Free Republic

Predictably enough, the Vatican has downplayed the conferral of the title “Dame in the Pontifical Order of St Gregory the Great” on Lilianne Ploumen, a Dutch politician who is notorious for her international promotion of abortion, including the raising of several hundred million dollars for “She Decides,” the organization she founded to help insure the worldwide availability of abortion following President Trump’s restoration of the Mexico City Policy banning any federal funding of abortion in other countries. While Ploumen has — also predictably enough — touted the award as an endorsement of her “work,” the Vatican, as the Catholic Herald...

(Screenshot: Facebook/Anchored North)Emily Thomes in a Facebook video posted on December 28, 2017, talking about her journey.A Christian speaker and blogger behind a viral Facebook video, detailing how she left behind homosexuality, is expecting a baby with her husband. The ministry behind the video has, meanwhile, been responding to death threats as well as media accusations that the churchgoer has been "brainwashed."Anchored North's video about Emily Thomes has now been viewed over 2.1 million times since it was posted late in December, prompting significant controversy and disturbing death threats.One Facebook user wrote last week to the ministry that he wishes he could "come...

It is time to take the last step, the final step in the journey of Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr. and literally hundreds of thousands of other brave souls. This final step is to at last accept the truth; there is no such thing as race. It is a failed scientific theory from hundreds of years ago. It is a false concept that is only kept alive by our keeping it alive. There is no race gene. There is no White race. No Black race. Asian, Hispanic, all an illusion.

Proverb 17 (NKJV) The LORD Tests Hearts 01 Better is a dry morsel with quietness, 00 Than a house full of feasting with strife. 02 A wise servant will rule over a son who causes shame, 00 And will share an inheritance among the brothers. 03 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, 00 But the LORD tests the hearts. 04 An evildoer gives heed to false lips; 00 A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue. 05 He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker; 00 He who is glad at calamity will not...

Concern and controversy were stirred up when leading abortion activist Liliane Ploumen displayed on Dutch television a pontifical honor bestowed on her during a visit to the Vatican in 2017.   Ploumen boasted that she had received a “high distinction from the Vatican, from the Pope,” in a video broadcast. Reception into the Order of St. Gregory is known to be given for “meritorious service to the Church,” so Ploumen has legitimate boasting rights. Reason for concern In 2017, Ploumen launched SheDecides, which, according to the movement’s website, is a “global movement” meant to “support the fundamental rights of girls...

In a January 16, 2018 “Commentary” for “The National Catholic Reporter,” Creighton University Professor Todd A. Salzman, chair of the Department of Theology at Creighton, and Michael G. Lawler, professor emeritus, disagreed with the decision by certain US Bishops to possibly deny a Catholic funeral for someone who died while in a same-sex “married” relationship. They single out Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield for specific criticism. From of a “Decree” issued by Paprocki, Salzman and Lawler are especially troubled with the following directive: Unless they have given some signs of repentance before their death, deceased persons who...

Fr. Gerald Murray, a regular commentator on EWTN’s news program The World Over, told show host Raymond Arroyo in a recent interview that the infamous chapter 8 of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia is in “error,” and that he hopes it will be “withdrawn” by the pope.  Murray, a canon lawyer, also condemned the interpretation of Amoris laetitia published by the Argentinean bishops of the Pastoral Region of Buenos Aires last year, and recently republished by the Pope himself in the official Acts of the Apostolic See, calling it an “overthrow of the moral order” and calling for its...

"I can not help but express the pain and the shame I feel at the irreparable damage caused to children by ministers of the Church." It is fair to ask for forgiveness and support the victims with all their strength. The first words of Pope Francis in Chile were a request for forgiveness for clerical pedophilia , and a commitment to those who have suffered at the hands of predators clad in authority. Is it enough for the victims? It seems not. And much more after the organizers of the papal visit to Chile did not leave space for a...

Proverb 16 (NKJV) Wisdom Is Better Than Gold 01 The preparations of the heart belong to man, 00 But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. 02 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, 00 But the LORD weighs the spirits. 03 Commit your works to the LORD, 00 And your thoughts will be established. 04 The LORD has made all for Himself, 00 Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom. 05 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; 00 Though they join forces, none will go...

A few days before the arrival of Pope Francis in Chile, the publication in the Associated Press of a letter of his to the Chilean bishops from January of 2015 has complicated his visit quite a bit. That letter, in fact, generates an authentic brainteaser as to the real thinking of Jorge Mario Bergoglio concerning the biggest scandal that has shaken Chile in recent years, the one centered on a priest named Fernando Karadima.Karadima, now eighty-seven, was for years a pastor in Santiago, but above all was an extremely popular educator and leader of vast ranks of young people and...

(YouTube) Blogs  |  Jan. 15, 2018 Vatican: Papal Honor for Pro-Abortion Politician Not a Sign of Support In a statement, the Holy See Press Office says Dutch militant pro-abortion politician Lilianne Ploumen was given the ancient papal honor as ‘diplomatic practice’ for a visiting official head of state delegation to the Vatican.

Under the leadership of the ultraliberal Cardinal Robert Mahoney, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ annual Religious Education Congress  – billed as the biggest annual gathering of Catholics in the country – gained a reputation for functioning as a platform for dissidents who seek to undermine Catholic doctrine on life and family issues.  When Mahoney left office in 2011 in disgrace following revelations of his protection of priests accused of child sex abuse, he was replaced by Archbishop José Gomez, a former Opus Dei priest perceived as a conservative. Expectations were high that Gomez’s administration would lead to a reversal of...

His Excellency, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, gave an interview on French TV about Pope Francis and the Amoris laetitia controversy that is tearing apart of the unity of the Church in many spheres.  The video is available.  There are English subtitles. He hits hard those ecclesiastics who want a “Gospel without the sixth commandment”.“They use tactics and evil means, such as “ruses, deceptions, masterful rhetoric and dialectics, and even the tactic of intimidation and moral violence in order to attain their goal of admitting so-called “remarried” divorces to Holy Communion” without the latter fulfilling the condition of living in perfect continence…”.“It...

Kazakhstan bishops reiterate the long-standing teachings of the Church.By Carl Bunderson/CAN, January 12, 2018 ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Fidelity to the words of Christ makes it necessary to profess the truth about sacramental marriage, Bishop Athanasius Schneider told CNA in a recent interview.Bishop Schneider, an auxiliary bishop of Maria Santissima in Astana, was a drafter of the “Profession of the Immutable Truths About Sacramental Marriage” issued by three Kazakhstani bishops Dec. 31, 2017.The bishops stated it is not licit to admit to sacramental Communion Catholics who are divorced and remarried if they are not living according to the long-standing teachings of...

The Dutch politician Lilliane Ploumen has been made a Dame in the pontifical Order of St Gregory the Great.Ploumen confirmed the award in an email to the Catholic Herald, saying that she was “very honoured” by the pontifical medal, which was sent via the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs last month.It is not known whether the Pope was aware of the decision.Ploumen, a senior Labour party figure who served as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation until last year, has been criticised for her record on life issues.Last year she launched an international campaign to support abortion after the...

In November, two external researchers received a warning from the Catholic University of Milan because of their adherence to the Filial Correctio. Marco Tosatti has published a letter of one of them on his blog. In December, they discovered that they had been eliminated from the list of collaborators of the university. Contrary to what they were promised, they did not receive a contract for January. The two were never contacted personally. In the meantime, the university cancelled their previous activities from its webpage. One of the victims is Dr Giuseppe Reguzzoni. He was for more than twenty years an...

Editors Note: On January 13, Pope Francis appointed three consultors to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and named Cardinal Roger Mahony as his special envoy to the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Diocese of Scranton. Cardinal Mahony’s appointment as pontifical legate comes five years after his successor in Los Angeles, Archbishop José Gomez, relieved the cardinal of all public and administrative duties amid the release of files related to the clerical abuse scandal.

A New Year Prediction: Vatican Will Greenlight ‘Gay Unions’ in 2018 Bishop Bode put his stripy socks on, everybody. Time to listen up and take him seriously: GERMANY, January 10, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) –  Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, the Vice President of the German Bishops' Conference, has called for a discussion about the possibility of blessing homosexual relationships. He believes there to be “much [that is] positive” in such relationships.The new statement from Bishop Bode comes in the wake of a recent interview given to the German journal Herder Korrespondenz by Cardinal Reinhard Marx – President of the German Bishops' Conference and papal adviser – in which he...

Pro-life leaders view Trump as the "most pro-life president in modern history"The U.S. bishops continue to attack their president on social justice issues like immigration, health care, gun control, climate change and tax reform while turning a blind eye to his many pro-life accomplishments. Pro-life leaders, in reviewing this past year's pro-life accomplishments of President Donald Trump, hail him as the most pro-life president in modern history. Troy Newman, president of the pro-life organization Operation Rescue, noticed that President Trump "has proven to be the most pro-life president we have had in modern history and has backed up his pro-life...

Is Pope Francis a "Atheist" according Pope John Paul II? "When mortal men try to live without God, they infallibly succumb to megalomania or eratomania or both. The raised fist or the raised phallus; Nietzsche or D. H. Lawrence" (Malcolm Muggeridge) Certain teachings in Amoris Laetitia are exactly the opposite of Church doctrine in Familiaris Consortio and "explicitly atheist" according to Veritatis Splendor. Father Raymond J. de Souza said: "Veritatis Splendor, entitled 'Lest the Cross of Christ Be Emptied of Its Power,' warns precisely against the view that the demands of the moral life are too difficult and cannot be lived...