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Former President Obama congratulated Pope Leo XIV, a Chicago native, on his selection as the next pontiff for the Roman Catholic Church. “Michelle and I send our congratulations to a fellow Chicagoan, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV,’ Obama wrote in a Thursday post on X. “This is a historic day for the United States, and we will pray for him as he begins the sacred work of leading the Catholic Church and setting an example for so many, regardless of faith,” he added. Leo, formerly known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Peru. He is...

Pope Francis is suffering from pneumonia but is nevertheless in “good spirits”, the Vatican has said.The Holy See has been forced to cancel this weekend’s Holy Year events, the Vatican added, after scans of his chest on Tuesday which revealed the inflammatory condition in both lungs.In a statement, the Vatican said: “The follow-up chest CT scan to which the Holy Father underwent this afternoon... demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia, which required additional drug therapy.”

Cardinal Müller on Trump: ‘Better a good Protestant than a bad Catholic’ in the White HouseGerman Cardinal Gerhard Müller said many prelates privately support Donald Trump but fear speaking out, adding that Trump upholds ‘natural law values’ better than Catholic President Joe Biden.Cardinal Gerhard Müller has said that many bishops and cardinals favor President Donald Trump but are afraid to say it publicly.In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the former head of the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith said that he “personally prefer[s] Donald Trump to Joe Biden.”When asked why that is, despite...

The Bible is pro-transgender, according to guidance promoted by an Anglican campaign group. It claims that “not everyone in the Bible is cisgender” – their gender at birth – and says that biblical stories contain “some clear queer characters”. This argument rests on the treatment of eunuchs in scripture and women taking part in apparently masculine activities in the Bible. The guidance is contained in resources hosted on the website LGBT Faith UK. A link to the document states: “The Bible affirms trans, intersex and queer people.” The text begins by stating: “Not everyone in the Bible is cisgender. Nor...

ROME — Pope Francis has proclaimed a special jubilee pilgrimage for gays and all LGBTQ+ people, Italian media announced this weekend. For the first time, a specific Jubilee event will be dedicated to Catholic homosexuals and LGBT people, noted the Italian daily, Il Messaggero, despite the Catholic Church considering homosexual acts to be intrinsically disordered. On September 5, Catholic members of the LGBTQI+ community will be hosted by the Jesuit Church of the Gesù, in central Rome, for a vigil service. The Jubilee 2025 initiative is sponsored by Jonathan’s Tent, an Italian pro-LGBTQ organization founded in 2018 by Catholic priest...

Most Catholics in all seven countries want the church to allow Catholics to use birth control. In most of the countries surveyed, majorities of Catholics also say the church should allow women to become priests.Opinion is more divided on whether the church should allow priests to get married. Views on whether the church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples vary among Catholics in the countries surveyed. Ten years ago, nearly all Catholics surveyed there (98%) expressed a favorable opinion of Francis, compared with 74% today.

ROME — Pope Francis told CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell that conservatives are willfully blind and manifest a “suicidal attitude” in their narrowmindedness. In an interview set to air Sunday on 60 Minutes, the pope asserts that a conservative “is someone who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that. It is a suicidal attitude.” “One thing is to take tradition into account and consider situations from the past but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box,” he adds. The Pope addresses his conservative critics in the church. “Conservative is one who clings to...

A strong majority of U.S. adults believe religion is losing its influence in public life, a new Pew Research Center survey found. Overall, 80 percent of U.S. adults say religion’s role in American life is shrinking, “a percentage that’s as high as it’s ever been,” according to the poll report. Nearly half (49 percent) say the decline of religious influence in public life is a “bad thing.” Eight percent say religious influence is “growing and this is good.” Only 6 percent say religious influence is “growing and this is bad,” and 13 percent say religious influence is “shrinking and this...

I am writing as a Christian pastor — a Baptist, no less — serving churches for the past 52 years. Of course, I favor Christianity. And in my ministry, I invite persons to consider faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, it may seem surprising that I am a leader of an effort in Kansas City during this election year to resist White Christian nationalism. White Christian nationalism does not invite people into faith, but rather seeks to dominate, control and coerce not only individuals, but society.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral says it was duped into hosting a “sacrilegious” funeral for a transgender activist on Thursday, which left church brass outraged after she was eulogized as “St. Cecilia, mother of all whores.” More than 1,000 mourners, many of whom were transgender or clad in flashy outfits, packed into the iconic cathedral to celebrate the life of Cecilia Gentili — a high-profile activist who advocated for the trans community, sex workers and HIV/AIDS patients, the New York Times reported. Many of the attendees donned miniskirts and fishnet stockings while others wore halter tops and high-heel shoes during a sometimes...

We've discussed the frustrating, borderline heretical, and highly politicized pontificate of Pope Francis at length here at Twitchy. So when we saw these comments, we were both shocked and not shocked at all: NEW - Pope: Marxists and Christians have a "common mission." pic.twitter.com/Tr0NVbzX0t — Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) January 13, 2024 Oh really? Well, the Catholic News Agency elborates: Pope Francis this week called for cooperation between Christians and Marxists as a way to achieve greater “dialogue” and help in the search for the “common good.” “I thank you for your commitment to dialogue,” the pope said in a private meeting...

As the Episcopal Church consecrated Gene Robinson the 9th bishop of New Hampshire in November 2003, he wore the customary vestments. He was also wearing a bullet-proof vest. What made the occasion controversial, indeed historic, was the Church's acceptance of Gene Robinson as the first openly-gay bishop in all of Christendom. Robinson is quick to point out that there have always been gay bishops in the Episcopal Church. "There have been a lot of us, let's just be clear," he said. "I'm just the first openly-gay one." Almost certainly the first Episcopal Bishop with purple nail polish. This was, of...

In an interview with Mexican television N+, Pope Francis revealed that he will not be buried inside the Vatican, but that he asked to be buried in the royal church of Santa Maria Maggiore, which is located near Rome’s main railway station Termini. In this church is the Byzantine icon of the Virgin Salus Populi Romani, “for the salvation of the Roman people”, in front of which the Pope kneels and prays when he returns from every trip.

An online Christian preacher has been ordered by a Washington County judge in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to stay silent on social media for five years after he expressed his moral and religious concerns in posts about a church that endorses same-sex marriage and a public drag queen performance in front of children. A team of attorneys with The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, has stepped in to help Rich Penkoski. They're asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to overturn the five-year restraining order against him, denouncing it as excessive and a clear violation of the pastor's First Amendment rights to...

JERUSALEM — The Greek Orthodox Church on Wednesday accused Israeli police of infringing on the freedom of worshippers with “heavy-handed” restrictions on how many pilgrims can attend the “Holy Fire” ceremony amid soaring tensions. Israeli police said the limits are needed for safety during Saturday’s celebration at the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the 12th-century holy site where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected. Saturday’s “Holy Fire” celebration comes during an unusual spate of violence in the Old City, touched off by an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, the compound that’s...

The Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday ousted its second-largest congregation — Saddleback Church, the renowned California megachurch founded by pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren — for having a woman pastor.

Cardinal George Pell had told friends of his desire to spend his final years in Australia, but in the end, he would spend some of his last days furiously working on a fierce criticism of the Vatican.Only after his death have his recent critical writings of the church and its leader been revealed, including claims he anonymously published scathing pieces under a pseudonym."The most recent articles that have come out that have been critical, quite critical of the Francis papacy," Elise Anne Allen, from the Catholic news site the Crux, told the ABC."One thing Pope Francis appreciated about him at...

Vatican journalists are reporting Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has died following complications from hip replacement surgery. The Herald Sun has sought confirmation from a number of Cardinal Pell’s representatives. He was 81. Since being acquitted of child sexual abuse offences by the High Court in 2020 Pell had spent time between Rome and Sydney. Despite having convictions on five child sexual abuse charges over the abuse of two choir boys quashed by the High Court, the Cardinal was being sued by the father of one of the boys. The boy died of a heroin overdose in 2014...

American Catholic priests are becoming more conservative, even as their flocks are becoming more liberal. U.S. Catholic bishops elected conservative leaders last month, continuing to resist a push from Pope Francis to put social issues such as climate change and poverty on par with the bishops’ declared priority of opposing abortion. The U.S. hierarchy’s orientation reflects the wider trend of an American clergy with values at odds with those of an increasingly liberal laity and a pope who has encouraged the questioning of once-taboo subjects and leniency on some teachings of sexual morality. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced he is seeking to ban all religions with ties to Russia under a new law. He claims the move is needed to “guarantee spiritual independence to Ukraine.” The measure will target millions of Ukrainians who identify as Russian Orthodox. During his nightly address on Thursday, Zelensky announced he was introducing legislation that would eliminate religious organizations affiliated with Russia from operating in Ukraine. He said this will make “it impossible for religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation to operate in Ukraine.” The Ukrainian leader said it was necessary to purge...