Free Republic

Pope Francis has requested that Roman Catholic priests be given the right to get married. The request applies to priests in Brazil, and is on the agenda for an upcoming synod (church council) in the Amazon region. The controversial move would address the critical shortage of men joining the priesthood

According to the Austrian Catholic website Kath.net, Pope Francis is considering allowing the ordination of so-called viri probati. These “tested men” are said to have “proved their worth” by living virtuously in their marriages and in parish life, indicating a proposed relaxation of the requirement of celibacy in the priesthood for these men who would assist in the duties of celibate priests, including the offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Based on a report in the German newspaper Die Zeit, kath.net says that the promoter of the idea of married priests, Bishop Erwin Kräutler — an Austrian-born prelate who has spent...

At a memorial Mass this week for a Cameroon bishop who died under mysterious circumstances, a cleric who's taken over as the administrator of the diocese charged that the authors of the murder were in the church, "pretending to sympathize," and that the bishop died for standing up against gays in the priesthood.YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon - Ever since the body of Bishop Jean Marie Benoit Bala of Bafia, Cameroon, was discovered in a local river about four miles from where his car had been abandoned, questions have abounded about his death - was it suicide, as the police allege, or a...

Francis Names New Director For Battered Roman Seminary Father Gabriele Faraghini, a Little Brother of Jesus, was named as the new rector of the Seminario Romano where the new priests of the Diocese of Rome are formed. Liberal media calls this enthusiastically "a decision without precedents" in line with Francis' poverty ideology. The Seminario Romano is in a crisis because, like all seminaries run by liberals, it is not attractive for young men who desire to join the priesthood. This year Francis ordained only six men for his diocese of which only three were Romans. In 2015 the diocese ordained...

The man who leads the largest Roman Catholic Church in America is advocating that the church allow married men to become priests, and plans to spend his retirement ministering among the poorest of the poor.Monsignor John McSweeney, 75, who is originally from New York, is concluding 43 years of ministry in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he has most recently served as priest at St. Matthew in Ballantyne, an affluent suburb of the state's most populous city.St. Matthew Catholic Church is the largest Roman Catholic parish in the United States which boasts of over 10,000 families, according to The Charlotte Observer Sunday.Much...

A pair of Swedish priests has demanded the country and church stop celebrating the Swedish national holiday “National Day” saying nationalism and patriotism are “poison”. Priests Peter Englund and Helena Myrstener from the southern, heavily migrant-populated Swedish city of Malmö have said Swedish people should stop celebrating “National Day”. They claim that “nothing good has come out of nationalism or patriotism” and the day has been “exploited by right wing populist forces” in an editorial for left wing Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. “The nation-state is a way to organise and administer but nothing to revere,” the pair wrote. National Day,...

When 19 college guys go to Jamaica for spring break, they usually hit the bar and the beach. Not Nicholas Morrison and his friends. Their trip to Montego Bay this March was far more medieval. Every morning they rose at 5:30 a.m. and prayed. Then they visited abandoned children with disabilities and dug an irrigation trench to protect the kids’ homes from flooding in the coming summer rains.

A rebel Catholic group has ordained its second woman priest in North Carolina, the first in the 46 counties that constitute the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. News outlets report that the Association of Roman Catholic Woman Priests ordained 64-year-old Abigail Eltzroth on Sunday at Asheville's Jubilee, a nondenominational faith community. The group is opposed to the Roman Catholic Church's ban on women priests.

Lately, Chavez declared himself a member of a charismatic congregation, thus allegedly belonging to his country's fastest-growing branch of Christianity. But then he angered the country's National Catholic Bishops Conference by communing at a Mass organized by a priest of pro-Communist leanings. Should you have any doubt that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is in serious decline, consider this: His bust is being removed from the altars of his country's popular religion, a renowned anthropologist told United Press International on Monday. Less than four years ago, the syncretistic Maria Lionza cult celebrated Chavez as the reincarnation of Simon Bolivar, (1783-1830),...

A priest was thought to be missing. His car was found parked and people did know where he was. He was lost and was new to United States. He was using another priest's car whom he had driven to the airport. The priest, Father Julius Ohiaege of Nigeria, was taking the place of the priest he had driven to the Lafayette, Louisiana airport. He was to substitute for the priest at St Leo the Great parish in Leonville. Links to stories on this (which are quite confusing as some still has the priest as being missing): KLFY (CBS News): Priest...

Pope Francis has said he is open to married men becoming priests to combat the Roman Catholic Church's shortage of clergy. In an interview with German newspaper Die Zeit, Pope Francis said the lack of Catholic priests was an "enormous problem" for the Church, and indicated he would be open to a change in the rules governing eligibility for the priesthood. "We need to consider if 'viri probati' could be a possibility," he said. "If so, we would need to determine what duties they could undertake, for example, in remote communities." Viri probati is the Latin term for "tested men"...

Lurid accusations of priests involved in sex orgies, porn videos and prostitution have emerged from several parishes in Italy recently, sending shock waves all the way to the Vatican and challenging the high standards Pope Francis demands of clergy. In the southern city of Naples, for example, a priest was recently suspended from the parish of Santa Maria degli Angeli over claims he held gay orgies and used Internet sites to recruit potential partners whom he paid for sex.

Pope Francis says he is concerned about what he calls a “hemorrhage” of priests and nuns from the Catholic church. […] First among the factors he cited as causing nuns and priests to quit their vocations is a society that discourages lifelong commitments. Francis lamented that many conduct their lives based on “à la carte” choices. …

Bill Donohue comments on the resignation of David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP): He said he “voluntarily resigned” last month, but that is an incomplete, if not dishonest, account. Had it not been for a string of lawsuits and bad publicity, he would have stayed for years. He will now be remembered for running when the going got tough, leaving behind a shell of an organization that is broken both morally and financially. Clohessy is a man who spent a good part of his adult life attacking the Catholic Church and lying...

Father Chad Ripperger and his order are being welcomed by Bp. Samuel AquilaDENVER (ChurchMilitant.com) - A traditional group of exorcist priests, the Doloran Fathers, also known as the Society of the Most Sorrowful Mother, are moving their ministry to Denver. News of the move has been circulating on blogs and has been confirmed by those close to the Doloran Fathers. Neither the archdiocese of Denver nor the Dolorans themselves have yet to release an official statement. Father Chad Ripperger, founder of the Dolorans, was asked to leave the Tulsa, Oklahoma diocese in September 2016, shortly after Bp. David Konderla was...

Washington D.C., Dec 15, 2016 / 03:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- You might have seen an Army chaplain devoutly praying the rosary on the sideline during Saturday's Army-Navy football game. Who was he and what was he praying for? “I always pray for both our teams, for no serious injury on either team. And I pray for the kids on both teams, and just for their holiness and their salvation,” Fr. Matthew Pawlikowski, chaplain of the United States Military Academy at West Point, told CNA. “And then I ask for Army's victory,” he added. Saturday's Army-Navy game was the 117th meeting...

The Catholic Church is intimately concerned about climate change. The Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences is the world's oldest, longest running scientific mission. That body, which advises the pope on matters of science, has concluded that global climate change is real and is caused, at least in significant part, by human activity. This is important to the Church because creation care is part of our mission. We are called to be stewards of creation. It's also important because climate change can exacerbate the ills of poverty. Poor people in much of the world are the most vulnerable to changes.

he papal remedy of Misericordina is not a cure. It is bestowed upon some, some not. This is decided according to how the affected parties will fit into the papal line. Last Friday, the Pope visited seven former priests, who were laicized, and allowed to marry. Not participating were the defenders of the Sacrament of marriage and the Church's moral teachings. At least not those who turned in public appeals with the requests to Pope Francis, to correct the controversial passages of the Post-Synodal Exhortation Amoris laetitia or completely withdraw the letter (Katholisches.info reported). On the previous Friday, there were...

Three priests with the Catholic Church have been kidnapped and murdered in Mexico in less than a week. The high profile murders mark the latest chapter in Mexico’s ongoing crime wave that continues to spread. The most recent murder took place the week of September 19 in the Mexican state of Michoacán when authorities confirmed the kidnapping and murder of Rev. Jose Alfredo Lopez Guillen. Over the weekend, the Michoacán Attorney General’s Office confirmed the discovery of Lopez’ body in a rural area called las Guayabas. Days before the kidnapping of Lopez, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, a group...

My opposition is you, the enemy has no chance against Me in any arena! So do not fear or give in to them but continue to take back My land for this land is the hearts of those yet to be saved. I am not found where a talent is wasted for it shall be given to another . . . My Kingdom is expanding not lukewarm and so as My Mighty Ones push right through the enemy lines, you will find me with those that press into ME for as they gather together to hear ME speak it is...