Free Republic

August 11, 2014LIBERIA - A Catholic humanitarian group based in Spain says a nun from the Congo who was working in Liberia has died of the Ebola virus.The San Juan de Dios hospital order says Saturday that Sister Chantal Pascaline died "from Ebola in the Hospital San Jose de Monrovia, despite the care she received from a volunteer nurse."Pascaline belonged to the same order as a Spanish missionary priest and nun evacuated to Madrid by jet this week. Both are in stable condition in a Madrid hospital.The latest Ebola outbreak is the largest and longest ever recorded for the...

ST. LOUIS — When Pope Francis first appeared to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square without the short red cape known as a mozzetta, some Roman Catholics cried foul, worried the pope’s decision to forgo the more formal wear signaled a threat to traditional worship. Specifically, they fretted over the fate of the old Latin Mass, now in the hands of a papacy that seemed to shrug off pomp and circumstance. But more than a year into Francis’ reign, the Tridentine Mass, as it is sometimes called, appears to be alive and well. Decades after the Catholic Church moved away...

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), which includes representation from more than 80% of American nuns, is set to hold its annual assembly next week in Nashville. The meeting comes as the organization continues to draw scrutiny from the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, and also at a time when there has been a steep decline in the number of nuns.The Vatican first began taking a hard look at some organizations of U.S. nuns about five years ago, eventually ordering an investigation and a “doctrinal assessment” of the LCWR – and a plan for organizational reform.While the church’s...

This release just arrived in my in box: The chairman of the Committee of International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) asked the U.S. bishops to invite the people of their dioceses to pray for peace in Iraq on Sunday, August 17. Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, made the request, August 6, sending the bishops the text of a prayer written by the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Iraq, His Beatitude Louis Rafael Sako.Bishop Pates recounted the struggles of Christians and others in Iraq who have faced the destruction, burning and looting of...

At the tender age of seven, Brian Vanderpool experienced a life changing moment when he watched the movie, Saving Private Ryan. It left such a deep impression on him that he decided to become a Marine. He found out later the movie actually depicted Army personnel, but he had his mind made up.Recently, Lance Corporal Vanderpool, now 20, returned home on leave from an 8 month tour of Afghanistan. He was not expecting to be greeted by a cheering crowd at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, which, in his words, “left a big grin on my face.”Early on,...

The English surgeons who fought to save the life of a badly mangled motorcyclist on the morning of July 20 might have guessed he was someone unusual, since the hospital was receiving calls from Rome, from the pope himself, asking for updates. The silver Audi that slammed into a Protestant cleric named Bishop Tony Palmer in a quiet country lane that morning, however, left little chance of his surviving, and he died after a 10-hour emergency surgery. The news stunned not just his grieving wife and young adult children, but many across the Christian world who were aware that, behind...

It is likely Nuncios will be meeting in Rome in September. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, was the Pope’s ambassador in the country during the US invasion of Iraq. Today Francis tweeted “I ask all men and women of goodwill to join me in praying for Iraqi Christians and all vulnerable populations” iacopo scaramuzzicittà del vaticano Pope Francis has decided to send Cardinal Fernando Filoni to Iraq – where the self-proclaimed Caliphate is driving Christians out of their cities in the Nineveh Plain “in the next few days”. Apostolic Nuncios in the...

Father John Zuhlsdorf is an American-born priest of the Suburbicarian Diocese of Velletri-Segni in Italy and a Catholic media figure. A convert from Lutheranism in college, he was ordained by Saint John Paul II in 1991.  He worked in Rome as a collaborator in the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei” and is now in Madison, Wisconsin, where he serves with full diocesan faculties and functions also as president of the Tridentine Mass Society of Madison. He is working on a doctoral dissertation for the Patristic Institute “Augustinianum” in Rome on the figure of King David as an exemplar of civic virtues...

Iraq Archbishop Louis Sako. Credit: Aid to the Church in Need UK. Baghdad, Iraq, Aug 7, 2014 / 10:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The seizure of Iraq’s largest Christian town has prompted a mass exodus of refugees, which a leading Catholic bishop described as a Way of the Cross that could become a genocide unless the global community intervenes.   “They are facing a human catastrophe and risk a real genocide. They need water, food, shelter,” Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Babylon said in an Aug. 7 open letter. “We appeal with sadness and pain to the conscience...

A Baptist preacher with an extensive history of attacking Brewton-Parker College President Ergun Caner, expressed regret for engaging Caner's 15-year-old son, Braxton, in a heated and viral Twitter conflict over Braxton's character and its reflection on his family just weeks before he committed suicide last Tuesday. J.D. Hall, the Baptist preacher and radio host who clashed with the Caners, also admitted that it was a "sinful" decision to spread a rumor that Ergun Caner and his wife are separated during the Twitter conflagration. "As I said on Friday's [radio] program, I regret pointing people to the material or behavior exhibited...

Christian leaders who uphold Genesis Modern-era theologians and prominent church leaders from around the world affirm biblical creation (historical Genesis) by Don Batten The modern creation movement is mostly driven by those with primarily scientific qualifications. Some of a theological bent argue that we scientists don’t understand the ‘genre’ of Genesis (i.e. we are theological ignoramuses) and that Genesis is not meant to be understood as history. In part answer to this, I have listed here just some of those with theological qualifications who have taken a public stand for understanding Genesis as straightforward history, just as we scientists do....

Samaritan's Purse physician, SIM missionary are recovering in an isolation unit at Emory University Hospital. Dr. Kent Brantly’s condition is improving as he remains in the isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. His wife, Amber, has been able to see him and said he was in good spirits. Dr. Brantly, who contracted the Ebola virus while treating patients in Liberia, is being treated at a special unit set up in collaboration with the CDC to treat patients who are exposed to certain serious infectious diseases. He was flown to the U.S. in a medical evacuation plane equipped with...

When the story of human history comes to a close, death and violence don't get the final word. The love of God does. That love, burning bright in the heart of Fr. Emil Kapaun in the darkness of a POW camp in the Korean war, made him a hero.

Pope Francis’ courage is causing disquiet among those with “a very conformist and closed Catholicism” the Archbishop of Dublin has warned. In a speech given in Melbourne, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin referred to a young curate who recently told his parish priest he was not at all happy with some things the Pope had said. The young priest felt they “were not in line with what he had learned in the seminary” and he suggested that they were “making the faithful insecure and even encouraging those who do not hold the orthodox Catholic beliefs to challenge traditional teaching.” The archbishop warned...

As rival militias battle for control of Libya, the apostolic vicar of Tripoli, Bishop Giovanni Martinelli, has pledged to remain in the North African nation “even if only one Christian remains.” Islamist militias have held sway in some areas of the country since NATO’s 2011 military intervention helped lead to the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. “The Christian community in Libya is now reduced to a minimum, but I intend to stay here even if only one Christian remains,” the Italian Franciscan bishop told the Fides news agency.

The Gospel For Mormons Who Reject It A review of Starting at the Finish Line by John B. Wallace, a devout Mormon who ended up getting “burned out” by Mormon doctrine and practice. Written by Shane Lems | Wednesday, July 30, 2014 The bulk of the book really talks about grace – the fact that Jesus came into the world to die for wicked sinners and give them the gift of eternal salvation by faith alone (not by works). Time and time again Wallace explains how he was very works oriented in the Mormon religion. He shows many quotes and...

MARYKNOLL, N.Y., Aug. 1, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Vatican has issued a decree that lifts its 29-year suspension on Father Miguel F. d'Escoto Brockmann, a Maryknoll priest. The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers is the mission society of the U.S. Catholic Church. Father d'Escoto, 81, was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on June 10, 1961. He helped found Orbis Books, the theological publication division of Maryknoll, and he was an official with the World Council of Churches. During the 1970s, Father d'Escoto became engaged in politics in Nicaragua. He joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front, a political party that overthrew...

Last summer, long before he traveled to Liberia, worked to combat the largest outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in history, or fell ill with the incurable virus and became the first infected person to come into the U.S., Dr. Kent Brantly returned to his hometown church and delivered a sermon.Dr. Kent Brantly is shown in this 2013 photo provided by JPS Health Network. (AP Photo/JPS Health Network) “In October, [my wife] Amber and the kids and I are moving to Monrovia, Liberia, to work as medical missionaries at ELWA Hospital,” Brantly told the congregation at Southeastern Church of Christ...

Due to the false videos, false rumors of destroyed churches, false rumors of invasion that cause great fear among an already frightened people, the Archbishop of Mosul (Syriac Catholic Church), published the following open letter. Open Letter of His Excellency Youhanna Boutros (John Peter) Moshe,  Syriac Catholic Archeparch of Mosul and Qaraqosh Sunday, July 27, 2014 To All Priests, to all Monks and Nuns, to all Deacons, and to all those who have faith in Jesus Christ: May the peace and love of God come upon you, your homes, and your families, and upon all those who have come...

The schedule for Francis’ trip to the Albanian capital Tirana on 21 September has been released. Archbishop Mirdita said the Albanian martyr Church is an example of coexistenceOn his forthcoming trip to the Albanian capital, Tirana, on Sunday 21 September, Pope Francis will meet with State and religious leaders, the local clergy and some children who are being cared for in various charity organisations. The Holy See Press Office has published the full schedule of the Pope’s one-day visit, during which he will give six speeches. Francis will depart from Rome’s Fiumicino airport at 7:30 am (CET) and will arrive...