Free Republic

It isn’t getting a lot of attention, but the country is currently amid an important transition for the very important position of America’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, a job that now has extraordinary impact upon this nation.The outgoing secretary is, of course, Kathleen Sebelius. And she isn’t going lightly. Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is ensuring that she hears some gunfire in her ears. Issa is chair of the House Oversight Committee. Last week he warned Sebelius that she could face a vote of contempt of Congress if she and her department continue to refuse to comply with a...

Pro-life leaders announce the declaration May 3rd. From right: Virginia Coda Nunziante, Marcia per la Vida; Colleen Bayer, Family Life International New Zealand, John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews.com; Joseph Meaney, Human Life International. VATICAN CITY, May 3, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) - At the first annual Rome Life Forum in Vatican City today, fifty-two pro-life leaders from sixteen nations called on the bishops of the Catholic Church to deny Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians in a spirit of love and mercy. The leaders signed a declaration noting that it is out of concern, and indeed love, for those same politicians that the pro-life leaders...

SPRINGFIELD, IL, April 3, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, known for his outspoken defense of the right to life and the natural family, has signaled his support for denying Communion to Catholic politicians who publicly endorse activities gravely contrary to the moral law.

President Obama gave House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi rosary beads blessed by Pope Francis during lunch Tuesday at the White House, according to an NBC News reporter. Carrie Dann @CarrieNBCNews Pelosi says she received a rosary blessed by Pope Francis from Obama at lunch today 12:24 PM - 1 Apr 2014 Obama met Pope Francis at the Vatican for the first time last week. Pelosi, a Catholic, has been criticized for her support of abortion — a practice which she has called “sacred ground” — by other Catholics. Last year, a Vatican official in Rome said that the California lawmaker...

ROME, March 20, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “The priest’s refusal to give Holy Communion is a prime act of pastoral charity, helping the person in question to avoid sacrilege and safeguarding the other faithful from scandal,” said American Cardinal Raymond Burke in an interview published exclusively in English today by LifeSiteNews. Burke was responding to the question of how a priest should proceed when he encounters a Catholic politician presenting him or herself for Communion while at the same time publicly supporting abortion or homosexual “marriage.” “The exclusion of those who persist in manifest and grave sin, after having been duly...

Faithful Catholics in Buffalo were discouraged to read in their local paper late last month that their allegedly pro-life Catholic senator Tim Kennedy (D-63rd District) intends to vote in favor of New York’s Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo’s expansion of abortion in the State. Kennedy won his seat in 2010 by running as a pro-life candidate ousting then-Senator Bill Stachowski—a Democrat with a strong pro-life record.Claiming that his position on abortion has “evolved” after much thought and prayer, Kennedy joins a long list of self-described Catholic politicians like Governor Cuomo himself who claim that they are “personally opposed to abortion,”...

Using artificial contraception to avoid pregnancy is a mortal sin, according to the teachings of the Catholic Church.While only the Catholic Church maintains this teaching on contraception, it would be a better world if everyone did.Paul VI was a prophet when he told the world that great societal evils would follow upon the widespread use of contraception: a loosening of morals, an objectification of women, family breakdown and all the rest of the pathologies that have visited us like furies.Many of us also hold that contraception also leads inevitably to abortion. After all, according to national statistics, 94 percent...

Editor’s Note: On Sundays we usually try to focus on spiritual matters, but this column deals with such a direct and serious threat that we thought it urgent to bring it to you today. – Robert Royal    I was born in New York State and have lived here for more than 61 years. During that time I have paid plenty in state and local taxes and have served the public in a number of capacities including two terms as Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.I am also a Catholic and a member of...

Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York has already proven himself to be one of the most pro-abortion politicians in the country. He’s repeatedly pushed a bill that would make the state that has some of the highest abortion rates in the nation further down the road of unlimited abortions.Now, Cuomo has said that pro-life people have no business living in the state. If the governor has any interest in pursuing national office with a potential Democratic presidential campaign, he’s definitely lost the majority of the country that appreciates the right to life of unborn babies.But maybe Cuomo is doing the...

Fr. Gabriele Amorth Rome, Jun 6, 2008 / 11:10 am (CNA).- In an interview with the magazine “Maria Mensajera,” famous Italian exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth said, “Everybody is vulnerable to the work of Satan” and that “the devil loves to take over those who hold political office.”The Spanish daily “La Razon” published the interview in an article by Alexander Smoltczyk in which the 82 year-old priest describes what happens in an exorcism.  He said he has performed more than 70,000.“Evil exists in politics, quite often in fact,” Father Amorth said.  “The devil loves to take over business leaders and...

I coined a phrase in yesterday’s post: The Pelosi Catholic–which prompted this excellent explanation from an Italian reader Pelosi Catholics is not just correct, it is a terrific – if unintended – pun. In Italian, the adjective “peloso”, of which “pelosi” is the plural, means “hairy”, but it has also the connotations of dishonesty and self-serving pseudery conveyed by the English “greasy”. So: Pelosi Catholics are greasy [pseudo] Catholics. Here’s a further definition: The Pelosi Catholic’s arrogance is only equalled by his ignorance. A cultural cradle Catholic, the Pelosi Catholic mistakes their tribal ethnicity for the Catholic faith. When they...

Washington, DC––Members of the pro-life movement have denounced House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi after remarks that she, as a Catholic, viewed the protection of the sacrifice of virgins during Black Masses as sacred ground. “As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this,” Pelosi said in a statement last week, going on to say that the subject of sacrificing the life of a worthy virgin pleasing to the Dark Lord as deeply personal to priests and priestesses performing the sacred ritual. Leading Catholics were quick to denounce Pelosi’s statements, including Thomas Peters of Catholicvote.org who called...

Nancy Pelosi WASHINGTON, D.C., June 20, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A group of pro-life priests has written to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, demanding that she either follow the Catholic teachings on abortion, or “have the honesty” to “formally renounce” her Catholic faith. The letter was written in response to Pelosi’s recent remarks in which she suggested that the issue of late-term abortions is “sacred ground.” Last week, Pelosi was asked by a reporter what the difference is between a legal late-term abortion and the killing of babies of the same age after they have been born alive, as late-term aborionist Kermit...

Ed Mechmann points out that Andrew Cuomo’s Women’s Equality Act would open the doors for non-doctors performing abortions, including late-term abortions. (Kermit Gosnell was a doctor, and we saw how well that went.) the Governor’s bill would permit non-doctors to do surgical abortions, even late-term abortions up until the moment of birth. It’s done by a combination of several key changes to current law they might easily be overlooked by the casual observer:First, by an explicit repeal all of the current Penal Law provisions that permit criminal prosecutions of some abortions. Those sections of the law right now include a...

An abortion battle could be brewing in Albany, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to propose a major change to abortion laws in New York State. CBS 2 has learned that Cuomo will introduce a bill on Tuesday that would allow abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy to protect a woman’s health. The bill would fall in line with federal law. Currently, New York State only allows late-term abortions if a woman’s life is at risk. Planned Parenthood outlined a 2009 bill with reportedly similar goals. The 2009 Reproductive Health Act would “guarantee a woman can make her own personal, private...

ROME, March 21, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - There had been a little off track betting going on among pro-life Catholics ( a tautology for sure) as to whether or not Vice Joe Biden and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi would receive Holy Communion at the Mass of Installation for Pope Francis in Rome. on Tuesday. The yeas far out polled they nays, and the yeas proved to be right. It was really a no-brainer! Biden and Pelosi and other pro-abortion politicians have been thumbing their noses at church teaching for many years now. Even though it has been repeated ad infinitum...

Looking ahead to a reception scheduled for Monday evening in Rome that will feature American Cardinals, Vice President Joe Biden quipped that his attendance at the event is mandatory if he wishes to retain his soul. According to the vice president's office, Biden will attend the reception at Villa Aurelia in Rome along with the Presidential Delegation to the Inaugural Mass of Pope Francis, U.S. Cardinals, U.S. Members of Congress, and officials from U.S Embassy Rome, the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Agencies in Rome. Speaking with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic...

Caracas, Venezuela, Mar 6, 2013 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- A source in Venezuela has revealed to CNA that President Hugo Chavez died “in bosom of the Church” and received spiritual direction and the sacraments in his last days. In announcing Chavez’s death to the nation on March 5, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said the Venezuelan leader died “clinging to Christ.” The source in Venezuela told CNA that during the last weeks of his life, Chavez requested spiritual direction and asked to receive the sacraments. Ever since he assumed power in 1999, Chavez butted heads continuously with the Catholic Church over...

Never mind that Vice President Joe Biden has been rebuked by his own bishop over his pro-abortion views, he will lead the U.S. delegation to the installation of Pope Francis, the White House said today. Biden is the first Catholic to serve as vice president and he will represent the United States at the installation Mass for Pope Francis on March 19, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Tom Rosica confirmed today. Biden’s own bishop has had to correct the pro-abortion politician on his misstating the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church. In the interview with the Delaware News Journal, Biden continued...

New Pope Francis I is a conservative in the mold of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II. That’s especially true on the issue of abortion, which he called a “death sentence” for the unborn in 2007. “We aren’t in agreement with the death penalty,” he said during that speech, “but in Argentina we have the death penalty. A child conceived by the rape of a mentally ill or retarded woman can be condemned to death.” In his writings, Francis wrote, “we should commit ourselves to ‘eucharistic coherence,’ that is, we should be conscious that people cannot...