Free Republic

Last Hong Kong governor: Pope ‘badly advised’ on China bishops’ pactThe last governor of Hong Kong criticized the Vatican’s agreement with China on the appointment of bishops and said Pope Francis has been “exceptionally badly advised” in concluding the pact.In his online discussion, “China and the Liberal Democracies — Do We Face a new Cold War?” for the international Catholic weekly, The Tablet, Chris Patten appealed to the Vatican to “tell us what is in the deal.”The details of the bilateral agreement remain secret. It was renewed in October despite criticism by the United States and human rights organizations.“The idea...

CNA Staff, Dec 15, 2020 / 07:01 pm MT (CNA).- Hungary’s Parliament passed a law Tuesday defining the family as having a woman as the mother and a man as the father, effectively banning adoptions by same-sex couples and complicating adoptions by single people. The change is the latest of several to be made in recent years in what the government has said are attempts to preserve Hungary’s Christian identity and to boost its plummeting birth rates. “If we give up on our Christianity, then we will lose our own identity, as Hungarians, as Europeans,” Katalin Novák, Hungary’s Minister of...

The Russian Orthodox Church is in no rush to recognize the authenticity of the remains of the Royal Martyrs found near Ekaterinburg, His Grace Bishop Evgeny of Ekaterinburg said at a press conference on Saturday. Earlier, Evgeny Pchelov, an associate professor of the Historical and Archival Institute of the Russian Orthodox University for the Humanities who participated in the Russian Church’s historical and documentary examination of the remains found at Ganina Yama, told RIA-Novosti that the complex of studies confirmed the authenticity of the remains. As Pchelov explained, it was possible to restore a fairly complete picture of what happened...

For millennia, China has taught its citizens to embrace individual sacrifice for the greater good. Writer Huang Hung explains how this mindset allows the country to preserve safety during a crisis. (Video at link)

'Just like the New York restrictions, the directive treats numerous secular activities and entities significantly better than religious worship service'December 16, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Nevada cannot impose on churches greater public health restrictions than those applied to secular businesses, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in a victory for religious Nevadans. As previously covered by LifeSiteNews, Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley vs. Sisolak concerns a case made by Calvary Chapel, an evangelical church, that Nevada is unlawfully discriminating against houses of worship by allowing a number of public facilities, including casinos, to fill with crowds to 50 percent...

Canada joined several European nations in halting flights from the U.K. on Sunday in an effort to prevent a new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus from spreading to this country. CBC News obtained a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued by Transport Minister Marc Garneau stating that all commercial, private and charter flights transporting passengers from the U.K. will be suspended indefinitely as of midnight tonight. The restriction doesn't apply to cargo flights, aircraft landing for safety reasons or flights that land for technical stops where no passengers disembark. The notice said the minister "is of the opinion it is...

Rep. Ilhan Omar blamed “criminal neglect” on the part of President Trump for her father tragically passing away due to the coronavirus. Omar (D-MN) made the harsh accusations during a conversation with MSNBC. “My father and over 300,000 people have lost their lives to Covid because of dangerous criminal neglect by Trump and his administration,” she said. Nur Omar Mohamed passed away in June due to “complications from Covid-19.” ... Omar also seemed to suggest the President and/or members of his administration should be “prosecuted” for those deaths, citing a memo released earlier in the week by House Majority Whip...

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn said he was provided information that foreign intelligence agencies were monitoring the U.S. election on Nov. 3 and are willing to provide evidence to President Donald Trump. “We have evidence now of foreign countries … were watching the attacks on our election system, our election process, on the 3rd of November,” Flynn told Fox Business on Friday. “So we now have that evidence and we received that today,” he said. He didn’t elaborate on what foreign intelligence agencies were involved, how he obtained that information, or the nature of the alleged attacks on the...

Comedian Eddie Izzard has received praise and support after explaining on a British show that her pronouns are she/her. Izzard was featured as the portrait subject for an episode of Sky Arts' "Portrait Artist of the Year," during which she explained that from now on she'd be using she/her pronouns. Izzard was speaking to Curtis Holder, a competitor on "Portrait Artist of the Year," in which artists paint famous faces to claim the title, when she said her appearance on the show was the first time she had asked to be referred to with exclusively she/her pronouns. "Well, I try...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recorded her experience getting the COVID-19 vaccine and shared it with her 8.2 million Instagram followers. The freshman representative of parts of The Bronx and Queens on Friday night shared video of herself in the lead up to the shot — including filling out a questionnaire — the injection itself, as well as how she felt afterwards. “I would would never, ever ask you to do something I wasn’t willing to do myself,” she wrote in the post. The Democratic socialist also answered questions from followers, saying she was experiencing some minor symptoms after the inoculation. “I...

TUNIS (REUTERS) -Islamist militants kidnapped and beheaded a young shepherd in mountains in Tunisia near the border with Algeria on Sunday, security sources and residents said. Troops found the body of Okba Dhouibi after he had been seized by militants, the sources said. Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi said that act would not go unpunished.

(CNN)In one of Attorney General William Barr's final acts leading the Justice Department, he plans to announce on Monday criminal charges against an alleged bombmaker in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. The former Libyan intelligence officer Abu Agila Masud is expected to be charged for his involvement in the bombing, according to three officials familiar briefed on the matter. Monday is the 32nd anniversary of the attack, which killed 270 people, the majority of whom were Americans. The Pan Am Boeing 747 was en route from London to New York. The announcement...

Y'know, for people who are supposedly so confident in their Big Win on Election Night, Mr. Biden and Mrs. Harris sure aren't acting like people destined for an Inauguration Ceremony! They should be rushed off their feet preparing guest lists, meeting with the Inauguration Committee, having fittings for their outfits, etc. etc. Instead they're behaving like Willy Wonka's famous spoonerism: "So much time and so little to do!" #1. Harris Fails to Resign from Senate No hurry, Kamala. Heavy sigh. We'll wait. I'll merely mention that effective November 16th, 2008, Barack Hussein Obama had lickety-split resigned his Senate seat, a...

“Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., President Trump’s campaign committee, today filed a petition for writ of certiorari to the US. Supreme Court to reverse a trio of Pennsylvania Supreme Court cases which illegally changed Pennsylvania’s mail balloting law immediately before and after the 2020 presidential election in violation of Article II of the United States Constitution and Bush v. Gore. This represents the Campaign’s first independent U.S. Supreme Court filing and seeks relief based on the same Constitutional arguments successfully raised in Bush v. Gore. “This petition follows a related Pennsylvania case where Justice Alito and two other justices...

Our Troops Rock! Thank you for all you do! For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces. Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today! ~ Hall of Heroes ~ The Berlin Airlift Part 3: Operation Little VittlesAll info and photos from this website. Link to Part 1 Link to Part 2 "DER SCHOKOLADEN FLIEGER" OPERATION LITTLE VITTLES 40K JPEGGeneral Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force is shown presenting the 1948 Cheney Award to 1st Lieutenant Gail S. Halvorsen, USAF, former...

Some people can't help but drag identity politics and racial/gender resentments into things, even when they and the person they're responding to are on the same page! Take Brittney Cooper, on Jonathan Capehart's MSNBC show this morning. Capehart invited the Rutgers professor of Women's, Gender, and Africana Studies, and frequent MSNBC guest, to comment on a clip of Mitt Romney flatly declaring, "it's not going to happen." That was Romney's response to reports that at a White House meeting on Friday, the possibility of invoking martial law was discussed, along with the possible appointment of Sidney Powell as a special...

President Trump called out Mitch McConnell after the Senate Majority Leader congratulated President-elect Joe Biden. McConnell on Tuesday acknowledged Biden as the winner of the 2020 election for the first time, declaring that “the Electoral College has spoken.” “Yesterday, electors met in all 50 states, so, as of this morning, our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president-elect,” McConnell said. “So, today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” he added. McConnell also reportedly suggested that his fellow Republicans accept the defeat. “There was encouragement on the phone for us to accept the result — as much as...

HOUSTON, TX—Joel Osteen is a prolific author, having instructed his ghostwriter to pen dozens of bestselling books over the course of his career. Now, he's got a new book that's set to top the New York Times Bestseller List: Live Your Best Life Now by Taking Millions in Small Business Aid from the Government. The book will teach Christians to name and claim up to $4 million in small business aid, allowing them to use their positive mental energy to redirect the loans from businesses who desperately need it to their own lives and ministries. "Are you struggling to make...

Congress has agreed to a $900 billion coronavirus relief package, Senate leaders announced Sunday. The deal finally delivers long-overdue help to businesses and individuals and provides money to deliver vaccines to a nation eager for them. It establishes a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefits and $600 direct stimulus payments to most Americans - half of what they got in April - along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction. The House was expected to vote on the legislation very late Sunday or Monday and Senate...

Alexander "Sasha" Kagansky, 45, was in his underwear when he fell to his death from his 14th-floor apartment, according to the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. The scientist also suffered a stab wound, police said. Police believe there was a scuffle before Kagansky fell from the building, reports said. Russian police say they are investigating Kagansky’s death as a possible homicide and questioning a 45-year-old man as a potential suspect, e2news.com said.