Free Republic

We previously discussed the legislation passed by Washington State democrats that requires priests to violate the sanctity of the confessional to report child abuse. I described the law as “blatantly unconstitutional” in eviscerating the right to the free exercise of religion. The state is moving to create an effective system of sacramental snitches and the Catholic Church is declaring “enough.” It has announced that any priest who complies with the law will be promptly excommunicated. We previously discussed the proposed legislation that would target priests who learn of any “reasonable” basis to believe that a child “has suffered abuse or...

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), then based in the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill, vigorously lobbied for Nicaragua's Sandinista regime, the Cuban-style Marxist regime that shot its way to power in 1979. Today, WOLA pretends it is concerned about the rule of law in Honduras after the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court supported removing the leftist president for defying its constitution. WOLA and Jim Wallis' publication Sojourners have teamed up to spin Honduras' defense of its democracy as another example of a U.S.-supported, imperialist military coup. The constitutional coup in Honduras was...

Will the Roman Catholic Church continue its policy of ignoring jihad and appeasing Muslims? Will the next pope continue the last pope’s consistent record of appeasing Islam? The late Pope Francis had a long record of whitewashing Islamic jihad violence and making moral equivalence arguments in order to downplay jihad terror. Back in 2017, Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Cairo’s al-Azhar, noticed the pope’s yeoman service for the Islamic cause and thanked him for his “defense of Islam against the accusation of violence and terrorism.” Francis was not just a defender of Islam but also a defender of the...

Nalin Haley, the son of former U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley, was received into the Catholic Church on Palm Sunday. “As parents, Michael and I always prayed that our children would have a faith and relationship with God,” Nikki Haley posted on social media Sunday. “Today we were so proud to support Nalin in his faith journey as he was confirmed into the Catholic Church, completed RCIA, and received his first holy Communion,” she said of her son. Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina governor, was born and raised in the Sikh faith...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic walks out of Mass as priest compares Trump to Satan at DC churchCV NEWS FEED // A Catholic man left Sunday Mass for the first time in his life after a priest in Georgetown, a wealthy neighborhood in Washington, DC, used his homily to make a political comparison between President Donald Trump and Satan.Ganley’s post quickly gained traction, drawing over a million views and reigniting debates about politics in the pulpit. Ganley emphasized that while he respects Jesuits and their intellectual contributions, partisan rhetoric from the altar crosses a line.“Honestly, I’m fine with leftie Jesuits,” he wrote....

Behind Broken Borders: Sachs’ Weaponized CompassionJeffrey Sachs, a noted economist and influential figure in global policy circles, has long been celebrated as an architect of sustainable development. Yet behind this polished veneer lies a more unsettling story, one that implicates him in masterminding the invasion of the southern border of the United States and beyond. By co-opting established religious organizations—chief among them Catholic Charities—and harnessing taxpayer dollars, Sachs has effectively weaponized compassion to orchestrate a mass migration crisis. His book, Ethics in Action for Sustainable Development, which carries a foreword by Pope Francis, serves as the blueprint for this operation....

Nepal: HPI Note: This report is from a Christian website. Christians and Muslims in Nepal are criticizing the draft version of a new constitution that bans religious conversion. Spurred to action by the recent earthquake, Nepal's government introduced the draft for public comment on June 30, Reuters reported. The draft states that "any act which may be contrary to public health, public decency or morality or incitement to breach public peace or act to convert another person from one religion to another or any act or behavior to undermine or jeopardize the religion of each other is not allowed and...

In a shocking release from the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera ahead of the release of leftist Pope Francis’ autobiography, titled Life: My Story Through History, it was shown that the pope has reaffirmed his support for same-gender civil unions. Doing so, he wrote that “it is right” that such couples “who live the gift of love can have legal coverage like everyone else.”The Amazon description of Pope Francis’s autobiography states, “For the first time, Pope Francis tells the story of his life as he looks back on the momentous world events that have changed history—from his earliest years during...

Church leaders who fail to take action against paedophile priests are a “further source of evil” for victims of sexual abuse and should be removed from their posts, the Vatican’s child protection commission has said.

ROME — The Church is much more “alive” outside of the Western world, and pastors need to become less “Eurocentric” in their vision of Christianity, Pope Francis said Wednesday. Reflecting upon his recently completed apostolic visit to Asia and Oceania, the pope expressed his concern that “in thinking of the Church, we are still too Eurocentric, or as they say, ‘Western.’” In reality, “the Church is much bigger, much bigger than Rome and Europe, much bigger!” he said, addressing the crowds gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience.

BREAKING: Pope Francis: ‘Every religion is a way to arrive at God’Pope Francis told young people in Singapore that being ‘Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian’ are just ‘different paths,’ as ‘every religion is a way’ to God.Pope Francis today told young people of different faiths that “every religion is a way to arrive at God.”Addressing an inter-religious meeting of young people in Singapore just before departing for his return flight to Rome, Pope Francis turned to one of the central themes of his pontificate – inter-religious dialogue.“One of the things that struck me about all of you here is your ability...

ROME – A well-known priest, who is also a former school director and former head of a federation of Catholic schools in northern Italy, was arrested last week on charges of sexually abusing an adolescent boy, and is being detained while an investigation continues into the alleged grooming of several others.The priest, Father Andrea Melis, 60, was arrested Friday, Aug. 2, after being accused of sexually abusing a young boy for more than three years, beginning when the boy was just 12.According to various Italian media reports, an order for Melis’s arrest stated that he would ask for things such...

CHICAGO (AP) — More than 450 Catholic clergy in Illinois sexually abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950, the state’s attorney general found in an investigation released Tuesday, revealing that the problem was far worse than the church had let on.Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at a news conference that investigators found that 451 Catholic clergy abused 1,997 children in Illinois between 1950 and 2019, though he acknowledged that the statute of limitations has expired in many cases and that those abusers “will never see justice in a legal sense.”“It is my hope that this report will shine light both on...

Bishop Strickland: Remember that the gates of hell shall not prevail against Christ’s Church'The Church is now facing extremely hard times. ... It is important for all of us to wake up and look around.'The following is a piece written by Bishop Emeritus of Tyler, Texas, Joseph Strickland, first published here. (LifeSiteNews) — “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be...

In 2023, a substantial number of individuals, totaling 402,694, decided to formally dissociate themselves from the Catholic Church in Germany, a significant figure though slightly less than the record set in 2022. The German Bishops’ Conference, which came out with these statistics, said while these numbers are high, they reflect a slight decrease from the 522,821 departures recorded the previous year, indicating that this was the second-highest departure rate to date, according to National Catholic Reporter. In Germany, church membership has financial implications due to the church tax system, which is a part of the broader tax structure. Members who...

A Roman Catholic priest near the US’s border with Mexico is facing criminal charges on allegations that he sexually molested a child, according to authorities.Fernando Gonzalez Ortega’s arrest for sexually abusing a minor and of trafficking of persons demonstrates that US Catholic bishops have not yet rooted out all molesters under their command despite reform prompted by the worldwide church’s decades-old clergy molestation scandal, abuse victims and their advocates have argued.

St. William Catholic Church in Cashion, Arizona, was destroyed in an overnight fire May 1. The fire broke out just before 1 a.m. Local station Fox 10 Phoenix reported that firefighters arrived and found flames coming from the attic of the church. The roof of the church ultimately collapsed as firefighters fought the flames. "This is a devastating loss to this community," Avondale Fire Battalion Chief Steve Mayhew said. "This church is a pillar of this community, so definitely a lot of heartbreak this morning." "I also run the pantry here at St. Williams — that's gone," Gonzalo Ortiz, a...

The bridge collapse in Baltimore has ground many businesses to a halt, leaving municipal leaders scrambling to figure out what the next steps should be. But that's not the only thing collapsing in Charm City. After years of planning and adjustments, the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore is also launching some major adjustments. In what is being described as a "retooling of operations," the Catholic Church is preparing to consolidate the number of parishes in the city and the surrounding suburbs from 61 to 21. In other words, there will be barely one-third the number of worship centers for Catholics in...

As a promotional tie-in for The Mark Steyn Show's demographic whirlwind special, the Italian government very kindly arranged for the island of Lampedusa to be swamped by sub-Saharan Africans who in a couple of days wound up outnumbering the locals three-to-one. On the crude arithmetic my guests were explaining, what's to stop that becoming the ratio of the entire continent? But hey, what's the big deal? The hack pontiff was in Marseilles to finger-wag: "Those who risk their lives at sea do not invade, they look for welcome, for life" he said. "As for the emergency, the phenomenon of migration...

[Catholic Caucus] Revolution From the Top in the Catholic ChurchIf personnel is policy, as corporate consultants proclaim, then two of Pope Francis’ most recent appointments reflect his goal to impose his vision on the Catholic Church at the expense of its remaining theological and moral credibility.One is the new head of the Vatican’s highest theological body, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the new name for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The other, who is organizing next month’s World Youth Day, reinforces Francis’ globalist vision, which effectively denies the Gospel, as The Stream reported.Both men...