How we help 'gay' men and women 'Leave Pride Behind'



You may have noticed that corporate America’s enthusiasm for Pride Month has waned.

But business leaders aren't the only ones pulling back from public celebration of “Pride.” Many ordinary people are retreating from full-on support for the demands of the LGBT lobby.

Our Leaving Pride Behind campaign amplifies the powerful testimonies of men and women who have walked away from homosexual behavior and identity.

Most importantly, many people who once identified themselves as gay, lesbian, or transgender have abandoned that identity. In some cases, they have completely reinterpreted their own past behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and political commitments. These brave men and women have left Pride behind.

Over the rainbow

If you’ve sensed that Pride-themed advertising has declined since 2023, you’re not wrong. A new survey finds that 43% of Fortune 1,000 companies are dialing back their external support for Pride Month in 2025. Social media feeds, once filled with rainbow branding, are strikingly subdued this year. No embarrassing displays by nonbinary “influencers” trying to sell beer. No doubt, the business community is responding to the views of the broader public.

A recent survey revealed that nearly 60% of Americans now prefer corporations to stay neutral on political and social issues.

At the same time, many Americans are questioning the goals and tactics of LGBT activism. People are starting to realize the cost of this ideology, particularly when it conflicts with faith, family, and biological reality. People are repelled by the sight of parents losing custody of their children for failing to “affirm” the child’s “gender identity.” Ordinary folk are cheering when J.K. Rowling takes down trans activists online.

'Obergefell' remorse

And people also intuit that redefining marriage in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case opened the door to transgenderism in the schools, drag queen story hours, and much more. As a result, the public is rethinking its commitments to policies such as genderless marriage. Gallup polling shows public support for same-sex marriage has dipped from 71% in 2022 to 68% in 2025. Among Republicans, the drop is even more dramatic — from 55% to just 41% over the past three years.

Even more interesting and significant is the group of people that we at the Ruth Institute refer to as those who have “left Pride behind.” Some in the public refer to this group of people as “ex-gays.” We hesitate to use this terminology, because most of them do not refer to themselves in this way. They might refer to themselves as “once gay.” They might call themselves “overcomers” or “people who have journeyed away from an LGBT identity.”

Many of them do not accept the term “gay” as an identity label in the first place. At most, they regard the term “gay” or “same-sex attracted” as a description of an attribute, which may or may not be permanent. For many people, “gay” is emphatically not an identity. So they certainly do not want to call themselves “ex-gay.”

Stories of transformation

That is why we at the Ruth Institute refer to them as people who have left Pride behind. Our Leaving Pride Behind campaign amplifies the powerful testimonies of men and women who have walked away from homosexual behavior and identity. These interviews include stories of transformation, healing, and faith. They challenge the destructive ideology that sexual orientation or gender identity is permanent and must be celebrated through political activism.

These brave men and women have left Pride behind, not just metaphorically, but literally. They’ve humbled themselves enough to say, “I was on the wrong path. I am willing to take responsibility for myself, my choices, and the totality of my life.” They risk the ridicule and censure of people they thought were their friends.

Amazingly, many of the people who have left Pride behind have also left other baggage. They have had bad things done to them. They’ve left blame behind. They’ve done things for which they are deeply sorry and ashamed. They’ve left toxic shame behind. They’ve done the best they could in deeply trying and confusing situations. They’ve left excuse-making behind.

In short, they have peace in their lives.

Evading the evidence

The LGBT political establishment thinks these people don’t exist. According to the “official voice” of the LGBT community, no one can change sexual orientation. People who say they have changed are either kidding themselves and will surely revert to their natural gay selves any minute, or they weren’t really gay in the first place.

That is a cop-out, evading the evidence rather than confronting it. This attitude is also deeply disrespectful. If corporate America can leave Pride behind, so can once-gay individuals. Personally, I have the utmost respect for those who have chosen to leave Pride behind.

I invite you to visit the Ruth Institute's YouTube channel. Get acquainted with the stories of those who have left Pride behind. Are they all lying or kidding themselves? Decide for yourself. I’m convinced that these are brave and honest individuals who have earned my respect.

Yes, Ken Burns, the Founding Fathers believed in God — and His 'divine Providence'



Ken Burns has built his career as America's memory keeper. For decades, he's positioned himself as the guardian against historical revisionism, the man who rescues truth from the dustbin of academic fashion. His camera doesn't just record past events — it sanctifies them.

For nearly five decades, Burns has reminded Americans that memory matters and that history shapes how a nation sees itself.

Jefferson's 'Nature’s God' wasn’t a placeholder. It was a real presence. He sliced up the Gospels but still bowed to the idea of eternal moral law.

Which makes his recent performance on Joe Rogan's podcast all the more stunning in its brazen historical malpractice.

At the 1-hour, 17-minute mark, Burns delivered his verdict on the Founding Fathers with the confidence of a man who's never been wrong about anything.

They were deists, he declared. Believers in a distant, disinterested God, a cosmic clockmaker who wound up the universe and wandered off to tend other galaxies. Cold, clinical, and entirely absent from human affairs.

It's a tidy narrative. One small problem: It's so very wrong.

The irony cuts so deep it draws blood. The man who made his reputation fighting historical revisionism has become its most prominent practitioner. Burns, the supposed guardian of American memory, has developed a curious case of selective amnesia, and Americans are supposed to pretend not to notice.

The deist delusion

Now, some might ask: Who cares? What difference does it make whether Washington believed in an active God or a divine absentee landlord? The answer is everything, and the fact that it's Burns making this claim makes it infinitely worse.

This isn't some graduate student getting his dissertation wrong. This is America's most trusted historical documentarian, the man whose work shapes how millions understand their past. When Burns speaks, the nation listens.

When he gets it wrong, the mistake seeps like an oil spill across the national story, quietly coating textbooks, classrooms, and documentaries for decades.

Burns is often treated as an apolitical narrator of history, but there’s a soft ideological current running through much of his work: reverence for progressive causes, selective moral framing, and a tendency to recast American complexity through a modern liberal lens.

Burns isn't stupid. One assumes he knows exactly what he's saying. If he doesn't — if his remarks on Rogan's podcast represent genuine ignorance rather than deliberate distortion — then we have serious questions about the depth of his actual knowledge. How does someone spend decades documenting American history while missing something this fundamental?

The truth is that Americans have been lied to about the Founders' faith for so long that Burns' deist mythology sounds plausible. The secular academy has been rewriting these men for decades, stripping away their religious convictions, sanding down their theological edges, making them safe for modern consumption. Burns isn't breaking new ground. He's perpetuating a familiar falsehood.

Taking a knee

Let's start with George Washington, the supposed deist in chief. Burns would have us believe the general bowed not to God, but to a kind of cosmic CEO who delegated all earthly duties to middle management. But at least one contemporary account attests that Washington knelt in the snow at Valley Forge — not once, but repeatedly.

He called for the national day of "prayer and thanksgiving" that eventually became the November federal holiday we know today. He invoked divine Providence so frequently you’d think he was writing sermons, not military orders.

His Farewell Address reads more like a theological tract than a retirement speech, warning that “religion and morality are indispensable supports” of political prosperity. Does that sound like a man who thought God had checked out?

John Adams, another Founder often branded a deist, wrote bluntly that “our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.”

Adams saw the American Revolution as the outgrowth of divine intervention. As he wrote to Thomas Jefferson in 1813, “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were ... the general principles of Christianity.”

And what of Jefferson? By far the most heterodox, even he never denied divine order. His “Nature’s God” wasn’t a placeholder. It was a real presence. He sliced up the Gospels but still bowed to the idea of eternal moral law. Whatever his quarrels with organized religion, he did not believe in a silent universe.

Some of these men were, philosophically at least, frustrated Catholics. They couldn’t fully accept Protestantism, but they had no access to the Church’s intellectual infrastructure. The natural law reasoning that permeates their political thought — Jefferson’s “self-evident truths,” Madison’s checks and balances born of man’s fallen nature — comes straight from Aquinas, filtered through Locke, Montesquieu, and centuries of Christian jurisprudence.

The Founders weren’t Enlightenment nihilists. They weren’t secular technocrats. And they certainly weren’t deists. They were men steeped in a moral framework older than the American experiment itself.

Burns, for all his sepia-toned genius, has a blind spot you could drive a colonial wagon through. His documentaries glow with progressive reverence — plenty of civil rights and moral reckoning, but the Almighty gets the silent treatment. God may have guided the Founders, but in Ken’s cut, he barely makes the final edit.

The sacred and the sanitized

I mentioned irony at the start, but it deserves more than a passing nod. That's because the septuagenarian's own cinematic legacy contradicts the very theology he now peddles on podcasts.

His brilliant nine-part series "The Civil War" captured the moral agony of a nation tearing itself apart, and it did so in unmistakably religious terms. Here Burns treats Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address — haunted, prophetic, bathed in biblical cadence — with reverence, not revisionism.

The series understood something essential: Americans have always been a biblical people. They see their history not just in terms of dates and treaties, but in terms of sin, sacrifice, and redemption. Sacred story, divine purpose — this was the language of American reckoning.

The Founders weren’t saints, and they weren’t simple. They read Greek, spoke Latin, studied Scripture, and debated philosophy with a seriousness that puts modern politicians to shame. But they weren’t spiritual agnostics, either.

They were men of imperfect but active faith, shaped by the Bible, steeped in Christian moral tradition, and convinced that human rights came not from government but from God.

They didn’t build a republic of personal preference. They built one grounded in enduring truths that predated the Constitution, anchored to the idea that law and liberty meant nothing without a higher law above them.

Burns may deal in memory, but his treatment of religion reveals something else entirely. He doesn’t misremember. He reorders. He filters faith through a modern lens until it becomes unrecognizable.

Memory isn’t just about what’s preserved — it’s about what’s permitted. And when the sacred gets cast aside, what’s left isn’t history. It’s propaganda with better lighting.

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: The right leader for a church in crisis



American Catholics didn't want an American pope.

The idea was off the table because everyone told them it was unrealistic. How could the world's cardinals go into the conclave and give the world a pope from the world's only superpower?

Although the media have hyped Pope Leo as a Francis protégé, expect the American pope to operate differently.

Impossible.

But God has a way of making the impossible a reality.

The choice of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics almost echoes what Donald Trump said in his recent inaugural address. "In America, the impossible is what we do best."

For Pope Leo XIV, however, the real work is just beginning.

He was officially inaugurated yesterday, on Pope St. John Paul's 105th birthday. Now the first American-born pope must begin mending the Vatican's strained relationship with the United States, which was left in tatters by his predecessor, Pope Francis.

Francis, who died on April 21 after a lengthy illness, visited the United States only once. During his 12-year pontificate, his disdain for the home of the free was palpable.

The late pope became a worldwide media darling in 2013 after taking a soft stance on homosexual behavior. “If a person is gay and seeks God and has goodwill, who am I to judge him?”

Francis also drew the ire of American Catholics in 2021 when he imposed restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass, which sharply contrasted with Pope Benedict XVI, who had loosened restrictions during his pontificate. Many were perplexed because the TLM attracted young Catholics and represented a growing segment of the church worldwide.

Francis regularly waded into American politics. In 2016, he challenged President Donald Trump’s policy of securing the U.S.-Mexico border by celebrating Mass in the border city of Ciudad Juárez.

Hours later, aboard the papal plane, he denounced Trump personally. “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” he said. The irony, which most of us caught, was that he was returning to Vatican City, which has 40-foot walls.

The pope stepped up his criticism earlier this year in a letter to American bishops, knocking Trump’s treatment of migrants and claiming that deportations violate the “dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.”

Before last week’s conclave, the new pontiff criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policy. His final X post before being elected was a retweet of a message from Philadelphia-based Catholic commentator Rocco Palmo, who on April 14 blasted Trump’s agreement with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele regarding the deportation of illegal migrants.

“As Trump & Bukele use Oval to [laugh emoji] Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident… once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC [auxiliary bishop] Evelio [Menjivar] asks, ‘Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?’” the post reads.

The Pope’s old X account @drprevost has been deleted. However, once the honeymoon period is over, Catholics should expect the new Holy Father to wade into politics as Francis did. I suspect Pope Leo will be far more diplomatic and nuanced than his predecessor in the political arena.

Pope Leo must also mend fences with American Catholics who prefer the Traditional Latin Mass. Under Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate, TLM attendance boomed, particularly among young Catholics. The German pontiff loosened restrictions on the old form of liturgy, only to see Francis restrict its practice.

Pope Leo XIV buoyed the hopes of Latin Mass adherents last week when he began his Sunday Angelus message by singing the “Regina Caeli” (Queen of Heaven) in Latin. The new pope has expressed support for the Traditional Latin Mass, emphasizing the importance of maintaining sacred rituals and the Church's rich heritage. His leadership is seen as a continuation of efforts to balance modernity with traditional practices in Catholic worship.

While rebuilding the Holy See’s relationship with the United States must be a top priority for Leo, he has bigger fish to fry. The pope has inherited a financial mess, including a pension time bomb that is worse than expected.

The Vatican has faced significant budget deficits for decades. The recent budget shortfall of $94.22 million and ongoing financial scandals persist despite Francis’s reform efforts.

The 69-year-old Chicago native will also need to grapple with the ongoing homosexual influence within the Vatican and in the American Church, as well as the decline of Catholicism in Europe, and heal worldwide divisions in the wake of Francis’ 12-year pontificate.

Although the media have hyped Pope Leo as a Francis protégé, expect the American pope to operate differently. His decades of service in Latin America, leadership in the Augustinian order, and two years at the Vatican have given him the credibility to implement the reforms the Church has desperately needed for the past two decades.

The challenges facing the new pope may seem impossible, but then again, so was his election.

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



Seventeen centuries ago, bishops from around the known world gathered in Nicaea to affirm and codify the core tenets of the Christian faith. Now, as the anniversary of that defining moment in Christendom approaches, leaders on either side of the Great Schism are preparing to return, drawing East and West closer and renewing hope in the promise of Christian unity.

In the year 325, Emperor Constantine I called over 250 bishops — 318, according to tradition — to convene during the pontificate of Pope Sylvester I in the Bithynian city of Nicaea, 55 miles southeast of present-day Istanbul. It was the largest gathering of bishops in the church's history up until that time.

While the council would ultimately address a number of practical and ecclesiastic matters, it prioritized tackling the Arian heresy, which entailed a rebuke and an affirmation of the divinity of Christ — "God from God, light from light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, of the same substance as the Father, by Whom all things were made" — and setting the date on which to commemorate Jesus' resurrection.

This dogmatic council was of critical importance both then to the unified church and now to Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans, and other Protestants, perhaps most notably for its production of the Nicene Creed — a statement of faith, mutually held as authoritative, that predates both the Chalcedonian schism and the Great Schism.

Pope Leo XIV and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople are making a joint trip to the place where their predecessors met 17 centuries earlier. While various obstacles some figured to be insurmountable still stand in the way of full reunification, the meeting of the Christian leaders on this particular anniversary and the anniversary itself have sparked renewed interest in Christian unity and the ground that the faithful share in common.

Of popes and plans

Prior to his passing, Pope Francis proposed celebrating the 1,700th anniversary with Orthodox leaders in a Nov. 30 letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, who previously indicated a joint trip was expected to happen in late May.

Pope Francis noted in his letter to the patriarch that the Catholic Church's "dialogue with the Orthodox Church has been and continues to be particularly fruitful," yet acknowledged that the "ultimate goal of dialogue, full communion among all Christians, sharing in the one Eucharistic chalice, has not yet been realized with our Orthodox brother and sisters," which "is not surprising, for divisions dating back a millennium, cannot be resolved within a few decades."

'It is good whenever the pope and the patriarch meet.'

Prior to heading back to Toronto from Rome, where he participated in the conclave that elected the new pope, Archbishop Emeritus Thomas Cardinal Collins told Blaze News, "The 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is most important for all Christians, because it was there that the bishops clarified the basic Christian faith in the divinity of Christ. The Nicene Creed, from this council and the next one, in Constantinople a few years later, is still the basic expression of our faith in the Trinity."

RELATED: 2025 will be a landmark year for Christendom — here's why

First Council of Nicaea. Found in the collection of Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kiev. Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

"The division of East and West that occurred much later in 1054 is most unfortunate and has impeded the spread of the gospel," continued Collins. "But the churches of East and West, while having different theological and liturgical styles, recognize one another's apostolic succession and, with a few issues still in dispute, basically agree on doctrine as well. One thing that divides us is historical memories, but increased cooperation has brought some healing there."

'The remembrance of that important event will surely strengthen the bonds that already exist.'

Cardinal Collins noted further that "it is good whenever the pope and the patriarch meet. All Christians, facing so many external dangers, need to work together. The anniversary of Nicaea, which occurred long before the division of East and West, is a perfect opportunity to deepen our knowledge and love for one another, but especially Jesus. The closer we are to Him, the closer we will be to one another."

Pope Francis, then evidently of a similar mind, told Patriarch Bartholomew I that the anniversary would be "another opportunity to bear witness to the growing communion that already exists among all who are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

"This anniversary will concern not only the ancient Sees that took part actively in the Council, but all Christians who continue to profess their faith in the words of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed," wrote Pope Francis. "The remembrance of that important event will surely strengthen the bonds that already exist and encourage all Churches to a renewed witness in today's world."

The interest in a joint trip was evidently mutual.

During a March address in Harbiye, Turkey, Patriarch Bartholomew underscored his desire for a joint celebration of the anniversary, reported the Orthodox Times. He also emphasized the importance of the Council of Nicaea.

"The Council of Nicaea stands as a landmark in the formation of the Church's doctrinal identity and remains the model for addressing doctrinal and canonical challenges on an ecumenical level," said Patriarch Bartholomew.

RELATED: Triumph of Orthodoxy? Why young men are embracing ancient faith

Photo by Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images

Their plans hit a major snag the following month.

Pope Francis died hours after Easter Sunday — the first time the Catholic and Orthodox Churches had celebrated Easter on the same day in eight years.

"He was due to come to our country, and together we would go to Nicaea, where the First Ecumenical Council was convened, to honor the memory of the Holy Fathers and exchange thoughts and wishes for the future of Christianity," Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said in the wake of Pope Francis' passing. "All of this, of course, was canceled — or rather postponed."

'We are preparing it.'

"I believe that his successor will come, and we will go together to Nicaea to send a message of unity, love, brotherhood, and shared path toward the future of Christianity," added the patriarch.

It would not be clear for several days whom the papal conclave would elect as Francis' successor and whether he would have a similar interest in an East-West convention in Nicaea on the anniversary of the council.

The Chicagoan steps up to the plate

Various leaders in the Christian East welcomed the new bishop of Rome following his May 8 election.

Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, among them, expressed hope that Pope Leo XIV will "be a dear brother and collaborator ... for the rapprochement of our churches, for the unity of the whole Christian family, and for the benefit of humankind," reported Vatican News.

Days later, Pope Leo XVI reportedly stated, "The meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will take place; we are preparing it."

When asked about the significance of the joint trip, the likelihood of East-West reunification, and Orthodox interest in such reunification, Fr. Barnabas Powell, a parish priest in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America speaking on his own behalf, told Blaze News, "There is simply no way one can be faithful to Christ and not long for the unity of all Christians."

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

Photo (left): Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu via Getty Images; Photo (right): Simone Risoluti - Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images

"We Orthodox pray for the unity of the churches in every service. Our Archbishop [Elpidophoros of America] has proven by his prayers and actions that he longs for unity," said Fr. Powell. "But unity isn't merely accepting certain propositional proposals. St. Paul said the Church is the bride of Christ, and this profound witness of the identity of the Church is ontologically connected to the mystery of relationship and love. This means we must work to know one another and not merely know about one another."

"This is hard work in light of the tragic centuries we have been apart. But just because something is difficult doesn't mean we shouldn't try," added Fr. Powell.

The Greek Orthodox priest expressed optimism about the joint trip to Nicaea, noting that as the "first Nicaea showed us that we are to gather together to struggle and dialogue through our challenges, so this is the normal Christian discipline for us today."

'I'm not in the odds-making business, but there is certainly justified hope.'

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America notes on its website that the "anniversary celebration brings together Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants to reflect on the enduring significance of Nicaea, fostering conciliarity, dialogue, prayer, and a renewed commitment to the pursuit of Christian unity, echoing the spirit of the first ecumenical council."

Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, told Blaze News that over the past six decades, popes and the patriarchs of Constantinople have been regularly "meeting, praying, and slowly working for restored communion, as have the churches they lead."

Msgr. Landry suggested that "there's no question" that one of Pope Leo XIV's top priorities, "as we celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and move toward the 1000th anniversary of the lamentable split between East and West in 1054, will be to take whatever steps, big or small, that will help the church breathe with both lungs again in communion" — a reference to Pope St. John Paul II's 1995 metaphor of the Western and Eastern churches as two lungs.

Echoing Cardinal Collins and Fr. Powell, Msgr. Landry noted that there remain various obstacles in the way of restoration of full communion — including the date of Easter, the role of the pope, the Filioque controversy, the sacrament of marriage, the respect for the legitimate autonomy of the Eastern churches — but there is nevertheless "a mutual desire for that communion and a mutual humble dependence on God to reveal the path forward."

"I'm not in the odds-making business, but there is certainly justified hope because the issues that divide us are small in comparison to the faith, sacraments, life, and calling that unite us," Msgr. Landry told Blaze News. "We are moving together in the right direction."

In the meantime, he suggested that the ongoing separation "is a scandal that hinders the witness Christians are called to give of God."

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's joint trip to Nicaea with Pope Leo XIV is hardly the only celebration of the anniversary that has brought East and West together.

Earlier this month in Freehold, New Jersey, hierarchs, clergy, seminarians, and faithful from Eastern and Western traditions — including elements of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church in America, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey, the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Passaic, the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Eparchy, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn — participated in an ecumenical prayer service "testifying to the unifying power of the Nicene Creed and the enduring vision of the Council Fathers."

Similar celebrations have been held elsewhere across the world.

The Catholic Church's International Theological Commission stated in a recent publication concerning the Council of Nicaea and the 1,700th anniversary:

The celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is a pressing invitation to the Church to rediscover the treasure entrusted to her and to draw from it so as to share it with joy, with a new impetus, indeed in a "new stage of evangelisation." To proclaim Jesus our Salvation on the basis of the faith expressed at Nicaea, as professed in the Nicene-Constantinople symbol, is first of all to allow ourselves to be amazed by the immensity of Christ, so that all may be amazed, to rekindle the fire of our love for the Lord Jesus, so that all may burn with love for him. Nothing and no one is more beautiful, more life-giving, more necessary than he is."

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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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Church is cool again — and Gen Z men are leading the way



Amid a broader spiritual collapse, one trend stands out: Young men are returning to church in growing numbers. Generation Z, in particular, seeks structure, meaning, and community in a world fractured by chaos and alienation.

For decades, the dominant story in the West told of religion’s slow death. Church attendance dropped year after year, while “nones” — those who reject any religious affiliation — surged. But recent data complicates that narrative, especially among younger Americans.

The return of young men to the church is a cultural reckoning and a budding flower of renewal.

Gen Z remains the least religious generation on record, with 34% identifying as unaffiliated — higher than Millennials (29%) or Gen X (25%). Yet signs of revival are breaking through. One recent survey found that 31% of Gen Z attend religious services at least once a month, while 25% actively practice a faith.

Similar trends are occurring in the United Kingdom. A report by the Bible Society reveals that Catholics now outnumber Anglicans by more than two to one among Generation Z and younger Millennials. In 2018, Anglicans made up 30% of churchgoers ages 18-34, while Catholics accounted for 22%. By 2024, these figures had changed to 20% Anglican and 41% Catholic.

According to the Becket Fund’s 2024 findings, members of Gen Z attending religious services at least monthly rose from 29% in 2022 to 40% in 2024. Similarly, those who consider religion important in their lives increased from 51% to 66% over the same period.

Religious is the new ‘rebellious’

What explains the sudden shift? For generations, youth pushed back against the dominant order, and for much of the 20th century, that order was Christianity. But what happens when Christianity fades, replaced by atheism or whatever postmodern creed happens to be in vogue? The instinct to rebel remains. Only now, the rebellion turns back toward order, tradition, and moral clarity.

For years, legacy media and Hollywood told young men they were disposable — interchangeable, expendable, even dangerous. That narrative failed. And now, young men are driving the revival.

Historically, women filled the pews in greater numbers. But in 2024, that dynamic flipped. According to the Alabama Baptist, 30% of men attended weekly services compared to just 27% of women — a quiet but telling reversal of a long-standing pattern.

Men lead the charge

Traditional, structured worship has become a magnet for young men seeking discipline and meaning. Orthodox and Catholic churches — with their rituals, hierarchy, and deep historical roots — have seen a marked rise in male converts.

A 2022 survey reported a 78% increase in conversions to Orthodoxy since 2019. Catholic dioceses across the country have posted similar gains. From 2023 to 2024, some reported conversion spikes of up to 72%. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles alone welcomed 5,587 people into the Catholic Church this Easter, including 2,786 baptisms at the Easter Vigil — a 34% jump over last year.

But this resurgence goes deeper than doctrine. Churches offer young men what the modern world fails to provide: real community. According to the Barna Group, 67% of churchgoing adults report having a mentor — often someone they met through church. Among Gen Z and Millennials, that number rises to 86% and 83%, respectively.

Small groups and discipleship programs allow young men to wrestle with challenges, seek counsel, and build genuine friendships. These are exactly the structures secular society neglects — and precisely what my generation craves.

Cultural shifts have accelerated the return to faith. The internet may connect everyone digitally, but it often isolates people in the real world. Local churches still offer something screens can’t: brotherhood, accountability, and face-to-face contact. In a culture that demonizes masculinity and treats male virtues as liabilities, the church remains one of the last institutions to honor strength, discipline, and leadership without shame or apology.

A cultural mandate

Many young men today feel discarded by a society that marginalizes their natural instincts and virtues. Christianity offers them something different — a call to action rooted in service, discipline, and brotherhood. It gives them a place where effort matters, strength is welcomed, and belonging isn’t conditional. The need to connect, to matter, and to be respected — long ignored in secular culture — finds real expression in the life of the church.

This return of young men to the pews marks more than a spiritual revival. It’s a cultural reckoning. In many ways, it echoes the moral foundation laid by America’s founders. Though denominationally diverse, the founders agreed that freedom without faith could not last. George Washington said it plainly: “Religion and morality are indispensable supports” to political prosperity.

Today’s young men appear to understand what many in power have forgotten — liberty without virtue cannot endure. As America drifts, a new generation looks not to slogans or screens but to God — for strength, clarity, and the courage to rebuild what has been lost.

Pope Leo XIV: Cubs or White Sox fan?



The election of a new pope is always a time of excitement, anxiety, and anticipation. People ask a million questions. Is he conservative or liberal? Is he pro- or anti-migrants? What are his opinions on global warming? The Latin Mass? Capitalism? Gay marriage? Women’s ordination?

But the election of Chicago native Pope Leo XIV on Thursday raised a question that has never before been asked about a pope: Which baseball team does he support?

'Family always knows best, and it sounds like Pope Leo XIV’s lifelong fandom falls a little closer to 35th and Shields.'

The first-ever American pontiff, the man born Robert F. Prevost spent decades of his life in service to the Order of St. Augustine, in addition to his work in Peru and Rome. He was made a cardinal in 2023 by Pope Francis and was chosen by the College of Cardinals to become the next Holy Father for 1.4 billion Roman Catholics.

Leo XIV certainly won’t be the first sports-loving pope; Pope Francis was well known as an Argentine soccer fan. But never before has a baseball fan occupied the throne of St. Peter.

Which raises the question: Cubs or White Sox?

Well, it depends who you ask. ABC News allegedly declared that he’s Cubs fan. Meanwhile, the pope's brother went on local WGN News to claim Leo for the Sox. WLS-TV claims that he is a fan of both Chicago teams.

Neither of the Windy City rivals seems ready to settle for a tie.

“Congratulations to Pope Leo XIV! Hey Chicago! He’s a Cubs Fan!” the Cubs proclaimed on their official social media.

The White Sox later tweeted, “Well, would you look at that... Congratulations to Chicago's own Pope Leo XIV” and “Hey Chicago, He’s a Sox Fan!”

The Sox later made their case in an official statement:

Family always knows best, and it sounds like Pope Leo XIV’s lifelong fandom falls a little closer to 35th and Shields. Some things are bigger than baseball, but in this case, we’re glad to have a White Sox fan represented at the Vatican. A pinstripes White Sox jersey with his name on it and a hat are already on the way to Rome, and of course, the Pontiff always is welcome at his ballpark.

Fr. Burke Masters, the official chaplain for the Chicago Cubs, celebrated the initial news by asking the pope to celebrate Mass at Wrigley Field and saying, “I’ve had the opportunity to meet him; [what an] incredible human being.” Numerous commentators have even suggested that the Holy Father ought to be invited to throw out the first pitch at a game.

Fellow Chicago native, Cubs fan, and apologist extraordinaire Bishop Robert Barron described Pope Leo as quietly competent, prayerful, and experienced and hopes that the unlikely selection of an American pope will revivify the American church. Unfortunately, he did not mention baseball.

The story also comes amid one of the Chicago Cubs’ best seasons in years. The north-side team currently has the best offense of any team in Major League Baseball, marking the Cubs' best performance since the season after they won the 2016 World Series. They currently have a 22-16 record and are placed first in the NL Central Division.

Maybe if they’re lucky, a papal blessing could net the Cubs their second World Series win this century! Similarly, one could help the White Sox break their current slump of 10-28.

Given the new pope’s quiet temperament and reputation for unity and being conciliatory, he’ll simply say that he loves all of his sports teams equally as a good father does to all his children (except the Brewers …).

Ross Douthat and the New Theism

Twenty years after the new atheism coursed triumphantly across the West, its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar is upon us. No less than Deity-denier Richard Dawkins marked the transmutation last year, via a viral video in which he called himself a hymn-and-small-c-church-loving "cultural Christian." That secular confession tracks with broader reality. God may not exactly be back—the decline in both churchgoing, and church-knowing, trudges on. But tempo, that great imponderable, seems uncannily aligned on the side of the faithful these days, at least in the United States.

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