Free Republic

The last woman to reach the final table at the Main Event was Barbara Enright, who placed fifth in 1995.Leonore “Leo” Margets is making history in the world of poker. This week, she became the first woman in 30 years to reach the final table at the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas. “It’s so unreal, it is a dream,” Margets told PokerGO sideline reporter Jeff Platt. She added, "How lucky I am to live this!” The Spanish poker pro was ultimately eliminated Tuesday, finishing in seventh place. She will still take home $1.5 million in prize...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland: Follow-up to my statement on Bishop-elect HennenMany faithful Catholics have expressed concern over my recent comments regarding Pope Leo XIV’s appointment of Fr. Thomas Hennen as Bishop-elect of Baker. I write now not to backtrack, but to clarify and deepen what must be said – for the sake of the flock and for the integrity of the Church.A bishop is a shepherd, yes – but also a watchman. And if the watchman sounds the alarm only once the wolves are already among the sheep, many souls will be devoured. The shepherd’s call must go out when...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland: No more Lavender Mafia!As bishops, we have a sacred duty to cry out to Our Holy Father: if you are serious about reform, dismantle this network of confusion.With the appointment of Fr. Thomas Hennen, bishop-elect, as bishop of Baker, Oregon, we face a troubling reality: instead of correcting the trajectory set by Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV is doubling down on it – deepening the ambiguity that has plagued the Church.Fr. Hennen is not merely a well-meaning pastor – he was intimately involved in drafting pastoral guidelines that blur the clear lines of Catholic teaching on...

A new rite published by the Vatican on Thursday will allow priests to celebrate a Mass to exhort Catholics to exercise care for the Earth, in the latest push by the 1.4-billion-member global Church to address global climate change. For centuries, Catholic priests have been able to celebrate special Masses to pray for their country, give thanks after a harvest or ask God to end a natural disaster. The new "Mass for the care of creation," prepared by two Vatican offices, allows priests to pray that Catholics will "lovingly care" for creation and "learn to live in harmony with all...

Leo XIV: The Bishops’ Testing GroundBurke, along with Dolan, was one of the key popemakers of the last Conclave. The US Catholic traditionalist and the conservative wings joined forces and, in utmost secrecy, pulled the name Prevost out of the hat—a name which, as is now well known, immediately attracted convergence even from the more progressive cardinals.Christocentric homilies, the stole and mozzetta, full-signature documents, references to natural law, legal certainty, canon law training, a sober and methodical style, and attentiveness to the liturgy (although the master of ceremonies belongs to a liturgical school that is far from commendable): these are...

"Article III Project" founder Mike Davis and "War Room" host Steve Bannon comment on the role the Federalist Society and its chairman Leonard Leo played in the first Trump administration and how this term will be different.MIKE DAVIS: Yeah, when you have Leonard Leo taking over a billion dollars—I think it was like $1.6 billion—from a billionaire who gave him his fortune, Barre Seid, and then Leonard sat on the sidelines with all that money for three years of lawfare and didn’t support groups that were helping President Trump with the lawfare.He actually had guys out there like Ed Whelan,...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo’s reference to St. Augustine suggests he differs from Pope Francis on ‘Synodality’St. Augustine was not infected with the errors of false ecumenism and Synodality, and he knew that true love required him to correct his neighbors' errors.In the sermon for his inauguration Mass, Pope Leo XIV spoke of his vision of the Petrine ministry in serving the Church to help build “God’s house in fraternal communion”:The ministry of Peter is distinguished precisely by this self-sacrificing love, because the Church of Rome presides in charity and its true authority is the charity of Christ. It is never...

In July of 2017 it was announced that Vatican police had broken up an allegedly drug-fuelled orgy in an apartment belonging to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. An aid to Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio was arrested; it was rumored that Pope Francis' reaction was outrage that the sovereignty of the Vatican State had been violated. This was far from the Papal posture in secular affiars, when Pope Pius XII was sponsor to the assassination plot against Hitler by Claus von Stauffenberg. The Pope Who Planned Three Hitler Assassination AttemptsThis fact is detailed in a National Geographic video special...

(Hymn at the link.) With everyone so urgent about who is Pope Leo XIV, we may want to pull back and think about who he will seem to be in a year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, after his death, after the next Pope. When God sends the people a scourge because they dispise his blessings, and they are trying to understand why bad things are happening to supposedly good people, you can't just look at the punishment, you need to examine those who are the punished. The punishment for our faithlessness was a Dictator Pope who deliberately promoted...

Now comes the amazing news from the brother that the new Pope is a genuine White Sox fan, as are all the kindly old school priests and sisters south of I-55, on into Indiana and Michigan. That’s a huge point in his favor and it appears he frequently voted in the Republican primaries in Illinois (that state does not have specific party registrations)…. Apparently, Pope Leo XIV has no hostility to the Latin Mass, while Pope Francis hated it. His public comments also indicate he has no interest in pushing the homosexual agenda or ordaining women. These are all things...

After just two days and four secret ballots in the Sistine Chapel, the College of Cardinals elevated Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost to the See of Peter as Pope Leo XIV—an outcome that underscores the doctrinal rifts at the heart of Christendom and the enduring reasons for our divide. Although Catholics and Protestants often use similar words and phrases, the meanings they attach to those terms are profoundly different. Here are ten doctrinal fault lines that explain why true unity remains out of reach: while we can—and should—show mutual respect, we cannot pretend these convictions don’t exist. It’s the perfect moment...

Make no mistake: a Pope from Chicago terrifies me. But I have cause for some hope, which I will share. Pope Francis was, in the surprisingly well-chosen words of the New York Times, "ostentatiously humble." Fully recognizing the irony of a Catholic critiquing the Pope for lacking humility, I also mean to acknowledge that from that humility it took me a long time to give up on Pope Francis. For the longest while, I tried to learn what I could from him, becoming frustrated only after he made it stunningly care that his flock was not the billion and a...

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church does not get paid what many consider a traditional salary. Instead, the Vatican provides for the pontiff's needs, from housing, food, transportation and other expenses in the form of stipends and allowances. The Vatican, referred to as "the world's smallest country," is sustained by "an economy that relies on a combination of donations, private enterprises, and investments to generate revenue," according to Investopedia. Pope Francis declined any sort of salary when he took office in 2013, The Economic Times reported back in February, adding that the pontiff at the time had a net...

Sparks fly during interview between Rochester mayor and News10NBC anchor ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Things turned personal after News10NBC sought a response from Mayor Malik Evans Wednesday regarding a one-on-one interview with Border Czar Tom Homan. At a public event to announce the “Party in the Park” lineup, Mayor Evans was available for off-topic questions afterward, according to his assistant. However, when approached, the mayor was less than eager to engage. “Brett has a question. I don’t talk to him, he’s a loser,” Evans said. News10NBC’s Brett Davidsen asked Evans if he had seen his interview with Homan, to where he...

PATERSON, N.J. ( — A Paterson police officer has drawn attention for wearing a Palestinian flag patch on his official uniform, raising questions about the appropriateness of displaying foreign national symbols while in service with a U.S. based law enforcement agency. Officer Adeeb Iqnies, who has served with the Paterson Police Department for three years, appeared in a video interview proudly displaying the Palestinian flag and speaking about his heritage. “I’m a Palestinian who loves my country as well as Palestine,” Iqnies said.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Officers Cameron Girvin and Christopher Reese were working the midnight traffic patrol shift late Friday night when they noticed a car with an expired inspection sticker and attempted to pull it over. After the driver of the blue Hyundai Sonata failed to stop, the officers continued to follow the vehicle into a townhouse complex near the intersection of Lynnhaven Parkway and Wendfield Drive, in the Green Run area, according to Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate . Both officers approached the car after it stopped and asked the driver to get out, Neudigate said. The man,...

Explanation: It was a night of 100,000 meteors. The Great Meteor Storm of 1833 was perhaps the most impressive meteor event in recent history. Best visible over eastern North America during the pre-dawn hours of November 13, many people -- including a young Abraham Lincoln -- were woken up to see the sky erupt in streaks and flashes. Hundreds of thousands of meteors blazed across the sky, seemingly pouring out of the constellation of the Lion (Leo). The featured image is a digitization of a wood engraving which itself was based on a painting from a first-person account. We know...

A Ferguson, Missouri, police officer was critically injured outside the city’s police station during protests on the 10th anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown... Ferguson police chief Troy Doyle said Officer Travis Brown suffered a severe brain injury Friday after being knocked to the ground.... Police also didn’t intervene when the protesters began shaking the fence outside the station. But he said that when they broke a section of fencing, he sent out the arrest team. The suspect who charged at Travis Brown knocked him backward with his shoulder, and the officer hit his head as he tumbled...

Local police encountered attempted-assassin Thomas Crooks just moments before he tried to kill former president Donald Trump — but failed to stop the gunman despite the clear threat, according to a report. After rallygoers spotted Crooks on the roof of a manufacturing plant just 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking just after 6 p.m. Tuesday, police were notified and one officer climbed a ladder to investigate, law enforcement officials said on the condition of anonymity. There the officer encountered Crooks, who pointed his AR-style rifle at them.The officer then backed down the ladder, and Crooks immediately took...