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In an interview with POLITICO shortly after the pope’s historic address to Congress, the Texas senator said he respects Francis’ views and the Catholic Church’s teachings on the issue, but “as a policy matter, I do not agree.”“I spent a number of years in law enforcement dealing with some of the worst criminals, child rapists and murderers, people who’ve committed unspeakable acts,” Cruz said. “I believe the death penalty is a recognition of the preciousness of human life, that for the most egregious crimes, the ultimate punishment should apply.” Cruz also said that whether the death penalty should be in...

Mayors from eighteen U.S. cities signed a letter to President Obama saying they are willing to take even more refugees than what has been proposed by the administration. “We will welcome the Syrian families to make homes and new lives in our cities,” wrote the mayors, all of whom are part of the Cities United for Immigration Action coalition. “Indeed, we are writing to say that we stand ready to work with your Administration to do much more and to urge you to increase still further the number of Syrian refugees the United States will accept for resettlement.” “This is...

A very high profile anti-Capitalist from Canada named Naomi Klein has been invited by Pope Francis to join forces with Climate Change activist and senior aide to the Pope, Cardinal Peter Turkson. Together they will lead a prominent conference on the environment with churchmen, scientists, and activists. The conference will exclude climate change doubters and moderates. The Pope had walked back some of his comments on the economy which were anti-Capitalist but Klein says he got it right the first time – we need to overturn Capitalism. Klein spoke at Occupy Wall Street, is, according to the guardian, is a...

Pope Francis made a thinly-veiled swipe at Donald Trump as the Pontiff defended Latino immigrants who came to America at 'great personal cost' during a moving speech to 40,000 followers in Philadelphia. Francis called on migrants from Mexico and the rest of the world to 'not feel discouraged by all the challenges and hardships' they face, saying they should never feel ashamed of their own traditions. The Pope's words come in direct contrast to Trump's calls for a wall to be built along the Mexican border and for stricter controls on who can enter the US. Speaking from the lectern...

As Twitchy reported, among those greeting Pope Francis in Washington, D.C., this morning were a group of PETA protesters dressed as nuns, some with beards and some walking on stilts — classy as always. The group was part of the Pope Francis Moral Action on Climate Justice Rally on the National Mall, which also attracted other “green” groups such as Greenpeace, the Earth Day Network, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Sierra Club. Marc Morano of Climate Depot reports that organizers of the rally obtained a permit in August for 200,000 people, while liberal website ThinkProgress today reported that the...

The greatly heralded Pope Francis, beneficiary of 24 hour news coverage from all news networks, has once again given us insight into his inner self in a sermon at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York City (Transcript of Sermon) . After starting the service, Pope Francis gave a heart warming shout-out to his "religion of peace", “Muslim brothers and sisters” when he said this: “I would like to express two sentiments for my Muslim brothers and sisters: Firstly, my greetings as they celebrate the feast of sacrifice.” The Pope clearly understands that for the last 1400 years, Islam has held...

Cuba has got to be one of the most revolutionary places on the planet -- if you're naïve enough to believe the official slogans, street signs and the rest of the prolefeed on display in the Castros' crumbling little police state. The old Soviet Union used to be heavy on talk of revolution, too, though most Russians came to realize it was only talk. In the grim, gray reality, Russia was anything but revolutionary. When that evil empire collapsed, so did the empty slogans about revolution, the workers' state and all the rest. Official lies may hold up for a...

Today's Donald Trump news: As a thick crowd gathered Thursday afternoon on New York's Fifth Avenue to get a glimpse of Pope Francis, the faithful caught sight of someone else – Donald Trump. The presidential candidate stepped out of his company headquarters at about 4:30 p.m. and waved. But the crowd quickly reminded Trump that – despite countless appearances on talk shows, rallies and over-populated debates – they weren't there to see him. Trump heard some cheers, but was mostly showered with boos, a reaction that might not have pleased the pope, who had just finished preaching about the Golden...

NEW YORK, September 25 (C-Fam) World leaders broke out into applause 27 times during the Pope’s address to the UN General Assembly today, including when he called for the defense of the “right to life,” and called the family the “primary cell of any social development.” Pro-life and pro-family advocates welcomed the speech as an improvement upon the more subtle references to their causes during the Pope’s address to the U.S. Congress. Culture of Life President Robert Royal called the UN talk a powerful and explicit defense of human life and natural marriage even though the words “abortion” and “homosexuality”...

The Vatican's Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cdl. Gerhard Müller of Germany, is condemning a wide range of Western theological, philosophical and ideological errors like liberalism, relativism and nihilism. In a wide-ranging review of Cdl. Robert Sarah's new critically acclaimed book, God or Nothing, Cdl. Müller, with the book, condemns everything from feminism, gender ideology and atheistic nihilism to Communion for divorced and "remarried" adulters and the infamous "spirit of Vatican II." Cardinal Sarah is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Both he and the Church's doctrinal...

We are in Madison Square Garden, a place synonymous with this city. This is the site of important athletic, artistic and musical events attracting people not only from this city, but from the whole world. In this place, which represents both the variety and the common interests of so many different people, we have listened to the words: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:1). The people who walked – caught up in their activities and routines, amid their successes and failures, their worries and expectations – have seen a great light. The people...

Have you ever wondered what happened to cloning? Twenty years ago, when Dolly the sheep was still bleating, cloning was seen as the most important topic in bioethics. But over the last few years it dropped off the radar. One of our favorite journals, the New Atlantis (which is published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center), released an unsettling new report last week that sheds a great deal of light on where cloning has gone under the cover of night. It turns out that cloning has not been put to bed as an ethical problem. If anything, the challenges...

This week, my college was a flurry of activity as everyone prepared themselves for Pope Francis’ arrival. At Georgetown, Francis is nearly universally beloved. He’s the first Pope from the Americas, the first Jesuit, and a priest who makes all the right noises about the entire portfolio of progressive causes.

He cited an online post he had seen from a 17-year-old gay Catholic. "The church has a lot to say about what I'm not supposed to do," the youth wrote. "But ... I couldn't find any church document (about) what a gay person is supposed to do with his life. I feel abandoned by the church." He said the church teaches much about the beauty of marriage, but then tells its gay members they "can't have this wonderful thing."

Pope Francis Arrives For 20,000-Strong Mass At Madison Square Garden After 80,000 Lined Central Park For A Glimpse Of The Pontiff • Pope Francis was met with a monumental roar from the crowd as he arrived at Madison Square Garden for mass • There were emotional scenes as the Pontiff blessed a young disabled child, whose parents openly wept • Jennifer Hudson sang a powerful rendition of Hallelujah as Francis arrived for the 20,000-strong gathering • The Pope was earlier driven through Central Park in his popemobile as 80,000 cheering people lined the roads • By OLLIE GILLMAN 25 September...

From the “department of global roasting” and the UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS, where great ideas like this one are formed at Halloween parties, (yes really, see PR) comes this claim:UAF model used to estimate Antarctic ice sheet meltingTo see how burning up the Earth’s available fossil fuels might affect the Antarctic ice sheet, scientists turned to a computer program developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. The ice would disappear, they found, and that conclusion is making headlines across the world.UAF’s Parallel Ice Sheet Model “was the perfect tool to find out whether human emissions are sufficient to...

Man-made global warming is saving the Earth from “another ice age,” White House Science Advisor Eric Holdren says in a new video promoting man-made global warming theory: “We know beyond any reasonable doubt that humans are the main cause of the warming of the earth’s climate that has been measured over the past few decades. The warming is unequivocal. “While the climate of the earth has changed over the millennia as a result of natural factors – principally changes in the tilt and orientation of the earth’s axis and rotation, and in the shape of its orbit around the sun...

While delivering the first address from a pontiff to a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, Pope Francis touched on topics ranging from the plight of immigrants to climate change and the death penalty. Many of his comments were lightly delivered and unlikely to elicit much controversy, though the reaction might be different if they were given by another world leader.

To quote the Church Lady: isn't that conv-e-e-e-e-nient? On Chris Hayes' MSNBC show tonight, Dem congressman Luis Gutierrez claimed that while he was "challenged" by the Catholic church's teachings on abortion and gay rights and found them "difficult" [but not difficult enough to change his standard liberal positions], no one can really argue the Pope's positions on illegal immigration and income inequality. View the video here.