Free Republic

The justices rejected Planned Parenthood’s petitions to block three laws. The first petition challenged an Idaho law that would let certain family members of a fetus sue health care professionals who perform abortions. The second challenged a state law that bans nearly all abortions. The third would make it a felony for medical professionals to perform an abortion after electrical activity is detected.

Boise Pride Festival organizers have dropped a Drag Kids event from this weekend’s annual celebration after at least three sponsors announced they were withdrawing support. Zions Bank withdrew its sponsorship on Wednesday, and on Thursday both Idaho Power and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare followed suit. In a statement Thursday afternoon, Pride organizers said the decision was made because of safety concerns for the children and their parents. “The kids who were going to perform have the enthusiastic support of their community and support and consent of their parents,” organizers said in the statement. “We support the kids...

The Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit that challenges Idaho’s restrictive abortion law, arguing that it conflicts with a federal law requiring doctors to provide pregnant women medically necessary treatment that could include abortion. The announcement is the first major action by the Justice Department challenging a state trigger law since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. The court’s decision has led some states to enact restrictive abortion laws and is likely to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states in the U.S. The Justice Department brought the suit because federal prosecutors believe Idaho’s...

Russia and China are developing a new reserve currency with other BRICS countries, President Vladimir Putin said. The basket currency would rival a US-dominated IMF alternative and let Russia widen its influence. The dollar's dominance is already eroding as central banks diversify into the Chinese yuan and smaller currencies. "The matter of creating the international reserve currency based on the basket of currencies of our countries is under review," Putin told the BRICS Business Forum on Wednesday, according to a TASS report. "We are ready to openly work with all fair partners." While it's not a reserve currency, the SDR...

A senior German priest has announced that he is no longer Catholic, citing his disappointment over a lack of “reforms” in the Church and admitting to having broken his promise of celibacy. “At the same time, I experience how much hope is placed in ongoing processes such as the Synodal Way. But I’m no longer in a position to also proclaim and honestly and sincerely share that hope, because I simply don’t have it anymore.” The former vicar general described the ordination of women to the priesthood, as well as “the abolition of compulsory celibacy, dealing with queer people, co-determination...

1. Pope Francis Mentions Russia by Name In the text of the consecration prayer provided by the Vatican to all the Catholic bishops of the world, Russia is specifically mentioned by name. 2. It Affirms that Mary Always Leads to Jesus, the Prince of Peace The consecration is full of biblical references to Mary’s role as an intercessor. 3. Pope Francis Mentions Nuclear Weapons The Pope will invoke Mary by many different titles, including Star of the Sea, Ark of the New Covenant, Queen of Heaven, and Queen of Peace in invoking her intercession for peace in the world at...

Dear Students of Archbishop Riordan High School, Every stage of life has its blessings and challenges, its gifts to offer the broader society and its blind spots. As young people, you are idealistic, full of energy to be advocates for justice and changing the world into a better place. It is a joy for me as your archbishop to see this energetic idealism in you when I visit your school. This is a great blessing, and it is the gift that you offer to the rest of us. However, you still have much growing and learning to do; much success...

The Church has always struggled to find good leaders. However, as recently as a hundred years ago, bureaucratic structures did not dominate its life as they do today. What happened? {snip} The Vatican also furthered this revolution, despite already having a centralized bureaucracy and despite the vaunted “collegiality” proclaimed at Vatican II. When Paul VI reorganized the papal Curia in 1967, effective control over other curial departments fell to the Secretariate of State, marking a “turn to the world” in its orientation, downgrading the importance of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Paul VI also allowed bishops to...

Pope Francis could soon promulgate a new law (in the form of an Apostolic Constitution) to regulate the resignation of the Pope, and especially the status following the resignation of a Pontiff. This is also to avoid a whole series of misleading interpretations on the existence of two Popes, on their cohabitation, on the thesis of “an enlarged papacy” and on other issues that, although not having touched the vast majority of the faithful, have fed the underground poisons of the so-called “Pope-vacantists,” [Note: “Pope” or “Papacy Vacantists”] who have come to hypothesize that the only true Pope is Ratzinger....

Thousands of parents swarmed the West Ada School District office Wednesday to opt their children out of having to wear masks at school. Parents and guardians turned in 3,754 opt-out forms by 5 p.m. Wednesday, district spokeswoman Char Jackson told EdNews. West Ada trustees on Tuesday met for over five hours before approving a mask mandate for staff. Students don’t have to mask up if their parents or legal guardians sign a permission slip. On Wednesday morning, West Ada directed patrons to bring signed forms to the district office. Thousands of parents showed up as a result. Katrina Endrizzi, who...

What attitude should a Catholic take toward cruel and arbitrary prelates – for example, those who endlessly stir up division and then shamelessly blame the division on those who note and bemoan the fact? In Quodlibet VIII, Aquinas makes some relevant remarks when addressing the question whether “evil prelates” should be honored. You can find the passage in the Nevitt and Davies translation of Thomas Aquinas’s Quodlibetal Questions, from which I quote: [snip] There are two key points here. The first is that when a man is a bad prelate, we should not pretend otherwise merely because of his office....

BERLIN, Germany — The president of the German Catholic bishops’ conference said on Thursday that he would continue to give Holy Communion to Protestants who ask for it. Bishop Bätzing told journalists at a press conference on Feb. 25 that it was necessary to respect the “personal decision of conscience” of those seeking to receive Communion. Asked how he would respond if a Protestant came to him seeking the Eucharist, he told reporters: “I have no problems with it and I see myself in line with papal documents.” The 59-year-old bishop added that this was already a “practice” in Germany...

THERE is a remarkable parallel under the reign of both Pope Francis and President Donald Trump. They are two completely different men in vastly different positions of power, yet with many fascinating similarities surrounding their incumbency. Both men are provoking strong reactions among their constituents and beyond. Here, I am not staking out any position but rather pointing out the parallels in order to draw a much broader and spiritual conclusion beyond State and Church politics. • The election of both men was surrounded by controversy. According to alleged conspiracies, it has been suggested that Russia colluded in getting Donald...

With wokeness suddenly flooding universities, high schools, the medical profession, the military, business, and seemingly everywhere else, we are seeing something comparable to the Arian crisis of the 4th century or the Albigensian crisis of the 13th century – the alarmingly rapid spread of a toxic religious cult that threatens the general sociopolitical order no less than it does the Church. As in these earlier crises, there are many Christians, already heterodox anyway, who are happy to cave in to the madness. And there are also some otherwise orthodox Christians who, out of cowardice and/or muddle-headedness, try to accommodate themselves...

"The statement, from conference president Archbishop Jose Gomez, took uncompromising positions on abortion, gender, and religious liberty, warning that the Biden administration’s policy agenda would advance “moral evils” on several fronts."