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.

RELATED: Together, pope and patriarch return to Nicaea on 1,700th anniversary of defining moment in Christendom

“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.

JD Vance reveals little-known Vatican secret in Glenn Beck interview



On a recent episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn interviewed Vice President JD Vance over a range of topics, including Trump’s history-making trip to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, Europe’s social media censorship plans, potential spending cuts in the final version of the “big, beautiful bill,” Trump’s plan to slash regulations on AI and energy companies, why staying ahead of China on AI is a matter of life and death, and, finally, the Vatican’s role in global politics.

In their conversation on the Vatican, Vance, who is scheduled to attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration this weekend alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, revealed a fact about the Vatican few know.

“Why does the pope matter so much to the world … beyond faith and religion?” Glenn asked.

“He is the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics, and so there is just a lot of soft influence, right? He doesn't have a military; he doesn't have an army, but he does have a lot of influence,” said Vance.

“I think we won a majority of Catholics in the last election, but a lot of those Catholics continue to vote Democratic, and so there is just a natural influence in having the ear of 1.4 billion faithful people, including 100 million or so in the United States,” he continued.

However, it’s not just the Catholic people who are influenced by the pope; global leaders are listening as well.

“You don't see a lot of headlines about this, but the Vatican has already played a very constructive role in some of the peace conversations that we've been having all over the world,” says Vance. “They've been trying to facilitate negotiations between the Russians and the Ukrainians; they've been trying to facilitate other peaceful negotiations between various countries.”

“They have the ear of those Catholics, but then they also have an ability to use that soft power to play a mediating role in some of these disputes. So while the Pope doesn't have an F-35 standing behind him, he does have the prayers of a lot of faithful Catholics, and that matters when you try to insert yourself into these conversations,” Vance continued.

Vance added that he and President Trump “welcome that engagement” from the Vatican, as ending wars and promoting peace are pillars in the Trump agenda.

To hear the full interview, watch the clip above.

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



Sorry (not sorry), progressives and liberal media: Pope Leo XIV isn't here to rewrite the gospel and edit the Bible to fit your agenda.

When Cardinal Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, progressives exhaled in cautious hope. Maybe — just maybe — Leo would accelerate the Catholic Church's liberal evolution as the heir to Pope Francis' attitude of inclusion.

They want Christians who are obedient to the progressive, globalist overlords — not Christ.

But that hope is quickly turning to frustration as reality sets in: Pope Leo XIV isn't going to oblige liberals.

Take, for example, Pope Leo XIV's views on the LGBTQ agenda. Just hours after Leo became pope, the Guardian raised alarm (i.e., clutched pearls) after finding video of Leo standing against the progressive spirit of the age while endorsing biblical ethics on sexuality and life.

In that video, Pope Leo XIV condemned abortion, euthanasia, and LGBTQ ideology while observing how the mass media push an anti-Christian agenda.

"Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel – for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia," Leo said, before blasting the media for creating "sympathy for anti-Christian lifestyles choices" in such a way that "when people hear the Christian message, it often inevitably seems ideological and emotionally cruel."

But this is how the Guardian reported it: "Unearthed comments from new pope alarm LGBTQ+ Catholics."

In other words: A Catholic priest saying Christian things is problematic.

To be fair to progressives and the legacy media, I don't think they're personally upset at Pope Leo XIV (yet). After all, no one yet knows how he will lead the Catholic Church.

Instead, they're upset that Christianity still means something and that faithful Christians refuse to capitulate to their agenda.

They want a church that shifts with the spirit of the age. Christians who bow to cultural pressure. A religion that nods along with whatever the editors at the New York Times or MSNBC decide is morally right in 2025. They want the church to extract itself from its ancient roots. They want Christians who are obedient to the progressive, globalist overlords — not Christ.

Unfortunately for progressives, the Church does not exist to be a mirror of the age. It is a countersign pointing all to King Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father. It does not exist to affirm but to transform.

Not only are progressives upset because faithful Christians refuse to conform, but they're upset because the truth is a light that illuminates their lies.

Pope Leo XIV, then, is exposing the left's true enemy — God's truth — and their greatest fear: the disinfectant that wipes away their lies.

Take, for example, Pope Leo XIV's comments about gender ideology.

"It seeks to create genders that don’t exist, since God created men and women, and trying to confuse the ideas of nature will only harm families and individuals," he said in 2016. "This campaign, apparently, is going to create a lot of confusion and do a lot of harm. We mustn’t confuse the importance of family and marriage with what others want to create, as if it were a right to do something that isn’t."

In the era of cancel culture and progressive-enforced speech codes, these comments are not just controversial — they amount to dangerous "hate speech."

While Pope Leo XIV has not yet faced the full wrath of the progressive mob, his fidelity to traditional Christian ethics is a clear and present threat to the new religion of woke "inclusivity" in which dissension is branded as bigotry and hate.

The great irony, of course, is that as a faithful Christian leader, Pope Leo XIV is neither a bigot nor hate-filled. He preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is rooted in biblical love — the only love that brings peace to our chaotic world.

But to a world that demands affirmation and acceptance of radically anti-Christian ideals, the love of Jesus Christ — which requires obedience and allegiance to his teachings — looks like hate. In this culture, truth sounds like violence and, as Pope Leo XIV himself said, conviction is rebranded as cruelty.

Perhaps, then, this will be Pope Leo XIV's greatest cultural transgression: He refuses to lie.

He doesn't pretend that men can become women. He doesn't endorse the idea that marriage can be anything but a faithful union between one man and one woman. He rejects abortion and the progressive erosion of the family unit. Under Pope Leo XIV's leadership, the cross will not be replaced with a rainbow flag.

Pope Leo XIV is a shepherd of God's truth, like it or not.

All Christians should be thankful. Because in an age when so many leaders bend to the whims of the culture wars or equivocate truth, Pope Leo XIV will do something truly countercultural: He'll stand on God's word.

Progressives wanted a puppet. Instead, they got a pope.

WATCH: Inauguration Mass of Pope Leo XIV live from St. Peter’s Square



The Catholic Church’s papal transition is set to draw to a celebratory close on Sunday morning in Vatican City. According to Sky News, officials are expecting nearly a quarter of a million people to pack St. Peter’s Square to celebrate the papal inauguration. Millions more are expected to watch across the world.

The holy Mass for the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV is set to begin at 10:00 a.m. local time, 4:00 a.m. ET. For those looking to follow along, the Vatican has prepared a booklet for the Mass in pdf form. The American-based Catholic television network EWTN has been broadcasting live from Rome since the death of Pope Francis hours after he was driven through St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday. The network is planning to carry the inaugural Mass for Pope Leo live on YouTube, which can be seen below.

Catholic News Agency has prepared a list of the key moments to look for during the celebration. Highlights include a prayer at the tomb of St. Peter, a procession led by deacons holding the signs of papal authority — the pallium, gospels, and fisherman’s ring — an “act of obedience and fidelity of the universal Church to the new pope,” and the rite of initiation of the pontiff, where the new pope will receive his pallium and ring.

Dignitaries from around the world are expected at the celebration, including a delegation from the United States led by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both of whom are practicing Catholics.

As the world celebrates the first American pope, many Catholics from the United States are hopeful about what’s to come. Bill Donohue, president and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, told Blaze News, “I would like to hear Pope Leo XIV speak about the multiple challenges awaiting his pontificate. This would surely entail speaking about contemporary moral issues and addressing the problems that militant secularism has wrought.”

Donohue continued, “He does not have to lay out a specific agenda, but we need to learn of his vision for the Church and where he wants to take us.”

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

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Trump Names Bishop Who Banned Pelosi from Communion to Religious Liberty Commission

'Religious liberty is a critical issue in our time'

Indiana AG Launches Civil Rights Investigation Into Notre Dame’s DEI Regime

Despite Notre Dame being a trusted institution by conservatives and Christians, it has nonetheless undermined its Catholic mission at the altar of DEI.