Free Republic

SSPX Barred from Marian Shrines While Interfaith and LGBTQ Events Are Welcomed In the last two weeks, the SSPX has been barred from two of Europe’s most famous Marian shrines: Lourdes and Mariazell. But interfaith prayer and LGBTQ-themed events have been welcomed... Who or what exactly is being protected here?The Irony of The Vatican’s Logic of Exclusion: When Those Who Defend the Blessed Virgin Mary Are Barred from Her Shrines There is a bitter irony unfurling in the Catholic Church in 2026, one that explicitly exposes the contradictions at the crux of its present institutional crisis. Within the span of...

Suicide is Canonized, Another Latin Mass is Banned, and an Openly “Gay” Priest Gives Lectures on “Living Queer.” Meanwhile the SSPX is in “Schism.”A suicide memorial, Lutheran worship in a Catholic sanctuary, a suppressed Latin Mass, and the boundaries of Leo XIV’s open-door ChurchChicago’s Pastoral CanonizationOn June 26, the Archdiocese of Chicago dedicated a memorial called At Peace near the main entrance of Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois. The memorial offers families affected by suicide a place for prayer, remembrance, and mourning. Bishop Lawrence Sullivan described it as a visible sign that grieving families remain within God’s loving...

When Leo XIV Allowed Illicit Episcopal ConsecrationsHaving accepted in 2025 bishops appointed unilaterally by China, Leo XIV should not threaten the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX) with excommunication for similar actions, writes Rev Matthew Dimock, a diocesan priest of the Diocese of Charlotte on OnePeterFive.com on June 25.Rev. Dimock is NOT a defender of the FSSPX.His argument is that justice requires the Church to enforce its laws consistently, rather than making exceptions based on diplomatic or political considerations.In late April 2025, during the period between the death of Francis and the election of a new pope, the Chinese...