Free Republic

Pope Francis’ restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass appear to be unpopular among regularly practicing Catholics, but most American Catholics have not even heard of the changes, a survey reports. “Catholics who attend Mass weekly are both more likely to be aware of the new restrictions and more inclined to oppose them than Catholics who attend less frequently,” the Pew Research Center, which conducted the survey, said Oct. 7 About 58% of Catholics who attended Mass weekly had heard about the restrictions. Regular Mass attendees were the most sceptical of the Pope’s move. Of these, 29% disapproved of the new...

Bishop Stika: Biden Not Catholic Bishops vote via social media KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Another Catholic bishop is calling Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden a fake Catholic.Bp. Rick Stika and Bp. Thomas Tobin Bishop Richard Stika of Knoxville, Tenn. has joined the ranks of American bishops who think it's dishonest for former vice president Biden to promote his Catholic faith as a campaign selling point. In a tweet on Friday, Stika expressed his incredulity. "Don't understand how Mr. Biden can claim to be a good and faithful Catholic as he denies so much of Church teaching especially on the absolute child abuse and human rights violations...

<p>THE 150-year-old heart of a French priest is on a U.S. tour — a Roman Catholic relic with New York City as its latest stop.</p> <p>It was on display Saturday at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, where both the faithful and the curious lined up to see the human organ behind glass. The Knights of Columbus fraternity is sponsoring the pilgrimage of the heart they say has miraculously never decomposed.</p>

Journals of the Continental Congress, Sat., Sept. 17, 1774 10. "That the late act of parliament for establishing the Roman Catholic religion and the French laws in that extensive country, now called Canada, is dangerous in an extreme degree to the Protestant religion and to the civil rights and liberties of all America; and, therefore, as men and Protestant Christians, we are indispensubly obliged to take all proper measures for our security"

(El Escorial, Spain) Spanish Catholics continue to celebrate Mass in the lot adjacent to the Valle de los Caídos as protest against the closing of the Basilica. According to sources in the Civil Guard, 1,500 cars passed through the vicinity despite the snow that filled the parking lot and sub-zero temperatures during the open-air Mass. The following pictures show the Mass on December 5th, 2010:

It is the discovery of three almost invisible drawings on the back of Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin and Child With Saint Anne in the Louvre museum in Paris that has the French art world screaming "Sacre bleu!" Reminiscent of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, the mysterious sketches were found by experts looking into restoring the sixteenth-century masterpiece. They were detected when a curator noticed that some of the gray marks behind Virgin and Child With Saint Anne resembled a horse's head. An infrared photo confirmed his suspicion and revealed two other sketches: a human skull and the infant Jesus with...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A second blogger working for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards quit Tuesday under pressure from conservative critics who said her previous online messages were anti-Catholic. Melissa McEwan wrote on her personal blog, Shakespeare's Sister, that she left the campaign because she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the level of attention focused on her and her family. "This was a decision I made, with the campaign's reluctant support, because my remaining the focus of sustained ideological attacks was inevitably making me a liability to the campaign," McEwan said Tuesday night. Kate Bedingfield, a spokeswoman for the Edwards...

A local branch of a Christian child-adoption agency has decided to change its policy and serve Catholic families. The board of directors for Bethany Christian Services of Mississippi voted unanimously Tuesday to reverse course after Robert and Sandy Steadman were rejected because of their Catholic faith. "We are pleased that Bethany listened to our concerns and made the change to work with Catholic families," said Robert Steadman. "Bethany does admirable work and we can now be supportive of this pro-life ministry." Sandy Steadman said the rejection especially hurt because Bethany receives money from the sale of Choose Life license plates,...