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I think most of us would agree that today WE ARE LIVING IN THE GREATEST CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS AND ECONOMIC CRISIS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. We are living in the most confusing times in the history of the world and of the Church. WE DESERVE ALL OF THIS because in recent decades there has been a great decline in the number of people who seek to obey and live God’s holy laws with the help of God through prayer and the Holy Sacraments. (Note: When pasting this document into Free Republic, it seems that most of the special formatting...

[Catholic Caucus] Jesuit in Rome admits Francis is correcting JPII moral theology'It is fundamental to untie the knots of Veritatis Splendor'Julio Martinez, S.J.: Pope Francis “has introduced discernment in the concrete circumstances of marriage and family life."Amoris Laetitia, the apostolic exhortation published by Pope Francis in March 2016 after the two synods of bishops on the family, not only radically altered the church’s concrete pastoral approach to marriage and the family, it also opened new ways of doing moral theology in the 21st century, Julio Martinez, S.J., a Spanish priest and moral theologian, told America magazine in an exclusive interview....

It is a very grave injustice and very harmful to people to tell them that MDM-BOT is Catholic (MDM: Maria Divine Mercy; BOT: Book of Truth). The people in MDM-BOT do not obey anyone on the face of the earth and could care less about any document of the Catholic Church that indicates problems with MDM-BOT. As all cults and sects, including those founded on false condemned private revelations, they feel they are above the Catholic Church or any authority on the face of the earth. (Note: When pasting this document into Free Republic, it seems that most of the...

[Catholic Caucus] Cordileone Won’t Do It For the Sake of "Unity"CrisisMagazine.com editor Eric Sammons asked “conservative” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone on May 21 why he doesn't deny Communion to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 81, a leading promotor of abortion who lives in his Archdiocese.Cordileone replied that after nine years at the helm of the Archdiocese he is “not at that point yet” because he is still in early stages of discerning what would be best for the Church in “preserving unity.”He argues that Pelosi has “done good” but admitted that this does not justify perpetrating very evil deeds. Asked...

In Sir Walter Scott’s epic, but mostly forgotten, poem, “Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field,” Scott penned his famous couplet: “Oh what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive.” Those lines resonate today when Americans are submerged in an ideological fog of artificial truth thanks to the American media. In step with them are digital social media platforms. In addition, our universities, political class, and elites are foisting information that is laden with lies and half-truths to promote their social and political agenda -- and they are doing it with some considerable success. These outlets’...

https://youtu.be/Q2mN21t2p_8

When I graduated from college in 1989, it looked like socialism was dead. The Soviet Union—the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—was in its death throes. In comparison, the American economy was booming, and countries around the world were beginning to liberalize their markets. After a sophomoric flirtation with socialism, I had concluded that capitalism was probably the most workable economic model. I had not resolved my lingering suspicions, however, that capitalism was immoral and that socialism was still the Christian ideal. Part of that impression came from biblical passages that seem to suggest as much: “Now the full number of...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis Attacks Amazon Synod: "No Discernment," "Useless Bitterness" There was a "rich" and "well-founded" discussion at the 2019 Amazon Synod but "no discernment“ about married priests, Francis wrote in notes published by his apologist Father Antonio Spadaro (LaCiviltaCattolica.it, September 4).Francis explains that he didn't endorse in Querida Amazonia (February 12) the Synod’s wish to abolish celibacy because "discernment" is "something different, than just arriving at a good consensus or at a relative majority."Nobody, including Francis, has a clue what the buzzword "discernment" means in this context. For Francis, Bishops‘ Synods should be opportunities for "prayerful reflection" and "spiritual...

[Barf Alert] Pope Francis announces a 2022 synod on synodality Vatican City, Mar 7, 2020 / 05:00 am (CNA).- The next ordinary Synod of Bishops will be a synod on synodality, the Vatican announced March 7.In October 2022, bishops from around the world will meet in Rome to discuss the theme: “For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.”The concept of “synodality” has been a topic of frequent discussion by Pope Francis, particularly during the previous ordinary Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment in October 2018.Synodality, as defined by the International Theological Commission in 2018,...

A Christian apologist laid out three ways Christians can judge whether an idea is “biblical or bogus” in a speech that was part of a student-centered apologetics event in Allen, Texas.Alan Shlemon, author and speaker with the apologetics group Stand to Reason, gave remarks at the reTHINK Apologetics Student Conference, held last week at Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen. During his talk last Friday, Shlemon laid out three steps that help guard against false religious ideas.1) The first step is to “seek to study scripture,” which involved reading the Bible. Shlemon told students that when they “come across an idea...

Swiss Diocese Confirms: “All” Invited To Communion Protestants and “all” wanting to receive Communion can do so during the first "Catholic" Mass (February 29) in the Protestant Saint Pierre Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland.A speaker of Lausanne/Geneva/Fribourg Diocese confirmed this to Katholisch.de. The wording includes non-Christians.The president of the Protestant Saint Pierre parish council said it was “normal” that Geneva Protestants receive Communion at ecumenical services.Lausanne/Geneva/Fribourg Diocese is run by “conservative” Bishop Charles Morerod who was a member of the commission responsible for dialoguing with the Society of St. Pius X.

[Barf Alert] Pope urges bishops to teach discernment, including on political issues Pope Francis meets with U.S. bishops from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas during their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican Jan. 20, 2020. The bishops were making their "ad limina" visits to report on the status of their dioceses to the pope and Vatican officials. (Credit: CNS photo/Vatican Media.) ROME - Sometimes the political choices people face can seem like a choice between supporting a “snake” or supporting a “dragon,” but Pope Francis told a group of U.S. bishops their job is to step back from partisan politics and...

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.(Philipians 2:3)The Church definitely needs to exercise greater discernment, especially in these last days, when so much deception is being unleashed to attack the believing remnant, that Jesus said “…if possible, even the very elect would be deceived”.Pastors need to be courageous, calling out heretics, and deceivers who turn many away from the once and for all delivered faith. All believers need to make it their business to know and live the gospel, and to familiarize ourselves with the Word to...

[Catholic Caucus] Jesuits defend Honduran priest whose radio station runs pro-abort views MONTREAL, August 7, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — The Canadian Jesuits are defending a popular member of their order in Honduras after a Canadian bishops’ investigation found his radio station and foundation publish pro-abortion views.   Fr. Ismael Moreno, known as “Padre Melo” and renowned for his advocacy for impoverished people in his country despite death threats, is the director of the Fundacion ERIC (l'Équipe de réflexion, d’information et de communication) and Radio Progreso in Honduras. Both organizations are among 52 groups in the developing world the Canadian Catholic Organization...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope: Critics would be ‘happy’ if ‘we had hung 100 abuser priests in St. Peter’s Square’ ROME, May 10, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — If the Church had “hung 100 abuser priests in St. Peter’s Square” at last February’s Vatican sex abuse summit, anti-abuse organizations “would have been happy” but it would not have solved the problem, Pope Francis told the International Union of Superiors on Friday. In an off-the-cuff address at the Vatican, the Pope also told several hundred women religious that neither secular clothing nor the traditional habit is “worse or better,” and that it all depends on “discernment.” The Pope also...

Pope Francis and the Devil: Misreading the Signs of the Times Despite his penchant for theological innovation, Pope Francis seems to hold some fairly traditional beliefs about the devil. Here’s an example from Gaudete et Exsultate: It is precisely the conviction that this malign power is present in our midst that enables us to understand how evil can at times have so much destructive force… Hence, we should not think of the devil as a myth, a representation, a symbol, a figure of speech or an idea. This mistake would lead us to let down our guard, to grow careless and end...

Christians have been confused by the fact that there are Christian ministers and teachers who, in spite of serious sin, continue to teach the word in a doctrinally correct way. We understand that none of us is perfect and that we all sin. What I am referring to here is ongoing sin which has not been repented of. This is often glossed over with terms such as “character flaws” or “weaknesses”. Often a vile temper is excused as “righteous anger”. Hatred, an unforgiving spirit, bitterness, strife etc. is often brushed aside by the claim to righteous zeal. A judgmental and...

The latest of a series of articles on Vatican-China talks* posted on the Vatican News site tackles the question of how the Holy See could recognize bishops who were ordained without Vatican approval, and thus subject to excommunication: The path to the legitimisation of the Chinese Bishops ordained without the mandate of the Pope is not and cannot be, then, a cold bureaucratic act; rather, it must be a journey of genuinely and profoundly ecclesial discernment, whereby particular cases are evaluated in order to determine whether the essential conditions exist, such that a given Bishop could be readmitted into full...

WASHINGTON, DC, April 12, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – “If you insist upon the commandments, it’s like throwing stones at people.”   Famed Catholic author Janet Smith, speaking to a group gathered at The Catholic University of America (CUA), in Washington, DC on April 5, warned of new challenges to the Church’s teaching against contraception that will arise in coming years, centered around the concepts of conscience and discernment. In particular, theologians who Smith identifies as “discerners” will focus not on the authority of conscience as it is traditionally understood, but on a “very different understanding of what the conscience is. This is...

Pope Francis has issued a long apostolic letter on holiness in today’s world, in which he emphasizes the universal call to sanctity, highlights the pitfalls to achieving it, and recalls that the Christian life is one of constant battle against the devil and the forces of evil. Running at just over 22,000 words, Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad) — The Call to Holiness in Today’s World — contains many themes the Holy Father has repeated over the past five years: an emphasis on the importance of discernment, warnings against Gnosticism and neo-Pelagianism, rigidity, doing things as they have...