Free Republic

We dive deep into the controversial case of Blessed Carlo Acutis and the troubling evolution of the Church's canonization process. Since Pope John Paul II removed the adversarial "devil's advocate" role, canonizations have exploded in number, with one priest lamenting, "We're becoming a factory here." Friends of Carlo share surprising revelations that cast doubt on the narrative around his extraordinary sanctity, raising uncomfortable questions about manufactured devotion versus authentic veneration.

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Pope John XXIII. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Pope John XXIII was the first Pope to modernize the Papal office to the rest of the world. His efforts to expand the Catholic Party's outreach into the Soviet bloc set the state for future popes to engage, culminating in John Paul II's historic alliance with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) While millions of pilgrims are expected to attend the Catholic Church’s first-ever double canonization at the end of April, the Vatican is preparing its most ambitious TV and social media campaign for the millions who don’t make it to Rome.View down Via della Conciliazione to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Harris via Flickr City officials are expecting more than 5 million people to attend the ceremony when Pope Francis declares his predecessors Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII saints in St Peter’s Square on April 27.For the first time viewers will...

The Vatican Press Office has published the details regarding the preparations for the canonisations of Blesseds John XXIII and John Paul II, to be celebrated on 27 April. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to be present Iacopo Scaramuzzivatican city A simple prayer vigil in various churches across Rome the night before the big day, hundreds of thousands of faithful and the possible - though as yet uncertain – presence of the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. This is what the Vatican has in store for the double canonization ceremony that will make John XXIII and John Paul II saints...

The modern history of the Catholic Church has rarely followed the historical arc imagined for it.In the early 19th century, the Church in France was awash in Jacobin-drawn blood, and the Church throughout Europe was reeling from two papal kidnappings by Napoleon. No one imagined that, in the decades just ahead, Catholicism would flourish in the new United States and that the Church’s mission to sub-Saharan Africa would begin in earnest, led by new religious orders founded in the aftermath of the French Revolution.In 1870, when Piux IX retreated behind the Leonine Wall and became the “prisoner of the...

You may have heard some of the rumors or accusations made about Opus Dei, how it is growing cult hiding under the guise of the Catholic Church. This is only the tip of the accusations on dozens of web pages about Opus Dei, which claim it is Fascist, dishonest, completely evil and working to take over the Catholic Church. And if it's on the internet, it must be true, right? Put Opus Dei into your favorite search engine, and of course the official Opus Dei site is listed, but the next entries will all be sites dedicated to letting...

JERUSALEM -- Newly discovered records document the role of Monsignor Angelo Roncalli, a Vatican diplomat in Istanbul during World War II who later became Pope John XXIII, in helping rescue thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust. They also lend weight to arguments that Pope Pius XII, who was pontiff during the war, failed to do all he could to prevent the systematic massacre of millions of Jews. The memoirs, documents and letters stashed away in the private collection of a Jewish associate of Monsignor Roncalli describe frequent late-night meetings in the Vatican compound in the heart of Istanbul. There,...

A Latin document bearing the seal of Pope John XXIII outlined a 1962 Vatican procedure for shielding sexually abusive priests, two lawyers for plaintiffs in cases against the church maintain. The ``Crimine Solicitationis,'' translated as ``Instructions on proceeding in cases of solicitation,'' states abuse cases are subject to the ``papal secret'' and threatens excommunication against victims who do not come forward within 30 days, according to the document given to authorities by Carmen Durso of Boston and Daniel J. Shea of Houston. On Monday, Durso presented an English translation to U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan. ``We gave it to the U.S....