Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Wester: The church must draw closer to L.G.B.T.Q. peopleIn 1 Samuel 3, we hear a scriptural lesson we would do well to heed today. In the silence of the night, the young Samuel hears a voice calling to him, a call he did not initially recognize as the Lord’s. It takes the elder Eli, a man of experience and humility, to listen and help the boy discern that God was indeed speaking. In my years of episcopal ministry, I have come to realize that we bishops are called to be like Eli. The bishop’s charism is not...

[Catholic Caucus] Traditional Marian Franciscans in UK to be dissolved despite growthThe Marian Franciscan friars, who celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass, faced opposition from a new bishop in the Diocese of Dunkeld and indicated that they will relocate and join another association.The Priests of the Association of the Family of Mary Immaculate and St. Francis, better known as the Marian Franciscans, will be dissolved on the last day of May and will no longer exist as an association of the faithful.The friars, who celebrate both the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo Mass, have indicated that they will relocate...

[Catholic Caucus] Swiss bishops ‘strongly reject’ conversion therapy for homosexual, ‘transgender’ individualsThe Swiss bishops claimed that practices aiming to change someone’s sexual inclination or gender identity ‘contradict the dignity of the person as the image of God’ in scandalous comments.The Swiss Bishops’ Conference (SBK) announced Tuesday that it is “strongly” opposed to conversion measures which seek to align one’s sexual inclination or “gender identity” with one’s God-given sex.The Swiss bishops issued their statement in support of a conversion measure ban for children and young adults that has been proposed in the Swiss Parliament. As the bill explains, conversion measures, which...

[Catholic Caucus] US Catholic converts are tuning out their liberal, heterodox bishopsPope Francis' brand of Catholicism, now continuing under Pope Leo XIV, is a politicized version of the faith that prioritizes wokeness and social justice over doctrinal fidelity.Viral coverage in religious and secular media of the record number of American adults entering the Catholic Church this past Easter included an article in The Federalist titled “America’s Catholic Renewal Is a Rejection of Liberal Modernity.”American bishops and prelates, John Daniel Davidson wrote, mostly embrace “the Catholicism of Pope Francis, marked by a disdain for the Latin Mass, an embarrassment at ritual...

[Catholic Caucus] Jonathan Roumie says he will only kneel for Holy Communion, even as liberal bishops attack reverenceJonathan Roumie said he has been ‘convicted’ by the Holy Spirit to only receive the Eucharist while kneeling, contradicting prelates who are attacking the practice.Jonathan Roumie, lead actor of The Chosen, informed Father Mike Schmitz during a recent podcast that he was denied Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling.Roumie explained that he felt “convicted” by the Holy Spirit to give the Eucharist more “reverence.” He said that he went to Mass recently and that he knelt to receive Our Lord. To his...

[Catholic Caucus] Brazil Bishop Invites Homosexual Groups Into His HomeBishop Arnaldo Carvalheiro Neto of Jundiaí, Brazil, hosted a meeting of homosexual groups from the state of São Paulo at his episcopal residence on March 1, reports AciDigital.com.The gathering began with a Eucharist in the chapel of the episcopal house, with participants gathered around the altar.There was also whining dialogue about the “challenges” these groups face in the Church.Since October 2025, the bishop has served as the reference bishop for the National ‘Network of LGBT Catholic Groups’ within the Brazilian bishops’ conference.During the meeting, he described these groups – which are...

[Catholic Caucus] Spanish cardinal secretly gave socialist gov’t power to redesign Benedictine basilica: reportRecently published documents show Cdl. José Cobo Cano quietly signed a pact with Spain’s socialist government to allow parts of Valle de los Caídos basilica to be repurposed as a museum.Cardinal José Cobo Cano of Madrid, Spain, signed a secret agreement allowing the Spanish government to transform parts of Madrid’s Valle de los Caídos basilica for political and ideological use, a new report reveals.According to Spanish newspaper El Debate, on March 4 and 5, 2025, Cardinal José Cobo Cano signed a secret agreement with Minister Félix Bolaños...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic laity can identify heresy in Church leaders without waiting for Rome: here’s whyFrom St. Isidore to St. Cajetan, Catholic tradition holds that obvious heresy condemns itself. The faithful need neither secret knowledge nor Vatican trials to recognize it.(Padre Peregrino) — This was originally called He is to Be Accused by His Subjects at my main site but has been updated. This is a continuation of my weekend series, reproducing on Substack past favorites from my normal website.I do not want this blog to turn my readers into “heresy hunters” since recognizing heresy is not enough to obtain...

Brazilian Archbishop Declares Excommunication for Attending Latin Mass Outside Approved SiteArchbishop Carlos Alberto Breis Pereira, 60, of Maceió, Brazil, has warned that celebrating or attending the Mass in the Roman rite outside of his one authorized location will result in excommunication.The diocesan note was issued on February 11 on FaceBook.com (below). It reads:“The Archdiocese of Maceió informs the faithful who reside within its jurisdiction that, if they wish to participate in the so-called ‘Tridentine Masses’ or in those celebrated according to the Roman Missal of Saint Pius V, promulgated by Pope Saint Pius V in 1570, in the Latin language,...

[Catholic Caucus] Lepanto Institute calls for Pope Leo to laicize New Mexico priest over homosexual ‘domestic partnership’Lepanto pointed out that parents of grade school age children are concerned for the welfare and safety of their children, with an openly pro-homosexual priest serving as pastor of a Catholic schoolThe Lepanto Institute has formally requested that Pope Leo laicize and suspend from ministry a New Mexico priest who entered into a homosexual “domestic partnership” for 10 years during a 28-year leave of absence from the priesthood.Lepanto sent a copy of its August 2025 report on Fr. Steve Rosera, of the Archdiocese of...

[Catholic Caucus] An Open Letter to US DiocesesThe Annual Appeal was launched in our diocese this weekend, as it has been or will be in many other dioceses, with a sound-tracked video at every Mass and a step-by-step walk-through of the completion of pledge cards. While I sympathize with the committee that came up with that tedious line-by-line approach, it doesn’t wear well on adults.Instead, maybe give us an honest accounting of where our money has gone, the steps taken to protect and report it, and a picture of the accounting best practices that assure us the money is spent...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland: ‘I cannot remain silent’ as confusion in the Church deepensThe greatest danger facing the Church today is not persecution from the outside. The Church has endured emperors, revolutions, prisons, martyrdom; the deeper danger today is confusion within.My brothers and sisters in Christ,There are moments in the life of the Church when a shepherd feels a weight that cannot be ignored. Not a political pressure. Not a media storm. But a quiet, insistent sense of responsibility before God. A sense that silence, however comfortable it might seem, is no longer faithful. READ: Scholars break down why Zionism...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland confronts US bishops on their silence over trafficked childrenBishop Joseph Strickland exhorted not only the bishops but lay Catholics to confront their own complacency over the children being trafficked in the U.S.Bishop Joseph Strickland confronted U.S. bishops about their silence over children trafficked upon crossing the border illegally.During a Catholics for Catholics award ceremony for U.S. border czar Tom Homan in honor of his work saving over 62,000 children from human trafficking, Strickland highlighted the approximately 250,000 children still lost from border crossings under Joe Biden’s administration. The bishop stressed that if the unborn are not...

[Catholic Caucus] TLM Sunday 2026: "Introibo ad altare Dei"The author preparing to offer private Mass during the snow and ice storm of January 25, 2026.The priest when he is alone, with angels and saints surrounding and united with him, to pray the Mass will naturally choose that worship which he holds most dear in this age commonly described as one of options, if nothing else. And the option of the Tradition, as Pope Benedict made so clear in Summorum Pontificum, remains as sacred today for all of us it was for the Catholics of the two millennia that preceded our...

[Catholic Caucus] BREAKING: Pope Leo appoints pro-LGBT archbishop as secretary for Dicastery for ClergyArchbishop Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli's pro-LGBT views were recounted in a description of his response to the same-sex 'marriage' of a Catholic scout leader.Pope Leo XIV has appointed a controversial and homosexualist archbishop to a prominent role in the Vatican.Archbishop Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli of Gorizia was named today as the new Secretary for the Dicastery for Clergy.Raedelli and his pro-LGBT views were mentioned in a 2020 book by Luciano Moia, a senior journalist for the Italian Bishops’ Conference’s daily newspaper Avvenire. In his book, Moia argues...

[Catholic Caucus] “If I Were the Bishop”The following op-ed, by guest writer Mark Rose, is in the style of Paul Harvey’s “If I were the Devil.”If I were the Bishop—if I were the successor to the Apostles, charged with the care of souls in the United States—I’d want to make the Church irrelevant. I wouldn’t do it with persecution; that only makes the faithful stronger. I’d do it with “modernization.”I’d begin by whispering that the old ways are dead. I’d convince you that we need to “update” the Church, not to convert the world, but to be liked by it....

[Catholic Caucus] No Room at the Inn: A Christmas Music Video for the Latin MassA Tribute to Traditional Catholics in Charlotte, Tennessee, and DetroitNo Room at the Inn is a simple folk ballad written as a protest and a prayer in the wake of the quiet extinguishing of the Traditional Latin Mass across large swaths of the United States. It is for Catholics who have watched parish doors close, altar rails removed, and ancient worship pushed to the margins under the language of “unity,” “implementation,” and “pastoral care.”The title is not metaphorical flourish. It is descriptive. The Latin Mass has...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo’s new bishop of Tucson supported Communion kneeler ban, Latin Mass restrictions Pope Leo XIV on Monday named Monsignor James A. Misko, the vicar general of the Diocese of Austin, Texas, as the next bishop of Tucson, Arizona.Bishop-elect Misko will be consecrated and installed as the eighth bishop of Tucson on February 20, 2026, the diocese announced December 22.As vicar general of Austin, Misko enforced the suppression of multiple Traditional Latin Masses (TLM) and the ban on Communion kneelers, while also urging the faithful to get the abortion-tainted COVID jab.Misko, 55, will succeed Archbishop Edward Weisenburger, now...

[Catholic Caucus] The Demented War on Altar Rails Moves North -- to PennsylvaniaAfter Charlotte, the war on Altar Rails moves north.This past June, Rorate reported on a Pennsylvania parish reeling from a persecution of traditional pastors. The year has not even ended, and the parish (Mary, Queen of Saints, in Aliquippa), under new administration -- now its Novus Ordo will have the use of altar rails banned. You may kneel if you want to (they can't abolish the general law), but without any support. It's at the newest bulletin online for December 14, page 4.

[Catholic Caucus] Poll: Most Catholic voters support Trump, deportations despite bishops’ concernA majority of Catholic voters in the United States have a favorable opinion of President Donald Trump and support the broad-scale deportation of immigrants who are in the country illegally, according to a poll published by EWTN News and RealClear Opinion Research on Dec. 11.The poll surveyed 1,000 self-identified Catholics from Nov. 9 through Nov. 11, nearly 10 months after Trump assumed office. Trump won the Catholic vote in the 2024 election last year, and one of his campaign promises was mass deportations — a policy strongly opposed by...