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[Catholic Caucus] Leo XIV Appoints Archbishop Who Offered to Pachamama Today, Leo XIV appointed Auxiliary Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera O.S.A., 52, of Cuzco, Peru, as the Coadjutor Archbishop of the same Archdiocese. He will thus be the successor to Archbishop Richard Daniel Alarcón Urrutia, 74.Just two weeks ago, the new Archbishop offered to the idol Pachamama.Leo XIV Personally Formed EstradaBorn in Cotabambas in 1973, Monsignor Estrada joined the Augustinians and was ordained a priest in 2005. Pope Francis appointed Estrada auxiliary bishop of Cuzco in January 2021.In May 2025, Bishop Estrada told VaticanNews.va, that Leo XIV was already his professor,...

"Mother Earth" Pagan Worship by Vatican Representative: Doctrine of the Faith Official makes Offering of Coca Leaves at Pachamama Ceremony during Official Church Meeting Rorate Note: Official Vatican News covering of the event here (in Spanish); Spanish page Infovaticana adds the grotesque context.A Pontifical Commissioner and a Bishop Deposit Coca Leaves in an "Earth Offering": Jordi Bertomeu as Offerer at a Pachamama Ceremony InfovaticanaAugust 18, 2026The Southern Macroregional Encounter "Interweaving Voices for Dignity" — presented by Vatican News as part of the preparation for Pope Leo XIV's upcoming visit to Peru — opened without any Catholic prayer whatsoever. In its...

The Pentagon's "Department of War" rebrand ignited debate over cost, psychology, strategy and America's military identity.When workers at the Pentagon quietly removed “Department of Defense” plaques and replaced them with new bronze signs reading “Department of War,” the reaction was immediate. Photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth installing a 60-pound “Department of War” plaque spread across social media within hours. Supporters praised the symbolism. Critics argued it sent the wrong signal to allies and adversaries.But behind the headlines, the change raises a deeper question: How much power does a name really have? And when it comes to America’s most important...

Sen. Lindsey Graham planned to travel to Florida in early March to persuade President Trump to join Israel in the bombing of Hezbollah in Lebanon—until a friend talked him out of it. The friend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told him on a call before the trip that bringing the U.S. into the operation, in the midst of the Iran war, was going too far, too fast, according to unreleased footage from a documentary about the South Carolina Republican lawmaker that was being filmed before he died earlier this month.“We’re concentrating right now on Iran,” Netanyahu said on the...

The central question Scripture asks is not “How much do you have?” but “Who has your heart—God or your money?” The prophets roar with indignation against the wealthy who forget God…Their message is a powerful reminder that how we acquire and use our wealth is a matter of worship. Amos condemned the rich who "trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end" (Amos 8:4, ESV). Isaiah pronounced woe on those who "add house to house and join field to field" (Isaiah 5:8, ESV)… These prophetic critiques make it plain that God judges not the...

Gen. says he didn't mean to malign Islam WASHINGTON -- The three-star U.S. general who made church speeches casting the war on terrorism in religious terms said Wednesday he did not mean to denigrate Islam. "I'm not anti-Islam, I'm not anti-Allah," Lt. Gen. William Boykin said in an interview broadcast on CBS' "60 Minutes." Boykin, a senior intelligence official, stirred controversy with speeches he made at evangelical Christian churches. He said that America's enemy was Satan, that God had put President Bush in the White House and that one Muslim Somali warlord was an idol-worshipper. A Pentagon investigation concluded last...

President Donald Trump’s name is off the Kennedy Center. Crews at the performing arts venue started removing it from the front of the building around 3 a.m., several hours after the center missed a federal judge’s two-week deadline to do so. The judge had ruled that the decision by the center’s board of trustees to rename it was illegal. With the removal of 18 letters — “The Donald J. Trump and” — the building’s exterior reads “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” once more. Trump’s name had been on the facade for 176 days, a dramatic...

Over the years, Joe Scarborough has often mounted his Morning Joe pulpit to proclaim on a variety of religious subjects from his Baptist upbringing. He was on "blasphemy" watch on Monday mocking a new statue of Donald Trump as a "blasphemous" Golden Calf on his Doral golf course in Miami. "This is Old Testament stuff, I tell you. That kinda looks like, Moses comes down from the mountain with the tablets, and that's what's there." Scarborough sarcastically surmised that the statue was "so blasphemous" that it had to be something out of South Park. SCARBOROUGH: Was this a South Park...

WASHINGTON — A massive gilded statue of President Donald Trump installed at his Miami golf course is definitely not a “golden calf” to be worshipped, the pastor who led a dedication ceremony for the eyebrow-raising effigy insisted Friday. Financed by cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and supporters of Trump, the 15-foot (4.6-meter) tall bronze statue is covered in gold leaf — a favorite style of the president — and its fate had been uncertain as its creator awaited final payment for months. But the “Don Colossus” statue, which depicts Trump raising his fist after surviving an assassination attempt in 2024, was finally unveiled...

Donald Trump has officially submitted plans for his 250-foot Triumphal Arch with new renderings showing the fixture towering over the nation's capital. Proposals filed Friday suggested that the so-called 'Arc de Trump' will be built near the Arlington National Cemetery across the river from the Lincoln Memorial. The monument was designed by the architectural firm Harrison Design and will be made almost entirely of white stone with intricate golden detailing. According to ABC News, an inscription across the top will read 'One Nation Under God' underneath a golden statue of a winged Lady Liberty. Two golden eagles sit at either...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic clergy should be destroying idols like Pachamama, not taking part in their ritualsIt would be refreshing if Pope Leo simply admitted that he had made a mistake. But I rather suspect that the Vatican will instead try to explain it away.Andean man performing ceremony of payment to the land, payment to the PachamamaA 1995 picture of the future Pope Leo XIV taking part in a Pachamama ritual came out this week.It brought back unpleasant memories of his predecessor, Pope Francis, doing much the same thing in the Vatican gardens at the Amazonian Synod in 2019.UNEARTHED: 1995 photo...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic podcaster Anthony Stine calls Pope Leo’s participation in Pachamama ritual ‘an act of apostasy’Stine cited two moral theologians who say active participation in a Pachamama rite is ‘intrinsically and gravely evil,’ given that it ‘expresses a belief in the false creed symbolized.’Traditional Catholic podcaster Anthony Stine decried Pope Leo XIV’s recently surfaced participation in a pagan Pachamama ritual as “an act of apostasy.”Photo and book documentation unearthed by Father Charles Murr shows then-Father Robert Prevost, OSA, kneeling in what is described in a photo caption as a “Celebration of the Rite of Pachamama (Mother Earth).” Other photos...

The claim that Marian devotion in Catholicism is derived from pagan goddess worship—specifically Ishtar, Diana, or Astarte—is a persistent but thoroughly discredited myth rooted in 19th-century anti-Catholic propaganda, most notably Alexander Hislop’s *The Two Babylons* (1853). This narrative, often recycled in modern social media and evangelical circles, alleges that Mary’s veneration as the Mother of God (Theotokos) or Queen of Heaven is a Christianized version of ancient pagan goddess cults. However, linguistic, historical, biblical, and cultural evidence reveals no connection. This compiled text is inspired by discussions with our fellow freepers and I hope offers a detailed, accessible refutation of...

Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones, a Democrat, told a vigorously agreeing MSNBC host Ali Velshi on Saturday that offering thoughts and prayers following a tragedy like the Minneapolis Catholic school shooting is “theological malpractice” and accused those doing so of “idolatry.” Jones is a frequent cable news guest and far-left activist lawmaker who came to prominence when he and other members helped lead protesters in occupying the Tennessee House to protest against guns.

Thousands of devotees gathered in Mississauga, part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), on Sunday to witness the grand unveiling of the tallest Lord Ram idol in North America. Standing at 51 feet high (not including the pedestal and future umbrella structure), this awe-inspiring statue now graces the Hindu Heritage Center, becoming one of the newest and most unique cultural landmarks in the region. All About The New Lord Ram Statue In Canada Inaugurated with flower petals, mantras, and heartfelt community support, the statue, located in Ontario’s Hindu Heritage Centre, was inspired by the Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya. It...

Israel is and has always been God’s chosen people, and we Jews still have a significant role in his plan. Of course we need to support Israel’s right to exist and defend itself, and of course Israel is in a war against terrorism and international unjust condemnations. But that doesn’t mean that the government of Israel can do no wrong. Israel is the Apple of God’s eye, and we need to love Israel just as God does. But love also needs to be tough sometimes. If you love Israel, you need to pray for a better future where Israel fulfills...

Over Thanksgiving last year, I got strep throat. I haven’t had strep since college and it reminded me quickly why I hope to never have it again. It’s awful. But antibiotics are God’s gift to humanity. I only had to endure the effects of strep until the antibiotics kicked in, but every hour the pain lasted, I thanked God I live this side of modern medicine. ...Back during the anthrax scare of the early 2000s, news anchor Tom Brokaw closed his evening broadcast saying “in Cipro we trust.” This drug had saved the life of his co-workers and many others....

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a truly Orwellian society where there is absolutely no freedom of speech, absolutely no freedom of religion and absolutely no freedom of the press? You may think that the rules that you are currently living under are bad, but the country that I am about to discuss exercises total control over the population. In this nation, you can only choose a haircut off a pre-approved list, and smiling on the wrong day can literally get you sent to a prison camp. Unfortunately, once you are sent to a...

[Catholic Caucus] Leading Amazon cardinal decries ‘resistance’ to Synod as ‘rejection of dialogue’Cardinal Ulrich Steiner's words provide yet another example of the fiercely boiling civil war now erupting in the Church, as cardinals publicly debate about the nature of the Church and Her doctrines, following the openness and relativistic terms of the Synod on Synodality.Cardinal Ulrich Steiner from the Amazon region has condemned “resistance” to the Synod on Synodality as being the “rejection of dialogue.”While participating in a conference hosted by the University of San Diego recently, Steiner presented his thoughts on the recently concluded Synod on Synodality via video-link....

Formators Encourage Spanish Seminarians to Hindu IdolatrySeminarians from the south of Spain met last weekend in Ceuta to promote fraternity, including seminarians of the Neocatechumenal Way.InfoVaticana.com reports that the program of this meeting included a visit to the Sidi Embarek Mosque and to a Hindu center.The so-called visit to the Hindu center was not for cultural purposes, but during their prayer time.Inside the Hindu temple, especially those wearing clerical collar shirts, were asked to make circles with a candle, invoking Hindu deities.Most of the clergy complied, especially in front of Ganesha, a major Hindu idol. Among the idolaters was the...