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Guest Op-Ed - Musings from the Chinese Underground: "The Vatican is forcing us to obey perverted bishops!" By Guest-contributor 小鱼儿 I recently read Msgr. Anthony Figueiredo's interview in the National Catholic Register. I initially wanted to ignore his statements, like I did with other Chinese "experts". However, these past few months, the Church in China received "seismic tremors" too strong to ignore. Considering the gravity of the matter, I thought I would share my humble musings with Rorate Caeli readers. Surprise surprise! We have another Chinese "expert" talking about the Church in China. Mind you, an "expert" who doesn't speak...

Remember when President Barack Obama insulted small-town Pennsylvania voters by saying they bitterly “cling to guns or religion”? In next week’s special election, there is a strange new twist to this condescending attitude towards people of faith coming from the Democratic congressional candidate, Conor Lamb. In a recent interview, Lamb oddly invoked his religion to defend his position in support of late-term abortion. He tells us that he never learned the term “pro-life” in Catholic school, and therefore he would vote against any limits on abortion, and would even oppose a recent bill to ban abortion past 20 weeks of...

Francis in Trastevere visiting for the 50 years of the Community of Sant'Egidio. “The future of the world is living together”. We need a “globalization of solidarity”. Never say, “I have nothing to do with this” Humanity needs a "globalization of solidarity and of the spirit". Because the future of the "global" world is living together. Pope Francis affirms this in his visit to Trastevere to the Community of Sant'Egidio, for the fifty years of its foundation. The Pontiff reaffirms how the commitment to build bridges, to keep dialogue open, to continue and meet with one another, is fundamental. And...

Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich called for dialogue with disillusioned votersThe new head of a commission representing Europe’s Catholic bishops pledged to combat populism and promote European unity. “The European Union is a gain for the common good, and this is why the Church should be in constant dialogue with it,” said Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, elected president of the Brussels-based Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community March 8. “But certain citizens have their own preoccupations, and there’s now a growing populism. Combating this needn’t mean adopting populism’s adages, but engaging in a true dialogue of depth and...

LUOTIANBA, China — The bishop can’t really talk about religion right now.  His unofficial church is caught in a fight over the future of the Roman Catholic faith here, a struggle for control between the Vatican and the Communist Party that will determine the fate of the estimated 10 million Catholics in China and shape the legacy of Pope Francis. Bishop Zhuang Jianjian, 88, under watch and already in trouble, knows it is not safe to speak out. But he can still deliver a sermon. Just before 7 a.m. on a recent Sunday, he walked to the front of a small, white church...

The GOD of the BIBLE versus The god of the Nation of Islam (NOI, Louis Farrakhan Sr., etc.) (Isaiah 44:8) “Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.”"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Pet 1:16). Bible: GOD always existed and always will, and is the Creator, not a created being, and His essential nature is that of spirit, not flesh and blood, and who has always been and...

Much of the scholarly discussion about the circumstances of JesusÂ’ death relates to the question of who was responsible for his arrest and crucifixion.Who was responsible? The Jews or the Romans?Historically, the primary responsibility has been placed on the Jewish leadership and the Jews in Jerusalem. Throughout the centuries, this has sometimes had tragic consequences, resulting in anti-Semitism and violence against Jews.More recent trends in scholarship have shifted the blame to the Romans.The tendency to blame the Jews, it is said, arose in the decades after the crucifixion with the churchÂ’s growing conflict with the synagogue and its desire to...

Ezekiel 38 war seems to be getting closer, with American and Israel in joint military exercises and Putin rattling the sword of his supersonic ICBM, which he states no one can destroy (video of Mig-31 taking off and missile being deployed). More on the Iran deal and why Trump's pulling out of the deal would be disastrous for Iran. The amazing accuracy of Biblical predictions! And more. But do not be afraid.

AM 770 KTTH hosted a panel debate on the implications of recent laws and court cases concerning religious freedom on Thursday, June 26, 2014 from the Pigott Auditorium on the campus of Seattle University.

Chinese Catholics—“above” and “underground”—view themselves as part of “one suffering Catholic Church.” Will the Vatican’s present negotiations with China help or hinder those struggling to practice the Faith under a communist government?Not since the Boxer Uprising in 1900 has world media given as much attention to Christians in China as it has in recent weeks. One can barely keep up with the deluge of reports and articles, not to mention numerous works of punditry and commentary, attempting to explain the Vatican’s recent negotiations with China’s government. It brings to mind a warning from Marshall McLuhan, who once wrote: “All media...

March 7, 2018 (ARPA Canada) – A new law took effect in Ontario last month. It is now an offence, punishable by punitive fines and prison, to "attempt to advise or persuade" someone to refrain from having an abortion, or to "attempt to inform a person concerning issues related to abortion services", or to "attempt to perform an act of disapproval [of abortion]" in any way, if the attempt is made within 50m (or up to 150m) of an abortion clinic. 'Access zones' can also be created around hospitals and pharmacies by regulation, up to 150m in every direction. Informing?...

In a written appeal, the religious systematically take apart the version of the conflict touted by governments, NGOs and international news organizations. In Ghouta east, jihadists attack the capital and use civilians as human shields. The Syrian government and people have a duty to defend themselves from external attacks. The conflict alone has undermined the coexistence between Christians and Muslims in the country.Damascus (AsiaNews) - "We, the people who live in Syria, we are really exhausted and exasperated by this global indignation that issues blanket condemnations of people who defend their lives and their land". Because the victims of a...

The South African Parliament passed a measure last week that would confiscate all land owned by white farmers. The vote is the first step in amending part of South Africa’s constitution that would allow the government to take the land from the white farmers and not provide them with any financial compensation. The proposal, which passed 241 to 83, has the full support the Marxist African National Congress (ANC). When the apartheid system ended in 1991, it was replaced by the much loved Nelson Mandela. Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, Mandela received more than 250...

WASHINGTON D.C., March 9, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Zen was on fire Thursday night as he spoke with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN’s The World Over. “We now know that one of President Xi’s goals is to inculcate communist thought and blend it with theology,” said Arroyo. “Are you concerned that the Vatican is playing into his hands? His stated goal is to blend the communist agenda with existing religions. Is that what’s happening here?” “It’s obvious,” answered Zen. “They are delivering the whole administration of the Church into the hands of the so-called ‘Patriotic Association,’ which is just a puppet...

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 28, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Tonight, Georgetown University will present pro-abortion Senator Dick Durbin, D-IL, whose bishop recently barred him from Holy Communion, with an award for devoting “his life to the core Jesuit value of service to others.” Georgetown President John J. DeGioia will present Durbin with the Jesuit university’s “Timothy S. Healy, S.J. Award for exemplary public service.” This award is “conferred upon Georgetown alumni who have rendered outstanding and exemplary service to his/her profession or community in support of humanitarian causes,” according to the University. Durbin received his bachelor’s and law degrees from Georgetown. “I...

VATICAN CITY - The retired archbishop of Santiago is trying to deflect criticism for Pope Francis’s troubled trip to Chile in January, blaming everything from the summer weather to an “absentee” spokesman for the lower-than-expected turnout and negative press coverage during the visit.Cardinal Javier Errazuriz, a top papal adviser, wrote an extraordinary letter to the bishops of Latin America that insists the pope’s trip wasn’t a failure, but was “highly positive.” The National Catholic Reporter first reported the letter and its contents Friday.Errazuriz did not take responsibility for a sex abuse scandal that shadowed Francis’s visit or how the handling...

The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that unborn children have no rights in the Irish constitution apart from the right to life, as enshrined in the Eighth Amendment. In a landmark judgement, the seven judge court this morning overturned a decision made by the High Court last summer that an unborn child has rights in law beyond the constitutionally protected right to life. This ruling removes a significant obstacle in the government’s plans to hold a referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment in late May. Wide implicationsThe High Court decision involved a Nigerian man in a relationship with an Irish...

They said changing admissions rules for new faith schools would be 'divisive'The former head of the Anglican Communion has joined Richard Dawkins in attacking a policy that would allow the Catholic Church to open new schools. Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, co-signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph saying it was “difficult to bring to mind a more divisive policy, or more deleterious to social cohesion” than removing an admissions cap that prevents new faith schools from selecting more than half of their intake from their own religion. The cap effectively prevents the Catholic Church from opening...

A prominent right-wing rabbi was invited to speak at an event organized by a faction within Education Minister Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home party, and promptly outraged most secular Israelis. Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira (pictured) is head of the Ramat Gan Yeshiva, and has often spoken out against homosexuality, insisting that such tendencies can be overcome with proper therapy. At Tuesday's event, Shapira let loose: "We are not homophobes, and we are not phobic. We do not live out of fear, and we are not scared. We are courageous people, we are the Land of Israel's heroes, and we are not scared...

When Kelly Monroe Kullberg's book, Finding God at Harvard, came out in 1996, those who followed The New York Times' Best Sellers could not miss the title's reference. Several years earlier, Ari Goldman's The Search for God at Harvard (1991) not only made the list but was named a "Notable Book of the Year" by the Times. The difference between the two books is stark. Goldman's spotlights a Harvard where religion is celebrated, as long as it is not the Christianity of the school's founders, especially with its claim to salvation exclusively through Christ. Kullberg's spotlights Christians whose faith survived...