Lawyers representing approximately two dozen victims of clergy sexual abuse have accused the New Orleans Saints of helping the local archdiocese of excluding names from a public list of priests accused of abusing minors, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/9f135d3667fd20b591026d2503be3fe8">Associated Press</a>. 
The wire service also performed an analysis of the publicly disclosed list of accused priests and determined that the Catholic Church may have “underestimated the actual number of publicly accused clergy members in the region by at least 20.”
While the team’s organization has claimed any collaborations with the Church were simply “minimal” and within the realm of public relations, lawyers who have reviewed the football organization&#8217;s internal emails have insisted that the professional relationship went “beyond public relations,” reports the news agency. 
In a court filing, lawyers wrote that the emails support the claim that the team “had a hand in determining which names should or should not have been included on the pedophile list,” and that they “must have known the specific allegations of sexual abuse against a priest.”
The organization “made a judgment call about whether those allegations by a particular victim against a named priest were, in its opinion, legitimate enough to warrant being included on the pedophile list,” write the lawyers, reports the news agency.  
Last week, the <a href="https://apnews.com/8a88d4d188c04751d9731a49081d5d3c">AP also reported</a> on the close relationship between the New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond and the Saints’ owner Gayle Benson, who has claimed that the cover-up allegations against the team are “outrageous.”
In a statement released Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Saints told the news agency that the organization never advised the archdiocese to hold information. “In fact, we advised that as new information relative to credible evidence about other clergy came to light, then those names should be released and given to the proper authorities.”
The NFL will not investigate the team over the allegations unless “Saints emails show troublesome actions,” according to the <a href="https://theathletic.com/1570613/?source=twittered">Athletic</a>, which spoke to a &#8220;league source.&#8221;
The Catholic Church has experienced an unprecedented reckoning surrounding abuse allegations in the wake of a 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report that revealed over 300 priests had been accused of sexual abuse. The accusations date back generations, and many accused priests have long since died. 
According to <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/catholic-leaders-promised-transparency-about-child-abuse-they-havent-delivered">ProPublica</a>, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has failed to issue instructions regarding disclosure practices, “leaving individual dioceses and religious orders to decide for themselves how much or how little to publish.” 
To help fix the absence of a master list of accused priests, ProPublica has developed an <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/credibly-accused/">interactive public database</a> where users can search for the names of accused Church officials, without knowing the individual locations where the accused person may have worked. 
For example, users could determine whether an accused priest, who is not present on a list from a specific diocese, may have been named on a list released by a different dioceses. The database also provides timelines for when priests were active, and in which locations they worked. 
While the database includes the names of 6,754 priests, both deceased and living, the news organization notes that 41 out of 219 dioceses in the United States have not released lists of accused officials.

Miami Dolphins v New Orleans Saints

Report: New Orleans Saints Edited Local Pedophile Priest List, Victims’ Lawyers Suggest

Catholic Church

Football

Louisiana

New Orleans

Pedophilia

Sexual Abuse

As noted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kobe-a-devout-catholic-reportedly-attended-mass-morning-of-accident">The Daily Wire</a> on Monday, reports circulated that NBA legend Kobe Bryant was spotted at his Catholic church the morning of the tragic helicopter accident that claimed his life and eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and two of her teammates.
On Tuesday night, Bryant&#8217;s priest, Father Steve Sallot, confirmed the reports. Before 7 a.m., the former Laker stopped at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church, where he and his family frequently worshipped, to pray by himself.
“I saw him yesterday (Sunday) before the 7 a.m. mass,” Father Sallot told <a href="https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/01/28/kobe-bryant-visited-newport-beach-church-the-morning-of-his-death-he-was-quite-a-man-of-faith/">CBS2 News</a>. “We chatted for a couple of minutes, and then he moved on, and obviously, he was going to the airport yesterday morning.”
&#8220;I can confirm that <a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" role="link" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KobeBryant?src=hashtag_click" data-focusable="true">#KobeBryant</a>, a devout Catholic, came to this church early Sunday morning to worship,&#8221; reported KTLA&#8217;s Wendy Burch. 
&#8220;He was here between 6 and 7am&#8230;. just hours before the fatal crash,&#8221; she added. &#8220;He came alone, as I am told he often did. <a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" role="link" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIPMamba?src=hashtag_click" data-focusable="true">#RIPMamba</a> <a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" role="link" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KTLAmorningNews?src=hashtag_click" data-focusable="true">#KTLAmorningNews</a>.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I can confirm that <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KobeBryant?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KobeBryant</a>, a devout Catholic, came to this church early Sunday morning to worship. He was here between 6 and 7am&#8230;. just hours before the fatal crash. He came alone, as I am told he often did. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIPMamba?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIPMamba</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KTLAmorningNews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KTLAmorningNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/SomluImxp3">pic.twitter.com/SomluImxp3</a>
&mdash; Wendy Burch (@goodnewswendy) <a href="https://twitter.com/goodnewswendy/status/1222202300103565313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“He was quite a man of faith,” Sallot said of Bryant.
“We shook hands, and I saw that he had blessed himself because there was a little holy water on his forehead,” the priest recalled. “So I knew that he’d gone into the chapel to pray and came out and blessed himself. And then we spoke for a minute, shook hands, and then off he went.”
According to Father Sallot, Bryant, who was raised Catholic, was baptized as a child in Italy and was seeking to undergo the sacrament of confirmation.
As noted by CBS2, the priest said Bryant, his wife Vanessa, and their four daughters &#8220;were frequent parishioners&#8221; at the church.
The basketball star and family man leaned on his faith through major personal stumbles.
Bryant was accused of raping a 19-year-old woman in a Colorado hotel room in 2003. He admitted to cheating on his wife and engaging in the sexual encounter, but has always denied the allegation of rape.
“What I came to understand, coming out of Colorado, is that I had to be me, in the place where I was at that moment,” the NBA legend <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/the-catholic-faith-of-kobe-bryant-77371">told</a> GQ in 2015.
“The one thing that really helped me during that process — I’m Catholic, I grew up Catholic, my kids are Catholic — was talking to a priest,” Bryant said.
“It was actually kind of funny: He looks at me and says, ’Did you do it?’ And I say, ’Of course not.’ Then he asks, ’Do you have a good lawyer?’ And I’m like, ’Uh, yeah, he’s phenomenal.’ So then he just said, ’Let it go. Move on. God’s not going to give you anything you can’t handle, and it’s in his hands now. This is something you can’t control. So let it go.’ And that was the turning point,” recalled the hoops star.
In more recent years, Bryant was frequently spotted out with his family. The devoted father even coached his daughter Gianna&#8217;s basketball team.
Bryant, Gianna, and seven others were traveling to Bryant&#8217;s Mamba Sports Academy for a basketball tournament when the helicopter went down Sunday morning.

Kobe Bryant And Daughter Gianna

Priest Confirms Bryant Attended Their Church Morning Of Crash: ‘Certainly A Man Of Faith’

Catholicism

Kobe Bryant

On Wednesday, Pope Francis apologized for a controversial interaction he had with a woman in St. Peter&#8217;s Square on New Year&#8217;s Eve.
While walking toward the Vatican&#8217;s nativity scene, a worshipper from behind a barrier grabbed the Pope and sharply yanked him toward her. When the woman would not let go of the Pope&#8217;s hand, the 83-year-old smacked her hand away and continued his walk, looking visibly upset.
It&#8217;s unclear what the woman, who remains unidentified, said to the Pope when she pulled him toward her.
As noted by <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/01/01/pope-francis-apologizes-smacking-womans-hand/2789406001/">USA Today</a>, Pope Francis addressed the interaction while expressing his New Year&#8217;s wishes at St. Peter&#8217;s Square, the following day.
&#8220;So many times we lose patience. Me, too,” he said, according to The Associated Press. &#8220;I say ‘excuse me’ for the bad example.&#8221;
The reactions to the interaction from Tuesday were <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=Pope&amp;src=trend_click">mixed</a> online. Some folks took issue with the Holy Father losing his cool, while others sympathized with the his reaction, given the woman&#8217;s sharp yanking of the 83-year-old.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Disgruntled Pope Francis pulls himself free from a woman&#39;s clutch in Vatican City <a href="https://t.co/2nap3R0iQ4">https://t.co/2nap3R0iQ4</a> <a href="https://t.co/f87A9belnn">pic.twitter.com/f87A9belnn</a>
&mdash; Reuters (@Reuters) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1212102373503574023?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As noted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pope-francis-tells-students-how-not-to-convert-unbelievers">The Daily Wire</a>, Pope Francis made headlines last week when he advised Catholic high school students on how to reach nonbelievers, stressing that Christians should live their faith out loud rather than trying to coerce people to convert, invoking the crusades in the discussion.
&#8220;In front of an unbeliever, the last thing I have to do is try to convince him. Never. The last thing I have to do is speak,” the pontiff said, according to <a href="https://disrn.com/news/pope-says-christians-should-never-try-to-convert-unbelievers-anyone-who-proselytizes-is-not-a-disciple-of-jesus">Disrn</a>. Instead, he stressed, &#8220;I have to live consistent with my faith. And it will be my testimony to awaken the curiosity of the other who says: ‘But why do you do this?’ And yes, I can speak then.&#8221;
“Never, never bring the gospel by proselytizing,” he added. “If someone says they are a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, they are not a disciple of Jesus.”
“We are not in the times of the crusades,” the Pope continued. “… ‘Either the baptism or the sword.’ This has happened in history! They also do it with us Christians in other parts, they are also doing it but what we did was shameful because it is a story of forced conversion, of not respecting the dignity of the person.”
The Holy Father also discussed how he came to understand the principle of “coexistence,” from his time in Argentina.
“There is a mixture of blood, a strong mixed race in Argentina — I am the son of a migrant, and this has made a culture of coexistence,” he explained. “I went to public school and we always had companions from other religions. We were educated to coexist: ‘There is a Jew, Russian, ah — come, come! I am a friend of Russian!’ They said Russian because the majority of the Jews came from Odessa, some from Poland but the majority from Odessa. Then there were some Arabs, Lebanese, Syrians — ‘Ah, Turkish! Come, come!’ This was Muslim, this was Jewish. But we all played football together, we were all friends.

Pope Francis

WATCH: Pope Francis Smacks Woman’s Hand After She Yanks Him Toward Her; Pope Apologizes: ‘Bad Example’

A Catholic cathedral and nearby radio station in the region of Cotabato on the island of Mindanao, Philippines were shaken by a grenade blast on Sunday that caused injury to at least 14 people. This was immediately followed by two more explosions: One by an IED in the town of Libungan, Cotabato province where six more were injured, and one in Upi, Maguindanao where two people were harmed. 
According to <a href="https://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2019/12/14-injured-in-cotabato-city-blast-5-in-libungan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MindaNews</a>, three men riding motorcycles threw grenades at members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who were standing guard at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral and a radio station owned by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. At least seven soldiers and several nearby civilians were injured by the explosion. 
Military spokesperson Major Homer Estolas insisted the military guards were the target. 
“It was clear that the suspects targeted the soldiers first,” he said. “The civilians were hurt because they were there waiting for their rides home.”
Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, who previously called for martial law to be extended, condemned Sunday&#8217;s attacks. “Tonight is a sad and unfortunate night for all Cotabatenos. As of this time, 16 are reported wounded,” she said, urging citizens to “remain calm as our police and military have the situation under full control.” 
She continued, “We can rise above these acts of terrorism. We are resilient and strong enough to fight against these people whose mission is to disrupt our peace. We must all be united in the face of these adversities.”
The region has been under martial law since 2017, following a series of attacks from suspected members of a local terrorist group. The bombings come just nine days before martial law was supposed to be lifted. 
A spokesperson of the military&#8217;s Western Mindanao Command, Major Arvin Encinas, told <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/22/19/17-wounded-in-series-of-blasts-in-cotabato-city-nearby-town" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ABS-CBN News</a> that the military could not dismiss the possibility of radical Islamic terrorist-linked groups being involved in the attacks. 
&#8220;We do not discount the possibility that Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Daesh-inspired groups are behind this,&#8221; he told the outlet.
BIFF is an extremist group with ties to the Islamic State that operates in the Asia-Pacific country. 
According to <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/247753-grenade-attack-cotabato-city-december-22-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rappler News</a>, Cotabato Governor Nancy Catamco condemned the grenade attacks as “terrorist acts.”
“The bombings in the Municipality of Libungan and in Cotabato City have struck another blow to our people’s sense of security that is still reeling from the losses, damages, and trauma of the recent earthquakes,” she said in a statement. “Let us keep in mind that these terrorist acts aim to instill fear and to spread panic. Therefore, I call on everyone to remain calm and to stay vigilant. We need to muster our courage and to strongly resist fear.”
The attacks are suspected to be connected to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which distributes certificates of land ownership awards to agrarian reform beneficiaries. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte arrived the following day in Cotabato to personally pass them out and to visit those injured in the explosions. 
“He will distribute land certificates and then visit the venues where the bombing took place. I don’t know which of the two but one of them,” a spokesperson told the <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/24/19/duterte-to-visit-cotabato-city-despite-bombings-palace-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">media</a>. 
BARMM is heavily opposed by Islamic State-tied radical Muslim organizations like BIFF and rebel group Abu Sayyaf, who have refused to enter negotiations with the Filipino government over the dispute. 
“It is sad that this kind of violence is happening while we are celebrating the holy Christmas season,” one witness said, according to <a href="https://morningstarnews.org/2019/12/grenade-attack-near-cathedral-leaves-several-wounded-in-the-philippines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Morning Star News</a>. 
This series of attacks follows a similar one in November, when a man on a motorcycle threw a grenade inside a house in Aleosan town, Cotabato during a birthday party. Three people, including a child, were injured, according to <a href="https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1188934/3-hurt-in-cotabato-grenade-blast-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Inquirer News</a>, but no one was killed.

Tokyo Holds The Future of Asia International Conference

Philippines Rocked By Multiple Christmas Week Terrorist Attacks

Christianity

Islam

Islamic State (ISIS)

Persecution

Philippines

Terrorism

It will be a true silent night at the Notre Dame Cathedral this year, as there will be no Christmas Mass for the first time since it was briefly converted to the secular &#8220;Temple of Reason&#8221; during the French Revolution.
&#8220;Notre Dame Cathedral is unable to host Christmas services for the first time since the French Revolution, because the Paris landmark was too deeply damaged by this year’s fire,&#8221; reported <a href="https://apnews.com/83fb3fa24f078a8fa51e1ea4cea77c88">The Associated Press</a>.
&#8220;Its exiled clergy, choir and congregation are celebrating the holiday in another Gothic church next to the Louvre Museum instead,&#8221; the report continued. &#8220;Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services will be held in the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois church, once used for French royalty. Notre Dame’s rector, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, will celebrate Mass there Wednesday for Notre Dame’s faithful, accompanied by song from some of Notre Dame’s now-itinerant choir.&#8221;
Though the structure remains largely intact, the fire from this past April torched the roof into disrepair and collapsed the spire. It will take nearly a decade to fully bring the church back to its former glory. The Associated Press provided some history around its miraculous survival for nearly a millennia:
<blockquote>
The world-renowned cathedral has seen plenty of upheaval since its first stone was laid in 1163. It halted services after revolutionaries overthrew the monarchy and declared Notre Dame “a temple of reason,” but resumed religious activities under Napoleon in 1803, according to cathedral officials.
It kept going during two world wars, and Nazi occupation. Soldiers guarded its Christmas Mass in 2015, weeks after France’s deadliest-ever terror attacks.
</blockquote>
As The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48941/devastating-notre-dame-fire-was-probably-started-emily-zanotti">reported</a>, the Notre Dame fire most likely originated from a burning cigarette, leading prosecutors to investigate whether or not the fire resulted from mere negligence. Several weeks after the initial blaze, the scaffolding firm originally charged with renovating the Notre Dame cathedral <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46416/scaffolding-firm-construction-workers-smoked-paul-bois">admitted that construction</a> workers were smoking cigarettes on site. However, the company, Le Bras Freres, denies that it started the fire.
“We condemn it. But the fire started inside the building … so for company Le Bras, this is not a hypothesis, it was not a cigarette butt that set Notre-Dame de Paris on fire,” said Le Bras spokesman Marc Eskenazi.
Following the fire, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the cathedral will eventually be even “more beautiful,” while also calling for it to be rebuilt in just five years.
“The fire at Notre Dame reminds us that our history never stops and we will always have challenges to overcome,” Macron <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/17/notre-dame-fire-macron-promises-to-make-cathedral-more-beautiful-than-before">said</a>. “We will rebuild Notre Dame, more beautiful than before — and I want it done in the next five years. We can do it. After the time of testing comes a time of reflection and then of action.”
Experts speculate, however, that the rebuilding of Notre Dame could take decades. For instance, the roof was comprised of oak beams cut from centuries-old trees that likely do not even exist in Europe today.
“Some of that material may be reusable, and that’s a painstaking exercise. It’s like an archaeological excavation,” Duncan Wilson, chief executive of the conservation organization Historic England, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/17/notre-dame-fire-macron-promises-to-make-cathedral-more-beautiful-than-before">The Guardian</a>.

FRANCE-NOTREDAME-FIRE-FEATURE

No Christmas Mass At Notre Dame For First Time In Over 200 Years

Christmas

France

Notre Dame Cathedral

Paris

This weekend, Pope Francis spoke to Catholic high school students about how to reach nonbelievers, stressing that Christians should live their faith out loud rather than trying to try to coerce people to convert, invoking the crusades as a time of great shame.
&#8220;In front of an unbeliever, the last thing I have to do is try to convince him. Never. The last thing I have to do is speak,&#8221; the pontiff said, according to <a href="https://disrn.com/news/pope-says-christians-should-never-try-to-convert-unbelievers-anyone-who-proselytizes-is-not-a-disciple-of-jesus">Disrn</a>. Instead, he stressed, &#8220;I have to live consistent with my faith. And it will be my testimony to awaken the curiosity of the other who says: &#8216;But why do you do this?&#8217; And yes, I can speak then.&#8221;
&#8220;Never, never bring the gospel by proselytizing,&#8221; he said later. &#8220;If someone says they are a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, they are not a disciple of Jesus.&#8221;
Pope Francis invoked the crusades and conversion by the sword, calling it &#8220;shameful&#8221; and noting that Christians across the globe are similarly wrongly killed for their faith.
&#8220;We are not in the times of the crusades,&#8221; he said. &#8220;&#8230; &#8216;Either the baptism or the sword.&#8217; This has happened in history! They also do it with us Christians in other parts, they are also doing it but what we did was shameful because it is a story of forced conversion, of not respecting the dignity of the person.&#8221;
The Holy Father said he first learned of the principle of &#8220;coexistence&#8221; back in Argentina amid mass migration.
&#8220;There is a mixture of blood, a strong mixed race in Argentina — I am the son of a migrant, and this has made a culture of coexistence,&#8221; he explained. &#8220;I went to public school and we always had companions from other religions. We were educated to coexist: &#8216;There is a Jew, Russian, ah — come, come! I am a friend of Russian!&#8217; They said Russian because the majority of the Jews came from Odessa, some from Poland but the majority from Odessa. Then there were some Arabs, Lebanese, Syrians — &#8216;Ah, Turkish! Come, come!&#8217; This was Muslim, this was Jewish. But we all played football together, we were all friends.&#8221;
&#8220;This has taught me so much, that we are all the same, all children of God — and this purifies your gaze, it makes you human,&#8221; Pope Francis said. &#8220;In Argentina there is a small group of closed-minded Catholics who do not want Jews, do not want Muslims, but this group &#8230; I have never liked it, is a group that is on the fringe, they have a cultural magazine but they do not have impact in society.&#8221;
&#8220;But listen: Never, never bring the gospel by proselytizing. If someone says they are a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, they are not a disciple of Jesus,&#8221; the pontiff said.
Pope Francis has repeatedly focused on the dignity of each human life. Last summer, for example, the pope compared aborting children for birth defects to Nazi eugenics. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pope-francis-abortion-birth-defects-nazi-eugenics-emily-zanotti">The Daily Wire</a> reported:
<blockquote>“I have heard that it’s fashionable, or at least usual, that when in the first months of pregnancy they do studies to see if the child is healthy or has something, the first offer is: let’s send it away,” the Pope said, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/17/europe/pope-abortion-eugenics---intl/index.html">according to CNN</a>, which appeared shocked by the news that the Pope is, indeed, a faithful member of the Catholic Church and opposed to the practice of abortion which the Church believes ends a human life.
“I say this with pain. In the last century the whole world was scandalized about what the Nazis did to purify the race. Today we do the same, but now with white gloves,” he continued.</blockquote>

Pope Francis Receives Christmas Greetings From Roman Curia

Pope Francis Tells Students How Not To Convert Unbelievers

Earlier this month, a Catholic Church in El Paso, Texas, was vandalized. Multiple windows and doors were broken and a small fire was set inside the church, which set off a fire alarm that alerted emergency response.
&#8220;St. Thomas did have an alarm system that did go off that alerted the fire department to come to the facility to address the problem,&#8221; Fernando Ceniseros, a spokesman for El Paso&#8217;s Catholic diocese, <a href="https://kvia.com/news/crime/2019/12/05/east-el-paso-catholic-church-latest-vandalized-fbi-unsure-if-cases-are-connected/">told KVIA</a> shortly after the attack.
Father Ed Roden-Lucero, the pastor for the vandalized church, <a href="https://kvia.com/news/crime/2019/12/08/east-el-paso-catholic-church-vandalism-included-bible-burning-and-satanic-symbols-pastor-says-fbi-probing-it-as-a-hate-crime/">told KVIA</a> on Monday that a bible was also set on fire, satanic symbols were painted around the church, and two crosses were turned upside down. He said the damage done to the church, St. Thomas Aquinas, was estimated to be $75,000 according to their insurance company.
&#8220;A bible was set on fire on a chair but was not completely consumed,&#8221; the pastor told the outlet. &#8220;A second fire was started on a table that apparently was set to intentionally burn a large framed image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The fire badly damaged the picture and did considerable damage to the wall.&#8221;
When the attack first occurred, the FBI said it was too early to say this fire was connected to the three other cases of Catholic churches being vandalized earlier this year. Fr. Roden-Lucero says the FBI told him the attack on his church is now being investigated as a hate crime.
In May and June, three Catholic churches in west El Paso – St. Matthew Catholic Church, St. Patrick Cathedral, and St. Jude Catholic Church – were all attacked with “incendiary devices,” KVIA <a href="https://kvia.com/news/2019/09/19/fbi-boosts-reward-to-15000-in-hopes/">reported</a>. In September, the FBI offered a $15,000 reward for information on the culprits.
“Every lead will be thoroughly investigated,” the FBI said at the time. “Regardless of how insignificant you think your information might be, we strongly encourage you to come forward and welcome your information and assistance.”
KVIA reported that “vandals broke into the church around 2 a.m. on Dec. 6 after using what Fr. Roden-Lucero described as large, heavy stones from the church landscaping to smash windows at the entrance to the gathering area, the parish main office and the bookkeeping office &#8211; which he said was ransacked before a pair of small fires were set.”
Parishioners and the community offered support to the church, Fr. Roden-Lucero said.
&#8220;Parishioners have mostly expressed sadness that someone would do such a thing to a parish that is known for its hospitality and service to the poor,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Every Sunday we pray for personal conversion as well as for the conversion of those, like the perpetrators of the crimes committed here, who are filled with anger, hate or prejudice.&#8221;
KVIA spoke to one parishioner at the time of the attack who were shocked something like this could happen, but remained resolute.
&#8220;To whoever did it we are not afraid of you, we will continue to come here to worship god and we will continue praying for those who did it,&#8221; the parishioner said.
No one was injured in any of the El Paso church attacks this year.

Hell signs

A Catholic Church In Texas Was Vandalized With Satanic Symbols. Pastor Says FBI Investigating A Hate Crime.

Hate Crime

Texas

On November 23, a priest at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, reportedly told 63rd District Court Chief Judge Sara Smolenski that he could not serve her communion.
“It was good to see you in church on Sunday. Because you and Linda are married in the state of Michigan, I&#8217;d like you to respect the church and not come to communion,” Smolenski <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/us/gay-michigan-judge-communion/index.html">claims</a> Father Scott Nolan said to her over the phone.
According to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/30/us/gay-michigan-judge-communion/index.html">CNN</a>, Smolenski grew up attending St. Stephen, was baptized there as a child, and even went to the church’s school for multiple years.
“This feels like selective discrimination. Why choose gay people, and why now?” Smolenski told CNN.
Speaking with a <a href="https://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/priest-stands-by-denying-communion-to-gay-judge/">CNN affiliate</a>, Father Nolan defended his decision: “I’ve taught what all of the popes who have ever said something about the emergent family have said up to and including Pope Francis.”
Though Smolenski has made the claim that “all these other priests” who are “good and decent” have given her communion, Nolan says he is “not responsible” for the actions of other church leaders.
The Diocese of Grand Rapids issued a <a href="https://grdiocese.org/statement-woodtv8-story-regarding-st-stephen-parish/?fbclid=IwAR37npPbiEtI9MUAjJ9iDaSQ55epw6EBUpRkEs7el3LTR_w4jR0UuVdmEDw">statement</a> supporting Nolan:
<blockquote>We appreciate Judge Sara Smolenski’s service to the community. We are grateful for her past generosity. These facts are not at issue in this matter.
As Pope Francis explains in Amoris Laetitia, “The Eucharist demands that we be members of the one body of the Church. Those who approach the Body and Blood of Christ may not wound that same Body by creating scandalous distinctions and divisions among its members.” (186) Lifelong Catholics would surely be aware of this.
Inclusion and acceptance have been a hallmark of Catholic Churches in the Diocese of Grand Rapids throughout the diocese’s history. They remain so. They presume, however, a respect on the part of individuals for the teachings and practice of the wider Catholic community. No community of faith can sustain the public contradiction of its beliefs by its own members. This is especially so on matters as central to Catholic life as marriage, which the Church has always held, and continues to hold, as a sacred covenant between one man and one woman.
Father Scott Nolan, pastor of St. Stephen Parish, has dedicated his priesthood to bringing people closer to Jesus Christ. Part of his duty in pursuing that end is to teach the truth as taught by the Catholic Church, and to help it take root and grow in his parish. Mercy is essential to that process, but so are humility and conversion on the part of anyone seeking to live an authentically Catholic Christian life.
Father Nolan approached Judge Smolenski privately. Subsequent media reports do not change the appropriateness of his action, which the diocese supports.</blockquote>
As the culture evolves, the pressure against various Christian denominations and the Catholic Church to submit to the modern social fabric – even if doing so would be in direct defiance of scripture – continues to intensify.
According to scripture, homosexual conduct is considered a sin.
Romans 1:26-27 reads: “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”
1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 reads: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
The New Testament features other passages pertaining to homosexual conduct.

Communion.

Lesbian Judge Denied Communion In Michigan; Local Diocese Supports Priest

Homosexuality

LGBT

Could &#8220;ecological sin&#8221; one day be added to the list of sins in the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Pope Francis has proposed such an idea.
Speaking at the 20th World Congress of the International Association of Penal Law in Rome, the Holy Father said Christians have a duty to preserve the environment.
&#8220;We have to introduce – we are thinking about it – to the Catechism of the Catholic Church the sin against ecology, the &#8216;ecological sin&#8217; against our common home, because a duty is at stake,&#8221; Pope Francis said, as reported by <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-proposes-adding-ecological-sin-against-common-home-to-catechism">LifeSiteNews</a>.
So how exactly would a &#8220;sin against ecology&#8221; work on theological scale? According to Catholic author Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, the language would have to be framed in a way that illustrates that the sin would be against God rather than an inanimate object.
“There is no possible sin against planet Earth,” Kwasniewski told the outlet. “All sins are ultimately against God or those who are in God&#8217;s image. As all theologians have explained prior to the post-conciliar decline of theology, when we abuse the natural world or animals or plants, we are sinning against God their creator, who gave them to us to use for the right purposes and in accordance with their nature and ours.&#8221;
“The only ‘targets’ of sin are persons, since they are either divine persons who deserve our total obedience, or angelic or human persons who deserve our reverence as images of God,&#8221; he continued.
If a person were to abuse a tree or an animal, Kwasniewski said that the person would be in grave violation against God due to the natural order, not because an animal or a tree has any basic rights.
“Someone who tortures an animal or burns down a forest for fun is a sinner not because the animal or the forest has rights, but because he offends God, the great king over all the earth, from whom all things come for our benefit and to whom they are ordered,” he said. “Man is obliged in justice to respect God&#8217;s gift and the order He has established; man must also respect the common destination of material goods, i.e., that God has made the earth for the benefit of all, not for the selfish benefit of a few,” he continued.
If Pope Francis were to frame &#8220;ecological sin&#8221; in this light if the Cathechism were to ever be amended, it would stand in line with Catholic tradition, which has always stated human beings have a moral obligation to preserve the environment as a gift sent from God. In fact, Pope Benedict XVI made that very argument in his &#8220;God and the World.&#8221;
&#8220;Certainly, a sort of industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens living so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds, this degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible,” Benedict wrote. “Animals, too, are God&#8217;s creatures and even if they do not have the same direct relationship to God that human beings have, they are still creatures of God&#8217;s will, creatures we must respect as companions in creation.&#8221;

Pope Francis Celebrates World Day Of The Poor With Special Mass And Lunch

Pope Francis Proposes Adding ‘Ecological Sin’ To Catechism

Environmentalism

The American Catholic Church saved itself from the oblivion of liberal theology this week when the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops declared that abortion is the &#8220;preeminent&#8221; political and moral issue over all others, thereby forcing issues like climate change, gun control, and the death penalty to take a lower position in the hierarchy of moral imperatives.
According to the <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/signs-times/abortion-preeminent-issue-global-warming-not-urgent-say-bishops?fbclid=IwAR2H-7A-W46SBjRcgRa5hBWjnHb0lSUhyHls3IHZAMSGmvYZNezK_yTHo38">National Catholic Reporter</a>, the bishops approved a letter saying that the &#8220;threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives it destroys.&#8221;
Though the bishops highlighted abortion as the most pressing issue, the conference conceded that Catholics &#8220;cannot dismiss or ignore other serious threats to human life and dignity such as racism, the environmental crisis, poverty, and the death penalty.&#8221;
In other words, Catholics must regard abortion as the most urgent moral issue but must never use it as an excuse to avoid other important issues. In the end, Catholics are called to achieve holiness and being in the right on a singular issue will not be sufficient enough.
Some more liberal-leaning bishops, such as Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, disagreed with the final statement, arguing that it steps out line with the agenda implemented by Pope Francis in the encyclical &#8220;<a href="https://m.vatican.va/content/francescomobile/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gaudete et Exsultate</a>,&#8221; which gave weight to other issues while not necessarily saying how they must be implemented.
&#8220;Our defense of innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate,&#8221; the pope said in the encyclical. &#8220;Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.&#8221;
&#8220;We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty,&#8221; Pope Francis concluded.
Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego agreed with Cardinal Cupich that making abortion the &#8220;preeminent issue&#8221; stands out of line with the Francis agenda.
&#8220;The preeminent quote will be used to undermine the point Pope Francis is making in that paragraph,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Either we should get rid of preeminent, or if we are going to keep preeminent, then at least give the pope a fighting chance with his view and keep that whole paragraph because that is where he articulates his vision of this very controversial question.&#8221;
&#8220;It is not Catholic teaching that abortion is the preeminent issue that we face as a world,&#8221; continued McElroy. &#8220;For us to say that is a grave disservice to our people if we are trying to communicate to them what the magisterium teaches.&#8221;
Both McElroy and Cupich were immediately rebuked by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia.
&#8220;Saying that it (abortion) is preeminent is contrary to the teaching of the pope sets up an artificial battle between the bishops&#8217; conference of the United States and the Holy Father,&#8221; said Chaput.  &#8220;We do support the Holy Father completely. What he said is true. But it has been very clearly the articulated opinion of the bishops&#8217; conference for many years that pro-life is still the preeminent issue. It doesn&#8217;t mean that the others are not equal in dignity. It&#8217;s just time in this certain circumstances of our church in the United States.&#8221;
The bishops applauded Chaput and voted in favor of the measure by a margin of 143–69.

US-POLITICS-RELIGION

U.S. Catholic Bishops Declare Abortion The ‘Preemininent Issue’ Over All Else

Abortion

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A Catholic priest in South Carolina reportedly enforced the church&#8217;s code of canon law by denying former Vice President Joe Biden the sacrament of Holy Communion due to his stance on abortion.
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“Sadly, this past Sunday, I had to refuse Holy Communion to former Vice President Joe Biden,” Father Robert E. Morey of Saint Anthony Catholic Church <a href="https://www.scnow.com/news/local/joe-biden-denied-holy-communion-at-florence-church/article_4dfe451b-e181-5cdb-9da1-feae72795f0c.html?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=user-share">told SCNOW</a>. “Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other and the Church. Our actions should reflect that. Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching.”
“I will keep Mr. Biden in my prayers,” Morey added.
Biden attended a town hall meeting at Wilson High School in Florence over the weekend. His campaign did not confirm to the news outlet if he had attended the church, saying that he did so in a private capacity.
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During every Mass, Catholic doctrine states that the wafer and wine become the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ when a priest consecrates it while still retaining its original form &#8212; a process known as transubstantiation. In order for a Catholic to receive Communion, they must be in a state of grace after having attended the Sacrament of Confession. If a Catholic, usually by way of conscience, determines that they are not in a state of grace, they must refrain from receiving Holy Communion. When it comes to individuals who publicly oppose Catholic teaching (such as politicians who support abortion) bishops and priests are given full license under Canon Law to deny the person Holy Communion until they repent, lest they commit the sin of sacrilege if they receive what Catholics believe to be the body and blood of Christ unworthily.
Former Vice President Joe Biden has a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood and has continued to maintain the &#8220;personally opposed but &#8230;&#8221; line regarding abortion. As his campaign kicked off this year, amid pressure from hardcore abortion rights advocates, he reversed his multi-year stance in support of the Hyde amendment by vowing to seek its undoing should he become president, thereby making it a taxpayer-funded institution.
“The problem is, when in fact there is this enormous pressure and even threat to close down clinics that were available in the past, for women who do not have the funds or are able to have them paid for privately, like they’ve been able to do. That was one thing,” Biden <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-biden-flips-using-taxpayer-money-fund-james-barrett">said in June</a>. He explained:
<blockquote>But we now see so many Republican governors denying healthcare for millions of the most poorest [sic] and most vulnerable Americans by refusing even Medicaid expansion, I can’t justify leaving millions of women out of access to care they need and the ability to exercise their constitutionally protected right. If I believe healthcare is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code.</blockquote>
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As the abortion argument in the United States has escalated during the Trump era, certain Catholic bishops have taken extra steps to warn pro-abortion politicians to refrain from Holy Communion. Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield, for instance, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/48112/illinois-catholic-bishop-bars-pro-abortion-paul-bois">expressly forbid </a>all priests under his governance to give Holy Communion to politicians that supported the “Reproductive Health Act” in Illinois.
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Orange County Register Archive

REPORT: Joe Biden Denied Holy Communion At Catholic Church Over Abortion Support

Joe Biden

Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest who consistently blurs the line on Catholic teaching regarding homosexual acts, got a complete shellacking from several American bishops for publicly questioning the Holy Bible&#8217;s teaching on the subject.
Though Martin has positioned himself as an LGBT-friendly priest, he has always maintained he agrees with Catholic teaching on homosexual acts while simply calling for more compassion for such individuals. On Wednesday, that facade dropped almost completely when he <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1187090285332967424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1187090285332967424&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lifesitenews.com%2Fnews%2Fbishops-call-out-fr-james-martin-for-questioning-if-bible-is-right-to-condemn-homosexuality">tweeted an article</a> from the Protestant Scripture scholar and theologian Walter Wink, which said that the Bible&#8217;s condemnation of homosexual acts should be questioned due to the Bible&#8217;s alleged endorsement of slavery. Martin even used the words &#8220;interesting&#8221; in reference to the passage.
“Interesting: ‘Where the Bible mentions [same-sex sexual] behavior at all, it clearly condemns it. I freely grant that. The issue is precisely whether the biblical judgment is correct. The Bible sanctioned slavery as well and nowhere attacked it as unjust,'&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1187090285332967424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1187090285332967424&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lifesitenews.com%2Fnews%2Fbishops-call-out-fr-james-martin-for-questioning-if-bible-is-right-to-condemn-homosexuality">he tweeted</a>. “&#8217;Are we prepared to argue today that slavery is biblically justified?’”
In response, Catholic bishops immediately condemned this line from Martin.
“Thank you for acknowledging that you question scripture,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/Bishopoftyler/status/1187189646066933760">said Bishop Strickland of Texas</a>. &#8220;If we go down that road, where do we stop? I know you have lots of support, but you are challenging the Deposit of Faith that I promised to defend. As a bishop, I’ll keep defending it.”
“How convenient to use slavery to justify support for homosexuality, totally overlooking the fact that the Bible is overwhelmingly the story of God freeing His People from all slavery – physical &amp; political, but also slavery to idols &amp; false gods, to moral &amp; spiritual aberrations!&#8221; said Cardinal Napier of South Africa, as reported by <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishops-call-out-fr-james-martin-for-questioning-if-bible-is-right-to-condemn-homosexuality">LifeSiteNews</a>.
After a severe backlash on social media, Father Martin once again blamed it all on &#8220;far-right Catholics&#8221; that failed to see the nuance in his tactic.
&#8220;Yesterday I was called a &#8216;heretic&#8217; for supposedly going against church teaching. In fact, I linked to [an] article by the Protestant Scripture scholar and theologian Walter Wink. So if you would like to call anyone a &#8220;heretic&#8221; it is Mr. Wink, the author of many books on the Bible and a scholar who probably forgot more about the Bible than those who would condemn him for ‘heresy’ have learned. But he&#8217;s dead, after years of service to the Lord, so the puerile name-calling probably won&#8217;t bother him,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1187409942204030976">he said in a lengthy Twitter thread.</a>
James Martin then went on to make the claim that Catholics are not biblical fundamentalists, even though all Catholic teaching has basis in scripture.
&#8220;I said that Professor Wink&#8217;s short article about biblical criticism was &#8216;interesting&#8217; (which it was) and was thus lambasted by Catholics who excoriated me for not accepting the &#8216;inerrancy&#8217; of Scripture. News flash: Catholics are not biblical fundamentalists. Cf: &#8216;Dei Verbum,'&#8221; added Martin.
&#8220;This points out, once again, that some on the Catholic far-right who are quick to condemn and use names like &#8216;heretic&#8217; are not reading things very carefully. (E.g., &#8216;Building a Bridge.&#8217;) And some also don&#8217;t know, or actively reject, current Catholic teaching (e.g., Vatican II),&#8221; he concluded.
As noted by <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishops-call-out-fr-james-martin-for-questioning-if-bible-is-right-to-condemn-homosexuality">LifeSiteNews</a>, Pope Pius XII’s 1943 encyclical Divine Afflante Spiritu spoke about the inerrancy of scripture:
<blockquote>The sacred Council of Trent ordained by solemn decree that “the entire books with all their parts, as they have been wont to be read in the Catholic Church and are contained in the old vulgate Latin edition, are to be held sacred and canonical.” In our own time the [First] Vatican Council, with the object of condemning false doctrines regarding inspiration, declared that these same books were to be regarded by the Church as sacred and canonical “not because, having been composed by human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority, nor merely because they contain revelation without error, but because, having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God for their author, and as such were handed down to the Church herself.”</blockquote>

Pope Francis visit to Ireland

Catholic Bishops Blast Father James Martin For Publicly Questioning Bible’s Teaching On Homosexual Acts

On Tuesday’s episode of “The Michael Knowles Show,” Knowles talks about how Beto O’Rourke is actually brutally honest about the Left’s political endgame. Video and partial transcript: 
The most honest person in politics right now, I think, is Beto O&#8217;Rourke. Certainly, nobody in the news — it&#8217;s not a newsperson, it&#8217;s not a Hollywood celebrity, it&#8217;s not a real politician. It&#8217;s an out-of-work politician named Beto O&#8217;Rourke, [who is] saying a lot of stupid things. He&#8217;s making a lot of untrue statements, but he&#8217;s honest because he is actually showing the logical conclusions of leftist policies. 
So [Beto] was called out, he raised some firestorm, because he was too honest during the LGBTQ town hall on CNN. During that town hall, he was asked, &#8220;Would you take away tax exempt status from churches that don&#8217;t go along with leftist ideology?&#8221; And he said, &#8220;Yeah absolutely.&#8221;
If you don&#8217;t go along with leftist ideology and whatever the new definition of marriage is today, and whatever the new version of gender ideology is today, then we&#8217;re going to take away your tax exemption. We&#8217;re gonna try to bankrupt you and we’ll make you face consequences. So this caught flak not because people disagreed with him. I mean, most of the candidates at that CNN debate agreed with the statement. It&#8217;s because he put it too honestly, put it too bluntly. It was in too stark terms.
So Beto O’Rourke was asked about this on MSNBC [and they’re] basically saying, &#8220;Beto, Beto cut it out man! Don&#8217;t tell them what we&#8217;re really up to!&#8221; And Beto, to his credit, doubles down. 
<blockquote>O’ROURKE: To be clear, you are free to believe anything that you want to in this country, to associate with whom you please, to practice your faith as you best see fit. But you are not allowed to discriminate against people in this country — to violate their civil rights or their human rights. </blockquote>
I love the &#8220;but.&#8221; Look you&#8217;re allowed to practice your religion, but — and it’s that &#8220;but&#8221; that makes him a butthead — you&#8217;re not really allowed to. You&#8217;re not allowed to discriminate. What does that word mean in the context of religion? You&#8217;re not allowed to discriminate? I mean, ideas discriminate. If you hold one idea, you are necessarily discriminating against other ideas. If you believe in one God, you are discriminating against other gods. 
Let’s say you go to church, and you don&#8217;t worship Allah, and you don&#8217;t invite people in who worship Allah — because you&#8217;re a Methodist, so you worship the Methodist conception of God. I guess that&#8217;s discrimination. Are you going to be shut down? 
Let&#8217;s use the gender or the sex example. In the Catholic Church, there are priests. There have always been priests, there have never been priestesses. Women can&#8217;t be priests. They can be nuns, they can do a lot of things. They can&#8217;t be priests. Well, that&#8217;s discrimination. 
So is Beto O’Rourke going to shut down the Catholic Church? Yeah, it sounds like he would. He would try to. I don&#8217;t think he&#8217;d win. Catholic churches have endured a little bit longer than could be taken down by a one-term congressman, or more than one-term congressman — but now an ex-congressman. I think the Church will probably win out. 
Some people are calling on Beto O’Rourke to change his tune. I don&#8217;t want him to change his tune. I&#8217;m glad he&#8217;s telling us what he really thinks, he&#8217;s telling us what the Left really thinks. He&#8217;s telling us what the Left thinks not just about this issue of gender ideology, he&#8217;s telling us what they think about religion. 
<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-michael-knowles-show/id1266577963?mt=2">Listen to full episodes of &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show&#8221; on iTunes.</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show">Watch &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show&#8221; on-demand!</a>

Beto O&#8217;Rourke

KNOWLES: Beto O’Rourke May Be The Most Honest Person In Politics

Beto O'Rourke

Religion

Pope Francis raised his position on the death penalty to a whole new level on Saturday by going so far as to speak out against life imprisonment, saying it diminishes a criminal&#8217;s &#8220;right to hope.&#8221;
&#8220;It is up to every society … to ensure that the penalty does not compromise the right to hope, that prospects for reconciliation and reintegration are guaranteed,&#8221; Pope Francis said, as reported <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-life-imprisonment-forgoes-the-right-to-start-over-69915">Catholic News Agency</a>. &#8220;Life imprisonment is not the solution to problems — I repeat: Life imprisonment is not the solution to problems, but a problem to be solved.&#8221;
&#8220;Because if hope is closed in a cell, there is no future for society,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Never deprive one of the right to start over.&#8221;
Pope Francis then directed his message toward all prisoners, advising them to carry hope no matter what and reminding them that God still loves them.
&#8220;Never let yourself be imprisoned in the dark cell of a hopeless heart; do not give in to resignation. God is greater than any problem and is waiting for you to love you,&#8221; said the pontiff. &#8220;Stand before the Crucifix, in the gaze of Jesus, in front of Him with simplicity and sincerity. From there, from the humble courage that belongs to those who do not lie to themselves, peace is reborn with the trust of being loved, and the strength to go on flourishes again.&#8221;
&#8220;You who are detained are important to God, who wants to do wonders in you,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Have courage because you are in the heart of God; you are precious in his eyes, and even if you feel lost and unworthy, do not lose heart. God is greater than our hearts.&#8221;
Pope Francis concluded by thanking prison ministers and chaplains for preaching the Gospel &#8220;within the walls of prisons&#8221; and encouraged them to &#8220;enter the most difficult situations with the sole strength of a smile and a heart that listens.&#8221;
Pope Francis has previously spoken out against life in prison, on top of his denunciations of the death penalty. In 2014, he even said that such a sentence is &#8220;<a href="https://cruxnow.com/life/2014/10/23/pope-francis-blasts-supermax-prisons-as-torture/">a hidden death penalty</a>.&#8221;
&#8220;All Christians and people of goodwill are called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether legal or illegal, and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty,&#8221; he told delegates from the International Association of Penal Law. &#8220;And this I connect with life imprisonment. Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty.&#8221;
The pope attached life in prison to his over-arching message of prison reform.
&#8220;It is painful when we see prison systems which are not concerned to care for wounds, to soothe pain, to offer new possibilities,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/27/pope-francis-philadelphia-prison-rehabilitation">said at a Philadelphia prison</a> in 2015. &#8220;It is painful when we see people who think that only others need to be cleansed, purified, and do not recognize that their weariness, pain, and wounds are also the weariness, pain, and wounds of society.&#8221;

popefrancis.jpg

Pope Francis Speaks Out Against Life Imprisonment: ‘Diminishes Hope’

Prison

Further signaling his acceptance of globalism during an age of increased nationalism, Pope Francis has now invited leaders to sign a &#8220;Global Pact&#8221; to create a &#8220;new humanism.&#8221;
&#8220;The global event, set to take place at the Vatican on May 14, 2020, is themed &#8216;Reinventing the Global Educational Alliance,'&#8221; reports <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-francis-global-education-pact">LifeSiteNews</a>. &#8220;The Pope is inviting representatives of the main religions, international organizations and various humanitarian institutions, as well as key figures from the world of politics, economics and academia, and prominent athletes, scientists and sociologists to sign a &#8216;Global Pact on Education&#8217; so as to &#8216;hand on to younger generations a united and fraternal common home.'&#8221;
On September 12, the Holy Father said in a video message that &#8220;universal solidarity&#8221; can only be achieved by way of a &#8220;global education pact.&#8221;
LifeSiteNews noted that Pope Francis issued a &#8220;strikingly secular message&#8221; on the pact that contained just one reference to God and even echoed former First Lady Hillary Clinton&#8217;s favorite phrase: &#8220;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Takes_a_Village">It takes a village to raise a child</a>.&#8221;
&#8220;This [Global Pact] will result in men and women who are open, responsible, prepared to listen, dialogue and reflect with others, and capable of weaving relationships with families, between generations, and with civil society, and thus to create a new humanism,&#8221; said Pope Francis.
The Pope added that an &#8220;alliance&#8221; must be formed &#8220;between the earth&#8217;s inhabitants and our &#8216;common home,&#8217; which we are bound to care for and respect. An alliance that generates peace, justice and hospitality among all peoples of the human family, as well as dialogue between religions.&#8221;
The Pope&#8217;s invitation to a &#8220;Global Pact&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46760/pope-francis-denounces-nation-state-common-good-paul-bois">echoes</a> his recent declaration that the &#8220;common good has become global&#8221; while criticizing the nation-state for being unable to meet this human need. He, however, did not issue a call for a one-world government.
&#8220;In the current situation of globalization not only of the economy but also of technological and cultural exchanges, the nation-state is no longer able to procure the common good of its population alone,&#8221; Pope Francis told the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in May. &#8220;While, according to the principle of subsidiarity, individual nations must be given the power to operate as far as they can, on the other hand, groups of neighboring nations — as is already the case — can strengthen their cooperation by attributing the exercise of certain functions and services to intergovernmental institutions that manage their common interests.&#8221;
In what was seen as a veiled critique of the pope&#8217;s stance, Cardinal Raymond Burke <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47358/vatican-cardinal-burke-one-world-government-paul-bois">later told Rome Life Forum</a> that natural law permits patriotism &#8220;in accord with the order written upon the human heart&#8221; and &#8220;does not make just and legitimate a single global government.&#8221;
&#8220;Before the challenges of our time, there are those who propose and work for a single global government, that is, for the elimination of individual national governments, so that all of humanity would be under the control of a single political authority,&#8221; said Burke. &#8220;For those who are convinced that the only way to achieve the common good is the concentration of all government in a single authority, loyalty to one’s homeland or patriotism has become an evil.&#8221;

Pope Francis Invites Political Leaders To Sign ‘Global Pact’

On Thursday, Jesuit priest and editor at large of America Magazine James Martin sent out a tweet about homosexuals not feeling welcome in the Catholic church:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Many <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LGBT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LGBT</a> Catholics still feel unwelcome in their own church. But good news: More parishes are now trying to make LGBT Catholics feel at home. Here, one parishioner talks about the welcome that he, his husband, and their son found at Holy Trinity in DC. <a href="https://t.co/mWB85e7UVt">https://t.co/mWB85e7UVt</a>
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1172174833670639616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>Many #LGBT Catholics still feel unwelcome in their own church. But good news: More parishes are now trying to make LGBT Catholics feel at home. Here, one parishioner talks about the welcome that he, his husband, and their son found at Holy Trinity in DC.</blockquote>
In a video attached to the tweet, a man named Joe speaks about his experience at Holy Trinity in Washington D.C., and how he struggled with the church as society moved one way, and the church did not.
Joe spoke with Judith Brusseau, head of faith formation &amp; religious education at Holy Trinity, and she said:
<blockquote>In some respects, we&#8217;re a last-resort Church before people really throw in the towel and say, &#8220;I&#8217;m not gonna have anything to do with this.&#8221; So, when someone comes and says, you know, &#8220;I want to be here,&#8221; as someone who works in the field for Christ, you have to say, &#8220;You&#8217;re welcome. You belong here,&#8221; and I really feel that.</blockquote>
Joe added that Brusseau said: &#8220;Please show up. We need you. If you don&#8217;t show up, we are never gonna change. This is your Church.&#8221;
Joe concluded:
<blockquote>Every time that I had a moment of doubt, I feel like, you know, God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit put the words in somebody&#8217;s mouth to reassure me that I belong. All of us in some way probably feel marginalized no matter what our experience is – it doesn&#8217;t have to be gay; it could be lots of things. And I think at this church, they talk about that, they accept that, they explore that, and they welcome that. And I actually believe most Catholics share that view. Somewhere in them they hear the words of Christ: &#8220;Love your fellow man.&#8221; Christ loved people and welcomed people who were marginalized, and celebrated them. I think this church and that teaching is deep, and is strong, and broader than most people think.</blockquote>
Among the replies to Martin&#8217;s tweet of this video were those who were disappointed that a priest would advocate for the acceptance of views that are clearly anti-biblical:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">You don’t love these people. They are merely pawns for your self aggrandizement. If you loved them you would tell them the truth about God’s Grace and it’s power to heal, instead you let them wallow in their sin and then celebrate it. You are perpetuating evil.
— Robert (@rlj_robert) <a href="https://twitter.com/rlj_robert/status/1172260530888818690?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>You don’t love these people. They are merely pawns for your self aggrandizement. If you loved them you would tell them the truth about God’s Grace and it’s power to heal, instead you let them wallow in their sin and then celebrate it. You are perpetuating evil.</blockquote>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">Perhaps the best thing now is that you should stand down/resign from the priesthood, since in advocating this you show utter contempt for it, for holiness and the supernatural origins of the order of marriage, whilst parading sin as a good.
— Gerard Calilhanna (@GerardCalilhan1) <a href="https://twitter.com/GerardCalilhan1/status/1172278337588170754?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>Perhaps the best thing now is that you should stand down/resign from the priesthood, since in advocating this you show utter contempt for it, for holiness and the supernatural origins of the order of marriage, whilst parading sin as a good.</blockquote>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">I realize that people can have same-sex attraction and be Catholic. However, they must follow Church teaching and live a celibate and chaste life. To suggest otherwise is simply against Church teaching &amp; false.
I will pray for our brothers and sisters w/same-sex attraction.
— NASA Fan (Joe) (@DogLuvrInDaHaus) <a href="https://twitter.com/DogLuvrInDaHaus/status/1172489284529639424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>I realize that people can have same-sex attraction and be Catholic. However, they must follow Church teaching and live a celibate and chaste life. To suggest otherwise is simply against Church teaching &amp; false. I will pray for our brothers and sisters w/same-sex attraction.</blockquote>
The New Testament is rather clear when it comes to homosexual conduct:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 states: &#8220;Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.&#8221;
1 Timothy 1:9-11 states: &#8220;We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.&#8221;
Romans 1:26-27 states: &#8220;Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.&#8221;
There are numerous other examples of scripture condemning homosexual behavior, and as a priest, Martin surely knows these verses well.
James Martin has more than 253,000 followers on Twitter and 582,000 followers on Facebook, and thus, has quite an influential platform to speak about what he believes.

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Jesuit Priest Gets Slammed On Twitter After Endorsing LGBT Lifestyle

Gay Rights

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt will refer 12 former priests for prosecution after conducting a 13-month investigation into sexual abuse allegations made against members of Missouri’s Roman Catholic clergy.
“Sexual abuse of minors by members of Missouri’s four Roman Catholic dioceses has been a far-reaching, long-standing scandal. No region of the State of Missouri has been spared,” reads the <a href="http://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/2019/catholicchurchclergyabuseinvestigationreport.pdf?sfvrsn=2">attorney general&#8217;s report</a>.
“For decades, faced with credible reports of abuse, the church refused to acknowledge the victims and instead focused its efforts on protecting its priests. During this time, the responsibility for evaluating and responding to reports of abuse and misconduct was controlled by a small circle of priests in diocesan leadership and the bishops.”
In total, the investigation revealed that 163 priests had been accused of sexually abusing children in Missouri since 1945, according to the <a href="https://www.apnews.com/c38c03f4486247c3a7ead9289ccebc64">Associated Press</a> (AP). Nearly half of the priests have already died, and among those living, 46 cannot be charged because the statute of limitations on their crimes has expired.
In a press conference Friday, Schmidt called the “betrayal of trust and of innocence” in the Church “devastating and in many instances incomprehensible,” reports the AP. His office has decided to focus on those priests who committed crimes, and has declined to consider recommending members of the church hierarchy for prosecution.
The AP reports that the investigation was launched after a Pennsylvania grand jury released a bombshell report in 2018 that found hundreds of priests had abused children over the last 70 years — and that church officials attempted to cover it up.
“Despite some institutional reform, individual leaders of the church have largely escaped public accountability,” reads the underlying <a href="http://media-downloads.pacourts.us/InterimRedactedReportandResponses.pdf?cb=42148">grand jury report</a>. “Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.”
According to the report, the FBI reviewed “a significant portion of the evidence” and found a “series of practices” that the grand jury calls akin to “a playbook for concealing the truth.” These practices included avoiding phrases like “rape” in favor of “inappropriate conduct” or “boundary issues,” and an admonishment to handle all matters without the involvement of police.
The grand jury report outlined the seven patterns the FBI found, which can be read below:
<blockquote>REPORT: First, make sure to use euphemisms rather than real words to describe the sexual assaults in diocese documents. Never say &#8220;rape&#8221;; say &#8220;inappropriate contact&#8221; or &#8220;boundary issues.&#8221;
Second, don&#8217;t conduct genuine investigations with properly trained personnel. Instead, assign fellow clergy members to ask inadequate questions and then make credibility determinations about the colleagues with whom they live and work.
Third, for an appearance of integrity, send priests for &#8220;evaluation&#8221; at church -run psychiatric treatment centers. Allow these experts to &#8220;diagnose&#8221; whether the priest was a pedophile, based largely on the priest&#8217;s &#8220;self -reports,&#8221; and regardless of whether the priest had actually engaged in sexual contact with a child.
Fourth, when a priest does have to be removed, don&#8217;t say why. Tell his parishioners that he is on &#8220;sick leave,&#8221; or suffering from &#8220;nervous exhaustion.&#8221; Or say nothing at all.
Fifth, even if a priest is raping children, keep providing him housing and living expenses, although he may be using these resources to facilitate more sexual assaults.
Sixth, if a predator&#8217;s conduct becomes known to the community, don&#8217;t remove him from the priesthood to ensure that no more children will be victimized. Instead, transfer him to a new location where no one will know he is a child abuser.
Finally and above all, don&#8217;t tell the police. Child sexual abuse, even short of actual penetration, is and has for all relevant times been a crime. But don&#8217;t treat it that way; handle it like a personnel matter, &#8220;in house.&#8221;</blockquote>

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Missouri AG Will Refer 12 Former Priests For Prosecution

Crime

Pope Francis rebuked his critics in America this week by saying he was &#8220;honored&#8221; to be attacked by them.
According to <a href="https://cruxnow.com/pope-in-madagascar/2019/09/04/pope-francis-says-its-an-honor-that-americans-are-attacking-me/">Crux</a>, the Holy Father made his comments while aboard a papal flight to Mozambique after a French reporter presented him with a book detailing the American conservative opposition to the Francis papacy – &#8220;How America Wanted to Change the Pope&#8221; by Nicolas Seneze.
&#8220;For me, it&#8217;s an honor that Americans are attacking me,&#8221; Francis told the La Croix reporter.
As Pope Francis handed the book over to an aide, he jokingly said, &#8220;This is a bomb.&#8221;
Shortly after the flight, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni attempted to clarify the pope&#8217;s comments by saying they were made &#8220;in an informal context&#8221; and that the Holy Father &#8220;wanted to say that he always considers criticisms an honor, particularly when it comes from important thinkers and, in this case, of an important nation.&#8221;
In other words, Bruni claims that Pope Francis did not mean to dismiss his critics but rather welcomed their viewpoints.
The book reportedly focuses on what motivates the right-wing opposition to Pope Francis in the United States, which goes beyond his views on economics and also includes his response to the sexual abuse crisis and his elevating liberal clerics (such as Father James Martin and Cardinal Blase Cupich) while sidelining conservatives (such as Cardinal Raymond Burke and Cardinal Ludwig Mueller). Crux provided more details:
<blockquote>A long-time Vatican reporter from the French Catholic daily, Seneze told the pope that he wanted to explain the roots of American opposition to the Argentine, which has the support of several right-wing news outlets. In his book, Seneze names EWTN, founded by the late Mother Angelica, and Canada-based LifeSiteNews.
The criticism against Francis is based on several points: His cautious opening to allowing the divorced and remarried to receive the Sacraments, his emphasis on the environment, his strong condemnation of the death penalty, and his criticism of the capitalist economic order championed by conservatives in the United States.</blockquote>
Seneze even goes so far to argue in his book that conservatives ultimately seek to overthrow Pope Francis and &#8220;trigger&#8221; a new conclave to elect another pope in his place. He cites an organization called the &#8220;Red Hat Report&#8221; as proof of this conspiracy.
&#8220;The Red Hat Report claims to be drawing on nearly 100 researchers, academics, investigators, and journalists to investigate every single cardinal elector, with the aim &#8216;to hold the hierarchy of the Catholic Church accountable for abuse and corruption, and to develop and support honesty, clarity, and fidelity in Church governance,'&#8221; reports Crux.
In an 11-page letter<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/35335/bombshell-source-close-pope-benedict-confirms-paul-bois"> released in August of last year</a>, Archbishop Viganò, former Nuncio from the Vatican to Washington, D.C., alleged that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had been sanctioned under Pope Benedict XVI only to have those sanctions removed by Pope Francis upon his ascendancy in 2013. Cardinal McCarrick had an alleged history of sexually abusing male seminarians and, according to Viganò, was ordered by Pope Benedict to refrain from saying Mass or public ministry.
Monsignor Jean-François Lantheaume, the former first counsellor at the apostolic nunciature in Washington, D.C., said flatly that Viganò &#8220;<a href="https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2018/08/27/former-nunciature-official-vigano-said-the-truth/">said the truth</a>&#8221; in his letter, which was followed by several other high-ranking prelates testifying to Viganó&#8217;s respectable character.
Shortly after the letter dropped, Pope Francis elected to remain silent and maintained that protocol <a href="https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/05/28/in-new-interview-pope-francis-says-he-knew-nothing-about-mccarrick/">until this past May</a> when he told Mexican journalist Valentina Alazraki that he &#8220;knew nothing&#8221; about Cardinal McCarrick&#8217;s behavior and did not remember if Archbishop Viganò ever informed him about the sanctions.
&#8220;I have said it many times, I knew nothing, no idea,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And when this guy (Vigano) said that he told me about it that day, that he came … I don&#8217;t remember if he told me about this. If it&#8217;s true or not. No idea!&#8221;

popefrancis

Pope Francis: ‘It’s An Honor That Americans Are Attacking Me’

On Wednesday, the Jesuit order&#8217;s superior general announced that Satan himself is a &#8220;symbol&#8221; rather than an actual being that was once created by God before falling into damnation.
According to <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/jesuit-superior-satan-is-a-symbolic-reality-60691">Catholic News Agency</a>, Fr. Arturo Sosa told the Italian magazine <a href="https://www.tempi.it/meeting-il-diavolo-esiste-solo-come-realta-simbolica/">Tempi</a> that the devil &#8220;exists as the personification of evil in different structures, but not in persons, because is not a person, is a way of acting evil.&#8221;
&#8220;He is not a person like a human person. It is a way of evil to be present in human life,&#8221; asserted the priest. &#8220;Good and evil are in a permanent war in the human conscience and we have ways to point them out. We recognize God as good, fully good. Symbols are part of reality, and the devil exists as a symbolic reality, not as a personal reality.&#8221;
The Jesuit leader&#8217;s statement about the devil stands in stark contrast with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which teaches <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p7.htm">that</a> Satan and his demons are &#8220;spiritual, non-corporeal beings&#8221; who are nonetheless &#8220;personal and immortal creatures&#8221; with an &#8220;intelligence and will.&#8221;
&#8220;Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: &#8216;The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing,'&#8221; the text reads.
Not once has the Catechism (or any sanctioned doctor of the Church, for that matter) referred to Satan as a symbol.
Sosa previously questioned the actual existence of Satan beyond mere symbols during an interview with El Mundo in 2017 when he said, &#8220;We have formed symbolic figures such as the Devil to express evil.&#8221; However, after significant backlash, a spokesperson for Sosa <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/06/08/spokesman-for-jesuit-chief-devil-remarks-must-be-read-in-context/">told the Catholic Herald</a> that he believes in what the Catholic Church teaches.
&#8220;Like all Catholics, Father Sosa professes and teaches what the Church professes and teaches. He does not hold a set of beliefs separate from what is contained in the doctrine of the Catholic Church,&#8221; the spokesperson stated.
His comments in 2017 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/20492/absolute-disgrace-83-percent-us-catholics-think-paul-bois">preceded a poll</a> that showed eight in ten U.S. Catholics now believe that Satan is just a symbol more akin to that of Santa Claus than an actual being. The poll came from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), which cited its <a href="https://nineteensixty-four.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-new-age-old-scratch.html">chilling data</a> from a Faith and Global Policy Challenges Survey in 2011.
Of the 1,496 adults in the United States polled, only 17% of self-identified Catholics said they believe in the existence of Satan, with 83% regarding the being as a mere symbol. Conversely, 55% of Evangelical Protestants believed in Satan&#8217;s literal existence.
Mark M. Gray, editor of CARA&#8217;s research blog, noted that Catholics believing in Satan&#8217;s existence were exponentially more likely to support pro-life initiatives and other moral causes. They were also shown to lean more conservative politically.
&#8220;Symbols aren&#8217;t really going to stir the same concerns in someone that a being might,&#8221; Gray explained. &#8220;Catholics who believe in the devil and Hell are more likely than those who do not to be religiously active.&#8221;

New Superior General Of The Society of Jesus Celebrates A Thanksgiving Mass

Jesuit Superior General: The Devil Is A ‘Symbol,’ Not A Person

Father Anthony Apuron, the former archbishop of the Catholic Church of Guam, has been accused of molesting children and protecting a culture of sexual abuse that endured on the island for decades.
A total of seven men have filed lawsuits accusing Apuron of molesting them as children, according to <a href="https://www.apnews.com/b8442f05def44d1ea79b9e6805da4e0c">The Associated Press</a>. Mark Apuron, the former bishop’s nephew, said that his uncle forced himself onto him, but that he avoided speaking about the incident because he didn’t think anyone would believe him.
Another man, Walter Denton, now 55, says that Apuron sexually assaulted him on church property when he was only 13-years-old. According to The Associated Press, Apuron warned the young Denton: &#8220;If you say anything to anybody, no one will believe you.&#8221;
&#8220;The archbishop, now 73, insists all his accusers are liars. But in a secret church trial last year, the Vatican found Apuron guilty of sex crimes against children, removing him from public ministry and effectively exiling him from Guam.&#8221; Despite being removed from public ministry, Apuron is still a bishop &#8220;and receives a monthly $1,500 stipend from the church,&#8221; the news agency notes.
The Associated Press has also reviewed thousands of pages of court documents and concluded that the Guam archdiocese engaged in systemic abuse &#8220;dating from the 1950s to as recently as 2013&#8221; and consisting of &#8220;a pattern of repeated collusion by predator priests, with abuse that spanned generations and reached all the way to the very top of the church hierarchy.&#8221;
One church official in the archdiocese, Father Louis Brouillard, has been accused of sexually assaulting at least 132 men and women over the course of three decades beginning as early as 1948. Several years before his death in 2018, Brouillard confessed to abusing nearly two dozen children.
Another man, Father Adrian Cristobal, a senior church official close to Apuron, has been accused in lawsuits of sexually assaulting boys and young men over more than three decades and paying them to keep quiet with money stolen from the church.
Apuron has also engaged in efforts to prevent survivors of sexual assault by members of the clergy from seeking justice.
When B.J. Cruz, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse and then-vice speaker of the Guam Senate, tried to introduce legislation to &#8220;lift the statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits&#8221; in 2010, Apuron used his political clout to lobby against it.
Although the bill passed, senators sympathetic to the church amended the bill to make it more difficult for survivors to come forward, such as requiring plaintiffs to pay the church’s legal fees should they fail to prove their case.
No survivors came forward while the law was in effect.
In total, 35 clergymen, teachers and boy scout leaders on the island have been accused in lawsuits, leading the archdioceses to file for bankruptcy protection. As such, any survivors who wish to file a financial claim against the church only have until Aug. 15, 2019.

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