Free Republic

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland wants to be sure that Christian traditions are not subject to “ideological censorship” in the European Union, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said on Thursday, emphasizing her party’s opposition to Muslim immigration. Along with Hungary, Poland has refused to take in any of its quota of the wave of refugees from Syria and elsewhere who have come to Europe since 2015, on the grounds that Muslim immigrants are a threat to their national security and stability. Szydlo’s eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party appeals directly to the more socially conservative sections of Poland’s overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population....

Copy sent to Vatican criminal prosecutor for further investigationVATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Vatican watchdog is claiming in a new book there has been homosexual abuse of underage seminarians at a Vatican-run minor seminary. Gianluigi Nuzzi, an Italian journalist who was a big part of the 2015 "VatiLeaks II" scandal, has released a new book titled Original Sin. He alleges there has been homosexual sex abuse in the Vatican's St. Pius X pre-seminary for middle and high schoolers, and includes a letter from a gay ex-seminarian who claims that his roommate, who was underage at the time, was being visited...

The devoutly religious Madame Elisabeth was killed in the French RevolutionA princess executed in the French Revolution is a step closer to sainthood after France’s bishops approved the official opening of her Cause. Born in 1764, Elisabeth of France, known as Madame Elisabeth, was the youngest sister of King Louis XVI. She turned down the possibility of marriage, saying: “I can only marry a King’s son, and a King’s son must reign over his father’s kingdom. I should no longer be a Frenchwoman. I do not wish to cease to be one. It is far better to stay here at...

St. Petersburg, November 9, Interfax - The head of the Madrid-based House of Romanov, Maria Vladimirovna, will meet with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia during a visit timed to coincide with the centenary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. After visiting the cruiser Aurora in St. Petersburg, Maria Vladimirovna will travel to Ryazan and Moscow, her chancellery's director Alexander Zakatov told Interfax. "After St. Petersburg, she will visit Ryazan, an old Russian city, at the governor's invitation. The visit will conclude in Moscow, where meetings will also be held with public figures and the media. Maria Vladimirovna will...

The Church of the Meeting of the Lord in Zhulebino. Photo: RIA-Novosti The largest church in the framework of the “Program for the Construction of Orthodox Churches of Moscow,” also known as the “200 Program,” has been erected in the capital’s southeastern Zhulebino region. The new Church of the Meeting of the Lord is designed to accommodate 1,000 people, program curator Vladimir Resin reported to RIA-Novosti. The church in Zhulebino is also the first and only in Moscow dedicated to the feast of the Meeting of the Lord. It was built in the classical style, with height of 160 ft....

The special services aim to create a ‘safe sacred space’ to welcome LGBT+ ChristiansReverend Andrew Hammond performed a duet with Courtney Act at King's Affair in JuneCollege chaplains from King’s, Trinity, and St John’s are holding a series of special services in their chapels which aim to provide “inclusive spaces” for LGBT+ Christians to “encounter God”. A total of six special services have or will be held across the three colleges this term, the next of which will be King’s College’s ‘Critical Mass’ service on 26 October. Trinity College chapel will host a Compline+ service on 1 November, followed by...

Editor’s Note: The following article was translated from the Italian magazine La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana by LifeSite's Diane Montagna, and is reprinted with permission.“The Dubia are authoritative and clearly legitimate,” says the former Vatican doctrinal prefect in a new interview.November 8, 2017 (LaNuovaBQ.it) – “No, no change and no demolishing the Dubia. The purpose of my intervention was only to state that the one way to interpret Amoris Laetitia is in continuity with the Word of God in the Bible, the previous Magisterium, and with the Tradition of the great Councils of Florence, Trent and Vatican II.” On the telephone,...

The US president should stop making threats and start negotiating with North Korea’s strongman, says Abbot Primate-emeritus Notker Wolf. Abbot Notker Wolf, the former representative head of all Benedictine monks and nuns throughout the world, has called on US President Donald Trump to stop making ominous threats against Communist North Korea and meet its leader Kim Jong Un “on an equal footing”. “I know from personal experience that one can negotiate with the North Koreans,” the abbot said in a November 4th interview with the German Catholic press agency KNA. Wolf, who headed the Archabbey of Sankt Ottilien in Bavaria...

This is a fascinating insight into how Christian values and the Russian church itself directly influences Russian society and how the country sees itself. The organization, called The World Russian People’s Council, (Wikipedia) was conceived of by the current Patriarch in the 1990s - with the goal of bringing together and uniting Russians from all over the world who were scattered over many different countries - to gather and discuss all issues of importance to Russian people everywhere. In Russian, the name has a different connotation than in English. The Russian word ‘sobor’, can be translated as ‘council’, but it...

Annual meeting of priests hears bishops ‘not all as bad as painted’Priests must stop calling bishops “spineless nerds and sycophantic half-wits”, the former Abbot of Glenstal Mark Patrick Hederman has said. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) in Athlone, he said most bishops were “not all as bad as painted by your leadership” and accused priests of adopting the wrong approach. “If the ACP is trying to change things and to galvanize the bishops of this country into positive action, then even the most junior politician and unseasoned diplomat would tell them that they...

November 6, 2017, (LifeSiteNews.com) – German Catholics are protesting a program endorsed personally by the archbishop of Berlin that gives “practical tips” to Catholic sex educators on how to teach children about their “sexual rights,” advising them that adult sex with a minor is permitted, as long as it’s “consensual,” and outlining the process of obtaining an abortion. The program also seeks to eliminate “taboos,” “prejudices,” and “stereotypes” regarding various forms of sexual deviation, including homosexual behavior and masturbation, treating such impulses as part of a person’s identity. At the same time, it seeks to resolve the “tension” between such...

Auxiliary Bishop Jérôme Beau of Paris says the Vatican wants to set a minimum limit of seventeen to twenty students for seminaries to stay open. Archbishop Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong, the official responsible for seminaries at the Congregation for the Clergy, has told France’s bishops that the Vatican believes seminaries with tiny numbers of students should be closed or merged. The Mexican bishop made his remarks on Saturday at the fall plenary assembly of the French Bishops’ conference, currently underway at the Marian Shrine of Lourdes.

The head of the Russian Imperial House H.I.H. the Grand Duchess Maria of Russia recently released a statement on the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution, calling for an evaluation of the bloody events based on the “system of spiritual and moral values that took shape during the long course of Russian history” and stating that the main cause of the revolution was a “profound spiritual crisis.” In this vein, Grand Duchess Maria goes on to write of the Royal House’s own guilt in the fact that the country underwent such a revolution, noting that it therefore suffered along...

Barronelle Stutzman is facing death threats and million-dollar lawsuits for adhering to her Christian beliefs.NEW YORK CITY — When Barronelle Stutzman took a stand for her Christian beliefs four and a half years ago, she never imagined that she would eventually be appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend her decision. But that’s exactly what happened. “This was never on my bucket list,” Barronelle told CNA. The 72-year-old grandmother is the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington, and is currently involved in a lawsuit involving a customer of nearly 10 years, Rob Ingersoll. Barronelle knew Rob was homosexual...

C.J. Doyle: "This collaborationist, Vichy Catholicism is unacceptable" A prominent pro-lifer is outlining the capitulation between pro-abortion politicians and the Catholic Church that's keeping abortion unchecked and free in the state of Massachusetts.Church Militant spoke with C.J. Doyle, executive director of Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, about the petition calling out Cdl. Sean O'Malley and the increasing numbers of scandals. Below follows the full interview.CM: How long has the leadership of the Catholic Church been on the side of pro-abortion politicians in Boston? CJD: Catholic colleges, universities and elite secondary schools in the archdiocese of Boston have been inviting, honoring,...

MADISON, Wisconsin, November 3, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino is defending his diocese's recent guidelines to priests about denying funerals for non-repentant homosexuals, saying it’s the "straightforward teaching of the Church." He clarified in the face of an ugly campaign to have him removed as bishop that such guidelines in no way indicate that "we don’t care about homosexual people" Morlino, the bishop of the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, has come under fire because his priests received a guidance reminding them of what the Code of Canon Law says about Catholic funerals for unrepentant “manifest public sinners,” such...

Speaking at a Rome conference organized by International Federation of Catholic Universities, Pope Francis said that the reception of migrants is generating negative reactions, "sometimes even discriminatory and xenophobic," reactions in countries of ancient Christian tradition, and called on Catholic universities to read migration as a "sign of the times."ROME - Pope Francis on Saturday said that in many countries of “long Christian tradition,” there’s a “xenophobic” response to immigrants, urging Catholic universities instead to see the migration phenomenon as a “sign of the times.” It’s important, Francis said, “to reflect on the negative reactions in principle, sometimes even discriminatory...

A football coach in Coweta County, Georgia, took part in a student-led prayer with his players before a game, sparking a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Coweta County Schools then made a far-reaching decision that impacts every faculty member. The superintendent “sought legal guidance and determined that school employees, including coaches, should not participate in any student-initiated prayer,” according to WSB-TV. A legal memorandum, obtained by The Christian Post, was recently provided to all employees. More from the report: “Representatives of the school cannot participate in any student initiated/student led prayer or worship while acting in their official...

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia recently expressed his view that that the causes of the October Revolution ultimately lie in events that took place 200 years beforehand. Speaking after the Divine Liturgy on Saturday, the Russian National Day of Unity, in the Kremlin Dormition Cathedral, the primate of the Russian Church spoke of events that led to a loss of faith and the spiritual darkness of the Russian people, Interfax-Religion reports. “If we sweep aside the entire political environment connected with the events of a century ago, if we detach ourselves from this ideological view, then...

PINE RIDGE, S.D. (CNS) -- During a Mass to formally open the sainthood cause for Nicholas W. Black Elk, the Native American was described as someone who merged the Lakota and Catholic culture in a way "that drew him deeper into the mystery of Christ's love and the church." Black Elk's love for God and Scripture led him to become a catechist, fulfilling the mission of all disciples, said Bishop Robert D. Gruss of Rapid City in his homily at the Oct. 21 Mass at Holy Rosary Church in Pine Ridge. The bishop said that for 50 years Black Elk...