Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Leo XIV Authorises Bishops to Dismiss Monastic SuperiorsIn a Rescriptum ex Audientia Sanctissimi approved on March 25 and published on May 28, Leo XIV introduced a new procedural faculty concerning the governance of religious institutes and monasteries.The measure grants the Vatican Congregation for Religious the authority to permit a diocesan bishop to dismiss the superior of a monastery under canon 699 §2 of the Code of Canon Law.The Dicastery is led by Sister Simona Brambilla, Prefect, and Sister Tiziana Merletti, Secretary.The rescript is signed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State. It also notes that Pope Francis had...

When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? When the person declaring it is Donald Trump. Opinions differ about the wisdom of the President’s activities with respect to Iran. Some observers tell us he is playing four-dimensional chess. Some say it more like checkers with no kings.What, after all, is he up to? The commentariat proffers several conflicting narratives. The one common thread is the certainty with which these opinions are uttered. Trump is an idiot. Trump is a genius. For those who say that he has thrown in the towel – that Iran has “won” – I’d offer two observations.First,...

People in many European nations see the European Union more favorably than they did in 2016, when United Kingdom citizens voted to withdraw from the EU. For several years, Pew Research Center has consistently surveyed the U.K. and seven EU member nations: France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. In these countries, a median of 49% of adults viewed the EU favorably in 2016. Positive ratings ranged from 27% in Greece to 58% in Italy. A year after the Brexit vote, opinions of the EU improved sharply in most countries. Overall, a median of 60% expressed a positive...

An extremist who took to social media to “pray” for a bad cancer result for former Attorney General Pam Bondi has been fired. Her “prayer,” was: “Dear MAGA Lord Jesus, please let her end up with a hole in her throat that she has to push every time she speaks. Dear God, if there is a MAGA God, please let Pam Bondi’s throat cancer be the worst case of cancer anybody’s ever seen.” The horrific comment appeared online from @glitterandcrossbones, which was set to private. Fox reported the comment “appeared to have been posted by Caitlyn Aguiar, who had worked...

Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform, his closely watched forum for public communication, forces new users to follow the far-Right activist Tommy Robinson. Accounts that register to the US president’s social media app, which he launched in 2022 after being banned from Facebook and Twitter, are automatically made to follow a list of around 100 users. It includes Mr Trump, as well as his son Donald Trump Jr, most of the president’s cabinet, and several controversial figures including Robinson. The British hard-Right agitator, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has courted the Trump administration and was hosted by the US state...

Pastor Franklin Graham sharply criticized Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico over his false claims about the Bible supposedly being silent on abortion. Graham is calling it “an absolute lie” for the U.S. Senate candidate to claim the Bible does not condemn killing babies before birth. Graham, CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, responded after Talarico, the Democratic nominee challenging Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in November, asserted that his Christian faith somehow allows abortion. “I trust Texas women to make decisions about their own bodies, to shape their own destinies in consultation with their...

A federal judge appointed by Barack Obama has banned Donald Trump from adding his name to the Kennedy Center. US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled Friday that the President-appointed Kennedy Center Board's decision to include his name on the performing arts venue was unlawful. Trump was sued by Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, who has standing in the case because she serves as an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees as a member of Congress. 'The Kennedy Center's organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear...

A hypnotherapist was charged with 20 felony sex crimes he allegedly committed against clients over ten years. William Del Draney was charged on Friday with nine counts of first-degree felony forcible sodomy and 11 counts of second-degree felony forcible sex abuse. Several victims had gone to Draney for an alternative form of therapy, according to a press release from the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office. The allegations against him date back to 2016. "During the therapy sessions, [Draney] would ask the clients to remove [all their] clothes or some of their clothes, after which he would allegedly sexually assault...

"The case has stunned national security observers and raised serious questions about the federal government’s security clearance and vetting systems. —Newsmax In the annals of Deep State WTF-ery, is there a stranger case than CIA officer David Rush turning up with $40-million in 303 one-kilogram gold bars, plus $2-million in cash, plus a stash of 30 mostly Rolex watches? Well, yeah, the stranger story is how the guy got hired by the CIA in the first place. Rush was arrested on Monday, May 18, by an FBI SWAT team at his home in Loudoun County, VA. Agents searched the house...

U.S. equities closed at record highs on Friday, while crude prices slipped, helping the major averages score a winning month, boosted by technology. The Nasdaq Composite settled up 0.2% at 26,972.62, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.22% to 7,580.06. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 363.49 points, or 0.72%, at 51,032.46. All three indexes hit fresh all-time intraday highs earlier as well.

Who will stop the Rain-ier? Scientists are warning that Washington’s Mount Rainier could unleash a catastrophic mudslide that has the potential to devastate three large towns within minutes. Often considered the crown jewel of Washington postcards, the over 14,000-foot-tall mountain is deemed the most dangerous in the US due to its towering height, frequent earthquakes, and precarious location upstream of a population center with over 100,000 people. While there is no evidence Rainier is about to blow its stack, magma is not the most dangerous fallout from the Cascade range’s preeminent volcano.

USA Responds with a Zinger! The Trump administration intends to accept a further 10,000 Afrikaner refugees into the United States in addition to the 6,000 Afrikaners already accepted, raising the 2026 cap to 17,500. Meanwhile, several patriotic Afrikaner organizations appealed to President Trump to help Afrikaners stay in their ancestral home. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced he was increasing the refugee cap for white South Africans because of “an unforeseen emergency refugee situation”, signing an executive order to “increase the ceiling to 17,500.” Trump blamed the South African government for “recent increases in the incitement of racially motivated violence”....

Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) stock is up during Friday’s premarket session, trading higher by 9.92% as the company has received positive news regarding a legal settlement.

We let AI run a simulation to see what the first female—that means woman— president in the White House would be like. The simulated results are interesting and eye-opening.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s Office of LGBTQ+ Advancement is facing backlash online after promoting a “Trans Period Pride” event at a public library centered on “menstrual equity” and transgender experiences with menstruation. A Tuesday post featuring a graphic with a pink tampon and blue menstrual pad read, “Join MASS NOW and the MA Trans Political Coalition for a consciousness-raising discussion on menstrual equity and the experiences of trans menstruators.” The free event will be held in June at the Boston Public Library’s Copley Branch. The event, which includes a catered dinner and “free period underwear provided to all attendees,” is...

After cruising to the Democrat nomination for U.S. Senate in March, James Talarico now appears focused on a different challenge: convincing Texas general election voters he is more moderate than the progressive activist Republicans have spent years watching online. Republicans are already framing the effort as a “moderate media makeover” ahead of what is expected to become the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history. During an interview with CBS News the day after Paxton won the Republican Senate runoff, officially setting the general-election matchup, Talarico was asked about his assertion that there are six sexes and a 2021 statement...

Is it free woolly? Scientists were flabbergasted after discovering that the mammoth backbones that had been housed in an Alaskan museum for 70 years actually belonged to a whale, per a study published in the Journal of Quaternary Science. This archaeological case of mistaken identity began way back in the 1950s, when archaeologist Otto Geist happened upon some bones while traveling through the Alaskan interior, roughly 10 miles North of Fairbanks in a region formerly known as Beringia, The Smithsonian Magazine reported. He assumed the remnants, a pair of growth plates, belonged to the plush pachyderm mammoth based on their...

The U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the former advice columnist who won more than $88 million in jury awards against President Donald Trump, according to a source familiar with the matter. The investigation, first reported by CNN, is focused on whether Carroll committed perjury during testimony related to her lawsuits against Trump. Specifically, investigators are examining statements Carroll made in 2022 claiming that she had not received outside financial support for her legal battles. That claim later came under scrutiny after Carroll’s legal team disclosed that billionaire Democrat donor and LinkedIn...

New York Attorney General Letitia James was accused by her GOP challenger Friday of misusing a whopping $20 million to hire outside lawyers to do her office’s work. The claims from Republican AG candidate Saritha Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor, came as state Democrats quietly expanded the scope of a $10 million legal defense fund, set up last year to help their embattled comrades like James. “The $10 million legal defense fund set aside for Letitia James’s personal legal troubles is an insult to hardworking taxpayers who are already struggling with the highest costs in the nation,” Komatireddy railed in...

(The Center Square) — A federal judge has overturned a New Hampshire law that required unregistered voters to provide proof of citizenship to cast ballots in state elections. The ruling late Thursday by U.S. District Court judge Samantha Elliott sided with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups who sued to block the law, saying the requirement for new voters to provide a birth certificate or valid U.S. passport to cast a ballot on election day was unconstitutional. “New Hampshire’s interest in election integrity cannot justify the burden on New Hampshire voters based on the evidence in this case,"...