Free Republic

The following is a very interesting article that was published by the Sunday Times yesterday. The truth at last. 'Forgers' of key Iraq war contract named Michael Smith TWO employees of the Niger embassy in Rome were responsible for the forgery of a notorious set of documents used to help justify the Iraq war, an official investigation has allegedly found. According to Nato sources, the investigation has evidence that Niger’s consul and its ambassador’s personal assistant faked a contract to show Saddam Hussein had bought uranium ore from the impoverished west African country. The documents, which emerged in 2002, were...

NIGERGATE THE TRUTH: HOW THE FRENCH TRICKED THE USA “I was employed by the French since 1996. I handed the false documents on the uranium trade between the Africa and Iraq to them” –-- With this startling declaration Rocco Martino, the freelance spy at the centre of the false Niger dossier, has confirmed that France was responsible for some of the information later used by Britain and the United States to promote the case for war with Iraq. Before examining Martino’s deposition it’s worth taking a look at some of the details regarding France contained in the Senate Select Committee...

Al Martino, 82, the South Philadelphia bricklayer who became a chart-topping crooner and who also is remembered for appearing as Johnny Fontane in The Godfather, died today at his Delaware County home.

"The battle for orthodoxy is literally ferocious in today's Church, and it will be the dividing point between the sheep and the goats." FRONT ROYAL, Virginia, September 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Human Life International president Rev. Tom Euteneuer has fired back at Politics Daily writer David Gibson for his column disparaging the pro-life leadership of Scranton's former bishop, Joseph Martino, following his retirement earlier this week.  Euteneuer said that Martino's insistence upon fidelity to the teachings of the Catholic Church, and his subsequent early retirement, symbolized if anything that "the battle for orthodoxy is literally ferocious in today's Church, and it will...

This heroic man stood up against the “gates of hell”, doing what all Bishops are supposed to do, guarding the flock of God against the wolves. The Bishop was correct to challenge the poor judgment of Misericordia University, a Catholic College in his Diocese which sponsored, through its scandalous “Diversity Institute”, an advocate/activist of the movement among some practicing homosexuals to obtain a legal equivalency between homosexual paramours and those who are married. ... ...His heroic defense of the dignity of every human life during the last Presidential campaign was inspired and refreshing! Some, even in the Catholic press, have...

For suddenly departing politicans and CEOs, the standard line is to "spend time with my family." Now the Catholic church may have its own version of this unconvincing, stock answer. On Monday controversial Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino stunned longtime church-watchers by announcing that he was resigning his post because of problems with insomnia and fatigue. The controversial Catholic leader, who has gained national prominence for his outspoken pro-life advocacy and aggressive criticism of pro-choice Democratic politicians, was still more than a decade away from reaching the Church's automatic retirement age of 75. Martino's abrupt resignation, along with the fact that...

An embattled Roman Catholic bishop in northeastern Pennsylvania announced Monday that he is stepping down for health reasons, saying he suffers from insomnia and crippling physical fatigue. Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino, 63, had been leading the Diocese of Scranton since 2003 and will be leaving more than a decade before the usual retirement age of 75. "As the song says, you have to know when to hold them and when to fold them," Martino said at a news conference. "And I think it's time to move on." Martino had been heavily criticized by parishioners who felt his imperious leadership style...

Bishop Joseph F. Martino - a man known for his bookish intelligence, his outspoken devotion to pro-life causes and his often combative and insular leadership style - will end his six-year tenure as the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton on Monday, the day the Vatican is expected to accept his resignation. Sources within and outside the diocese confirmed the move Friday, and said the Vatican will also announce its acceptance of Auxiliary Bishop John M. Dougherty's resignation Monday. Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali, head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and metropolitan for the province that includes the Diocese...

Bishop Joseph F. Martino Scranton, Pa., Aug 28, 2009 / 11:12 am (CNA).- Most Rev. Joseph F. Martino, Bishop of Scranton, will resign as head of the Diocese of Scranton next week, sources within the diocese confirmed to the local press today.The sources did not explain the reason for the 62-year-old bishop’s decision. The sources also did not specify if the Bishop’s resignation was going to be presented or if it had been already submitted and accepted by the Vatican.When asked by CNA to confirm Bishop Martino's resignation, diocesan spokesman William Genello said that the diocese will hold a...

Keith Boykin Scranton, Pa., Feb 19, 2009 / 04:06 am (CNA).- Bishop Joseph F. Martino has issued a statement informing Catholics of his diocese that he has “absolute disapproval” of Misericordia University’s hosting of Keith Boykin, described as an activist for positions “disturbingly opposed” to Catholic moral teaching.In the diocese’s statement, Bishop Martino warned that in this instance the university is “seriously failing” to maintain its Catholic identity. The statement noted that all three of Boykin’s books have been nominated for the Lambda Literary Award, which is given by a legal advocacy effort on behalf of homosexual causes.The diocese...

Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton continues to demonstrate leadership on the life issues.  He has written a letter to Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey, Jr. asking him to reconsider his vote against reaffirming the Mexico City Policy.  If only every bishop in the United States would write a letter like this to the Catholic members of Congress in their dioceses who voted to end the Mexico City policy! The full text of the letter is below (emphasis added):   January 30, 2009  Dear Senator Casey:  I wish to thank you for voting in favor of the Hatch Amendment to the Children’s...

Dear Senator Casey: I wish to thank you for voting in favor of the Hatch Amendment to the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reorganization Act of 2009 which would have made unborn children eligible for child health assistance had it passed. I am grateful for what you have done on behalf of children in America who are without health care. It is with deep regret, however, that I learned of your vote against the amendment offered by Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) to the same Children’s Health Insurance Act. Senator Martinez’s amendment would have reinstated the Mexico City Policy. That policy, instituted...

Is the bishop of the Diocese of Scranton implying that Roman Catholic politicians should be punished if they side with the Obama administration? Bishop Joseph Martino is suggesting that bishops should think about denying communion to politicians who support policies of the Obama administration, mainly the policy of keeping abortion legal because that goes against the teachings of the Catholic church. Martino's comments were made at a conference of Catholic bishops in Baltimore. Those comments are now ringing around the country. That politicians who side with pro-choice beliefs may not be able to receive the sacrament, one of the holiest...

Local and national Catholics reacted Tuesday to statements by Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph F. Martino apparently discounting teachings of the national body of bishops during a political forum at a Honesdale Roman Catholic Church this weekend. Martino arrived unannounced in the midst of a panel discussion on faith issues and the presidential campaign at St. John’s Catholic Church on Sunday. According to people who attended the event, the bishop chastised the group for holding the forum and particularly took issue with the discussion and distribution of excerpts from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ position on voting issues. The...

He might've garnered national attention for his strong election-season pastoral, but before pro-choice politicos met his crosshairs, Scranton Bishop Joseph Martino made news at home earlier this year by removing the diocese's recognition of its longtime organization of Catholic educators. After protests, the union recoursed the bishop's move to Rome... which has decided in Martino's favor: The decree from the Holy See, dated Sept. 24 in Rome, was mailed to Bishop Martino and [Scranton Diocesan Association of Catholic Teachers] president Michael Milz. It notes that the Congregation for Catholic Education is the competent superior authority in this matter, and...

Bishop Martino of Scranton, PA - the hometown of pro-choice Senator Joe Biden - recently wrote a pastoral letter for Respect Life Sunday which focused on the evil of abortion. He told all his priests to read the letter in place of their homily this past Sunday. Here's how the local paper, the Scranton-Times Tribune responded: Gee, I guess depicting the Bishop with a baby cradled in his arms wouldn't convey the kind of point this cartoonist-satirist is comfortable with. I've said before that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice, and this is a perfect example. Imagine a cartoon...

Bishop Joseph F. Martino Scranton, PA, Oct 2, 2008 / 04:12 am (CNA).- Bishop Joseph F. Martino of the Diocese of Scranton has directed a pastoral letter on pro-life matters to be read at all weekend Masses of the upcoming Respect Life Weekend, saying Catholic efforts on such issues have “more significance than ever.” Discussing the societal breakdown in the wake of the sexual revolution, Bishop Martino explains Catholic teaching, and pledges “vigilance” in correcting Catholic pro-abortion rights public figures.The pastoral letter, which is also to be circulated with all parish bulletins this weekend, could have political ramifications for...

Here is an english translation from french. http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/12/1/12030/8816#2 Paris - The Direction Générale de la Sécurité extériéure (Dgse) is the French counter-espionage abroad. Alain Chouet was Vice-Director. Today he is enjoying his retirement in the country but - up to the summer 2002 - he was the man who handled the `Nigergate' on behalf of Paris. He says: "I know what happened. When it happened. How it happened. I guided the French intelligence in this affair. I made the decisions. I communicated and exchanged with the Americans all information concerning this case. At the time I was head of the...

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- A Vatican official warned against idolizing the environment and losing sight of the dignity of the human person, in the wake of a conference on climate change and development. Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said this Friday, at the end of the dicastery's two-day conference. It brought together some 80 experts and focused on various aspects of climate change and the development of peoples. "Nature is for the human person and the human person is for God," Cardinal Martino said. "In considering the problems associated with climate...

ROME (Reuters) - A senior Catholic cleric has said he hopes former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will be spared execution, citing the Church's opposition to the death penalty. Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Justice and Peace department, was quoted in Italy's Repubblica newspaper on Thursday saying there was a chance for last-minute clemency for Saddam after an appeals court upheld his death sentence. "There's still a period of 30 days (before the death sentence must be carried out), the president's signature is required, things can happen," Martino was reported as saying. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has also...