Free Republic

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis told journalists Sunday on board his flight to Rome that giving Communion to divorced and remarried Catholics is a “simplistic” solution to the issue, and stressed that there are also other problems that need to be discussed. “(It) seems a bit simplistic to me to say that the synod, that the solution for these people is that they can receive Communion. That’s not the only solution (asked for).” What the instrumentum laboris (working document) proposes “is a lot,” he said. “Also, the problem of the new unions of divorcees isn’t the only problem.” “In the...

He regretted that there are so many “new forms” of unions which are “totally destructive and limiting the greatness of the love of marriage.” Noting that there are many who cohabitate, or are separated or divorced, he explained that the “key” to helping is a pastoral care of “close combat” that assists and patiently accompanies the couple. Witness is key to spreading the Gospel, he said, explaining that true witness means living “in such a way that the will to live as we live is born in the heart of others…Living in a way (so that) others are interested and...

Population increase is a natural sign of political health. By that measure, Baltimore has been sick a long time. Six straight decades of depopulation have reduced the city by a third. The "experts" assert that immigration is the key to a population rebound. In his Persian Letters, Montesquieu reflects on the fate of the great cities of Constantinople and Isfahan: "People, attracted for a thousand reasons, ought to flock to them from every direction. Yet they are decaying internally and would long since have perished, had not their sovereigns in almost every century caused entire new nations to enter and...

Abortion, Obama - Now Georgetown - "Catholic" Georgetown University Follows Notre Dame, Invites Obama to Speak; Pro-Lifers to Protest WASHINGTON, April 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being issued by Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue: On Tuesday, April 14, from 10:30 a.m. to the end of Mr. Obama's speech, DC area Pro-life leaders and activists will protest at the entrance to Georgetown University at 37th and O Street. Their presence is to denounce Georgetown, who invited President Obama to speak, knowing the scandal and outrage surrounding his scheduled speech at Notre Dame on May 17. Randall Terry, Operation Rescue...