Free Republic

Is Allah above his throne? Is he on his throne? Is he in the heavens? Is he everywhere? Was he ever alone? Are these questions important? In this compilation by Anthony Rogers, Muslim scholars answer these questions and many others, while clarifying the meaning of the Quran.

His Hand is Stretched Out Still By Philip Cottraux Isaiah is a reflection of the entire Bible itself. The Bible is 66 books. Isaiah is 66 chapters. The Bible is divided into Old and New Testaments. In the 39 books of the Old Testament we tend to view God as angry and vengeful, destroying Sodom and Gomorra with fire and brimstone, killing the firstborn of Egypt during the tenth plague or having all the men, women, and children of Jericho slaughtered by Joshua’s army. Likewise, the first 39 chapters of Isaiah focus primarily on dire warnings of God’s judgment; but...

Three Crucial Questions, One Crucial Plan: A Homily for the 10th Sunday of the Year Msgr. Charles Pope • June 9, 2018 • Adam and Eve, Charles-Joseph Natoire (1740)In the first reading for Sunday (from Genesis) the Lord asks three important questions and sets into motion a “crucial” plan for our salvation. The word “crucial” is rooted in the Latin word for cross (crux or crucis). As such, it indicates something that is central by a coming together of the horizontal and vertical. It also points to a suffering that needs healing. Let’s look at each question in turn...

DUBLIN, June 8, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The results of Ireland’s May 26 referendum that repealed the pro-life Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution are being challenged in the country’s High Court.  The pro-abortion “Yes” side won with 66.5% of the vote. The first challenger, Joanna Jordan of Dublin, has complained that large numbers of potential “No” voters were allegedly deregistered and therefore blocked from casting their ballots.  In addition, she questioned the unexplained boost to the “Yes” side. Before the day of the referendum, polls indicated that the victory might go to either side. However, the exit polls and the...

Though I have written several articles about Pope Francis’s post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (AL), I am repeatedly struck anew, as time goes on, by its inexorably destructive implications. Despite AL’s generally good summary of Catholic teaching on marriage and the family, its moral subjectivism ultimately undermines not only the truths affirmed in the document, but also those of Catholic morality in general. And once truth is in doubt, there is no longer any stable basis for trust. AL certainly undermines the trust of Catholics entering marriage, as they become aware that in many countries and dioceses, perhaps even their...

The Vatican presented something important today, 8 June, at a press conference: the Preparatory Document for the upcoming 2019 Pan-Amazon Synod in which there is now talk about giving women some “type of official ministry” and of making “courageous” and inculturated proposals with regard to the Church’s “inclusive ministerial action.” One of the leading organiziers of this synod, Bishop Kräutler, says this reform should include married priests, male and female. The Preparatory Document itself refers indirectly to a decisive meeting that took place, in 2014, between the Pope and Kräutler. As a Reuters report today sums it up, today’s press...

Recently, Dr. James White of Alpha & Omega Ministries publicly condemned the YouTube series "Islamicize Me," starring David Wood, Jon McCray, Vocab Malone, and many others. While David, Jon, and Vocab don't usually like to get into inter-Christian disputes, the large volume of complaints by Dr. White's fans have convinced the Apologetics Avengers to reply.

The Passing of Things as Seen on Television Msgr. Charles Pope • June 8, 2018 • Below is a link to a commercial that must have taken weeks to film. Regardless of its intent (selling home insurance), there is something of an admonition in both the visuals and the music, that life and the things of life slip away.While the music sets forth the theme, “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow; don’t stop, it’ll soon be here,” the objects in the house start to get up and leave the house and its owners. The owners themselves begin to be swept...

Munich, Germany, Jun 8, 2018 / 04:32 pm (CNA).- Several German bishops have reacted with surprise, consternation and criticism to the Vatican’s rejection of a proposal to allow Protestants married to Catholics to receive the Eucharist in certain circumstances. One prominent cardinal has said he is "furious" with how the Communion debate is playing out. In a May 25 letter, Cardinal-elect Luis Ladaria SJ, the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, raised "a series of problems of considerable importance” with the German proposal and declares it not mature enough for publication.The letter was published on June 4 by...

“A dictatorship requires three things: a man, an idea, and a following ready to live for the man and the idea, and if necessary to die for them. If the man is lacking, it is hopeless; if the idea is lacking, it is impossible; if the following is missing, the dictatorship is only a bad joke.”Thus said Joseph Goebbels, the “Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda” for Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. To his list of three requirements for a dictatorship, I would add an obvious fourth (given his office, I’m surprised Goebbels didn’t mention it): propaganda. In order...

VATICAN – The Catholic Church must discover new ways to provide the Eucharist and pastoral support to the people of the Amazon, especially indigenous people threatened by forced displacement and exploitation, a new document said. The Vatican released the preparatory document for the special Synod of Bishops on the Amazon June 8. The synod gathering in October 2019 will reflect on the theme "Amazonia: New paths for the church and for an integral ecology."The connection between care for the environment and the pastoral care of the people who live in the region is highlighted throughout the document, because, it said, "protecting...

SYDNEY, Australia - Laws requiring Catholic priests to break the seal of confession in some cases passed the Australian Capital Territory’s Legislative Assembly in Canberra June 7.The purpose of the Ombudsman Amendment Bill 2018 was to expand the Reportable Conduct Scheme governing allegations of child abuse and misconduct to include religious organizations.The legislation passed without amendment. The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn has nine months to negotiate with the government on how it will work before the start of reportable conduct requirements.Writing in The Canberra Times June 7, Archbishop Christopher Prowse of Canberra and Goulburn said he supported the revised...

In the most recent edition of that dreadful “Pope Video” series, wherein Jorge Bergoglio plays himself (a non-Catholic humanist), the star of the show (stage name, “Francis”) encourages the following:A lengthening of horizons, a widening, for so many people…Immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity…A place not of alienation … a concrete place, a place rich in humanity…Inclusiveness which respects others for their differences… Is it merely coincidental that the so-called “Pope Video” installment for June – or what gay activists call “Pride Month,” a worldwide 30 day public celebration of homo-debauchery – employs a host of LGBT buzzwords?Maybe. Then...

Poop Video - Nuanced Nod To Gays? AKA-Catholic asks a very good question of this month's Poop Video: Did Pope Francis toss a bone to the gays? This is "pride month", after all. Listen to all the gay-appropriated buzz words: "inclusiveness", "respect for differences" During his pontificate, we have seen many examples of Poop Video - Nuanced Nod To Gays? AKA-Catholic asks a very good question of this month's Poop Video: Did Pope Francis toss a bone to the gays?  This is "pride month", after all.  Listen to all the gay-appropriated buzz words: "inclusiveness", "respect for differences" During his pontificate,...

Beware the “Soloists” - A Concern for the Protestant “Solos”: Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia Msgr. Charles Pope • June 7, 2018 • There are a lot of “solos” sung by our Protestant brethren: sola fide (saved by faith alone), sola Scriptura (Scripture alone is the rule of faith), and sola gratia (grace alone). Generally, one ought to be leery of claims that things work “alone.” Typically, many things work together in harmony; things are interrelated. Very seldom is anyone or anything really “alone.”The problem with “solos” emerges (it seems to me) in our mind, where it is...

Bishop Says It Again: Francis Is An Antipope The present Church crisis can only be resolved by a group of cardinals who find that the election of "Francis the Merciful" in 2013 was invalid, Monsignor René Gracida (94), the retired bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas, wrote on June 2 on his blog “abyssum.org”. Already in April, he stated that he considers Francis an anti-pope. According to Gracida, some Cardinals including Jorge Bergoglio, violated Canon law by plotting what became known as the “St Gallen mafia”, and they are therefore now excommunicated. Picture: René Gracida, © okietraditionalist.blogspot.com, #newsGytexutzev

In my last column on the political situation in Italy I noted reports of a breakthrough in the creation of a government based on the new populist, anti-EU parliamentary majority resulting from the stunning electoral triumph of both the Five Stars and League parties.   As the New York Times reported on May 31 (with evident deep regret): “After 88 days of impasses and negotiations, two Italian populist parties with a history of antagonism toward the European Union received approval Thursday night to create a government that has already unsettled the Continent’s political order.” Horrors!  How dare the Italian people “unsettle” the...

The late Pope Saint John Paul II did not equivocate or placate over the implications of a sizable celebration of homosexuality conducted in Rome during the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year of 2000 – saying it was an “offense” to Christian values and an insult that commanded acrimony. ''In the name of the church of Rome, I cannot not express bitterness for the affront to the Grand Jubilee of the year 2000 and for the offense to the Christian values of a city that is so dear to the hearts of Catholics across the world,'' he told pilgrims in a Sunday...

German Lutherans meet LWF member church and Pope Francis in Italy (LWI) - "We have experienced a lot of encouragement for the ecumenical journey of Lutherans and Catholics worldwide," the chairman of the German National Committee (GNC/LWF) of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Bishop Gerhard Ulrich, said following a private audience of the GNC with Pope Francis.“With God's help, we hope for a future that aims at a complete overcoming of divergences. We have to go on.” Pope Francis told the German Lutheran delegation, according to the Vatican. “The Joint Commemoration of the Reformation anniversary has confirmed to us that...

Pope Francis has appointed his personal theologian and ghostwriter Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez to head the Argentinian Archdiocese of La Plata, the Holy See’s press office announced June 2. Fernandez, 55, replaces Archbishop Hector Aguer, who turned 75 in May, the age at which diocesan bishops are required to submit letters of resignation to the Pope. Fernandez was replaced as rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in April after serving in the position since 2011, and university officials told Catholic News Agency at the time Fernandez was hoping to be named archbishop of La Plata, considered to be...