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Vatican: Ramadan is for Catholics ‘a school of inner transformation’In a seemingly ecumenical appeal, the Vatican praised Islamic Ramadan as a means of ‘inner conversion’ and emphasized a parallel with Christian Lent. The message follows Pope Francis’ push for interfaith dialogue, which critics say downplays theological issues.The Vatican has issued a Ramadan message to Muslims, saying that its coinciding with the Christian season of Lent is “a unique opportunity to walk, side-by-side.”“Ramadan appears to us Catholics as a school of inner transformation,” wrote the Vatican today. “By abstaining from food and drink, Muslims learn to control their desires and turn...

An Italian priest has been excommunicated after he said publicly that he believed Pope Francis is an “antipope”. Fr Natale Santonocito, 61, parish priest of San Cesarea Church, south east of Rome, was investigated after posting several online videos in which he says that Francis has never been pope. “The Pope is not the Pope,” he says in one of them. “He never was.” The priest, who was ordained in 2023, has been removed from active ministry in the Diocese of Tivoli and Palestrina and automatically excommunicated. He took to YouTube on Wednesday to issue a valedictory statement. “I have...

Joe Biden ‘conferred’ membership of the Freemasons in South CarolinaIn a private ceremony on January 19, Joe Biden was given membership in the Freemasons despite Catholic teaching that has remained constant for centuries firmly prohibiting such an action.Joe Biden welcomed into the Prince Hall Freemasons, Jan 19, 2025.Former President Joe Biden had membership of the Freemasons “conferred” upon him despite Catholic teaching firmly prohibiting joining the Masons and the automatic excommunication for doing so remaining quietly in place.One day before Donald Trump was inaugurated as President, Joe Biden attended a “private ceremony” in South Carolina to become part of the...

German bishop says ‘we do not have to evangelize’ the world since people can be ‘happy’ without GodGerman Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck has said that “we do not have to evangelize the whole world” and that people are “happy and content” without God.In a sermon on the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, in the Essen Cathedral, Overbeck said that “we do not have to evangelize the whole world and win them over to a certain form of church life.”“God will find ways to lead those who cannot or do not want to believe in Him onto a good path,”...

[Catholic Caucus] Portuguese Cardinal Defends His Decision to Take Part in Communist Party RallyA Portuguese cardinal who was elevated to the College of Cardinals last year caused controversy earlier this month when he attended a communist rally held by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), the country’s oldest communist party and reputed to be one of the strongest in Western Europe. Cardinal Américo Aguiar, bishop of Setúbal diocese just outside Lisbon, defended his decision to take part in last weekend’s rally in Almada near Lisbon, saying he did so because the communists and socialists who attended it were close to the...

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), a left-wing Catholic, responded defiantly to the archbishop for her home city banning her from receiving Holy Communion in the archdiocese because of her support for abortion. Pelosi spoke with the National Catholic Register about a range of issues including San Francisco archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s letter in 2022 prohibiting Pelosi from being given communion, an order she did not take to heart. “I received Communion anyway. That’s his problem, not mine,” Pelosi said. “My Catholic faith is, Christ is my savior. It has nothing to do with the bishops.” Pelosi further described her...

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The longtime music director at a northern Michigan church said he was fired just a few months before retirement after officials learned that he was in a same-sex marriage, a dismissal that has angered members and led to sidewalk protests by the choir. “He’s extremely talented, he’s perfect on the piano, he has perfect pitch and because of him, I look forward to going to church every week,” said Bob Holden, a chorister at St. Francis Church in Traverse City. “I’m divorced. Do I get thrown out next?” Holden told the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

Melania Trump has done her best to stay out of the spotlight throughout her husband’s presidential tenure and political career. Now, in a memoir titled Melania set to be published a month before election today, she has openly chosen a side in America’s abortion wars. The Guardian obtained a copy of the memoir, and published the former—and possibly future—First Lady’s pro-abortion declaration: It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government. Why should anyone other than the woman herself...

[Catholic Caucus] In San Diego, Bishop Apologizes to LGBTQ+ Community During Pride MassIn a hopeful sign for LGBTQ+ ministry, six parishes in the Diocese of San Diego celebrated an “All Are Welcome” Mass this summer. At the liturgy, a local bishop apologized to the LGBTQ+ community on behalf of the church and encouraged greater love and inclusion.The Mass, hosted by St. John the Evangelist Church’s LGBTQ Ministry, was held during Pride Month in June. Bishop Ramón Bejarano, an auxiliary bishop in the diocese, presided over the liturgy, joined by seven priests and two deacons as concelebrants.Beginning in song with the...

[Catholic Caucus] Excommunicated woman ‘priest’ lauded in heterodox Catholic newspaperThe National Catholic Reporter has written sympathetically about ‘Father Anne’s' willingness 'to pay the price’ of excommunication to follow her call’ to the ‘priesthood.’Anne TropeanoThe heterodox National Catholic Reporter (NCR) has described an excommunicated woman who goes by the name “Father Anne” as a “priest” while shining a sympathetic light on her claims to sacramental priesthood.On Friday NCR published a news piece about the hopes of “Father Anne” (Anne Tropeano) — whom the newpaper describes without qualification (or even scare quotes) as a “priest” — that the Catholic Church will allow...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican loosens stance on food, water for patients in vegetative stateROME – This week the Vatican’s Academy for Life issued a new text on a series of bioethical issues, including the provision of food and hydration for patients in a vegetative state, which marks a modest departure from the Vatican’s previously held position on the issue.Published Thursday by the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV), the volume is titled, “Small Lexicon on End of Life,” and covers a variety of bioethical issues.According to an introduction by Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the PAV, the volume has the aim...

[Catholic Caucus] Pontifical Academy for Life priest says ‘we have to rethink’ teaching on homosexuality, contraceptionHeterodox Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) member Fr. Maurizio Chiodi has repeated his dissent on Catholic teaching, stating that “we have to rethink” traditional teaching on homosexuality and contraception. Chiodi, known for his heterodoxy regarding the Church’s teaching on sexuality, was appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the PAV in 2017 and recently named a member of the Vatican study group on “Theological criteria and synodal methodologies for shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues.” In an interview with the news...

Actor and film director Mel Gibson has written a letter of encouragement to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò after the Vatican announced that the retired papal nuncio has been excommunicated. BeyondWords (LifeSiteNews) — Editor’s note: The following letter from Mel Gibson to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò appeared first at the website of Italian journalist Aldo Maria Valli. It has since been promoted by Archbishop Viganò on X. LifeSite has also received direct confirmation from Mel Gibson that he did write the letter. ~~~ Dear Archbishop, I’m sure you expected nothing else from Jorge Bergoglio. I know that you know he has...

The Gateway Pundit reported that Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was summoned to the Vatican to be excommunicated by Red Pope Francis. Archbishop Carlo Viganò, a friend of the faithful and totally dedicated to the Church and sharing the word of Jesus Christ, was notified that he was being summoned to the Vatican. Vigano has been outspoken against the destruction of the Church, COVID mandates, and stolen elections. He has called out the current Pope for his destructive actions against the Church. He has warned about the World Economic Forum. For this, there are reports that he is being excommunicated from...

A firebrand conservative who became one of Pope Francis' most ardent critics has been excommunicated by the Vatican.Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who once served as the Vatican's ambassador to the U.S., was found guilty of schism. The Vatican's doctrine office imposed the penalty after a meeting of its members on Thursday, a press statement said Friday.The office cited Viganò's "refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the church subject to him and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council," as its reasoning for the ruling. (snip)...

[Catholic Caucus] New York Priest Celebrates ‘Pride Mass’ Outside of Gay Monument — on LGBT FlagFather Eric Andrews, Pastor of Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in New York City, celebrates Mass at the Stonewall National Monument surrounded by pride flags. A New York City Catholic church, previously caught up in LGBT controversy, hosted a “Pride Mass” Thursday evening using an altar shrouded with a gay and transgender “pride” flag at a local federal monument with sculptures of two same-sex couples and decorated by dozens of LGBT rainbow flags.The federal monument enshrining a gay bar, The Stonewall Inn, and its...

(RNS) — Diocesan hermits by nature don’t get much attention. A small subset of religious persons, hermits mostly spend their lives engaged in quiet prayer. Brother Christian Matson, a Catholic diocesan hermit in Kentucky, has spent years doing just that. His monk’s habit might catch his neighbor’s eye, but he is known in the town where he lives primarily through his work with the local theater. But recently Matson decided that his faith compels him to make a little more noise than usual. “This Sunday, Pentecost 2024, I’m planning to come out publicly as transgender,” Matson told Religion News Service...

CV NEWS FEED // Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, is slated to host the controversial left-wing nun Sr. Simone Campbell, SSS, at its commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 11. Campbell is the former longtime executive director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice (“Network”), a leftist activist group. She is also known for leading the Nuns on the Bus – an initiative aimed at boosting Democratic candidates. Over her many years in public life, the heavily scrutinized nun has taken positions supporting abortion, the LGBTQ movement, women’s ordination to the priesthood, the Democratic Party, and the presidency of Joe...

[Catholic Caucus] Pro-LGBT Minneapolis parish hosts homosexual man’s ‘cabaret’ about his dead ‘husband’Notoriously heterodox St. Joan of Arc Catholic Community in Minneapolis hosted a musical written by a local homosexual about his relationship with his now-deceased ‘husband.’Fr. James Cassidy of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Community in Minneapolis gives homily after pro-homosexual talkA notoriously pro-LGBT parish in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis hosted an explicit musical written by a homosexual man about his relationship with his deceased “husband” this past weekend. On Sunday, May 5, Joseph St. James spoke to parishioners ahead of a “gym mass” held at...

[Catholic Caucus] German bishop attacks Church teaching for upholding ‘only man and woman,’ demands changes to CatechismPro-LGBT Auxiliary Bishop Ludger Schepers of Essen insisted that ‘something has to change’ in the Church regarding sexuality and that the ‘Catechism must say different things than it does now,’ in the latest heterodox remarks from the German hierarchy.A German bishop criticized Catholic teaching for “assuming there is only man and only woman” and demanded that the Church change its infallible doctrine on sexuality in the latest heterodox comments from the German hierarchy.Bishop Ludger Schepers, an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Essen, who...