Free Republic

Pope Leo doubles down on Vatican rejection of ‘Co-Redemptrix’At a time of apostasy, impurity, and confusion, the faithful do not need a diminished Mother.On Thursday morning, Pope Leo XIV publicly praised a Vatican document that has already sparked one of the most serious Marian controversies in decades.Addressing the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pope commended the doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis, issued under the extremely controversial Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, infamous for his books on kissing and orgasms.Leo praised the Fernández document, saying it “encourages popular Marian devotion, deepening its biblical and theological foundations, and at the...

Is the Francis era continuing in Leo’s interreligious appointments?Pope Leo XIV has appointed 19 new consultors to the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, a move that broadly confirms the trajectory of nominations established under Pope Francis.The Holy See announced the appointments on Monday, naming clerics, religious sisters, and lay academics from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas to advise the dicastery in its work.The consultors come from a wide range of theological, cultural, and institutional backgrounds and include figures already prominent in synodal processes, interreligious initiatives, and Catholic social movements.Among those appointed is Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for...

Pope Leo says different Christian faiths are ‘already one’<Pope Leo's claim directly contradicts Catholic teaching that Christian unity is grounded in shared faith, the sacraments, and governance.Pope Leo XIV concluded the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by declaring that different Christian faiths are already “one.”“We are one! We already are! Let us recognize it, experience it and make it visible!” Leo said in his Sunday homily on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul at the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls in Rome.As Vatican News put it, he stressed how “different Christian religions share the same...

[Catholic Caucus] BREAKING: Pope Leo appoints pro-LGBT archbishop as secretary for Dicastery for ClergyArchbishop Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli's pro-LGBT views were recounted in a description of his response to the same-sex 'marriage' of a Catholic scout leader.Pope Leo XIV has appointed a controversial and homosexualist archbishop to a prominent role in the Vatican.Archbishop Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli of Gorizia was named today as the new Secretary for the Dicastery for Clergy.Raedelli and his pro-LGBT views were mentioned in a 2020 book by Luciano Moia, a senior journalist for the Italian Bishops’ Conference’s daily newspaper Avvenire. In his book, Moia argues...

[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] Pope Leo’s US nuncio bars Fr. Frank Pavone from offering funeral Mass for his motherCardinal Christophe Pierre refused the request of America's best-known pro-life priest from offering a funeral Mass for his mother, who died at 91 on December 15.Pope Leo’s Nuncio to the United States has refused the request of America’s best-known pro-life priest from offering a funeral Mass for his mother, who died at 91 on December 15.Cardinal Christophe Pierre replied Thursday to a December 16 request for permission from Frank Pavone, saying “I believe that the limitations imposed by your canonical status, compounded by the...

Pope Leo XIV is expected to accept Timothy Cardinal Dolan’s resignation this week — and will possibly name a bishop from the pontiff’s Illinois home state to lead the Archdiocese of New York, well-placed sources said. Dolan, who has served as archbishop since 2009, submitted his resignation in February after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75. Insiders said the Holy Father is now set to accept the resignation, and that he is considering naming Bishop Ron Hicks, of Joliet, Ill., near the pope’s Windy City hometown, to replace Dolan.

Meet the new pope, same as the old pope Is Pope Leo XIV just Francis 2.0?At the time of his election in May and in the months immediately following, this correspondent expressed a cautious optimism that Pope Leo XIV would reunite the Catholic Church after the catastrophic papacy (in the late Cardinal Pell’s words) of Francis. Papa Prevost was owed at least that much, since it is generally unwise to rush to a priori judgements; the man had to be given a chance to get his feet under the desk. Having had that chance, what has emerged from the Vatican...

[Catholic Caucus] Leo XIV’s first great test: unity, contradiction, and the College of CardinalsLess than twenty-four hours after formally closing the Holy Year itinerary he inherited from Pope Francis, Leo XIV will host a meeting that will be pivotal for his reign.The extraordinary consistory of cardinals scheduled for January 7 and 8 will be the first since August 2022. Francis held only three such meetings during his reign, but he also created the significant majority of the College and expanded the Church’s global reach by creating cardinals as far afield as Tonga and Mongolia.The huge geographical distances between cardinals meant...

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...

VATICAN CITY — Catholics and Protestants around the world expressed concern this week, as Pope Leo XVI gave his recommendation that Christians pray the rosary while facing in the direction of Mecca. The pontiff made the proclamation after visiting Turkey and Lebanon, stating that not only should the West be less fearful of the spread of Islam, but all Christians should seek to live more peaceably by facing toward the holiest of Islamic sites when they pray the rosary. "This is an important step toward helping the Muslims conquer us all," Pope Leo said. "I do not think that Christians...

The Pope’s interfaith rhetoric collapses against Europe’s blood-soaked reality, revealing a globalist agenda that demands Christian nations surrender to the very forces destroying them. The Pope’s interfaith rhetoric collapses against Europe’s blood-soaked reality, revealing a globalist agenda that demands Christian nations surrender to the very forces destroying them. On his carefully orchestrated “interfaith” tour through Turkey and Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV was confronted with a question he could no longer avoid: whether Islam threatens the Christian identity of the West. The Pope was asked a serious and unavoidable question: “Is Islam a threat to the Christian identity of the West?”...

Pope Leo just wrapped his tour of oppressed Christian communities in Islamist dominated nations like Turkey and Lebanon. Rather than directly address the persecution of Christians, he praised the local regimes, met with Muslim leaders, took off his shoes at a mosque and took refuge in vague generalities. In Lebanon, Pope Leo offered no direct criticism of Hezbollah or Islam. He visited and prayed at the Port of Beirut, where a Hezbollah weapons explosion killed over 200 people, many of them Christians, and the blast damaged churches and devastated families. Pope Leo avoided placing blame, claiming instead that it’s natural...

Rome’s Failure to Correct Germany’s Bishops has Emboldened Their Pro-LGBT AgendaAs the country’s bishops issue a new document encouraging diversity of sexual identities in Catholic schools, German Catholic sociologist Gabriele Kuby explains the full extent of the crisis.A recently published document from the German bishops encouraging Catholic school pupils to self-identify according to their “sexual identity” is the latest significant departure of the bishops’ conference from the Church’s teaching, re-igniting talk of a possible new, German-born schism.The “orientation aid,” published on Oct. 30, states that Catholic schools should consider “diversity of sexual identities is a fact,” effectively normalizing any pupil...

Pope Leo urges Christians to ‘be less fearful’ of Islam, encourages ‘dialogue’ with Muslims'One of the values of this trip is precisely to raise the world’s attention to the possibility that dialogue and friendship between Muslims and Christians is possible,' Leo stated.Pope Leo XIV has spoken warmly about the relationship between Muslims and Christians and downplaying fears of Islamization.During his recent international trip to Turkey and Lebanon, the Pope gave a speech at an interfaith meeting held at Martyrs’ Square in Beirut.“Dear friends, your presence here today, in this extraordinary place where minarets and bell towers stand side by side,...

Pope Leo lays wreath at grave of Turkish leader Atatürk despite links to anti-Christian genocidesUnder the leadership of Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, his forces committed widespread murder and persecution of Greek, Armenian, and other Christian minorities.Pope Leo XIV paid homage at Atatürk’s tomb on November 27, 2025, at Anıtkabir in Ankara, despite the Turkish leader’s links to genocides against Christian minorities.On November 27, 2025, in Ankara, Pope Leo XIV – arriving for his first apostolic visit to Turkey – paused at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, where he laid a wreath and signed the Honor...

Pope Leo XIV called a two-state arrangement the “only solution” to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, doubling down on the Holy See’s longstanding position in his first airborne news conference en route to Lebanon on Sunday. “We all know that at this time Israel still does not accept that solution, but we see it as the only solution,” he said, as he flew from Istanbul to Beirut for the second and final leg of his maiden voyage as pope. “We are also friends with Israel, and we are seeking to be a mediating voice between the two parties that might help...

Pope Leo XIV concluded the first day of his apostolic visit to Lebanon with a vist to the Monastery of the Carmelite Sisters of the Theotokos in Harissa.

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican says 4 papal documents issued under Leo XIV are part of the ‘mandate’ of Pope FrancisWith two new documents in addition to the notes on marriage and Marian titles, 'the mandate Pope Francis had given us two years ago comes to an end,’ declared Fr. Armando Matteo.During the presentation of the doctrinal note on marriage, Una Caro, in the Holy See Press Office on November 25, Father Armando Matteo, secretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated that the two documents published this month – along with two soon to be released – are...

Leo XIV Appoints Bishop Monteiro: Favours Female Ordination, Refers to Protestants as Role Model Today, Pope Leo XIV has appointed Rev Yohanes Hans Monteiro, 54, as Bishop of Larantuka, Indonesia.He was ordained a priest on July 14, 1999. The article's picture shows him in 2024 celebrating 25 years as priest.Rev Monteiro completed a doctorate in 2018 in liturgy at the anti-Catholic University of Vienna, Austria."No Harm If Women Are Ordained"In 2024, Monsignor Monteiro wrote together with a certain Fransiska Widyawati a 16 page study entitled “Paus Fransiskus dan Kepemimpinan Perempuan dalam Gereja Katolik” (Pope Francis and women’s leadership in the...