Free Republic

Head of Pontifical Academy for Life: Vatican ‘shouldn’t have’ protested Italy’s ‘homophobia’ billThe often-provocative Archbishop Paglia also appeared to ‘support catechism change on homosexuality.’ VATICAN CITY, June 29, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The President of the Pontifical Academy for Life said in an interview that the Vatican “shouldn’t have written” a note asking Italy to block a bill that would make “homophobic” discrimination a crime punishable by jail time.The National Catholic Register’s Rome correspondent, Edward Pentin, tweeted on Thursday the transcript of an interview with Archbishop Paglia, together with notes on Paglia’s responses.After expressing his regret that a Vatican official protested...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Presides “Drag Queen” Eucharist (Video)Likely to play up to the oligarchs, São Salvador da Bahia Cardinal Sérgio da Rocha, Brazil, presided a May 21 Eucharist for alleged murdered victims of “LGBTphobia.”The performance included a "Drag Queen" chanting the Ave Maria. In his homily, Rocha lamented “many violent deaths” among homosexuals. He left distributing Communion to his co-presiders, likely in order to avoid embarrassing pictures.According to CruxNow.com (June 11), Rocha responded “promptly” to the request of two local homosex propaganda organisations - so quickly that even the propagandists were surprise. One organiser, Cris Serra, said that he/she didn’t...

Read: Letter from Pope Francis rejecting Cardinal Marx's resignationDear brother,First of all thank you for your courage. It is a Christian courage that does not fear the cross, it does not fear annihilating itself before the tremendous reality of sin. This is what the Lord did (Phil 2. 5-8). It is a grace that the Lord has given you and I see that you want to assume and guard it so that it bears fruit. Thanks.You tell me that you are going through a moment of crisis, and not only you but also the Church in Germany is experiencing it....

Vaticanista: Unlikely That Cardinal Marx Is RetiringIt is not certain that Francis will accept Munich Cardinal Marx’s offered resignation, John Allen writes on CruxNow.com (June 6).But if he does, Marx will continue to hold his positions in the Vatican, including serving as chair of the Council for the Economy. Allen considers the anti-Catholic Cardinal as a "core asset" of Francis because Marx has been an early supporter of Francis' anti-Catholic initiatives like Communion for adulterers.However, Francis might accept Marx's resignation in order not to make the whole thing look like "a political stunt" and because Marx has been traded for...

Muslim Head of Catholic Body Rips Pro-LifersCardinal picks pro-LGBT sex education supporter for top child safety role WESTMINSTER, England (ChurchMilitant.com) - A controversial Muslim prosecutor is mocking American pro-lifers a day after he was appointed by England's Cdl. Vincent Nichols to head a new body on child safety in the Catholic Church.Nazir Afzal, former chief crown prosecutor for North West England will chair the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA), which is "being created amid wide-ranging reforms to safeguarding structures in the Church," a press release announced Tuesday. Afzal defends teaching the "transgender" book in schools The CSSA is a new...

As US jettisons masks, Catholics call for keeping eyes open on justiceNEW YORK – As masks come off and the U.S. begins to move past the COVID-19 pandemic, Cardinal Blase Cupich wants Catholics to stay vigilant about social issues that continue to plague the nation, always putting the poor and marginalized first.“Whatever the project, however complex the issue or how enormous the challenge, the starting point must be a deep and loving respect for the poor, uniting with them, accompanying them, and encountering them with an appreciation for their creative capacity to pursue the life God has always intended for...

Cardinal: “Ramadan Is Everyone’s Holiday”Muslims in Burkina Faso celebrated Eid El Fitr on 13 May, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.They gathered in the capital Ouagadougou at the Place de Nation for prayer.Despite the Ascension which was celebrated on the same day, Cardinal Philipe Ouédraogo, 76, attended the Eid El Fitr prayer, thus showing the “solidarity” of the Church to the Muslim community, Burkina24.com (May 13) writes."We are happy to express our best wishes to our Muslim brothers and sisters," Ouédraogo said. For him, "what belongs to the pond belongs to the cayman" (meaning: your joy is...

German cardinal: Ecumenism of return to Catholicism ‘is completely impossible’‘If someone goes to the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper of the other denomination after a decision of conscience, I will have to accept that.’May 10, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In a recent interview with far-left German magazine Publik-Forum, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich revealed more of his revolutionary agenda for the Church, showing openness to intercommunion with non-Catholic denominations, promoting “synodality,” “moving forward” and a “learning process” within the Church. He also demonstrated his annoyance with the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’s recent responsum recalling that the Church cannot...

Cardinal Tobin: Synodality is Pope Francis' vehicle for changing the churchChurch leaders, including those in the United States, uncomfortable with Pope Francis' emphasis on mercy and an attentiveness to the voices of those on the peripheries should reexamine their skepticism, according to Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, who says such priorities are here to stay."The election of Pope Francis opened up the rest of the world to the rich theological foment of the church in Latin America, with its strong sense of mission, encounter, the peripheries and mercy," said Tobin. "Many, including church leaders in this country, have...

DC parish leases raise questionsLocal pastors and lay advisors have raised questions about centralized leasing policies for parish property in the Archdiocese of Washington. Critics say policies restrict both the religious use and financial benefit of parish properties, even while some parishes struggle to make ends meet. >The archdiocese operates a centralized process of managing leased parish property, through which Catholic Charities of Washington leases parish properties for use as program locations, with rental rates far below market rate — charging in some cases only a nominal fee of dollars annually. The process reportedly restricts pastors from renegotiating lease rates,...

BREAKING NEWS: Archdiocese of Toronto calls police on rosary praying Catholic faithful! On Friday, April 23, a small group of Catholics sent an email to Msgr. Gregory Ace, Pastor of St. Padre Pio parish in Woodbridge, a suburb north of Toronto. The email was a courtesy to the Pastor to let him know that they would be gathering to pray the rosary, "against the Church Lockdowns, offering up Prayers and Penances to the Blessed Mother, to intercede on our behalf with Her Son, to bring an end to the 'Pandemic', which, as St Charles Borromeo would say, our Sins...

New book ‘Sacred Betrayals’ reveals web of financial and sexual abuse by top Vatican cardinal protected by Pope FrancisThe widow of a former Vatican ambassador accuses Pope Francis of covering-up for Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga.Martha Alegría Reichmann de Valladares, Cardinal Óscar Maradiaga, and her late husband, Alejandro. April 28, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The widow of the former dean of the Vatican diplomatic corps is revealing the involvement of Pope Francis in the cover-up of his top cardinal, Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, in a new book now available from Faithful Insight Books, a publishing imprint of LifeSiteNews.Sacred Betrayals: A Widow...

[Catholic Caucus] Cdl. Cupich essentially turns the Blessed Sacrament into a magical amuletIt is difficult to believe that Cupich really thinks that communicants receive graces entirely irrespective of the state of their souls and their good dispositions.April 27, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Following an article in America by Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver, in which he reiterated the Church’s teaching on the importance of approaching Holy Communion with the right dispositions, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago wrote a curious admonition to Aquila (to which the archbishop then responded):I respectfully note that to claim that we can do anything to...

Cdl. Cupich tries to torpedo bishop’s airtight argument for denying pro-abortion politicians like Biden communionDenver Archbishop Samuel Aquila had publicly explained why pro-abortion politicians who say they are Catholic cannot receive Holy Communion.April 23, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — After Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila wrote a hard-hitting article last week explaining why pro-abortion politicians who say they are Catholic — without mentioning President Joe Biden by name — cannot receive Holy Communion, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago wrote to him to express “a number of concerns,” urging the archbishop to issue a “public clarification.”In an April 14 piece published in America Magazine,...

Cardinal Cupich asked Archbishop Aquila for 'public clarification' over Eucharistic doctrineNewsCardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago wrote to Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila last week to express “a number of concerns,” after Aquila published an essay on theological and pastoral issues concerning the reception of Holy Communion. Cardinal Cupich urged the archbishop to offer a “public clarification” of his arguments.Aquila’s essay was published in America April 14.Credit: David Eucaristía/Public domainShare“I am compelled to address the error that any baptized Catholic can receive Communion if he or she simply desires to do so. None of us have the freedom to approach the altar...

Corrupt Chicago Archbishop To College Kids: Don’t Go To MassUniversity of Chicago students couldn’t attend Mass this weekend because church officials insisted it’s unsafe to worship when 0.6 percent of young people threatened more by flu contracts COVID-19.This was not the result of a directive from the secular UChicago administration. The decision came directly from the archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich, who ordered the campus church to cancel Mass for students due to the campus COVID “outbreak.” Not only did the bishop cancel Mass for students on campus, but he instructed them not to attend anywhere else.Per Cupich’s...

[Catholic Caucus] How To Behave: Bishop Schneider Tutors Washington CardinalIt is evident that Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may not receive Communion because of their pro-death activism, Bishop Athanasius Schneider told the Confraternity of Our Lady of Fatima on April 16 (video below).By giving them Communion, the Church implicitly approves their intention to murder innocent children, he explained. Schneider referred to Saint Ambrose who refused the Roman emperor Theodosius (+395) Communion twice. Once, after Theodosius took the side of Jews against Christians in Callinicum, the other time, after Theodosius allegedly killed 7.000 people in Thessaloniki.Schneider called Theodosius the...

Austria's Cardinal Schönborn: God will not deny same-sex couples a blessingRome — Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has expressed unhappiness with the Vatican's recent decree banning Catholic priests from blessing same-sex couples, in what appears to be the first example of a cardinal openly disagreeing with the measure.Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna and a theologian who has been praised often by Pope Francis, said in an interview published March 24 that he believes gay couples who ask God for a blessing "will not be denied.""The question of whether same-sex couples can be blessed belongs to the same category as the question...

Racism becomes focus of Catholic conference in WashingtonAfter he returned from Rome where Pope Francis elevated him to the College of Cardinals, children at Catholic schools in the Washington Archdiocese drew pictures of Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory wearing his new red hat.The nation's first African American cardinal smiled as he related how, at the bottom of one little girl's painting of him, she wrote, "Congratulations, Cardinal Gregory! You look like me, and I like that!"The cardinal told the story on March 20 in a question-and-answer session that followed his keynote at Nativity Church in Burke for a conference on how...

Leading Vatican cardinal hints at way to avoid ban on same-sex blessingsCardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, pointed to the difference in sacramental nature of various unions, and hinted at Church favor towards same-sex civil unions.VATICAN CITY, March 19, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, has signaled a way around the recent Vatican document banning the blessing of same-sex unions. He pointed to the difference in sacramental nature of various unions, and hinted at Church favor towards same-sex civil unions.Farrell made...