Free Republic

Vatican Takes ‘Good Faith’ Stance With ChinaEDITORIAL: On the surface, it’s difficult to find many observers who support the Holy See’s assumption of the Chinese government’s good faith.The controversial provisional agreement between the Vatican and the People’s Republic of China on the appointment of bishops that was first signed in September 2018 is up for renewal again this fall, and questions abound about the wisdom of Rome’s willingness to proceed.Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state and the point man on dialogue with China, defended the accord with China’s atheistic and authoritarian communist regime earlier this month. In...

BREAKING: Fr. Altman’s bishop has asked him to resign'What really is at play here, dear family, is that other shepherds are offended because I simply state the fact that they abandoned their sheep in a time of need. If this alleged virus was allegedly a fraction as dangerous as they said it was, it was all the more reason to keep our churches open and get you the sacraments so that you stayed in a state of grace. They put your eternal souls at risk!'Father James Altman, the Wisconsin priest whose video message last fall "You can’t be a Catholic...

A retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel photographed carrying zip-tie handcuffs inside the Capitol during last week’s riot planned to take hostages, a federal prosecutor said Thursday. In wielding the restraints, Larry Brock “means to take hostages. He means to kidnap, restrain, perhaps try, perhaps execute members of the U.S. government,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Weimer. Weimer, who at Thursday’s hearing argued Brock should be detained, did not elaborate on his allegations. The prosecutor read a social media post from Brock the day of the siege, in which he says, “Patriots on the Capitol. Patriots storming. Men with guns...

Kidnapped Priest Tortured to Force Him to Join State-Sanctioned Church 09/28/2020 China (International Christian Concern) – A priest from the Diocese of Mindong who was kidnapped by the Chinese government, was tortured during his detention in an effort to solicit his membership in the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA).Priest Liu Maochun was visiting his parents in a hospital in Guangdong province on September 1, when he was met with police and taken away to an undisclosed location in Fu’an city for interrogation. He was only released 17 days later.According to Bitter Winter, Fr. Liu was ruthlessly tortured. Officers were banging...

The special prosecutor wants to use our editorial as evidence. Sorry. "One of the mysteries of the recent yellowcake uranium flap is why the White House has been so defensive about an intelligence judgment that we don't yet know is false, and that the British still insist is true. So imagine our surprise when Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald declared his intention last month to use that editorial as part of his perjury and obstruction case against former Vice Presidential aide Scooter Libby, who had also questioned Mr. Wilson's claims. It suggests that his case is a lot weaker than his...

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2006 — Thermometers have finally hit the 90's, and Washington is getting the lazy, sultry look that comes as May dissolves into June. We Washingtonians tend to slow down, but the news doesn't. And it won't this summer either, with a decision expected this summer from Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald that will finally determine whether a top White House aide will face serious federal charges in the CIA leak case. Those old enough to remember Watergate will recall the fiercely hot summer of '74, when scandal revelations brought down Richard Nixon's presidency. Now Washington waits to see...

The Lewis Libby defense team filed a new motion last night (the advent of electronic filing means that motions that in the past had to be filed by the close of business on a certain day can now be filed as late as midnight). The filing concerns the argument over press articles that will be used in Libby's trial on perjury and obstruction of justice charges in the CIA leak investigation. The most interesting part of the new filing concerns the recently disclosed copy of Joseph Wilson's July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed with Vice President Dick Cheney's personal...