Free Republic

Eternal and Just Lord, You raise up leaders in every age, and permit even flawed vessels to bear great weight. Receive the soul of Your servant, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who walked a path both revered and contested, and whose words shaped many, though not all in peace. In the quiet where truth stands uncloaked, may he now see clearly what once was dim. Where zeal was misplaced, may Your mercy abound. Where compassion blurred boundaries, may Your justice now restore what was unsettled. For those he shepherded, and those he unsettled— for every soul stirred by his charge— let Your...

The Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo has staunchly defended its decision to host a fundraising campaign for the family of Karmelo Anthony, a 17-year-old Texas teenager charged with the murder of fellow student Austin Metcalf. The fundraiser, which has raised nearly $500,000, has sparked significant controversy, with critics arguing it violates the platform’s policies against campaigns that financially benefit individuals accused of violent crimes. Despite the backlash, GiveSendGo’s founders remain firm, emphasizing their commitment to due process and the presumption of innocence. On April 2, 2025, Karmelo Anthony, a senior at Frisco Centennial High School, allegedly stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, a...

LGBT group praises cardinal for inclusion in Holy Thursday liturgy: ‘Historic The new cardinal of Naples will wash the feet of a prominent LGBT activist during Maundy Thursday liturgy this year, in a move hailed as support for the LGBT lifestyle by activists.The new cardinal of Naples will wash the feet of a prominent LGBT activist during Maundy Thursday liturgy this year, in a move hailed as support for the LGBT lifestyle by activists.As highlighted by Messa in Latino, the newly minted cardinal of Naples, Cardinal Domenico Battaglia, will include a prominent LGBT activist in the Maundy Thursday Mandatum ceremony...

A federal judge ruled this week that the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) may not force Catholic employers to accommodate abortion and IVF or to abide by Biden-era LGBT “anti-discrimination” rules. The Diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota, and the Catholic Benefits Association (CBA) had sued over the regulations last year, arguing their enforcement under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act violated the religious freedom rights of Catholic groups.“The US District Court for the District of North Dakota entered judgment Wednesday,” according to Bloomberg Law, “a day after Judge Daniel M. Traynor ruled that EEOC’s regulations under the Pregnant Workers Fairness...

Ten years after the ISIS genocide that devastated northern Iraq, the Christian communities of the Nineveh Plains find themselves facing a new and insidious threat. While the world commemorates the atrocities that peaked in 2014, when ISIS militants swept through Mosul and the surrounding region killing, enslaving, and displacing tens of thousands of Christians and Yazidis, the security and future of these ancient minorities remain far from assured. Nadine Maenza, a leading advocate for religious freedom and a global fellow at the Wilson Center, has authored an analysis raising alarm about the current situation in the Nineveh Plains. In her...

It’s high time for Protestant denominations to take a firm and authoritative stance on reproductive technology. Since the birth of “Baby M” by in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 1978, reproductive technologies have outpaced public understanding, policy development, and theological reflection...By 2030, it is likely that they will be well on their way to developing artificial wombs for conception through birth. American Evangelicals haven’t kept up. Indeed, most Protestant denominations in our country still lack a biblically informed stance on childbearing, infertility, and the most basic reproductive technology, such as IVF, surrogacy, and stem cell research. Even fewer have a coherent...

[Catholic Caucus] Questions Linger on Cardinal Fernandez’s ‘Sex Change’ RemarksThe prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has not addressed concerns that his recent remarks may contradict the Church’s moral teaching on bodily integrity.The prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, who recently appeared to some observers to support “sex change” surgery in especially difficult cases, has not responded to questions aimed at clarifying his comments. ... Some observers took his comments to be a contradiction of the DDF’s 2024 declaration Dignitas Infinita (Infinite Dignity). That document, which underlined the inherent and inalienable dignity...

[Catholic Caucus] Pro-LGBT Nun to Lead Holy Week Address in SpainAngel Javier Pérez Pueyo, Bishop of Barbastro, Spain, has announced that Sister María Luisa Berzosa González, a homosexual activist, will deliver the Pregón de la Semana Santa of Barbastro during Holy Week 2025.The Pregón de la Semana Santa is a public speech in many Spanish-speaking regions that officially opens the Holy Week celebrations.Angel Javier Pérez Pueyo became famous for starting a pointless fight over the Opus Dei sanctuary of Torreciudad, located in his diocese.Berzosa González is a nun from the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus, who hides in lay...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinals tout book on vocations and sexual orientation; Pope Francis writes prefacePope Francis has written the preface to Vocazioni felici: Integrare orientamento sessuale, affetti e relazioni [Happy Vocations: Integrating Sexual Orientation, Affections and Relationships], a new book by Chiara D’Urbano, a psychologist and consultor to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy.Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, and Bishop Michele Di Tolve spoke at the April 9 presentation of the book, according to a statement from the Dicastery for the Clergy. Cardinal Reina is vicar general of His Holiness for Rome and archpriest of the Lateran Basilica; Cardinal...

You might not have read the Book of Maccabees. (Catholics and Orthodox regard it as canonical while Protestants and Jews mostly consider it simply an inspiring, accurate history of God’s people enduring corruption and persecution.) But the Lutheran George Frederick Handel thought the story important enough to compose a beautiful oratorio retelling it, Judas Maccabeus. The Jewish holiday of Channukah has its origins in the events recounted in Maccabees — commemorating the rededication of the Temple after pagans had profaned it.Maccabees is certainly worth a read for Christians today trying to navigate a path between an overbearing, increasingly intolerant secular...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland: Courage as a bishop ‘is a requirement’Bp. Strickland renewed his criticism of trends within the Catholic Church, especially the Synod on Synodality, warning that 'many souls are being led astray.’Bishop Joseph Strickland has warned of a “deliberate effort to undermine the unchanging truths of the Catholic faith from within the Church herself.”“The silence of the shepherds in the face of injustice and the erosion of truth is serious,” said Strickland in a new interview published by Spanish outlet InfoVaticana.Since being removed by the Pope as bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, in November 2023, Strickland...

A Christian nurse has been suspended from her role in Britain’s National Health Service after she spoke out about allegedly being disciplined for refusing to refer to a biologically male convicted paedophile patient as a woman. Jennifer Melle has been suspended by the St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, London over allegedly breaching patient confidentiality after she spoke out about being previously disciplined by the NHS Trust for refusing to use female pronouns when referring to a male convicted child sex abuser while under her care. Despite Melle claiming that the patient had racially abused her and physically threatened her, the...

[Catholic Caucus] Priest to join teachers in opposing motion to ban ‘pride’ flags in Ontario Catholic school districtFather Toby Collins, a Kitchener priest known for suppressing the Latin Mass, will be delegating to keep 'pride' flags in Catholic classrooms at an upcoming Waterloo Catholic District School Board meeting.Kitchner area priest Father Toby Collins is scheduled to delegate to the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) in an attempt to stop a ban on “pride” flags.According to information shared with LifeSiteNews, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) recruited Father Collins, the pastor at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Kitchener, to...

[Catholic Caucus] MCELROY, SIPE, AND MCCARRICK’S CLONESWill McElroy dismiss these allegations like he did those from Richard Sipe?While living in Coronado, CA from 2009 to 2023, I had the pleasure of befriending and collaborating with the late psychotherapist and researcher, Richard Sipe, of nearby La Jolla. His letter of July 28, 2016, intended for Pope Francis, who alone has the authority to discipline bishops like those mentioned in his letter, was never acted upon by the Pope, the Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S., or then-Bishop Robert McElroy to whom the letter was legally served.Armed today with similar allegations of abuse...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Fernández issues ‘clarification’ to Vatican document, suggests Church approval of gender mutilation in ‘severe dysphoria’ casesIn a striking departure from established Church teaching, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández has signaled that sex “change” surgeries may be morally acceptable under certain conditions. Cardinal Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) offered this perspective in a conference he delivered via video to a Theological congress organized by the Catholic University of Cologne (Germany) in mid January. But then in March, the Cardinal posted the conference as an official “clarification” of Dignitas infinita, the Church’s...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope appoints bishop who urged USCCB to delay debate on Communion for pro-abortion politiciansBishop Michael McGovern was among 68 bishops who urged the USCCB not to debate barring pro-abortion Catholics in public life from Holy Communion.Pope Francis on Monday appointed Bishop Michael McGovern of Belleville, Illinois, to lead the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska.McGovern, who has served most of his priesthood in Chicago, will be installed as Archbishop of Omaha in the Cathedral of St. Cecilia on May 7. He will be replacing Archbishop George Lucas, whose resignation was accepted by Francis when he turned 75 in June 2024,...

Praying daily since 2015:Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland urges brother priests to rebuke the ‘rot of sodomy’ attacking the ChurchNote: The following was written and distributed by Bishop Joseph Strickland at the second annual “Catholic Prayer for America” gala at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday, March 19.(LifeSiteNews) — Dear brother priests,I pray that these Lenten days we presently journey through are a time of abundant grace for you, deepening your life as a priest of Jesus Christ and renewing your heart in His truth and love.I urge you to acquaint yourself with St. Peter Damian, a fearless defender of truth who stood against the corruption of...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop: Seminarians Need Safe Place to Explore Sexuality and Integrate ItIn an interview about seminary formation of candidates for priesthood, Bishop Michael Gerber, of Fulda, Germany, supported the idea that gay man can be ordained.Bishop Michael GerberSpeaking with Katholisch.de, a major German Catholic news outlet, Gerber, who is also chairman of the Commission for Vocations and Church Services at the German Bishops’ Conference, was asked about his thoughts on the Italian bishops’ conference plan to admit gay men into priestly formation on a case-by-case basis, just as heterosexual men are assessed. Should the Catholic Church in Germany, which...

Parish talk by transgender hermit rescheduled after negative commentsPastor where event taking place said he couldn't 'let people believe that haters in the Catholic Church have the final say'A flyer advertises a parish event in Lexington, Kentucky, that was to feature a talk by Br. Christian Matson, a diocesan hermit who is transgender. Comments on social media prompted organizers to postpone the event. (Courtesy of Stan "JR" Zerkowski)A swarm of angry, vitriolic comments on social media prompted organizers in Lexington, Kentucky, to postpone a parish event that was to feature a talk by Br. Christian Matson, a diocesan hermit who...