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."
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"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
“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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Headline after headline has slammed President Donald Trump’s recent wave of pardons, claiming they prove America now operates under a two-tiered justice system. But the outrage is manufactured. These critics want you to forget that Trump was a target of the very system they now accuse him of controlling.
With these pardons, Trump isn’t abusing the justice system — he’s beginning to dismantle the weaponized bureaucracy within it. For years, a corrupt faction inside the Department of Justice has twisted its constitutional mandate to serve the personal and political agendas of activist attorneys and the operatives who influence them. Trump’s actions mark the start of holding that faction accountable.
Government lawyers and law enforcement officials have abused their power for personal ambition and gain. They don’t want the truth. They want trophies.
Don’t take Trump’s word for it. Or mine. Critics across the political spectrum have warned for decades about the potential for the weaponization of criminal law by overzealous prosecutors.
President Bill Clinton told the ladies of “The View” that former FBI Director James Comey used his power and “outside influence” to sway the outcome of the 2016 election.
Two-time Attorney General Bill Barr has warned that prosecutors often turn into “headhunters,” obsessed with taking down targets at any cost. That mindset, he said, leads the Justice Department away from its duty to administer justice fairly and according to clear, consistent legal standards.
Joe Biden himself allowed that his Justice Department “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” individuals — choosing targets based on improper criteria and engaging in “selective prosecution.” He was referring, of course, to the federal case against his son Hunter.
This problem goes far beyond politics. Law enforcement, once politicized, can be turned against anyone. Prosecutors armed with the full force of the federal government can destroy individuals, families, businesses, and entire communities.
As Barr put it, the mere act of launching an investigation can be devastating: “People facing federal investigations incur ruinous legal costs and often see their lives reduced to rubble before a charge is even filed.”
Once you understand how the game works, turning your political or corporate rivals into criminal targets becomes easy.
RELATED: Civil forfeiture turns lives upside down, ruins families — just like mine
In my family’s case, Amazon executives hired a former federal prosecutor to pressure his former colleagues at the Justice Department to go after my husband, a former Amazon employee. Their goal: bring federal charges over an obscure “process” crime — violating internal Amazon employment terms.
The Justice Department never filed charges. The investigation eventually closed. But for four excruciating years, prosecutors used civil forfeiture laws to seize every dollar in our bank accounts. FBI agents raided our home while our babies crawled on the floor in diapers. Prosecutors threatened our family members with criminal charges in a scheme to force my husband into pleading guilty to a lie.
We sold our house. We lost our jobs. We spent years in court just to “prove” what was always true: My husband had complied with his employment contract.
The Chrisley family knows this drill, too. After President Trump pardoned Todd Chrisley, his daughter, Savannah, revealed that law enforcement explicitly wrote that they needed a “big fish” — and the Chrisleys were the “biggest fish” in Atlanta. For many prosecutors, a high-profile conviction is just a stepping stone to a cushy law firm job and a seven-figure salary.
My family made it through. So did the Chrisleys. But plenty of Americans are still “in the hunt,” as prosecutors like to say.
Greg Lindberg is one of them. A self-made entrepreneur, Lindberg built a network of insurance companies that employed more than 7,000 people. His mistake? Supporting the wrong candidate for North Carolina insurance commissioner. After the election, the winning candidate got to work, with help from the FBI and Justice Department, setting a trap that would ensnare Lindberg in a manufactured bribery scheme.
Prosecutors took the Lindberg case to court on charges built on lies. As Barr warned, they became obsessed with “getting their guy.” Even after the Fourth Circuit vacated the bogus conviction, the U.S. attorney refused to back down. He threatened Lindberg with new charges and a staggering 540-month sentence, knowing Lindberg was financially drained and couldn’t afford to fight.
This wasn’t just a campaign to destroy one man. The fallout has devastated thousands of families across North Carolina. Lindberg’s insurance companies, once solvent, are now failing. People are out of work. Why? Because the same commissioner who targeted Lindberg handed control to a group of handpicked receivers — politically connected insiders with no accountability.
RELATED: Trump’s blanket pardons offer hope and healing
Those receivers didn’t just take over Lindberg’s insurance businesses. They seized more than 100 companies. They’ve collected tens of millions in fees while leaving policyholders in limbo and small businesses without payouts. The result? Lost jobs, ruined livelihoods, and a crisis that didn’t begin with Greg Lindberg — it began with the government.
Lindberg is still fighting to clear his name. So are others.
Decorated NYPD veteran and 9/11 hero Michael McMahon now faces prison on the bizarre charge that he spied for China — for $5,000. Trail runner Michael Sunseri could spend six months in jail for breaking a speed record in Grand Teton National Park, on a trail thousands have used before — except the government says it was “off-limits” in his case.
How is this justice?
Government lawyers and law enforcement officials have abused their power for personal ambition and gain. They don’t want the truth. They want trophies. And until that changes, President Trump should keep using his pardon power boldly, unapologetically, and often.
Because the real two-tiered justice system isn’t a myth. It’s the scoreboard — and it’s long past time to even it.
The Supreme Court ruled in June 2023 that the University of North Carolina's race-based admissions processes could not be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Between the time of the high court's decision and the Trump administration's clampdown on federally funded schools with racist policies and programs, the UNC System has taken a number of actions to dismantle its DEI regime.
For instance, the UNC System's board of governors voted in May 2024 to repeal and replace its policy requiring DEI at all public universities in the state; the university system eliminated scores of DEI-related jobs in September; and the system took further action to eliminate vestigial elements of its DEI regime to comply with the Trump administration's requirements.
The dean of students at UNC Asheville recently revealed to an undercover journalist that despite the appearance of compliance, DEI still haunts the institution. Megan Pugh, co-author of chapters in the book "The Black Professional Guide to College Student Affairs" was, however, swiftly terminated following her admission.
'So we've renamed, we've reorganized, we've recalibrated.'
In the footage captured by the conservative watchdog outfit Accuracy in Media, the undercover journalist tells Pugh, "I'm so glad that you guys are still doing equity work."
"I mean, we probably still do anyway, but you know ... gotta keep it quiet," responded Pugh. "I love breaking rules."
RELATED: DEI run amok? Secret Service 'cat fight' outside Obama home raises questions
Pugh, who claims in her LinkedIn bio to "center the teachings of black, queer, feminist scholars as well as other BIPOC thought leaders in my leadership, advocacy, and student engagement practices," appears to suggest that the elimination of the DEI office on campus made it "easier to maintain" and that they will continue until "they get mad at us — but they haven't done it yet."
When asked whether the school is supportive of her efforts, Pugh answered in the affirmative.
Pugh suggested that while they have not engaged in implicit bias training since the spring, her "hope and intention is that we can still incorporate those things, like, even sort of under a broader banner of, like, I don't know. I guess we'll see where it fits, but I try to include those things wherever I can."
Last month, Accuracy in Media published additional undercover footage that shows University of North Carolina at Charlotte assistant director of leadership and community engagement Janique Sanders — who received a certification in "anti-racism" from the school — similarly suggest that DEI activities were alive and well at UNC.
In the video, the undercover journalist asks Sanders whether "equity work is still happening." Sanders responds, "So we've renamed, we've reorganized, we've recalibrated, so to speak ... because language changes, right? But the people who have to be in the presence of, and in the space, don't change."
"I think that the guise that we're using in some regard is like leadership — in order to lead diverse groups of people, you have to know about diverse groups of people," continued Sanders. "We don't have to call them 'diverse groups of people.' We can just say that everybody has different stocks of knowledge."
"If you're looking for, like, a outward DEI position, not going to happen," said Sanders. "But if you are interested in doing work that is covert, there are opportunities."
'It's time to clean house at the university level.'
The university has cut ties with both Sanders and Pugh.
UNC Asheville spokesman Brian Hart said in a statement to the Raleigh News & Observer that the university is "aware of a video in which an employee makes comments implying that the University does not comply with UNC System policies or legal requirements and supports employees disregarding such obligations."
"These remarks do not represent the practices of UNC Asheville," continued Hart. "The University remains firmly committed to upholding all UNC System policies as well as federal and state laws, both in principle and in practice."
Hart noted further that "following a prompt review of the matter," Pugh "is no longer employed by the university."
Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) told Fox News Digital, "The UNC System has made a good faith effort to get rid of DEI, but obviously the word has not reached the ears of UNC Asheville’s administration."
"Dean Pugh is a picture-perfect example of how entrenched this caustic ideology really is within postsecondary education. It's time to clean house at the university level and cast out personnel who believe they can act with blatant impunity," added Foxx.
The efforts to preserve DEI on campus are not subversive only because of their ban by the UNC System but because they are, in practice, divisive and counterproductive.
A study published in November by the Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University concluded that "while purporting to combat bias, some anti-oppressive DEI narratives can engender a hostile attribution bias and heighten racial suspicion, prejudicial attitudes, authoritarian policing, and support for punitive behaviors in the absence of evidence for a transgression deserving punishment."
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A 16-year-old student was suspended from Central Davidson High School in Lexington, North Carolina, last year for uttering the term "illegal alien" during a vocabulary lesson in English class. In addition to his temporary removal, Christian McGhee was effectively characterized as a racist for making what the school's vice principal Eric Anderson claimed was a "racially insensitive remark that caused a class disturbance."
The class environment that McGhee returned to was apparently so hostile — rife with bullying and threats — that his parents had to take him out of school. According to the Liberty Justice Center, the firm that sued the Davidson County Board of Education on McGhee's behalf alleging violations of his First and 14th Amendment rights, the minor ended up completing the semester through a homeschooling program.
'School officials have effectively fabricated a racial incident out of thin air.'
Court documents obtained by the Carolina Journal reveal that the school board is now willing to concede that the teen's language in class — language used by Congress, the North Carolina General Assembly, and the U.S. Supreme Court — wasn't racist after all and to pay up.
McGhee's lawsuit claimed that on April 9, 2024, the teen was permitted to use the restroom during English class. Upon his return, he found the class engaged in discussion where the word "aliens" came up. The lawsuit claimed that McGhee asked for clarification on the type of aliens being referenced — whether "space aliens or illegal aliens who need green cards."
A Hispanic student subsequently joked that he was going to "kick [McGhee's] ass."
Both teens were later hauled into Anderson's office. The complaint alleged that when the Hispanic teen told Anderson he was not offended, the vice principal intimated that he should be, noting McGhee's words "were a big deal."
McGhee was ultimately suspended and notified that "there shall be no right to an appeal of the principal's decision to impose a short term suspension (10 days or less) to the Superintendent or Board of Education."
Dean McGee, senior counsel for educational freedom at the Liberty Justice Center, stated after filing the lawsuit last year, "School officials have effectively fabricated a racial incident out of thin air and branded our client as a racist without even giving him an opportunity to appeal."
Nearly a year into the legal battle, the school board blinked.
'Through your reckless attempt to slander my name, you have successfully re-traumatized my family.'
A Friday court filing indicates that the DCBE and the McGhee family have reached a settlement which, if approved by the judge, will have the school board publicly apologize to the teen and fork over $20,000 in compensation to resolve the litigation. The Carolina Journal indicated that the compensation is supposed to help the family with the cost of the teen's new private school.
While the DCBE maintains that the suspension was appropriate due to class disruption, it also agreed to "remove any reference to race or racial bias as a motive for the comments from his educational record, which contains no other incidences of discipline related to racial bias," said the court documents.
Additionally, the DCBE acknowledged "the inappropriate response to this matter by a sitting member," apparently referencing former school board member Ashley Carroll's reported smear of the teen's mother online.
Leah McGhee, the plaintiff's mother, alleged last year that despite hearing nothing back from school officials about the possibility of an appeal, "two board members did choose to send messages to county leaders and residents with my personal arrest record from 14 years ago and encourage them to post this on social media."
Leah McGhee noted further that the posts allegedly shared online by board members Carroll and Alan Beck omitted mention of her reintegration into society and her work since helping people with addiction.
"Through your reckless attempt to slander my name, you have successfully re-traumatized my family," said Leah McGhee. "Your weak attempt to assault my character has failed, but your malicious character has been highlighted. It is my opinion that two members on this board are highly corrupt."
Carroll resigned in April after being charged with DWI after getting into a car crash that reportedly injured a teen student in the district. Her departure may account for why the settlement references only a confidential apology from a single board member over Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
"On Friday, we filed a motion asking the court to approve a settlement that would resolve this matter," Dean McGee told the Carolina Journal. "Because Christian is a minor, a court hearing is required before the settlement can become final. We'll have more to say after that hearing, but we're pleased to take this important step toward clearing our client's name."
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With public trust in elections teetering on the brink, President Donald Trump's Department of Justice targeted North Carolina's voter roll failures over a long-ignored alleged discrepancy.
In March, the president signed an executive order to preserve and protect America's elections. In that action, he noted that states must maintain accurate voter rolls under the Help America Vote Act.
'We are still reviewing the complaint, but the failure to collect the information required by HAVA has been well documented.'
On Tuesday, the DOJ moved to carry out Trump's commitment by filing a lawsuit against the state and the North Carolina State Board of Elections, claiming that the parties had violated HAVA.
The lawsuit argued that North Carolina failed to require voter applicants to provide their driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number on the state's voter registration form. The state is mandated to assign a unique number for individuals who do not provide either. However, that allegedly did not always happen.
"Voters were then added to the State's voter registration roll without the required information, and many of these voters remain on the registration rolls without it," the DOJ stated in Tuesday's press release.
A previous state elections board with a Democratic majority admitted the issue in 2023 and revised the form. However, the board failed to reach out to voters registered since 2004 to correct missing identification numbers before the 2024 elections.
The DOJ's lawsuit claimed that the missing information was instead collected as voters appeared at polling locations. It is unclear how many records still have not been updated.
The Trump administration has requested that the judge allow North Carolina a 30-day deadline to form a plan to update the missing information.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division stated, "Accurate voter registration rolls are critical to ensure that elections in North Carolina are conducted fairly, accurately, and without fraud."
"The Department of Justice will not hesitate to file suit against jurisdictions that maintain inaccurate voter registration rolls in violation of federal voting laws," he added.
RELATED: Arizona to purge up to 50,000 noncitizens from voter rolls in election integrity win
This month, Republicans took control of the elections board.
North Carolina State Board Executive Director Sam Hayes responded to the DOJ's lawsuit, stating that he was "only recently notified of this action."
"We are still reviewing the complaint, but the failure to collect the information required by HAVA has been well documented. Rest assured that I am committed to bringing North Carolina into compliance with federal law," Hayes said.
He added that the board updated the state's voter registration form in January 2024.
Hayes stated, "The State Board and county boards of elections will work diligently to ensure all voters are properly registered and have provided the necessary personal information to comply with state and federal laws."
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Getting to the point where the NCSBE is willing to correct its mistakes has been a fairly long process, and one that saw roadblocks put up by the previous Democrat majority on the board.
Same-day registration has become a way to flood the zone with mystery voters — officials lack the time to validate registrations.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) over its failure to maintain an accurate voter list and require that those registering to vote provide proper identification. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, states that the NCSBE is in violation of the Help America Vote Act, a […]
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