Free Republic

Masseur’s ‘Rainbow’ Logo Sparks Gay RumpusEminent art historian slams Pope Francis' choice of artwork for Holy Year At a press conference in the Apostolic Palace on Tuesday, the Vatican declared Giacomo Travisani — a practitioner of New Age, sensual and healing massage therapies — the winner of its contest for the logo of the Jubilee Year 2025. Travisani wiped his personal Facebook page clean on Friday morning as controversy over his sexuality and profession escalated, after outspoken Catholic politician and writer Mario Adinolfi alleged the logo's designer was a homosexual. A mobile phone number on the therapist's professional Facebook page...

Islam, which if an apology must be offered, is the only kind he should utter: The Holy Father thus sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful, and should have been interpreted in a manner that in no way corresponds to his intentions. On Sunday, he reiterated: Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction sparked by his speech about Islam and holy war and said the text did not reflect his personal opinion. "These (words) were in fact a quotation from a medieval...

Perliminary Tap Protocol:Ideally we should shoot for a 2004 year delegation size of 16.The number that 2002 tapped was 14, and while I think this is a good figure, I believe 16 is better.Given that we can almost always expect a few dropouts next fall I dont think we should go any lower than 14.One problem with the small size of our group is that if a couple are absent the size of the group is really, really small.Anything lower than 14 puts us at having a group our size or even smaller.