Free Republic

The 13th century Trisulti Charterhouse in the province of Frosinone, central Italy.The Dignitatis Humanae Institute, which is working with President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon to found an academy in Italy to defend Judeo-Christian civilisation, today fought off the Italian government’s latest attempt to remove the academy from an historic abbey near Rome. DHI chairman Benjamin Harnwell, who has always protested his innocence in the face of the state’s accusations, said the court action to remove him from the Trisulti Charterhouse has been entirely politically motivated. “The Ministry of Culture simply wanted me out because I proudly work...

REIMS, France — The Church in France is under pressure, according to the president of the French Catholic bishops’ conference. But for Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, that is no cause for despair. “The Church in France is being jostled in many ways; it is reacting, which proves that it is alive,” he told CNA in an email interview. The archbishop of Reims, in northeastern France’s Grand Est region, has had a busy past few months. In October, he was among the bishops offering comfort to Catholics after an attacker shouting “Allahu Akbar” stabbed three people to death at the Basilica...

Generally, the Marxists of the left are, like Karl Marx, unapologetic atheists. They slander religious people, openly advocate against religious ideas and practices, and advocate for policies that are antithetical to a religious and moral society. However, come election time, they are forced to reckon with the fact that most of America is still, in fact, a religious society. So, to make themselves seem more electable, the Democrats occasionally pretend that they are religious. Recently, they have been claiming that Joe Biden is a Catholic, despite his support of anti-Christian policies and support for a part that stands against God....

The media has normalized an anti-religious bigotry that threatens to remove faithful Christians, be they Catholic or anything else, from public service.In a series of articles by its editorial board, media columnist Margaret Sullivan, and former Voice of America Director Amanda Bennett, the Washington Post has mounted a coordinated attack on Robert R. Reilly, the new nominee for VOA director, claiming he is an existential threat to the organization’s mission to provide independent reporting to foreign audiences.The reason they deem Reilly disqualified to serve as VOA director isn’t about a lack of credentials. He was director from 2001 to 2002...

While the United States was reeling last week from an utterly chaotic election, the Vatican decided it was the right moment to publish its long-awaited report into disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The mammoth document is a nauseating account of clerical coverup, cowardice, and complicity that prioritizes subtle finger-pointing and deflection over real accountability. Those expecting an explanation of how a serially accused predator was catapulted through the church hierarchy despite serious allegations and rumors of assault and indecent behavior will be left not merely disappointed but disillusioned.Equally unsatisfactory is its failure to disclose the extent to which this highly...

A common accusation against Roman Catholicism is that it is legalistic, slavishly beholden to an elaborate set of rules and precepts and thereby resistant to the movements of the Holy Spirit or the mercy of God. The charge may not be entirely without its merits, especially at certain times in the Church's history, in certain places, and with certain figures, but for it to be evaluated fairly an important distinction must be drawn between the prominent use of or focus on law on the one hand and legalism on the other. Legalism is the practice of law emptied of the...

The pope’s series of doctrinal dubious statements, along with his questionable politics, have left faithful Catholics somewhere between scratching their heads and banging their heads against a wall. After the release of Pope Francis’s papal encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” earlier this month, Crisis magazine Editor Michael Warren Davis wrote the kindest thing one could say about it is that it’s incomprehensible. I would go further. The kindest thing to be said of Pope Francis’s entire seven-year papacy is that it has been utterly disorienting.His equivocal statements on questions of morality and faith, whether the comments be made in an encyclical, a...

Commentator Bill Maher has drawn backlash after calling Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett 'nuts' and arguing that Senate Democrats should make an issue of her Catholic faith. 'Chuck Schumer said Democrats won't make Barrett's religion an issue, but they should because being nuts is relevant,' Maher said in a monologue on HBO's Real Time on Friday. After hearings this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee set October 22 for its vote to recommend Barrett´s nomination to the full Senate, with a final confirmation vote expected by month´s end.

(CN) — In an effort to pull Christian voters away from President Trump, Joe Biden launched a new ad campaign Thursday tailored around the former vice president’s Catholic faith and values. “In a stark contrast to Donald Trump, who tear gassed protesters to pose for a photo op with a Bible in front of a church, the ads depict how Biden’s faith is deeply connected to his life story and commitment to public service and illustrates why Biden is the clear moral choice in this election,” the Biden team said of the rollout, making reference to the president’s controversial June...

President Donald Trump will nominate a woman to succeed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Saturday, and observers expect him to choose Amy Coney Barrett, a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. On Friday, after news outlets reported that Trump would choose Barrett, HBO host Bill Maher savaged the potential nominee for her Roman Catholic faith. Yet perhaps no one has given a better response to such anti-religious bigotry than Barrett herself. “Apparently, the pick is going to be Amy Coney. We’re going to be saying the name a lot because she’s a f***ing nut. Religion, I...

Teach About Marxism’s Evils We cannot allow another generation to emerge from our schools so ignorant of communism's horrors that they see no problem in courting, dabbling with, or even passively accepting one of history’s most noxious ideologies.
 My child’s Catholic school sent home a letter to parents this week recommending “conversations about white privilege” to encourage “compassionate hearts and confident minds.” Regurgitating the radical-left bile that fuels the fires of resentment and division will not enrich students emotionally or intellectually. Instead, Catholic schools should teach students about the evils of Marxism.Marxist apostles are orchestrating the chaos and violence plaguing...

The movie is free at the link until June 2.

With most of the nation under stay-at-home orders, the media are taking an upbeat attitude to the tragic lockdown. Most treat it as a temporary measure that we must endure before getting back to normal. Thus, the Internet is full of lists of things we can do while at home. They present lockdown as an opportunity for projects, hobbies, movies and home cooking that we never had time to do before. People can develop better family relationships and improve their marriages. All these things might help people cope with the crisis. However, I think this is a shallow approach. It...

New head of German bishops’ conference on track to ‘change’ Catholic sexual teaching The German bishops' conference has made it clear today that it does not wish to be anymore Roman Catholic.’ PETITION: Join faithful German Catholics in resisting bishops’ plan to ‘Protestantize’ Church Sign the petition here. March 3, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Today, Bishop Georg Bätzing of the Diocese of Limburg was elected the new president of the German bishops’ conference. In his first interview after his election, he touched upon the question of the Church’s teaching on sexual intercourse before marriage and on homosexuality. Asked whether he sees some...

[Catholic Caucus] Fr. James Martin: ‘Church must stop firing married LGBT people’ The pro-homosexual Jesuit priest issued a new video saying 'married' LGBT people, such as teachers at Catholic schools, should keep their jobs. Father James Martin, SJ, answers questions about 'LGBT Catholic' in a Jan. 28, 2020 Youtube video. NEW YORK, January 31, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) ― An LGBT activist priest has issued a new video in which he criticized the Catholic Church for dismissing employees who contract same-sex “marriages.”  Fr. James Martin, S.J, 59, discusses his beliefs concerning the Catholic faith and homosexuality on this week’s video.  “In the...

Pope Francis has apologized after he appeared to lose his cool when a woman violently grabbed his hand while he greeted pilgrims at the Vatican on New Year’s Eve. A video that went viral on Twitter showed an unidentified woman abruptly grabbing Francis’ hand from behind a barrier and yanking him towards her just after he reached out to greet a child during a visit to the Vatican’s nativity scene on Tuesday night. It seemed like the woman would not release Francis’ hand, so the pontiff slapped her hand before pulling his free. Frowning in anger, he turned and strode...

Pope Francis Unveils Globalist New World Religion at Summit with United Nations Leader The Pope wants globalism to replace traditional religion. Published 4 days ago on Dec 26, 2019 By Shane Trejo Pope Francis’ war on traditional Catholicism has been ramping up recently, and he castigated Catholics who believe in tradition and refuse to warp Biblical scripture to appease a godless world for creating a “minefield of misunderstanding and hatred.” “Rigidity and imbalance fuel one another in a vicious circle,” he said. “And these days, the temptation to rigidity has become so apparent.” “Tradition is not static, it’s dynamic,” Francis...

A teenager in France has been arrested after authorities say he tortured and killed a priest accused of sexually abusing him and his father. The revenge killing occurred on Nov. 4 at 91-year-old priest Roger Matassoli’s house in Agnetz, Oise, France, where the 19-year-old, identified only as Alexandre V., was working as a housekeeper, according to the Daily Mail. Alexandre claimed to have been sexually abused by Matassoli in the past. Alexandre’s father, Stephane, was also allegedly abused by the priest when he was a child. Matassoli was previously accused by at least four others of sexual abuse between 1960...

The Catholic Church must adopt new approaches to evangelization in a post-Christian West, Pope Francis said in a Christmas message to Vatican officials. “We need other maps, other paradigms that might help us change our ways of thinking. We are not in Christianity, not anymore!” the pope said Saturday. “We are no longer under a Christian regime because the faith—especially in Europe, but also in much of the West—no longer constitutes an obvious premise of common life. On the contrary, it is even often denied, derided, marginalized and ridiculed,” the pope said. How would you grade Pope Francis’ leadership of...

ROME - On Thursday top Vatican officials hailed Swedish teen Greta Thunberg, recently named TIME Magazine’s “Person of the Year” for her environmental advocacy, as a “great witness” of Church teaching on care for creation and the human person. Speaking to reporters at the Dec. 12 publication of Pope Francis’s message for the 2020 World Day of Peace, celebrated on Jan. 1 each year, Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Vatican office for Integral Human Development, called Thunberg “a great witness to what the Church teaches on the care of the environment and the care of the person.” “What is...