Free Republic

Archdiocese offers Buddhism course in preparation for 2027 World Youth Day The Archdiocese of Milan is promoting a five-part course on Buddhism before World Youth Day 2027 in South Korea while failing to mention Jesus Christ or Catholic teaching.The Archdiocese of Milan launched an official five-part course on Buddhism as preparation for World Youth Day while failing to mention Jesus Christ or Catholic doctrine a single time.On October 21, as reported by the Italian daily newspaper La Verità, details emerged regarding an official initiative organized by the Youth Ministry of the Archdiocese of Milan and the “Carlo Maria Martini Center”...

[Catholic Caucus] New Vatican official renews calls for female deacons Sister Mary Barron has committed to her prior activism for ordaining women, despite the Church clearly reserving Orders for men.A new senior Vatican official has reaffirmed her previous push for female deacons, saying that women “hear the call to priesthood”. On October 8, Sister Mary Barron OLA was named by Pope Leo to become the adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization and president of the Pontifical Mission Societies. A native of Ireland, Sr. Mary spent some years in Nigeria and Tanzania with her missionary Congregation of the Sisters of...

[Catholic Caucus] The uniqueness of Jesus "cannot be absolutized": a Brazilian joins the Theological Commission Tiago de Fraga Gomes, a 39-year-old priest, has been studying Claude Geffré’s religious pluralism since 2015 and in 2025 defended an “even sacramental” integration of irregular situations.Pope Leo XIV on Monday, October 19, appointed Brazilian priest Tiago de Fraga Gomes, 39, a member of the International Theological Commission. He is a presbyter of the Diocese of Osório in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and an associate professor at the School of Humanities of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)...

[Catholic Caucus] Synodal church reverses Our Lord’s mandate to proclaim the Gospel Cardinal Ferrão’s words about the family stem from the Synodal mentality which is essentially rooted in the heresy of Universalism.I have recently read the statement by Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão regarding the family at the Amoris Laetitia Summit in Rome. I was disturbed but not as utterly shocked as I should have been.I would have been more shocked had the statement not been a part of a whole host of alarming comments and actions from some of the hierarchy of the Church rooted in the so-called Synodal Way.Ponder...

[Catholic Caucus] Fr. Chad Ripperger silenced by his bishop for a year Denver Archbishop James Golka has ordered Fr. Chad Ripperger to cease all public ministry – no talks, no preaching, no writing – for one year.Denver Archbishop James Golka has ordered Father Chad Ripperger, the most widely heard living American priest on exorcism and spiritual warfare, to cease all public ministry for one year, LifeSiteNews has confirmed directly with the priest. The order seems to cover public appearances, online homilies, and writings. Talks already booked are to be cancelled. Ripperger was scheduled to speak at the upcoming LifeSiteNews 30th...

[Catholic Caucus] Leo XIV-appointed Missio President doubles down: Women called to priesthood. Pope Leo XIV appointed Irish Sister Mary Teresa Barron on October 8, as president of the Pontifical Mission Societies (Missio) and adjunct secretary of the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization.On October 19, she told EWTNNews.com: “Who am I to say whether the door is open or closed to women priests?”“Women today may hear the call to priesthood,” she said. “So for me, itʼs how do we within Church facilitate that discernment?”Sister Barron wants the Church to accompany women who feel "called to the priesthood", “What do we do as...

Pope Leo encyclical makes ‘Spirit of Assisi’ Church teaching, cardinal claims Cardinal George J. Koovakad says Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas made the 1986 Assisi interreligious prayer gathering a defining criterion ‘through which to interpret the present.’A Vatican cardinal has claimed that Pope Leo XIV has elevated the interreligious “Spirit of Assisi” to the level of the Church’s ordinary Magisterium.On October 7, during an address delivered at the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome, Cardinal George J. Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, asserted that paragraph 223 of Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas officially incorporated the “Spirit of Assisi” into...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope names members of Vatican’s key advisory theology commission The members will serve for a five-year term, with some of the new intake raising eyebrows due to their questioning of Catholic teaching on ordination and homosexuality.A series of new members of the International Theological Commission have been appointed today, comprising the new faces of the organisation which serves as an advisory body to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Working from his recovery room in the Apostolic Palace, Leo XIV finalised the new look of the International Theological Commission (ITC), after the previous members have come...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Bernardin’s ‘seamless garment’ theology lives on under Pope Leo Pope Leo’s Vatican praised Cdl. Bernardin as a model for the Church despite his ‘seamless garment’ theology undermining Catholic teaching on bioethical matters.The Vatican’s media arm has published a tribute to Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, whose controversial “seamless garment” theology – which blurs important distinctions in Catholic moral teaching – has influenced Pope Leo XIV’s approach to bioethics.On October 17, Vatican News published the complete text of a lecture delivered by Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, exalting his predecessor, Bernardin, on the 30th anniversary of his death as “An example...

Jesuit-run Georgetown University celebrates pro-LGBT ‘OUTober’ Some of Georgetown's upcoming 'OUTober' celebrations include a Catholic 'Mass of Belonging,' a Jewish 'Pride Shabbat,' and 'Queer Space Pumpkin Decorating.'Georgetown University, the nation’s oldest Catholic and Jesuit university, is hosting several pro-LGBT events as part of its celebration of “LGBTQ+ History Month,” or “OUTober,” while trying to claim a Catholic identity.In an October 1 announcement, the university touted the fact that it was the first “Catholic, Jesuit higher education institution” to create an “LGBTQ Resource Center,” and emphasized that it is proud to celebrate the “LGBTQIA+ community” throughout “OUTober,” which the Church commemorates...

[Catholic Caucus] The Quiet Revolution Undermining Catholic Tradition | A Bishop Speaks The Church's most dangerous revolution is the one that never admits it is happening. Bishop Rob Mutsaerts exposes how pastoral ambiguity, progressive reforms, and local experiments erode Catholic teaching while claiming to leave doctrine untouched.The Deceptive Tactics of the Quiet RevolutionOver the course of two thousand years, the Catholic Church has endured just about everything that can happen to an institution: bad popes, corrupt bishops, heresies, schisms, revolutions, persecutions, decadent monasteries, dissolute clergy, and theologians so determined to be original that, in the end, they were the only...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop bans St. Michael prayer at the end of Masses The St. Michael the Archangel prayer ban at Masses comes a year after Bishop Mark Beckman limited the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Knoxville.Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville, Tennessee, banned the praying of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel at the end of masses in his diocese.In a statement to members of the Diocese of Knoxville published Friday, Beckman lamented that as he has traveled throughout his diocese, he “noticed that in some of our parishes additional prayers, including the Prayer to...

[Catholic Caucus] Austrian theologian: Ending synodal process would be an ‘ecclesiological problem’ An Austrian theologian who advised the Synod on Synodality argues the process must become a 'lasting culture' in the Church under Pope Leo XIV. A theological adviser to the Synod on Synodality has called for the process to continue indefinitely, declaring that synodality is not a project with an “expiration date.”Klara-Antonia Csiszár, a pastoral theologian who serves as vice rector of teaching and research at the Catholic Private University of Linz, gave an interview to katholisch.de – the online news portal of the German Bishops’ Conference – in...

[Catholic Caucus] At Leo XIV’s meeting on Amoris Laetitia, there was no longer any talk of “irregular” relationships At Leo XIV’s meeting on Amoris Laetitia, there was no longer any talk of “irregular” relationships, the married Münster theologian Christian Bauer, who attended the meeting as an “expert”, told katholisch.de on October 16.The document’s methodological paradigm shift is no longer being questioned: “One must proceed synodally from concrete experiences, rather than hierarchically from abstract principles.”At the same time, Bauer invokes the “principle of gradualness”: “The grace of Christ operates not only in sacramental marriages but also, in a mysterious way, already...

[Catholic Caucus] The Modernist Gospel of Lived Experience: Rome Rediscovers the Heresy Condemned by St. Pius X At Leo XIV’s Vatican, theology is now said to emerge from people’s experiences. St. Pius X exposed this inversion of Catholic faith 119 years ago.The Modernists Are Finally Saying It Out LoudSometimes the Modernists make their intentions so obvious that one wonders why they bother dressing them up in theological jargon.During the October 14 Vatican press conference marking the tenth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia, Fr. Stanislaus Chu Ilo, a Nigerian theologian at DePaul University, offered this remarkable explanation of the theological revolution currently...

Bishop Schneider: ‘We cannot continue with the Novus Ordo’ Bishop Athanasius Schneider defended the positions of the SSPX against Vatican II’s ‘ambiguities’ and the Novus Ordo’s ‘defects.’Bishop Athanasius Schneider called out the “doctrinal and liturgical defects” of the Novus Ordo Mass.In an exclusive interview with journalist Michael Haynes published Tuesday, Schneider praised the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) as a “work of Divine Providence.” The bishop, one of the clerics best acquainted with the SSPX in the world, defended the Society’s criticisms of the Second Vatican Council and of the Novus Ordo Missae.Schneider highlighted the fact that the traditional...

[Catholic Caucus] German bishops’ chairman confirms controversy over Communion for divorced Catholics at Vatican meeting Bishop Heiner Wilmer, chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, has confirmed that Holy Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics was discussed “at length and with some controversy” during the Vatican meeting marking ten years of Amoris laetitiaThe question of Holy Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics prompted controversy during a Vatican meeting marking the tenth anniversary of Amoris laetitia, Bishop Heiner Wilmer has confirmed.Bishop Heiner Wilmer of Münster, chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, said the issue was discussed “at length and with...

[Catholic Caucus] EXCLUSIVE: Amoris laetitia synthesis report to address Communion for divorced Catholics, but issue ‘not the centre’ A member of the committee responsible for the final synthesis report on Amoris laetitia has confirmed to AdVaticanum that the document will address Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, but insists the issue was “not the centre” of discussions, with Pope Leo XIV to review the report before its publicationA member of the committee responsible for reviewing the final report on the tenth anniversary of Amoris laetitia has confirmed to AdVaticanum that the document will address Holy Communion for divorced and...

[Catholic Caucus] James Martin: Gays ‘treated like dirt’ by being asked not to receive Communion In a podcast with JD Flynn, James Martin erroneously called denial of Holy Communion to sexually active homosexuals mistreatment rather than fidelity to Jesus Christ.Notoriously heterodox Jesuit priest Fr. James Martin, S.J., claimed in a recent interview that homosexuals are “treated like dirt” in parts of the Church, citing as an example the refusal of Holy Communion when a priest knows someone is “doing whatever and you’re gay.”In the October 12 episode of The Pillar Podcast titled “On bridges, with Fr. James Martin,” hosted by...

Catholic parish to host female Lutheran ‘pastor’ for pro-LGBT talk Catholic leaders call on Archbishop Jeffrey Grob to 'cancel the event' led by a pro-LGBT 'heretic' Lutheran 'minister.'Three Catholic organizations are calling on the Archbishop of Milwaukee to stop a parish event featuring a female Lutheran pastor who will discuss ways the parish can be more supportive of homosexuality and transgender ideology.“How can other faith traditions help us more fully welcome LGBTQ+ people in our Catholic community,” a Facebook post from St. Sebastian parish in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee asks.The parish “welcome” group will host “Rev. Rachel Young Binter, a...