Free Republic

Shortly after Brittany Maynard took her own life, a leading Catholic Church official said assisted suicide was “reprehensible” because it violated the dignity of human life. Monsignor Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said “dignity is something other than putting an end to one’s own life,” when asked about Maynard’s decision to kill herself. Carrasco de Paula said “Brittany Maynard’s act is in itself reprehensible, but what happened in the consciousness we do not know.” brittanymaynardHe cautioned that he was not judging individuals “but the gesture in and of itself should be condemned.”...

Brittany Maynard’s mother is responding angrily to the Vatican's criticism of Maynard’s decision to end her life early under an Oregon law written to let terminally ill patients die on their own terms. […] Maynard’s mother, Debbie Ziegler, issued a sharp written response Tuesday. She says the Vatican official’s comments came as the family was grieving and were “more than a slap in the face.” …

In his latest bid to ease the suffering of the poor — and upend the expectations of the papacy — Pope Francis plans to build showers for the homeless under the sweeping white colonnade of St. Peter’s Square. A homeless man sits close to where the showers are going to be built in St. Peter’s square. Photo via Josephine McKenna/RNS Related Reading VIDEO: Our Neighbors in the Pews by The Editors Left Behind by John A. Zukowski Compassion in the Stacks by Brittany Shoot Forty Shades of Green by Sean McDonagh The Rich Get Richer by Julie Polter Three showers...

Just at first glance, and without looking it up on Google Translate, what is the difference between these two passages of a recent important Vatican document, the final “Relatio” from October’s Extraordinary Synod of Bishops? “…confronto alla luce del Signore Gesù per discernere le vie con cui rinnovare la Chiesa e la società nel loro impegno per la famiglia fondata sul matrimonio tra uomo e donna.” and “…facing the situation, with an eye on the Lord Jesus, to discern how the Church and society can renew their commitment to the family.” A little pared down, perhaps? The official Italian original...

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are gathering at a moment of turbulence for them and the American church, as Pope Francis moves toward crafting new policies for carrying out his mission of mercy - a prospect that has conservative Catholics and some bishops in an uproar. The assembly, which starts Monday in Baltimore, comes less than a month after Francis ended a dramatic Vatican meeting on how the church can more compassionately minister to Catholic families. The gathering in Rome was only a prelude to a larger meeting next year which will more concretely advise Francis on church practice. Still, the...

VATICAN CITY — American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who championed campaigns to deny Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion, was removed by Pope Francis from another top Vatican post on Saturday. The removal of Burke as head of the Holy See's supreme court was widely expected in Catholic Church circles. While he was archbishop of St. Louis, from 2003 to 2008, he led fellow American bishops in campaigns to stop giving Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who support legalized abortion. He has questioned some of the pontiff's pronouncements and approaches. Last year, Francis took Burke off the Vatican's powerful...

Visitors to the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel will now be able to see its world-famous frescos in a new light – 7,000 new LED lights to be exact. ... “This type of LED lighting guarantees a homogeneous lighting, which is very precise and allows us to understand the Sistine Chapel as a whole and each fresco individually, in minute detail,” says the Director of the Vatican Museums, Antonio Paolucci. The non-intrusive, energy-saving bulbs have been concealed along the edges of the ledge which runs around the chapel. Positioned to match the frescoes’ pigments, they can be adjusted to different levels. “This...

Catholics around the world need to know that the Vatican communications machine is still doing its best to manipulate the results of the Synod on the Family. As can be seen from the link here and below to the relevant page on the Vatican website, all the preliminary and more liberal documents of the Synod are up there in multiple languages, while the only one that matters de jure - the final and official relatio which did not even propose - much less approve - Communion for divorced-and remarrieds or "welcome" for homosexuals and their "gifts", is posted only in...

The departure of Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke from the Apostolic Signatura has been rumored for weeks, but nothing official had been forthcoming. Yesterday, Burke himself confirmed it in an interview with Buzzfeed – kind of. Actually, when one reads Burke’s response, it sounds as if he still hasn’t heard anything official about his future: In the interview with BuzzFeed News, Burke confirmed publicly for the first time the rumors that he had been told Francis intended to demote him from the church’s chief guardian of canon law to a minor post as patron to the Sovereign Military Order of...

Pope Francis may believe that the current economic system is driving the world towards the “idolatry of money” but that won’t stop the Holy Father from getting some corporate dollars. The pope rented out the Sistine Chapel to Porsche for a private concert for 40 high paying tourists. The Catholic church did not reveal how much they would get from the event, but insists that the proceeds will go to the pope’s various charities. The event is part of a 5 day tour around Rome arranged by the Porsche Travel Club that costs about €5,000 ($6,400) a person. According to...

The world likes Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke very little or not at all. And , if it is possible, the Church likes him even less than does the world. On the other hand, this 66 year- old American from Richland Center, Wisconsin, has done everything as a Catholic to successfully carry out his intent to set a fire under the consciences of Christians who are all too inclined to tepidity. He participates in the Marches for Life, he says that Communion is not to be given to those politicians who support abortion laws, he denounces the rapid progression of the...

More and more there is talk in Rome that this synod is being engineered by groups intent on steering the Church in a heterodox direction, and increasingly evidence is coming to light that points to it. . It still remains unclear who exactly wrote it and how many eyes had seen it before it was made public, but the strong criticisms of it from such Church leaders as Cardinals Raymond Burke and Gerhard Mueller are enough to point to a lamentable lack of scrutiny, with consequences for souls. Archbishop Bruno Forte, the synod’s special secretary, known to be a keen...

Seeing as this only has 500 views on Youtube, maybe most folks haven’t seen this, yet. Reader MFG sent this to me this morning. I find this interview disconcerting on many levels. First, his initial glad-handed chuminess is way over the top and appears just overtly insincere. Then he attempts constantly to minimize the divisions in the Synod and gives an unreserved approval of the attempt to redefine Church Doctrine with regard to the groinal issues so sacred to the modernists (adulterers receiving the Blessed Sacrament, regularizing and “solemnizing” divorce through reception of the Blessed Sacrament, gift-bearing sodomites, the whole...

Check it out http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/vatican-alters-draft-report-translation-about-gays/ar-BB9qgYh

It seems Walter Kasper's racist remarks on Africa and Africans have caused an understandable shock wave throughout the assembly. They reflect a racist, xenophobic, and anti-African mindset that has removed the Church in Africa from any participation in the Synodal administration and governance, or in the committee formed to help draft the final relatio. Other than that, Synod Fathers are being strongly pressured by the allies of the racist German cardinal, who are in the minority, to modify as little as possible the partial relatio: as Tosatti explains below, that was one of the main reasons why the racist manipulators...

FULL TITLE: AP confirms: "Outed" Forte exclusively responsible for "Gayspel", only ONE Father had even mentioned issue in Synod Hall Bruno "Outed" Forte From Nicole Winfield's Associated Press article on Synod special secretary Abp. Bruno "Outed" Forte. We post it here for the record of the history of the most embarrassing document in Catholic history, and its most infamous passage, where Forte sneaked his own "New Gospel": Erdo has already "outed" the official who wrote the section on gays, Monsignor [Archbishop] Bruno Forte, appointed by Pope Francis as the special secretary to the synod. Forte is an Italian theologian known...

Officially speaking, the draft report was a synthesis of the interventions from more than 200 bishops, a starting point for small working groups to propose amendments, elaborations, additions and subtractions to the drafting committee preparing a final report that will be released on Saturday. But conservative cardinals have said their views were not reflected in the draft, they blasted the report as "unacceptable" and said it was in sore need of an overhaul. ... In fact, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said he recalled only one speech out of about 265 about gays during the debate.

Dolan, during an appearance on ‘CBS This Morning’ on Wednesday, said the Vatican report released Monday stating that ‘homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community’ is just a first draft that ‘needs some major reworking.’ The archbishop of New York tamped down the importance of a groundbreaking Vatican declaration that signaled a new openness toward same-sex couples. “All of this is almost like antipasto to help the holy father arrive at a fresh, new way to teach the timeless teaching on marriage and family,” Dolan said in an interview with “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday, dismissing...

Pope Francis leads the synod of bishops in Paul VI's hall at the Vatican October 6, 2014. Pope Francis opened a global Roman Catholic assembly on Sunday showing his apparent irritation with Church leaders who have waged a sometimes bitter public battle between progressives and conservatives on family issues. A recently released midterm report from the Synod of Bishops on the family, which defended the traditional definition of marriage but used positive language towards same-sex couples in some situations, has garnered controversy among some bishops who say it does not accurately reflect the assembly's views. "In regard to homosexuality, there...

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- A fight for the soul of the Catholic Church has broken out, and the first battlefield is a document on family values that pits increasingly alarmed conservatives against more progressive bishops emboldened by Pope Francis' vision of a church that is more merciful than moralistic.