Free Republic

By Msgr. Charles PopeWhat is the perfect gift? We tend to answer this question more in terms of what we want, but today’s Gospel (Matthew 11:2-11) teaches us that the perfect gift is what God is offering. One of the goals of the spiritual journey is to come to value, more than our latest desire, more than our perceived need—more than all else—what God offers. In reviewing today’s Gospel, I am going to take a stance regarding St. John the Baptist that I realize is not without controversy. The Gospel opens with John (who is in prison) sending his disciples...

13 December 2025 Saint Lucy, Virgin, Martyr on Saturday of the 2nd week of AdventSt. Lucy’s Roman Catholic Church Syracuse, NYReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: A(II).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingEcclesiasticus 48:1-4,9-12The prophet Elijah will come againThe prophet Elijah arose like a fire, his word flaring like a torch.It was he who brought famine on the people, and who decimated them in his zeal.By the word of the Lord, he shut up the heavens, he also, three times, brought down fire.How glorious you were in your miracles, Elijah! Has anyone reason...

A San Diego school district is under fire for providing a curriculum that teaches young students about nine genders and 30 sexual orientations. Parents have objected to a slideshow featured on the San Diego Unified Schools (SDUS) website entitled 'LGBTQIA+ Terms you should know'. The resources outlined definitions for nine gender identities including transgender, non-binary, genderfluid and agender. The slides also included a graphic showcasing more than 30 'LGBTQ Youth Sexual Orientations' including graysexual, queer, asexual and pansexual. SDUS is the second largest district in California and services more than 121,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. It is unclear...

Some films are obviously Christmas movies, like Noelle. But that designation is not so clear cut for others. They may be set during the holiday season, and they may even touch upon Christmas themes, but does that mean they truly qualify in the traditional sense? …And the latest movie to take the stand in our great Christmas movie debate is hoping its season stock(ing) is about to go up. That’s right, it’s time to buy or sell holiday shares in Trading Places. How much of Trading Places takes place at Christmastime? Roughly 75% of Trading Places is set during Christmas...

GIVING IT ALL YOU'VE GOT Ever hear the expression "Giving it the whole nine yards"? Do you happen to know where it comes from? I used to think it was a sports term. "Not so", say several experts. But there seem to be at least two schools of thought on the phrase's origin. Both seem plausible. I'll let you decide. One explanation says that it's an expression from the construction trade. A full truck load, according to this rationale, will dump nine cubic yards of sand or gravel at your work site. In such a case, I suppose the...

PULSE POINTS❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Trump administration is terminating “family reunification” (chain migration) parole (FRP) programs for immigrants from several nations and ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Ethiopia.👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and President Donald J. Trump.📍WHEN & WHERE: Announced Friday via a Federal Register notice and DHS press release.💬KEY QUOTE: “Parole was never intended to be used in this way, and DHS is returning parole to a case-by-case basis as intended by Congress.” – DHS news release.🎯IMPACT: FRP programs for Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras will...

Maria and the family fled Villa Trapp in Austria not by foot over the mountains – that would have taken them to Germany, not Switzerland – but by train to Italy (formerly Croatia), where Georg had grown up and earned a military pension

I’ve learned that Notre Dame has decided to opt out of any post-season bowl games this year. They finished the season with a 10-2 record, losing to Miami and Texas A&M. I know they are an independent program/not a part of any conference. Is this a reasonable decision? Unreasonable? If they played a strong schedule or have a record of beating teams that made it to the 12-team cut-off, I can see understand their POV. (Not saying it’s right. Just that I understand it.)

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza has won the 2025 Heisman Trophy, beating out Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin. The Hoosiers shot-caller became the first Indiana player to win the award. Mendoza was instrumental in IU's historic regular season, steering the Hoosiers to a 13-0 record, the program's first outright Big Ten championship since 1945 and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. He led the country in passing touchdowns (33) and is the third Big Ten quarterback since 2000 with three straight games of at least four passing...

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. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men,...

THE BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT HAS FALLEN — THIS IS WHAT REAL POWER LOOKS LIKE After just a few days of mass non-compliance, the Government of Bulgaria has resigned. No tanks. No violence. No chaos.Just people — united — refusing to comply. This is the truth globalists fear more than anything: When citizens realise their collective power, governments collapse. Not through elections engineered by elites. Not through courts captured by ideology. But through unity and refusal. Bulgaria has just proven a fundamental principle of history: Governments rule only with the consent of the governed. Remove that consent — peacefully, collectively, relentlessly —...

Canada’s governing Liberals were one seat short of a simple majority in Parliament after a Conservative lawmaker defected and joined Prime Minister Mark Carney’s party Thursday. Michael Ma was the second Canadian Conservative opposition lawmaker to join the Liberals in just over a month. Ma, who represents Markham–Unionville, said he entered politics “to focus on solutions, not division.” “I have concluded that Prime Minister Mark Carney is offering the steady, practical approach we need to deliver on the priorities I hear every day while door knocking in Markham–Unionville,” Ma said in his statement. His move puts the Liberals one seat...

It’s easy to be a Scrooge about Christmas movies, especially these days. Streaming platforms have shamelessly muscled into the Hallmark market, churning out quick, cheap holiday romcoms with C-list casts every year, hoping to land on something so irresistibly cheesy it briefly becomes a seasonal phenomenon. Put that cynicism aside, however, and most of us can admit that we all have at least one movie we return to every December – the one that allows us to embrace nostalgia unapologetically and lets us know that the most wonderful time of the year has arrived. It doesn’t have to be schmaltzy...

When the inscrutable Dr. Lao (Tony Randall) and his mystical Chinese medicine show roll into the Wild West settlement of Abalone, Arizona, he ends up in the middle of an ongoing feud between a ruthless land baron, Clint Stark (Arthur O'Connell), and an idealistic newspaper editor, Ed Cunningham (John Ericson). The shape-shifting Dr. Lao soon weighs in on the battle, as well as the problems of widowed librarian Angela (Barbara Eden) and her ambitious young son, Mike.

An alleged gunman remains on the loose after “multiple” people were shot and at least two were killed on the campus of Brown University, police said. The Rhode Island Ivy League school sent out a first alert to students on campus shortly after 4:20 p.m. of an active shooter near the Barus & Holley Engineering school building.At least two people have been killed, a law enforcement source said.Providence police confirmed multiple people have been shot.“Multiple shot in the area of Brown University. This is an active investigation. Please shelter in place or avoid the area until further notice,” the PD...

Without a doubt, the Chinese central bank (PBoC) is still the leading single entity that is driving up the gold price to record highs, year-to-date by more than 55 percent. In the third quarter of 2025, the PBoC’s gold purchases (reported and unreported) accounted for 118 tonnes, up 39% MoM and 55% YoY, according to my long-time methodology1 (now copied by Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg, MarketWatch, The Washington Post, TIME magazine, Financial Times, Financiele Dagblad, and El País, to name a few). Chart 1. Reported central bank gold buying versus estimates by the World Gold Council on central bank gold buying...

Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a case that sparked national attention, watched as new testimony and never-before-seen footage from the day of his arrest in a McDonald's was unveiled during a hearing this week. Mr Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges related to the 2024 murder of Mr Thompson, a father of two, as well as federal counts that carry the possibility of the death penalty. The pre-trial hearing is focused on the defence's attempts to keep certain evidence out of the trial, which has not been scheduled yet,...

The normally proud and defiant French are waving the white flag in the face of migrant terror. Paris has shockingly decided to dim the lights on its annual New Year’s Eve fête along the iconic Champs-Élysées. The massive midnight concert that drew a jubilant crowd of a million people last year — with the festivities having drawn throngs to the “most beautiful avenue in the world” for six decades — has been scrapped and replaced by a pre-recorded video to be viewed in the safety and comfort of French living rooms. The fireworks will still illuminate the Arc de Triomphe...

VILNIUS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko freed 123 prisoners on Saturday including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava in a deal brokered by an envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump. In return, the U.S. agreed to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash. Potash is a key component in fertilisers, and the former Soviet state is a leading global producer. The prisoner release was by far the biggest by Lukashenko since Trump's administration opened talks this year with the veteran authoritarian leader, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Western governments had...

Left-wing Canadian lawmakers are working to introduce a new bill that would end existing protections for people of faith against prosecution under national “hate speech” laws. Canada’s Criminal Code, which bans what the government deems “hatred against any identifiable group,” contains a so-called religious exemption that protects Canadians who “in good faith” cite religious texts or beliefs. But the left-wing Liberal and Bloc Québécois parties are currently negotiating new legislation, Bill C-9, with an amendment that would remove this exemption.