Free Republic

Not even months into his new pontificate, Pope Francis declared, to a group of young people in Paraguay, “Go out and make a mess.” A puzzling remark from the Successor of St. Peter. As the years of his papacy went on, we witnessed what he meant. Year after year, he kept his promise. And the Church descended into an unprecedented chaos. Recall St. Augustine’s classic definition of peace: the tranquillitas ordinis (the tranquility of order). During Pope Francis’ reign, there was nothing of order and certainly no tranquility. Upheaval followed upheaval; shock gave way to more shock; ambiguity was compounded...

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta. At 9:45 AM, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, announced the death of Pope Francis from the Casa Santa Marta with these words: "Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church. He taught us...

Former President Barack Obama (D) said Monday he and his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama, are mourning the death of Pope Francis. Obama’s comments came after the Vatican announced early Monday the pope had died at the age of 88 in Rome. “Pope Francis was the rare leader who made us want to be better people. In his humility and his gestures at once simple and profound — embracing the sick, ministering to the homeless, washing the feet of young prisoners — he shook us out of our complacency and reminded us that we are all bound by moral...

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) on Thursday announced that he signed a measure adding a “gender” field to state death certificates. “The change will be in place by Jan. 1. Supporters say the law creates a space on forms to recognize an individual’s lived experience and aligns death certificates with other state records,” CPR News reported. The legislation, called HB 25-1109, created three options for “gender” on death certificates, including male, female, and “nonbinary.” Under the bill, coroners, funeral directors, and anyone else who fills out death certificates will be required to list the “gender identity” of the deceased person,...

Some modern Americans claim to not fear death. On November 15 last year, boxer Mike Tyson told a 14-year-old girl interviewing him that he has no fear of what happens after he dies. When he was asked about his legacy after his death, Tyson told her: “It means absolutely nothing to me. I’m just passing through. I’m gonna die and it’s gonna be over. Who cares about legacy after that?”

Arizona Hot Springs and Goldstrike Trails announced they have closed multiple trails in Arizona’s Lake Mead National Recreation Area following the death of one hiker and the rescue of 33 others over the course of two days. The social media post says the closure occurred due to dangerously high temperatures and multiple heat-related search and rescue incidents. They say the canyons are expected to exceed 100°F, and many hikers are not "adequately prepared for these extreme conditions." "With the season’s heat just beginning, most people are not yet acclimated, increasing the likelihood of heat illness," they said. "Yesterday, a hiker...

Anthony Fauci has been hit with criminal referrals from seven U.S. states over deaths and injuries caused by Covid “vaccines” and other pandemic-related charges. This week, legal groups filed formal criminal referral requests to the attorneys general of Arizona and Pennsylvania. The referrals were submitted by the Vires Law Group and the Former Feds Group Freedom Foundation. The groups are urging state prosecutors to open criminal investigations into Fauci and other prominent public health and government officials. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is accused of committing multiple crimes during and after...

Many small businesses are still threatened by the trade war facing the United States, even though President Donald Trump suspended most tariffs for 90 days. The escalating tariffs on China have halted imports — and manufacturing — for many American companies, including mom-and-pop stores and family-owned businesses that cannot easily shift production or sourcing to other countries. ‘This is life or death,” says Rick Woldenberg, the CEO of Learning Resources, a century-old toy manufacturing company that makes educational materials for thousands of American schools. Woldenberg told Breitbart News that the Trump administration’s tariffs on China — which hit 145% as...

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in December, 2024. Mangione, 26, faces separate federal and state murder charges for the killing. The federal charges include a charge of murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty. “Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement, as seen by...

Opinion Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with millions of new cases reported each year. In 2022 alone, approximately 20 million new cancer cases were diagnosed globally, and 9.7 million lives were lost to the disease. In India, the numbers are equally alarming, with around 100 out of every one lakh people diagnosed with cancer. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), more than 14 lakh cancer cases were estimated in 2023. [1 lakh = 0.1 million] Despite advancements in early detection and treatment, many myths surrounding cancer testing prevent people from undergoing timely...

A Swedish AI startup company has created a robot dog named Luna that has a functional digital nervous system capable of learning and adapting like humans and many animals, the company, IntuiCell, said on Wednesday. In one of the first-use cases of physical agentic AI, which can make decisions and take actions towards specific goals rather than just perform narrow tasks or generate content, the robot dog would be able to learn like a real dog. IntuiCell will hire a dog trainer - instead of integrating a generative AI model and vast datasets - to teach Luna to walk, based...

Former Rep. Mia Love, who served in Congress representing Utah's 4th District from 2015 to 2019, has died after a battle with cancer. Love was diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer in 2022. Earlier this month, her family announced that the cancer was no longer responding to treatment, and that they had "shifted our focus from treatment to enjoying our remaining time with her." Her family announced Sunday evening that she passed away "peacefully ... in her home surrounded by family." She was 49 years old.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) decried President Donald Trump’s move to cut thousands of jobs at the U.S. Department of Education in a long post on X Thursday, but there was one problem — he was dead at the time. The post from Grijalva’s official X account, posted at 3:16 p.m. Thursday, slammed the president’s decision — but Grijalva had died that morning, according to a statement from his family that read, “The Office of the 7th District of Arizona is saddened to announce the passing of Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva. Rep. Grijalva fought a long and brave battle. He passed...

Meet Zippy, the Robotic Chef: - Used in kitchens by Michelin-star chefs - Trained on over 5 million recipes - Learns new recipes from a single demonstration - Easy to integrate into commercial kitchens Zippy’s system uses multi-modal perception and heat transfer modeling to adapt to ingredient and appliance variations, similar to how an expert chef would. It operates with a mix of autonomy and remote control to handle new scenarios and improve over time. xlink

An Ohio grandmother was mauled to death by her neighbor’s pit bulls — which were later found to have been high on cocaine, according to a lawsuit. JoAnn Echelbarger, 73, was “peacefully gardening” in October when she was ripped apart by the pit bulls, Echo and Apollo, freely roaming her Ashton condominium’s common areas, according to court documents. Her husband, Stanley — who suffers from dementia and was in a wheelchair — watched helplessly as his wife was mauled for several minutes while “screaming for her life,” according to the complaint, which said one dog continued the attack even after...

Chilling audio has revealed the moment a New Jersey woman begged 911 for help after her maniac neighbor shot her and her husband — asking dispatchers to tell her kids she loved them if she bled to death. Jill Kwatkoski and her husband, Tom, were left severely injured when their neighbor, John Adamo, 54, suddenly opened fire on them outside their Jersey Shore home on Tuesday afternoon after an apparent years-long feud, cops said. “Please get the cops here, I’m bleeding to death,” the distressed wife screamed in 911 audio obtained by NBC4. “I can’t leave my kids,” she continued....

Bryan Kohberger has autism, according to his lead defense lawyer, who is arguing the diagnosis means he should not face the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted of the murders of a group of University of Idaho students who were killed in a 4 a.m. home invasion attack in November 2022. “Bryan C. Kohberger, by and through his attorneys of record… hereby moves this Court to strike the death penalty as a sentencing option in his case because Mr. Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reduces his culpability, negates the retributive and deterrent purposes of capital punishment, and...

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) buzzed the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah omluvhin Beirut on Sunday as crowds chanted “Death to Israel,” reminding the Iran-backed terror group that Israeli warplanes killed Nasrallah in September. As Breitbart News reported at the time, Nasrallah and several of his aides, who had survived the “pager” attack several days before, were killed in a surprise bombing that took out his underground headquarters in Beirut. Nasrallah’s funeral was delayed until his body could be recovered, and until after Hezbollah had accepted a ceasefire. He was buried alongside his purported successor, Hashem Saffiedine, whom Israel...

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Monday on CNN’s “The Source” that President Donald Trump has America “staring the death of democracy in the eyes.” Partial transcript as follows: COLLINS: Senator Murphy, as we look at the developments that have happened, in the last 48 hours, what are your concerns about this moment that we’re at with the courts, with the President, and with this suggestion from two of his top advisers that maybe they defy the court’s rulings? MURPHY: Yes, listen, I mean, this isn’t hyperbole to say that we are staring the death of democracy in the eyes, right...

It was a horrific murder case that seemed really cut and dry—it was also a true crime story that made the rounds on TV in the mid-2000s. But this one came with a really bizarre twist. Instead of ruling the brutal stabbing death of Ellen Greenberg—a teacher stabbed twenty grisly times—as a homicide, officials called it a suicide. ... And one of the top officials who signed off on this mind-boggling suicide decision was none other than Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s prosecutor at the time and the state’s current Dem governor. What was he thinking back then? Was he just another...