Free Republic

In 2018, Pope Francis and the Vatican signed an agreement with the Chinese Communists that, among other things, gives both sides a say in the appointment of bishops. This agreement was ignored by Beijing three months ago when they unilaterally named Bishop Joseph Shen Bin to lead the Diocese of Shanghai. Instead of standing up to the Beijing bullies, Francis gave in and announced on Saturday that he had accepted the Communist’s appointment despite Beijing’s blatant violation of the 2018 accord. The Church in China is sharply divided between the “official” Catholic Church sanctioned by the government and an “underground”...

After a raid by the Public Prosecutor's Office which included the Archbishop's residence of Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the calls for his resignation are getting louder again: from canon lawyers, theologians and the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics. The official announcement of the Archbishopric of Cologne is meagre: the public prosecutor's office in Cologne had searched business premises of the Archbishopric of Cologne on Tuesday and will try to determine whether the accusation of perjury against Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki can be proven by inspecting business documents and e-mails. Until then, the Archdiocese asks the public "not...

NEW YORK – Amid a mounting debate in America over the constitutionality of gun control, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark has entered the fray with a different argument: That people should voluntarily forgo their Second Amendment rights for the betterment of society. “I honestly believe it is the best thing we can do to change the culture of violence that threatens us today,” Tobin said. “Let’s voluntarily set aside our rights in order to witness the truth that only peace and never violence, is the way to build a free society that is lived concretely in our homes, our neighborhoods,...

Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin has launched an appeal to Catholics to voluntarily forgo their Second Amendment rights by refusing to bear arms. “It’s true that we have a second amendment right to bear arms, but rights always involve responsibilities — in this case, the responsibility to protect the innocent and to secure public safety and good order,” the cardinal declares in a recent pastoral letter. “The mass shootings we are witnessing almost weekly now are a grave threat to the lives and well-being of all people.” In what he calls his “most challenging and controversial proposal,” Tobin urges “voluntary self-restraint”...

With the most recent General Assembly, the negotiations and democratic votes of the so-called "Synodal Path" came to an end. The decisions made with a majority are now to be implemented. However, the resolutions do not meet with the undivided approval of Rome and the Pope, both of whom represent the universal Church and thus 1,300 million Roman Catholics and who are both responsible for guaranteeing the unity of the two-thousand-year-old Church in the truth of Christ, yes, the resolutions were not only by German Catholics, but also criticised worldwide.

Cardinal Müller: The Pope should co-ordinate the defense of humanity, because totalitarian transhumanists are very organized For his tenth anniversary on the throne, Pope Francis gave so many interviews that it is difficult to navigate. This is why we are publishing this very explosive interview

The recent rescriptum approved by Francis and the Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Roche, continues to elicit reactions. The new document, which reinforces the Motu Proprio, Traditinis custodes, establishes that the use of a parish church or the erection of a personal parish for the celebration of the Eucharist according to the Missale Romanum of 1962 and the granting of licence to priests ordained after the publication of the Motu proprio Traditionis custodes to celebrate according to the Missale Romanum of 1962, will be the responsibility of Rome.

You have just finished the "European leg" in Prague. There are different opinions between East and West, North and South. How did you experience these tensions? Jean-Claude Cardinal Hollerich (General Relator of the World Synod and Archbishop of Luxembourg): Tensions are normal in the Church. One should not be surprised by tensions. There are also tensions within each individual Church, not to mention the German Church. So tensions are normal. But we were also able to experience the communion, the community of the Church. We appreciated each other and listened to each other. That is also very important. We do...

Archbishop Wolfgang Haas boycotts the synodal process. What do you say to this, Cardinal Mario Grech? Curia Cardinal Mario Grech (65) is "Mister Synod": The threads of the synodal process run together in his office. A conversation about his experiences in Prague, Cardinal Müller's criticism - and what he says to disappointed Catholics of Synod 72. Eminence, what is the most important message coming out of Prague? Cardinal Mario Grech: We learned that we have different backgrounds and different positions. But we managed to walk together and work together. That has proved to be very productive.

A female Secretary of State in the Vatican: 'It would be time'. These are the words of Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Benedict XVI, and a leading exponent of the most orthodox wing of the Church, in a long uncensored interview with Vaticanist Franca Giansoldati, from which the book 'In buona fedè (published by Solferino) was born, due out on 27 January.

Just turned ninety-one, a proud traditionalist and very close to Ratzinger, Cardinal Joseph Zen, Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, has always criticised the provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops that the Holy See signed with China in September 2018, renewed last October. He talks about Ratzinger's sanctity, agrees with Monsignor Georg Gänswein on the issue of the Latin Mass, asks Bergoglio for a change of pace and tells how he is living this moment of trial, after the police arrested him last May, later releasing him on bail - for "colluding with foreign forces" in the context of managing...

“Certainly, You would like to see in Benedict as a deacon of conservatism. You, who have known him, you said, in effect, he had a free spirit.” "He was an intelligent man. And the hard-line conservatives, in general, lack intelligence. So, he was more conservative but he was open.

What is truth? How can it be found and how does freedom relate to truth? Is there one truth and several? These questions are essential for human beings, because man's deepest longing is directed towards the knowledge of truth, explains Cardinal Kurt Cardinal Koch, here in conversation with the Tagespost. Eminence, dear Cardinal, this symposium of the Ratzinger Circle is above all about truth. This has always been a special concern of the theologian, Joseph Ratzinger and of Pope Benedict. His whole theology seems to be like a red thread the search for the real truth, and his work was...

Cardinal Muller to the Pope: 'Cardinal Zen will be tried by China, the Vatican should not sacrifice him to reasons of state' On the just-concluded Consistory with almost all the world's cardinals - an event that has not happened since 2014 - the Vatican's silence on the fate of Hong Kong's Cardinal Emeritus Joseph Zen ze-Kiun from China, who is absent from Rome because he is under house arrest for raising his voice against Beijing by defending human rights both in Hong Kong and in China, weighed like a boulder. "Next month there will be an unfair trial. No one...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal judge on Thursday declined to issue an immediate ruling on former President Donald Trump’s request to appoint a special master to review the trove of documents seized in the Mar-a-Lago raid last month. Instead, US District Judge Aileen Cannon said she would release a written statement in “due course.”

The "I am the Church" Pope Many of the new cardinals will one day elect Pope Francis' successor. When that will be is completely open - also because Francis is not addressing an overdue problem: what happens if a Pope becomes incapacitated or resigns? For the first time in a long while, eyes from all over the world will once again be on Rome this weekend - closer to St Peter's Square, where Pope Francis will induct 20 men into the College of Cardinals on Saturday. Sixteen of them are younger than 80, which means that they will increase the...

On Thursday’s broadcast of Bloomberg TV’s “Bloomberg Markets,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona responded to criticism of President Joe Biden’s student loan program that it’s not fair to people who paid back their loans by saying that “If something happened where my neighbor needs help to get back on their feet, me feeling that they shouldn’t get help, that’s un-American.” Bloomberg host and reporter David Westin asked, [relevant exchange begins around 9:45] “[D]o you have some sympathy for people who say, I paid back my loans and I didn’t get this kind of break. It’s not quite fair?”

The Catholic Media Prize 2022 goes to contributions on the topics of homosexuality, abuse of power, consequences of the Holocaust and animal protection. The main prize of 5,000 euros will be awarded to the team of authors Hajo Seppelt, Katharina Kühn, Marc Rosenthal and Peter Wozny in the television category for the documentary "Wie Gott uns schuf - Coming-out in der Katholischen Kirche" (How God Created Us - Coming Out in the Catholic Church) commissioned by rbb/SWR/NDR, as announced by the Catholic German Bishops' Conference in Bonn on Tuesday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) slammed the arrest of a Catholic cardinal in Hong Kong, calling it “one of the clearest signs yet of Beijing’s worsening crackdown” in an op-ed published Friday in The Washington Post. Cardinal Joseph Zen and four other people were arrested earlier this week by national security police in Hong Kong but were later released on bail amid continuing arrest operations, the Post reported.

Hong Kong’s national security police arrested 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen under its national security law for his role in a now-defunct humanitarian relief organization that helped people who participated in the large-scale 2019 pro-democracy protests. Zen was arrested Wednesday, along with other trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which helped protesters legally and financially. According to Hong Kong Free Press, others arrested include Cantopop singer and actor Denise Ho, ex-legislator Margaret Ng and academic Hui Po Keung. They were accused of colluding with foreign forces. If found guilty, they could face life in prison. “The Holy See has learnt...