Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C., SEPT. 21, 2009 (Zenit.org)- Sometimes there are no fireworks. Turning points can pass in silence, almost unobserved. It may be that way with the "Great Schism," the most serious division in the history of the Church. The end of the schism may come more quickly and more unexpectedly than most imagine. On Sept. 18, inside Castel Gandolfo, the Pope's summer palace about 30 miles outside Rome, a Russian Orthodox Archbishop named Hilarion Alfeyev, 43 (a scholar, theologian, expert on the liturgy, composer and lover of music), met with Benedict XVI, 82 (also a scholar, theologian, expert on the...

Ocean rocket returns to business The firm's Zenit rockets launch from a converted oil platform The Sea Launch company has returned to flight with a mission to loft a telecoms satellite to serve the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. The firm's Zenit 3SL rocket lifted off from its converted oil rig platform stationed in the Pacific at 1149 GMT. The Thuraya 3 satellite separated from the vehicle some 98 minutes later. The flight was the first for Sea Launch since the catastrophic explosion in January 2007 which destroyed a Zenit and its passenger on the pad. Sea Launch is...

What's true and what's not about the Masons is the topic of a recent book by an expert in the history of religions. Father Manuel Guerra Gómez, who is an author of 25 books on sects and other topics, recently released "La trama masónica" (The Masonic Plot), published in Spanish by Styria. Father Guerra is a diocesan priest of Burgos, and a retired professor of the Burgos headquarters of the Faculty of Theology of Northern Spain. In this interview with ZENIT he says that "the Masonic method, atheistic in nature, reflects historical relativism and leads to the socio-cultural relativism that...

Q: What is the proper position for the deacon during the consecration? In my parish the deacon stands approximately 1 foot to the priest's right. Then at the "Amen" the deacon elevates the chalice as the priest elevates the paten. At another parish in my diocese, however, the deacon knelt on the altar step, beside the altar servers, during the consecration. I can't remember if he stepped up to elevate the chalice or not. It seems that the former position is more prevalent. Which is the correct or the preferred position? -- J.J., Howell, Michigan A: The position of the...

Babies -- Bought, Sold and Traded LONDON, SEPT. 17, 2005 (Zenit.org) Abortion advocates' decades-long push to deny or downplay the humanity of the unborn child is bearing fruit. Unborn children are increasingly being treated like consumer products, if recent news stories are an indication. Last Saturday the London-based Times published a story describing how the Institute for Problems of Cryobiology and Cryomedicine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, in Kharkov, sells baby parts. The list on its Web site offers a variety of cells and other tissues from babies. The institute alleges that the material comes from fetuses...

ROME, MAY 12, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Understanding the true presence of Jesus Christ in the consecrated host and wine is difficult for Catholics. To this end, the Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum held a conference on miracles that are associated with the Eucharist as a way to help people comprehend the incomprehensible. The May 5 Conference also opened an exhibition entitled "Eucharistic Miracles," continuing through May 19, brings attention to these miracles that support the phenomenon of the truth of the faith. Giancarlo Casagrande, one of the event's organizers, and professor and dean of the Faculty of Science and Faith Studies, told me:...

Folks, Zenit.Org is featuring an interview with Massimo Introvigne, director of the Turin-based Center for Studies in New Religions, regarding the existence of the so-called "Illuminati," and their links to the Freemasons, the Knights Templar, etc., as well as the resurgence of their myth in Dan Brown's "historical" novels, Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code. This is my favorite quote:Those who want to persuade us that a secret Illuminati cabal did lead the world from the Renaissance to the 19th century, and continues to do so today, have a very difficult burden of proof, and never even came close...