Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican Newspaper Publishes Gay-Positive Essay from Synod’s Spiritual AssistantParticipants in the Synod on Synodality’s General Assembly are on retreat Monday and Tuesday to prepare spiritually for their deliberations, which formally begin October 2nd. Throughout the month-long assembly, the delegates will be guided by two spiritual assistants , one of whom recently made some LGBTQ-positive remarks.Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, and Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini, OSB, to be the Synod’s spiritual assistants. Radcliffe, the former head of Dominicans worldwide, has been welcoming of LGBTQ+ people for decades. Most recently, he wrote on these issues for the...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal’s tribute to ‘God Save the Queer’ author reflects ‘both/and’ instinctROME – Italy is a county that reveres artists and intellectuals, in part because since antiquity, culture has been its leading export. Thus the recent death of a 51-year-old novelist and essayist named Michela Murgia, after a long struggle with cancer, has been a national drama here, even amid the traditional mid-August doldrums.To be sure, Michela was not everyone’s cup of tea.Although she professed herself to be a believing Catholic, her strongly progressive positions on issues such as women’s liberation, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, euthanasia and artificial reproduction –...