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I have not had the time to put together a post on Pope Francis political move to turn a blind eye and give the nudge and the wink to the ruthless and murdering regime in Cuba and help Obama and the commies in the United States spread communism here. I probably won't get to it until after Christmas but I did want to point out that local commie Jackie Connors was spearheading the arrangement: http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2014/12/17/pope-francis-helped-broker-the-restoration-of-us-cuban-relations/ I bet money was funneled into Church coffers somewhere. More on how Connors took control of the Boston diocese and castrated the Cardinal with money,...

" It was his efforts at peace that brought him the Nobel Peace Prize. Despite the huge popularity and respect he enjoys, he is not unaware of his increasing isolation by global leaders since being in Beijing's good books appears to be the global fascination. It remains to be seen how India reacts. It would be a sad day, indeed, if New Delhi also lacks the moral fibre and toes Beijing's line." Nobel laureates gathered in Rome last week were dismayed that Pope Francis had surprisingly refused to grant an audience to the Dalai Lama so as to not incur...

I kinda wasn't too surprised to hear the pope say he prays that people fall to temptation. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out the kind of Catholics he curses. You know the irony of his ruthless perversion of prayer and role of a Pope? Catholics who want their religion taught to them are the very Catholics who humbly acknowledge their temptation and sin. That is why we constantly beg for pastoral perspectives on ways to recognize the devil long before he has us duped, ways to circumvent temptation and sin and remain in a state of Sanctifying...

The Babalu Blog, the go to site for news on Cuba, predicted the papal involvement in the “normalization” of relations with Cuba announced yesterday by Obama: We’re not clairvoyants or prophets. We just deal with the facts. Eleven months ago, when Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Vatican, a Babalu post asked: “Will Pope Francis Bring About the Release of Alan Gross?” Here’s a quote from that post: How’s this for a scenario?: Pope Francis gets Alan Gross freed in exchange for the four Castro spies, and, on top of that, orchestrates the restoration of US/Castro diplomatic ties, along...

Writing for the Acton Institute, Joe Carter explains that, "The U.S. began imposing sanctions against Cuba after Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, nationalized the economy, and stole more than $1 billion in American assets on the island. Diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba broke off in 1961 as tensions between the two nations increased after Cuba signed a trade agreement with the Soviet Union. Even though the Cold War ended, not much has changed in the relationship between Cuba and the U.S." Why is it that even though Cuba hasn't changed at all and is as repressive...

The Vatican played a significant role in healing relations between arch foes Cuba and the United States, officials said Wednesday. Pope Francis was personally involved in secret negotiations between the longtime enemies, sources said Wednesday, as the historic announcement was made in Washington D.C. The pontiff sent private letters to President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro over the summer, urging them to turn their swords into ploughshares. The Pope expressed "warm congratulations for the historic decision" to resume relations, the Vatican said in a statement Wednesday. The Vatican and an undisclosed Canadian location served as top-secret areas for negotiations...

Marco Rubio calls out pope on Cuba By Lauren French and Seung Min Kim | 12/17/14 2:14 PM EST | Updated 12/17/14 4:23 PM EST Sen. Marco Rubio, a Catholic, criticized Pope Francis on Wednesday after the pontiff played a key role in helping the United States and Cuba forge an agreement that resulted in the release of American Alan Gross from Cuba. Rubio said he would “ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy.” The Florida Republican said he didn’t criticize Francis’ personal appeals to help facilitate Gross’ release, but was speaking in response to...

>The conclusion of an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba has the White House treading cautiously, especially after bipartisan condemnation from Cuban-American Senators Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez. The latter, who chaired the Foreign Relations Committee until yesterday, accused Barack Obama of “vindicat[ing] the brutal behavior of the Cuban government” and of “set[ting] an extremely dangerous precedent.” Menendez is of course a Democrat and ostensibly an ally of the White House on foreign policy.In anticipation, at least one official in the Obama administration has decided it’s better to share the credit, and preferably with someone whose...

December 17, 2014 U.S.-Cuba relations, tense for half a century, are about to fundamentally change. Alan Gross, the American contractor who has been imprisoned in Cuba since 2009, will be released to the United States by the Cuban government, the White House announced Wednesday. The so-called "humanitarian release" will coincide with an exchange of three Cubans convicted of espionage in Miami for one unnamed U.S. intelligence asset.

Pope Francis has identified what he called “the sins of the media,” narrowing them down to three: “disinformation, slander, and defamation.” Of these, he said, “the most insidious is disinformation,” which he compared to telling half-truths.

There is a growing crisis haunting the Catholic Church. And it is a crisis larger than the events that have so greatly afflicted the American Catholic Church. The pedophilia scandals are a horrifying element of this crisis. So, too, are the bishops who covered up and excused these outrages. And so, also, the more general loss of confidence Catholics have in a hierarchy that seems oddly concerned with rank and privilege and with fighting yesterday's culture wars. Yes, these are all elements of the crisis, but the crisis is larger than this. And that something larger is both sad and...

Greeting warmly a delegation led by General André Cox, the Pope said Catholics and Salvationists, together with other Christians, recognise that those in need have a special place in God’s heart – so much so, that the Lord himself became poor for our sake. As a result, the Pope said, Catholics and Salvationists often meet at the same peripheries of society. I pray, he concluded, that all of Christ’s disciples can contribute with the same conviction and dynamism that the Salvation Army demonstrates in its devoted and highly appreciated service. Founded by former Methodist minister William Booth in 1865 as...

Pope Francis traveled on his first trip to Turkey over the weekend attempting to reach out to the Muslim community, warning that the Islamic State is a major threat to Christians in the Middle East and calling on moderate Muslims to join in constructive dialogue and solidarity with the rest of the world. Instead, Turkish President Recept Tayyp Erdogan, who had a message of his own for the Pope, greeted him at his $600 million palace and blamed the rise of ISIS and the recent violence in Syria and Iraq, including beheadings, enslavements, and the wholesale ethnic cleansing of the...

Pet owners worldwide, including CFP’s beloved pet Yorkie, ‘Yankee’, can attest by the millions that Fidos have already found Heaven on Earth. The pithy posts of Father John T. Zuhlsdorf (Father Z) are among my favourite on the Internet. Just as I tune in on my much-admired friend Father Paul Nicholson’s inspiring homilies, I read Fr. Z’s blog most every day. Catholic convert Jimmy Akin of Jimmy Akin blog fame is no slouch when it comes to setting the record straight either. In time for Christmas 2014, visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads, has been replaced by visions...

With the attempt to limit the deductibility of contributions to charities by high-earners, the Obama Administration has opened a multi-front attack against the American tradition of “neighbor helping neighbor” and financially successful people turning large portions of their wealth over to charities that improve the American culture in august manners. The governmental power grab competes with the attempts to control the financial sector for its significance and may exceed it in the long-term effect upon our culture. One first has to marvel at how liberals can twist logic to rationalize a tax increase. It happens regularly from the local government...

In Ireland, taking the name of Israel means becoming a war criminal. A popular Dublin restaurant, The Exchequer, no longer stocks Israeli goods. In the Irish town of Kinvara, retailers, restaurants and pharmacies operate a boycott of Israeli goods. The leading Irish supermarket chain SuperValu removed the Israeli carrots from its shelves. And I have mentioned just a few examples of the new Irish anti-Semitism. It is the same everywhere in Europe: Israel is disappearing from European shelves. Practically and symbolically. The material cancellation of Israeli goods from Europe's shelves anticipates Israel's physical suppression. The French city of Lille suspended...

The Pope and Dogs in Heaven By Julio Severo Some news services interpreted that Pope Francis reportedly said that dogs also go to Heaven. If he was really misinterpreted, so do these dogs have nothing to do with animals? Is another kind of dog? Should he be interpreted, in his precariously disguisable socialism, that Fidel Castro and his gang also have a chance to the heavenly Paradise? Speaking about Fidel, why has no pope ever condemned communism in his visit to Cuba? If any other world leader visited Cuba without condemning communism, he would be branded in the least...

Walter Cardinal Kasper has been regarded in liberal circles as a profound theologian and an expert on ecumenism and Jewish-Catholic relations, as well as an authority on Vatican II. At the center of a recent storm of controversy over his views on the possibility of change concerning the doctrine of the Church on sexual morality, his views were unfortunately echoed by some other bishops at the recent Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in Rome. The result? Other cardinals and bishops were prompted to publicly denounce such attacks on Catholic teaching crying out, “Enough of this!” They referred to calls from Cardinal...

The woman tasked with carrying out the Vatican’s three-year investigation into the health of Religious life in the US admitted she faced resistance and criticism from fellow sisters. Writing in this week’s Tablet Mother Mary Clare Millea said the Vatican allowed her to select her own collaborators to carry out the apostolic investigation of the nearly 400 institutes of women Religious. She said she felt she had “the complete trust of the congregation in Rome” to formulate a strategy for carrying out the investigation. The long-awaited report from the investigation is to be released on Tuesday. Mother Clare, who is...

"Verdict is in: Pope Francis is a global rockstar," one Twitter post declared. A recent Pew research report recently found that the pontiff had a positive image in much of the world. In his native Argentina, he enjoys a 91 percent favorability rating. This comes a year after his image has graced some very unexpected magazine covers -- Rolling Stone and The Advocate come to mind. But despite all that coverage from the lay press, many people still don't know what to make of Pope Francis. During a recent synod meeting in Rome that centered on the family -- a...