

A Catholic leader in Nigeria is urging Christians to rise up and evangelize instead of complaining about alleged Islamization of the country, saying everybody has the right to preach their religious belief to other people. During his homily at a Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish on July 2, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, urged the faithful to "Christianize" Nigeria. He said nobody is planning to Islamize the country, and noted that Islamization is not possible unless the people embrace it, All Africa relayed. "So let nobody deceive you, I don't think there is anybody...

The highest numbers ever recorded are now training for the priesthood in the church's 261 eparchies, or dioceses.Russia's Orthodox church has reported a sharp rise in seminary admissions, with the highest numbers ever recorded now training for the priesthood in its 261 eparchies, or dioceses. The Interfax news agency said 1593 ordinands were expected to begin studies this summer, a 19 percent increase from 2016, while a further 827 young men would also join the church's preparatory course, or propaedeuticum, a quarter more than last year. It added that a total of 5877 seminarians were now preparing for ordination, a...

Archbishop Charles Chaput also stated that gay Catholics should also ‘live chastely’ in new rules issued after Pope Francis urged more acceptance of othersCatholics in Philadelphia who are divorced and civilly remarried will be welcome to accept Holy Communion – as long as they abstain from sex and live out their relationships like “brother and sister”. New guidelines published by the conservative archbishop of Philadelphia this month also called on priests within the archdiocese to help Catholics who are attracted to people of the same sex and “find chastity very difficult”, saying such individuals should be advised to frequently seek...

Workshop Opportunities On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, one of the activity choices you will have to make is to delve into a variety of topics offered in our workshop sessions. Download the workshop descriptions here. Each day there will be 2 opportunities: 2:15-3:30 p.m. and 3:45-5:00 p.m. As you read through these offerings, please note that some workshops are offered more than once. Tuesday, Aug. 8 2:15-3:30 p.m. 500th Anniversary of the Reformation Advocacy as Public Witness Another Century of Faithful Proclamation: Toward a Lutheran Lay Preaching Movement. Being a grounded leader in the midst of the storm. Biblical Storytelling...

Two Christian street preachers have been found not guilty of inciting public disorder at Bristol Crown Court. In February, Michael Stockwell and Michael Overd were convicted at Bristol Magistrates Court of an offence under the Crime and Disorder Act, after police claimed that the crowd around them became disorderly as a result of their preaching. They appealed to the Crown Court and after a 3 day hearing on Friday were found not guilty of religiously aggravated harassment. Barnabas Fund provided an expert witness, who demonstrated that the content of their preaching was largely quotations from the King James Bible (the...

At the closing of the largest meeting of North American Catholics in Orlando, Florida, attended by more than 3,000 people, the Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, Cardinal Joseph William Tobin CSsR released an interview with the newspaper La Croix in which he stresses the strength of Christian identity in the face of the crisis that many countries now live. "As followers of Jesus, we must be careful not to exclude others the climate of insecurity has caused an exaggerated patriotism in the United States. Everyone identifies himself first and foremost as an American rather than a disciple of Jesus. And...

Love doesn't always win. TRANSCRIPT This Vortex is coming to you from the Convocation of Catholic Leaders at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando Florida — lots to report but no real surprises. First, moments, and we do mean just moments, after our crew arrived and went into the convention area, we were approached by 57-year-old Robert Yates, the designated head of security for the U.S. Bishops' Conference, who asked me if I was Michael Voris and then said, "You have to leave." This was roughly 45 seconds after we walked into the area. Yates was of course under orders from...

Inspirational meditation, with a beautiful mourning dove & it's coo, over looking a scenic brook/river in Autumn.

Vatican City, Jul 2, 2017 / 09:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a brief interview given just hours after hearing that he would no longer be heading the Vatican's doctrine office, Cardinal Gerhard Müller said the decision was normal, and was not the result of conflict between him and Pope Francis. “There were no differences between me and Pope Francis,” Cardinal Müller told Allgemeine Zeitung, a regional German paper from Mainz. Müller spoke to the paper while in Mainz for his 50th high school reunion. He traveled to the city Friday after meeting with Pope Francis earlier that morning, receiving the...

The rumpus in Ahiara Diocese of the Catholic Church over appointment of a Bishop on Saturday heightened as over 3, 000 faithful of the diocese protested the choice of the Pope. The members, who converged on the Mater Ecclesiae cathedral, Mbaise in Imo State, in a protest rally, insisted on their total refusal of Bishop Peter Ebele Okpaleke. Pope Benedict XVI had in 2012, anointed and consecrated Bishop Okpaleke as the bishop of the diocese. However, the Laity Council as well as the priests in the diocese refused his appointment because he was not an indigene of the area. During...

A California bishop has written a letter instructing clergy and religious in the diocese to be compassionate and inclusive when it comes to pastoral care. a direct repudiation of last month’s alienating directives from an Illinois bishop. Bishop Patrick McGrath of San Jose sent the letter on June 29, 2017. While it doesn’t specifically mention Springfield, Illinois Bishop Thomas Paprocki’s decree that bars people in same-gender marriages from participation in certain forms of pastoral care, sacramental life, and leadership, from the language of the text, it seems this recent development was on McGrath’s mind . According to the blog Proper...

VATICAN CITY --Pope Francis called Sunday for the parents of a terminally ill British baby to be allowed to do everything possible to treat their 10-month-old son, amending the Vatican's previous position after conservatives complained. In a statement, the Vatican press office said Francis "is following with affection and sadness the case of little Charlie Gard and expresses his closeness to his parents. For this he prays that their wish to accompany and treat their child until the end is not neglected." The statement marked a shift from the views expressed by the head of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for...

TORBAY, Newfoundland, June 30, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) -- A Catholic priest helping to run a gay-Pride ‘multi-faith service’ says that the Holy Spirit could direct the Church under Pope Francis to change its teaching on marriage and sexuality to accept gay “marriage.” And, if the Holy Spirit did so, “it would be wrong to fight against it,” he said. “It's not like this was a teaching that was established in the time of Christ, or in the first three centuries, or by the Council of Nicea, or even by the Council of Trent,” said Fr. Paul Lundrigan, a pastor in active...

Socialism kills. Even when it doesn't need to. Because it wants to. I complained in 2015 that villains were leaking out of C.S. Lewis’ fiction and getting jobs at the Vatican. The latest escapee is mealy-mouthed John Wither, the death-dealing bureaucrat with a heart of styrofoam from That Hideous Strength. Now a real-life clone of Wither is leading the Vatican’s once-prophetic Pontifical Council for Life. You might remember Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, that Council’s new president, for his taste in religious art. As Catholic art historian Maureen Mullarkey documented, Paglia is best known for hiring a gay activist artist to decorate...

On November 18, Capuchin Father Solanus Casey will be beatified in Detroit, Michigan. The priest was very close to the sick and was highly sought-after throughout his life, in part because of the many physical healings attributed to his blessings and intercession. He was also a co-founder of Detroit's Capuchin Soup Kitchen in 1929.DETROIT, Michigan - Venerable Solanus Casey, an American-born Capuchin priest who died in 1957 known for his ability as a spiritual counselor, will be beatified at a November 18 Mass in Detroit, the local archdiocese announced Tuesday. “We are filled with joy at receiving the final date...