Free Republic

... Statues of ... historical figures stand in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall, where each state has two representatives cast in bronze or marble ... [Father Junipero] Serra could be the first and only actual saint in Statuary Hall -- Pope Francis recently announced plans to canonize him -- yet he's also a polarizing figure. Is it time to send Serra to the sidelines (or more accurately, move his statue to the California Capitol grounds)? ... Take our pointedly unreliable poll, leave a comment or do both! ...

Why Pope Francis Was Right To Call The Armenian Massacres ‘Genocide’ by Lela Gilbert 16 Apr 2015 'Their Christian faith was bruised and battered. In some cases, all hope was lost' A century after the genocide began, Turkey still refuses to accept the truth. Yet for the sake of today’s persecuted Christians, the past must not be forgotten In March last year reports emerged of a nightmare unfolding in the Armenian town of Kassab in northern Syria. A horde of al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists descended on the city, forcing the Christian residents out of their ancestral homes. It was widely reported...

Pious, holier-than-thou Pelosi is about as much a Catholic as Barack Obama is a sincere Christian Everyone in the inevitably baleful Vale of Tears has a cross to bear in this life, but San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s cross Nancy Pelosi has more splinters than most. Turns out that pro-abortion, pro same sex marriage ‘Catholic’ Nancy Pelosi is chief agitator behind the ‘prominent’ Catholics attacking Cordileone with demands for the Vatican to remove him. Pious, holier-than-thou Pelosi is about as much a Catholic as Barack Obama is a sincere Christian. That the Archbishop Cordileone hatchet attack’s running its course in...

In a five-part series released the week of March 16th from the National Catholic Reporter, God’s Community in the Castro, a parishioner from San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer parish had this to say about his spiritual home: “We don’t see ourselves as a gay community, but rather as a community that’s open to gays…It’s an acceptance and a realization that people feel OK to be who they are that makes this place different.”

Cruz: "The Massacre of the Armenian, Assyrian, and other Christian People Should be Called what it is: Genocide" WASHINGTON--Republican Presidential Candidate, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on April 18 marked the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide with a statement calling for the proper recognition of the massacre of Armenian, Assyrian, and other Christian peoples as genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Republican Presidential Candidate, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) Cruz's statement, addressed to the Armenian Church of Austin, was read on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol, during the Austin Peace March and Rally, an observance attended...

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s effort to ensure that Catholic schools are Catholic has led one-hundred San Franciscans who describe themselves as “committed Catholics inspired by Vatican II,” to take out a full page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle asking Pope Francis to force Cordileone's resignation and appoint in his place an archbishop committed to “our values and your teachings.” It is worth asking to what extent those “values” and “teachings” align. Francis, who has spoken strongly in the past against gay marriage and transgender ideology, has also called for a church that is “poor and for the poor.”...

A look at some of the signers of the open letter to Pope Francis.Escalating the attacks on Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco for continuing to uphold Catholic teachings, 100 self-described “Catholic leaders” have signed an open letter to Pope Francis, calling for the archbishop’s removal. In a full-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday, the petitioners claim that Cordileone has “fostered an atmosphere of division and intolerance” by asking K–12 Catholic-school teachers in the Bay area to “violate their individual consciences by accepting a morality code” based on the Church’s teachings.“Instead of your famous words, ‘Whom am...

The Marxist/Nazi/Ottoman/Islamist ISIS pogrom against Christianity continues to this day “Around the world, Christians are facing violence, persecution, brutality in a way we have not seen in generations.” – Rey Flores, “The Wanderer” The hypocritical “war on women” movement is deafly silent, no real effort to save the captives, and good men are doing nothing when faced daily with photographs of Christian hostages on their knees, clad in orange jumpsuits, about to be beheaded, when women and girls are kidnapped, raped, genitally mutilated by ISIS, and driven into a life of slavery as forced converts to Islam. One year later,...

As Turkey’s leaders fume over Pope Francis’ use of the term “genocide” to describe mass killings of Armenian Christians a century ago, the country’s top religious figure invoked the crusades and said the furor would accelerate a controversial scheme to turn Istanbul’s most famous historical church into a mosque.“The statement that the Catholic world’s spiritual leader delivered three days ago, saying Armenians had been subjected to a genocide, is extremely spectacular,” Mefail Hizli, the mufti of Ankara, said in a written statement, Hurriyet daily reported.Hizli said the pontiff’s comment “reflected a modern color of the crusader wars launched in these...

Nearly 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915, during World War I. Turks by and large do not believe mass killings were planned. CUNGUS, Turkey — The crumbling stone monastery, built into the hillside, stands as a forlorn monument to an awful past. So, too, does the decaying church on the other side of this mountain village. Farther out, a crevice is sliced into the earth, so deep that peering into it, one sees only blackness. Haunting for its history, it was there that a century ago, an untold number of Armenians were tossed...

Pope Francis’ remarks urging the world to recognize the slaughter of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks a century ago as “the first genocide of the 20th century” drew unanimous praise Sunday from several prominent leaders of Fresno’s Armenian community. “Today’s papal remarks speak from our heart in not only advocating for Armenians but also recognizing that atrocities like genocide remain a point of concern,” said Berj Apkarian, who was named an Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia in October. “Denial of the Armenian genocide is the foundation for current and future genocides,” Apkarian added. “Genocide is continuing in the...

Armenia, the first Christian nation in the world, and the first genocide in the 20th century Edited by Julio Severo Armenia was the first nation to become Christian during the Roman era. According to ancient tradition, Noah’s Ark rested on Mount Ararat in the Armenian Mountain Range. Armenia’s Coat of Arms has Mount Ararat with Noah's Ark on top. Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi (410-490 AD) recounted the tradition that Noah’s son Japheth had a descendant named Hayk who shot an arrow in a battle near Lake Van c.2,500 BC killing Nimrod, builder of the Tower of Babel who was...

One hundred years ago, the dying Ottoman empire attempted to put down an uprising of Armenian Christians as world war broke out around the globe. Over 1.5 million Armenians died in the conflict, a crime which has often been called the first genocide of the 20th century — but not usually by diplomats or world leaders with ties to modern Turkey. Ankara has demanded complicity in their dodge of the Armenian genocide, and will only allow that a lot of people died in 2015 but that the slaughter doesn’t meet the legal definition of genocide. Pope Francis refused to...

Vatican City, Mar 20, 2015 / 11:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Ahead of Pope Francis’ Mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, newly released historic documents confirm the Holy See’s broad commitment to helping the Armenian people at a time when few others would. The Italian Jesuit-run magazine La Civiltà Cattolica stressed that newly published documents “prove how the Holy See, always informed about events, had not remained passive, but was strongly committed to face the issue” of the Armenian Genocide. “Benedict XV was the only ruler or religious leader to voice out a protest against the ‘massive crime’.”...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, has accused the EU of declaring “enmity” on his country as next week’s centenary commemorations of the massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire descend into bitter rows over what to call them. Both the European Parliament and Pope Francis this week referred to the killings as a genocide, a term recognised by much of the rest of the world but fiercely disputed by Turkey. The European decision prompted a furious response from Mr Erdogan. “Such decisions are nothing but expressions of enmity against Turkey by abusing Armenians,” he said while on a visit to...

Since October 2014, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has regularly referred to the concept of a "Mastermind" (ust akil, "supra-intellect," in Turkish) that, he says, is plotting against Turkey. This concept has been applauded by the Islamist pro-AKP media. Erdogan's December 12, 2014 speech, which focused on this "mastermind" concept, inspired the production of a two-hour "documentary" by one of the leading Turkish television channels, the pro-AKP A Haber. The film, titled "The Mastermind," first aired on March 15, 2015 and has been broadcast repeatedly since then; in addition, the Turkish Islamist pro-AKP media are circulating the film on their...

Patricia Jannuzzi SOMERVILLE — Patricia Jannuzzi, the veteran Immaculata High School School teacher suspended for her anti-gay Facebook posts, will be reinstated immediately, school principal Jean Kline said in a letter dated Friday. Jannuzzi, a 33-year theology teacher at Immaculata, was forced by Immaculata to deactivate her Facebook page after several alumni started circulating screen shots of her sharply worded posts against gay marriage and gay rights. Two days later, the school placed her on administrative leave. The letter to students and parents, quoting school director Msgr. Seamus Brennan states in part: Immaculata High School has reached an understanding with...

Pope Francis on Sunday marked the 100th anniversary of the slaughter of Armenians by calling the massacre by Ottoman Turks "the first genocide of the 20th century" and urging the international community to recognize it as such. Turkey immediately responded by recalling its ambassador and accusing Francis of spreading hatred and "unfounded claims." SNIP "The pope's statement, which is far from historic and legal truths, is unacceptable," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted. "Religious positions are not places where unfounded claims are made and hatred is stirred." The Foreign Ministry summoned the Vatican's envoy in Ankara, and then announced it...

Turkey Anger at Pope Francis Armenian 'Genocide' Claim (Recalls Ambassador) James Reynolds examines the Pope's comments Turkey has recalled its envoy to the Vatican after Pope Francis described the mass killing of Armenians under Ottoman rule in WW1 as "genocide". Turkey has reacted with anger to the comment made by the Pope at a service in Rome earlier on Sunday. Armenia and many historians say up to 1.5 million people were killed by Ottoman forces in 1915. But Turkey has always disputed that figure and said the deaths were part of a civil conflict triggered by WW1. The row has...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis uttered the politically explosive word “genocide” today as he referred to the slaughter of Armenians 100 years ago by the Ottoman Empire.