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Pope Francis begins his popemobile tour of the May 15, 2013 general audience in St. Peter's Square. Credit: Stephen Driscoll/CNA. Vatican City, Jul 6, 2013 / 05:19 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In his July 6 homily, Pope Francis encouraged the faithful to be open to the renewal of the Holy Spirit, both in their own lives and in the “structures” of Church life. “Christian life is not a collage of things” or a “collection” or activities, such as Mass attendance, the Holy Father said. “It is a harmonious whole, harmonious, and the Holy Spirit does it!” he explained. “He renews all...

Robert E. Lee once famously paid tribute to the fighting ability of Texans: “I rely on Texas regiments in all tight places, and fear I have to call upon them too often. They have fought grandly, nobly.” During the Battle of the Wilderness, when it seemed the Confederate line could not hold, Lee rode his horse into the midst of the fighting to rally his troops. His soldiers urged him to go back, but Lee would not leave until reinforcements arrived. Learning that the fresh troops were from Texas, the general declared: “Texans always move them!” And so they did....

...the Cancun donation especially angered some residents because the government-owned land was designated for public use, and some wanted to turn it into badly-needed park for a low-income neighborhood located several miles from the glitzy coastal hotels. [SNIP] Bertha Grajales, the spokeswoman for the housing authority in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo, where Cancun is located, confirmed Friday that the land had been donated to the church, but she could not say when or why. [SNIP] But religion is an even more sensitive theme: Mexico was dominated economically, spiritually and intellectually for centuries by the Catholic church. After...

The new Pope had a meeting today with Buenos Aires governor Daniel Scioli, at the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican City. “We should fight against wild capitalism and confront social injustice”, expressed the official in a press release.

Pope Francis called for structural renewal in the Catholic church to keep up with the times, although advising future priests and nuns Saturday to shun costly trappings like the latest smart phones so they can use more resources to help the poor. Francis has been waging a campaign to root out corruption and power plays in the Vatican’s bureaucracy and to keep sight of what is essential in the church he was elected in March to lead. The Argentine-born pontiff offered the encouragement for renewal in a homily during Mass Saturday at the Vatican City hotel where he lives. Francis...

Once upon a time, stigma kept bad gay men in the closet. When they misbehaved, the gay community could claim that the misbehavior was the result of their closetedness, or else they could say, "See, he says he isn't gay, so he isn't! We don't want him!" This helped gay lobbyists swap stereotypes. The old stereotype was that gays were molesters. The new stereotype was that gays could never be molesters, only victims. In those days, gay activists could pillory the Vatican over child molestation, because the gay community was shielded from scrutiny over its own sex abuse problems.

Prayer for Religious Liberty O GOD OUR CREATOR, from your provident hand we have received our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You have called us as your people and given us the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God, and your Son, Jesus Christ. Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society. We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for...

Sam Kellner, who says his son was abused, helped the Brooklyn DA in his fight against child sexual abuse. Now, Kellner himself is himself facing accusations of extortion. Is he being set up? For Jews, Chanukah is a season of light and miracles. It wasn’t like that last month for Sam Kellner, a chasidic resident of Brooklyn’s Borough Park. Unemployed and facing mounting debt from his lonely fight against both the powers that be in his community and the Brooklyn district attorney, Kellner, 50, was contemplating a Chanukah in darkness: he had pawned the family silver, and the menorah along...

A little while ago The First Gay President went to Africa and lectured Senegal, an African nation, about being more “gay” friendly.  Pres. Obama’s advice was not appreciated by the Senegalese President, who curtly invited POTUS to stuff it.Not too worry, Pres. Obama could car less about African nations.  He was talking to his U.S. base when pushing his homosexualist agenda in Africa.Now I see that The Pill has a piece about the reaction of John Card. Njue of Nairobi (that’s in Kenya, for those of you in Columbia Heights) to TFGP’s advice to Senegal. Kenyan cardinal hits out at Obama...

God created government. So preached Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in the days leading up to the presidential election. Hibbs has joined with nearly 1,600 pastors across the country and about 140 in California in the Pulpit Initiative, a legal effort aimed at protecting the free-speech rights of pastors in the pulpit. Hibbs' sermons in a series called "Politics and Faith" may have been enough to let the church know which candidate he supported. Or at least who he didn't. He preached about politics and Israel. And politics and defending the pre-born. Hibbs was emphatic during an...

(Paris) "You will never be able to build a free nation with the Catholic Church." This wasn't uttered by Voltaire or Georges Danton, but the reigning French Education Minister from a  2008 interview, Vincent Peillon,  at the launch of his book, La Révolution française n'est pas terminée (The French Revolution is Not Yet Over), as Tempos reported. Spiritual Revolution According to Peillon "a revolution can take place not only in material terms. They must also take place in the mind. Now we made the revolution mainly politically, but not the moral and spiritual. We have left the morality and spirituality...

On the Fourth of July, in the United States of America we celebrate freedom. In particular we celebrate freedom from tyranny, and a government that is not representative; freedom from unchecked power and unaccountable sovereigns.Distorted and faithless notions - Yet, as Christians we cannot overlook that there are ways of understanding freedom today that are distorted, exaggerated and detached from a proper context. Many modern concepts of freedom treat freedom as something that faith limits, not enhances.Alexis De Tocqueville said Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith. In America today we are seeing the erosion of all...

After the Revolution, Thomas Jones, an embittered loyalist exile, identified the culprits he deemed responsible for the rebellion in New York: the Whig "triumvirate" of Presbyterians--William Livingston, William Smith, and John Morin Scott. Jones averred that in the Independent Reflector (1752-53) and Watch Tower (1754-55), which they authored, "the established Church was abused, Monarchy derided, Episcopacy reprobated, and republicanism held up, as the best existing form of government." The three wrote "with a rancor, a malevolence, and an acrimony, not to be equaled but by the descendants of those presbyterian and republican fanatics, whose ancestors had in the preceding century...

When the American Revolution broke out, at least in the Scotch-Irish version of the story, the Ulster natives leaped at the opportunity to attack the British crown. "Call this war by whatever name you may. . . ," observed one Hessian officer, "it is nothing more or less than a Scotch Irish Presbyterian rebellion." King George allegedly called the conflict "a Presbyterian war," and another official stated that cousin "America has run off with the Presbyterian parson." The more I read on the history of America and the Scottish/English reformations, the more I am convinced that American liberty has...

The Roman Catholic cardinal in the Dominican Republic responded on Thursday to news that President Barack Obama had nominated an openly gay man as ambassador to the island nation by calling him a 'maricón' -- slang for 'faggot' or 'sissy' -- during a press conference. Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez took questions on Thursday in the capital city of Santo Domingo about the appointment of James 'Wally' Brewster, an Obama campaign donation 'bundler,' as his nation's top emissary from Washington, D.C. Asked to shift topics to a question about agriculture, the high-ranking clergyman brought laughs from reporters by saying,...

Rome (AsiaNews) - He spent 13 years in prison, nine of them in solitary confinement, without ever going to trial, and "while imprisoned in conditions of poverty and hardship of freedom, never lost his nerve, never gave in to hatred towards his captors. As he was being forcibly "re-educated" he used another method to teach his enemies. His guards became his pupils. The sincerity of his relationships changed relations within the prison. " His jailers, secretly, gave him pieces of wood with which he made a cross and a piece of wire, which became a chain. He wore it around...

Coming predominantly from former homes in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, the first permanent European settlers began arriving in the area west of the Catawba River during the 1750s. These settlers were overwhelmingly Scots-Irish Presbyterians who traveled here by way of the "Great Wagon Road." Allied by both blood and religious affiliations, the Scots-Irish pioneers moved through the Shenandoah Valley and the present-day towns of Winchester, Lexington, and Roanoke in Virginia, and eventually pushed south to Salisbury, North Carolina. From here they drifted southward along the Catawba into South Carolina. In order to set the stage for the 1780 Presbyterian Rebellion,...

The following statement by Cardinal Carlo Caffarra was released on July 1st (following a "gay pride" parade in Bologna and remarks by the city's mayor) and has been translated for CWR by Alessandra Nucci: ARCHDIOCESE of BOLOGNA - COMUNICATO STAMPACardinal Caffarra issued the following statement in response to the words spoken by the Mayor of Bologna on the inevitability of an eventual recognition of marriage and adoptions for homosexual couples in Italy. The statement by the Mayor of Bologna regarding the right of gay couples to marry and adopt children is so egregious that it warrants reflection. What the mayor has...

Young women and men supporting late-term abortions shouted ‘Hail Satan’ throughout the day as the Texas House and Senate convened a special session to discuss timekeeping measures following Democrat Wendy Davis’ filibuster de-railing the vote to limit abortions to 20 weeks and establishing stricter safety standards for abortion clinics. On one occasion some young women shouted ‘Hail Satan’ as Christians gave personal testimony about  abortion and sang ‘Amazing Grace’.Breibart reports:‘It would be difficult to argue that the pro-abortion crowd wasn’t an “unruly mob” — last week protesters shut down proceedings by screaming from the gallery and used social media to debate...

The Supreme Court Justices recently made a decision that is squalid, shameful, sorry, shocking, and stupefying that will put perverts on a pedestal and decent Christians in prison! That decision will affect churches, schools, and businesses. Does a Christian business person have the right to choose whom he will serve? Most sane people will agree that no one has absolute rights. In this matter, both the owner and customer have rights, but which right is superior? If we eliminate the possibility of the owner using tax dollars to start the business, it becomes a little less confusing, less contentious as...