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The gay marriage debate arrived within walking distance of the Vatican on Saturday as Rome’s mayor registered 16 gay marriages celebrated abroad in open defiance of Italy’s government. Gay marriage is illegal in Italy. […] Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino received thunderous applause as he arrived in the city hall reception room where the couples, their friends and family gathered to make their marriages official in Rome’s city ledger. One by one, the couples—gay and lesbian, some with children—were called up to witness Marino transcribe the date and locations of their weddings, including in Spain, Portugal and the U.S. …

Rome — I am sitting on the steps of the Capitoline Hill, as close as I can approximate the spot where, exactly 250 years ago today, on October 15, 1764, the 27-year old Edward Gibbon was struck by the muses, leading to perhaps the greatest work of historical scholarship in the English language. Though the anecdote in his biography recalling the moment has been called into question, it is both sufficiently famous and sufficiently inspiring to anyone with a historical bent to warrant retelling. Gibbon’s recollects the moment: It was at Rome, on the fifteenth of October, 1764, as...

Meanwhile, even as – as some people claim – there are within the Church those who wish to bring her down. There are – as is patently clear to anyone with a brain – there are outside the Church those who wish to bring her down.Rather, chop off her head.I saw this at Tempi (Italian HERE): La bandiera nera sventola sull’Obelisco di San Pietro: la rivista dello Stato islamico festeggia la “crociata fallita”The black flag waves over the Obelisk of St. Peter: the magazine of the Islamic State celebrates the “failed crusade” The “crociata” in this case refers to the...

(Martin Rhonheimer, a brave Christian. More of them, please!) Translation via 10news. For more translation, newsletter and support: 10news.dk. Where is the border between Islam and Islamism? The media says that the two are different as night and day; Islam is a religion of peace, and the Islamists have stolen the name. Others believe that Islamism represents the traditional, pure Islam, true to the Koran. This latter view is advanced, remarkably enough, by a theologian Martin Rhonheimer from a university endorsed by the Pope. He is a professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and wrote...

This article has an interesting account from the Roman Empire, that will enable you to understand what will happen to America when the gay agenda seizes 100 control: http://www.fgfbooks.com/Turner-Craig/2013/Turner130323.html ".....But our most detailed images of homosexual marriages come from the descriptions of Roman emperors. Nero, a depraved first-century emperor, married at least two men. He wed Pythagoras in a formal same-sex wedding by first putting on a bridal veil that made Nero the "bride" and Pythagoras the "groom." Every symbol of a classical marriage was present at this ceremony: a dowry, marriage bed, torches, and witnesses. Tacitus, the great Roman...

Don Gabriele Amorth recounts his mentor's advice on how to talk to the Devil. In 2012, the cause of beatification and canonization for Fr. Candido Amantini, a Passionist priest who served as the exorcist for the diocese of Rome for 36 years at the Scala Santa, was taken up in Rome. His most famous disciple (who is considered to be his successor) is 87 year old Don Gabriele Amorth, who wanted to participate in the opening ceremony of the process. The Pauline priest, who recently published the book, The Last Exorcist, wished to remember the Passionist Father and told us about the time when...

Writing for The Telegraph, Damien McElroy notes that: "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed leader of the 'Islamic State' stretching across Iraq and Syria, has vowed to lead the conquest of Rome as he called on Muslims to immigrate to his new land to fight under its banner around the globe. Baghdadi, who holds a PhD in Islamic studies, said Muslims were being targetted and killed from China to Indonesia. Speaking as the first Caliph, or commander of the Islamic faithful since the dissolution of the Ottoman empire, he called on Muslims to rally to his pan-Islamic state. 'Those who can...

Rome’s mayor has denounced anti-Semitic graffiti and swastikas that have appeared across the city, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Tuesday. Some of the graffiti referred to the escalating violence in Gaza and included taunts such as “Jews, the end is near.” […] The head of Rome’s Jewish Community, Riccardo Pacifici, was quoted by AP as having said, “Rome cannot become like Paris where Jews are assaulted, synagogues are surrounded and where wearing the yarmulke is a concrete danger.” …

Actually, the word camerata means comrade, but specifically refers to Mussolini’s fascists: “Other posters depicting a Palestinian throwing a rock towards an Israeli tank were attached on walls in Cola di Rienzo street, in the leafy Prati neighbourhood. The latter was accompanied with a Celtic cross and the slogan ‘Each Palestinian is a camerata [the Italian word for members of Mussolini's fascist movement] Same enemy, same barricade.’” In the West, Leftists and Islamic supremacists like to smear opponents of jihad terror as fascists, but this shows yet again that the real fascists are on their side. “Gaza Crisis: Rome’s Historic...

WASHINGTON – Islamic State jihadists not only have designs on Saudi Arabia, Israel and Rome for their caliphate but also on Spain and other lands Muslims occupied from A.D. 622 to 1492. In a newly released video in Arabic, Islamic State jihadists vowed to “conquer Israel, Rome and Spain.” IS would redraw boundaries of countries, separate Shia and Sunni Muslims, and subject everyone to extreme Islamic law, or Shariah.

ISIS leader Abut Bakr Al-Husayni al-Qurashi al-Baghdadi, days after announcing the formation of an Islamic caliphate in Syria-Iraq, announced that Rome must be conquered.We let him go, by the way. Guess whose administration did that.I saw this at The Telegraph: Rome will be conquered next, says leader of Islamic State Muslims have been called to flock to the Islamic State to gather for a battle against non-believers throughout the worldAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed leader of the Islamic State stretching across Iraq and Syria, has vowed to lead the conquest of Rome as he called on Muslims to immigrate...

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed leader of the 'Islamic State' stretching across Iraq and Syria, has vowed to lead the conquest of Rome as he called on Muslims to immigrate to his new land to fight under its banner around the globe.

Here’s John Kerry having a good time with Nabih Berri, the head of the Amal Movement, and speaker of the Hezbollah dominated Lebanese parliament. What better way to follow up the Taliban deal than to meet with another terrorist hijacker. Back in 1985, Amal and Hezbollah terrorists used the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 to demand the release of imprisoned terrorists. A TWA airliner, Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome, was hijacked by Shia terrorists of the Hizballah organization who demanded the release of Shia prisoners held in Kuwait, Israel, and Spain. The airliner was forced to fly...

ROME (AP) -- Pope Francis has led a pep rally to boost faith at Rome's soccer stadium, packed with more than 50,000 Catholics who follow charismatic movements, which he jokingly likened to samba dancing.Hands raised in unison, the faithful prayed in Olympic Stadium Sunday for Francis, who repeatedly has asked his church for prayers.

An Official Declaration Concerning the Criminal Jesus of NazarethJesus of Nazareth was executed on the orders of the Roman State. Method of execution: Crucifixion. The charge under Roman law was treason, and under Herodian law blasphemy against the Temple.The evidence against this anarchist was so strong that authorities of both the Roman State and the Kingdom of Herod concurred with the arrest and execution, and Jesus was subjected to trial by both governments. And in a rare uprising of spontaneous collective justice, the mass of people who were gathered for Passover called for his execution as well. The mob affirmed...

Though officials at the World Health Organization are feverishly working to stop the spread of the Ebola virus in what is now seven African nations, their efforts may be for naught. In Guinea, a hot spot for the deadly contagion, government health officials have said that the outbreak is nearly under control. Yet, Reuters reports that the government “planned to stop publicly releasing the death toll to avoid causing unnecessary panic.” But panic may be in order. Despite the best efforts of emergency health workers it appears that virus may have crossed out of Africa into Europe.

The researchers have been using an established technique known as magnetometry, which involves systematically and rapidly scanning the landscape with small handheld instruments in order to identify localised magnetic anomalies relating to buried ancient structures. These are then mapped out with specialised computer software, providing images similar to aerial photographs, which can be interpreted by archaeologists. In antiquity, the landscape in this recent study was known as the Isola Sacra and was surrounded by a major canal to the north, the river Tiber to the east and south, and the Tyrrhenian sea to the west. At the southernmost side of...

Next week, the city will celebrate its official, 2,767th birthday. According to a tradition going back to classic times, the brothers Romulus and Remus founded the city on 21 April in the year 753BC. But on Sunday it was reported that evidence of infrastructure building had been found, dating from more than 100 years earlier. The daily Il Messagero quoted Patrizia Fortini, the archaeologist responsible for the Forum, as saying that a wall constructed well before the city's traditional founding date had been unearthed. The wall, made from blocks of volcanic tuff, appeared to have been built to channel water...

London just witnessed the release of a newly restored version of Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta).Roberto Rossellini’s Italian Neo-Realist classic emerged from the smashed debris of what was left of the Eternal City as the German armies retreated and the Allies slowly crept towards it.Watching the movie today it lacks none of its emotional punch, not least because of the almost documentary feel of what is being viewed. The pacing and use of hand-held cameras, to say nothing of the city itself as character, all make for something that in many ways hardly seems dated. That said, filmed at...

North Korea 2014 meets Rome AD 65 In Kim Jong Un's accession to power and brutal purge of his uncle, parallels are evident between the two societies. By James Romm March 14, 2014 This week, as the Ides of March approaches — the March 15 anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar, a determined but ultimately fruitless attempt by Roman senators to stop their government from sliding toward dictatorship — the minds of some ancient historians may turn in a seemingly unlikely direction: toward modern North Korea. The dark and menacing regime of Kim Jong Un seems a long way...