Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Letters from 22 women documenting Rupnik’s abuse add to allegationsOne former sister said the superior of the community had ‘forced’ the women to write letters to Fr. Marko Rupnik describing their relationship with him and what he had done to them as well as forgiving him.Previously undisclosed letters from 22 women alleging abuse by Father Marko Rupnik are part of the record of the ongoing canonical criminal trial of the disgraced priest.In the letters, “22 women described alleged spiritual, psychological and sexual abuse by Father Rupnik while he was their spiritual director,” OSV News reported Thursday. The letters...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop says Catholic Church must ‘offer refuge’ to ‘queer people in our congregations’The ‘Queer Commissioner of the German Bishops' Conference’ said parishes must become ‘safe places’ for ‘queer people,’ arguing the Church has fostered ‘prejudice, mistrust, and rejection.’ A German bishop has accused the Catholic Church of failing “queer people” by allowing “prejudice, mistrust,” and “rejection,” calling on the Church to “repent.”On August 2, Bishop Ludger Schepers, auxiliary bishop of Essen and the “Queer Commissioner of the German Bishops’ Conference,” made the criticism in a public statement published by German news outlet Kirche+Leben, one week after the attack...

Priest says migrants who swarmed Spanish city are ‘saints’Prominent Spanish priest Fr. Ángel García said the Moroccan migrants who stormed Spain’s border are ‘not causing any disturbances’ and downplayed the death and destruction due to the surge.Father Ángel García, the founder of the Messengers of Peace, told reporters that the mass influx of migrants who illegally crossed into Spanish territory from Morocco last week are “saints.”Speaking to reporters following a meeting with the mayor-president of the small, autonomous Spanish city of Ceuta, García called the 50,000–60,000 migrants who rushed into the Spanish territory between July 30–31 “saints,” per Spanish media....

Spanish Archdiocese Distances Itself After Priest Calls for Conversion of MoroccoThe Archdiocese of Pamplona and Tudela, Spain, has distanced itself on August 5 from comments by one of its priests after he called for the "reconquest of Morocco and its conversion to Christianity" following the invasion into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.In a statement, the archdiocese said Rev. Javier Aizpún's remarks were "strictly personal opinions" that "neither represent nor are shared in any way by this diocesan Church."The controversy stemmed from a post on X.com in which Aizpún, parish priest of San Juan Evangelista in Huarte and a canon of...

The U.S. Catholic bishops are getting ready a nationwide call to prayer and action, with an official launch date of Aug. 18, to mobilize Catholics to address the rising abortion rate and the increased availability of an abortion-inducing drug. "Every abortion involves the death of a child and harm to the mother. Now with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks," Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop says ‘homosexuality is not a sin’ at pro-LGBT conferenceBp. Raúl Vera López told a pro-LGBT Catholic gathering in Mexico that homosexuality is ‘a thing of nature’ and called for LGBT-identifying Catholics to 'exercise leadership' in the Church.TORREÓN, Mexico (LifeSiteNews) — A Mexican Catholic bishop told a pro-LGBT gathering that homosexuality “is not a sin” and declared that “without the LGBT community, the Church is not complete.”From July 30 to August 2, in Torreón, northern Mexico, the Fourth National Meeting of Red Católica Arcoíris México – a gathering of nearly 100 representatives from local pro-LGBT groups – took...

Has Leo gone TOO FAR? Pope Leo calls mosque 'holy place of God'Pope Leo visited a mosque and called it a “holy place of God.” Can you imagine Pope Benedict saying that? Pope Pius XI? The question writes itself: Has the papacy finally gone too far?John-Henry Westen examines a growing pattern that has left traditional Catholics stunned. The same pope who participated in a Pachamama ritual in 1995 now calls a mosque, a place that denies the divinity of Christ, a holy place of God. The same pope who walked a pregnant migrant through an open border symbol at Lampedusa...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Schneider: ‘Nothing more dangerous for religion’ than liturgical ‘interference’The Church's 'apostolic rule' is that 'antiquity was retained, novelty was rejected,' according to Bishop Schneider.Bishop Athanasius Schneider warned in a sermon this weekend that “nothing is more dangerous for a religion” than “interference with the liturgy.”The auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, defended the importance of upholding the Church’s sacred tradition, including its traditional liturgy, during a visit to the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in Limerick, Ireland.He emphasized that it is a perpetual precept of the Catholic Church to remain faithful to its tradition, both “doctrinally...

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — A Winter Haven pastor is facing more than 20 criminal charges, including allegations involving a minor as well as four felony counts accusing him of engaging in sexual activity without disclosing his HIV-positive status, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Grady Judd is scheduled to hold a 10 a.m. news conference Tuesday to release additional details surrounding the arrest of 42-year-old Timothy Chaneyfield, whom investigators identified as the pastor of St. James United American Free Will Baptist Church in Winter Haven. The charges announced by the Sheriff’s Office include three counts of lewd battery...

Canada has long prided itself on being a nation of tolerance, diversity, and freedom. Yet one of its latest military directives raises a troubling question: How tolerant is a society that increasingly excludes Christianity from public life?The Canadian Armed Forces has reportedly issued guidance instructing military chaplains to avoid using religious-specific language--including references to God--during public ceremonies and official events. The irony is difficult to ignore. Chaplains exist precisely because they are ministers of faith. Asking them to leave God out of public prayers is rather like asking a physician to avoid mentioning medicine.Even more striking is the fact that...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo approved Cardinal Roche’s document supporting Latin Mass restrictions: report A Spanish outlet reported that Pope Leo requested a document affirming Pope Francis’ claim that the Novus Ordo is ‘the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.’Pope Leo XIV supports the Latin Mass-suppressing document Traditionis Custodes and specifically requested Cardinal Arthur Roche’s document on the liturgy backing Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) restrictions, according to a Spanish publication.La Razón reported Sunday that it has been “able to confirm” Cardinal Roche distributed this year’s consistory document on the liturgy “at the request of Leo XIV and,...

[Catholic Caucus] More Extraordinary Gaslighting: Cardinal Roche on the Traditional Latin Mass Yet AgainAn analysis of the Cardinal’s spurious claims made in the new London Tablet interviewVATICAN CITY, 31 July 2026 — Repeating a lie may convince a man of what he wishes to believe, but it doesn’t make it any more true.In a new widely circulated interview with The Tablet, Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, has once again claimed that the traditional Roman liturgy is readily available for Catholics who wish to attend it, and that if anyone...

Florida AG warns bishops: Catholic schools could lose vouchers over COVID mandatesFlorida Attorney General James Uthmeier says Catholic schools must honor parents’ religious objections to mandated shots or risk losing access to state scholarship dollars.Florida Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier warned the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops July 31 that Catholic schools could jeopardize their eligibility for state-funded scholarships and vouchers by denying religious exemptions from vaccination requirements.“Ironically, they won’t offer religious exemptions as prescribed by state law,” Uthmeier wrote in an announcement of his letter to the bishops. “This is troubling and may disqualify them from state scholarships and...

Catholic Star Wars: The SSPX Excommunication as You’ve Never Seen ItOne of the year's biggest Catholic controversies in a witty, self-deprecating parody (think exiles, empires, liturgical battles, etc.). Whether you agree or disagree, this take explores why so many faithful Catholics feel like they're the rebels in their own Church. A fortnight ago, I attended the illicit episcopal consecrations in Écône to bid farewell to the SSPX as newly separated brethren (again). I did so because I was in the neighbourhood and I could; more so as an observer than participant, because I was loth to incur the wrath and...

The Rev. Franklin Graham called the idea of paper gender dolls being used in the Minnesota public school system “sick,” “warped,” and “wicked.” On Monday, Graham shared a New York Post article titled, “Taxpayer-Funded Trans Dolls With Removable Genitalia To Hit Classrooms This Fall for Kids as Young as 4 To ‘Learn About Different Options.’” The article included an image of the dolls showing both male and female anatomy. Franklin Graham Describes Gender Dolls as ‘Sick and Warped’ “You can’t ask for a better example of moral depravity than this. Minnesota has developed ‘MyGender Dolls‘ with interchangeable parts, including removable...

Pope Leo XIV meets pro-abortion singer Patti Smith as Vatican official hails ‘shared mission’One of Patti Smith's best known lyrics is, 'Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine.'Pope Leo XIV met with the pro-abortion, pro-LGBT punk rock star Patti Smith on Friday morning.Smith, who is originally from Chicago, like Leo, is a singer, songwriter, and poet sometimes known as the “Godmother of Punk” for her influential early role in shaping punk music. Her fame peaked in the late 1970’s with her biggest hit, “Because the Night,” a sensual song that declares the “night belongs to lust.” One of her...

[Catholic Caucus] Divine Worship Prefect Roche: “Leo will not change Traditionis or go back to Summorum.” From his interview to British Catholic periodical “The Tablet,” the words of Cardinal Roche are peremptory: “But no, Pope Leo is not going to change Traditionis Custodes, and he’s not going back to Summorum Pontificum.”Meaning, the Traditional Latin Mass will remain in the Egypt of Captivity (Traditionis) and never return to the Promised Land of Liberty (Summorum).Excerpt below (behind the paywall, but provided by our occasional contributor Matthew Hazell on X):Cardinal Roche is 76. He is therefore past the age of retirement.(Interview)

Female Priesthood by Stealth? How the Revolution Plans to Bypass Catholic DoctrineThe modernist revolution has learned a painful lesson: it cannot defeat Catholic doctrine head-on. So now it has a smarter plan—leave the dogma in the books while changing everything that gives it life. If this analysis is correct, the battle over women's ordination isn't coming tomorrow. It's already being fought through liturgy, bureaucracy, and the courts. And that's precisely what makes it so dangerous.The impossibility of formally modifying the doctrine on female ordination is leading some ecclesial circles to pursue the same result through liturgy, canon law and even...

Facial Recognition Payments

[Catholic Caucus] Lawyer for Rupnik’s alleged abuse victims decries ‘total secrecy’ of trialA lawyer representing five accusers of disgraced Fr. Marko Rupnik said that the women have ‘not been summoned’ and don’t even know the names of the judges in the trial.A lawyer representing five of the women who have accused Father Marko Ivan Rupnik of physical and psychological abuse has decried the proceedings of his trial for neglecting the “minimum” needed for “justice.”Reports emerged earlier this month from MessainLatino and AdVaticanum that Rupnik was acquitted in his Vatican canonical criminal trial of all charges of “violence” related to his...