Free Republic

Pope Francis is under fire after claiming that human beings are “fundamentally good” in a recent interview with 60 Minutes host Norah O’ Donnell. “We are all fundamentally good,” he said. “Yes, there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good.” Evangelical leaders have pointed out that the pontiff’s statements are contrary to the teaching of original sin, one of Christianity’s basic doctrines. “If this is true, we don’t need a Savior to die on the Cross,” wrote Eric Metaxas, best-selling author and national radio host. Alluding to the pope’s statements in light of the 24/7 news...

[Catholic Caucus] Italy faces catastrophic collapse of Catholic faith as Mass attendance falls to 10% or belowThe steady, even accelerating, decline in the practice of the Catholic faith among Italians is detailed in a new study published by Professor Luca Diotallevi of the University of Rome.Traditionally Catholic Italy is facing a catastrophic collapse of the faith as Mass attendance falls precipitously to 10 percent of the population and even less in some areas. The steady, even accelerating, decline in the practice of the Catholic faith among Italians is detailed in a new study published by Professor Luca Diotallevi of the...

Since the 1960s, the Knights of Columbus have held a Memorial Day event at the Poplar Grove National Cemetery in Petersburg, VA. For the last two years, however, The National Park Service (NPS) has refused permission for the event due to a new policy prohibiting “religious services” and calling the ceremony to honor this nation’s fallen heroes a “demonstration.” The park service has instead said the event must take place in a nearby “free speech zone.” The Knights and their attorneys say the decision by park officials violates the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. On May 13,...

[Catholic Caucus] German priests do not support Synodal Way, new study findsPriests in Germany are not supportive of the controversial German Synodal Way, according to a new study commissioned by the German Bishops’ Conference.The study, officially titled “Who Becomes a Priest?”, found that priests are “alienated from the concerns of Church reform,” lead author Matthias Sellmann said on May 17.“Priests are also clearly not supporters of the German Synodal Way,” Sellmann emphasized. According to a statement by the bishops’ conference, the study aimed to investigate “the socio-religious background and motivations of newly ordained priests in order to make strategic personnel...

The sisters of Mount St. Scholastica weren’t fond of the Kansas City Chiefs player's comments about women's role in the home.A group of nuns associated with Benedictine College is weighing in on Harrison Butker's controversial graduation speech. The sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, who describe their group as a founding institution and sponsor of Benedictine College, just shared a statement about the professional football player's speech, saying his comments don't “represent the Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college that our founders envisioned and in which we have been so invested." The statement, which was posted on the group's official website, critique...

ROME — Pope Francis told CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell that conservatives are willfully blind and manifest a “suicidal attitude” in their narrowmindedness. In an interview set to air Sunday on 60 Minutes, the pope asserts that a conservative “is someone who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that. It is a suicidal attitude.” “One thing is to take tradition into account and consider situations from the past but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box,” he adds. The Pope addresses his conservative critics in the church. “Conservative is one who clings to...

Pope Francis calls for ‘global financial charter’ at Vatican climate change conference Addressing a Vatican-hosted climate change conference, Pope Francis called for a “new global financial charter” by 2025 that would be centered on climate change and “ecological debt.”“There is a need to develop a new financial architecture capable of responding to the demands of the Global South and of the island states that have been seriously affected by climate catastrophes,” Pope Francis said on Thursday, May 16.The Pontiff’s words came toward the end of his keynote address at the conference “Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience,” organized jointly by the...

Pope Francis: ‘Deniers of climate change’ are ‘foolish’Pope Francis, in a recent CBS interview, labeled skeptics of the climate change narrative as ‘foolish’ for not believing ‘research.’Pope Francis has stated that “deniers of climate change” are “foolish” as they don’t believe “research,” and insisting that “climate change exists.”In comments made to CBS Evening News and aired April 24, the 87-year-old Pontiff decried those whom CBS’s Norah O’Donnell described as “deniers of climate change.” “There are people who are foolish, and foolish even if you show them research, they don’t believe it,” responded Francis. “Why? Because they don’t understand the situation...

Pope Francis reportedly praises pro-abortion Democrat Sen. Warnock for being ‘anchored’ in his ‘faith’Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, a liberal Protestant pastor who promotes homosexual ‘marriage’ and virtually unlimited abortion, said Pope Francis commended him for being ‘grounded in your faith.’Pope Francis reportedly praised Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, a liberal Protestant pastor and strong supporter of abortion and homosexuality, for remaining “anchored” in his “faith.”Warnock, who has described himself as a “pro-choice pastor,” has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood, and co-sponsored the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act” that codified homosexual “marriage” in U.S. federal law, met with Francis on Saturday....

[Catholic Caucus] ‘Servant of Freemasonry’: Viganò rebukes bishop who approved pagan ritual before Mass at cathedralThe archbishop said a ''shamanic ceremony' 'desecrate(d) the Cathedral of the Diocese of Superior (WI) on the very day on which the Holy Chrism is consecrated.'(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò issued a stinging rebuke of an American bishop who allowed a pagan ritual to be performed inside his cathedral earlier this month. In a X post published last Friday, Viganò condemned the ceremony as a “sacrilegious act.” He referred to the prelate who permitted it as a “squalid official of the ecumenical religion.”“The shamanic...

I don't consider President Joe Biden to be a true Catholic. I grew up in the Catholic Church, which you may have guessed by my very Irish surname. Admittedly, some things about the Church are still a mystery to me. I'm no Biblical scholar, and I can't detail every Catholic ritual. I'm rather unremarkable in being especially 'good' at any form of Christianity, often half-jokingly saying, "I expect to be in Heaven, just with really bad seats." I wouldn't disqualify anyone as a person of faith based on sinful actions, I expect imperfection. That doesn't mean they are not a...

According to a letter from Santa Fe’s St. Michael’s High School’s principal, Martin Sandoval, men and boys will continue to be allowed to use girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms. The supposedly Catholic high school’s principal wrote, “The thorough review and consideration around the school’s approach to our LGBTQ+ students have led administrators to be at peace with practices currently in place.” “Current practices include, for students that identify as a gender different from their gender assigned at birth or otherwise listed on their birth certificate, to work with parents and school counselors to educate staff on their gender identity. The...

Prominent freemason and occultist predicted 50 years ago a one-world religion led by a ‘Christ’ to comeIt is not until now, in the era of Pope Francis, that we can make sense of Foster Bailey’s prediction that Catholicism — which he considers to be the most backward religion — may lead a ‘Christian religious revival.’A high-ranking freemason, occultist, and co-founder of the Lucifer Publishing Company 50 years ago predicted key features of a coming one-world government, including a “cashless society” and worldwide socialism. But his blueprint for a new world order is unique in its specific predictions about a one-world...

Italy, Vatican, New Theology is on the way. Open to all extraterrestrial beings? An Italian newspaper managed to obtain exclusively a draft of the document regarding what should be the cornerstones of a New Theology that also seems to be inspired by Pope Bergoglio's encyclical "Brothers All" but expanded to a Cosmological version and vision. A text that is circulating confidentially among Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans and Benedictines and that also seems to trace Psalm 24 (23) where it is written "of the Lord is the earth and its contents, the universe and its inhabitants," also often quoted by Bishop Balducci....

[Catholic Caucus] "I've gotten used to being hated," says defender of LGBT Catholics James MartinAmerican Jesuit priest James Martin is one of world's leading advocates for welcoming homosexuals in the Church and offering blessings for same-sex couples.Inside one of the many skyscrapers in the center of Manhattan, James Martin heads to his office at America, the Jesuit magazine where he is an editor. Martin's workspace is filled with objects that evoke his personal journey as a Jesuit priest who has worked with gang members in Boston as well as refugees in Kenya.Next to his computer, there's a photo of him...

Pope Francis denounces ‘anti-vaxxers,’ calls COVID jab refusal an ‘almost suicidal act of denial’Pope Francis has once again touted the abortion-tainted COVID vaccines, reissuing his condemnation of those who refused to take the shot.U.S. citizens: Demand Congress investigate soaring excess death ratesVATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has issued fresh condemnation of critics of the abortion-tainted COVID-19 injections, saying that opposition to the shots “distressed” him since “being against the antidote is an almost suicidal act of denial.”Speaking as part of his newly released memoirs, in a series of interviews conducted by journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona, Pope Francis highlighted his...

[Catholic Caucus] Former papal confidant says prelates who ‘criticize’ Pope Francis are a threat to Church ‘unity’Abp. Bruno Forte accused bishops who publicly oppose Pope Francis of usurping papal authority, lacking the Pope's supposed comprehensive perspective, and risking Church unity.A prominent Italian prelate has hit back at fellow bishops who “publicly criticize” Pope Francis, saying that they are “wrong” to do so, since they break the “unity of the Church.” In an interview published February 22 by Religion Digital, Archbishop Bruno Forte of the Archdiocese of Chieti-Vasto in eastern Italy issued a strong critique of what the interviewer described as...

Christendom is a word I view as designed by secularists of the world to encompass their misunderstood view of what comprises True Christianity. Under this misunderstanding, all who claim to be Christians are, according to this worldly definition, Christians. All fall under the term Christendom. There are many sects, faiths, and religious systems that the secularists include within their favored term to encapsulate, to one degree or the other, religious belief in and spiritual embrace of the figure called Jesus Christ. These are each and every one false. In my own view of what it means to be a Christian,...

I am cautious about “pinning the tail” on the Antichrist and the False Prophet. We cannot know ahead of time who these personalities are; however, Pope Francis comes close to “filling the bill” on the False Prophet. Or he may be but a “type” of that man just like there are many “types” of the Antichrist throughout history. I think the devil has always had a candidate for the Antichrist waiting in the wings as he doesn’t know when the final generation is. The False Prophet is described in Revelation 13:11-15. He is also referred to as the “second beast”...

What happened last week at St. Patrick's Cathedral at a funeral that forced the archdiocese of New York to order its pastor to conduct a Mass of Reparation? Readers wondering the answer to that question should look elsewhere than the mainstream media. Since the funeral of transgender activist Cecilia Gentili, the media has suggested that the outrage over the funeral relates entirely to Gentili's 'identity,' rather than the behavior of the participants. Today's report from the Associated Press provides a good example of this narrow coverage. Nowhere in the opening three paragraphs is there any reference to what actually happened...