Free Republic

Pope Francis met with street children during his visit to the Philippines on Jan. 16, 2015. Credit: ANSA/OSSERVATORE ROMANO. Manila, Philippines, Jan 17, 2015 / 03:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Deviating from his schedule of events in the Philippines, Pope Francis had a brief but emotionally intense encounter with former street kids in Manila yesterday. “I saw a sense of paternity from the Pope, also physically in his embrace, his caress, his affection that the kids immediately noticed. So all of them wanted to be in contact with him,” Father Antonio Spadaro S.J. told CNA on Jan. 16. “It was a...

Pope Francis took the opportunity during an address to families in the Philippines to praise Blessed Pope Paul VI’s encyclical opposing contraception and affirming Church teaching on sexuality and human life. The Pope spoke Friday to families gathered at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila during his Jan. 15-19 visit to the Philippines. After discussing various threats to the family, including “a lack of openness to life,” he deviated briefly from his prepared remarks, transitioning from English to his native Spanish in order to speak from the heart about the subject. “I think of Blessed Paul VI,” he said....

In points he’s made before in other settings, Pope Francis on Friday criticized what he called the “ideological colonization of the family,” language that many took as a reference to gay marriage, and also defended a previous pope who upheld the Church’s ban on contraception. “The family is threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage, by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life,” Francis said. A Vatican spokesman confirmed Friday evening that, at least in part, the pope had gay marriage in mind. The...

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Accused Chinatown gangster Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow has refused to sign on to a protective order that will allow defense attorneys to receive evidence from federal prosecutors, including audio recordings and video surveillance, from a five-year undercover investigation that led to his arrest, and the arrest of 26 others in March. Attorneys for the federal government on Thursday filed a motion to compel Chow to cooperate, noting that nearly all the other defendants have signed on, and only one other defendant has not signed because of a likely substitution of counsel in the near future. According...

MANILA - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that she is optimistic a peace pact between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will happen before President Arroyo steps down in 2010. Clinton said she believes Mrs. Arroyo is ready to make "difficult decisions" regarding the peace talks with the MILF before the end of her term.

Over the objections of reputed gang figure Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow's lawyers, a federal judge has ordered that the government's evidence in a sweeping criminal case that includes political corruption charges against state Sen. Leland Yee must be kept secret for now. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer imposed the restrictions Monday on every lawyer and defendant in the case, finding the material should be kept under wraps while both sides prepare for trial. Breyer rejected the free speech arguments of Chow's lawyer, J. Tony Serra, who insisted he should be able to reveal evidence to combat the government's public charges.

**SNIP** At one meeting with an undercover FBI agent, Jackson allegedly told Yee that the agent knew the owner of an NFL team. Yee then told the agent about a pending law that would limit NFL players from filing workers' compensation claims in the state if they played for out of state teams. Yee told the agent that he should "convey this information to the owner of the NFL team" with an offer of help from Yee. Asked about the cost of such a vote, Yee reportedly said, "Oh no...we gotta drag it out, man. We gotta juice this thing."...

**SNIP** The investigation extended to Yee after an undercover FBI agent who had infiltrated Chow's group was introduced to the senator and allegedly persuaded him to trade political favors for campaign contributions. Lim became enmeshed in the case due to his political backing of Yee. According to a 137-page FBI affidavit, Yee introduced Lim to the undercover agent as a man who could secure guns. The agent, the FBI said, had asked Yee to facilitate an arms deal in exchange for more campaign money. The accusations prompted the Philippines government to open a probe into whether Lim had links to...

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Suspended California state Sen. Leland Yee could face a jury as early as June for charges of political corruption and conspiracy to import guns. At a scheduling conference on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said Yee will be tried along with his political consultant Keith Jackson, who also faces drug and murder-for-hire charges. Breyer said those charges will be tried separately, but lawyers for the defendants, including Yee's lawyer James Lassart, were not satisfied. "The firearms charges are going to be extremely prejudicial. The government has acquired 50 to 70 different firearms that, undoubtedly to...

**SNIP** The San Francisco Democrat was a fairly high-profile member of the California Legislature, but not a flamboyant one or one who was the subject of gossip and rumor. And that’s probably why the news in March landed with such a bombshell, when the 66-year old former psychologist was arrested and charged with not only corruption, but also with allegedly participating in a scheme to smuggle illegal weapons into the United States. The irony was impossible to miss: gun trafficking charges against a Democrat who made a name for himself as a fierce advocate of gun control, a politician who...

I’m an older O.C. divorcé with a young Filipino wife I met on the Internet, and I know what you’re thinking. Can’t say I blame you. But you’re wrong.I’m pouring drinks for my guests when the police arrive. It’s 3 p.m. on a Saturday and we’re hosting a friend’s baby shower in our open garage. The two officers survey the scene carefully before striding toward me with bad news. “We got a complaint from your neighbor,” one of the officers says with a nod. After they sort it out and determine we’re not committing any crimes or posing a public...

The pontiff plans to issue a rare and controversial plea for Catholics to consider the environment. Recent polls show his message just might resonate. Pope Francis has ambitious environmental plans for 2015. Come March, he will deliver a 50 to 60-page edict urging his 1.2 billion Catholic followers to take action against climate change. The Pontiff will make his announcement during his visit to the Philippian city of Tacloban, which was ravaged by typhoon Haiyan, which killed thousands in 2013. But within his global congregation, many conservative Catholics are expected to oppose the pope’s environmental views. The message comes months...

An AirAsia airliner has overshot the runway at an airport in the Philippines forcing passengers to make an urgent exit on emergency slides, it has been claimed. The incident occured at Kalibo Airport in Aklan province and involved an Airbus A320-216 carrying 153 passengers and crew from the Filipino capital Manila.

“A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” -Matthew 7:18 As if people needed another reason to like and support Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback, Tim Tebow. His foundation- The Tim Tebow Foundation, has announced its intentions of opening the Tebow CURE Hospital in Davao City, Philippines, which will focus on serving children suffering from orthopedic needs who can’t afford treatment or corrective procedures. The hospital is the culmination of a partnership between Tebow’s organization and CURE International, a non-profit “that operates charitable hospitals and programs in 30 countries worldwide where...

Your prerequisite in all things is to first acquire My Presence for in My courts there are libraries of scrolls providing the wisdom and knowledge in first acquiring the understanding to decipher and illuminate My Word in Spirit and Truth and it is in the interpretation of your heavenly languages, "that exist even now in the alcoves of your wellspring" but these can only rise up into reality and understanding as you manifest and operate totally in the Menorah of light " The Manifold Wisdom of God " My very fullness indwelling you as "an eternal light of My Kingdom...

State Senate Democrats have decided to resume the annual Pro Tem Cup golf fundraiser in 2015, a year after the event was canceled in the wake of criminal charges filed against three Democratic Senators. The event at Torrey Pines golf course in San Diego is the Senate Democrats' largest political fundraiser for the state party and has been criticized for allowing special interests to mingle with lawmakers in exchange for tickets costing between $15,000 and $65,000 per person. The indictment of Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) on public corruption charges a week before this year's event was to be held...

Tim Tebow's altruistic streak continues. The football star turned TV analyst has opened the Tebow CURE hospital in Davao City, Philippines. The five-story facility has received its official operating license and opened its doors this week. Physicians are already seeing children with critical orthopedic needs.

Typhoon Hagupit has made landfall in the town of Dolores in the eastern Philippines, the country's weather agency says. The storm knocked out electricity and felled trees in the area, though no casualties have been reported. Over half a million have fled coastal villages in the past few days ahead of the storm's arrival. The typhoon is on course for the city of Tacloban, where thousands were killed by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago. It has weakened slightly but gusts are still peaking at 195km/h (120mph). Thousands of passengers were left stranded after Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific cancelled more...

Swiss escapes from Abu Sayyaf captors • Hostage hacks bandit as military pounds lair of terror group in Sulu MANILA, Philippines — A Swiss hostage escaped on Saturday from Abu Sayyaf extremists after hacking a militant commander and getting shot as he dashed to freedom, ending more than two years of jungle captivity in Sulu province, according to military officials. Lorenzo Vinciguerra, 49, made his daring escape after government forces fired artillery rounds in the jungle camp where he was being held near the mountainous Patikul town in Sulu. He hacked an Abu Sayyaf commander and ran away but was...

MANILA, Philippines – Pope Francis, the Argentine pope known for espousing a simpler Church, also wants the same treatment for his upcoming visit to the Philippines next year. At a press briefing on Thursday, November 20, papal visit media relations sub-committee chair Fr Anton Pascual said the Vatican would prefer a simple papal visit with minimal expenditures. The Vatican also urged for more resources to be spent on helping the victims of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) and the earthquake in Bohol in 2013, according to an article on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news site. The Pope will...