Free Republic

A U.S. bishop on the border of Mexico hopes his new pastoral letter on migration will turn the hearts of Catholics to encounter their migrant brothers and sisters in a concrete way. “It is first and foremost a reflection on the signs of the times by the light of faith,” Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso told CNA of his new pastoral letter on migration. The letter is not meant to be “simply abstract,” he said, but “has to come down to the daily life and daily realities.” Bishop Seitz’s letter on migration, “Sorrow and Mourning Flee Away,” was released...

Moscow, July 17, Interfax - Head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion called meeting between presidents of the USA and Russia on sidelines of G20 "a road to the future" and pointed out to its immediate result - ceasefire in Syria. "Any attempt to tune the dialogue, to meet face to face and discuss problems that had been discussed only in distance is a road to the future, which we have to follow. It is very good that the meeting was held, that two presidents looked each other in the eye and listened to each other....

A Guest Book Review By Matt P. Gaspers* The Political Pope: How Pope Francis Is Delighting the Liberal Left and Abandoning Conservatives George Neumayr In early May of this year, I was browsing the headlines at OnePeterFive and came across one that peaked my interest: “An Interview with George Neumayr, Author of The Political Pope” by Dr. Maike Hickson. After I began reading the interview, it didn’t take long for me to conclude that I needed to read Mr. Neumayr’s book. One statement of his, in particular, which appears about a third of the way down, caught my attention: “Pope Francis...

Two Jesuits of one mind There is something like an emerging theocracy in the United States, with a Manichean vision. But it’s the theocracy of sexual absolutism that cannot tolerate pluralism or dissent. The Little Sisters of the Poor, Hobby Lobby, evangelical bakers, anyone who stands up to the contraception-abortion-“gay-marriage” (and now) “transgender” juggernaut risks legal jeopardy and accusations of being a “hate group.” (Spadaro and Figueroa echo this claim, saying the Evangelical-Catholic alliance represents a xenophobic, Islamophobic, purist vision that is really an “ecumenism of hate.”)

My initial response—unbidden, unguarded—to the Civiltà Cattolica broadside against American conservatives was relief. Almost a kind of glee. The Emperor has thrown his New Clothes on the floor in a fit of pique; his courtiers bend low to pick up what is not there. The pantomime is fully in the open. Here, thankfully, is a barefaced specimen of intellectual sterility too obvious for a cosmetic gloss. Illustration by Munro Scott Orr (1874-1955) The Spadaro-Figueroa tirade is as nasty as it is ignorant. Writing as proxies for Francis, the pair make plain their boss’ uncomprehending distaste for America—its history, its politics,...

I first noticed something unusual about Islam during the 1980s when I was doing research for my book, Ethics in Context. I devoted one section of the book to the “Golden Rule.” The Golden Rule, in its negative or positive formulations, is incorporated not only in Christianity (Matt. 7:12), where Jesus declares it is a summary of “the law and the prophets,” but also in other major religions. For example, in Judaism, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor”; in Hinduism, “Let no man do to another that which would be repugnant to himself”’; in...

Join with Fellow FREEPERS to Pray for our PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. 'And this is the Confidence that we have in Him, that, if we Ask Anything According to His Will, He Heareth us.' 1 John 5:14 Religion Forum Threads Labeled [Prayer] are Closed to Debate of Any Kind. Psalm 72:12-14 He will Take Care of the Helpless and Poor when they Cry to Him; For they have No One Else to Defend them. He Feels Pity for the Weak and Needy, and will Rescue them. He...

A family spokesperson has complained that if the Gards were wealthy the situation with their child 'would have never arisen'.Critically ill baby Charlie Gard has been "taken prisoner by the NHS and by the state", a spokesperson for the family has told Sky News. Alasdair Seton-Marsden, who represents Charlie Gard's family to the press, complained that if they were rich instead of "ordinary people" their child would be free to receive treatment in the US. "Baby Charlie wouldn't have become what is essentially - and these are my words - a prisoner of the state. The child is effectively being...

The disgraceful Pontificate of the Evil Clown can be summarised with the following points: Dethronement of Christ, and substitution for a Weltanschauung in which earthly cares and problems are the only focus. Francis says we should kneel in front of the poor, but he does not kneel in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He is a South American agit-prop in White. Aggressive pushing of a strongly socialist agenda of the sort that has repeatedly put on its knees the economy of several Central and South American Countries. Pushed by a person every bit as arrogant, incompetent and outright stupid. War...

The streams of blood from defenseless Copts massacred by Islamist extremists continue to drench Egypt--with no end in sight. Three more Coptic were found dead in a span of eight days from the last week of June to the first week of July, with a fourth victim killed in late May, World Watch Monitor reported. Even as the Coptic Orthodox Church held another memorial service on July 3 commemorating 40 days since the bus attack in Minya that killed 29 Copts on Ascension Day, hopes for an end to the sectarian killings remain dim. Although the Coptic community has remained...

Yakima, Wash., Jul 14, 2017 / 04:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Flower shop owner Barronelle Stutzman is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to protect her from a Washington state court ruling that could destroy her financially because her religious beliefs prevented her from serving a same-sex wedding ceremony. “If the government can ruin Barronelle for peacefully living and working according to her faith, it can punish anyone else for expressing their belief,” said Stutzman’s attorney Kristen Waggoner, a senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom legal group. “The government shouldn’t have the power to force a 72-year-old grandmother to surrender her...

With a harsh denunciation of American conservatism, published in the semi-official Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica, the Vatican has plunged headlong into a partisan debate in a society that it clearly does not understand, potentially alienating (or should I say, further alienating) the Americans most inclined to favor the influence of the Church. Why? Why this bitter attack on the natural allies of traditional Catholic teachings? Is it because the most influential figures at the Vatican today actually want to move away from those traditional teachings, and form a new alliance with modernity? The authors of the essay claim to embrace...

Full Title:   THE ULTIMATE INTERVIEW to Understand all About Pope Francis: Marcello Pera, Italian Politician and Close Ratzinger Friend Marcello Pera is an influential intellectual in Italy. A former president of the Italian Senate, he is a close friend of Benedict XVI, and even co-authored a book of lectures with him on the decay of the West (Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam) In an interview with Naples newspaper Il Mattino, published on July 9, 2017, Marcello Pera presented what can reasonably be called the general view of Pope Francis by the wide moderate spectrum of Italians, and Europeans, of...

July 14, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Joseph Zen, the first Cardinal from China and a key adviser to Pope Benedict XVI regarding China-Vatican relations, has denounced a new Vatican agreement with the Chinese atheistic Communist government in an interview with the Polish outlet Polonia Christiana. The former Archbishop of Hong Kong compared the current situation of the Church in China with the times of brutal physical repression during the 1950s and 1960s, saying the situation is “worse” today. “Why? Because the church has been weakened,” he said. “I'm very sorry to say the government has not changed, but the Holy...

Here’s the impression ABC News wants you to get: Attorney General Jeff Sessions, hater of gay people, went and gave a secret hateful speech to an even bigger group of haters, only to be called out by a civl rights watchdog. Here’s what actually happened: Jeff Sessions gave a speech to a group that shares his concern that Christianity is under attack, and a left-wing group that will call just about anyone racist, sexist or homophobic (but especially Christians), did what it usually does. Two different ways of looking at it, right? You can argue that my way is informed...

An explosive article written by two close associates of Pope Francis has accused Steve Bannon, the chief White House strategist, of espousing an “apocalyptic geopolitics” whose roots are “not too far apart” from that of Islamist extremism. The article in La Civiltà Cattolica, which is vetted by the Vatican before publication, lays out a scathing critique of “evangelical fundamentalism” in the US, arguing that, on issues ranging from climate change to “migrants and Muslims”, proponents of the ideology have adopted a twisted reading of scripture and the Old Testament that promotes conflict and war above all else. The piece was...

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ROME, July 13, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) -- Conservative Catholics in the United States have formed an "ecumenism of hate" with Evangelical Protestants in their united support for President Trump and his policies, claimed an Italian Jesuit magazine that is reviewed by the Vatican prior to publication. The article published July 13 in La Civiltà Cattolica claims that some U.S. Catholic conservatives have built ties with fundamentalist Evangelicals for political purposes that evince "enormous differences" with Pope Francis. “Appealing to the values of fundamentalism, a strange form of surprising ecumenism is developing between Evangelical fundamentalists and Catholic Integralists brought together by the...

President Trump Calls Christian Pastors To Lay Hands On Him And Pray At The Oval Office

The California Catholic Conference has announced its strong opposition to AB 569, a bill that forbids employers from firing or taking other adverse action against employees who have abortions. The bill “targets religious employers who expect faithful public and workplace conduct by their employees, including those who teach at religious schools and are reasonably expected to model the principles of that faith,” the conference said in an action alert. The state assembly has passed the bill in a 54-17 vote. The legislation awaits a vote in the state senate.