VATICAN CITY — In the days after President Donald Trump unleashed a military attack on Iran, the Catholic Church was quickly on a war-footing — against the war.
America’s rational for preemptive strikes, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state warned, risked setting “the whole world … ablaze.”
Cardinal Robert McElroy, the church’s top authority in Washington, called the war neither “morally legitimate” nor “just.”
Saint Francis of Assisi’s skeleton is going on full public display from Sunday for the first time, in a move that is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Inside a nitrogen-filled case with the Latin inscription “Corpus Sancti Francisci” (the body of Saint Francis), the remains are being shown in the Italian hillside town’s Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.
St Francis, who died on 3 October 1226, founded the Franciscan order after renouncing his wealth and devoting his life to the poor.
America’s Catholic hierarchy preaches open borders but whispers about abortion.
In the late fifth century, St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, wrote a letter to the army of the British warlord Coroticus, condemning the practice of slavery. He did so not because condemning the then-profitable slave trade put a penny in his pocket (it did not) but because it was the right thing to do, in accord with Christian moral teaching. Over a century later, St. Benedict of Nursia held himself and his fellow monks to such a high moral standard that some of his own monks tried to assassinate him. While many pioneers went to the New World in search of gold, St. Isaac Jogues went to save souls, and gave his life in the process. St. Peter Claver ministered to slaves in the 16th century, baptizing souls that the wealthy traders considered property.
Freedom of speech is under attack in the West, the Pope has warned.
Pope Leo XIV claimed an “Orwellian-style language” had taken root in the West and that democracies were becoming increasingly authoritarian by clamping down on “freedom of conscience”.
It marks one of the pontiff’s first interventions on the issue, which had also been taken up by his predecessor, Pope Francis.
The Pope condemned conditions for Palestinians in Gaza and urged Russia and Ukraine to “engage in respectful dialogue” in an unusually direct appeal during the first Christmas message of his pontificate.
Delivering his traditional Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) message from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on a damp and overcast morning, the American pope said that the story of Jesus being born in a stable showed that God had “pitched his fragile tent” among the people of the world.
“How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold?” he said.
Jesse Romero, a conservative Catholic podcaster, has some choice words for Pope Leo XIV.
“The Pope should tell us how to get to heaven,” says Romero. “He has no authority over the government; he has to stay in his lane.”
As a Donald Trump supporter, he is angry about criticism made by the American-born Pope and US bishops about his mass deportation policy.
With one in five Americans identifying as Catholic, the Church plays an important role in American life – and politics.
I was in Westminster Cathedral last week and the place was heaving with migrants and asylum seekers. Only kidding. I was in the cathedral showing my grandson around, but the place was remarkably devoid of migrants and asylum seekers which was probably the result of the two security guards at the entrance.
Funny that, when the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church – my church – seems too keen to welcome migrants, legal or illegal, to our shores and is so keen on the British Government giving so much of our hard-earned taxes to people who have broken our law and make no contribution to the economy, often at the expense of essential services such as GP appointments and housing benefits for people born and bred in this country.
Richard Moth, the incoming Archbishop of Westminster, likened Mary, Joseph and Jesus to migrants arriving in Britain
The newly appointed head of the Catholic Church in England compared Jesus, Mary and Joseph to migrants arriving in Britain.
Bishop Richard Moth, the Bishop of Arundel & Brighton since 2015, said the Holy Family had to travel to Egypt as refugees and called on Catholics to “empathise with all who come to this country for their safety”.
On Friday, Pope Leo XIV announced him as the 12th Archbishop of Westminster.
A new poll reveals what mass attendance actually predicts about virtue and deportation policy.
America’s Catholic bishops may incessantly complain about President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, but American Catholics actually support such measures as mass deportations. EWTN News and RealClear Opinion Research published a poll late last week which found that a majority (54 percent) of American Catholics favor mass deportations, including 27.5 percent (the largest share recorded in the poll) who “strongly favor” the policy, while only 30 percent oppose it and less than 17 percent expressed indifference. Support for the “detention and deportation of unauthorized immigrants on a broad scale” increased to 60 percent among white Catholics and opposition fell to 26 percent.
Earlier this week, Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc. (CLINIC) crooned: “As we enter the Advent season, we remember that the Holy Family themselves were migrants seeking safety.” It is a recurring motif to validate the resistance of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to curtailment of illegal immigration.
In November, the USCCB prepared for Advent by declaring war on the Trump administration with a “Special Pastoral Message on Immigration.” The insurrectionist tenor of this rare “special message” places the globalist conceits — and monetary interests — of the hierarchy ahead of the just laws of their own country.
We hear the sound of the wall when it collapses, not the sound of the ivy as it takes over.
On the plane returning from Lebanon to Rome, Pope Leo XIV urged Catholics concerned about the West to be “less afraid” of Islam, promoting “coexistence” and “friendship” between Christians and Muslims.
All well and good so far. Look closer.
WTF?
Pope Leo gets asked about fears over Islam in Europe
He answers that the fears are created by those "against immigration and trying to keep out people who may be from another country, another religion"
He says Lebanon, run by Muslim terrorists, is a model for Europe and U.S. pic.twitter.com/6PEbNUa2d4
— Daniel Greenfield – "Hang Together or Separately" (@Sultanknish) December 5, 2025
In saying this, and basing it upon the example of Lebanon, Pope Leo shows that he knows nothing about the recent history of Lebanon, or about the teachings of Islam regarding Christianity and other religions. And when one is ignorant, it is more prudent to keep silent than to spout views that are not only absurd, but dangerous when implemented.
h/t Patti Jo
Pope Leo XIV has visited Istanbul’s Sultan Ahmed Mosque – widely known as the Blue Mosque – in his first visit to a Muslim place of worship since he took up the papacy in May.
The Pontiff was seen bowing as he entered the building, but it is reported he did not pray at the mosque, as his two predecessors had done.
The Vatican said in a statement Leo undertook the tour “in a spirit of reflection and listening, with deep respect for the place and for the faith of those who gather there in prayer”…. and want to cut our heads off.
Related: William pays visit to severely ill children from Gaza
William like his Dad seems infatuated with Islam. I hope Canada ceases to pony up the 50 million or so we pay for the upkeep of this degenerate “Royal Family”.
America’s bishops stumbled on immigration — and got corrected by Rome.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has made repeated missteps when dealing with the issue of immigration. These include misrepresenting the Catholic Church’s teachings on refugees, mitigating the Church’s teachings on national sovereignty, downplaying the responsibilities of immigrants, and lambasting faithful Catholics for upholding national security and cultural identity. The latest example of the USCCB’s pontificating on the subject has drawn strong responses from numerous prominent Catholics, including the Pope himself!
Pope Leo XIV said many immigrants in the US were being treated in a way “that is extremely disrespectful,” supporting a recent statement by US Bishops expressing concern about immigration raids.
Pope Leo XIV has supported the US Conference of Catholic Bishops rare statement on US immigration and urged the US government to “treat people humanely.”
The Bishops’ message leveled criticism of President Donald Trump’s policies of mass deportation and the “vilification” of immigrants. The US clergy spoke about the fear and anxiety that immigration raids have sown in communities. They also rejected the denial of care to migrants in detention centers.
I don’t think many support a Pope that roots for illegal alien criminals.
