Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Two Treatments for the Same Spiritual Maladies: The Catholic Church Offers a Cure, the Synodal Church Offers Euthanasia“If you perchance have any bad habit, endeavor to break from it speedily, now that God calls you. And as long as your conscience smites you, rejoice; for it is a sign that God has not yet abandoned you. But amend, give up sin at once; for if not, the wound will become gangrenous, and you will be lost.” (p. 79)Much like other Catholic spiritual works dedicated to Lenten reflections, St. Alphonsus Liguori’s Meditations and Readings for Every Day of Lent...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Hollerich voices support for blessings of same-sex ‘couples,’ questions priestly celibacy'I am absolutely on the same line as the Pope' on blessing same-sex 'couples,' Cdl. Jean-Claude Hollerich said, adding, 'Why only care about below-the-belt morality?'Papal confidant Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg, has voiced his support for the heterodox blessing of same-sex “couples” proposed by the Vatican’s December Declaration Fiducia Supplicans. In an interview with L’essentiel, Hollerich was asked about the mounting criticisms Pope Franics is facing for his approval of such blessings from bishops and bishops’ conferences – an approval he has doubled down on in...

[Catholic Caucus] Head of Italian bishops’ conference welcomes papal document permitting blessing same-sex ‘unions’Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, has endorsed Pope Francis' controversial declaration allowing blessings for homosexual 'couples.'Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, has welcomed Pope Francis’ declaration opening up blessings for homosexual “couples.”In a statement to the winter session of the conference’s Permanent Episcopal Council on Monday, Zuppi stated that he has “accepted the Declaration of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, Fiducia Supplicans,” penned by the dicastery’s Prefect Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández and authorized by Pope Francis on...

[Catholic Caucus] Papal confidant Cardinal Maradiaga defends Fiducia Supplicans'This statement is not heresy, but a pastoral explanation of the character of the blessings, which were limited in the liturgical field,' asserted Cardinal Maradiaga in his praise of Fiducia Supplicans.TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (LifeSiteNews) –– One of Pope Francis’ closest aides, Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, has publicly supported Fiducia Supplicans and its blessings for homosexual “couples” as being “not heretical.”In a brief discussion held with local Honduran clergy and reported on by Religion Digital, Maradiaga gave his public support to the December 18 text Fiducia Supplicans, authored by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández...

[Catholic Caucus] Let’s Call Out Dirty Old Men AgainOne cannot speak against the acts that used to be called deviant and perverse because those very acts are being mainstreamed and normalized by all the powers that be.I don’t know about you, but I miss the days when we could freely identify and call out dirty old men. When, without reprisal, we could recognize and denounce sexual deviance and not have to pretend that sexual perversion was normal or good. Today? All discernment on the issue of sexual perversion has been dulled and even forbidden. One cannot speak against the acts...

[Catholic Caucus] Spanish cardinal vows to ‘fully apply’ Fiducia Supplicans, cracks down on priestly oppositionSpanish priests involved in a petition asking Pope Francis to revoke Fiducia Supplicans ‘have been seriously admonished, they have been asked if they have anything against the Pope,’ Cardinal José Cobo said.MADRID (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal José Cobo of Madrid has moved to quash opposition to Fiducia Supplicans, warning his priests that “we are going to fully apply the Pope’s doctrine” on same-sex “blessings.”Speaking to Religión Digital on January 8, Cobo expressed his full support of the December 18 text Fiducia Supplicans, which purports to open the...

[Catholic Caucus] Exclusive: Cardinals Cupich, McElroy say 'impossible to go back' to synods without lay voters Two U.S. cardinals said one of the immediate results of Pope Francis' major summit on the future of the Catholic Church is that it should now be "impossible" to return to an era where lay men and women are not given both a voice and vote in major Vatican meetings. "It would seem to me impossible to go back now," said San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy on Oct. 29. "It would be wrenching to go back if you just had bishops there or just...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop of Berlin permits blessings of homosexual couplesArchbishop Koch: Blessing of homosexual couples possible in archdiocese. He will not take any disciplinary actionArchbishop Heiner Koch leaves it up to the pastors of his archdiocese to bless homosexual couples. However, he himself will only do so after a certain point in time, the Berlin head pastor emphasises.Welcoming homosexual and trans refugeesIn the Archdiocese of Berlin, blessings of homosexual couples are possible. Archbishop Heiner Koch leaves it up to his full-time chaplains to do so. He will not take disciplinary action against them if they bless such couples in special...

[Catholic Caucus] Prayer for the Triumph of the Catholic Faith Almighty and eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we kneel before Your Majesty, and thank You from the depth of our soul for the inestimable gift of the Catholic Faith, which you have deigned to reveal to us through Jesus Christ, True God and True man. We received this divine light in holy baptism and have promised You to keep this faith inviolate until death.Increase in us the gift of the Catholic Faith. By Your grace, may it be strengthened and made unshakeable. Daily increase in us the understanding...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland: Cardinals don’t deserve the red hat if they contradict the Catholic faithOn this week’s episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland offers a meditation on the importance of honoring the Holy Name of Jesus and answers his critics regarding his use of Twitter to promote the Gospel. Discussing the collect prayer for the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Strickland offers a meditation on the Holy Name, stating: “We’ve got to embrace the joy and the power that His Name brings to humanity.”“He came to save all humanity,” Strickland continued. “And all this silliness of,...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Fernández, pro-Communist China bishop among new cardinals named by Pope FrancisPope Francis has announced the creation of 21 new cardinals at a September 30 consistory, including the newly promoted Archbishop Victor Fernández and Bishop Stephen Chow of Hong Kong – a staunch defender of the Vatican-China deal – among the list. Making the announcement at the end of his Sunday Angelus on July 9, Pope Francis presented the names of the 21 prelates whom he intends to raise to the cardinalate in the September 30 consistory. Of those, 18 are under the age of 80 and thus...

[Catholic Caucus] Erotic Poet and His Buddies Get the Cardinal’s HatThe college of Cardinals, like the “Office Formerly Known as Holy,” is not of divine institution.It gradually emerged in the early and middle periods of what I term “First Christendom” in my book (commonly known by the pejorative “Middle Ages”) as a result of various papal ends, and it eventually became a central piece of Vatican bureaucracy.And like all pieces of the Vatican machine, it can be used for good or bad ends, depending on the good or bad actors pulling the strings in the Eternal City.Since Paul VI, we’ve...

[Catholic Caucus] Pro-LGBT Cdls. McElroy, Tobin challenge formalization of US bishops’ decree against trans he USCCB had declared in a March directive that transgender procedures 'do not respect the fundamental order of the human person as an intrinsic unity of body and soul, with a body that is sexually differentiated.'Cardinals Joseph Tobin (L) and Robert McElroy (R)BALTIMORE (LifeSiteNews) — Two prominent pro-LGBT American cardinals are attempting to stall a formal revision to the U.S. bishop’s directives to Catholic hospitals and healthcare institutions that would ban “transgender” mutilation of the human body and chemical castration through puberty blockers and hormone infusions....

Fifty LGBTQ Advocates Welcomed to Vatican by High Ranking CardinalThe second -highest Vatican official after Pope Francis received a delegation of advocates working to end LGBTQ criminalization laws and conversion therapy, a meeting described by one Catholic group as a “great step forward” but which should prompt further action.Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, met with some 50 lawyers, politicians, and activists who presented him with research on anti-LGBTQ criminalization laws in the Caribbean that will be published next year by the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights. A statement from the Vatican Press Office, reported by La Stampa,...

Pope Francis Taps a Like-Minded Portuguese Cardinal to Head the New Dicastery for Culture and EducationCardinal José Mendonça is a published poet whose priestly service has centered on cultural dialogue and education, as well as ministry to homosexuals.VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has chosen to head the Vatican’s newly merged department for education and culture a Portuguese poet close to Francis’ thinking, but who has also been criticized for sympathizing with heterodox approaches to homosexuality and allying himself with a radical feminist Benedictine sister who promotes abortion and same-sex “marriage.”Cardinal José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça, 56, a native of...

[Catholic Caucus] Eucharistic pilgrimage expected to 'restrict' adoration in Chicago archdioceseThe Archdiocese of Chicago is expected to restrict the exposition of the Eucharist during a national Eucharistic pilgrimage that will traverse the Chicago region next year, ahead of the Eucharistic Congress scheduled for next July. The anticipated restriction comes amid differences of emphasis and approach among U.S. bishops over the Church’s Eucharistic revival process, now underway, and the $14 million Eucharistic Congress planned for 2024 — especially over the revival’s emphasis on adoration of the Eucharist. While Cardinal Blase Cupich has argued that an emphasis on adoration could distract from...

Fr. Murray slams Vatican cardinal for rejecting Church teaching on sodomy: ‘He should resign’‘If he doesn't believe the teaching, he should resign his office and leave,’ Fr. Murray said about Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, who has repeatedly attacked Catholic teaching on homosexuality.Fr. Gerald Murray delivered a scathing rebuke of Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, for disputing Catholic teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality, saying the Vatican cardinal and papal adviser should “resign” if he does not accept the doctrine of the Church.On EWTN’s The World Over on Thursday, Fr. Murray, a canon lawyer and priest of the Archdiocese of New York, blasted...

[Catholic / Orthodox Caucus] Cdl. Hollerich falsely claims Pope can reverse teaching against women priests ‘with time’The top Vatican cardinal denied that Catholic teaching on the impossibility of female ordination is infallible.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Close papal advisor Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., has once again suggested that the Catholic Church could open its doors to a female priesthood. He also argued that when “Church teaching was made” there was no concept of homosexuality, in an attack on Catholic teaching against about sodomy. Hollerich: ‘With time’ female ordination could occurThe lengthy interview Hollerich granted to the Croatian news outlet Glas Koncila...

Cardinal Cupich on 10 years of Pope Francis: women, LGBT Catholics, sex abuse and what comes nextWhen Pope Francis named Blase Cupich as archbishop of Chicago in 2014, some interpreted the appointment as a signal that the pope sought to reorient the U.S. hierarchy. Francis, who was elected pope 10 years ago on Monday, has spent the last decade reforming the Vatican bureaucracy and trying to implement his vision of a church that acts as what he describes as a field hospital, responding with mercy to the needs of ordinary Catholics. In the United States, home to a vocal group...

The Catholic Church’s LGBTQ OdysseyWelcome to the full-fledged freefall.As it confronts perhaps the ultimate challenge to its credibility, the Catholic Church finds itself in full-fledged freefall.Two American bishops publicly and strongly disagree about whether LGBTQ Catholics need to repent of their sexual behavior. One, the recently appointed cardinal of San Diego, argued for what he called “radical inclusion” without repentance. Another, a specialist in canon law, did more than disagree vigorously. He called his fellow prelate a heretic who should be relieved of his position.Meanwhile, as his church burns, Pope Francis imitates that great Roman violinist, Nero.San Diego Cardinal Robert...