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The “Spirit of Assisi” vs. Saint Francis of Assisi Editor’s Note: Last week Friday, on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (Oct. 4, 2019), a “prayer ceremony” took place in the Vatican Gardens during which “a tree from Assisi was planted as a symbol of integral ecology, to consecrate the Synod on Amazonia to Saint Francis,” according to the official Vatican statement on the event. During this ceremony, as Catholic News Agency reported, “A group of people, including Amazonians in ritual dress, as well [as] people in lay clothes and a Franciscan brother, knelt and bowed in a circle...

October 15 2019 Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church Reading 1 Rom 1:16-25 Brothers and sisters:I am not ashamed of the Gospel.It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:for Jew first, and then Greek.For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith;as it is written, "The one who is righteous by faith will live." The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heavenagainst every impiety and wickednessof those who suppress the truth by their wickedness.For what can be known about God is evident...

“Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, ‘It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.’ But he answered them, ‘He who made me well was the one who said to me, “Pick up your pallet and walk.”’ They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your pallet and walk”?’ But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place” (John 5:9–13)....

October 14 2019 Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Rom 1:1-7 Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God,which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,the Gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith,for the sake of his name, among all...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Religion Forum threads labeled "Prayer" are closed to debate of any kind.

“After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. A...

An amazing example of Russian wooden architecture and beautifully-painted cathedral was officially reopened after extensive restoration and consecrated on Tuesday, October 8. The small consecration and festive Divine Liturgy in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s Ascension Cathedral were celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan. The beautiful wooden cathedral is considered a spiritual, historical, and cultural pearl of Kazakhstan, and was consecrated as part of the ongoing celebrations of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Synaxis of New Martyrs and Confessors of Kazakhstan and the creation of the Astan and Almaty Dioceses, reports the press service of the...

“Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son lives.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, ‘Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.’ So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son lives’; and he himself believed and his whole household. This is again a second sign that Jesus performed...

October 13 2019 Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Kgs 5:14-17 Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven timesat the word of Elisha, the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child,and he was clean of his leprosy. Naaman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before Elisha and said,"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,except in Israel.Please accept a gift from your servant." Elisha replied, "As the LORD lives whom I serve, I will not...

Canon lawyer priest on Amazon Synod’s pagan tree-planting: ‘This is horrendous’ ROME, October 11, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Reacting to Pope Francis’s participation in a “pagan religious ceremony” on the grounds of the Vatican, a canon lawyer said on EWTN’s The World Over that the ceremony was “horrendous” and that Catholicism is supposed to “overthrow pagan false notions,” not be taught by them. On October 4, Pope Francis observed as an Amazonian woman led a ritual in the Vatican gardens as part of a tree-planting ceremony. The woman, bedecked with a traditional feather headdress, prostrated herself before the tree and a...

October 12 2019 Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jl 4:12-21 Thus says the LORD:Let the nations bestir themselves and come upto the Valley of Jehoshaphat;For there will I sit in judgmentupon all the neighboring nations. Apply the sickle,for the harvest is ripe;Come and tread,for the wine press is full;The vats overflow,for great is their malice.Crowd upon crowdin the valley of decision;For near is the day of the LORDin the valley of decision.Sun and moon are darkened,and the stars withhold their brightness.The LORD roars from Zion,and from Jerusalem raises his voice;The heavens and the earth...

The Amazon Synod Has Begun, and Pandora’s Box Is Opened The Synod of Bishops on the Amazon is off to an ominous start. Each day, as more bizarre, jarring, and revolutionary developments emerge, I keep coming back to a line from Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor: “When the cardinals elected Bergoglio they did not know what a Pandora’s box they were opening.”Shortly before the synod started, Pope Francis and Claudio Cardinal Hummes, the synod’s general relator, hosted a startling indigenous ceremony in the Vatican gardens. Led by a female native of the Amazon region, a group encircling a mandala bowed down before...

The Feast of Tabernacles prophetic fulfillment will be the Kingdom Age under the reign of the returning Messiah of Israel over the remaining nations of the world (Isa. 2: 1-5, 11:1-10; Micah 4:1-4; Zech. 8:21-23; 14:9, 16-21 etc...). Throughout the Old Testament and Israel's continual rebellion, Almighty God always pointed to "that Day" in which His people would return to Him and He would restore them and be their God. It will be at Messiah's Second Coming that this wondrous future for Israel shall be finally fulfilled (Isa. 4:2; 26:1-3; 52:6; Jer. 3:8, 18-19; 16:14-19; 23:5; 30:1-3; 8-24; 32:37; Ezek....

“After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast. Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and...

[Catholic Caucus] Ex-shaman’s grandson on Vatican ‘pagan’ ritual: ‘I…couldn’t believe my eyes’ VATICAN CITY, October 11, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) ― The American grandson of an indigenous ex-shaman was appalled when he saw a video of an Amazonian religious ceremony that took place in the Vatican this week.  “I saw the ceremony that was performed in the Vatican garden and couldn't believe my eyes,” Rexcrisanto Delson told LifeSiteNews.   “There were idols, and even a Franciscan participated,” he continued.  “I later learned that an Amazon tribal leader confirmed it was purely pagan. Did the Catholics who participated and supported such a vile...

October 11 2019 Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Jl1:13-15; 2:1-2 Gird yourselves and weep, O priests!wail, O ministers of the altar!Come, spend the night in sackcloth,O ministers of my God!The house of your God is deprivedof offering and libation.Proclaim a fast,call an assembly;Gather the elders,all who dwell in the land,Into the house of the LORD, your God,and cry to the LORD! Alas, the day!for near is the day of the LORD,and it comes as ruin from the Almighty. Blow the trumpet in Zion,sound the alarm on my holy mountain!Let all who dwell in the...

[Catholic Caucus] Abp Viganò urges Pope to personally answer claims he doesn’t believe in divinity of Christ ROME, October 10, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Following the Vatican’s second attempt to deny claims by atheist Italian journalist, Eugenio Scalfari, that Pope Francis told him he doesn’t believe in Christ’s divinity, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is urging the Pope himself to give a “clear answer.” In comments to LifeSiteNews after Thursday’s synod press briefing and denial of Scalfari’s claim, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò said: “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’” “Why doesn’t the Pope use the language of simple people, while he invites people ‘Cher jaleo,’ to...

"Motus in fine velocior" - The Crisis is Gathering Speed (Roberto de Mattei) In one week in the Vatican: pagan worship, a bizarre informal interview in which the divinity of Christ is questioned by the Pope, one of the main organizers of the Amazon synod makes clear married priests and even some kind of "ordination" for women should come out of the gathering. Time to republish a masterly article by Professor Roberto de Mattei, that we first posted in February 2014: "Motus in fine velocior," events gather greater and greater speed at the end of historical epochs. Motus in fine...

[Catholic Caucus] Proposal for ‘Amazonian Catholic rite’ comes as a surprise at Synod ROME, October 9, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) -- There is nothing truly unexpected about the proposals that were presented on Monday during day two of the Amazon Synod. Among them were instituting new ministries for laymen and women, including “the possibility of diaconal ordination for women,” and creating a new Catholic rite, the “Amazonian rite,” that would probably include the ordination of married men and an inculturated “Mass” of which several rituals performed these last few days by indigenous Amazonians in and around the Vatican could be a...

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