Free Republic

Pope Leo XIV marked the evening of July 4 with an extraordinary and historic gesture of friendship toward the U.S., joining the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch and his family for a celebratory Independence Day dinner at the ambassador’s residence in Rome. The dinner took place only hours after the Holy Father visited the Italian island of Lampedusa, long known as one of Europe’s most visible points of arrival for migrants crossing the Mediterranean. The timing gave the day unusual symbolic weight: the first American pope spent the morning drawing attention to the dignity of migrants and...

An American oil worker who was abducted in Yemen in 2017 has been reunited with his family, the White House announced Monday. President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that Danny Burch, a Texas man who had been captured while living in Yemen, was recovered and reunited with his wife and children after 18 months in captivity. "In 2017, U.S. citizen Danny Burch was taken hostage from Sanaa, Yemen. Today he is safe and secure, and is reunited with his wife and children. " Pompeo said. Trump and the U.S. State Department also thanked the United...

Dear Friend of CatholicVote, I have wonderful news. The Mother Teresa stamp is coming! Over 138,000 friends of CatholicVote.org joined together to defend the stamp to honor Mother Teresa. And the Postal Service took notice. Roy Betts, a spokesman for the Postal Service, told CatholicVote.org yesterday: “The stamp will be dedicated September 5 [at] the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. Feel free to post information about the stamp, the image and the dedication ceremony on your website. Thanks!” Wow. Launching the stamp at a church. The anti-religion radicals are going to go wild!...

House measure on living wills stalled in panel Measure spurred by Schiavo case By Tom Loftus tloftus@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Kentucky lawmakers had a chance this past session to change the law on living wills so people without one would be kept alive by a feeding tube if necessary. But the bill stalled in a House committee because lawmakers ran out of time in the push to pass budget legislation, the chairman said. "I don't think we need those kind of issues cluttering up the legislative time," said Rep. Tom Burch, D-Louisville and chairman of the House Health...