Free Republic

The longest-running battles over crucifixes in Italian classrooms are undoubtedly legal ones. And a recent ruling has caused an uproar in the media, and is likely to spark new clashes rather than promote a truce.The crucifix has long been a central and most venerated Christian symbol, expressing a variety of beliefs and truths about the life, death, and Passion of Jesus Christ. Considering that it represents the torment and suffering of Christ, it is perhaps not surprising that crucifixes objects of ridicule and insults. This in fact often happens in schools in Italy. “In Italy, there is a regulation, dating...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may impose more travel restrictions and rules over the emergence of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus Omicron variant, according to federal officials. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters Tuesday that the CDC is evaluating whether to change its policy by having travelers to the United States test for COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus, closer to their departure as well as “additional post-arrival testing and quarantine” measures. The CDC is working with airlines to obtain information on passengers for contact tracing should the need arise, she continued. “Based on...

A Canadian school board recently caused an uproar after it withdrew support for an event featuring Yazidi activist, former Islamic State (ISIS) sex slave, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad out of concern it could foster “Islamophobia” and “offend” Muslim students. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) decided to pull a book club event scheduled for February after it planned to feature a discussion around 28-year-old Yazidi activist and Nobel-prize winner Nadia Murad’s memoir, The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State, which describes her frightening capture and enslavement by ISIS terrorists in...

Tension within the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church increased after a senior church official met with Pope Francis and said that the Vatican had offered a dispensation from liturgical changes scheduled to go into effect on the First Sunday of Advent. The church (CNEWA profile), an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See, is based in Kakkanad, India. In August, despite strong opposition from some of the clergy and laity, the church’s leading bishops agreed to impose a uniform method of celebrating the liturgy in all of the church’s eparchies (dioceses). The uniform method envisions the celebrant turning towards...

Cardinal Angelo Scola celebrated his 80th birthday on Nov. 7 and consequently lost the right to vote in the next conclave. At the same time, The Catholic University of America Press published the English edition of his biographical interview book, Betting on Freedom: My Life in the Church, written with the Italian journalist Luigi Geninazzi. In 1991, St. John Paul II appointed him bishop of Grosseto, a small Italian diocese, and then rector of the Pontifical Lateran University in 1995. In 2002, the pope named him patriarch of Venice, followed by cardinal in 2003. Pope Benedict XVI transferred Cardinal Scola...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will request talks with NATO to ensure that the US-led military bloc does not creep closer to his country's borders, as Kiev moves to allow Western troops into Ukraine. Speaking to a group of newly-arrived ambassadors in the Kremlin on Wednesday, Putin said that his country will “insist on guarantees being set out to exclude the possibility of NATO moving any further to the east, and deploying threatening weapons close to Russian territory.” “I would like to emphasize that we need these to be legal guarantees,” the Russian president said, “given that our...

BURBANK, CA—At the entertainment giant’s world headquarters, Disney Imagineers showed off new technology that uses artificial intelligence to scan the more than 700 episodes of “The Simpsons” and replace Bart Simpson’s probably-offensive catchphrase “Cowabunga!” with the much less problematic and more profitable catchphrase “Taiwan is not a sovereign state, dude!” Sam Carter, Disney’s Executive Vice President of Tyrant Placation, gushed over the technological achievement. “This new AI process is truly a great leap forward,” said Carter. “It allows us to instantly scan hundreds of hours of audio for Bart’s previous catchphrase, which is probably very offensive. We haven’t really looked...

A federal district court judge rejected a claim by the U.S. Department of Defense that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine being administered under Emergency Use Authorization is interchangeable with Pfizer’s fully licensed Comirnaty vaccine. A federal district court judge has rejected a claim by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine being administered under Emergency Use Authorization is interchangeable with Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine, which in August was fully licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).In an order issued Nov. 12 in Doe et al. v. Austin, U.S. Federal District Judge Allen Winsor of the U.S....

[Catholic Caucus] Ex-Ecclesia Dei Communities Facing a Decision Rorate Caeli is pleased to present a translation of this November 30, 2021 article from the excellent German website Motu proprio: Summorum Pontificum.Ex-Ecclesia Dei Communities Facing a DecisionMichael Charlier(source)Back in June, we had been able to give a relatively accurate account of the contents of [the forthcoming document] Traditionis Custodes based on circulating rumors.Questions about the future of the ex-Ecclesia Dei communities had remained largely in the fog at that time and were not addressed in the Motu Proprio either—apparently the actors themselves were not yet clear about their plans in...

Democrats are gaining ground in growing, urbanizing, racially diverse states. Democratic candidates prevailed in Arizona and Georgia by running up the score in Phoenix and Atlanta. Democratic voters, at least temporarily, have threatened GOP dominance in Texas by adding votes in the state’s growing metropolitan areas. And they wiped out the GOP in Colorado and Virginia by dominating Denver and the suburbs of D.C. But there’s an important exception to this pattern: Florida. Florida is home to expanding metros such as Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville. Almost half of Floridians are people of color, and the state’s population is increasing....

Symone Sanders, Vice President Kamala Harris' chief spokesperson and senior adviser, is leaving the Biden administration at the end of the year, according to a source familiar with the decision. "Symone has served honorably for 3 years," the source told CNN. "The President and Vice President are grateful for Symone's service and advocacy for this White House. She is a valued member, a team player, and she will be missed. We are grateful to have her working through the end of the year."

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden hung Christmas stockings for six of their grandchildren at the White House but did not include their son Hunter’s illegitimate daughter. The decorated State Dining Room celebrated the “Gift of Family,” the White House said, and the six stockings hanging over the fireplace were for Naomi, 27, Finnegan, 21, Maisy, 20, Natalie, 17, and Robert Hunter Biden II, 15, and little Beau, 1, according to The Today Show.

From the nearby Detroit news station website: "As detectives search for clues about what led up to the shooting, the Oakland County Sheriff confirms what the 7 Investigators have been learning from several sources: that Oxford High School officials met with the teen and his parents about concerning behavior just hours before the shooting. "“We had no information from the schools. But we have since learned that the schools did have contact with the student the day before and the day of the shooting for behavior in the classroom that they felt was concerning. In fact, the parents were brought...

President Joe Biden reflected on his age at a Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremony at the White House on Wednesday. Biden recalled speaking to some younger people on his staff before the event about his many trips to Israel.

Eighty House Republicans voted with Democrats on Tuesday to pass the Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act, which if passed by the Senate and signed into law would fund a federal vaccination database. According to the bill, also called H. R. 550, the government would provide $400 million in taxpayer dollars to fund “immunization system data modernization and expansion,” a system otherwise defined as “a confidential, population-based, computerized database that records immunization doses administered by any health care provider to persons within the geographic area covered by that database.”

[Catholic Caucus] Francis Plans Bloodbath: Roman Rite Communities Will Be FORCED Into Novus OrdoMichael Charlier writes on Summorum-Pontificum.de (30 November) that measures will be announced before the end of 2021 to force all Roman Rite communities into the Novus Ordo.Charlier has published accurate reports and predictions in the past. Francis wants to "return" the Roman Rite communities "to the single mode of celebration" of the New Pseudo-Rite, before publishing regulations for Traditionis Custodes.According to Charlier, papal delegates will be sent to these communities. Unlike commissioners, they won't replace existing superiors but will be their superiors. Their mandate is "to reconcile"...

“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 Would you lay down your life for your friends? Would they do so for you? If the answer to either of these questions is no, perhaps a better understanding of real friendship would make such meaningful relationships possible. Sadly, many Americans have been deformed by a Hollywood idea of friendship as portrayed in movies. In addition, the Internet and social media also depict friendship as a casual acquaintance with others. The expression Facebook friend denotes a superficial friendship activated by a...

Twitter announced this week that Parag Agrawal will be the social media giant's new CEO. (This is an incredible achievement for the Indian-born Agrawal, given that the selection process heavily favored people born in India.) He has a difficult job ahead of him, trying to maintain the site's reputation for fast-paced, free-ranging commentary, while also keeping the platform free of dangerous misinformation. Agrawal is probably aware of the mounds -- and I mean mounds -- of irrefutable SCIENTIFIC PROOF that conservatives are gullible paranoids, constantly falling for misinformation and hoaxes. For example, consider these 100% objective academic studies: Conservatives More...

Advent, from the Latin adventus, does not simply meaning coming or arrival.There are at least two other Latin words that could be translated this way, not counting several interjections. So why did the early Church go with the term adventus to describe the period leading up to Christmas?In the Latin, the word had an intriguing range of meanings. Adventus is a form of the verb advenio which is defined not only as arrive, come to, but also as develop, set in, and arise. Adventus itself also refers to an invasion, incursion, ripening, and appearance—all denotations that are rich with...