Tom Bancroft remembers the moment when the Disney magic began to wear off.

During his career at the studio, the veteran animator had helped create characters from some of Disney's biggest '90s hits: Mushu the dragon from “Mulan” and Simba from “The Lion King," to name a few. He was living every aspiring animator's dream.

'It hit me so strongly ... when kids pray from that point forward, this might be the Jesus they see in their heads.'

He also defended the company from critiques that it was indifferent or even hostile to Christianity, saying Disney simply stayed true to the story and followed it wherever it might go.

'Uncomfortable' truth

Then he worked on a 2000 short film called “John Henry,” a tale of U.S. slaves who endured the “peculiar institution.”

Faith, Bancroft tells Align, was “such an intrinsic part of that story,” something his storyboard animatics reflected. Disney brass disagreed.

“’This makes me feel uncomfortable,’” he recalls the president of animation saying at the time about its spiritual themes.

“It hit me like a ton of bricks," recalls Bancroft. "I didn’t see that coming. ... I’ve been telling everybody for years we were just staying true to the story ... we can have Mulan pray to her ancestors because that’s what they did in ancient China in that culture.”

“Now, we come to Christianity, and you’re not comfortable. It was the first time I said, ‘There’s another side to this story,’” he said.

“I didn’t know it then, but six months later, I [would leave] Disney ... I need[ed] to go use my talents and abilities for God more directly,” he says.

Seeing the 'Light'

Bancroft went on to work on the popular “Veggie Tales” franchise, as well as shows on the Christian Broadcasting Network. He's also written acclaimed books on animation, while co-hosting a popular animation podcast with his fellow animator — and twin brother — Tony.

Now, he’s brought his Disney skills to a 2D animated feature film that captures the life of Jesus Christ in a bold new way.

“Light of the World,” in theaters now, follows Christ’s story through the eyes of the youngest apostle, John (voiced by Benjamin Jacobson). That allows young viewers to experience Christ’s mission from a fresh, relatable perspective.

The film may not hail from the Mouse House’s iconic studio, but critics are praising both its sensitive storytelling and gorgeous animation. Bancroft was able to glean critical tips from the “nine old men,” the core Disney animators who helped bring the studio’s inimitable artistry to life.

“We get to put that emotion and that knowledge that we learned there [into the film] ... they were still passing down that wisdom to people like me and my brother [in the 1980s],” he says.

Finding Jesus

Bancroft played a role in bringing beloved Disney characters to life. Bringing Jesus to the big screen offered another, far more critical challenge.

“I honestly would wake up in the middle of the night ... it hit me so strongly ... when kids pray from that point forward, this might be the Jesus they see in their heads,” he says, adding his team created a Jesus figure with a skin tone darker than some previous screen incarnations.

The “Light of the World” Jesus posed another problem as a storyteller.

“Thematically, as a character in a film ... [Jesus] doesn’t really work. You want to have arcs to a character ... he’s going to question himself, he’s going to try, and he’s going to fail, and then he’s going to succeed later ... you don’t have that with Jesus,” he says. “Thankfully, we had that with John.”

Pixar/Disney

Bible stories on a budget

Working with Disney gave Bancroft access to money and resources that smaller, independent films can’t match.

“We had at least 10 at-bats ... we can miss a few times, maybe even nine times, and get it on the 10th at every level,” he says, meaning storyboard creation, vocal performances, and animation.

“I would do scenes over and over again until it was just right or just what the director wanted,” he says. “In an independent film, you have to get it right within the first one or two tries. You don’t get that many at-bats.”

The benefits, as he sees them, are considerable.

“You get to make the film you want to make,” he says, adding the film’s key financer, Matt McPherson, gave his team few guidelines beyond staying true to the Bible.

“I’ve never in 35 years had that freedom to make a movie,” he says. “We were off to the races and were loving every minute of it.”

Faith on the fast track

And he thinks more films like “Light of the World” are coming our way.

The faith-friendly genre has expanded in recent years, from “The Chosen” to 2024’s “Sound of Freedom.” Major streamers like Amazon Prime and Netflix have embraced spiritual stories, partly due to positive reactions from customers.

It’s show business, after all.

Another big difference, he says, is financial. Now, experienced storytellers who may have found themselves outside Hollywood’s creative bubble like Bancroft are getting back in the game on their terms.

“The money getting to the right people, honestly, has been the biggest difference. People don’t like to talk about that, but honestly, that’s how you make a change in Christian film,” he says.

Questions about Catholicism? There's a bot for that

AI is devouring everything, from brainpower and manpower to art and writing to therapy and intimacy. Little surprise that now it’s coming for religion — not just as a tool but as a substitute. In this brave new world of prompts and replies, faith might well become just another field for automation to ransack and repackage.

Magisterium AI is a chatbot ready to dispense Catholic answers at machine speed, trained on 27,000 Church documents. Clarity, consistency, and convenience, delivered without delay? What’s not to like?

The Church has long warned against idols. This one just happens to run on silicon.

But something essential disappears in the process. A religion sustained by ritual, mystery, and human encounter is now being reformatted into AI-generated responses. Some see it as innovation, but any truly faithful Christian should see it as reduction. You don’t deepen the soul by outsourcing it to a language model. You dilute it. You deform it.

Digital discernment

Magisterium AI is marketed as a bridge to the Church, but its architectural form avoids the sacred terrain of actual spiritual formation. It offers the comfort of instant answers, devoid of the discomfort that makes those answers matter. No long silences. No wrestling with doubt. No waiting for grace. Just neatly packaged responses dressed in ecclesial jargon. It tempts the user into embracing the illusion of understanding without the weight of discernment.

There’s a reason spiritual growth has always been slow. The methodical journey isn’t a bug; it’s the entire point. Silence teaches. So does uncertainty. So does struggling through Scripture with someone who’s carried the weight longer than you. What is efficient by the measure of this world is inadequate by those of the next. Magisterium AI points to a false path where tension dissolves into trivia and struggle gives way to search results.

This isn’t about resisting technology as a whole, but about recognizing the sharp limits of machines in matters of the soul. An algorithm can refer to documents, but it cannot know God. It cannot console, confront, or call you to conversion. It cannot listen with compassion, hold silence with you, or challenge your ego in ways that leave you undone. It can only simulate presence, and that simulation becomes dangerous when people mistake it for real guidance — or somehow an improvement on real guidance.

Church as help desk

When young Catholics grow up thinking their doubts can be resolved with a prompt, they’ll begin to treat faith like customer service: Get an answer, move on. But the Church is a body, not a help desk. It breathes through embodied tradition, contradiction, dialogue, and grace. Reduce all that to a robotic response, and the foundation crumbles.

Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Something sacred vanishes when a priest is replaced with a query. Not because clergy are flawless (far from it), but because they’re flesh and blood. They carry the tradition in tone, gesture, imperfection. Witness, not lines of code, forms their counsel. They may not offer certainty, but they teach how to live with its absence.

Clarity without cost

Magisterium AI doesn’t stutter, pause, or search for words. And that’s precisely the danger. Clarity without cost breeds complacency. In this simulated world, you didn’t earn that insight. You didn’t knock, seek, or beg. You tapped, you clicked, and the program delivered. Catholicism — and Christ — has always asked for more. Church truths aren’t just concepts to recite but realities to absorb. They call for surrender of will, reshaping of heart, and direct contact with mystery.

What’s most troubling is how effortlessly tools like Magisterium AI begin to reshape our image of God, even with the very best of intentions, not through argument or doctrine, but through tone, rhythm, and imitation. Language models can mimic reverence and copy cadence. They might stitch together fragments of theology with stunning fluency. But they don’t believe, and they don’t kneel. They do not tremble before the mystery they claim to speak for.

And yet when they answer in the Church’s voice, people thirsty for spiritual life listen. They begin to confuse fluency with faith, output with orthodoxy. Doctrine so easily becomes branding and God a user-friendly construct: predictable, polite, press-ready.

Ghost in the confessional

The devastating result is a “version” of the divine that’s algorithmically accurate but spiritually vacant and without embodiment at the same time. The worst of both worlds, it’s a sanitized, systematized substitute, unable to inspire holy fear and awe. Instead, its strings of answers sound holy enough to pass but are dead enough to forget. What emerges is not the God of Scripture, who thunders from clouds and weeps in gardens, but a corporate construct, one through whom users understand that the only fearsome and awesome thing around is the machine itself.

Nor does Magisterium AI simply digitize theology. It rearranges discipleship too, shifting the aim from becoming holy to staying informed. It trades the long labor of sanctification for a dopamine stream of quick solutions.

The Church has long warned against idols. This one just happens to glow, have hallucinations, and run on silicon.

Chatbot communion

Spiritual risks this severe bleed swiftly into the culture at large. When the faithful stop sitting with Scripture, stop listening to sermons, and stop debating in basements and parish halls, instead isolating themselves and outsourcing their formation to AI, they lose the muscle memory of communion. The Church kneels before a platform. The body of Christ becomes just another content feed.

No, don’t panic. But do be warned: Magisterium AI may begin as a tool of convenience. But convenience rewires. It strips us of spiritual stamina. It dulls the rituals that once shaped the soul. And slowly, it replaces the relationships that once carried the gravity of grace.

The Church isn’t built on convenience. It’s built on sacred encounters between sinner and priest, reader and revelation, and suffering and meaning. Remove those, and you don’t just soften faith; you shatter it. Faith doesn’t need to be digitized. It needs to be lived, in pews and parish halls — in chapels and candlelit corners where no code can follow and no circuit can reach.

Sean Feucht exclusive: 'If God can do it in my country, He can do it Canada'

Pastor and contemporary Christian music performer Sean Feucht says his recent experience in Canada — being banned from public venues in six cities — is a sobering reminder of how different America could have been under a President Kamala Harris.

In an exclusive interview, Feucht praised religious freedom under President Trump, while expressing hope that Canada would soon find its own "deliverance:"

'There are dark spiritual forces at play. And I think a lot of people's eyes are being opened to that reality.'

“It was looking really dark in the Biden administration — attacks on churches, weaponizing the IRS, weaponizing the DOJ to go after pro-life activists," Feucht told me.

"Now, we're so grateful, because we have a president that is standing up in religious liberties, the right to worship, that does fear God."

"I just did a worship record inside of the White House," Feucht marveled.

"It gives me a lot of hope that if God can do it in my country, that He can do it in Canada as well. I’m praying that those days of deliverance would come soon to the ... frozen chosen in Canada.”

Feucht told me that his real wake-up call came at his July 25 concert. After a planned appearance in Quebec City was canceled, Feucht and his team managed to find a Spanish-language evangelical church willing to host them in Montreal. Over the objections of Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante — and the presence of police — the show went ahead. Now the Ministerios Restauración Church faces a $2,500 fine.

Feucht said police who arrived on the scene did little but intimidate his congregation, declining to react even when an Antifa protester threw a smoke bomb.

Despite the less-than-warm welcome from authorities, Feucht remains determined to bring his message to Canada.

Nothing shuts us down — not the weather, not Antifa, not mayors, not governors. When we say we’re going to come somewhere and worship, we’re going to do it. ... They just could not bear to see the fact that we were not going to be controlled.

Feucht told me that he drew much of his strength from the pastors and congregants who stood with him.

“In the face of enormous opposition, we saw fearlessness,” Feucht said.

“That is a picture of what God is doing all across Canada right now — He's raising up that remnant bride, that remnant strong body that's not going to be pushed around.”

Canadian media also did its part to oppose Feucht, repeatedly labeling him “MAGA-affiliated” or an agent of Donald Trump. Feucht calls that lazy journalism.

“They’re banking on the fact that people won't actually research and look at our tons of videos and recaps and ... podcasts — you could not assume ... that we come to Canada with a MAGA agenda,” he said. “It’s ridiculous.”

Anadolu/Getty Images

Feucht rose to prominence during the COVID lockdowns, when he launched "Let Us Worship" to push back against what he calls government overreach into churches.

Feucht called the anti-Christian attitude in Canada “demonic” and stood by that description during our interview, saying there were “dark spiritual forces” behind the political oppression.

“You can only say that it is spiritual, you know, that there are spiritual forces at work,” Feucht said, observing that it wasn’t just evangelicals or “churchgoing folks" who questioned the treatment he received while in Canada.

Why are you attacking … outdoor worship services, deeming them a public safety hazard and canceling all the permits and then allowing, essentially, Antifa to infiltrate a church and throw smoke bombs. I mean, it's just at the point where you begin to realize, man, there are dark spiritual forces at play. And I think a lot of people's eyes are being opened to that reality.

Feucht will return to Canada on Aug. 20 with a concert in Winnipeg, followed by shows in Saskatoon, Edmonton, and Abbotsford.

Edmonton’s event will be held on the steps of the Alberta provincial legislature at the invitation of Premier Danielle Smith. Abbotsford, despite its Bible Belt reputation, has denied him a public venue; he is petitioning that decision on his website.

“God will use things like this to expose,” Feucht said.

“It’s happening in the U.S., and in Canada, and around the world. As believers, we've got to pay attention, we've got to be like those who understand the times and the seasons in which we live."

Watch my interview with Sean Feucht here:

CBS tries using Christ against MAGA Christian — but it backfires big-time

The legacy media's double standard for Christian politicians was on full display last week.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is a lawmaker known for speaking openly about his Christian faith. Last week, he appeared on "CBS Mornings Plus" to promote his new book, "One Nation Always Under God: Profiles in Christian Courage." But instead of asking about the book, CBS News anchor Adriana Diaz chose to challenge the legitimacy of Scott's faith with a now-familiar line of attack.

The faith test becomes just another political weapon — one wielded not to clarify the truth but to embarrass political opponents.

"As a practicing Christian, how do you reconcile your support for President Trump when many people see his actions as lacking Christian values?" Diaz asked.

It's the same question we've heard repeatedly asked of Trump-supporting Christians, and, to his credit, Scott did not flinch.

But the question reveals something much bigger than Scott, Trump, or even the Republican Party. It exposes the media's asymmetrical "faith test" — one applied rigorously to Trump-supporting conservatives but never to Democrats.

Faith on trial

The question itself is a rhetorical sleight of hand. It implies that supporting Trump is inherently anti-Christian and that real Christianity is whatever Trump isn't. By that logic, Scott stands guilty until proven innocent.

But the problem isn't just the question. It's the blatant double standard.

If it's fair to interrogate Tim Scott on whether his support for President Trump squares with the teachings of Jesus, then surely it's fair game to press professing Christian Democrats on whether the policies and people they support align with Christian theology and ethics, right?

Except that almost never happens.

When was the last time a news anchor interrogated a Democrat — like former President Joe Biden, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), or Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), for instance — on how the support for abortion comports with 2,000 years of unambiguous Christian teachings about protecting innocent life, especially of the unborn?

Has any Democrat, for that matter, been grilled on whether endorsing the LGBTQ agenda — including radical trans procedures for children — is consistent with biblical ethics?

If such questions have been asked of Democrats, they've gone unnoticed, which is telling because these aren't minor theological quibbles. They're fundamental biblical issues, and Christianity has been clear-eyed about them for thousands of years.

Tested, then twisted

Diaz's question reveals an underlying assumption: that Christianity naturally aligns with progressive politics.

That's why journalists feel compelled to question Trump-supporting Christians about the congruency of their politics and theology, but never think to challenge a Democrat for supporting policies that clearly contradict Christian orthodoxy and biblical teaching. It's because they don't recognize or perceive the obvious inconsistency.

This double standard is as dangerous as it is subversive.

It redefines Christianity in the public imagination, not as an ancient faith with its own transcendent moral authority, but as a soft and therapeutic set of values (i.e., tolerance, inclusion, "compassion"), conveniently shaped to match the political priorities of the left.

The media isn't actually interested in theological nuance or serious conversations about faith and politics. Their agenda is clear: to police the boundaries of acceptable public religion.

And in their eyes, supporting Trump is a grave sin.

If journalists truly believe that public officials should be held accountable to the moral standards of their faith, that's fine. But that standard must be applied equally. You can't grill Republicans for supporting Trump but never interrogate Democrats championing abortion, the LGBTQ agenda, and the destruction of the traditional family.

Otherwise, the "faith test" becomes just another political weapon — one wielded not to clarify the truth but to embarrass political opponents who dissent from the liberal consensus.

Sacred spin shattered

If the press were honest and intellectually serious, they would apply the faith test fairly.

It would look something like this:

Mr. Biden, as a Catholic, how do you reconcile Roman Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life with your support for abortion?
Mrs. Pelosi, how does your Christian faith inform your views on marriage and family policy?
Mr. Warnock, how do you interpret biblical passages on protecting vulnerable life in light of your support for abortion and the trans agenda?

These aren't "gotcha" questions. They're parallel to what Scott faced last week — only aimed in the other direction. And if politicians can't answer these questions without spin and deflection, that would tell us something important.

Scott handled himself with grace and focus. But Trump-supporting Republicans shouldn't be the only side forced to reconcile their faith and politics on the public stage. If the media wants to play referee on Christian consistency, they need to enforce the rules on both sides.

Fairness — and honesty — demands equal scrutiny.

Anything less is not journalism. It's partisanship dressed up as moral concern, and it's why Americans no longer trust the mainstream press.

Diaz tried to weaponize Christ against Scott and MAGA Christians. But the shot backfired, exposing yet another double standard in the media.

Mel Gibson has been fighting this fight longer than you think

Everyone knows who Mel Gibson is. He’s an absolute dynamo and a giant of the cinema industry. But if you ask me, he's still deeply underrated, underestimated, and underappreciated.

Gibson's always felt cut from a different cloth and a bit separated from the rest of Hollywood and celebrity culture. Yes, he’s a mega-celebrity. But even still, you can tell his mind has always operated on a completely different level than most of his peers.

Gibson was defending a worldview, alone, in the middle of a media machine that existed solely to discredit him.

He's always been direct and clear about his religious belief. He's not pretending to be some gnostic “Christ consciousness” guru like a Russell Brand or a Jim Carrey would. He's a firm and open believer in the Trinitarian God of the Christian faith. It’s not a side note with him. It’s foundational.

A lifelong 'Passion'

Everyone knows he funded and directed "The Passion of the Christ" with his own money. But what people don’t always pick up on is that his faith doesn’t just show up in his subject matter. It informs his whole understanding of history and of humanity’s destiny.

This includes questions about the nature of God, questions about the nature of our universe, about where we come from, where we’ve been, and where we're going.

Everything is contained within the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Gibson tackles every subject matter from that foundation.

That’s what sets him apart. Mel Gibson isn’t just a guy who makes movies. He’s a man trying to wake people up. And the way he does it is by bringing the historical past roaring back into the present.

Truth in history

Think about it: "Braveheart" is about the Catholic Scottish struggle against the British crown. "Apocalypto" is a raw and brutal depiction of Mayan pagan savagery and ends with the moment Catholic Spanish ships arrive. "Hacksaw Ridge" tells the story of a Christian soldier in WWII whose unshakable faith ends up restoring the courage of the broken men around him.

All of these films are built on the same foundation: The truth contained within history is more powerful than fiction.

That resonates with me deeply as an apostolic Christian. And I think it explains why the powers that be in Hollywood have targeted Gibson so aggressively over the years. He’s not just a threat because of his beliefs. He’s a threat because he’s effective.

He makes powerful, unforgettable art with spiritual conviction. And he’s been doing it since long before the rest of us even realized what kind of cultural war we were in.

The burden of being first

I respect him immensely for that. I “woke up,” so to speak, around 2015 or 2016, around the time of the first Trump campaign. But this man has been “awake” for decades. He’s been carrying burdens we didn’t even know existed.

And when you go back and watch old interviews, like the one he gave Diane Sawyer after the release of "The Passion," you start to realize how outnumbered and outgunned he really was.

In that interview alone, Gibson was relentlessly henpecked by Sawyer for completely innocuous things like the claim that God helped him make the movie or for cinematically depicting the “radical” gospel narrative that the Pharisees brought Jesus to Pontius Pilate to be executed.

At one point, Sawyer even calls into question the validity of the gospel itself, saying that historians often argue the Gospels were written a century after they took place. She laid this at Gibson’s feet, as if to say he was wrong and even (as she eventually says) anti-Semitic for making a film about the most widely spread and historically influential religion in human history.

Against the media machine

It’s obvious that he wasn’t just defending a film. He was forced to defend himself, solely because he was so good at bringing the most important narrative in human history to life in a painstakingly realistic and historically accurate fashion. He was defending a worldview, alone, in the middle of a media machine that existed solely to discredit him.

And this was all before smartphones, before YouTube, before Twitter, back when legacy media controlled the entire narrative and could destroy you with the click of a headline. The media painted him as crazy because it couldn’t risk anyone taking him seriously. It had to make an example of him.

But now? The world has changed. And on some level, we’ve gone through what he has, too. Anyone who was on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram during the COVID and Biden eras saw their ideas censored, shadow banned, mocked, and silenced.

We’ve learned firsthand how the system works. And we’re starting to realize that maybe a guy like Mel Gibson wasn’t insane at all. Maybe he was just early.

And now, once again, he’s ahead of the curve.

Trump's Hollywood ambassador

As the media world fractures and Hollywood continues its slow implosion, Mel Gibson is stepping into a new role as Trump’s official Hollywood ambassador.

What does that mean? It means he’s leading the charge in building a new entertainment world. One that doesn’t run through Los Angeles, corporate studios, or globalist gatekeepers. One that’s not rooted in mindless CGI, gender ideology, or committee-approved scripts, but in real stories that actually push artistic boundaries.

The big development he’s involved in right now is the proposed U.S.-Italy co-production treaty. Expected to be signed at this year’s Venice Film Festival, this deal would make it easier for American and Italian filmmakers to collaborate, meaning joint financing, easier logistics, shared tax incentives, and streamlined distribution across both countries. It’s being backed by Trump and spearheaded on the ground by people like Mel Gibson and Italian film producer Andrea Iervolino.

But again, this isn’t just a business move. It’s a cultural reset. A spiritual realignment of what kind of stories we tell and where they come from.

You might not realize it, but we’re entering a new era. And the clearest sign of it is the content itself.

Just look at "The Leopard," a new Netflix series based on the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe di Lampedusa. It’s a tale about the tragic disintegration of aristocracy in Italian society during the Italian unification of 1861. It’s not woke. It’s not postmodern garbage. It’s a return to historical memory. It tells a story about something that actually matters, something that actually happened and that actually shaped the world we currently live in.

The production and distribution of a show like this is an indication of where the cultural landscape is trending.

And that’s exactly the kind of trend Mel Gibson has always been ahead of.

He’s not chasing fantasy or modern social narratives.

He’s saying: Look to the past.

Look to the martyrs. Look to the saints. Look to the bloodlines and the battles that shaped civilization. That’s where the real stories are. And now, slowly, the industry is starting to catch on.

Gibson isn’t waiting. He’s moving fast. Right after the treaty gets signed, he’s jumping into production on "The Resurrection," the long-awaited sequel to "The Passion of the Christ," filmed entirely in Italy.

He’s also producing a series on the Siege of Malta, one of the most overlooked and epic moments in Western history. These aren’t vanity projects. They’re cultural weapons that are meant to break the spell of modernity.

Roadblocks ahead

There are some roadblocks. The biggest one is EU competition law. Because Italy is part of the EU, it technically can’t strike up an exclusive partnership with America without Brussels stepping in. The EU has rules against giving unfair advantages to individual countries. And if this deal is seen as bypassing France, Germany, or other major players, it could be blocked or slowed down.

But there are ways around it.

The “cultural exception” clause is a legal doctrine used within EU law that allows member states to restrict free trade in order to protect and promote cultural goods, particularly in film, broadcasting, and publishing. France has famously used this to restrict the influx of Hollywood films, arguing that cinema is not just a commercial good but a vehicle of national identity and cultural heritage.

Italy could invoke this same clause if it were to partner with Mel Gibson to co-finance or co-distribute his upcoming historical epics (including "The Resurrection" and "The Siege of Malta") through the framework of an Italian production company. This would grant the project partial European identity, potentially shielding it from EU anti-monopoly measures or accusations of unfair American dominance in the cultural market.

But this may be an uphill battle.

While the EU talks a big game about cultural diversity, in practice, France and Germany dominate cultural policy, and they often use EU institutions to serve their national interests. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, despite growing support across parts of Europe, is not trusted by France or Germany. In fact, Macron has reportedly snubbed her from prior engagements involving the U.S. president, presumably fearing she’d strengthen Italy’s bilateral ties with the U.S. outside of the EU framework.

Europe's cultural future

This is a key geopolitical tension. Many southern and eastern EU nations (Italy, Spain, Hungary, Poland) secretly miss the U.K.’s presence in Brussels, not because of ideological alignment, but because Britain was a balancing force against Franco-German hegemony. With Brexit, that counterweight vanished, and now France and Germany rule.

So if Meloni wants to collaborate with Mel Gibson and Trump on a “Hollywood-Vatican axis” of cultural production, it won’t just be about entertainment. It will be a political fight over who controls Europe’s cultural future.

Here’s where the story gets even richer. Mel Gibson, despite being the Hollywood icon that he is, is deeply distrusted by the American liberal elite and European establishment alike. His unapologetically Christian worldview, his reverence for history (especially Christian history), and his refusal to bend the knee to modern progressive orthodoxy make him an absolute nightmare to Brussels cultural bureaucrats.

In other words, Gibson isn’t just trying to tell a story. They believe he’s trying to transform the cultural narrative itself. And isn’t that precisely what they’ve always come after him for, going all the way back to "The Passion"?

They've been dragging the man's name through the mud for years, and they might be doing some more of that in the coming years. But he’s never quit. And now, he’s leading the charge into something new, or rather, something old that’s simply resurfacing.

If Gibson is successful in harnessing the power of this cultural trend, if faith, history, and truth return to the screen in a serious way, if a new golden age of entertainment is restored, then we’ll look back at his entire journey and body of work one day and realize that he was never wrong. He was never crazy. He was just early.

Could Pope Leo XIV lose his American citizenship?

In the centuries following North America's separate visits by Catholic explorers Leif Erikson, John Cabot, and Amerigo Vespucci, the United States has counted tens of millions of Catholics as its own but not a single pope — until this year.

On May 8, Chicago-born Robert Prevost, one of America's over 60 million Rome-ward citizens, became supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV.

The unprecedented nature of Pope Leo's papacy has generated some uncertainty about the status of his citizenship, which federal law indicates could, in some cases, be taken away from an American who accepted a position as a foreign head of state.

According to the U.S. State Department, "A U.S. national's employment ... with the government of a foreign country or a political subdivision thereof is a potentially expatriating act pursuant to Section 349(a)(4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act if the individual is a citizen of that foreign country or takes an oath of allegiance to that country in connection with such employment."

The policy clarifies that accepting, serving in, or performing the duties of a foreign office can result in expatriation "only if done voluntarily with the intention of relinquishing U.S. citizenship."

The State Department works under the presumption that Americans intend to keep their U.S. citizenship when they "naturalize as nationals of a foreign state, declare their allegiance to a foreign state, or accept non-policy level employment with a foreign government."

Photo by Cristian Gennari via Vatican Pool/Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court made clear in a January 1980 ruling that in establishing loss of citizenship, the government must "prove an intent to surrender United States citizenship, not just the voluntary commission of an expatriating act such as swearing allegiance to a foreign nation."

Paul Hunker, an American immigration attorney, told the Catholic News Agency, "I think unless he comes forward and says, ‘I have the intention of relinquishing my U.S. nationality,’ then he is not considered to have lost his U.S. citizenship."

While Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the papacy "is not a political office, it is a spiritual office," the pope nevertheless commands temporal powers that appear to qualify his position as policy-level employment, meaning his citizenship status could undergo greater scrutiny.

'He is the Holy See.'

In addition to serving as spiritual leader of over 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, Pope Leo is the absolute monarch of the world's smallest country.

According to Vatican City law, he holds "the fullness of the power of government, which includes the legislative, executive, and judicial powers," directing the 121-acre Vatican City, its population of 673 citizens, and its full diplomatic relations with 184 states, including the U.S., where CatholicVote co-founder Brian Burch was just made President Donald Trump's ambassador to the Holy See.

Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images

Whereas Americans employed by foreign governments in non-policy-level foreign government positions don't have to take any steps to retain their U.S. citizenship, those in policy-level positions could face review and questions about their intent with regards to their nationality.

The State Department policy notes that it "will only actively review cases in which a U.S. national is elected or otherwise appointed to serve as a foreign head of state, foreign head of government, or foreign minister," and does so because "such cases raise complex questions of international law, including issues related to the level of immunity from U.S. jurisdiction that the person so serving may be afforded."

When pressed by the Associated Press, the State Department declined to comment about the pope's status, noting that it does not discuss the citizenship of individuals.

To ensure that the pope remains an American at least on paper, Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.) recently introduced legislation prohibiting the revocation of U.S. citizenship during a papal tenure.

The so-called Holy Sovereignty Protection Act, which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means on July 17 and presently has six Republican co-sponsors, would also exempt the pope from U.S. tax obligations.

"The election of Pope Leo XIV marks a historic moment not only for the Catholic Church but for America," Hurd said in a statement. "This legislation ensures that any American who answers the call to lead more than a billion Catholics worldwide can do so without risking his citizenship or facing unnecessary tax burdens. This legislation recognizes the extraordinary nature of the papacy — a role at the intersection of faith, leadership, and global responsibility."

While the pope technically remains an American Catholic with those whom Alexis de Tocqueville described as the “most zealous citizens," Andrea Gagliarducci, a Vatican analyst for CNA, noted, "You cannot consider the pope a Peruvian, a U.S. citizen, or whatever. He is the Holy See. This is different; it is another world."

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The terrorists run Syria now — and Christians, religious minorities are paying the price

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, up until this month recognized by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, was formed as the result of the merger of al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate, al-Nusrah Front, and other extremist groups committed to a "popular jihad."

HTS, which in recent years tried to rehab its public image, led the Turkish-backed Islamic militants who seized the Syrian capital of Damascus in December and ultimately overthrew the Assad regime — a regime change made possible with the help of the Obama CIA and the Pentagon.

Despite the HTS' murderous history and threats to the existence of Syria's Christians, Alawites, and Druze, Western neocons celebrated the replacement of Bashar al-Assad as president with HTS leader Muhammad al-Jawlani, who now goes by Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa.

'The current political environment in Syria remains deeply unstable and ambiguous for Christians.'

The Washington Post's foreign policy columnist Josh Rogin, for instance, wrote, "Syria is free. The rebels won. The people liberated themselves from tyranny." Trump critic Bill Kristol wrote, "The fall of a brutal dictator is rare enough that we should take the opportunity to celebrate it, and pay tribute to those who brought it about." Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) expressed hope in December that under the new terrorist leadership, Syria would "be a tolerant society accepting of people from all religious confessions."

Recent massacres, bombings, rapes, and kidnappings committed by al-Sharaa's forces, friends, and fellow travelers have provided strong indications that such celebrations were premature.

A source who routinely travels to Syria and who has been in recent contact with people in the country has shared with Blaze News insights about life for Christians and other religious minorities under the new regime.

The Syrian regime's security forces roll into the Druze city of Suwayda on July 15. Photo by SAM HARIRI/AFP via Getty Image

"The current political environment in Syria remains deeply unstable and ambiguous for Christians and certainly dangerous for other religious minorities, with recent events in the governorate of Sweida tragically underscoring this reality," said the source, who asked to remain anonymous over security concerns. "On July 15, 2025, Sweida experienced a large-scale massacre resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians."

Between July 13 and July 20, over 1,200 people were were killed in clashes between Sunni Muslim Bedouin clans, which were aided by al-Sharaa's forces, and Druze-linked militias in Syria's southern Druze-majority Suwayda province, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

There have reportedly been numerous religiously-motivated assassinations across the country in the days since.

The source noted that "among those killed was a prominent pastor of the local evangelical church, along with his entire family."

Khaled Mazhar, the pastor of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Church in Suwayda city "who had converted from another faith tradition, was known for his peaceful integration and for serving as a respected leader within both the church and the wider community," added the source.

The SOHR indicated that members of al-Sharaa's Ministry of Defense were responsible for the pastor's slaying.

In response to the historic bloodletting, Blaze News' source indicated that religious communities, including Orthodox and Catholic Christians, have opened their churches as a place of refuge, and "overcrowding is now common."

"This recent crisis highlights both the persistent vulnerability of religious minorities in Syria and the profound challenges they face in the current political landscape. The urgent calls for international protection reflect a widespread sense of abandonment and a desire for tangible, effective action from the global community," the source said.

Fr. Tony Boutros, a Melkite-Catholic priest in Suwayda who was among the Christian clergymen abducted by radicals in 2015, said in a recent video statement, "We ask the U.S., Europe, the Vatican, and the whole world for international protection for this region of Sweida, all of it, for us and for our Druze brothers, my dear ones. Look at the massacres that happened to us in Sweida."

'The biggest thing that gets lost is complexity.'

The source indicated that everyday life for Christians and other religious minorities in Syria can "appear relatively normal," but such appearances are deceptive, as "underlying fear and uncertainty are constant realities."

Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images

"Most recently, the bombing at the Mar Elias Church in Damascus on June 22, 2025, during a Sunday liturgy, resulted in at least 20 deaths and dozens injured — demonstrating how quickly violence can erupt even in seemingly safe spaces," the source said. "In Sweida, the 'Suwayda Massacre' and other attacks have deepened a sense of vulnerability. Even where no violence is occurring, minorities remain wary, practicing their faith discreetly and living with a persistent sense of fragility, knowing that the situation can deteriorate suddenly and dramatically."

While life under the terrorist regime remains precarious, the source indicated that family presently in Syria believe "the situation is much better than what it was during the previous regime," although there is disagreement on this point.

"I used to say that nothing in the universe will be worse than the Assad regime. They were absolute monsters. However, if you ask someone from Sweida now, their answer would be different," the source said.

When pressed on whether something has been neglected in other reports that readers should know about the situation in Syria, the source noted, "The biggest thing that gets lost is complexity."

"Too often, reports paint Syria in black and white, but the reality is anything but simple," the source continued. "The situation shifts from city to city, even from one household to the next. It changes every day. Any responsible reporting has to acknowledge just how nuanced things are and resist the urge to generalize. Oversimplifying only does a disservice to the real lived experiences on the ground."

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Carjacker abandons infant on sidewalk — but Good Samaritan having a frustrating day ends up in the perfect spot to help

A real-life nightmare took place July 3 in Chicago when authorities said a 15-time convicted felon named Jeremy Ochoa carjacked an SUV, allegedly dragged the female motorist, and drove off with the victim's 7-month-old daughter still strapped inside the vehicle, CWB Chicago reported.

Jeremy Ochoa. Image source: Chicago Police Department

Police tracked the stolen 2011 GMC Acadia using license plate reader alerts and pings from a cell phone that had been left inside the vehicle, the outlet said, adding that cops eventually found the SUV several miles southeast of the scene of the carjacking. But the vehicle was unoccupied.

'I just kept praying.'

So where was the baby?

That same day, Earl Abernathy was sitting in traffic on his way to work, WBBM-TV said. Plus, he was dealing with non-operational air conditioning in his car as temperatures hit the 90s — so he was forced to keep his windows down, WBBM said.

Amid those frustrations, along with getting an earful of all the street noise amid Chicago's unforgiving summer heat, an unnerving sound caught Abernathy's ear.

It was a baby crying.

Abernathy told WBBM he put his hazard lights on, got out of his vehicle, and ran over to the infant, who was all alone in a car seat.

Prosecutors told CWB Chicago that the baby was found "abandoned on the sidewalk."

Police said Ochoa — the accused carjacker — had gotten rid of the baby who had been strapped in the stolen SUV and left her in front of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in the 800 block of West Roosevelt Road, which is about four miles from the BP gas station where the carjacking went down, WBBM noted.

After coming to the infant's rescue, Abernathy called 911 and even went on Facebook Live to see if anyone could identify her, WBBM said.

"I just feel like that's what a normal person would do," Abernathy added to WBBM. "I just felt like it was just a bogus situation. Everybody I saw was riding past."

As you might expect, the little girl's family was heavy on the hunt for her.

"We were panicking. We panicked," the baby's grandmother, Karen Fuller, later told WBBM. "We didn't know, and I just kept praying."

Fuller added to WBBM that she's grateful that Abernathy got out of his car to help her 7-month-old granddaughter, who was soon reunited with family, was unharmed, and has been doing well.

"I was so happy," Fuller noted to WBBM. "I went to his page, and I thanked him so many times."

Abernathy told WBBM he wouldn't hesitate to do it all over again: "Of course, any time. It could have ended differently. I'm just glad it ended the way it ended."

As for Ochoa, CWB Chicago said he was arrested just before noon — less than two hours after the carjacking — and was charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking of a vehicle with a passenger under 16 and aggravated kidnapping of a child. Cook County Jail information accessed Friday morning indicates the 39-year-old's next court date is July 29.

Observers very well may say Abernathy — the Good Samaritan in this otherwise nightmarish situation — may not have been able to help in the place and time he did had he not been stuck in traffic and forced to endure blistering heat with his windows down, given his lack of A/C. Indeed, it might be said that his frustrating circumstances seem to have come together to allow a heroic outcome — in front of a church, no less.

Steve Deace — BlazeTV host of the “Steve Deace Show” and a columnist for Blaze News — had the following to say about the turn of events.

"This heroic story is like a metaphor for the era — and what it is lacking," Deace told Blaze News. "An actual man took action that saved innocent life, and he was compelled to by inconvenience. We have too few men, too many conveniences."

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Christo-fascism! Left panics after IRS says churches can endorse politicians

Do you need a reminder that the American left continues to barrel down its deeply delusional path? This random sampling of reactions to Monday's IRS ruling should do the trick:

“Trump’s IRS hands churches more tax-free political power. What’s next? Watch Handmaid’s Tale!”

“Religion and state and military have now merged. It is the end.”

“The supreme court has been compromised. We are in free fall.”

“The takeover of Christian fascism is now complete.”

“This is full on Christo-Fascism. There is no pretense anymore. Capitalism and Christianity have joined forces once more to do unimaginable harm to EVERYBODY. This is fascism, add Western Chauvinism and you have got the trifecta of EVIL that WILL DESTROY HUMANITY IF WE CANNOT DEFEAT THEM!”

“Full-blown Christian theocracy!”

So what finally turned us into Gilead? A new ruling allowing churches to endorse political candidates without losing their tax-exempt status.

But the church itself would do well to avoid endorsing any humans, for a myriad of reasons.

Technically, prior to Monday’s ruling, churches could not make endorsements due to the Johnson Amendment, which took effect in 1954 and barred tax-exempt nonprofit organizations from political speech.

I say technically, because left-leaning churches have never let that stop them, as journalist Megan Basham noted in response to a tweet decrying the new rule.

Quite a few on the left are also making evidence-free accusations that “right-wing” churches have been endorsing candidates for years. That’s definitely the pot calling the kettle black, since even Pew Research showed where the politicizing of church is happening. And this is all without fear of the IRS cracking down, apparently.

That’s why this rule, practically speaking, isn’t really changing much.

While conservative-leaning churches did speak out in 2024 about the evils being advanced by the Democrat ticket, in general, they are not nearly as likely to be involved in electioneering as liberal churches. So Megan Basham is likely on point in diagnosing leftist outrage as all about the newly leveled playing field.

What church is supposed to be

Having spent plenty of decades attending Bible-following Christian churches that were likely pretty Republican, I can personally attest that I’ve never heard a sermon that endorsed a candidate or even endorsed a particular political viewpoint.

I have heard sermons that addressed issues in the context of the biblical passage being preached, as they should.

If your pastor is teaching from Psalm 139, for example, and gets to verses 13-16, he better point out that this passage helps us understand how to think about abortion. (Here’s the passage if you’re not familiar.)

So here’s what should stay the same. Solid Christian churches should teach the Bible. Sunday sermons should work their way through scripture, helping us understand what it tells us about God, what it tells us about how to think about life, what it tells us about ourselves.

If, as in the example above, the scripture in question addresses a political issue, the pastor should absolutely be free to say so.

If, using the same example, there’s actually a current ballot issue for or against abortion, the pastor should absolutely be free to encourage his flock to vote with God’s Word — and the new rule should remove any fear of doing that last part.

I cannot conceive, however, of any instances where the focus of a sermon should move away from God’s Word and into which individuals to endorse.

Even in situations where a church member might be the one running for office, this kind of discussion from the pulpit would take the focus off the One we are there to worship.

I hope no pastors will do that.

There already is nothing preventing groups of church members from discussing who to vote for in a non-worship service setting, of course. Let’s keep doing that.

But the church itself would do well to avoid endorsing any humans, for a myriad of reasons — including the fact that tying the church’s name to a politician is far more likely to end up sullying the church’s name (and God’s) than the politician’s name.

Tom Williams/Getty Images

It’s all about the money, or not

A lot of the left-wing angst over this issue seems to revolve around this idea, expressed by the American Humanist Association (unsurprisingly).

Theoretically a billionaire is limited in how much he/she can donate to a politician, but not to a church. So yeah, someone could give a boatload of money to a church.

But they could have done that before this rule change! And I think it’s highly likely that wealthy leftists have supported the kind of churches where people have been rallied to vote for Democrats. I recall photos of Tyler Perry doing a get-out-the-vote event for Barack Obama in a lovely church with stained glass windows.

So what the left is really afraid of is that conservative billionaires will somehow “buy” influence at conservative churches. Give them enough money, and the pastor will have to endorse Trump (or JD Vance, or whoever).

And there may be a few churches where that would work. It might appeal to the small, pathetic, and power-hungry Christian nationalists (the only “Christians” actually advocating some Gilead-like ideas).

Their goal is to take over America anyway. But they don’t have enough power or influence to draw big money, with their revolting takes on women, Jews, and a host of other issues.

As for most conservative-oriented Christian churches — why would our elusive right-wing billionaire spend money getting them to vote for someone they’ll probably already vote for? And that applies on the left, too, despite the political emphases in left-leaning churches. If a group of people is already in your pocket, you don’t need to buy them.

So I don’t think the humanists have a case for this being any more of a problem than it always was. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for caution here.

Resist the temptation

Some conservative churches have flown a little too close to the political fire, conflating faith with patriotism. I think those churches might be a bit more at risk of taking their focus off the Lord and succumbing to this new temptation to delve into the political.

But as mentioned, church exists for us to worship God and learn how to follow Him. Anything that takes away from that does not glorify Him. Churches — and perhaps especially pastors — should resist the urge to share opinions that are not relevant to whatever they’re teaching.

Make no mistake — philosophically, this is a free-speech victory. But just because we can — does not mean we should. And pastors/churches should not be endorsing candidates from the pulpit or in an official church capacity.

Our proceeding with restraint in this area might also provide a counter to the left’s call, now, to remove tax-exempt status from churches entirely. I would hate to see this status revoked; I don’t think churches should be taxed at all.

Let’s get real

For the most part, we’ve usually known who our pastor might be voting for, because a church is a family of people who live life together and talk about important things. But if he had endorsed someone from the pulpit or in some official capacity, that would have been bringing things into church that distract from worship of a holy God. And that would be a shame. And a sin.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. – Hebrews 12:28-29

Watch: Pistol-whipping carjacker picks wrong car — and has instant regrets when pastor gives him shock of his life

New video shows a teen attempting an armed carjacking in crime-ridden Baltimore, but the intended victim — a prominent pastor — fought back and turned the tables on the crook.

Rev. Kenneth Moales Jr. — pastor of Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bridgeport, Connecticut — was in Baltimore for a funeral in late June.

'I knew my life was at stake.'

Moales parked his car outside a seafood restaurant in the city's Upper Fells Point neighborhood just before 9 p.m. June 29, WBAL-TV reported.

A teen wearing a ski mask approached Moales' vehicle while the pastor was still inside it, the station said, adding that the teenager allegedly asked the pastor for help regarding his dead cell phone.

The teen — armed with a gun — ordered the pastor to exit his vehicle, WBAL said.

"When I looked at him, I knew like something about this wasn't right. I was looking to kind of drive away, and he immediately pulls up his ski mask," Moales told WBFF-TV. "Puts it up over his face, whips out the Glock, points it at the car, like, 'Get out the car.'"

Moales added to WJZ-TV, "He's placed materialism over my life, and unfortunate[ly] for him, he picked the wrong car."

The pastor made a split-second decision to fight back against the young carjacker.

"I immediately got into a fight. So I just punched him in the face. I reach out for the gun," Moales recalled to WBFF.

Surveillance video shows Moales tackling the teen and slamming him on the wet pavement for approximately 20 seconds.

Moales also told WBFF, "I really believe I was fighting for my life and, more importantly, trying to get home to my wife and children."

Citing charging documents, WBAL reported that the carjacker pistol-whipped the pastor in the head.

During the melee, Moales recounted to WJZ that he was able to wrestle the gun away from the teenager.

What's more, the pastor offered the teen an opportunity to get away.

Moales recalled to WBFF, "I realize how young he is, and that's when I tell him, 'Hey, I'm a pastor. Relax, calm down. I'm a pastor. I'm not going to press charges. You know, I'm going to let you go, but you’ve got to get out of here.'"

However, the carjacker didn't accept the offer — and proceeded to steal the pastor's vehicle.

"I told him, 'I'm a father, a husband, and a pastor, and you can just go now, and I won't press charges,'" Moales recounted to WVIT-TV. "But even after all of that — after I had let him go and given him a chance to not face charges — he still drove off in my car."

He added to WBFF, "You would think once I let him know I was a pastor that there would be, in one way or another, some level of remorse, and there was neither, none at all. He [couldn't] care less. And that’s what’s left me hurt — I’m not going to say broken — [but] hurt, concerned, and knowing what my new mission is."

The pastor suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to a statement from his congregation.

WJZ reported that within hours of the carjacking, officers with the Baltimore Police Department located the pastor's vehicle with three suspects inside — ages 15, 16, and 19.

All three teenagers were arrested and charged with auto theft, WBAL said.

The two minors were not identified because they are underage, but WBAL identified the 19-year-old suspect as Mehkai Tindal, according to charging documents. It isn't clear which of the three attacked Moales.

The harrowing experience provided the pastor with an eye-opening perspective — and a new mission.

Moales told WVIT, "I have forgiven the young man — but this violent crime just shows me that I need to work even harder to help young people right here in Bridgeport, because a lot of these kids are hopeless and this problem is not unique to Baltimore."

The pastor added to WBFF, "If we don't commit to educating this generation in a significant way, what happened to me is just a beginning. If they'll, if they'll pistol-whip a pastor, you about know what they'll do to my members."

Moales noted to WBAL, "My prayer today is, 'God, thank you for covering me. Thank you for my life.'"

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'Uncomfortable' truth

Seeing the 'Light'

Finding Jesus

Bible stories on a budget

Faith on the fast track

Digital discernment

Church as help desk

Clarity without cost

Ghost in the confessional

Chatbot communion

Faith on trial

Tested, then twisted

Sacred spin shattered

A lifelong 'Passion'

Truth in history

The burden of being first

Against the media machine

Trump's Hollywood ambassador

Roadblocks ahead

Europe's cultural future

What church is supposed to be

It’s all about the money, or not

Resist the temptation

Let’s get real

We’ll keep you informed with top stories for conservatives who want to become informed decision makers.