Free Republic

In 1955, Algeria had over 1 million Catholics and 140,000 Jews. Today, as Pope Leo visits Algeria, there are some 8,000 Catholics in Algeria and there are fewer than 200 Jews.99% of the population of what was one of the old territories of Christianity are Sunni Muslims.Was Islam so popular that all the Christians and Jews decided to convert? Not at all. They were persecuted, murdered, tortured and driven out by Islamic violence that occurred in our lifetimes.Christians and Jews had lived in Algeria since Roman times. Now they’re gone.This Christian genocide was endorsed by major world powers, aided and...

A majority of U.S. Catholic voters supported Donald Trump in his 2024 presidential victory. Yet across the broad Catholic political spectrum – even among conservative-leaning bishops – there is dismay over Trump’s unprecedented verbal assault on Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead their church. Leo says he is sharing a Gospel message and not directly attacking Trump or anyone else with his appeals for peace and criticism of attitudes fueling the war. Criticism of Trump came from Archbishop Paul Coakley, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and from Minnesota-based Bishop Robert Barron, who only a few...

Hours after Leo XIV became pope in May, Trump confidant and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer posted a brief message on social media. It said: “WOKE MARXIST POPE.” She was not the only member of the American right to immediately cast Leo as a culture war villain. Steve Bannon, a Catholic and former altar boy, called him the “worst pick for Maga Catholics” and described his election as a victory for “the globalists that run the Curia”. You might expect Donald Trump’s Maga base to embrace the first American pope. His administration is stacked with officials who speak proudly of their...

President Trump refused to apologize Monday to Pope Leo XIV amid their public fight over the US-Iran war, claiming the leader of the Roman Catholic Church “said things that are wrong.” “He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran — Pope Leo would not be happy with the result,” Trump said. “Iran wants to be a nuclear nation so they can exterminate the world. Not gonna happen.”Trump also accused the pontiff of being “very weak on crime” during an impromptu press availability outside the Oval Office at the White...

In the face of increasing tensions worldwide, Pope Leo XIV has called the faithful to join him in a prayer vigil for peace on Saturday, April 11. In his first Easter message - on Easter Sunday, the pontiff linked Jesus’ Resurrection to peace. He noted that Jesus’ conquest of death, darkness and hatred came at the cost of his life. Still, Jesus gave his life freely out of love — the same love the faithful are called to show to neighbor in a “new humanity” in the Risen Christ. “We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and...

Consternation as Pope Leo meets with former Obama advisor David AxelrodIt is being speculated that the Axelrod meeting could have been preparation for Pope Leo to eventually meet Obama himself.Pope Leo XIV met with David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Barack Obama, in a private audience on Thursday.The Vatican confirmed the meeting with Axelrod and his “entourage,” but details about what was discussed have not been made public. Pope Leo was allegedly 30 minutes late to another meeting because his audience with Axelrod overran.The meeting came in the wake of reports that back in January, the Trump administration demanded...

Days after Pope Leo XIV delivered his State of the World speech, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s U.S. representative, to a closed-door Pentagon meeting for a bitter lecture. “The United States,” Colby said, according to a blistering new report by The Free Press, “has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.” One U.S. official present at the meeting brought up the Avignon papacy, a period in the 14th century in which the French monarchy bent the Catholic Church into submission,...

During Holy Week, as Christians recall how a public change of heart led to what we consider to be the ultimate sacrifice in a state-sanctioned execution, it is a fitting moment to reflect on how justice is carried out today. California holds the largest death row population in the nation, with hundreds of men and women still living under a sentence of death. Yet our state has not carried out an execution in years and has already begun moving toward a more humane vision of justice.

“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” the first American pope, citing a Bible passage, told congregants in St. Peter’s Square, according to The Associated Press. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them,” he added.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said on Thursday that the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran does not meet the Catholic Church’s criteria for a just war. “No, it does not seem to meet the conditions,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an academic conference at the Vatican Apostolic Library. When asked by EWTN News about the decision of the United States to attack Iran, Parolin referred to recent remarks by Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington, D.C. In an interview with his archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Standard, McElroy said the intervention in Iran failed to meet several...

In 2023, LA welcomed 3,462 catechumens and candidates — both children and adults who had never been baptized, plus those who had been baptized but had never completed the other sacraments — into the Church at Easter. Then in 2024, there were 3,596. In 2025, a significant bump of a combined 5,587 entered. For Easter 2026, the archdiocese expects an even more staggering increase: 8,598 catechumens and candidates. So what’s behind the surge in conversions? Some point to a reawakening born from the personal desolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic…Many find it to be a sign of spiritual hunger caused...

People are joining the Roman Catholic Church in surprising numbers. This Easter the Archdiocese of Detroit will receive 1,428 new Catholics into the church, its highest number in 21 years. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston will have its most in 15 years. In the Diocese of Des Moines, the count is jumping 51 percent from last year, from 265 people to 400. “The Times gathered data from two dozen dioceses, like Los Angeles and Phoenix, as well as Gallup, N.M., and Allentown, Pa… Each reported a significant jump. For Jesse Araujo, 19, in Pahrump, Nev., the biggest influence…was listening to Catholic...

[Catholic Caucus] Pro-LGBT Belgian bishop vows to ordain married men to priesthood, citing vocations crisisAntwerp’s Bishop Johan Bonny argued that existing exceptions allowing married priests to minister in the Catholic Church undermine Latin Rite discipline.A Belgian bishop has announced his plan to start ordaining married men to the priesthood by 2028.Bishop Johan Bonny of the Diocese of Antwerp, Belgium, published a pastoral letter on March 20 in which he outlined the practical implementation of the “Synod on Synodality” in his diocese.Addressing the issue of the low number of vocations, he said that “the question is no longer whether the Church...

Pope Leo XIV made a plea on March 18 for countries to offer their citizens universal healthcare, calling it a “moral imperative” that people have access to the health services they need. Previous popes have called for countries to offer universal healthcare, but calling an issue a “moral imperative” is an unusually strong term for a pope to use, indicating that something is required by Catholic teaching. “Universal health coverage is... a moral imperative for societies that wish to call themselves just,” the Pope said in a meeting with participants in a healthcare conference organised by the World Health Organization...

[Catholic Caucus] PHOTOS: Dutch Cardinal Eijk celebrates first public Traditional Latin MassCardinal Eijk’s Pontifical High Mass is particularly significant because the Latin Mass is rare in the Netherlands and it comes despite Vatican officials’ hostility to the traditional liturgy.6, 2026 - 5:24 pm EDTTue Mar 17, 2026 - 7:05 am EDT Listen to this article4 minOSS, Netherlands (LifeSiteNews) — Dutch Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, the metropolitan archbishop of Utrecht, celebrated his first public Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) at the historic Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday.The packed March 15 Laetare Sunday Mass, viewable at the link...

Ted Cruz endorses article accusing Traditional Catholics of being ‘parasites’Traditional Catholics are in the firing line in an article Ted Cruz described as 'the best and most comprehensive explanation of what we're fighting.'On Sunday, March 15, Senator Ted Cruz retweeted a long anti-Catholic X essay by the Republican Zionist account “Insurrection Barbie,” stating:READ every word of this.It’s the best & most comprehensive explanation of what we’re fighting.In the essay, which runs over 8,000 words, the author claimed that the Republican Party was being taken over by a small bloc of Catholics and undermining its support for “Christian Zionism.”A chief influence...

Catholic Caucus] German bishops slammed for naming priest involved in homosexual scandal to abuse victims boardThe German Bishops’ Conference is facing backlash for promoting heterodox Fr. Wolfgang Rothe, an LGBT activist linked to a major homosexual seminary scandal, with multiple bishops reportedly criticizing the appointment.The German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) has faced massive criticism for naming a heterodox priest, who has been accused of having a homosexual relationship with a seminarian, to its advisory board for sexual abuse victims.A recently published exposé by the German magazine Cicero revealed that Fr. Wolfgang Rothe’s appointment to the DBK’s advisory board for sexual abuse...

A California bishop who allegedly frequented Mexican brothels is facing more than a dozen felony charges stemming from allegations that he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his church. Bishop Emanuel Shaleta of Saint Peter’s Chaldean in San Diego pleaded not guilty to eight counts of embezzlement, eight counts of money laundering and one count of aggravated white collar crime enhancement at a court hearing on Monday, according to KUSI. Shaleta was arrested at the San Diego International Airport while trying to leave the country on Thursday, March 5, the San Diego Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Fr. Ripperger: Abomination of desolation refers to Catholic Church becoming ‘compromised’The Book of Daniel refers to the abomination of desolation as tied up with the abolition of a public 'daily sacrifice.'Exorcist Father Ripperger shared in an explosive recent interview that Scripture’s reference to the “abomination of desolation” taking its place in “the temple” is “actually a reference to the Catholic Church being compromised.”Fr. Ripperger explained the reference in an interview with podcaster and former U.S. Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan while refuting Protestants who mistakenly believe that the Book of Daniel’s reference to the “temple” in which the abomination of desolation...

[Catholic Caucus] DC bishop equates God with DEI in blasphemous comments at Black History Month MassWashington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell blasphemously claimed “God is DEI” (diversity, equity, and inclusion) during a homily for the archdiocese’s annual Black History Month Mass at St. Joseph Church last weekend. During his homily for the February 21 Mass, Campbell reflected briefly about how the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is sung shortly before the distribution of the Holy Eucharist and reflected on the word “Dei” (Meaning God), then falsely compared the term to DEI, saying “God is DEI,” per the Catholic Standard, the...