Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic university cancels heterodox Fr. James Martin’s commencement speech after student backlashHoly Family University disinvited pro-LGBT Father James Martin as a commencement speaker after Catholics launched a petition demanding his removal and planned a Rosary rally in protest.PHILADELPHIA (LifeSiteNews) — Holy Family University recently disinvited heterodox Jesuit priest Father James Martin as a May commencement speaker after a petition for his removal garnered over 11,000 signatures and a Rosary rally was planned.The notoriously pro-LGBT priest had been invited to speak at HFU’s May 17 commencement ceremony and receive an honorary degree, prompting The American Society for the Defense...

The pro-life movement is losing the long game. Not because our arguments lack truth or our data lacks integrity, but because we are fighting on the wrong battlefield. For decades, we have reacted to Planned Parenthood’s every move, attacking abortion procedure by procedure, law by law and statistic by statistic. And yet, abortion remains embedded in our culture, now more accessible than ever through telehealth, mail-order pills and blue-state shield laws. The question must be asked: have Christians conceded the moral high ground? Planned Parenthood understands something the Church has forgotten — the real battle is cultural. It is spiritual....

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media.This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14)Religion Forum threads labeled *Prayer* are closed to debate of any kind.1 John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true...

Conviction and condemnation can feel similar for a Christian. Conviction is from God and is necessary for joy. It should be cultivated. Condemnation is from Satan. It is a lie and should be resisted and thrown off. How do we tell the difference in our own lives? How do we help students discern the distinction in their hearts as well? An Example The night Christ was arrested, Peter and Judas both committed big sins. (This example isn’t perfect because Judas wasn’t a true Christian, but he was a professing believer and a member of Christ’s discipleship group. There’s much we...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo XIV removes controversial Archbishop Paglia as head of John Paul II InstituteThe nomination is the first major appointment made by Pope Leo XIV in the various offices of the Roman Curia, and is being welcomed by pro-life advocates.In one of the first major appointments of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV has replaced the controversial president of the John Paul II Institute, which was itself gutted by Pope Francis in 2019.As announced by the Holy See Press Office today, Leo XIV has named Cardinal Baldassare Reina as the Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Theological Institute “John Paul...

Talk to the average critic of the evangelical church—perhaps someone who has “deconstructed” and now resents their religious upbringing—and one of the first complaints they have is that Christians are too political. Especially since 2016, it has become common to smear conservative Christians for being more interested in “making America great again” than in making disciples. This perception of evangelicals (that their churches are too political) is so strong that sociologist Christian Smith cited it in his recent book, Why Religion Went Obsolete as one of the main reasons for the long-term decline in church attendance. Here’s the irony: Evangelical...

Pope Leo XIV affirmed Friday that the family is founded on the “stable union between a man and a woman,” and that the unborn and elderly enjoy dignity as God’s creatures, articulating clear Catholic teaching on marriage and abortion at the start of his pontificate.

Last month, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) announced it is merging with a Canadian university, closing its campus north of Chicago, and relocating over 2,000 miles away. As happy a face as the seminary and we alumni wish to put on this, this effectively marks the end of a once-prominent Evangelical institution. At its heyday, when I was a student there in the late 90s, it was home to world-class scholars like Don Carson, Wayne Grudem, Harold O.J. Brown, Douglas Sweeney (now dean of Beeson Divinity School), the erudite and genuinely godly missiologist Paul Hiebert, and many others. Carl Henry...

CV NEWS FEED // Prosecutors dropped charges May 9 against an Ohio pro-life advocate who was arrested in December for providing a Christian witness with a megaphone outside an abortion facility. CatholicVote previously reported that Zack Knotts was on a public sidewalk outside a Cuyahoga Falls abortion facility and using a megaphone to advocate for the unborn and to tell women entering the facility, “There’s hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ for all of you.” Police then approached Knotts and ordered him to go with them, later telling him that they had received complaints of “disorderly conduct” that caused...

Former OnlyFans Star Nala Ray joined former adult film star Brittni De La Mora on the podcast, “Uncensored W/ Brittni De La Mora,” to talk about how Jesus redeemed Ray from the darkness of sex work and set her free. “If there’s a woman right now who’s either contemplating getting on OnlyFans or wants to get off, how would you encourage her?” “The devil has a budget,” Ray replied...“The devil can only give you so much. So to them, I would literally say, ‘You can only go so far. This is not a career. These actions will have consequences.’” Ray...

[Catholic Caucus] As a priest, Pope Leo XIV opposed the Western media’s pro-LGBT lies and promoted truthPope Leo XIV has understood what Pope Francis did not: it is precisely the hard teachings of the Gospel that draw people to salvation through Jesus Christ.While there are only a few recorded examples of Pope Leo XIV’s history with LGBTQ issues, his statements stand in stark contrast with those of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who early in his pontificate wondered aloud, “If a person is gay … who am I to judge?” He later allegedly told a young man, “God made you gay.”At...

Could Cardinal Prevost be the first American pope?Seemingly out of nowhere, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is being discussed as a serious candidate in the upcoming conclave.Why this piece is important: Prevost is being seriously considered as a papal candidate—but questions surround his silence and his actions as Prefect for the Dicastery of Bishops. The big picture: Prevost has cooperated in advancing Francis’ agenda, facilitated the appointment of heterodox bishops throughout the world, and tacitly denied the traditional teaching on the episcopate. Flashpoint: He oversaw the deposition of the most conservative U.S. bishop (Strickland) and the appointment of a notorious liberal...

10 Critical Issues Facing the Next Pope Pope Francis, who famously advocated “making a mess,” applied that maxim to his pontificate, making it highly disruptive, divisive and tumultuous. The mess generated much understandable unease, consternation and, at times, disgust, especially as such a deliberate approach to governance has never been consistent with the Catholic faith, the common good, Divine Revelation, and the natural law. However, the flipside was that, like stirring a pot, it brought plenty of what had lain hidden in the darkness to the surface.And in so doing, it has the potential to equip the next pope with...

A new Washington state law now compels Catholic priests to report child abuse even if the information is revealed in the sacrament of confession. The controversial legislation, signed May 2 by Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson, makes Washington the first state to explicitly eliminate legal protections for the sacred seal of confession in abuse-related cases. Some states have laws requiring clergy to report abuse that also don’t include exemptions for clergy-penitent privilege, but Washington’s Senate Bill 5375 — which passed 64-31 in the House and 28-20 in the Senate — was the first with direct legislative intent to remove protections for...

How the Church’s Enemies Have Exploited Mistaken Views of Heresy to Essentially Guarantee Another Heretical Claimant to the PapacyDays away from the conclave to elect Francis’s successor, serious Catholics fear that it would take a miracle for the white smoke to signal the election of a pope who is Catholic. We offer our prayers and sacrifices for the most favorable outcome, but as we study the list of those cardinals most likely to receive serious consideration, it is evident that very few of them would have been recognized as Catholic by Pope Pius XII or any of his predecessors.Some sincere...

[Catholic Caucus] Imagining a Restorative ConclaveThe pope has died. As good Catholics we always pray for and commend the souls of all who have died to the mercy of God. This we also do for the man chosen by conclave in 2013 to serve in the office of supreme pontiff for these past twelve years. Requiescat in pace, Pope Francis.One of the most important consolations for all of us, if not the ultimate gift, are the prayers of the Church, the power of Christ on Earth, through His Mystical Body, to sanctify and save our souls. Above all it is...

Last fall, Egor Redin was in hiding at a Baptist church in Tajikistan, two thousand miles from home. The pastor advised him not to leave the building because the secret police might be watching. Redin had hoped to apply for asylum in Tajikistan but was warned not to. If Tajik authorities found out he was Baptist, he would likely be deported back to Russia, where he would face criminal prosecution for protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a father of two little girls aged two and four who was also a pacifist (historically Russian Baptists have refused to serve in...

At the General Congregations, the so-called pre-conclave, the cardinals gathered in the Vatican are currently discussing the state of the Church and the profile of the next pope. What "skills" will the next head of the 1.4 billion Catholics need? And what issues will the cardinals be particularly concerned with when they soon retreat to the Sistine Chapel for the Papal election, the Conclave? "I believe that the issue of abuse will already play a role in the preliminary discussions, the so-called pre-conclave," German child protection expert Hans Zollner told the news agency Kathpress in Rome based on conversations with...

THE outpouring of grief following the death of Pope Francis was like a wall of noise, a practically uninterrupted blanket of praise, a seamless garment of tribute. Even his enemies fought to temper their public comments, undoubtedly conscious of the enduring Latin injunction de mortuis nil nisi bonum, that one must not speak ill of the dead. It was only in private conversations that one could truly gauge the true sentiments of rank-and-file Catholics. One devout woman, orthodox but very much in the mainstream of the Church, confided to me that when she heard of the death of Francis on...

CV NEWS FEED // Melinda French Gates said she experienced “almost a crisis of faith” before embracing a pro-contraception stance, citing a “very liberal” priest as a key influence in her decision to diverge from Catholic teaching. In an April 17 interview on The Jamie Kern Lima Show, the philanthropist and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation described how her travels to underserved areas exposed her to families living without contraceptives, People reported. Gates recounted hearing from women who experienced pregnancies in rapid succession — some of which led to the loss of a child or even the...