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ROME — Pope Francis has written to his “Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel,” exhorting them to break the “incessant cycles” of war and hatred in the Holy Land. Since October 7 the Holy Land “has been cast into a spiral of unprecedented violence,” the pontiff writes. “My heart is torn at the sight of what is happening in the Holy Land, by the power of so much division and so much hatred.” In his letter, the pope laments the manifestations of “anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism” that have emerged during the conflict, underscoring the “particular and singular” relationship binding Jews to...

The pair entered the Santa Maria Church in the Sariyer district while Sunday services were being held. Two masked assailants attacked a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul during Sunday services, killing one person, Turkish officials have announced. According to a statement posted on X - formerly Twitter - by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, the armed assailants attacked the Santa Maria Church in the Sariyer district at 1140 am local time. He did not specify what kind of weapons were used or whether anyone else was wounded. Yerlikaya also condemned the attack and said authorities are working on capturing the assailants...

ROME—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Pope Francis to support Kyiv’s formula for peace—based on returning Ukraine’s territory—in a pointed message to the pontiff, who has refused to explicitly condemn Russia’s invasion. The pope, who met with Mr. Zelensky at the Vatican on Saturday, has offered to serve as an intermediary in negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow but his neutral stance, and his suggestions that the West provoked the war, have raised skepticism in Ukraine. ...

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.

NOW - MP Grzegorz Braun extinguishes Jewish Hanukkah candles at Poland's parliament.

Wait! Aren't Republicans the ones who inappropriately drag religion into politics? And surely no Democrat would ever perform a religious ritual as protection against the mention of a Republican's name? And yet . . . On Thursday, Nicolle Wallace's MSNBC show, with Alicia Menendez as substitute host, rolled tape of Biden crossing himself after he mentioned the name of Lauren Boebert. Menendez blithely said, without comment, that Biden "made the sign of the Cross at Boebert's name." Think MSNBC would be so nonchalant if a prominent Republican made the sign of the Cross at the mention of a Democrat's name?Get...

Javier Milei Elected President of Argentina in a Repudiation of Francis and Peronism by the People of ArgentinaJavier Milei, a Catholic libertarian and outspoken critic of Pope Francis, has been elected President of Argentina over a Peronist candidate in a stunning, double-digit upset win. Milei stated that Pope Francis “has an affinity for murderous communists” and accused him of violating the Ten Commandments. Some Westerners thought these comments might hurt Milei in Argentina, Francis's home country. instead, Milei's aggressive criticisms of Pope Francis carried him to an upset victory.Since Francis became Pope a decade ago, Argentina has seen record disaffiliation...

Argentina is teetering on the brink of an unpredictable new political era this weekend with an erratic far-right populist known as “El Loco” (the Madman) the slight favourite to become president of South America’s second-largest economy in Sunday’s election. As polls opened on Sunday morning against a backdrop of soaring inflation and widespread poverty, analysts believed Javier Milei, a TV celebrity turned congressman, held a slender advantage over his rival, the finance minister, Sergio Massa, but said the result was too close to call. Massa, a centrist member of Alberto Fernández’s incumbent Peronist administration, unexpectedly won last month’s first round,...

The Last Gasp of Our Akhenaten Pope Francis's new motu proprio Ad Theologiam Promovendam has called for a "paradigm shift" in Catholic theology, citing the "profound cultural changes" of the modern world as the justification. The pope insisted on a "courageous cultural revolution" within Catholic thought, calling for our theology to become "fundamentally contextual." Among other things, he called for theology to be primarily "inductive," focused on "dialogue and encounter between different traditions and different knowledge, between different Christian confessions and different religions, openly engaging with everyone." He contrasted this new approach with "abstractly re-proposing formulas and themes from the...

Pope Francis reaffirmed the Catholic Church's doctrine that women are not able to receive holy orders. The pontiff discussed the impossibility of female ordination in a Spanish-language book published in June, titled "El Pastor: Desafíos, razones y reflexiones sobre su pontificado" – or in English, "The Shepherd: Struggles, Reasons, and Thoughts on His Papacy,"

ROME – Pope Francis telephoned U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss the need to identify “paths to peace” in the Middle East and elsewhere, the Vatican press office revealed Monday. According to papal spokesman Matteo Bruni, the phone conversation, which took place Sunday afternoon Rome time, lasted about 20 minutes. The White House released its own statement on the call, noting that President Biden spoke with Pope Francis “to discuss the latest developments in Israel and Gaza.”

[Catholic Caucus] Francis admits to being a heretic in latest interview, again attacks the rigid Extracts from the interview with commentary- link to full interview belowAdmits to bearing a heretic- Is it hard being the representative of God on Earth, and at this time?- I’m going to do a heresy. We are all representatives of God. Every person who believes must testify to what they believe and, in this sense, we are all representatives of God. It is true that the Pope is a privileged representative of God (laughs), and I must testify to an inner coherence, to the truth...

Pope Francis calls for obligatory global climate change policies in new document ‘Laudate Deum’Pope Francis' new document, Laudate Deum, calls for international bodies to enforce 'obligatory' policies to implement measures responding to the 'climate crisis.'ATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has published his second document on the topic of “climate change,” condemning “human-induced climate changes” and calling for “obligatory” measures across the globe to address the issue.There must be “binding forms of energy transition that meet three conditions: that they be efficient, obligatory and readily monitored,” wrote Pope Francis, outlining his hopes for the upcoming COP28 “climate change” conference, which...

Pope Francis on Imperialism: Is Russia a Special Case?A month after Pope Francis spoke in favorable terms about Russia’s imperial past, the diplomatic ramifications still reverberate. Last week, the Holy Father received the credentials of the new Russian ambassador, a rather routine encounter, though with a Vatican statement about how friendly the meeting was.A few days later, on Friday, the Holy Father received the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See in a private audience, which is absolutely not a routine encounter. Ambassadors to the Holy See get two meetings with the pope, both pro forma — one when they present...

Today, it was announced that Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, former prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), will not be taking part in the Synod on Synodality 'at his own request.' No other reason was given. The peculiar timing, and absence of any explanation (other than that it was Ladaria's own request), are notable. Ladaria's last day as DDF prefect was September 8. He was replaced on September 11 with Francis loyalist Tucho Fernandez, who has been instructed by Francis to stay away from sex abuse investigations (despite it being a chief duty of his office)....

Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Pope Francis called for stronger measures to protect children, stop war and tackle climate change as he urged the world to "take action before it's too late" in comments Monday during a virtual conversation with former President Bill Clinton in New York City

Pope Francis Says ‘No To War,’ Urges Climate Action in Livestreamed Chat With Bill ClintonDuring a conversation with former President Bill Clinton, Pope Francis urged stronger action on climate change, called for diplomacy instead of war, promoted greater health care access for children, and highlighted the crises facing migrants and refugees.“It is important to spread a culture of encounter, a culture of dialogue, a culture of listening and of understanding,” Pope Francis said on Monday morning, appearing virtually at the Clinton Foundation’s 2023 Clinton Global Initiative meeting.

[Catholic Caucus] The Diocese of Rome’s Rupnik problemThe case of Marko Rupnik, the priest, former member of the Society of Jesus, and alleged serial sexual abuser, is back in the news Monday, after the Diocese of Rome published a statement on its investigation into the artistic community where Rupnik lived and worked. But rather than shedding new light on the accusations against the disgraced religious artist, or how he was allegedly able to groom and sexually abuse women religious for decades, the pope’s diocesan curia issued a statement exonerating the artistic community where he lived and worked. The statement from...

Why a Bishop Should Ignore His Unjust Deposition by a Pope: A DialogueThe following dialogue is based on a real interview that took place between John-Henry Westen and Peter Kwasniewski, the video of which can be seen at LifeSiteNews (link). The transcript has been edited for brevity, clarity, and literary effect (hence the change in names of the speakers, etc.).Servideus: Paulinus, it seems like the pope is going to go after Bishop Strickland. He went after Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres in Puerto Rico, too, when he removed him from office. That bishop allowed for conscientious objection for the COVID vaccines,...

Documents identify thousands of Jews hidden by Catholic religious during Nazi occupation of RomeResearch in the archive of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome has uncovered a list of the names of thousands of Jewish people who found shelter from Nazi persecution in Catholic religious congregations in Rome from 1943-1944.While some of the information was first published in 1961, the full documentation, particularly the lists of people hidden in the Catholic institutions, had been considered lost, a Sept. 7 press release explained.The Nazis occupied Rome from Sept. 10, 1943, until June 4, 1944, when the city was liberated by the...