Free Republic

Pro-life leader criticizes Cardinals Cupich, McElroy, Tobin for ignoring abortion on 60 Minutes‘I don’t seem to recall three Bishops doing a lengthy interview with 60 Minutes to denounce President Biden’s policies’ that killed 700,000+ children in chemical abortions last year, Kristan Hawkins said.Pro-life leader Kristan Hawkins has criticized three U.S. cardinals for their interview on “60 Minutes” for failing to speak up about abortion.Hawkins, the president of Students for Life, responded to a clip from CBS’ “60 Minutes” TV interview with Cardinals Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, Blase Cupich of Chicago, and Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C.She wrote: “I...

The Society of Saint Pius X and the Ordination of New Bishops: the end of the post-conciliar eraFr. Davide Pagliarani, the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, has announced that the SSPX plans to proceed with the ordination of bishops this coming July. This plan has been harshly criticized by many Catholics who do not share the heterodox opinions that the Society was founded to oppose. I do not attend SSPX masses and cannot be described as an admirer of the Society (perhaps they do not admire me either). However, I cannot see any serious objections to...

Cardinals Cupich, McElroy, Tobin slammed for pushing leftist talking points on 60 MinutesThe heterodox, Francis-appointed cardinals criticized Trump, pushed mass immigration, and ignored abortion in the interview, which occurred a few days after Pope Leo’s meeting with David Axelrod.Before President Donald Trump publicly criticized American-born Pope Leo XIV, three U.S. cardinals – all appointed by Pope Francis – joined CBS’ 60 Minutes TV show to deliver leftist talking points and denounce Trump.During their conversation with correspondent Nora O’Donnell, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, and Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., seemed to give...

“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” the first American pope, citing a Bible passage, told congregants in St. Peter’s Square, according to The Associated Press. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them,” he added.

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic population remains stable at 17.8% of world population; baptisms decline, number of priests rises17.8% of the world’s people are Catholic, a figure that remained steady in 2024, according to statistics published in the new editions of the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (2024 edition) and Annuario Pontificio (2026 edition).The number of Catholics rose from 1.406 billion in 2023 to 1.422 billion in 2024, an increase of 1.14%. The growth in Catholic population was most dynamic in Africa, where the Catholic population rose from just over 281 million in 2023 to over 288 million in 2024.There are now more Catholics...

Austrian Catholic dioceses host pro-LGBT Stations of the Cross through lens of ‘queer refugees’Catholic churches in Vienna, Linz, and Graz staged the heterodox Stations of the Cross portraying ‘queer refugees’ in order to ‘live out (queer) diversity,’ according to a participant.Catholic dioceses in Austria have been hosting an LGBT-themed Way of the Cross that reinterprets the stations according to the supposed experiences of “queer” refugees.The ecumenical project “Fluchtweg” (Escape Route) tries to connect the Passion of Jesus and the Stations of the Cross with the contemporary experiences of “queer people” who had to flee their home countries, according to the...

[Catholic Caucus] EXCLUSIVE: Dutch bishop says Church in Netherlands has collapsed, warns Germany may be nextDue to heterodox ‘reforms’ after Vatican II, just 2% of Catholics in the Netherlands now attend Sunday Mass, down from 96% in some parts of the country, Bishop Robert Mutsaerts told LifeSiteNews.Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Bishop Georg Baetzing –former German bishops' conference presidentsDutch Bishop Roberts Mutsaerts has warned the Catholic Church in Germany that it will suffer a collapse like the Church in the Netherlands if its continues with the heretical Synodal Way.In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews journalist Andreas Wailzer, Bishop Mutsaerts, the auxiliary bishop...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal says Church cannot “continue to exist” without women’s ordination Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich has said he cannot see how the Catholic Church can endure in the long term if women continue to be excluded from ordained ministry.Speaking at a symposium in Bonn, he said, according to Kath.Ch: “I cannot imagine how a Church can continue to exist in the long term if half of the people of God suffer because they do not have access to ordained ministry.”The Archbishop of Luxembourg made the remarks during a conference examining synodality and curial reform, where he reflected on how his...

[Catholic Caucus] Pro-LGBT Belgian bishop vows to ordain married men to priesthood, citing vocations crisisAntwerp’s Bishop Johan Bonny argued that existing exceptions allowing married priests to minister in the Catholic Church undermine Latin Rite discipline.A Belgian bishop has announced his plan to start ordaining married men to the priesthood by 2028.Bishop Johan Bonny of the Diocese of Antwerp, Belgium, published a pastoral letter on March 20 in which he outlined the practical implementation of the “Synod on Synodality” in his diocese.Addressing the issue of the low number of vocations, he said that “the question is no longer whether the Church...

Pachamama rituals linked to alleged human sacrifice in new reportInfoVaticana compiled media investigations and judicial rulings alleging ritual human sacrifices and burials associated with the Pachamama cult. A new report published by InfoVaticana states that documented cases in Bolivia connect Pachamama rituals to human sacrifice.On March 16, 2026, InfoVaticana published a report asserting that journalistic investigations and judicial findings in Bolivia have identified cases in which people were killed and offered in rituals associated with the Pachamama cult, particularly in mining contexts. These reports draw on prior coverage by Bolivian media and international outlets, citing specific criminal cases, testimonies, and...

[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] 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...

Fr. Ripperger: Abomination of desolation refers to Catholic Church becoming ‘compromised’The Book of Daniel refers to the abomination of desolation as tied up with the abolition of a public 'daily sacrifice.'Exorcist Father Ripperger shared in an explosive recent interview that Scripture’s reference to the “abomination of desolation” taking its place in “the temple” is “actually a reference to the Catholic Church being compromised.”Fr. Ripperger explained the reference in an interview with podcaster and former U.S. Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan while refuting Protestants who mistakenly believe that the Book of Daniel’s reference to the “temple” in which the abomination of desolation...

[Catholic Caucus] Leo XIV continues to use Francis’ troubling ‘God of surprises’ themeIn Leo XIV's Angelus for March 8, he referred to one of Francis' recurring themes. But where did Francis get the phrase 'God of Surprises?'Leo XIV raised several controversial themes during his Sunday Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square, touching on ecumenism, feminism, and language echoing a favorite theme of his predecessor, Francis.Commenting on the Gospel read that day, Leo urged his listeners: “The Lord still says to his Church: ‘Lift up your eyes and recognize God’s surprises!’" In addition, he also spoke in terms that run contrary...

Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia: "May this journey of Ramadan and Lent unite us also in these difficult moments""As leader of the Catholic Church of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia, and as Bishop of the Kingdom of Bahrain, and in the name of the entire Catholic Christian community — priests, religious men and women, and lay faithful — whom I represent, I wish to address you in these difficult days, marked by the pain and uncertainty of war, with words of encouragement and hope." Almost a week after the start of the war in the Gulf area (see Fides,...

[Catholic Caucus] Who is driving the campaign against the Order of Malta?Somebody has got it in for the Order of Malta, the 900-year-old Catholic order which maintains hospitals and runs charitable activities all over the world. In Italy, a stream of very similar articles has been appearing, beginning with an attack last October in the left-wing newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, by a journalist writing as Thomas Mackinson. In recent weeks there has been an accelerating series of articles under different names, all of them repeating the same criticisms. People in the Order’s ambit are beginning to wonder who is putting...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican ends probe into priest accused of ‘physical and psychological abuse’ at youth campsThe Vatican closed the canonical case against Fr. Valentino Salvoldi after declining to waive the statute of limitations, mirroring the earlier dismissal of the civil case.The Vatican has closed the canonical case against an Italian missionary priest accused by more than 20 people of sexual and psychological abuse.In 2025, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith confirmed that it would not lift the statute of limitations in the case of Father Valentino Salvoldi, an 80‑year‑old priest from the Diocese of Bergamo, accused by at...

Two Competing Visions of the Priesthood: The New Synodal Document vs. the SSPXRome’s new Synodal blueprint for forming priests marks a decisive break with the Catholic understanding of the priesthood. As the Vatican threatens the SSPX with censure, the real conflict is no longer about obedience—but about two irreconcilable visions of the Church.Under the direction of Leo XIV, the “General Secretariat of the Synod” published two reports of Synod on Synodality study groups on March 3rd, one related to “the digital environment” and another related to the formation of priests. The document on the formation of priests — “The revision...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican Synod Report Urges Women’s Input in Preparing Future PriestsThe report also warns seminaries must not become an “artificial environment” detached from the ordinary life of the faithful.The General Secretariat of the Synod has published a preliminary report urging that women’s “views and assessments” be given due weight in the discernment of candidates for priesthood and warning against seminary models that separate future priests from the ordinary life of the people of God. The proposals are not definitive and have been forwarded to Pope Leo XIV for review.The text gathers conclusions from a synod study group tasked with...

[Catholic Caucus] Heterodox Austrian priest criticizes celibacy while appearing with female companion in publicThe chaplain of Vienna’s St. Stephen Cathedral has taken many heterodox positions in the past, including support for female ordinations and blessings of same-sex couples.The chaplain of Vienna’s St. Stephen Cathedral has repeatedly appeared with a blonde woman at high society events while downplaying priestly celibacy as an “elastic concept.”Chaplain Anton (called “Toni”) Faber has drawn the attention of the press in recent months for appearing at high society events like the famous Vienna Opera Ball with a blonde woman named Natalie Nemec accompanying him as his...