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Trouble at Villanova: Dispute escalates over a student’s tweets Melanie Diodati, a graduate theology student at the Augustinian university in Pennsylvania, criticised Villanova on Twitter in late June after the university’s athletic department described itself as an “ally of the LGBTQ+ Community”. Diodati said she was “ashamed to attend” the university because it was “ashamed to be Catholic”.Diodati later tweeted claims that her academic advisor, Professor Jennifer Jackson, had warned Diodati over her Twitter activity.In the Twitter thread Diodati claimed that Professor Jackson said “I might lose my tuition scholarship” and that “I ought to come back to Twitter and...

COMMUNISM vs. RELIGION 47,000 dead..................Cambodian Budhists (9) 13,000 imprisoned.........Czech priests / relegious (10) 7,000 imprisoned...........Mozambican Jehovah's Witnesses (11) 100,000 imprisoned........North Korean Christians (12) 2,100 imprisoned............Polish priests & Jehovah's Witnesses (13) 400 dead........................ Romanian Christians (14) MOREOVER, CHRISTIANS SUFFERED THE FOLLOWING IN ROMANIAN PRISONS: --In a "baptism of immersion," inmates' heads were plunged into buckets of urine and feces while guards chanted baptismal rites. Near the point of drowning, the Christian's head was let up for air and then plunged back into the sewage (65). --Christians were forced to swallow fecal matter as a symbol of holy communion (66). --Christians were...

Chinese state-backed hackers infiltrated Vatican, cybersecurity firm says ROME — An American cybersecurity firm has said that a Chinese state-backed hacking group targeted and infiltrated the Vatican this year, in what the firm described as an espionage mission probably aimed at gaining an advantage in diplomatic negotiations.The reported hacking comes at a time when the Vatican and Beijing are looking into extending a controversial agreement on the process of appointing Catholic bishops in China. That provisional deal, signed two years ago, was aimed at healing a decades-long rift between the Holy See and China and eliminating a system in which...

Communion Wars: Vatican Shuts Seminary Argentine bishop punishes seminarians for communion on tongue VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Outraged laity have published a stinging letter excoriating the Holy See's decision to shut down a conservative seminary in Argentina after its rector and clergy disobeyed the bishop's diktat to administer communion in hand only. Eduardo María Taussig, bishop of San Rafael, announced Monday in a press statement the seminary of Santa María Madre de Dios would shut at the end of 2020 "following precise instructions issued by the Holy See." Chapel of Santa María Madre de Dios seminary in San Rafael Taussig named Peruvian...

Pope Francis’s Silence on Xinjiang Speaks Volumes A pope dedicated to human rights has said nothing on China, thanks to a secret deal with Beijing. It is Francis’s silence that shocks me most. Almost every Sunday, as he prays the Angelus, he rightly references some injustice somewhere in the world. He has spoken often in the past not only of the persecution of Christians around the world but of the plight of the Rohingyas in Myanmar; the conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, and Nigeria; and religious freedom for all.One country—and one country alone—is noticeable by its absence in his prayers...

[Barf Alert] Vatican-China agreement: Catholics keep the faith in historic deal despite slow progress If James Su Zhimin is still alive, he would have turned 88 this month. While he has not been seen for 17 years, Su is still listed by the Holy See, the worldwide government of the Catholic Church, as the Bishop of Baoding in China’s Hebei province. Between 1956 – five years after the Vatican and Beijing broke off diplomatic relations – and 1997, Su was arrested at least eight times, spending more than 30 years in prisons and labour reform facilities for refusing to switch...

A member of China’s Early Rain Covenant Church says the Chinese Communist Party continues to persecute members of the church by threatening to send their children to government re-education camps or forcibly remove adopted children from their parents. In a video released Wednesday alongside a new report by International Christian Concern, Liao Qiang, a member of ERCC in Chengdu, said that despite shuttering the church and jailing Pastor Wang Yi in December of 2018, the CCP continues to harass its members. Qiang said in the video accompanying ICC's new report on Religious Suppression in China that his family was forced...

I recently watched a Prophecy Watchers video of Gary Stearman interviewing Dr. Ken Johnson, author of The Ancient Dead Sea Scroll Calendar: And The Prophecies It Reveals. During the interview, Johnson said one scroll that is believed to be written by the Essenes says, “It’s a serious sin to ignore Bible prophecy.” There are at least 10 different verses in the Bible that tell everyone to watch for the return of Jesus. To know to do something and not do it is a sin (Matt. 7:26; James 4:17). I believe Satan’s world government is shaping up, and here are several...

Two years after China-Vatican agreement. Repression against minors and churches (II) Priests forced to attend government training courses; underground clergy seized to convince them to join the Patriotic Association. Catechism classes closed; minors removed from churches; sacred buildings under construction blocked, closed or seized. Two years after the agreement, there are far greater difficulties. Rome (AsiaNews) - Two years after the Agreement between China and the Vatican, repression towards Christian communities, both official and underground, has grown. These two testimonies, part of an ongoing AsiaNews investigation (click here) are witness to this. Francis highlights the pressures that all priests receive...

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, poor Christian villagers in China have been ordered to renounce their faith and replace displays of Jesus with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping or risk losing their welfare benefits.Religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter reports that in April, officials with China's Communist Party visited believers’ homes in Linfen, a prefecture-level city in the northern province of Shanxi. While there, they ordered residents who receive social welfare payments from the government to replace crosses, religious symbols, and images in their homes with portraits of China's communist leaders. If Christians resisted the order, officials annulled their...

Father Rothrock Is Right Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Carmel, Indiana, is part of the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana headed by Bishop Timothy Doherty. On July 2, 2020, Father Ted Rothrock, the parish pastor published his weekly message under the title “The lady (doth) protest too much, methinks.” In it, he described Black Lives Matter and Antifa militants as having a hidden agenda, and explained how “despots and tyrants have always employed accusation and distortion to achieve all manner of mischief… and mold public opinion.”Father Rothrock asked whether black lives really mattered to the community organizers promoting their agenda. He...

American Lawyer Takes on Chinese Regime and the Catholic Church A lawyer who has spent her career working for the welfare of missing and trafficked children has now turned her efforts to protecting the religious rights of children in China.On June 2, Liz Yore filed three submissions to the United Nations special rapporteur (SR) on freedom of belief and religion. The first details religious rights abuses of Chinese children, while the second outlines the imprisonment by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of two Catholic bishops, one of whom has been detained for 25 years, whose whereabouts are unknown.The third, says...

WATCH: 40,000 strong petition supporting priest suspended for calling out BLM organization delivered to bishop The petition supporting Fr. Rothrock was delivered while a prayer vigil took place PETITION: Support priest who was suspended for calling out the Black Lives Matter organization! Sign the petition here. July 17, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Yesterday, prayer and action came together at the Catholic Chancery in Lafayette, Indiana, where Catholic prayer warriors along with LifeSite staff held a prayer vigil and delivered our petition in support of Fr. Theodore Rothrock, which has already garnered nearly 40,000 signatures. Fr. Ted, as he is known to parishioners...

Impoverished Christians living in China who are receiving aid from the state have been ordered to renounce their faith or have their welfare benefits revoked, according to reports from Bitter Winter, a non-profit organization dedicated to religious and human rights in China. During a government meeting in the city of Linfen near the northern province of Shanxi, officials from all villages under the city's jurisdiction were instructed to remove crosses, religious symbols, and images from the homes of Christians who receive welfare payments and replace them with images of Chairman Mao Zedong and President Xi Jinping.

Rome Newsroom, Jul 7, 2020 / 12:00 pm MT (CNA).- More Christian families left the Nineveh Plains than returned to their hometowns last year amid ongoing security concerns in northern Iraq, according to a recently published report by Aid to the Church in Need. The report, “Life after ISIS: New challenges to Christianity in Iraq,” documents how Iraqi Christians’ worries over Iran-backed militias operating in their region drive emigration and economic insecurity. “Christians who have returned to their homes still feel unsafe, and substantially more insecure than other groups in the region mostly because of the violent activity of local...

Former special counsel Robert Mueller, in a very rare move, has written an op-ed for The Washington Post defending his office's prosecution of Roger Stone and saying he is still a convicted felon and "rightly so" in light of President Donald Trump's commutation of Stone.

Dueling Protests Follow Suspension of Indiana Priest Fr. Theodore Rothrock: leftists 'serpents in the garden' CARMEL, Ind. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Protests and counterprotests are erupting over the suspension of a faithful Indiana cleric, days after his denunciation of radical leftist groups. On Sunday, supporters and critics of Fr. Theodore Rothrock faced off outside St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church in Carmel. One contingent shouted "Black Lives Matter!" while the other cheered, "Go, Fr. Ted!" Father Rothrock was suspended last week after condemning anarchist groups. "Black Lives Matter, Antifa and the other nefarious acolytes of their persuasion are not the friends or allies we have been led to believe," he warned in his...

We’re now witnessing the next wave of the destruction and breakdown of US society– Christian churches are the latest target by the godless left. This is very disturbing. This past weekend the mob targeted a Troy, New York Church. The BLM mob attacked Christians on the steps of the church and interrupted the sermon screaming profanities. The BLM mob was screaming “We’re not here for violence!” as they dragged parishioners from the church steps!

Teach About Marxism’s Evils We cannot allow another generation to emerge from our schools so ignorant of communism's horrors that they see no problem in courting, dabbling with, or even passively accepting one of history’s most noxious ideologies.
 My child’s Catholic school sent home a letter to parents this week recommending “conversations about white privilege” to encourage “compassionate hearts and confident minds.” Regurgitating the radical-left bile that fuels the fires of resentment and division will not enrich students emotionally or intellectually. Instead, Catholic schools should teach students about the evils of Marxism.Marxist apostles are orchestrating the chaos and violence plaguing...

[Catholic Caucus] Sidelined Priest’s Work Continues COLUMBUS, Ohio (ChurchMilitant.com) - Lay supporters of a priest who was sidelined by his bishop in Columbus, Ohio for reaching out to homosexuals plan to carry on his work and offer it as a subtle protest on his behalf.Rev. Joseph Klee Following Church Militant's report on the removal of all priestly duties from Fr. Joseph Klee, Alycia Hartley (the cleric's "friend and spiritual daughter") told the apostolate on Thursday that his supporters will continue his marriage rallies as an outreach to homosexuals. "We want to carry on his work and do it in honor of Fr. Klee," said Hartley. Klee, who has been outspoken...