The Catholic Church in Australia paid A$276 million (£171 million) in compensation, treatment and other costs to thousands of victims of child sexual offences in the past 35 years, according to a report released on Thursday at an inquiry into institutional abuse. MORE

Even most Catholics today do not realize that a number of Fathers of the First Vatican Council actually submitted a papal petition for Columbus’ canonization.

Another Columbus Day has passed. The usual suspects in the secular, and now sadly even “Catholic” media have trotted out their yearly calumnies of the man whom America still, to her credit, honors with a National Holiday.  MORE

Just think what this could be doing to our youth.

US drugs giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has been ordered to pay $8bn (£6.6bn) in damages to man who grew breast tissue after taking a antipsychotic drug as a child. MORE VIDEO

There given everything they want and they’re still committing suicide

A new national report focusing on women’s and children’s health has found a 34% increase in teen suicides among California youth between the ages of 15 and 19 over the past three years — significantly higher than the national increase of 25% — and a 29% surge in infant childcare costs during the same period. MORE

These priests, deacons, monks and lay people now teach middle-school math. They counsel survivors of sexual assault. They work as nurses and volunteer at nonprofits aimed at helping at-risk kids. They live next to playgrounds and day care centers. They foster and care for children. VIDEO

We are fast approaching the tricentennial of anti-vaccination agitation in America. Given where we are today, it’s worth recalling the cautionary tale of Episode One. MORE

“Everyone should be able to access high-quality, affordable, gender-affirming health care, but the Trump administration is trying to roll back important protections for trans Americans,” Warren tweeted Tuesday. “Help fight back by leaving a comment for HHS in protest.” MORE

So much for open freedom of choice.

The rate at which young Americans took their own lives reached a high-water mark in 2017, driven by a sharp rise in suicides among older teenage boys, according to new research.

In that year alone, suicide claimed the lives of 5,016 males and 1,225 females between 15 and 24 in the United States, researchers reported Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. MORE

New York passed a law this year giving victims of childhood sexual abuse one year to file lawsuits that had previously been barred because the allegations were too old. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against churches and other institutions since the law took effect last month. MORE

An Obama-appointed federal judge is forcing Wisconsin taxpayers to provide costly sex reassignment surgery and hormonal procedures for low-income transgender residents who get free medical care from the government. MORE

Hello Sister. Every time Jesus sends someone to HELL that’s the DEATH penalty. NO?

That includes Scripture used by politicians to justify separating families at the border, said Prejean, 80. Or Jesus’ death being used by Christians to defend the death penalty. MORE

Another sad state of affairs where this immigration officer tried driving through protesters, was worried about his safety. What most news outlets fail to mention, protesters banged on doors and windshields of his truck. Other states have made it legal for drivers to hit protesters if the driver didn’t do so willfully. The federal government should pass similar laws to protect their law enforcement people from these criminal protesters. STORY/VIDEO

We have no reliable figures on just how many priests in the Catholic Church are gay. The Vatican has conducted many studies on its own clergy but never on this subject. In the United States, however, where there are 37,000 priests, no independent study has found fewer than 15 percent to be gay, and some have found as many as 60 percent. The consensus in my own research over the past few months converged on around 30 to 40 percent among parish priests and considerably more than that — as many as 60 percent or higher — among religious orders like the Franciscans or the Jesuits. MORE

People’s Voice – I – The Russian leader trusts in the people’s voice. Is what they want bound to be God’s own choice?

See INTERVIEW for a notorious interview of President Putin from last June, partly summarized here below. 

What is happening in the West . . . in Europe as well? The ruling elites have broken away from the people, because of the gap between the interests of the elites and the overwhelming majority of the people . . . . This means that liberalism has outlived its purpose, because, as our Western partners have admitted, liberal ideas such as multiculturalism, have proved to be no longer tenable.