Freethought Almanac

Lighting a candle in toxic air.
2011-09-27
September 27: Paul III Fails to Reform the Church

Pope Paul III Approves the Jesuits (1540) On this date, September 27, in 1540, Pope Paul III officially approved the Society of Jesus – the Jesuits – through his encyclical, Regimini militantis ecclesiae. Born Alessandro Farnese on 29 February 1468 in Rome, Paul III was pope for 15 years, from 12 October 1534 until his […]

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2011-09-09
September 9: The “Red Eminence” and Religion

Cardinal Richelieu (1585) It was on this date, September 9, 1585, that Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac, who achieved prominence during the reign of French King Louis XIII as Cardinal Richelieu, was born in Paris, the son of Maria de' Medici. Originally trained for a military career, his brother's resignation […]

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2011-07-29
July 29: Galileo’s Pope

Urban VIII (d. 1644) It was on this date, July 29, 1644, that the pope who will be remembered throughout history as the persecutor of Galileo, Urban VIII, died at Rome. It had been 18 months since his victim had died in Florence, while under a house arrest, which Urban did nothing to mitigate. Born […]

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2011-04-04
April 4: Ignatius of Loyola, First Jesuit

The modus operandi of the Society of Jesus, and their “Jesuitry,” has always been the end justifies the means, so it is immaterial whether Ignatius, or the Society of Jesus, ever publicly expressed the thought.

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2011-02-15
February 15: Galileo

"It vexes me when they [clerics] would constrain science by the authority of the Scriptures," wrote Galileo, "and yet do not consider themselves bound to answer reason and experiment."

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2010-12-13
December 13: Council of Trent

What is seldom admitted is that the Church was hurting from the loss of income to the Protestant churches, and stipulated a meeting in an Italian town — so that the Inquisition could finish off the heretics.

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Ronald Bruce Meyer

Our Fearless Leader.


Daily Almanac

April 1: Milan Kundera

“I was never a believer, but after seeing Czech Catholics persecuted during the Stalinist terror, I felt the deepest solidarity with them. What separated us, the belief in God, was secondary to what united us.”



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