Free Republic

Thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a significant majority of Russians continue to feel nostalgia for their country’s communist past, according to a recent survey from the country’s leading independent polling agency. In the Levada Center’s poll, published on Friday, 63 percent of Russian respondents expressed regret over the breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991. The sentiment was strongest among Russians aged 55 and older, 84 percent of whom described the dissolution as a tragic event. By contrast, a mere 28 percent of respondents said that they did not regret the demise...

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Monday appointed German archbishop Ludwig Muller to head up the Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog, replacing American Cardinal William Levada who is retiring from the post. The Archbishop of Regensburg in southern Germany, Archbishop Muller has a reputation as a defender of Catholic Orthodoxy and has been criticised by German groups clamouring for change, such as Die Kirche Von Unten' (The Church from below). A personal friend of the German-born pope, who charged him with publishing his writings, Archbishop Muller is however also known for his long-standing support for Gustavo Guttierez, founder of the...

(RNS) A breakaway traditionalist Catholic group on Monday (June 25) slammed as “clearly unacceptable” a Vatican doctrinal document that was supposed to lay the foundation for the group's reconciliation with Rome. The move comes after three years of complex negotiations between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), and was revealed just as Pope Benedict XVI appointed a high-profile American archbishop to a key post to oversee relations with traditionalists. A letter by the Rev. Christian Thouvenot, secretary general of the SSPX, to SSPX bishops and regional leaders was leaked on the Internet on Tuesday (June 26)....

The SSPX traditionalist Catholic group on Monday slammed as "clearly unacceptable" a Vatican doctrinal document that was supposed to lay the foundation for the group's reconciliation with Rome, reports NCR Online.The move comes after three years of complex negotiations between the Vatican and the Society of St Pius X and was revealed just as Pope Benedict XVI appointed a high-profile American archbishop to a key post to oversee relations with traditionalists.A letter by Fr Christian Thouvenot, secretary general of the SSPX, to SSPX bishops and regional leaders was leaked on the Internet on Tuesday. Thouvenot later confirmed its authenticity.The letter says...

St. Pius X Society superior general Bishop Bernard Fellay Rome, Italy, Nov 29, 2011 / 01:16 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X says he will inform the Vatican “in the next few days” that they cannot give the doctrinal reassurances required of them to advance reconciliation with the Catholic Church.“It is true that this Doctrinal Preamble cannot receive our endorsement,” said Bishop Bernard Fellay on the society’s website, Nov. 28. However, Bishop Fellay said his understanding is that the document is “not a definite text” and that it “can be clarified and...

Q. Why is the Doctrinal Preamble that Cardinal Levada delivered to you on September 14 still surrounded by so much secrecy, both on the part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and by the Society of St. Pius X? What is this silence hiding from the priests and faithful of Tradition? A. This discretion is normal for any important proceeding; it ensures the seriousness of it. It so happens that the Doctrinal Preamble that was delivered to us is a document which can be clarified and modified, as the accompanying note points out. It is not a...

VATICAN CITY, 14 SEP 2011 (VIS) - At midday today the Holy See Press Office released the following communique concerning the postion of the Society of St. Pius X: "On 14 September at the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the congregation and president of the Pontifical Commission 'Ecclesia Dei'; Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer S.J., secretary of the congregation, and Msgr. Guido Pozzo, secretary of the pontifical commission, met with Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the Society of St. Pius X, who was accompanied by Fr. Niklaus Pfluger...

It's probably the second-most powerful Vatican office - prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the head of the Vatican department historically known as the Office of the Holy Inquisition, reports the Trumpet.It’s the job that Pope Benedict held as Cardinal Ratzinger directly answerable to John Paul II during the latter’s papacy. Under his rule, the prefect became known as “the pope’s enforcer.” Now the current holder of that office, Cardinal Levada (pictured), who was certainly not cast in the mold of a true “enforcer,” is set to retire.The question is: who will replace him?In all probability, Benedict...

Vatican City, May 1, 2010 / 08:47 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Fr. Maciel guilty, revision of Legion needed, report Apostolic VisitorsApostolic Visitors to the Legion of Christ condemned the "very serious and objectively immoral acts" of its founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel, in a statement on Saturday. The results of meetings from the last two days include the call for a "profound revision" of the life and structure of the congregation.The Holy See has released a statement from the meetings which took place between April 30 and May 1 at the Vatican. In addition to the five bishops involved in the...

The New York Times and Pope Benedict XVI: how it looks to an American in the VaticanIn our melting pot of peoples, languages and backgrounds, Americans are not noted as examples of “high” culture. But we can take pride as a rule in our passion for fairness. In the Vatican where I currently work, my colleagues – whether fellow cardinals at meetings or officials in my office – come from many different countries, continents and cultures. As I write this response today (March 26, 2010) I have had to admit to them that I am not proud of America’s newspaper...

The seminary chapel under constructionThe glorious rehabilitation of the traditional Latin Mass at the highest level of the Church will be illustrated on Wednesday when Cardinal William Levada, the Pope’s successor as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will preach at the consecration of the first traditionalist seminary chapel built in America for 40 years – at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Nebraska run by the Priestly Society of St Peter (FSSP). Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska, will celebrate Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary From – of course – in a ceremony to...

LCWR President Franciscan Sister J. Lora Dambroski RomeOfficers of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious met April 22 with Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, after having been informed weeks earlier that his congregation had begun a “doctrinal assessment” of the women’s organization.Neither the congregation nor officers of the conference released any statement after the meeting. The Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, confirmed to NCR that the meeting took place, describing it as “very serene,” and said that the officers of the conference “now have all the elements for understanding the...

Regarding the Instruction Dignitas PersonaeAim In recent years, biomedical research has made great strides, opening new possibilities for the treatment of disease, but also giving rise to serious questions which had not been directly treated in the Instruction Donum vitae (22 February 1987).  A new Instruction, which is dated 8 September 2008, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, seeks to provide some responses to these new bioethical questions, as these have been the focus of expectations and concerns in large sectors of society.  In this way, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith seeks both...

Vienna, May 30, 2008 / 04:54 pm (CNA).- In response to a report in the Italian daily “La Repubblica” that Cardinal Christoph Schönborn could become the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Vienna, Erich Leitenberger, said on Stephanscom Austrian Radio that the rumor was unfounded.On May 25, La Repubblica published an article by Marco Politi in which he offered a “general analysis” of the General Assembly of the Bishops’ Conference of Italy. Commenting on the rumor about Cardinal Schönborn, Politi said a personnel change at the Vatican was possible...

Vatican City, May 6, 2008 / 11:03 am (CNA).- Today Pope Benedict appointed members to the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and the Congregation for the Clergy. Among the appointees are two American archbishops and one cardinal.  The Council for Legislative Texts’ main task consists of interpreting the laws of the Church – both the laws concerning the Latin Rite and the common laws of the Eastern Catholic churches.The new appointments are: Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops; Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples; Lluis Martinez Sistach, archbishop of Barcelona, Spain; Oswald...

Far from “diminishing other faith communities,” the Holy See’s recent instruction on the status of non-Catholic churches points out that "outside the Catholic Church elements of holiness and truth do exist and that the Holy Spirit is working in those other communities and churches as well," Cardinal William Levada told the archdiocesan newspaper Catholic San Francisco. Levada, formerly archbishop of San Francisco, is the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which on July 10 issued “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church.” The document reiterated the teaching that the Church...

In an act of jaw-dropping hubris, Pope Benedict Joseph Ratzinger recently declared Protestantism's churches "not true churches." In an effort to underscore the wisdom of such a position at this time, he then had his "document" signed by none other than Cardinal William Levada, a pro-gay, pro-pedophile, pro-molestation cleric hailing recently from San Francisco and Portland. Apparently hypocrisy is in abundant supply in the Vatican larder. Levada is one of the papal appointments that causes either great puzzlement about (or gives great insight into) this Pope's orientation. Fresh off of scandals in his previous appointments, Levada received one of the...

Pope: Some Christian Denominations Not True Churches LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches. (snip) The document, signed by the congregation (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) prefect, U.S. Cardinal William Levada, was approved by Benedict on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul - a major ecumenical feast day. Homosexual Activists Cheer Appointment of New San Francisco Archbishop (to Replace Levada)By Hilary White The LA...

Earlier this month, as Cardinal Edward Egan reached the retirement age of 75, it didn't take long for the buzzmill to hit a fever pitch with visions, rumblings, floaters and speculations of the succession to one of global Catholicism's most visible posts, the archbishopric of New York. Tomorrow's start to Year Three of B16 has brought a fresh set of reports predicting "revolution" or "earthquake" in the Roman Curia. Of course, prior alarms of the same all failed to come to pass, but when even the papal intimates are talking openly of "surprises" -- and others of "big surprises" --...

ANN ARBOR, MI – A virulently anti-Catholic resolution unanimously passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors condemning Catholic moral teaching on homosexuality and urging the Archbishop of San Francisco and Catholic Charities of San Francisco to defy Church directives prohibiting gay adoptions has prompted a federal lawsuit by the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and two San Francisco Catholic citizens, challenges the anti-Catholic resolution as a “startling attack by government officials on the Catholic Church,...