Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Austrian bishop appointed by Francis hires homosexual ‘married’ man as personal secretary An Austrian bishop has appointed an openly homosexual and civilly “married” man as his personal secretary.As a report by the blog Novus Ordo Watch revealed, Bishop Johannes Freitag, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Graz-Steckau, has hired Domenik Kainzinger-Webern as his private secretary. Freitag was appointed auxiliary bishop of Graz-Steckau on January 31, 2025, by Pope Francis.A picture on Kainzinger-Webern partner’s Instagram profile shows the two of them commemorating their fourth “wedding” anniversary. A picture on the website of Salinenmusik Altaussee documents their ceremony, which took...

[Catholic Caucus] Fr. James Martin is dead wrong: Homosexuality, gender confusion don’t have to last a lifetimeWhat Fr. Martin insists he knows to be true is at odds with countless stories of men and women who have been and continue to be set free from homosexuality and gender confusion.Father James Martin, S.J., is a dangerous voice within the Catholic Church. He wants to deprive those who experience unwanted same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria from receiving the help they crave. He would prefer to keep men and women, boys and girls, enslaved in lives from which they seek freedom.Commenting on yesterday’s...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Zen condemns LGBT ‘pilgrimage’ in St. Peter’s Basilica: ‘Offense against God’'This was not a Jubilee pilgrimage (where believers renew baptismal vows, repent sins, and commit to reform),' said the emeritus bishop of Hong Kong.Cardinal Joseph Zen has denounced the LGBT pilgrimage in the Vatican and joined the calls of other bishops to do reparation for the desecration of St. Peter’s Basilica.In a Chinese-language statement published on Wednesday, Zen wrote: “Recently, news emerged that an LGBTQ+ organization arranged an event for the Holy Year, where participants entered St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to pass through the Holy Door.”WATCH:...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholics invited to make reparation this weekend for ‘abomination’ of Vatican LGBT eventFour bishops will lead an act of reparation and a rosary in atonement for a sacrilegious pilgrimage that saw thousands of so-called 'LGBT Catholics' process into St. Peter's Basilica.Michael Matt, editor of the Remnant newspaper, is inviting Catholics across the globe to join attendees of this weekend’s Catholic Identity Conference (CIC) in Pittsburgh in making an act of reparation and reciting the holy rosary in reparation for the abomination that took place at the Vatican during the recent LGBT pilgrimage.Matt invites the faithful to join Bishop...

Pope Leo XIV raises pro-LGBT UK archbishop to key Vatican rolesAbp. Bernard Longley, tied to the controversial Soho 'LGBT Masses' and synodal LGBT 'outreach,' has been granted a third Vatican role under the new Pope’s agenda.Pope Leo XIV has promoted a bishop who has supported LGBT-themed liturgies to a consulting position within the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, part of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity under Cardinal Kurt Koch.Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, England, has received three Vatican appointments since June, despite his long record of support for initiatives in the Church that stand in contradiction to...

[Catholic Caucus] Head of German Bishops demands rainbow flag be hung in German ParliamentRainbow flag at the Bundestag? Julia Klöckner counters Bätzing's criticismBishop Georg Bätzing had said he would have liked to see the rainbow flag at the Bundestag. The President of the Bundestag poses a counter-question.President of the Bundestag Julia Klöckner (CDU) rejects Bishop Georg Bätzing's criticism of the handling of the rainbow flag in the Bundestag. "The bishop's regret is astonishingly selective. Did the Vatican or did all bishoprics raise a rainbow flag on Pride Day?" she asks in the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit."Bätzing, the chairman of the...

[Catholic Caucus] German Diocesan Judge Dismissed for Warning against Homosexual SinThe Diocese of Münster dismissed Father Peter Mettler from his position as diocesan judge for a factual article about homosexuality.Father Mettler is a member of the Order of the Missionaries of the Holy Family. He had served as an official in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, from 2010 to 2019. Then, he relocated to Münster, where he had worked as a diocesan judge dealing with matrimonial matters since 2020.Catholics removed from officeThe German Synodal and Diversity Church removed Fr Mettler from his position after receiving a single press inquiry from Wp.de regarding...

[Catholic Caucus] Study finds priests aligned with Pope Francis are more likely to approve of sodomy‘Approval of Pope Francis is negatively associated with the belief that homosexual sex is always wrong,’ researcher Lucas Sharma found.A recently published study shows that priests’ approval of Pope Francis during his lifetime is associated with the moral acceptance of homosexual sex.“Approval of Pope Francis is negatively associated with the belief that homosexual sex is always wrong,” researcher Lucas Sharma found using data from the 2020-2021 Survey of American Catholic Priests.In his study, Sharma also found that priests’ disapproval of homosexual activity — which the...

[Catholic Caucus] Scholar: Pope Leo should affirm with ‘absolute clarity’ that Church teaching on sexuality can’t change‘The point is not whether such a change is likely or unlikely; the Church's teaching in these areas cannot change at all,’ scholar José Ureta said in reference to Pope Leo’s Crux interview.A Catholic scholar has called for Pope Leo XIV to clearly affirm that Catholic Church teaching on sexuality cannot change, following a Crux interview in which Leo suggested that such a change is possible.José Antonio Ureta, a researcher with Tradition, Family, Property (TFP), pushed back on Leo’s statement that it is “highly...

[Catholic Caucus] Spanish bishops reject conversion practices amid LGBT outreachThe bishops of Spain have publicly rejected so-called “conversion” practices for people who identify as homosexual, in a move that has drawn both praise and criticism within the Catholic world.On 19 September, the Madrid-based homosexual association CRISMHOM published a statement thanking Cardinal José Cobo of Madrid and Bishop José Antonio Satué of Málaga for their support.The message, carried by ReligionDigital.org, described both prelates as “doorkeepers who open their arms to welcome rather than impose a conversion in which we renounce the gift of the rainbow with which we have been blessed.”The...

[Catholic Caucus] ‘Dispose after reading,’ Archbishop Weisenburger’s history of cover-up for clerical sexual abuseDetroit Archbishop Edward Weisenburger has a history of concealing clerical sexual abuse, according to revelations of a Church-commissioned investigation that examined the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, where Weisenburger served 16 years as Vicar General.As Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City from 1996 to 2012, Weisenburger not only wielded immense influence—but used it to suppress accountability for priestly sexual abuse of minors. Investigators discovered that he routinely instructed staff to “destroy after reading,” oversaw the mass deletion of his own emails following his departure, and even...

[Catholic Caucus] Does Pope Leo condone homosexual behavior? Prominent Catholic scholar respondsEdward Pentin conducts an interview with Professor John Rist, a world-renowned scholar of St. Augustine and the Church Fathers, about recent events at the Vatican.Pope Leo XIV has won many plaudits for aspects of his Petrine Ministry so far — his Christ-centred preaching, personal kindness, and emphasis on peace and reconciliation to name a few.But recent events at the Vatican have heightened concerns that Leo is also tolerating, and perhaps even condoning, elements of the previous pontificate that were particularly harmful to souls on account of the public scandal...

[Catholic Caucus] African cardinal: Same-sex ‘blessings’ document ’caused a lot of harm’Cardinal Ambongo said he believes Pope Francis ‘changed his mind’ about the release of Fiducia Supplicans after speaking with the African prelate.Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu has said that Fiducia Supplicans “caused a lot of harm to the Catholic faithful” and was a “bad chapter” in Pope Francis’ pontificate.Ambongo, who is the archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, made his latest critical comments about Francis’ document permitting homosexual “blessings” during a visit to Poland for the 12th Council of Gniezno peace summit.He told OSV News that a...

Fr. James Martin applauds Pope Leo’s remark that ‘attitudes’ must change before doctrineThe Jesuit adviser says Leo XIV is right that doctrine could shift once Catholic ‘attitudes’ change.In a public commentary on Thursday, Father James Martin, S.J., said that Pope Leo XIV’s recent remarks on homosexuality mean that Catholic doctrine on sexual morality could be changed.Martin, writing in response to Leo’s interview with Crux Now correspondent Elise Ann Allen, said the new Pontiff was “100% correct” that it was “a matter of changing ‘attitudes.’”“No amount of argumentation or debate, no matter how well reasoned or informed, can substitute for what...

[Catholic Caucus] In Crux interview, Pope stresses welcome of LGBTQ Catholics, won’t change teachingROME – In a wide-ranging interview given for a new biography on him, Pope Leo XIV has said that his approach to LGBTQ Catholics will be similar to that of his predecessor: an attitude of welcome without changing church teaching.“What I’m trying to say is what Francis said very clearly when he would say, “todos, todos, todos.” Everyone’s invited in, but I don’t invite a person in because they are or are not of any specific identity. I invite a person in because they are a son...

[Catholic Caucus] Does St. Peter’s Need Porters?Recently an egregious display of sexual perversion was allowed to desecrate St. Peter's, which could not have been possible before Paul VI's abolished the minor orders.Before 1972, preparation for the priesthood involved passing through various “minor orders.” They included porter, lector, acolyte, exorcist, and subdeacon, followed by the major orders of deacon and priest. That year, Pope Paul VI issued the apostolic letter Ministeria Quaedam, abolishing the minor orders. Lector and acolyte were reconstituted as “lay ministries.” Exorcist was recognized as a specialized ministry of certain priests. Porter was eliminated, deemed unnecessary in the...

[Catholic Caucus] Professor Rist: St Augustine Would Have Been ‘Appalled’ at Recent Vatican EventsThe distinguished Church expert on the 4th century saint discusses increasing concern over Pope Leo XIV’s governance following recent controversies.Pope Leo XIV has won many plaudits for aspects of his Petrine Ministry so far — his Christ-centred preaching, personal kindness, and emphasis on peace and reconciliation to name a few.But recent events at the Vatican have heightened concerns that Leo is also tolerating, and perhaps even condoning, elements of the previous pontificate that were particularly harmful to souls on account of the public scandal they caused.On August...

[Catholic Caucus] German Bishop Opposes Using the Bible to Condemn HomosexualityThe Bishop of Mainz, Germany, has spoken out against using Biblical passages as a reason to oppose homosexuality.Bishop Peter Kohlgraf made his statements during an interview on the television show “SWR Democracy Forum in Hambach Castle,” broadcast by Südwestrundfunk (SWR), a TV channel in western Germany, reported Katholisch.de. Bishop Peter KohlgrafKohlgraf said that one “cannot simply derive timelessly valid, eternal truths” in Biblical passages about homosexuality. The topic of the show was “Taboos in our society – between morality, power, and the media.”“I don’t take a single sentence from the...

Vatican II Documents on Fr. James Martin and the LGBTQ MovementIn light of Pope Leo XIV’s recent audience with Fr. James Martin, who was in Rome for the LGBTQ Jubilee pilgrimage, many serious Catholics have understandably expressed concerns with the new pope. To better understand how this could possibly happen just twelve years after Benedict XVI announced (in his farewell address) that the true Second Vatican Council, “with all its spiritual force,” was finally emerging, we sat down with the documents of the Council for an interview. It is evident that those who take issue with Leo XIV may not...

[Catholic Caucus] Pro-LGBT Cardinal Hollerich suggests Church should not define sexual morality so ‘narrowly’The Luxembourg cardinal advocated for expanding the Catholic Church's view of sexual morality despite the Catechism defining homosexual acts as 'intrinsically disordered.'A cardinal from Luxembourg suggested that he would change the Catholic Church’s doctrine on sexuality.In a September 6 interview with Austrian outlet Die Furche, Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J. advocated for the Catholic Church to expand their view of sexual morality while also promoting synodality.Hollerich revealed that he “would not define morality — especially sexual morality — as narrowly as the Church does today.”Hollerich alleged that...