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A majority of Americans believe the country would be better off if people followed the teachings of the Bible over the Koran, the Muslim holy book. Lifeway Research interviewed 1,000 Americans to learn their opinions about the Bible and Koran. The results are a bit shocking. Questioners asked interviewees if they considered the text of each book to be dangerous, and if it would be helpful, or harmful for American society to follow the teachings of each. Twenty-four percent of Americans considered the Koran to be a dangerous book, and only 9 percent felt that way about the Bible. Eighty...

German journalist Paul Badde recounts the actions of the Belgian cardinal - whose participation in the recent family synod drew criticism - at the time of Pope Benedict XVI's election.VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis' choice of Cardinal Godfried Danneels to attend last month's Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family as one of his 45 papal delegates was heavily criticized on account of the Belgian cardinal's record. The archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels advised the king of Belgium to sign an abortion law in 1990, told a victim of clerical sex abuse to keep quiet and refused to forbid pornographic, "educational"...

Los Angeles, Calif., Nov 6, 2015 / 12:24 am (CNA).- The miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is centuries old and her message to St. Juan Diego has been translated into numerous languages over the years. Countless books have been written about the apparition, and the tilma itself has been intensely scrutinized by scientists. So what more can we learn about Our Lady of Guadalupe and her message? Plenty, says Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, who along with postulator for St. Juan Diego's cause for canonization, Msgr. Eduardo Chavez Sanchez, has produced the new documentary, "Guadalupe: The Miracle and the...

DUBLIN, November 4, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - A Nigerian priest who condemned Irish supporters of same-sex "marriage" has sparked a debate about whether the Irish should accept African priests with unpopularly orthodox beliefs or push for married priests and more roles for women. To Nigerian Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Oyo, it is a no-brainer. "There should be absolutely no problem," he told LifeSiteNews, "for priests from anywhere in the world to come back and help Ireland," especially after so many Irish missionaries spread the Gospel to Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Not everyone agrees, especially after Fr. Joseph Okere allegedly...

Highly restricted church is minuscule, but is it genuine?For more than 65 years, the Catholic Church in North Korea has been known as the "silent church." Then dictator Kim Il-sung purged and executed leading church figures after the communists took power in the north in 1948, severing ties with the Vatican. Contact between North Korean Catholics and the outside world remains rare. Following one such meeting last week, a delegation of a dozen Western and South Korean Christians to North Korea confirmed the church remains minuscule. Nonetheless, a few hundred Catholics can worship within the narrow confines imposed by the...

An interview with Matthew Cullinan Hoffman about his new translation of a treatise against sodomy, pederasty, and clerical corruption penned nearly a thousand years ago by a great reformer and Doctor of the ChurchPope Benedict XVI, in his September 9, 2009 general audience, noted that the Benedictine monk, cardinal, and Doctor of the Church, St. Peter Damian (1007-72), was "one of the most significant figures of the 11th century ... a monk, a lover of solitude and at the same time a fearless man of the Church, committed personally to the task of reform, initiated by the Popes of the...

Dominican theologian Thomas Michelet lays bare the ambiguities of the synodal text. Which has not brought unity but has papered over the divisions. The conflict between "hermeneutic of continuity" and "hermeneutic of rupture." The dilemma for Francis ROME, November 4, 2015 - Two weeks after its conclusion, the interpretations of what the synod on the family said still do not match up. For some, this uncertain outcome was intentional. Fr. Adolfo Nicolas Pachon, the superior general of the Jesuits whom Pope Francis included on the commission charged with writing the final "Relatio," openly claimed it as a success just after...

The musician says the Pontiff has brought the Church 'into the 21st century'Elton John has said he would like to meet Pope Francis, who he has previously described as a "hero". On BBC Radio 4's flagship Today programme the musician said he considered Pope Francis an "ally" against conservative bishops in Africa in his views on same-sex relationships. "My sly bet is yes he is. He's just had the [synod] in Rome and I think he's fighting an uphill battle against the African cardinals and bishops." Elton John said his message to the Pope was: "Keep going, keep pushing it....

I haven't seen much attention given to this-presumably, the only Holy Communion issues people were writing about and discussing in October involved divorce and remarriage-but this seems to be a pretty big deal: A U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops committee on ecumenical and interreligious affairs plans to send the Vatican a bold suggestion for "expansion of opportunities for Catholics and Lutherans to receive Holy Communion together." The 118-page text of "Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry, and Eucharist [PDF]," unanimously affirmed by the committee in October, will be submitted to Cardinal Kurt Koch, the President of the Pontifical Council for...

Bethlehem - for more than two years, one of the world's holiest churches has been undergoing restoration work. In this report, we would like to give a historical background about the wooden door and the mosaic covering the walls of the nave.The wooden doorsFrom the humility door, heads of believers and visitors bow down in reverence to the child in the manger. Just in front of the door, we face tall wooden doors that separate the narthex and the nave, covered through the centuries by layers of dust and smoke coming up from oil lamps. Now, the restoration comes and...

In a 131-57 vote, Iraq's parliament has rejected a bill that would have permitted children of Christian converts to Islam to become Christians again, according to an AsiaNews report. Under Iraqi law, if one parent converts to Islam, all of the children automatically become Muslim. The bill would have permitted Christian children in this situation to reconvert to Christianity at the age of 18, as was once permitted in Iraq and still is permitted in the autonomous region of Kurdistan.

The fact that more than sixty percent of the Irish electorate supported an amendment to the nation's constitution recognizing same-sex "marriage" caught many people by surprise last spring. They may have been clinging to an outdated image of Ireland as a bastion of devout Catholicism. Unfortunately there are further disturbing changes that are being advanced. One is more symbolic. Many, including a former news director of the national radio and television station, are asking that the broadcasting of the Angelus be dropped. It is viewed as an anachronism in an Ireland that has "an increasingly multi-ethnic, multi-faith population," and is...

***According to him, liberalism for believers is as dangerous as communismMoscow, November 2, Interfax - Head of the charitable organization Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Franklin Graham is concerned that Americans abandon Christian norms of morality. "Americans ruled God out of their lives," Graham said at his meeting with Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar in Moscow, the rabbi's press service reports on Monday. Graham said that he was also concerned that his compatriots abandoned biblical moral principles under pressure of secularists. According to him, earlier many westerners worried that "the world will become atheistic under communist...

Pope Francis in January will publish the first book of his papacy, written in an interview format with Italian journalist and Vatican expert Andrea Tornielli. The book's world-wide release on Jan. 12 will coincide with a special jubilee "year of mercy" that Pope Francis has called to reach out to alienated members of the church and to non-Catholics in need. In the new book, "The Name of God Is Mercy: A Conversation with Andrea Tornielli," the pope "discusses mercy, a subject of central importance in his teaching and testimony, and in addition sums up other ideas-reconciliation, the closeness of God-that...

Article quoting Pope Francis by Eugenio Scalfari is 'in no way reliable', says Vatican spokesmanThe Vatican has said that an interview which quotes the Pope as saying that "all divorced who ask will be admitted" to Communion is "in no way reliable" and "cannot be considered as the Pope's thinking". In an article in La Repubblica, Eugenio Scalfari said the Pope made the comment during a phone interview. According to a translation by traditionalist blog Rorate Caeli, Pope Francis said: "The diverse opinion of the bishops is part of this modernity of the Church and of the diverse societies in...

The brain-blowing combination of asserting that what is not Catholic teaching is somehow Catholic teaching and then shrieking like a frightened schoolgirl when the word "heresy" is uttered is what the American Catholic/Jesuit theological academy is all aboutOnce, I was a theologian. But, to tell you the truth, as a believing Catholic who seeks to understand what it is she believes, I am still a theologian. I was taught this on the first day of my "Method in Theology" class in Toronto, and it wrote itself permanently on my heart. All believing Catholics who seek to understand what it is...

Europe is like Judas, betraying its Christian tradition with the traitorous kiss of false compassion in order to obliterate the last vestige of Christian civilization in EuropeEurope has assumed the posture of the Good Samaritan as a response to the tsunami of refugees and migrants flooding the continent. Politicians and public authorities are in the grip of emotional do-good-ing. Critical voices and questions are attacked with a barrage of accusations of inhumanity, lack of compassion or outright racism. Any intelligent political debate on immigration has therefore been silenced and replaced by a grandiose show of emotion. Danish police gave up...

Canada's Cdl. Thomas Collins responds to the spin of Cdl. Donald Wuerl and Vatican spokesman Fr. Thomas RosicaROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto is defending himself and other prelates who have been accused of not liking Pope Francis because they voiced concerns about the Synod. The Canadian prelate says sometimes it's a cardinal's duty to raise such concerns and give honest advice to the Pope. Collins was one of around 13 Synod Fathers who signed a leaked, media-hyped letter to Pope Francis raising concerns about the Synod procedure a couple weeks ago. They warned that the gathering's working...

A federal appeals court said police violated the free speech rights of Christian evangelists by telling them to leave a June 2012 Arab-American festival in Dearborn, Michigan after an angry crowd began pelting them with bottles, eggs and other objects. By an 8-7 vote, the entire 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday said Wayne County, Michigan and two deputy police chiefs were civilly liable to members of Bible Believers for violating their First Amendment rights. The case now returns to a federal district judge to award damages and attorney's fees. Bible Believers is known for signs and messages...

ROME - "The frame of reference is now going to be: 'What does the Gospel really say here?' That's our first task." That's Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl summing up the new course for Catholicism set by the momentous Vatican meeting of 270 bishops from around the world that concluded last weekend, a three-week marathon in which he played a key role. After often-contentious talks on whether to adapt the Church's approach to issues such as divorce and cohabitation, the high-level synod succeeded in giving Pope Francis a document that offers him significant new flexibility in shaping more pastoral policies. But...