Free Republic

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales have weighed in on the case of baby Alfie Evans, saying that the courts and hospital are acting “with integrity and for Alfie's good” in deciding that removing life-support is in the baby’s “best interest.”  “We affirm our conviction that all those who are and have been taking the agonising decisions regarding the care of Alfie Evans act with integrity and for Alfie's good as they see it,” the bishops stated.  The statement follows today’s surprise meeting between Pope Francis and Alfie Evan’s father this morning at the Casa Santa Marta in Rome....

Catholics in China’s Henan province have been warned that venues will be closed if they do not adhere to the revised regulations on religious affairs. Ucanews.com reported that a clampdown on religious freedom has intensified in the province in recent months, with crosses removed from churches, minors banned from entering churches, church-run kindergartens closed and children expelled from Mass.Now Henan Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and Henan Catholic Administration Commission have jointly issued a circular, warning worshippers to take the new rules seriously.It warned people to follow “the principle of religion and education separation” and the revised regulations on religious affairs....

Cardinal Joseph Zen (Getty) has accused the Vatican of 'selling out the Church in China'When Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected supreme pontiff in March of 2013, the world seemed to expect a softening of Pope Benedict XVI’s crystalline, intellectual style. At first, the new Pope Francis’ many gaffes and faux pas seemed part of this more relaxed approach to the papacy. I and many others pigeonholed Francis as a theological and mental featherweight, an affable simpleton whose papacy would be much more about embracing children and washing the feet of the faithful, and much less about issuing encyclicals and wading...

The decision comes as France is considering legalizing euthanasia REIMS, France (ChurchMilitant.com) - French Doctors are removing nourishment and hydration for an unconscious man with paralysis despite the fact other hospitals are willing to care for him. Vincent Lambert, who was injured in a 2008 car crash which left him severely brain damaged in a coma as a quadriplegic, is receiving basic hydration and nutrition at the Sebastopol Hospital in Reims, France. His doctors and specialists have shown that he is breathing on his own, responding to stimuli and his condition is stable. But Lambert's physician, Dr. Vincent Sanchez, ruled...

The Arameans are a well-integrated Christian minority in the Netherlands. Originally they came from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Southern Turkey. Dutch newspaper ‘De Telegraaf’ interviewed several of them and talked about the civil war in Syria. Christian refugee Johnny Shabo says that the same group responsible for the civil war in the eighties is now responsible for more chaos. The Muslim brotherhood that attacked the regime of Assad’s father earlier, are now attacking Assad junior’s regime. Shabo says that the leaders of ISIS and Al Qaeda who are fighting in Syria are part of the Muslim brotherhood. For Christian Arameans...

An article in The New Yorker magazine scorns the popularity of Chick-fil-A, the fast food chicken chain with Christian values, in New York City, calling it "creepy pervasive Christian traditionalism." The author says its presence is "awash with cash, Christ, and evangelizing Cows." "The brand's arrival here feels like an infiltration, in no small part because of its pervasive Christian traditionalism," writes Dan Piepenbring, overlooking the fact that its first store opened four years ago. The article seeks to "warn" New Yorkers that Chick-fil-A's corporate purpose "still begins with the words 'to glorify God,' and that proselytism thrums below the...

Please join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for President Trump, Vice-President Pence, and for America: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (I John 5:14) Religion forum threads labeled "Prayer" are closed to debate of any kind.

ROME- Christian leaders around the world, particularly from the Middle East, are raising their voices in favor of an “end to the bloodshed in Syria” in light of a bombing carried out by the United States, the United Kingdom and France this weekend, targeting military compounds that host chemical weapons. Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill spoke on the phone on Saturday, according to TASS, the Russian news agency, worried about the latest developments in the Syrian war. “We have come forward with this initiative knowing that the Christians cannot remain on the sidelines seeing what is happening in...

MANCHESTER, England, April 13, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A UK politician will raise the case of Alfie Evans in the EU parliament in Strasbourg on Monday. Wajid Khan, an MEP for Manchester, wrote to Alfie's parents today to offer his support and ask permission to show the child's photograph during his speech. "My heart goes out to you and your family," he wrote. "I am devastated to read and watch the circumstances at the hospital." The MEP's support comes as Alfie's parents Thomas and Kate battle to remove their son from a children's hospital in Liverpool that has been empowered by...

Catholic Charities and other faith-based organizations could be forced to proclaim to young illegal immigrants in their care that they have a 'right' to an abortion.If the American Civil Liberties Union has its way, Catholic Charities and other faith-based organizations providing care for illegal alien minors will be forced to proclaim to the girls in their care during the shelter’s orientation that they have a “right” to an abortion. The ACLU seeks to compel this speech under the auspices of providing “notice” to the members of the recently certified class action in Garza v. Hargan. The Garza case first made...

A perceptive and precise narration of what happened yesterday in Syria. We are cautioned not to argue about politics, as that is not our concern as believers. Nothing can change prophecy. And Amir stresses that he is not criticizing anyone, just giving the facts. Our concern should be to bring as many unbelievers to Christ as we can before it is too late.

Bishop John Keenan of Paisley criticised the video for encouraging anti-Catholic prejudiceThe Bishop of Paisley has criticised BBC Scotland after a video said Holy Communion “tastes like cardboard and smells like hate”. The video was posted on the Facebook page of BBC The Social, a project aimed at young adults and managed by BBC Scotland, under the title “This is how homophobia feels in 2018”. At one point it depicts a priest holding a Mini Cheddar in a parody of the Host, and giving it to a woman who makes the sign of the cross. The narrator says Jesus “saved...

Moscow, April 13, Interfax - A prompt decision needs to be made on the burial of the remains of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin and on the transfer of the remains of Joseph Stalin to Georgia, Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, said. "If I was asked, I would make this decision today, without waiting until tomorrow. Why torture Lenin's dead body, clean it constantly, keep this mummy? Who needs it? He is not a holy person. I am firmly convinced that Lenin's remains should be buried and Stalin's remains should be sent to his homeland, to Georgia," he said in...

Andrew Cuomo forces Fidelis Care "into 'voluntarily' writing billion-dollar checks"ALBANY, N.Y. (ChurchMilitant.com) - The governor of New York is going after a Catholic charitable organization, forcing it to foot the bill for the state. In an op-ed published Monday in the Wall Street Journal, Bill Hammond, director of health policy at the Empire Center, criticizes the deal orchestrated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Good Friday between Fidelis Care, a Catholic nonprofit healthcare plan, and Centene Corporation, a leading government-sponsored healthcare company. "Gov. Andrew Cuomo has a disturbing new way to raise revenue: using government muscle to squeeze private organizations into...

The parents of baby Alfie Evans have lost custody over their son and he has now become a “ward of the court,” effective noon today. The news was shared by the family’s media coordinator.  “We are outraged that in further legally indefensible steps during the night, the hospital obtained a faxed order making Alfie a ward of the court, removing parental rights from Tom and Kate over their son Alfie, taking effect at noon today,” a press release authorized by the family’s legal team states.  “This once again is logically backwards, as all parents are responsible to protect their child...

The Home Office has allegedly told the LGBT website Pink News that it wants to look again at the possibility of banning psychotherapy for unwanted same-sex attraction, which it disparagingly terms 'conversion therapy'. It says there was a question asked about it in the government's LGBT survey conducted in 2017. The Home Office has said that the government is currently studying the responses to the survey and that it will publish a response later this year.However, the government stated last year that it does not believe creating a criminal offence is right. This was in response to a petition by...

SYDNEY, Australia, April 12, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A Christian athlete in Australia is refusing to back down from his comments about homosexuality, despite public backlash. Israel Folau is a rugby player on the New South Wales Waratahs team. Last week, controversy erupted when he answered a question on social media by saying that God’s plan for homosexuals was “HELL... Unless they repent of their sins and turn to God.” Last year, he said that while he has “love and respect” for all people, he would not support the country’s referendum to recognize same-sex “marriage.” Backlash was swift. The sport’s leading...

Since President Trump was elected in 2016 with the help of white evangelicals, we have been told that in voting for him, we compromised our ethics and can no longer be taken seriously. The latest alleged evidence for this is found in reports that black evangelicals are leaving white evangelical churches because of the latter's support of Trump. What are we to make of this?The charge of white evangelical hypocrisy has been leveled most recently by Michael Gerson, writing in the Atlantic's April edition. The title and subtitle of his major, nearly 7,000 word article read: "The Last Temptation: How evangelicals, once...

On Saturday, 7 April 2018, two important events took place which seemed, to a superficial observer, to be utterly unrelated:In Rome, people gathered and discussed the topic “Catholic Church, where are you going?” Present were prominent prelates such as Cardinal Raymond Burke, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider. It was about the negative effects of the controversial passages in the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia of Pope Francis. The German-American journalist Maike Hickson reported on this event here and here.In Bonn, the former capital city of the Federal Republic of Germany, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun received the “Stephanus-Prize for...

Remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron that he wanted to repair church-state ties caused uproar Tuesday, sparking charges he was tampering with France's longstanding secular tradition.The Catholic Church and the state were for centuries virtually indistinguishable in France but the 1789 Revolution and 19th century modernisation saw the two formally separated by a 1905 law. Macron, who prides himself on tackling difficult issues head-on, told a meeting of bishops Monday that he hoped to repair relations with the Church through a "dialogue of truth". "A president of the French republic who takes no interest in the Church and its Catholics...