Free Republic

A coalition of Catholic nuns has filed a lawsuit against gunmaker Smith & Wesson, calling for the company to stop producing AR-style rifles, which the women claim are “the weapon of choice for numerous mass murderers.” The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a Nevada district court, alleges that Smith & Wesson has repeatedly ignored “red flags” and failed to respond appropriately to mass shootings in the United States. The lawsuit references some of the deadliest mass killings in recent U.S. history — including at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., in 2012; a high school in Parkland, Fla., in 2018; and...

The largest Catholic health system in the nation has allegedly funded and performed transgender surgeries and other “gender-affirming” medical interventions, defying traditional Catholic teachings, according to an investigative report released to The Epoch Times.The report by the Lepanto Institute, a Catholic research and education organization, released on June 12, exposes CommonSpirit Health, a Catholic entity, for its alleged performance and funding of transgender surgeries and therapies,” including prescribing and providing cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to patients.A promotional video accompanying the report asserts: “The transgender craze has seized the world by the throat and is choking the life out of...

CV NEWS FEED // The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to pass the so-called Respect for Marriage Act, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. There are 130 Catholics serving in the House of Representatives, of which 74 are Democrats and 56 are Republicans. CatholicVote Communications Director Joshua Mercer noted after the vote that out of the 130 Catholics, 89 voted to redefine marriage, while only 40 Catholics voted no. (One member, Rep. Kevin Brady, a Catholic Republican from Texas, did not vote.) “There are 74 Catholic Democrats in the House of Representatives...

Reach out to the marginalized, ordain women, engage the youth. Those were among the themes that emerged from a survey of North Jersey Catholics released last week by the Archdiocese of Newark, spiritual home to 1.3 million worshippers in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties. In hundreds of in-person and online listening sessions this year, more than 15,000 local Catholics said the church needs to make fundamental reforms to become welcoming to women, LGBTQ parishioners, immigrants and the young people who have increasingly strayed from religious life. "They believe that the Church is out of touch today," said a 39-page...

Jill Biden on Wednesday gave her husband Joe Biden a nudge to stop talking to reporters and board Marine One for their trip to Wisconsin. President Biden was taking questions from the press on the South Lawn of the White House as the first lady stood to the side, patiently waiting for him. But after a few minutes she walked over to get the chatty president, nudging him to stop talk and to board the presidential helicopter. Jill, wearing a pink coat, smiled as she fetched the president. She didn't speak but gestured with her head to the waiting helicopter....

The new mask mandate will be in place anywhere mass is celebrated, and for all events including weddings and funerals, the Archdiocese of Boston said Thursday. Face coverings are making a comeback for parishes within the Archdiocese of Boston for the holidays. “I will definitely feel safer coming to church knowing people are wearing masks,” said churchgoer Moran Brister of South Boston. “In fact I might not go otherwise.” The Archdiocese announced Thursday that masks will be required for a one-month period before and after Christmas and the New Year season. “Quite extraordinarily we’re seeing yet another spike and we...

President Biden on Friday had a lengthy and warm meeting with Pope Francis, which included jokes, laughter, and a gift exchange. “The engagement between the two was very warm when the delegation arrived in the room. There was laughter and clear rapport between President Biden and Pope Francis,” a White House official said. During the 90-minute meeting, Biden gave the pope a presidential challenge coin and called him the “most significant warrior for peace I've ever met,” NBC reported citing Vatican TV.

Donald Trump blamed Mike Pence in a Monday evening interview for his 2020 election loss and railed against two Supreme Court picks Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett for voting to uphold Obamacare. 'I am very disappointed. I fought very hard for them, but I was very disappointed with a number of their rulings,' Trump said in an interview with Real America's Voice host David Brody. He also claimed in the Monday interview that his former vice president should have done more to stop Congress certifying the Electoral College results on January 6. 'What's your take on Mike Pence and...

Biden and the Disunited Catholic FrontCracks in it keep growing. Joe Biden’s renegade Catholicism is nothing if not bold. It is a distressing and hubristic jumble, an admixture of everything from transgenderism to Marianism. At one moment, Biden is advocating for abortion and dissolving differences between the sexes; in the next moment, he is gushing about Our Lady of Guadalupe and his devotion to the rosary. The media, of course, loves this erratic style of non-threatening religiosity and has rewarded Biden with flattering coverage of his faith. “Not a ‘cardboard politician’: Biden’s faith forges bond with Mexico,” read a recent...

The top brass of Spain’s ruling conservative Popular Party including Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy have attended the same-sex marriage of their deputy secretary-general, giving tacit approval to a law they once bitterly opposed. Javier Maroto exchanged vows with Josema Rodriguez late Friday at a ceremony in the northern city of Vitoria attended by Rajoy, secretary-general Maria Dolores Cospedal and other party dignitaries, the party said in a statement. “In Spain, the right to marriage is for everyone and we all share that message today,” Maroto said afterward. “Parties evolve,” he added. “Now my party and the government join in backing...

PORTLAND, Ore. – As a lay liturgical minister and a cantor, Wilma Hens was a leader at for years at her Roman Catholic parish in the central Oregon city of Bend. But then Bishop Robert F. Vasa issued a two-page "affirmation of faith." It tells lay ministers and cantors that, if they want to continue in their roles on the altar, they must accept the church's teachings opposing abortion, contraception, gay relationships and other issues. Hens couldn't agree, so she quit, publicly. She stood at a microphone at St. Francis of Assisi Church last month and told the congregation she...