Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Responses to Card. McElroy’s essay in Jesuit-run AmerikaJesuit-run (who else?) Amerika ran a piece by – and this still has me shaking my head – Card. McElroy of that key See of San Diego, suffragan to Los Angeles. The Amerika piece is a dreadful obfuscation of Catholic moral teaching and defined doctrine, wrapped in a fog of cliches about synodality (“walking together”) and buzz words like “inclusion”, “dialogue”, “pastoral”.In effect, McElroy wants to change the Church’s teachings on homosexual acts, sexual activity outside of marriage and admission to Communion and the ordination of women. The real basis of...

This Controversial German Bishop May Soon Be Vatican’s Doctrinal HeadBishop Heiner Wilmer, who has been a vocal backer of the German Synodal Way’s most controversial proposals, is reportedly Pope Francis’s ‘probable’ pick to head the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Just weeks ago, the appointment of a controversial German bishop to the influential role of prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith was reportedly blocked by concerned cardinals, who urged Pope Francis against the appointment. Now, Bishop Heiner Wilmer is once again reported to be the Holy Father’s pick to head the Vatican’s office...

First gay blessing in Italy, diocese of Italian bishops’ presidentFirst, the civil union at the registry office, then the blessing in church. It’s the first time a gay couple has been blessed in public in an Italian church. What’s more, it took place in Bologna which is the diocese of Cardinal Zuppi, the president of the Italian Bishops' Conference. An act which is in open violation of the Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which forbids such blessings. It’s a demonstration of the pharisaic hypocrisy of certain pastors who, instead of calling the sheep back, proudly...

Pope Benedict: ‘Gay Clubs’ Run in SeminariesGay “clubs” operate openly in Catholic seminaries, the institutions that prepare men for the priesthood, the late Pope Benedict XVI has claimed in a posthumously published book scathing of Pope Francis’s progressive agenda.In a blistering attack on the state of the Catholic Church under his successor’s papacy, Benedict, who died on Dec 31 at the age of 95, said that the vocational training of the next generation of priests is on the verge of “collapse”.He claimed that some bishops allow trainee priests to watch pornographic films as an outlet for their sexual urges.Benedict gave...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis: "God Does Not Reject Homosexuals""God doesn't reject homosexuals," Francis used his usual doublespeak talking to the Italian psychologist Salvo Noé for another interview book ("La paura come dono" - Fear as a Gift), reports Ansa.it.“God's style is closeness, mercy and tenderness," Francis repeated his mantra, "His heart is open to each and every one. He is Father. Love does not divide, but unites.”Hypocrisy is for Francis “the fear of the truth” - while a more brilliant mind called it "the bowing of vice before virtue."For Francis who ratters down words like "closeness, mercy and tenderness" in order...

Vatican launches extraordinary probe into 'lockdown sex party' at cathedral as part of wider inquiry into a former bishop's tenureThe Vatican has launched an extraordinary probe into an alleged lockdown sex party at a cathedral in northern England.The Roman Catholic church is said to be examining the alleged incident as part of their inquiry into Robert Byrne's resignation as the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle in December.The Archbishop of Liverpool, who is leading the investigation, has been asked to prepare 'an in-depth report into the events leading up to Bishop Byrne's resignation', The Sunday Times reported.There is no suggestion that...

[Catholic Caucus] Jesuit Father James Martin Says Gay Marriage Is MarriageROME — Jesuit Father James Martin, an LGBT advocate, affirmed Saturday his belief that two men can enter into a real marriage that must be recognized as such.Responding to Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, who proposed that Pete Buttigieg’s same-sex marriage to his partner Chasten is not a true marriage but rather a “legal fiction,” Father Martin countered that “Pete Buttigieg is married.”

One of the two Atlanta fathers in jail for raping his adoptive sons was accused of luring a different fourteen-year-old boy for sex, seven years before a Christian special needs adoption agency handed over two vulnerable young children to him and his husband. Zachary Zulock was reported to police in 2011 for allegedly luring a 14-year-old boy to his home and raping him. For some unknown reason, the case was not investigated properly by the detectives involved, all of whom have now retired, and charges were never brought. Detectives now working for the department admit their predecessors' investigative efforts fell...

[Catholic Caucus] German Bishop: Hardly Any Resistance in Rome to the German SynodThe German state bishops experienced "resistance" only from a part of the Roman Curia during their November 2022 Ad Limina visit according to Aachen State Bishop Helmut Dieser (Domradio.de, 12 January).The Roman interlocutors were mostly "rather silent" in conflict talks where the bishops stressed that all the topics of the German Synod are also contained in Francis' Synod.Dieser mystified that the opponents of a "change" [= decadence] are "vocal," "well connected," and "highly aggressive" - a classic case of psychological mirroring of somebody who knows the highly aggressive...

The largest United Methodist Church in South Carolina announced plans to leave the mainline denomination over an ongoing debate on homosexuality in the church. According to the Post and Courier, Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church of Lexington, which has a congregation exceeding 5,000 members, started a discernment process earlier this week about leaving the UMC. "We are thankful a plan, path and price has been provided for traditional churches to consider separation from the denomination," the Rev. Jeff Kersey, the senior pastor of Mt. Horeb, told The Post and Courier. The church is affiliated with the UMC South Carolina Conference,...

Saint Louis University’s service center encourages students to oppose common sense limits on pornographic, pro-homosexual books in libraries.ST. LOUIS, Missouri (LifeSiteNews) — An office within Jesuit Catholic Saint Louis University (SLU) took a stance against a proposed state rule that would help protect students from pornographic LGBT propaganda. The Center for Social Action at SLU is supposed to help connect students to volunteer opportunities – such as supporting kids who lost their parents or helping at a local zoo event. But it’s also decided to embrace the LGBT agenda and push back against limits on what kids can read in...

US bishops conference resoundingly silent after Biden signs same-sex ‘marriage’ lawThe U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued statements before and after the Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act, but has said nothing since the self-proclaimed Catholic president signed it into law.WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — While the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a statement of condemnation both before and after the Senate’s passage of the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act” (RMA), which enshrines “same-sex marriage” into federal law, no such condemnation has been forthcoming since President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Dec. 13.LifeSiteNews reached out...

Former bishop of French Guyana guilty of sex abuse, Vatican court saysBishop Emeritus Emmanuel Lafont of Cayenne, French Guyana, has been found guilty of sexual abuse in a canonical court and banned from public ministry, while the country’s civil authorities are investigating charges against him.“He is under house arrest, in a monastery on mainland France,” the Bishops’ Conference of France told Agence France Presse. He must conduct a life of prayer and repentance. The bishops’ conference confirmed that the bishop faces a civil investigation.Numerous sources have confirmed to the French newspaper La Croix that the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops delivered...

Sex, Lies, and Cancelled Excommunications: The case of the Jesuit abuser Rupnik explodesVatican journalist and Remnant contributor, Diane Montagna, reports the latest on this case of clerical sex abuse and coverup. Below is the text of a document she translated from the original Italian and posted to Twitter. A boulder for the Francis pontificate.Here below we report excerpts from an article by the Vaticanist for the Italian daily, I Messaggero, Franca Giansoldati, which came out a short while ago and which we invite you to read in full.The article summarizes the various steps of the Rupnik case and, pointing out...

[Catholic Caucus] German bishop demands Church ‘widen its understanding of the family’ to include homosexual unionsBishop Franz-Josef Overbeck’s comments are the latest direct attack on perennial Catholic teaching from the German hierarchy.A German bishop said that the Catholic Church should “widen” its understanding of the family to include every form “where people live with children,” including homosexual couples. When bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck was asked in an interview by katholisch.de if the Catholic Church needs to “widen its understanding of the family,” Overbeck replied, “It is high time that she does that.” “Family is where people live with children,” the German...

[Catholic Caucus] Prominent Vatican theologian: Pontifical Academy for Life is undermining Catholic sexual moralityMonsignor Livio Melina warned that the Pontifical Academy for Life is promoting 'a real questioning of the entirety of sexual morality and the morality of life, which the Catholic Church has taught so far.' ROME (LifeSiteNews) – A prominent theologian and former head of the Rome-based John Paul II Institute on Marriage and the Family has warned that the Pontifical Academy for Life is proposing a “radical paradigm shift” which rejects the Church’s condemnation of contraception. Monsignor Livio Melina made his comments in his keynote address to...

[Catholic Caucus] Pro-LGBT German bishop claims criticism of Synodal Way ‘cannot be Catholic’'I confess that by now these positions not only tire me but downright infuriate me,' said Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz.(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of the diocese of Mainz condemned the critics of the Synodal Way in a homily, saying that their criticism “cannot be Catholic.” “In all the polemical and critical comments on the topics of the Synodal Way, Christ does not appear as a friend, as a teacher, as a model,” Kohlgraf said. “This cannot be Catholic.” Kohlgraf gave his homily on the occasion of...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Knestout Made a Public Sex Offender Pastor Without Informing the CongregationFrom George Neumayr on Facebook:In 2018, Knestout selected Fr. Wayne Ball pastor of St. Augustine parish in the Richmond diocese despite Ball’s 2003 guilty plea in public sex case.“Leave me out of your article,” Fr Wayne Ball, pastor of St. Augustine parish in Virginia’s Richmond diocese, barked at me. I had called Ball up to inquire as to whether he and the bishop who selected him for that position in 2018 had informed the congregation at St. Augustine about Ball’s criminal past. In 2003, Ball quietly pled...

Democrat attorneys general seek to force Catholic schools to hire homosexual teachersThe lawyers' amicus brief argues that Catholic high schools do not have a right to hire and fire people in accordance with Church teaching.CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (LifeSiteNews) — Eighteen Democrat attorneys general have joined in an amicus brief against a Catholic high school who fired a substitute teacher in a homosexual “marriage.” The brief, filed last week, argued that the Catholic high school does not have a right to not hire individuals that live a lifestyle incongruent with Catholicism. A federal court ruled in September 2021 against the high...

Sodomy? Nihil Obstat! Tokyo Archbishop Shills for Pro-LGBT Book, Pro-LGBT Pastor LGBT Catholic Japan tent at the Tokyo Rainbow Pride event, Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, 2019LGBT ideology has been making steady inroads into Japan. Unfortunately, the Novus Ordo Catholic hierarchy here has done little to stand against it. In fact, some Novus Ordo Catholic prelates in Japan, including the current Archbishop of Tokyo, have helped expose the faithful to LGBT ideology, and have even recommended it. In many ways, the Novus Ordo Catholic hierarchy in Japan is even worse than the mainstream media when it comes to pushing LGBT ideology.I am...