Free Republic

An openly gay advisor to the Vatican says he's not surprised by Pope Francis' declaration that "being homosexual isn't a crime." Juan Carlos Cruz, an internationally known Chilean advocate and survivor of clerical sexual abuse, told NPR the pope's remarks made for an "incredible day." In his first interview since the death of former Pope Benedict XVI, Francis told the Associated Press that laws criminalizing homosexuality are "unjust" and that Catholic bishops should apply "tenderness" and help ease discrimination by welcoming LGBTQ people into the church. On Tuesday, Cruz told Morning Edition's Leila Fadel that anti-sodomy laws in dozens of...

Southwest of the city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian soldiers Andriy and Borisych live in a candle-lit bunker cut into the frozen earth. For several weeks they have been confronting hundreds of fighters belonging to the Russian private military contractor Wagner throwing themselves against Ukrainian defenses. Disguised in a balaclava, Andriy recounts one seemingly endless firefight when they came under attack by a flood of Wagner fighters. “We were fighting for about 10 hours in a row. And it wasn’t like just waves, it was uninterrupted. So it was just like they didn’t stop coming.” Their AK-47 rifles became so hot from...

Shares of Pfizer suffered their biggest monthly decline since 2009 in January as investors anticipated a troubled path ahead for the drugmaker’s Covid products. The stock has slumped 15% this month, erasing $43 billion in market value. In its earnings report on Tuesday, Pfizer presented a weaker-than-estimated sales outlook for its Covid vaccine and pill, and its shares fluctuated. “PFE was already widely expected to guide below consensus – and the ’23 guide delivered on that,” Barclays analyst Carter Gould, who has a hold-equivalent rating on the stock, wrote in a note. Given the stock’s decline so far this month,...

A woman was arrested after allegedly causing serious damage to a statue of Jesus at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fargo, North Dakota, on Monday evening, possibly while she was under the influence of drugs. “We were saddened to see the damage done to a very old statue at our cathedral, and we hope the person responsible gets the help they need,” Paul Braun, communications director for the Diocese of Fargo, told CNA Jan. 26. “We are praying for that person as well.” The statue, called “Christ in Death,” portrays Jesus’ corpse laying on a burial shroud with a crown of...

'Pastor Pawlowski broke no law when he attended and spoke at the protest' near the U.S.-Canada border last January, his attorney will argue.(LifeSiteNews) – Christian pastor Artur Pawlowski will be in court tomorrow to begin a two-day trial on charges stemming from speaking in support of truckers who were part of the Freedom Convoy border protest blockade that took place in Coutts, Alberta last year. As noted in a press release from Pawlowski’s legal team at The Democracy Fund (TDF), Pawlowski will stand trial in a Lethbridge, Alberta court on February 2-3. According to the TDF, Pawlowski’s “words to the...

[Catholic Caucus] The Cat’s Out of the Bag Now, With the Synod on SynodalityCOMMENTARY: Cardinal Robert McElroy’s comments last week, arguing the synod is the correct place to overturn core Catholic teachings, have spotlighted how the Synod on Synodality’s leaders are themselves manipulating the process in pursuit of this same objective. The recent letter to the world’s bishops from Cardinal Mario Grech, head of the Vatican synod secretariat, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the Synod on Synodality, shows that managing a synod is not as easy as it used to be.The previous synods under Pope Francis were relatively...

SARS-CoV-2 virus is still spreading worldwide, and there is an urgent need to effectively prevent and control this pandemic. This study evaluated the potential efficacy of Egg Yolk Antibodies (IgY) as a neutralizing agent against the SARS-CoV-2. We investigated the neutralizing effect of anti-spike-S1 IgYs on the SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus, as well as its inhibitory effect on the binding of the coronavirus spike protein mutants to human ACE2. Our results show that the anti-Spike-S1 IgYs showed significant neutralizing potency against SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus, various spike protein mutants, and even SARS-CoV in vitro. It might be a feasible tool for the prevention and...

The Satanic Temple isn’t just promoting the killing of unborn babies in abortions anymore. It’s actually killing them through a new “religious” abortion practice in New Mexico. On Wednesday, the satanic group launched a new “religious medical services arm,” TST Health, to begin doing abortions. The Satanic Temple believes aborting unborn babies is a religious “ritual” and compares it to communion or baptism for Christians. The name of its first “telehealth” abortion practice doubles as a covert death wish to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the decision that overturned Roe v. Wade last year. The Samuel Alito’s...

A Russian company today said it will offer five million roubles (£58,000) in cash to the first soldiers who destroy or capture Western tanks in Ukraine after the Kremlin vowed that any allied armoured vehicles shipped to Kyiv would 'burn'. The United States, Germany and more Western allies are lining up to join Britain in sending dozens of heavy tanks to Ukraine over the next few months to help boost the country's military capacity as the war approaches the 12-month mark. The decision by the NATO allies has been criticised by the Kremlin as a dangerous esclation, with Moscow warning...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ We’re Practicing A Soldier and a Military Working Dog observe the landing of a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter for a collaborative exercise to simulate field care, loading, transport, and in-route emergency medical care for MWDs in Vilseck, Germany, Oct. 20, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by Gertrud Zach) Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. The Old Guard Always On Watch Soldiers assigned to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “The Old...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14

Recently, one of the departments on my campus invited an academic “expert,” who, among other specializations, “advise[s] on the ethical aspects of telescope siting,” to give a talk entitled “How Research Harms.” The advertisements for the event summarized the speaker’s perspective with the declaration, “We ought to be restricting research based on a number of unique and underacknowledged harms … [which] are poorly understood and lack clear definitions.” Prominent among these “harms” are unspecified “psychological, social and moral hazards.” This is but one example of a growing phenomenon in higher education. The perspective in question—that some sizable quantity of scientific...

Israel is targeting the production of Iranian weapons that could be sent to Russia for use against Ukraine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN in an interview aired on Wednesday. “Israel... acts in ways that I will not itemize here against Iran’s weapons productions, which are used against Ukraine,” Netanyahu said. Israel has already been active in working to thwart Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons, but in his conversation with CNN, he said that such efforts were also directed toward preventing the flow of Iranian weapons to Russia. “We are attacking not only Iran’s nuclear program – trying to...

Last week, for the first time ever, US Air Force F-35s launched from the USS George H.W. Bush flew several hundred miles over the Mediterranean and linked up with Israeli F-35s to simulate a combined attack on surface-to-air missile batteries in the Negev desert. As they neared the target, accompanying F-16s and F-15s peeled away to attack as many as ten fourth-plus-generation aircraft posing as the defenders of an imagined enemy airspace. The first wave successfully cleared the skies, enabling the strikers — three nuclear-capable US B-52 bombers that had taken off from the United States some 16 hours prior,...

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said after a meeting with President Joe Biden that he is optimistic that Democrats and Republicans can find “common ground” on the debt limit and spending. McCarthy said he and Biden had a “good first meeting,” and they shared their opposing opinions on how to raise the debt limit. We promised we would continue the conversation and we’ll see if we can get there. I think that at the end of the day, we can find common ground.” McCarthy said, adding that he and Biden will continue negotiating on potential compromises on the debt ceiling.

Carlson added, "I wish we could stop and acknowledge this is a serious election. It is a crummy selection, but there has to be someone who understands the issues better than Herman Cain."

Wednesday on “The Five,” Fox News host Geraldo Rivera called President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified material found in his home and office a “phony scandal.” Co-host Greg Gutfeld said, “Connect the dots. This is an incredibly timely scandal when he decides to run for reelection. Which member of the deep state and setting them up? The same people that went after Trump or Nixon?”

The Instagram model accused of stabbing her father to death while he was asleep was allegedly driven to kill him following a dispute over a laptop. According to a news release from the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, Nikki Secondino has been charged with second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. She's being held without bail, the release reads. "This defendant is charged with brutally killing her own father and then stabbing her younger sister, allegedly following an argument over a laptop. My office will vigorously prosecute this horrific case and seek justice for...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge in Wisconsin on Wednesday ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of a man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse during a protest in 2020 can proceed against Rittenhouse, police officers and others. The father of Anthony Huber, one of two men shot and killed by Rittenhouse, filed the lawsuit in 2021, accusing officers of allowing for a dangerous situation that violated his son's constitutional rights and resulted in his death. Anthony Huber's father, John Huber, also alleged that Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, conspired...

Planned Parenthood's political arm in Vermont called for the elimination of the term "women" from its "healthcare" advocacy. Fox News Digital found that on numerous occasions the Planned Parenthood Vermont Action Fund peddled narratives on social media that blasted "White women" or called for gender-neutral language that would exclude terms such as "feminine," "women" and "female."