Free Republic

The United States is aware of its duty to "lead the way" to recovery from the financial and economic crisis sweeping the world, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in Rome. "I bring the commitment of the United States that as we work to strengthen our own economy, we do so understanding our responsibility (in) leading the way for the worldwide economy to progress and to improve," Pelosi told reporters. Pelosi... said her weeklong visit to Italy had been "transforming" in demonstrating how Rome and the United States "can work together on the issues that challenge the whole...

Italian Panel: Soviets Behind Pope Attack By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 31 minutes ago ROME - An Italian parliamentary commission concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 attempt to kill Pope John Paul II — a theory long alleged but never proved, according to a draft report made available Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT The commission held that the pope was a danger to the Soviet bloc because of his support for the Solidarity labor movement in his native Poland. Solidarity was the first free trade union in communist eastern Europe. "This commission...

"If I'm the nominee, Republicans will be sorry," said Biden, a Roman Catholic who ran for president in 1988. "The next Republican that tells me I'm not religious I'm going to shove my rosary beads down their throat." Biden said that in most cases, Democrats have themselves to blame for losing in so-called red states such as Kentucky and Ohio. "We have put up too many candidates who can't connect with middle-class Americans," he said. "In the last two (presidential elections), the Democratic Party has lost its base, the middle-class votes. ... And we have played into the hands of...

Sister Donna Quinn, a Palos Hills resident, attended the last two and is flying to this one with four other nuns. Rev. Nan Conser, a retired United Church of Christ minister in Golf, never went before but is going with a group of 10 clergy and lay people. Rev. Larry Greenfield, an American Baptist minister who leads Hyde Park Union Church, couldn't make it last time, but said he wouldn't miss this one for anything.

<p>The parishioners of Our Lady of Peace are angry.</p> <p>For 32 years, Father John Sweeny has built the Santa Clara parish into a bastion of Roman Catholic orthodoxy -- the only such place left in the Diocese of San Jose, they maintain.</p>