Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Tasked with Promoting and Protecting Catholic Faith tells Hierarchy to Stop Obsessing over Doctrine and NormsI think the first consistory of 2026 has already been thoroughly denounced for what it was—a clown show—and that not much more needs to be said about it.However, as part of yet another episode of You Can’t Make this Crap Up, I would like to highlight some lesser-reported comments by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, aka “Cardinal Soft Porn,” which seem to have slipped through the media cracks. Keep in mind that this man leads the very serious Vatican body (Dicastery for the...

The recent closure of The Dwelling at Biola University — a support group for students identifying as LGBT or experiencing same-sex attraction — marks the end of a chapter in a difficult struggle to reconcile biblical orthodoxy with contemporary campus culture. As someone who walked away from a lesbian identity after encountering the full Gospel, I am sympathetic to the administration's challenges and deeply concerned about the implications of its approach. President Barry Corey deserves credit for seeking to provide a safe environment for struggling students. His vision of "grace and truth" resonated with many: upholding biblical sexual ethics while...

A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit from the Satanic Temple challenging Indiana's law that protects most preborn children from abortion. Key Takeaways: * The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Satanic Temple seeking to overturn Indiana's pro-life protections. * The court said the Satanic Temple had failed to prove that any member had been injured by the laws. * The Satanic Temple has also unsuccessfully sued Idaho, Texas, and Missouri. The Backstory: In 2022, the Satanic Temple filed lawsuits against pro-life laws in both Indiana and Idaho. Indiana law protects most...

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Seattle-area church engaged in oral arguments in Cedar Park Assembly of God of Kirkland v. Kuderer at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. ADF attorneys are asking the court to uphold Cedar Park Church’s constitutionally protected, pro-life religious beliefs by exempting it from an overly broad state mandate that requires most Washington employers to provide abortion coverage for employees. Senate Bill 6219, signed into law in March 2018, requires Cedar Park’s employee health plan to cover abortion if the church’s plan also offers maternity care coverage. Violators face fines and criminal...

Dominic J. Grigio, “Why I Wrote The Disastrous Pontificate”—Exclusive for RoratePrefatory note: On January 7, 2026, a major new book, The Disastrous Pontificate: Pope Francis' Rupture from the Magisterium, was released by Os Justi Press. Endorsed by a constellation of luminaries including Rev. Gerald E. Murray, Edward Feser, Eduardo Echeverria, Philip F. Lawler, John Rist, Michael Sirilla, Claudio Pierantoni, and Josef Seifert, the work has already attracted international attention for its comprehensive research and bold claims. Today, in an exclusive for Rorate Caeli, the author, Dominic Grigio, tells us why he wrote it. —PAK During his last general audience before...

Philip Yancey has admitted to having an extramarital affair with a married woman for eight years, with the bestselling Christian author announcing that he's stepping away from ministry. In an emailed statement to Christianity Today, where he was editor-at-large, the 76-year-old Yancey stated that “I confess that for eight years I willfully engaged in a sinful affair with a married woman.” “My conduct defied everything that I believe about marriage. It was also totally inconsistent with my faith and my writings and caused deep pain for her husband and both of our families,” he added in the statement published by...

[Catholic Caucus] EXPLOSIVE: Bishop Hicks’ Vicar General Reportedly Attends Chancellor’s Gay ‘Wedding’IntroductionIn December, we reported that Bishop Hicks’ diocesan chancellor, Robert Salvato, was ‘married’ to another man. Salvato was appointed Chancellor by Hicks in 2021. As Chancellor, Salvato was responsible for advising Hicks on issues related to canon law and recording ecclesiastical acts, decrees and dispensations issued by the bishop.As if the diocesan Chancellor getting ‘married’ to his boyfriend was not enough of a scandal, we now have reports that Fr. Richard Smith, the Vicar General for the diocese of Joliet, attended the ‘ceremony.’ An eyewitness has told us that...

Pope Leo stated Dec. 23 that he had joined Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Cupich in pleading with Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker not to sign a controversial assisted suicide bill into law and was “very disappointed” when Pritzker ignored their intervention and signed the bill. “I spoke very explicitly with Governor Pritzker about that,” the Holy Father said outside Castel Gandolfo in response to EWTN Vatican correspondent Rudolf Gehrig’s question about the bill. Pritzker visited the Vatican and had an audience with the Pope in November. “At that time, the bill was already on his desk,” the Holy Father said Tuesday....

(The inspiration for posting this information today came by way of Daniel Greenfield: Canada's Euthanasia Kills 96% White People)The money quote, the grand "G" word:Once you start giving people free health care, it's hard to stop them from making use of it unless you also use the same system to kill them.It's a good day to out the name of the guilty party because it's all in there --the bad news buffet and the "unlimited" free socialist manna that kills people en masse. Overwhelmed and demoralized, the abused and abandoned lose hope. And right on cue, along comes the system...

[Catholic Caucus] Why won’t the Vatican clarify Catholic doctrine on homosexuality, women’s ordination?Bishop Marian Eleganti joins me on this episode of The John Henry Westen Show, filmed at this year's Rome Life Forum.Bishop Marian Eleganti joins me on this episode of The John Henry Westen Show, filmed at this year’s Rome Life Forum. We discussed doctrinal ambiguity and confusion in the early months of Pope Leo’s pontificate on key issues such as same-sex “marriage,” women’s ordination, and more. I began the episode by noting that some of the most controversial bishop appointments made by Pope Leo have been those who...

[Catholic Caucus] Fr. Pavone’s laicization came from Pope Francis himself: canon lawyer The shocking decision to laicize pro-life priest Father Frank Pavone without appeal could only have come from Pope Francis himself, according to a prominent canon lawyer.In an interview Sunday with Catholic News Agency (CNA), canonist Father Gerald Murray, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and a regular contributor to EWTN’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” noted that the Pope alone can issue a decision “against which there is no possible appeal.”“Only the Pope, who enjoys ‘full and supreme power in the Church’ (canon 332, 1),...

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] Leo XIV Promotes US Bishop - Fan of 🌈 James Martin and Fiducia SupplicansPope Leo XIV appointed Father Manuel de Jesus Rodriguez as the bishop of Palm Beach, Florida.Born January 15, 1974, in the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez became a Salesian of Don Bosco and was ordained a priest on July 3, 2004. He is currently the parish priest at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Queens, in the Diocese of Brooklyn.Monsignor Rodriguez became a U.S. citizen in 2018. He has regularly been revealing his thoughts on Twitter since 2014.Staunch Loyalist of Wonderful FrancisHe is a priest “who loves...

[Catholic Caucus] BREAKING: Pope Leo appoints bishop who celebrated LGBT Mass with drag queen speakerDuring a July LGBT 'Pride' Mass, Bishop Ramón Pope Leo XIV has appointed a San Diego auxiliary bishop who celebrated an “All are Welcome” LGBT “Pride” Mass – during which a drag queen activist was permitted to speak – as the new bishop of Monterey, California. Bishop Ramón Bejarano was the celebrant of the July 13 Sunday Mass, which was organized by St. John’s “LGBTQ Ministry” and had the full backing of the Diocese of San Diego under Bishop Michael Pham, one of Pope Leo XIV’s...

[Catholic Caucus] Italian diocese tries to normalize homosexual, divorced and ‘remarried’ relationshipsA Catholic diocese in Italy has released a pamphlet of various 'Christian testimonies' that included two homosexual couples and one civilly remarried couple. A Catholic diocese in Italy has released a pamphlet of various “Christian testimonies” that included two homosexual couples and one civilly remarried couple.On December 4, the Family Pastoral Service of the Diocese of Chiavari, Italy, directed by Father Marco Torre, published the pamphlet “There Is No Greater Love.” It includes autobiographical testimonies presented as “exemplary,” without additional doctrinal notes or commentary. There were no official statements...

[Catholic Caucus] Lesbians ‘dressed as brides’ receive ‘blessing’ in Argentine cathedral, priest reports‘Heartbreaking. This Pastor is a wolf in sheep's clothing,’ one Catholic laywoman remarked.A priest in the Cathedral of San Isidro in Argentina blessed two lesbian women dressed as brides, a traditional missionary priest reported.“In the chapel where the Tabernacle is, at 6.15 pm, there was a blessing of two lesbian women dressed as brides,” Father Joao Silveira shared on Twitter. “I told the priest: ‘One thing is accompaniment, but we can’t consent to sin, much less bless it.’ He replied, ‘It’s pastoral,’” Fr. Silveira said. He did not...

[Catholic Caucus] Accountability from the Vatican needed after Cardinal Fernández’s recently unearthed bookCardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández is back in the news - again for the wrong reasons. Simply put, the prelate’s recently unearthed book, titled “¿Por qué no termino de sanarme?” (“Why can’t I finish healing myself?”) and published in 2002, as reported by Vatican news correspondent Michael Haynes, has ignited grave concerns and serious questions.This newly “discovered” book seems to perpetuate all-too-familiar patterns already detectable in Fernández’s erstwhile contentious writings regarding sexuality and mysticism. I shall spare readers from the highly graphic (in fact, I would consider even pornographic)...

Bishops in Germany, Switzerland are supplanting Church teaching with secular ideals: priestIn Germany and in Zurich, the bishops have rendered the observance of the Sixth Commandment optional by exempting Church employees from living according to Catholic teaching.Pope Leo the Great impressively told the faithful of his time: “Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning.” The current canon law says the same thing in CIC, can. 209: “The Christian faithful, even in their own manner of acting, are always obliged to maintain communion with the...

Safe to say, traditional Catholics repelled by the liberal views of the late Pope Francis are not finding much relief under its new pontiff. In October, Pope Leo took yet another sharp-tongued and sarcastic aim at President Donald Trump for ejecting illegal immigrants from America, likening it to abortion and implying he is a hypocrite. "Someone who says I am against abortion but in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don't know if that's pro life," the Bishop of Rome pondered out loud to media from his luxe Castel Gandolfo digs in Italy. Castel...

[Catholic Caucus] New ‘pornographic’ texts by Cardinal Fernández discovered‘Cardinal Fernández's problem also explains the contempt with which he gratuitously treated the Blessed Virgin Mary, denying her two titles used by saints and popes,' observed El Wanderer.More erotic filth by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, Prefect for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) — formerly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — has been reported by the Argentine Catholic website El Wanderer, which described the newly unearthed material as “not only pornographic but also detestable.”The “disgusting” erotic texts are in line with the DDF head’s previously known...