Wake-up call: This is what happens when Christians are afraid to offend



A new Pew study suggests the steep decline in Christianity is finally “leveling off,” as if that’s a cause for celebration. It’s not. The damage is done. Entire generations have grown up with no real catechesis, no spiritual formation, and no sense of the sacred.

But make no mistake: This isn’t happening because the church refused to modernize. It’s happening because it did.

If the apostles walked into half these churches today, they wouldn’t smile or applaud. They’d flip tables.

For decades, the great institutions of Western Christianity traded clarity for relevance and truth for tone. Sermons stopped warning and started pandering. The word “sin” was quietly retired, considered too sharp for modern ears. In its place came talk of “journeys,” “growth,” and whatever else kept the collection plate full. The church, once feared by tyrants and hated by the powerful, rebranded itself as a wellness center with great art.

The cross became a prop. The sacraments became optional. The faith became a product: Clean, inoffensive, entirely forgettable.

It wasn’t outreach — it was surrender.

Internal sabotage

In Germany, Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke recently stepped down. Not in disgrace but in exhaustion, drained by a church more obsessed with synodal committees and gender equity audits than with souls. In England, Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, now sounds like a man trying to apologize for ever having believed anything at all. His God is not the Lion of Judah, but a poetic abstraction — something you might ponder over tea with the New Atheists, whom he now openly sympathizes with in the New York Times. Under his influence, Anglicanism traded its spine for softness, turned cathedrals into museums, and watched belief crumble under the weight of constant theological retreat.

One is Catholic, the other Protestant. Different branches, same disease: a church more eager to appease the culture than to challenge it.

Let’s call this what it is: Internal sabotage — and it’s everywhere.

The crisis facing Christianity isn’t secularism but cowardice. Many argue that the culture has conquered the church. But I argue instead that the church surrendered. A church that’s afraid to offend cannot save, command allegiance, inspire sacrifice, or offer truth.

It fades, not with a bang, but with a bow — one retreat at a time. First on marriage, then on sin, then on the very uniqueness of Christ. By the time it gets to the resurrection, no one’s listening, and even the preacher isn’t sure he believes it.

Exhibit A

You see this collapse most clearly in the rise of cafeteria Catholicism, the unofficial religion of the spiritually lukewarm, the pick-and-choose faithful. They love the incense and the music, the ashes and the Advent calendars, but deny the church’s authority and rewrite morality to match whatever’s trending on TikTok. They cross themselves at Mass, then applaud abortion at the ballot box. They genuflect before the altar only to kneel again at the altar of “inclusion.”

Jesus, to them, was a nice guy. So was Buddha. And really, who are we to judge?

It’s not faith. Not really. It’s branding. And like all branding, it demands nothing and means even less. These are people who want the comfort of religion without the burden of obedience. A God who affirms, not one who commands. A God who blesses their choices, not reshapes them. A God who whispers sweet nothings instead of thundering truth.

But a gospel that never tests is a gospel that never transforms. And a church that never says “no” is a church no one takes seriously.

For years, church leadership has whispered that hell is probably empty, celibacy is optional, and the Eucharist is just a metaphor if that’s easier for you to stomach.

So it’s no surprise that millions now treat Christianity like a salad bar: A little resurrection, hold the repentance.

No power in conformity

The early Christians weren’t tortured and killed because they tried to fit in — but because they refused to conform to the spirit of the age. They stood for something absolute. Something final. They proclaimed Christ as King in a world that demanded silence, and they paid for it in blood.

That’s what gave them power. That’s what made Rome afraid.

They weren’t trying to be liked. They were trying to be faithful. They didn’t soften their message to gain followers. Instead, they hardened their resolve, and the church exploded across the world because of it. Not in spite of the offense, but because of it. The gospel was a scandal then, and it should still be one now.

Today’s church, by contrast, tiptoes through culture like it’s walking on broken glass. It holds interfaith dialogues with those who openly despise it and lobbies for carbon taxes while souls starve. We have Catholic bishops who march in Pride parades but are nowhere to be found at pro-life vigils. We have Protestant pastors hosting drag nights in church basements while their congregations hemorrhage members. The shepherds worry more about upsetting activists than defending the word of God. They preach about climate change, white privilege, and plastic straws.

But they stay silent on sin, judgment, and repentance. It’s time for both Catholics and Protestants to snap out of it. This isn’t a debate over doctrine. It’s a culture that wants the church destroyed, and too many inside it are holding the door open.

A purified church

If the apostles walked into half these churches today, they wouldn’t smile or applaud. They’d flip tables.

God doesn’t need marketers. He needs martyrs. Not spiritual consultants but disciples. The future of Christianity will not be built by bishops apologizing to the New York Times or pastors retweeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It will be built by those who kneel in silence and believe in public, even when the world calls them fools.

Maybe that’s the real message here: The church isn’t dying but being purified.

Let the saboteurs resign. Let the cowards step down. Let the cafeteria close. What’s left will be smaller, yes — but stronger. Not performative. Not progressive. But holy. Finally, again, holy.

Liberal lawmaker melts down after priest stands firm, denies him communion over deadly bill



A Catholic priest in England reportedly warned a Liberal Democrat member of parliament in his parish that he would be refused communion should he vote in favor of the United Kingdom's controversial assisted suicide bill.

Despite this warning, Chris Coghlan voted in favor of the bill on June 20 and claimed he did so in accordance with his "conscience."

While Coghlan underscored in a Saturday op-ed that his faith is irrelevant to his parliamentary responsibilities, Father Ian Vane of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Dorking, England, indicated that the liberal's political decisions were very much relevant to whether he could receive the Eucharist.

'Intentional euthanasia, whatever its forms or motives, is murder.'

After learning that he would be denied communion — evidently not in person, as the Observer indicated the lawmaker didn't even show up to the relevant masses — Coghlan had an ugly meltdown online, calling the priest's actions "outrageous"; accusing Fr. Vane of "completely inappropriate interference in democracy"; filing a complaint with Bishop Richard Moth, the bishop of Arundel and Brighton, who publicly campaigned against the bill; and suggesting lawmakers' faith should be publicly considered when they vote on matters of possible relevance.

"I was deeply disturbed to receive an email from my local priest four days before the vote on Kim Leadbeater's assisted dying bill saying if I voted in favour I would be 'an obstinate public sinner,'" Coghlan noted in his op-ed. "Worse, I would be complicit in a 'murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded.' Such a vote would, he wrote, be 'a clear contravention of the Church’s teaching, which would leave me in the position of not being able to give you holy communion, as to do so would cause scandal in the Church.'"

Coghlan suggested that the priest was in the wrong and had wrongly characterized so-called "assisted dying" as a "murderous act."

While the leftist lawmaker indicated his faith was "profoundly important" to him, he appears to have greatly misunderstood or altogether missed the church's unwavering moral stances on euthanasia and suicide.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly states that "intentional euthanasia, whatever its forms or motives, is murder. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator."

The Catechism also states that "suicide is seriously contrary to justice, hope, and charity" and is "forbidden by the fifth commandment."

RELATED: Martyrs don’t bend the knee — even to the state

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Canon 915 in the Code of Canon Law forbids the administration of communion to those who obstinately persevere "in manifest grave sin."

One year prior to becoming pope in 2005, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger signed a memorandum on the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith clarifying that:

Regarding the grave sin of abortion or euthanasia, when a person’s formal cooperation becomes manifest (understood, in the case of a Catholic politician, as his consistently campaigning and voting for permissive abortion and euthanasia laws), his Pastor should meet with him, instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.

In other words, Fr. Vane did exactly as expected by the church and echoed the Catholic Church's longstanding moral teaching when warning then admonishing Coghlan.

In advance of the parliamentary vote on the legislation, Bishop Moth, the recipient of Coghlan's complaint, encouraged Catholics in his diocese to "pray earnestly that the dignity of human life is respected from the moment of conception to natural death" and to urge their members of parliament to vote against the bill.

"While the proposed legislation may offer assurances of safeguards, the evidence is clear that, in those countries such as Canada and Belgium (to take just two examples) where legislation approving 'assisted dying' is in place, it takes little time before the criteria for 'assisted dying' expand, often including those living with mental illness and others who do not have a terminal diagnosis," wrote Moth.

Despite being framed as a "stringently limited, carefully monitored system of exceptions" around the time of its legalization in 2016, state-facilitated suicide is now a leading cause of death in Canada, accounting for 4.7% of all Canadian deaths last year.

As Moth indicated, so-called medical assistance in dying in Canada is not just killing moribund people, but individuals who could otherwise live for years or decades, as well as victims whose primary symptom is suicidal ideation.

After parliament voted 314 to 291 in favor of changing British law to legalize assisted suicide earlier this month, Catholic Archbishop John Sherrington, lead bishop for life issues for the Catholic Bishop's Conference, reiterated the church's opposition to the legalization of assisted suicide, noting, "We are shocked and disappointed that MPs have voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. This Bill is flawed in principle with several provisions that give us great cause for concern."

Coghlan claimed that after the vote, his priest "publicly announced at mass that he was indeed denying me holy communion as I had breached canon law."

'There is no in-between. Choose.'

The leftist politician continued complaining on X, writing, "It is a matter of grave public interest the extent to which religious MPs came under pressure to represent their religion and not necessarily their constituents in the assisted dying vote."

"This was utterly disrespectful to my family, my constituents including the congregation, and the democratic process. My private religion will continue to have zero direct relevance to my work as an MP representing all my constituents without fear or favour," added Coghlan.

Blaze News reached out to Fr. Vane for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

In addition to stressing that religion should effectively be neutralized in public so that Britain could "be a secular country" — par for the course in a nation where silent prayer can already result in a criminal record — Coghlan suggested that lawmakers' faith should be publicized and taken into account when relevant to parliamentary votes.

RELATED: Delaware assisted-suicide law promotes 'death culture,' attacks life's sanctity and medical ethics

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"Constituents’ [sic] absolutely should know if an MP is of faith on a conscience vote and is obliged by their faith to vote a certain way and/or is under pressure from religious authorities from their faith to do so. It is potentially a clear conflict of interest with putting their constituents first," wrote Coghlan.

The Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton told the Observer in a statement, "Bishop Richard spoke to Mr. Coghlan earlier this week and has offered to meet him in person to discuss the issues and concerns raised."

While the leftist lawmaker received an outpouring of support online from secularists, he was also met with biting criticism from orthodox Christians.

Dr. Chad Pecknold, associated professor of systematic theology at the Catholic University of America, noted, "Mr. Coghlan, I've taught Christianity and Politics for many years. What you express is not a Catholic but a Liberal view that your faith should be something private. Western civilization was built upon the very public nature of Christianity. Your faith is either Liberal, and you have owned it, or your Faith is Catholic, and you have denied it. There is no in-between. Choose."

"Good work by this priest," wrote Fr. Matthew Schneider, a priest with the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi. "If you are not a devout member of a Church, it should not matter if you receive Communion. If you are a devout member, your faith should penetrate your life enough to vote in accord with common good, & not for murdering the sick & disabled."

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Nigerian Christians face latest massacre by militant Muslims



While the world's eyes are locked onto the conflict between Israel and Iran in the Middle East, Christians everywhere continue to face violent persecution.

Nigeria's Catholic population has been facing what appears to be their systematic removal by their Muslim neighbors, and an attack over the weekend is the latest example of a long train of persecution.

'These cold-blooded attacks on defenseless communities where countless have been slaughtered ... are an affront to God.'

Muslim Fulani militants "raided a predominantly Catholic Christian town" in Benue State, Nigeria, killing over 200 Christians overnight, according to a Saturday morning post by Save the Persecuted Christians on X. The post included graphic images of the victims of the massacre, reporting that they were "butchered and burned" during the attack.

"This is genocide," the initial post concluded.

RELATED: Blaze News investigates: Why are Islamists targeting Catholic priests?

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The Christian charity speculated that this attack was in "retaliation" for Makurdi Bishop Wilfred Anagbe's recent testimony before the U.S. Congress in which he said, "A long-term, Islamic agenda to homogenize the population has been implemented, over several presidencies, through a strategy to reduce and eventually eliminate the Christian identity of half of the population."

Although Benue State, Nigeria, is overwhelmingly Catholic, this area has faced a series of escalating attacks by militant Muslims in the past months.

"These cold-blooded attacks on defenseless communities where countless have been slaughtered, homes destroyed, and families left in anguish — are an affront to God, a stain on our shared humanity, and a terrifying reminder of the utter breakdown of security in our land," Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Owerri said at a recent conference.

Despite the brutal conditions for the Christian population in Nigeria, outlets like OSV News and others have reported that the Church is growing in the violence-stricken country.

"The Catholic Church grows in the country, with a record number of confirmations and Mass attendance," OSV News reported

On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV prayed for "security, justice, and peace" in Nigeria, with a special intention for the “rural Christian communities of the Benue State who have been relentless victims of violence."

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Cardinal Burke calls for an end to 'persecution from within the Church'



The change in popes earlier this year has enlivened the international debate about the Catholic liturgy and tradition, especially about the traditional Latin mass. With Vatican deadlines approaching later this year, everyone is anxious to see what Pope Leo XIV's legacy will be.

Cardinal Leo Burke recently announced his hope that the new pope would "reconsider" the recent teachings of Pope Francis, which led to "persecution from within the Church" regarding the discontinuation of the Latin mass.

'Unfortunately, the current restrictions put in place by the recently deceased Pope Francis have caused confusion and hurt to the faithful who are seeking to worship the holy Trinity with the ancient liturgy and rituals.'

During a conference with the Latin Mass Society, Cardinal Burke was asked what he hopes the new pope, Leo XIV, will do regarding the late Pope Francis' restrictions on the Latin Mass.

"It is my hope that he will put an end to the persecution of the faithful in the Church who desire to worship God according to the more ancient usage of the Roman right," Burke, over video, told the conference.

Cardinal Burke signaled that he had already expressed his hopes for the future of the Latin Mass to Pope Leo XIV: "I certainly have already had occasion to express that to the Holy Father. ... It is my hope that he will restore the situation as it was after 'Summorum Pontificum' and even to continue to develop what Pope Benedict had so wisely and lovingly legislated for the Church."

RELATED: Not Francis 2.0: Why Pope Leo XIV is a problem for the 'woke' agenda

 

"Summorum Pontificum" (2007) was Pope Benedict XVI's affirmation of the traditional celebration of the holy Mass in Latin. It was later restricted by Pope Francis' own motu proprio, "Traditionis Custodes" (2021).

Benedict's letter emphasized that the traditional Latin Mass and Novus Ordo were a "twofold use of one and the same rite," while Francis called for liturgical unity, limiting the extent to which the Latin Mass could be used.

Pope Francis' restrictions on the Latin Mass have been met with a great deal of resistance from the faithful, yet some dioceses have insisted on obedience to this order.

Many Catholics have argued against the legitimacy of "Traditionis Custodes," including liturgical scholar Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, who said in a 2021 speech at a Catholic Identity Conference, "The traditional Mass belongs to the most intimate part of the common good in the Church. Restricting it, pushing it into ghettos, and ultimately planning its demise can have no legitimacy. This law is not a law of the Church because, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, a law against the common good is no valid law."

Charlotte, North Carolina, however, has become a focal point in this controversy because Bishop Michael Martin recently announced that he would expedite the change in his diocese.

On May 23, Bishop Martin announced that the Latin Mass would cease to be offered by the four parishes in his diocese that celebrate it. He said the transition would be completed by the deadline of July 8, 2025.

That deadline, however, is three months ahead of an existing October 2025 deadline for the transition.

But in an unlikely turn of events, Bishop Martin announced on June 3 that he would push back the deadline to the Vatican's original October deadline. He cited pastoral concerns, both from parishioners and priests.

“It made sense to start these changes in July when dozens of our priests will be moving to their new parishes and other assignments,” Bishop Martin told local Catholic News Herald. “That said, I want to listen to the concerns of these parishioners and their priests, and I am willing to give them more time to absorb these changes.”

RELATED: Truth bomb: How Pope Leo XIV is exposing the left's greatest fear

  Photo by Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

“I support the letter of His Eminence, Cardinal Burke, and his attempt to bring about Catholic unity under the peaceful provisions established by Pope Benedict XVI for the traditional Latin Mass. Unfortunately, the current restrictions put in place by the recently deceased Pope Francis have caused confusion and hurt to the faithful who are seeking to worship the holy Trinity with the ancient liturgy and rituals,” Dr. Taylor R. Marshall, president of the New Saint Thomas Institute, told Blaze News.

“I recently met with another cardinal in Rome who agrees with Cardinal Burke. We hope that the new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, restores the generosity of Pope Benedict XVI by allowing the traditional Latin Mass to Catholics,” Dr. Marshall continued.

Bishop Martin also told the local outlet that the diocese would abide by any formal instruction from the Vatican in the interim.

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This is true fatherhood: My dad's final act defined love and manhood



Almost 17 years ago, the Washington Post reported that a father had drowned while saving his son’s life. That man’s name was Tom Vander Woude. He was my dad.

Every Father’s Day, I reflect on what I learned from his life and death.

'It is usually pretty easy to know what is right or wrong. We are usually the ones who make it more difficult.'

In many ways, he was an ordinary man. He was born on a farm and died on a farm. He loved watermelon and ice cream. At age 22, he married his high school sweetheart, and they raised seven sons together. I am the fifth. He flew for the Navy, coached basketball, and prayed every day. Dad selflessly served God, family, and country.

My youngest brother, Joseph, was born with Down syndrome. From the moment he entered the world, Joseph and Dad were inseparable. When Joseph was a toddler, the doctors told my parents that crawling, though difficult for him, would help Joseph’s physical and mental development. Dad made makeshift elbow pads for them both and got down on his hands and knees to spend hours with Joseph crawling around the house. As Joseph got older, he went everywhere with Dad — sitting on the bench while Dad coached, attending daily Mass, riding in the truck while listening to country music, and working on the family farm.

Then one fateful day in 2008, my dad taught me something I will never forget: True fatherhood requires sacrificial love.

That day, while working on our house, Dad noticed something wrong: The top of our septic tank had collapsed, and Joseph, who was 22 years old, was nowhere to be found. Dad rushed to the tank and found Joseph struggling to keep his head above the pool of sewage. Wasting no time, Dad dove into the muck and managed to get beneath Joseph.

But realizing he couldn’t save Joseph on his own, Dad told a nearby worker, “You pull and I’ll push,” took his last breath, and descended beneath my brother to lift him above the deadly fumes.

Shortly afterward, my mom watched helplessly as the first responders treated my brother and retrieved the lifeless body of my father, the love of her life. Remarkably, Joseph survived, and he assists my mother to this day in her golden years.

On that tragic day, I lost my role model and dad, but I learned a profound lesson about sacrifice. Habitual small acts of service prepare you for acts of heroism.

Dad often said, “It is usually pretty easy to know what is right or wrong. We are usually the ones who make it more difficult.”

For Dad, doing the right thing meant performing quiet acts of service and sacrifice for others. To save money for our college tuition, he would only buy older cars. When furloughed from the airlines, he worked as a laborer at a horse farm to pay the bills. When a family of 12 moved to the area, my dad offered for them to stay in our already-full farmhouse while they looked for a house; then he co-signed their mortgage. When the local Catholic parish was founded, my parents volunteered as sacristans and altar server coordinators.

Because of my dad’s courageous example of service and sacrifice, the local Catholic diocese is considering opening his cause for canonization.

The Catholic Church, through a lengthy and detailed process, can solemnly declare that individuals who lived a heroically virtuous life are saints with God in heaven. In 2017, Pope Francis added a new path to sainthood for those who lay down their lives out of love for others. If my dad’s life and death fit these criteria, his story may inspire fathers, husbands, and all people for years to come.

Dad’s untimely death was tragic. To this day, I miss his smile and guidance. I am grateful for the profound impact he had on me in his short life, not only as a man but as a father and a husband. His joy, his determination, his dedication to his family, his quiet strength, and his deep faith are just a few things that motivate me to be the best version of myself.

Every day, and especially on Father’s Day, I hope and pray that I can be like my dad.

Church under attack: How Democrats just declared war on Christians



The state of Washington has declared war on the Catholic Church, and it could cost Americans their free exercise of religion — all under the guise of “helping children.”

Washington State Senate Bill 5375, passed earlier this month in that state’s ongoing crusade against what it claims is “abuse,” would force Catholic priests who hear admissions of abuse within the context of the sacrament of confession to break the seal of the sacrament and report those admissions to the state, even though all other recognized privileges — like those between doctor and patient and lawyer and client — are preserved.

What happens to Catholics today may affect many more Americans tomorrow.

The practice of confession isn’t just “therapy for Catholics”: It's a sacrament where we believe God extends His forgiveness for our sins, which we must lay out to a priest, Christ's representative on earth. It’s a ritual: You list your sins in conversation with a priest, often anonymously or from behind a screen, and in return, the priest assigns a penance and grants absolution.

It’s also a ritual critical to the spiritual life of Catholics. Without forgiveness and absolution, Catholics who die in a state of sin could go straight to hell, and Catholics who live in a state of mortal sin are barred from communion, which is the heart of our faith.

Our very souls depend on it. It’s not some optional counseling; it’s a critical practice of Catholicism.

Washington is not alone in trying to compel priests to tell law enforcement what’s said in the confessional, but it’s the state that’s gotten the furthest. It’s also certainly the first state to bring the issue of repeating confessions to the public in a way that gives regular Americans a glimpse into how the Catholic religion works.

Even right-leaning media has gotten the issue wrong: Shortly after the bill was passed, Fox News and others announced that the Catholic Church had threatened to excommunicate any priest who complied with the law and spilled secrets to cops, almost as if the battle over the seal of confession was a war between the state and the Church.

In reality, it's a war on the Catholic Church. 

Priests and religious workers, especially those who work around children, are already mandated to report abuse if they can identify it everywhere other than in the confessional, and the Church has taken significant steps to address issues of clergy abuse in its past, including involving law enforcement right from the moment of discovery, rather than handling it through church administration.

The problem, while an embarrassment for the Catholic Church, is also one of the past. Recent reports show that incidents of abuse peaked in the 1970s and 1980s and dropped off significantly after 1989.

The Catholic Church is now on notice and has the data to prove it.

But Washington wants to continue to subject the Catholic Church to punishment for past sins in a way it does not subject any other organization. Washington also wants to intercede in only the penitent privilege. The bill specifically demands clergy report abuse to law enforcement but takes pains to note that no other privileged communication is affected: Lawyers do not need to report crimes confessed in their conference rooms, nor do therapists nor doctors nor members of other occupations where privilege applies.

Nope, in the bill's own words, “Except for members of the clergy, no one shall be required to report under this section when he or she obtains the information solely as a result of a privileged communication.”

Priests who are found to be uncompliant could face a year in jail or thousands of dollars in fines.

And as the local diocese has already said, in a statement made directly to legislators, it simply won’t comply. And priests who do comply would face excommunication, not because of a threat from the bishops, but because the issue of confessional confidentiality is covered right there in the Church’s own catechism.

  • Canon 983: The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore, it is a crime for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other manner or for any reason.
  • Canon 1386: A confessor who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae [automatic] excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; he who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the offense.

This isn’t a matter of the bishops facing down the state of Washington and threatening priests with excommunication if they comply with the law; it’s the bishops letting the state of Washington know: Priests would rather serve jail time than be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

The left has engaged in this type of intimidation before in the name of “saving” children from sure violence, but it all has the same intent: bullying the religious institutions that keep our community healthy and help individuals and families loosen their reliance on the state and bullying those with sincere and orthodox beliefs at odds with the left’s agenda.

Washington is just one front in a large and aggressive war on the rights of Americans to exercise their freedom of belief.

Luckily, the Trump administration does not appear to be taking Washington’s threat to religious liberty lightly. In a statement issued May 5, it vowed to fight the Washington law on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment’s right to free exercise since it infringes on a core, sincerely held religious dogma.

President Trump has also welcomed several members of the Catholic clergy onto a council that will seek to protect religious liberty — because what happens to Catholics today may affect many more Americans tomorrow.

JD Vance Finally Addresses His Disagreement With New Pope On Immigration
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JD Vance Finally Addresses His Disagreement With New Pope On Immigration

'You have to be able to hold two ideas in your head at the same time'

Pope Leo XIV begins pontificate with thunderous call for Christian unity



Pope Leo XIV shared his vision to chart a path toward Christian unity during his Monday address to leaders of the church and those of other religions.

The pope called it one of his priorities to pursue “full and visible communion among all those who profess the same faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

While legacy media leaned into the presumption that the pope would urge solidarity among divisions in the Catholic Church, he used his Monday address to reaffirm his vision for uniting all Christians and fostering peace across faiths.

“Indeed, unity has always been a constant concern of mine, as witnessed by the motto I chose for my episcopal ministry: In Illo uno unum, an expression of Saint Augustine of Hippo that reminds us how we too, although we are many, ‘in the One — that is Christ — we are one,’” the pope said.

His recent message to church representatives amplified his Sunday homily at Saint Peter’s Square, during which he invoked Jesus’ mission to Peter.

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“We see this in today’s Gospel, which takes us to the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus began the mission he received from the Father: to be a ‘fisher’ of humanity in order to draw it up from the waters of evil and death,” the pope stated. “Walking along the shore, he had called Peter and the other first disciples to be, like him, ‘fishers of men.’”

“Now, after the resurrection, it is up to them to carry on this mission, to cast their nets again and again, to bring the hope of the Gospel into the ‘waters’ of the world, to sail the seas of life so that all may experience God’s embrace,” he continued.

During a Monday interview on “The Glenn Beck Program,” Vice President JD Vance highlighted Pope Leo’s recent election as a potential cultural and political turning point.

Vance told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck, “[The pope] is the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics.”

The vice president stressed Pope Leo’s “soft influence.”

“He doesn’t have a military; he doesn’t have an army. But he does have a lot of influence through those Catholics,” he continued. “We won a majority of Catholics in the last election.”

However, Vance noted that many Catholics have continued to vote for Democratic candidates.

Vance credited the Vatican for using its influence to promote peace, including attempting to facilitate conversations between Ukraine and Russia.

“The Vatican has already played a very constructive role in some of the peace conversations that we’ve been having all over the world,” he added.

— (@)  
 

Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both practicing Catholics, met with Pope Leo at the Vatican on Monday.

“I was humbled and honored to meet Pope Leo XIV and lead the presidential delegation to Rome for his inaugural mass. We had a great conversation, and I know he is a true servant of God,” Vance stated. “I hope all Americans will join me in praying for the new pope as he begins his ministry.”

The Vatican issued a statement regarding the meeting.

“There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved,” the Vatican said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Vance passed along a letter from President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, who is also Catholic, inviting Pope Leo to the White House.

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Why Chicago loves da pope



In my previous piece about Pope Leo XIV, I discussed last weekend’s social media buzz around the first American pope’s love of baseball.

Unfortunately, the article went to press before I could confirm one crucial detail: The pope is a White Sox fan.

For every meme of the pope wearing a Sox jersey, someone else is crying because the pope used to go to her high school or speaks with his accent.

"He was never ever a Cubs fan, so I don’t know where that came from. He was always a Sox fan," the new pope's younger brother, John Prevost, told WGN TV.

White smoke, White Sox

Footage even emerged on Friday afternoon showing a younger Pope Leo in the stands for Game 1 of the Sox's historic 2005 World Series sweep of the Houston Astros.

The news was also confirmed by Cincinnati Reds fan Vice President JD Vance, who joked that Pope Leo’s White Sox fandom may be good for his spirituality.

“I had a friend of mine that had a pretty funny take on this," recalled Vance. "He said, ‘If Pope Leo really is a Chicago White Sox fan, then he’s already actually faced the stress of martyrdom multiple times,’ so maybe we have a real winner in the new Holy Father.”

Sorry, Cubs.

No word on whether club chairman Tom Ricketts' invitation for Pope Leo to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field still stands.

Da memes

Despite enduring some jabs for prematurely claiming Pope Leo as one of their own, Cubs fans seem undeterred, cranking out just as much Leo-themed merchandise and memes as their crosstown rivals.

The sheer number of “da pope” memes, shirts, posters, and bobble-heads that have been made in the past few days shows that Chicagoans love being the hometown of the new Holy Father. One local restaurant chain even named an Italian beef sandwich after the pope, while another local pizza joint is seeing skyrocketing business after it was revealed that the pope ate there. The buzz has yet to die down!

As it turns out, Chicagoans of all baseball persuasions have fallen head over heels for Pope Leo in the past few days.

It all seems a little provincial compared to the significance of the larger milestone: that an American from anywhere in the country made the cut.

American pious

Catholic commentators have long thought the Church would be unlikely ever to choose a leader from a country already so dominant in politics, economics, and culture. Africa or South America, where much of Catholicism's recent growth has occurred, seemed much more likely candidate pools.

That’s why so many Americans are trying to find a message behind the papal conclave's choice of Cardinal Prevost. What made an American so uniquely suited to this moment in Catholic history, given America’s history of Protestant anti-clericalism and its dubious distinction of being one of the only countries in history to have a heresy named after it?

Was this a statement about the remarkable revival of the Church in America (through folks like Bishop Barron and Fr. Mike Schmitz) or a warning that its vocal "trad" element needs to be more like the politically moderate Pope Leo XIV?

The Chicago way

Back in my native Chicago, any such speculation seems fairly abstract when compared to the ever-present buzz of excitement. Midwest Americans feel a connection to the pope they’ve never felt before.

This is particularly true in Chicago, where Polish, Irish, German, Slavic, Italian, and Hispanic Catholic communities are deeply rooted in the city’s identity and people. For every meme of the pope wearing a Sox jersey, someone else is crying because the pope used to go to her high school or speaks with his accent, creating a new level of identification they’ve never felt with their spiritual father.

Local clergy and laypeople I've spoken to in the last few days are bursting with excitement that a graduate of the South Side's Catholic Theological Union — and a man with whom they share myriad personal connections — is now the supreme pontiff.

Fellow Chicago native and Catholic apologist Bishop Robert Barron put it well in a video last Friday, reflecting how touching it is to have grown up in the same milieu as Pope Leo. They are only a few years apart in age.

“He’s not only an American; he’s from Chicago. He’s from my hometown," said Barrron. "In fact, he grew up in Dalton, and I grew up in Western Springs. [In good traffic] I could get to Dalton in 25 minutes."

Barron couldn't resist pointing out one crucial way in which he dissents from Pope Leo: "I’m a Cubs fan.”

Chi-town represent

Regardless of team — or even religious affiliation — it’s a powerful thing to see yourself represented in such a significant institution. As my friends have put it, it is both surreal and intensely moving to hear a pope speak English with an American accent.

Especially moved are those who grew up in the neighborhoods that Pope Leo lived and served in. I’m seeing Facebook friends, many who aren’t Catholic, share with obvious pride that their family members went to the same high school as the pope.

As Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says, “This is a tremendous moment for our Catholic community and for all Chicagoans.”

I can't say I'm not enjoying it myself. However, as much fun as it is to see all the Mike Ditka and “da Bears” jokes, I must admit I am getting queasy from the memes showing the Eucharist replaced with a deep dish pizza. And the wine replaced with Malort.

Setting aside the mild sacrilege, I don’t like the idea of getting a heartburn from holy communion.

New pope, old problem: Will Leo XIV resist tyranny?



Catholics have a new pope: Leo XIV. Most of the cardinals who elected him were appointed by Pope Francis, and at first glance, the new pontiff appears to share much with his predecessor. But it’s early yet. Catholics should pray that Leo charts a very different course. The reason is simple: The Catholic Church finds itself locked in a battle against three hostile ideologies — globalism, Islam, and communism. And right now, it’s losing on all fronts.

Pope Francis earned the nickname the "People’s Pope,” a title meant to suggest he championed ordinary Catholics. In truth, he aligned more closely with the globalist left. He openly opposed President Trump’s push to restore American borders and criticized similar efforts by European nations to reclaim their sovereignty. Under Francis, the Church’s advocacy of open borders helped dismantle Western Christendom by encouraging the mass migration of Muslims into Europe. Many of these migrants view their secularized Christian hosts with contempt. European leaders, meanwhile, steeped in guilt and detached from the virtues of their own civilization, capitulated. The result: rape, murder, and a continent sinking into self-loathing. Only a radical reformation can pull Europe back from the brink.

Communism and Christianity cannot coexist. The new pope must say so — clearly, unambiguously, and without fear.

Francis also failed pastorally. Faced with the ongoing sexual abuse crisis that has haunted the Church for decades, he refused to lead with transparency or justice. When he became pope, he had the chance to hold predatory priests accountable for their demonic crimes and restore trust among the faithful. Instead, he did next to nothing. His silence signaled to the hierarchy that abuse could still be covered up, even tolerated. That betrayal deepened the wounds of a Church already in crisis and demoralized millions of believers.

Pope Leo XIV now has a moment to break with the past. He must act swiftly and decisively. The Church cannot afford another papacy of retreat and complicity.

A disgraceful bargain

In December 2017, Pope Francis appeared on Italian television and publicly questioned the traditional wording of the Lord’s Prayer. The closing line — “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13, Luke 11:4) — is a direct teaching from Christ. Francis asked, “What kind of Father would lead his children into temptation?”

That question revealed a deeper confusion. The line reflects not divine cruelty but the profound gift of human freedom. God grants mankind free will — the ability to choose between good and evil, between virtue and temptation. The Lord’s Prayer acknowledges that freedom and asks God to help us navigate it. Pope Francis, it seems, struggled to grasp this. His discomfort with the line suggests a broader discomfort with the idea that freedom comes with moral risk — and that risk, in turn, calls for responsibility, discipline, and faith.

At the same time, Francis sent disgraced pedophile Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to Beijing to negotiate a secret deal with the Chinese Communist Party. That deal handed partial control of the Church in China to the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, a CCP-run front established in 1957 to suppress Christianity and replace it with a state-approved imitation.

Religious freedom in communist China remains a fiction. Teaching the faith to children is effectively banned. The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association exists not to protect believers but to pacify the Vatican and deceive the West. It offers a false promise of coexistence — as long as Catholicism conforms to state-imposed restrictions. Some call this process the “Sinicization” of the Church. A more accurate term would be its communization.

RELATED: Not Francis 2.0: Why Pope Leo XIV is a problem for the ‘woke’ agenda

  Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images

The CCP has not simply demanded obedience — it has altered doctrine and replaced sacred symbols. The crucifix — central to the Christian faith as a reminder of Christ’s suffering — has been replaced in churches with portraits of Xi Jinping. That’s not contextualization. That’s desecration.

McCarrick, a despicable character to be sure, traveled to China at least three times to help broker the Vatican’s secret agreement with the CCP. Those negotiations produced disturbing compromises: among them, a shared arrangement where the Vatican and the Communist Party jointly approve bishops. Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong has condemned the deal as a betrayal of faithful Chinese Catholics — many of whom spent their lives resisting communist persecution.

Even Pope Francis acknowledged that the agreement would cause suffering. He was right. Since its implementation, the CCP’s Ministry of State Security has “disappeared” at least 15 bishops who refused to submit to party rule. Their whereabouts remain unknown.

But the suffering extends further — to millions of Chinese parents forbidden from teaching their children about Jesus. Families must wait until their children turn 18 before they can legally attend church, at which point they don’t approach the altar as supplicants to God but as subjects of the Chinese Communist Party. This forced delay in faith formation is not only spiritually damaging — it is deeply humiliating. It turns the act of worship into a form of ideological submission.

No more submission

Some may argue that Chinese Catholics are better off with a compromised, state-approved church than with no church at all. Pope Francis may have reasoned that accepting the replacement of the cross — the profound symbol of Christ’s suffering — with portraits of the Chinese Communist Party’s first secretary was a small price for institutional survival.

But allowing an atheistic regime to oversee Christian worship amounts to cruelty disguised as prudence. It undermines the very purpose of the church. There is something profoundly demoralizing to the entire world to watch the Holy Roman Catholic Church behave in such a craven manner.

Pope Leo XIV must draw a clear line. He must reject every agreement with the Chinese Communist Party that surrenders human freedom in exchange for bureaucratic recognition. The freedom of conscience, the freedom to worship, and the freedom to speak the truth — these stand at the heart of the Christian mission. In China, the underground church continues to bear witness to that mission. Its members worship in secret, often at great personal risk, defying a regime that demands their silence and obedience. Their defiance reveals a faith rooted in courage and dignity.

The CCP’s version of Catholicism, by contrast, fuses materialism, Maoism, and political submission. No Catholic worthy of the name should pretend that such a hybrid represents anything but ideological fraud. Communism and Christianity cannot coexist. The new pope must say so — clearly, unambiguously, and without fear.

What should alarm the faithful most is the Vatican’s submission to totalitarian rule. Instead of forming a bulwark against tyranny, the Catholic Church has, through its secret pact with Beijing, told its flock to put Caesar before God. That message contradicts the very heart of the faith. The Vatican must repeal its secret agreement with the Chinese Communist Party and make public its contents. Only then can the world see clearly the extent of the CCP’s repression — and the Church’s role in enabling it.

The disaster in China offers a painful reminder: While Christ is king and has conquered sin, Satan still rules the world (John 14:30). That truth remains central to Christian belief. It underscores man’s constant dependence on God — and Satan’s persistent effort to pull mankind away. In China’s repression of believers, its sponsorship of Islamic terrorism, its support for Iran’s nuclear program, and its vicious treatment of its own people, Satan’s fingerprints remain obvious and unhidden.

Catholics and all Christians should pray that Pope Leo XIV receives the grace to lead boldly and reject the globalist path of his predecessor. As an American, he might take inspiration from the words of Thomas Jefferson: “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” That counsel has never been more urgent. May the new pope heed it.