Free Republic

Pope Francis warned us that he wanted to “make a mess” in the church, and at the moment, he seems to be making good on that promise. In still-fresh 2017, we have seen: The pope’s close advisor, Rev. Antonio Spadaro, who edits the quasi-official Vatican journal La Civilta Cattolica, defend Pope Francis’s apparent defiance of the infallible Council of Trent on divorce and remarriage, by explaining that in theology, “2+2=5.” No one knows quite what that means, but perhaps that’s the point. The bishops of Malta have published a set of guidelines for Holy Communion based on Pope Francis’s ambiguous...

Concerned about the impact of rising population numbers, a British environmentalist group is urging United Kingdom residents to have fewer children. Breitbart reports a new report from Population Matters argues that the predicted population growth in the UK in the next 15 years will put a heavy strain on the economy. According to the environmental group, the expected 5.5 million-person surge could cost the UK billions of dollars for roads, infrastructure and more. One of the group’s proposed solutions is to promote abortions. Here’s more from Breitbart: They claim drivers will waste an extra 12 hours a year on average...

[Jazz critic and longtime Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff died Saturday at age 91. Though a self-identified man of the left, he was hard to pigeonhole. This op-ed appeared in the Inquirer on Feb 28, 1988.] ***** As a former board member of the American Civil Liberties Union, I am nonetheless considered a bewildering heretic by many of the ACLU's officers and members. They can't understand how I became pro-life. The lawyer for the ACLU's Reproductive Rights Division refers to me rather contemptuously as having been "born again." Yet I remain an atheist. What changed me on the question of...

While becoming a Christian, I was given a lot of space to figure out what needed to change in my life. No one handed me a stern list of my sins. No one suggested that I discern ways of minimizing the gap between my life and the demands of the gospel, either. Traditional Christian morality, for me, was treasure hidden in a field (with map and digging implements provided), not moral nourishment force-fed to me while I was strapped helplessly to a gurney. In a similar vein, I know priests who vocally support maintaining the prohibition on divorced and remarried...

Fr. James Linton and Family Father James Linton was arrested last month outside the San Bernardino Planned Parenthood for offering to pray with women entering the abortion facility. Police held him for six hours and later charged him with criminal trespass. If convicted, Father Linton could be sentenced to up to 90 days in jail and a $400 fine. When he was arrested, Father Linton, an Anglican pastor, was standing on a public easement offering incoming mothers and fathers alternatives to abortion and praying for them to change their minds. “The arrest of Father Linton is an outrageous violation...

The remains of a home and cars smolder after a wildfire November 29, 2016 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Thousands of people have been evacuated from the area and over 100 houses and businesses were damaged or destroyed after drought conditions helped the fire spread through the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images) With more than 14,000 people evacuated from the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area and more than 400 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, the Sevier county wildfire may have been the largest in Tennessee in the last 100 years. But what caused the fire? Experts...

Gendarmes stand guard on a road near a retirement home for monks in Montferrier-sur-Lez, southern France, early on November 25, 2016, after an armed man burst in the home killing a woman with a knife. Armed police were hunting the man inside the home, which is home to around 70 men and women who have served as missionaries in Africa. Authorities said it was a "criminal act".(Photo credit PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images) Two people are believed to be dead and around 70 were held hostage at a retirement home for Catholic Monks in Montpellier in the South of France. According to...

You might not be surprised to learn some deep lessons about authentic Catholic social teaching from a conference at the Vatican. Except if that person you were learning them from was then the head of Breitbart.com, and is now Donald Trump’s chief strategist. That’s right, Steve Bannon—who is now the victim of an appalling character smear by leftists and NeverTrump globalists in the GOP–gave one of the most profound and enlightening talks in recent Vatican history in 2014. See The Stream for highlights. I myself am not surprised. Years before Bannon took over Breitbart.com, I met him at the Ritz...

Senate Majority Leader advisor Andrew Bremberg will lead president-elect Donald Trump’s healthcare transition team, according to Inside Health Policy. Bremberg currently advises Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and was an advisor for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during his presidential bid. Bremberg was part of the transition team for former GOP president candidate Mitt Romney, according to the Washington, D.C.-based publication. For eight years, Bremberg served in the Department of Health and Human Services. From 2005 to 2007, he was special assistant to the Immediate Office of the Secretary and from 2001 to 2005, he was special assistant to the executive...

Donald Trump's transition team is preparing for the billionaire businessman to take over as commander in chief, they're ruffling a few feathers along the way. Scientific American reports Trump has selected climate change critic, Myron Ebell, to lead his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team. Ebell, who's the director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, has been described by Newsweek as a fierce opponent of climate change, which the publisher calls “entirely at odds with scientific consensus.” David Goldston, a policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, explained that...

So the little snowflakes were out on the streets again last night, tying up traffic and waving their “NOT MY PRESIDENT!” signs. Have you noticed how many of the riff-raff can’t wait to go in front of the TV cameras to announce in broken English that the reason they hate President-elect Trump is because they’re illegal aliens. Then they hold up their signs saying “NOT MY PRESIDENT!” Well then, of course he’s not your president. You’re from Guatemala, or maybe Honduras. Last night, as a public service to the viewing public, Fox News Channel started running English-language subtitles under the...

WASHINGTON — Bishops in the United States called on Catholics to pray for elected officials on the morning following the 2016 presidential election, exhorting them to work for unity and to promote the common good. [snip} According to New York Times exit polls, Catholics overall voted 52% for Trump and 45% for Clinton. NBC News exit polls showed the results fell sharply along racial lines: Trump won white Catholics by 23 percentage points, 60 to 37, while Clinton won Hispanic Catholics 67% to 26%. [snip} In his statement, Archbishop Kurtz reaffirmed the bishops’ commitment to upholding the sanctity of all...

That was the kid's magazine that was (Fuzzy Geerdes/Shutterstock) You may recall the recent post here revealing that Highlights For Children, the venerable magazine, had come under fire from SJWs for its policy of not featuring families headed by gay couples in the magazine, out of a willingness to allow parents of the magazine’s young subscribers the opportunity to talk to their children about homosexuality as they considered appropriate. Well, the SJWs got their scalp. A reader forwarded me the correspondence between herself and the magazine around the issue. She kept writing, trying to get a straightforward answer about whether...

Demand for exorcisms is at an all-time high WRTV INDIANAPOLIS -- A Brownsburg priest says the number of people requesting exorcisms is at an all-time high. Father Vincent Lampert is an exorcist priest based out of St. Malachy Parish. He was appointed to his role by bishops of the Catholic church. "I don't have any special powers or ability from a faith perspective. The power resides with the person of Christ," said Father Lampert. The priest says more people are asking for help and he attributes that to the growing number of people turning away from the faith. "Faith in...

Pope Francis has once again answered the question of whether women will be priests in the Catholic church. Pope Francis said the Catholic church is still opposed to women being ordained as priests, and it doesn't look like that's ever going to change. While visiting Sweden, the Pope told the press the matter was settled in 1994, saying, "Saint Pope John Paul II had the last clear word on this, and it stands." SEE MORE: Pope Francis Criticized For Not Accepting Transgender Community Article Continues Below Pope John Paul II's justification for the ban was that Jesus selected 12 men...

In dramatic vote, UNESCO Jerusalem resolution passes with slim support Knesset Speaker asks Vatican to join battle against UNESCO’s denial of history Israeli Deputy Minister for Regional Cooperation Ayoub Kara felt the pontiff was sending a direct message to UNESCO. Pope Francis with Ayoub Kara at the Vatican on October 26, 2016. (photo credit:AYOUB KARA) God promised the Holy Land to the people of Israel, Pope Francis said during a public address at the Vatican in Rome on Wednesday in a speech about migration. “The people of Israel, who from Egypt, where they were enslaved, walked through the desert...

Chlamydia Gonorrhea Syphilis Infections from these three sexually spread diseases have hit another record high in the U.S. Chlamydia was the most common. More than 1.5 million cases were reported in the U.S. last year, up 6 per cent from the year before. Nearly 400,000 gonorrhea cases were reported, up 13 per cent. And there were about 24,000 cases of the most contagious forms of syphilis, up 19 per cent. [snip] An estimated 20 million cases of sexually transmitted infections occur each year in the U.S. The worrying new figures come amid fears sexually-transmitted diseases could soon become untreatable...

A nine-year old cheerleader stood alone at a football game as the fathers of her squadmates lifted their daughters onto their shoulders. Addie Rodriguez was alone because her father Abel is undergoing military training in California. “It was truly unfortunate to see your daughter standing out there being the only one without their father, knowing why he’s away. It’s not just an absentee parent. He’s serving our country,” Addie’s mom Alexis Perry-Rodriguez said. Enter San Antonio teenager Matthew Garcia. And what an entrance. Seeing Addie’s situation, Matthew — a senior at Central Catholic High School — vaulted two fences as...

Fr. Jose Gabriel Brochero NICOLAS FLORES WAS supposed to live the rest of his life in a vegetative state, but today he walks, talks and swims – one of the miracles attributed to a “cowboy priest” who will become Argentina’s first saint today. Sixteen years ago, when Nicolas was nearly killed in a car crash, his father prayed to a late priest named Jose Gabriel Brochero, who is revered in Argentina for his supposedly miraculous healing powers. Brochero, a blind leper who lived from 1840 to 1914, was known for traveling on a mule across the vast Argentine pampas, or...

The Ellen DeGeneres show featured a well produced video that appeared to show Hillary Clinton dancing with Ken Bone, the odd-looking questioner from the last debate. If you listen to the soundtrack, you will hear the audience laughing hysterically. But I have to wonder if they are laughing with Mrs. Clinton or at her. Curiously, the Ellen show disabled comments for the video, even as it got over 700,000 views. I think people were laughing at the video because while the intent was clearly to humanize Hillary (and, incidentally, perhaps Ken Bone?), it accentuated the fact that Mrs. Clinton is...