Free Republic

If the doctrine of Sola Scriptura is true, then, as a system of theology, Roman Catholicism ought to be wholeheartedly rejected. This quick inference is not as simplistic as it may first appear. Sola Scriptura not only negates any form of authoritative tradition in Roman Catholicism, it also eviscerates any Roman Catholic doctrine or practice explicitly drawn from Scripture, since the truth of such doctrines is, according to the Council of Trent, only guaranteed by the "holy mother Church" who has the sole authority to "judge of their [the Scriptures'] true sense and interpretation."[1] Therefore, if Sola Scriptura precludes such...

To utterly despair of oneself is infinitely more difficult for a man than to invent some kind of good works.generated self-salvation project. Human beings irresistibly gravitate toward a works or karma-based system because it gives man the false hope that his redemption is within his own reach. But a salvation that is all of grace, a gift earned by Someone else, is so utterly offensive to human nature, so humbling to our pride, that only a supernatural work of grace will bring a person to yield to it.Contrary to popular and cultural concepts of God, the Bible declares that...

DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY WORKS Eph 2:8-10 (8) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:(9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.(10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Definition. Salvation by works is a false doctrine which rejects God's grace policy in the provision of eternal salvation for the human race. Salvation by works rejects the total helplessness of mankind under real spiritual death. Real spiritual death not only means...

The soon-to-be-released encyclical about the environment – no doubt, the biggest collection of rubbish ever published by a Pope – will be presented by three men. One of them if Prof. John Schellnhuber, a well-known climate Nazi. professor Schnellnhuber should, I think, be posed a simple questions: seen that no one believes that his own fantasy-targets about emission reduction will be reached, where does he think the global population should stabilise to avoid planetary food wars, and how does he think the target should be achieved? You see, our Enviro-Goebbels is already on record with saying that around 4.5 degrees...

(Rome) Cardinal Ennio Antonelli is an acknowledged expert on the situation. The 78 year old cardinal knows whereof he speaks. From 2008-2012 he was President of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Now he has publicly warned against giving communion to remarried divorcees. Such a move would be disastrous: it would be a diminishment of the Sacrament, but also the end of the marriage sacrament. Cardinal Antonelli organized two World Meetings of Families in 2009 in Mexico City and in 2012 in Milan. Before Pope Benedict XVI. brought him to Rome, he was since 2001 Archbishop of Florence, and from...

What are the parables of Christ? It’s a deceptively simple question, in part because the two dozen or so parables found in the Synoptic Gospels — the Fourth Gospel contains none — are deceptively simple. They are so apparently simple it is easy to think anyone could have produced them. But as Father George William Rutler notes in “Hints of Heaven: The Parables of Christ and What They Mean for You,” an exquisite collection of reflections, “The only proof I have of their literary superiority is that no one has ever been able to match them.” He compares them...

The Protestant Inquisition: "Reformation" Intolerance and Persecution Dave ArmstrongMarch 07, 2007 "Disclaimer and statement of intent: Unfortunately, the religious "scandal score" needs to be evened up now and then, and the lesser-known "skeletons in the closet" need to be rescued from obscurity, surveyed, and exposed. I take no pleasure in "dredging up" these unsavory occurrences, but it is necessary for honest, fair historical appraisal. This does not mean that I have forsaken ecumenism, or that I wish to bash Protestants, or that I deny corresponding Catholic shortcomings." "Historical facts are what they are, and most Protestants (and Catholics) are unaware...

Can Fallen Man Do Anything to Please God? Question: Can fallen man do anything to please God? Can the natural man make choices all the time for things that are good and evil? Response: All fallen, unregenerate human beings are endowed with many of God's common graces. God has blessed all men with a conscience and the capacity to promote virtue and civil righteousness. It is abundantly clear that many beautiful aspects of the world we live in have been brought forth by those which are unredeemed by God's regenerative grace. God has gifted natural men and women with the...

Too often it is necessary to expose the horrid misbehaviors of prelates such as Cardinal Dolan. You might recall that he was Grand Marshall of New York's last St Patrick Day parade that featured a gay group strutting their perversion. In light of that, it is refreshing to see a prelate taking his vocation as bishop seriously and standing up to mortal sin instead of celebrating it. Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa OK recently pulled his diocese out of a partnership with the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice after the latter became a sponsor of the city's "gay pride"...

 If You Can Use Anything Lord, You Can Use Me – Homily for the 11th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • June 13, 2015The readings today speak of God’s providence, which is often displayed in humble, hidden, and mysterious ways. While it is true that God sometimes works in overpowering ways, His more common method seems to be to use the humble and even unlikely things of the created order to accomplish His goals.For us who are disciples, there are three related teachings that speak of how God will make use of us and of others. It...

A story which happened in Buenos Aires eight years ago helps us to understand the position adopted by Pope Francis regarding the ISIS, the “Islamic State” which has embarked on a merciless hunt against Christians. Avoiding, as always, naming Islam and fanatic Muslims, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, invited “stopping the unjust aggressors” without “any bombing” or “starting a war”. A choice which does not seem to leave escape for the victims and for this judged sterile by many: believers (including Antonio Socci from these columns) and non-believers (the case of Massimo Cacciari). In reality this intervention is perfectly in line with...

In 897 AD, Pope Stephen VII had Pope Formosus’ body exhumed and put on trial at the infamous Cadaver Synod, during which the corpse was found guilty, and stripped of his papal vestments. Pope Theodore II later convened a synod and overturned Pope Stephen’s findings, as did Pope John IX after him. But later, Pope Sergius III overturned the rulings of Theodore II and John IX, and reaffirmed the conviction of Formosus. Perhaps Formosus’ corpse will find some little comfort in the knowledge that it is still—at least for now—listed on Rome’s “unbroken line of popes” currently on display at the...

Last summer in Rome, Pope Francis attended a meeting of Protestant “televangelists” organized by “Bishop” Tony Palmer, who belonged to a breakaway Anglican sect that ordains women. Shortly after this meeting, Palmer was killed in a motorcycle accident. Among the “televangelists” in attendance at the meeting, which lasted more than three hours and included lunch with Francis, were James and Betty Robison and Kenneth Copeland. During the encounter, according to Mr. Robison, Francis made yet another of the plethora of statements indicating that it matters not to him whether Protestants join the Catholic Church. Robison related that Francis had spoken...

The German bishops are offering us a new kind of Christianity despite their claim that no change is being proposed other than in pastoral approach and language. A new pastoral approach would be commendable if applied as Pope Francis intends, to accompany the broken, wounded and lost into the field hospital that is the Church. However, this is not the intention of the German bishops. It is easy to disguise a substantial change to the meaning of marriage by calling it simply a pastoral innovation. The recent confidential day of studies organized by Cardinal Marx, Bishops Markus Büchel and Georges...

As you may recall, when we left Martin Luther last week, he was bewailing and bemoaning the theological chaos that came about early on in the Reformation. There are as many sects and beliefs as there are heads. This fellow will have nothing to do with baptism; another denies the Sacrament; a third believes that there is another world between this and the Last Day. Some teach that Christ is not God; some say this, some say that. There is no rustic so rude but that, if he dreams or fancies anything, it must be the whisper of the Holy...

Judging from one of the three designated presenters at the rollout of the Green Encyclical on June 18, the Encyclical appears likely to be worse than critics feared. Rorate Caeli gives us the details: The Vatican has just revealed in today’s Bollettino the line-up of speakers for the official presentation of the “Environment Encyclical”, Laudato Si, on June 18 at the New Synod Hall. – Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; – His Eminence Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church; – Prof. John Schellnhuber, Founding...

One of the surest signs that the Church is indeed flirting with suicide in our day (as foretold by the future Pope Pius XII in reference to the warnings issued by Our Lady of Fatima) is the view of the priesthood so often put forth by high ranking prelates, up to and including the pope. Before addressing the sad state of current affairs directly, let’s begins by considering the portrait of the priesthood painted by Pope St. Pius X in the Apostolic Exhortation, Haerent Animo, wherein the Holy Father makes his intent quite clear: Our first and chief concern is...

Cardinal Robert Sarah, the highly respected prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the Vatican, appointed in 2014 by Pope Francis, has made it abundantly clear since last October’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family that any attempt to detach Catholic teaching from “pastoral practice” is a form of “heresy and a dangerous schizophrenic pathology.” Speaking on May 20 at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Rome, at the presentation of the Cantagalli book series "Family, Work in Progress", the cardinal sent a clear message to Cardinal...

In September of 1996 I resigned my ministry as a Protestant pastor to enter the Catholic Church. It was a decision that was easy for me to make in that I was convinced that Catholicism was true and that the Catholic Church was my spiritual home. It was a decision that was nearly impossible to make in that I understood the implications of that decision. I knew what it would entail in practical terms. This was beautifully manifest, shall we say, when three months after leaving the ministry I was waiting tables at a restaurant in Encino. I was standing...

Featured Term selected at random:JURIDICAL RIGHTS Those in whose defense or recovery a person may use force or might. Thus the right to life and to property is juridical because normally they are defensible by physical means. An unborn child does not have the strength to defend its right to life. But though physically violated, the right itself remains, for it is still morally inviolable, which is of the essence of right. This has grave practical implications in defending the juridical right to life of the unborn when threatened by abortion. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John...