Free Republic

Cardinal Fernández: All religions stand for peace Marking the release of “A Journey of Hope,” Cardinal Victor Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, grants an interview to Vatican News to reflect on the 60th anniversary of Nostra aetate.Vatican NewsSixty years after the Second Vatican Council published the conciliar Declaration Nostra aetate, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue have published “A Journey of Hope.”In the following interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Victor Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo promotes synodality bishop who has ‘courage to make a different church’ Pope Leo XIV appointed a Bolivian bishop who has said Communion for active homosexuals and women’s ordination to the diaconate remain open questions amid the synodality process.Pope Leo XIV appointed a synodality enthusiast who accepts as “open questions” the possibilities of Holy Communion for unrepented active homosexuals and the “ordination” of women to the diaconate.The Vatican announcement was issued Monday that Bishop Pedro Luis Fuentes Valencia, C.P. was named Military Ordinary for Bolivia, ending four years in which the Passionist prelate had governed the same...

Leo’s Archbishop Says “The Church Is Called to Disappear” and Muslim Saints “Intercede” for Us. Leo’s Pastor of St. Peter’s Basilica Finds the Devil “Quite Likable.” He Adds “Spice” to People’s Lives! Rome’s interfaith chief says other religions “broaden the horizon of truth,” invokes a pluralist “City of God,” and turns Nehemiah into a mascot for religious dialogue.There are careless phrases, and then there are phrases that tell you how a man sees the Church.“The Church is called to disappear so that the Kingdom may grow.”That sentence belongs to Father Mario León Dorado, the 52-year-old Spanish Oblate whom Leo XIV...

[Catholic Caucus] 10 Italian bishops attend national conference on LGBT ‘pastoral ministry’ The meeting presented initiatives already operating in several Italian dioceses.Italy’s Catholic bishops gathered to discuss the integration of LGBT-identifying people and their families into ordinary diocesan life.On September 4, nearly 200 pastoral workers and around 10 bishops gathered at the General Curia of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Rome for Italy’s first national conference dedicated to “pastoral ministry with homosexual and transgender people.”The meeting, titled “Good Practices in Pastoral Ministry with Homosexual and Transgender People,” presented initiatives already operating in several Italian dioceses, while also examining the...

[Catholic Caucus] Kraków was John Paul II’s diocese. Now a trans activist helps plan its future 'I am changing the Church from inside,' said the trans activist, a formerly married father of one. Pope John Paul II’s Polish diocese is embracing gender ideology, even going so far as to welcome a gender-confused “trans” activist into its synodal process.The Archdiocese of Krakow released its Report of Synodal Work, marking the conclusion of the first stage of the Second Pastoral Synod. Both were influenced by 54-year-old trans activist Maria Minakowska (born Marek Jerzy Minakowski). The document proposes creating pastoral “safe havens” for...

[Catholic Caucus] Synod reports call for ‘gender equality’ in Church governanceThe Synod documents emphasize the implementation of ‘gender equality’ and ‘co-responsibility’ in workplaces and the participation of consecrated laywomen in the election of bishops and chaplains.The Synod issued two new reports this week that include promoting “gender equality” across all positions within the Catholic Church.On September 8, the General Secretariat of the Synod published two final reports proposing changes to relations between bishops, consecrated religious, ecclesial associations and the Holy See, including a recommendation that diocesan faithful participate in preparing the reports bishops submit before their official visits to Rome.The...

[Catholic Caucus] They Won’t Let Bishop Schneider Offer the Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Cardinal Burke was allowed to celebrate the Latine Mass in St. Peter's Basilica for the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage in 2025. For this year's event, Bishop Athanasius Schneider will celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass at St. Mary Major instead. Rome’s decision to deny him the Altar of the Chair raises uncomfortable questions about the Church’s current treatment of Catholics attached to Tradition.The Vatican’s move to deny Bishop Athanasius Schneider permission to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in St. Peter’s Basilica for this year’s Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage...

[Catholic Caucus] Brazilian bishop’s Mass includes heretical creed featuring ‘goddess,’ ‘sexual diversity’ A Mass for Brazil’s ‘Cry of the Excluded’ event featured the radical ‘Creed of the Ecclesial Base Communities,’ which denounces ‘rules governing love’ and a ‘hierarchical Church.’A heterodox creed recited during the annual “Cry of the Excluded” Mass celebrated by Bishop José Valdeci Santos Mendes of Brejo, Maranhão, Brazil, last week, which featured leftist language, included a reference to a “God/Goddess.”As first reported by EWTN News, during the September 7 Mass (the video for which has since been deleted from YouTube), the “Creed of the Ecclesial Base Communities”...

Bishop Schneider: Synodality is a ‘code word to undermine Catholic doctrine’ Bishop Athanasius Schneider pointed out that the word ‘synodality’ is purposely ambiguous and is used in a 'cunning' attempt to promote moral relativism within the Church.Bishop Athanasius Schneider warned that “synodality” is a “cunning code word used to undermine Catholic doctrine.”In an interview published Thursday with AdVaticanum that discussed Our Lady’s title of Co-Redemptrix, the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass, and interreligious contact, the auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan gave his view on the meaning of “synodality.” Schneider suggested that the meaning of “synodality” has deliberately been kept...

The Biden administration investigated traditional Catholic groups as if they were terrorists The United States Department of Justice has this week released the most damning report to date on the FBI’s anti-Catholic memo from Richmond. The document, prepared by the Weaponization Working Group created by the Trump Administration, confirms with more than 1,800 pages of internal records what many Catholics denounced from the very first day and what the Biden Administration tried to downplay: the FBI treated traditional Catholic faith as a suspicious ideology, spied on innocent priests, and, when the scandal came to light, protected, comforted, and even rewarded...

[Catholic Caucus] Latin Mass suppression left this monastery to face ‘sacramental euthanasia’ Dom Alcuin Reid, founding prior of a traditional Benedictine monastery, called Latin Mass restrictions a product of 'narrow-minded Vatican II extremists.'A French Benedictine monastery revealed that Pope Francis’s restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) left it without the ordinations needed to sustain its sacramental life.On August 16, Ad Vaticanum published an interview with Dom Alcuin Reid, founding prior of the Monastère Saint-Benoît in Provence, France. Reid described how Pope Francis’ 2021 restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass affected his community, saying the monastery ultimately accepted ordinations from...

Sad Story of Ex-Carmelite: Francis Supported Her Transvestite "Apostolate" Mónica Astorga spent almost 40 years as a Discalced Carmelite nun in Argentina and became prioress of her convent in Neuquén.She became internationally known for her work with transvestites because of Pope Francis' encouragement.Astorga meanwhile left the convent and trained in hairdressing. The Vatican formally accepted her departure from the Discalced Carmelites in 2024. She “still” considers herself a believer – yet without attending a Eucharist regularly.Long Connection with BergoglioHer connection with Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis, began much earlier.Astorga says she met him when he was a Jesuit...

The Challenge of a Synod That Walks Away from Christ Introduction The superiors of the Society of Saint Pius X have argued that there exists a state of emergency in the Catholic Church. Those who deny this claim, who insist that all is well, that the concerns of the Society are exaggerated or unfounded, have, to employ a metaphor, buried their heads in the sand. The evidence is not obscure; it is visible in parishes, in chanceries, in synodal assembly halls, and in the documents these assemblies produce.The crisis assailing the Church is not just a liturgical matter, though the...

A Silent “Excommunication” of All Traditionalists?Tradition itself has been excommunicated according to the rule used against the SSPX.Many believe that the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) was excommunicated from the Catholic Church following the much-anticipated consecrations of four new bishops on July 1, 2026 without getting the Papal mandate.In fact, there is a large contention of pseudo-traditionalists and conservatives who are relishing in the false belief that the SSPX was excommunicated and yet still feel free to criticize aspects of Vatican II and the New Mass while virtuously claiming to be obedient sons of the Holy Father. Ironically, the...

[Catholic Caucus] The New InquisitionThat Cardinal Fernández leads the DDF is a tragedy that borders on terror.The question of whether there is a crisis in the Catholic Church hinges on a slew of facts and their interpretations. The argument that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the oldest department in the Roman Curia—tasked with identifying and stomping out heresy since 1542—has itself been compromised is among the most persuasive. Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the current prefect for the Dicastery, initially appointed by Pope Francis, is case in point.Fernández, author of multiple erotically-charged and, frankly, creepy books, reigns supreme...

Leo XIV has repudiated the authority of the Catholic Church: here’s howSynodality not only diminishes ecclesiastical authority but destroys it. On June 26, Leo XIV told an “extraordinary consistory” of cardinals that they “are called to be builders of Christ’s communion, a communion that takes shape in a synodal Church.” [1]The construction of the Synodal Church, which accompanies the building of a new society called variously the “city of God,” the “new Jerusalem,” and the “civilization of love,” was a central theme of his recent “encyclical letter” Magnifica Humanitas.Leo told the cardinals that during the consistory they would “explore Magnifica...

Abp. Gänswein: Benedict XVI felt ‘sorrow in his heart’ over Francis’ Latin Mass crackdownArchbishop Georg Gänswein has said Pope Benedict XVI felt ‘sorrow’ when Pope Francis curtailed Summorum Pontificum, his 2007 motu proprio expanding the Traditional Latin Mass.Pope Benedict XVI was deeply saddened after learning that the broad permission he granted for the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) had been significantly restricted by Pope Francis, former aide Archbishop Georg Gänswein has revealed.On July 7, Italian newspaper Il Giornale published an exclusive interview with Gänswein on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio that expanded...

San Bernardino LGBTQ+ Mass welcomes all during Pride monthThe church should be a place for healing and acceptance for all, including members of the LGBTQ+ community, Catholic ministry leaders in the Diocese of San Bernardino say.The second annual Embrace Family Mass was celebrated by Bishop Alberto Rojas at Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral on Saturday in San Bernardino.“Jesus looks past labels and social barriers to see a human being in need of love, compassion and restoration to a family, to a community, and to our society,” Rojas, who leads the Diocese of San Bernardino, told those gathered at the...

Casualties of Legalism: Truth and Charity - Guest ArticleThe following guest article is written by Michael Kakooza, Ph.D. (Wales), who has written for Rorate in the past. It represents the view of its author and not the official stance of Rorate.In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. [In necessary things, unity, In doubtful things, liberty, In all things, charity]But should not the great Church also allow herself to be generous in the knowledge of her great breadth, in the knowledge of the promise made to her? Should not we, as good educators, also be capable of overlooking various...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo defends synodality, tells cardinals ‘I need your support: strong, explicit, and public’Pope Leo XIV addressed some cardinals' apprehensions while meeting in Rome about a ‘synodal’ round-table format — a structure they felt was ‘very controlled’ when used at the first consistory in January, Vatican journalist Edward Pentin reported.Pope Leo XIV opened his second extraordinary consistory of cardinals on Friday in which he insisted that the Lord is leading the Church via “synodality” so that she can “grow in communion,” according to a report by Vatican journalist Edward Pentin. The Pontiff encouraged the 178 cardinals to “engage...