Free Republic

Francis Denying Immaculate Conception: “Mary Not Born A Saint” In his Christmas greetings to the employees of the Holy See on December 21, Pope Francis spoke about Our Lady and Saint Joseph in the Nativity scene being full of holiness and joy. He continued: “And you will tell me: of course! They are Our Lady and Saint Joseph! Yes, but let us not think it was easy for them: saints are not born, they become thus, and this is true for them too.” According to Catholic doctrine Our Lady was conceived without original sin and therefore born a saint. Francis...

The Sunday bulletin of San Diego’s Immaculate Conception Catholic Church on Oct. 16 wasn’t very different from all the others. Seven pages. A welcome to newcomers. A Mass schedule. But there, between the prayers of healing for the ill and the deployed and a reminder about a parent-child chastity luncheon for ages 11 and up, was an extra flier. On it was printed a memo, written in Spanish and English, and titled, in part, “How to vote like a Catholic.” “It is a mortal sin to vote Democrat … immediately after death the souls of those who die in a...

Mary's Immaculate Conception Is Fitting as Well as Faithful to Scripture Msgr. Charles Pope • December 7, 2015 • Today's Solemn Feast of the Immaculate Conception is often (mistakenly) thought to refer to the conception of the Jesus in the womb of the Blessed Mother. It does not. Perhaps it does not help the confusion that the Gospel chosen for today's feast is in fact the gospel of the Annunciation, wherein Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb by the power of the Holy Spirit! But there is a reason this gospel is chosen, as we shall later see. The dogma...

December 8th is the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.It celebrates an important point of Catholic teaching, and in most years it is a holy day of obligation.Here are 8 things you need to know about the teaching and the way we celebrate it. 1. Who does the Immaculate Conception refer to? There’s a popular idea that it refers to Jesus’ conception by the Virgin Mary.It doesn’t.Instead, it refers to the special way in which the Virgin Mary herself was conceived.This conception was not virginal. (That is, she had a human father as well as a human mother.) But it was special...

In these USA Monday, 8 December, is a Holy Day of Obligation because Our Lady under the title of Immaculate Conception is the Patroness of our nation.So, several readers have asked about fulfilling the Mass obligation.  Here’s is one: If I have already fulfilled my Sunday mass obligation for December 7, if I go to mass again on the evening of December 7, will that fulfill my obligation for December 8th even if it is not the “official” anticipated mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception? Ah… my old nemesis!I posted on this scenario in the past and...

Reproductions of a 1925 painting that hangs above the main altar in the Basilica-Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Québec are serving as the centerpiece of the Knights of Columbus Marian Prayer Program currently underway. From 2013-2015, blessed images of the Immaculate Conception are traveling throughout K of C jurisdictions as the faithful gather for prayer programs, rosary recitations and holy hours. During Advent each year, on Dec. 8, Holy Mother Church invites us to reflect on the meaning of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. Some of the faithful incorrectly think that the Immaculate Conception refers...

PETA billboard coming down The co-owner of the sign company, responding to phoned complaints and two acts of vandalism, says his firm is not in "the debate business." 07:57 AM EST on Friday, December 5, 2003 BY KAREN A. DAVIS Journal Staff Writer EAST PROVIDENCE -- The company that owns the billboard on Route 195 that a national animal-rights group rented to promote vegetarianism as "An Immaculate Conception" -- complete with the image of the Virgin Mary cradling a dead chicken -- has decided to take down the advertisement. The owners from Murray Outdoor Communications, of Shrewsbury, Mass., informed...

Featured Term (selected at random):MARY'S SINLESSNESS The belief that the Mother of Jesus was never stained with any sin, original or personal, and was also free from all unruly desires or concupiscence. By itself, deliverance from original sin does not mean liberation from the defects that are the result of sin. Mary, like Christ, was not exempt from those limitations which imply no moral imperfection. She lived a normal human life, had to labor, and was subject to pain and fatigue. But concupiscence implies moral blemish because it may lead to sin by exciting the passions to act against the...

Dear brothers and sisters! It is always a joy to gather together here in the Piazza di Spagna on the Feast of Mary Immaculate. Finding ourselves together – Romans, pilgrims, visitors – at the feet of the statue of our spiritual Mother creates in us a feeling of unity in the sign of faith. I would like to underscore this in this Year of Faith that the whole Church is observing. I greet you with affection and would like to share with you some simple thoughts, suggested by the Gospel reading for this solemnity: the Gospel of the Annunciation. First...

THE LIFE OF BLESSED JOHN DUNS SCOTUS Defender of the Immaculate ConceptionHere you will find a brief biography of Bl. John Duns Scotus, Franciscan Priest and Theologian of the Thirteenth Century. Next to St. Bonaventure, Bl. John is perhaps the most important and influential theologian in the history of the Franciscan Order. He was the founder of the Scotistic School in Theology, and until the time of the French Revolution his thought dominated the Roman Catholic faculties of theology in nearly all the major universities of Europe. He is chiefly known for his theology on the Absolute Kingship of...

Champion Of Mary's Immaculate Conception Blessed John Duns Scotus by Brother John M. Samaha, S.M. The year 2004 marks the sesquicentennial of the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception of Mary by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854. To celebrate the centenary of the infallible proclamation of this dogma of faith, Pope Pius XII, a great apostle of Mary, declared 1954 a Marian Year, the first. In 1858 Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, France. When Bernadette asked the beautiful lady who she was, Mary identified herself in these words: "I am the Immaculate Conception." This happened...

Why Catholics Believe in the Immaculate ConceptionDAVID M. BRISTOWWhy do Catholics believe in the Immaculate Conception? The belief means that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was preserved without sin for her entire life. It was Mary's closeness to Christ that made her receive God's "fullness of grace" to be sinless. Without God's grace, it would have been impossible for Mary to be sinless, and she too would be like the rest of humanity. However, because of her decision to say, "yes" in giving birth to Christ, she was given a special privilege by having no sin touch her. Catholics believe...

Embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York and his wife, Huma Abedin, are expecting a child, ABC News has learned. News of the pregnancy, which was first reported by the New York Times, comes as the couple has vowed to stay together despite Weiner’s admission of risqué online chats and photo swaps with at least six other women. "I love my wife very much, and we have no intention of splitting up over this," Weiner said Monday during a press conference.

<p>Breaking: Federal Grand Jury Indicts Former Presidential Candidate John Edwards.</p>

On the Immaculate Conception "Grace Is Greater Than Sin ... God's Mercy Is More Powerful Than Evil" VATICAN CITY, DEC. 8, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, when reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters: Today our meeting on the occasion of the prayer of the Angelus acquires a special light, in the context of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. In the liturgy of this feast, the Gospel of...

Immaculate Mary: "Trust Jesus, he will save you" December 08, 2010Pope Benedict XVI marked the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by reciting the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square and by reminding us Mary's immaculate heart tells you to trust Jesus, who will save you. The Holy Father said the mystery of the dogma proclaimed by Pius IX in 1854, is "a source of inner light, of hope and comfort" . In the midst of life's trials and contradictions, which man experiences within himself and around him, Mary, Mother of Christ, tells us that grace is...

...a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful that the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, was, by a unique grace and privilege of Almighty God in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, preserved exempt from all stain of original sin. –Ineffabilis Deus Today's feast day is more than Pope Pius IX's 1854 infallible proclamation, as important as that Dogma was and is. Today's feast day, which issues not only from the Papal Bull Ineffabilis Deus but its echo...

In the storm of confusion and misinformation which has greeted the question of a papal definition of the dogma of Mary Coredemptix, Mediatrix, and Advocate, St. Maximilian Kolbe's well known question regarding the Mother of God, "Who are you, O Immaculata?" takes on new poignancy and urgency. Who is she? Who is she really, and what is God doing through this unique woman? Mary is both Mary of Nazareth and "the Woman" of Revelation. But how can this be? Is she two persons? Alternatively, is she perhaps one person in two religious "costumes"? Is she only a model of fidelity,...

Dario Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei," is the Celebrant and Homilist at an extraordinary form Mass at the National Shrine, Upper Church, Saturday, April 24, 2010, 1:00pm. This is surely the first time in the post-conciliar period (corrections welcome). Here is the item....

Today's feast day is more than Pope Pius IX's 1854 infallible proclamation, as important as that Dogma was and is. Today's feast day, which issues not only from the Papal Bull Ineffabilis Deus but its echo at the Grotto in Lourdes four years later, demonstrates that the Virgin Mary, with all Her wonderful titles, wants to be known by that name. And the reason is not so much that she was conceived without sin, but that through her humility before God She continued without sin until the day She was assumed into Heaven. It is for this reason Her prayer...