Vice President JD Vance will attend Pope Leo XIV&#8217;s inaugural Mass on Sunday at the Vatican, his office announced.
&#8220;Vice President JD Vance will lead a U.S. Delegation to Vatican City to attend the inaugural Mass of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV,&#8221; the vice president&#8217;s office said in a statement Thursday.
Second Lady Usha Vance will accompany her husband, and so will Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his wife Jeanette Rubio. Rubio is also a Catholic.
Vance is the first Catholic convert to serve as vice president, his office noted. He met with the late Pope Francis on Easter Sunday, the day before the pontiff died at age 88.
Back in 2013, Joe Biden, then vice president and also a Catholic, led the delegation to Pope Francis&#8217; inaugural mass.
Pope Leo XIV, who is 69, was elected the first American pope by the conclave of cardinals on May 8.
Leo, who was previously Cardinal Robert Prevost, was born in Chicago and spent much of his priesthood in Peru until 2023, when he was made a cardinal by Pope Francis.
Francis made Prevost the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the Vatican official responsible for recommending priests to be made bishops around the world.
Prevost has been strong on Church doctrine, but he is seen as a centrist on political issues.
In February, before becoming pope, Leo <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-leo-twitter-x-trump-vance-criticism-9c311123985ebce282877071f75b6d80" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appears</a> to have shared an article on X from a Catholic outlet with the headline, &#8220;Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn&#8217;t ask us to rank our love for others.&#8221;
The new pope has also previously <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/15/vp-jd-vance-rubio-to-attend-inaugural-mass-of-pope-leo-xiv/83644101007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared</a> several posts critical of the Trump administration&#8217;s immigration policy.
Despite any political differences, President Trump offered a congratulatory message after Leo was announced as the new pope.
“Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114473380014194441" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on Truth Social.
Trump also attended Francis’ funeral in Rome last month.
Vance congratulated the new pope the day he was elected.
&#8220;Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election! I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!&#8221; Vance <a href="https://x.com/JDVance/status/1920550545061810261" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on X.
During his last visit, Vance and his wife and children attended the Passion of Christ Mass celebrated by a cardinal marking Good Friday at St. Peter&#8217;s Basilica.

U.S. Vice President James David Vance, along with his wife

JD Vance To Attend Pope Leo XIV’s Inaugural Mass In Rome

JD Vance To Attend Pope Leo XIV's Inaugural Mass In Rome

Catholic

Catholic Church

JD Vance

Pope Leo

Religion

World

&#8220;The View&#8221; host Sunny Hostin, who criticized the newly-elected Pope Leo XIV on Friday because his views on marriage and the LGBTQ+ community aligned with the Catholic Church&#8217;s traditional teachings, appeared to reverse course after learning that he had black heritage.
Hostin, who has often touted her own &#8220;devout&#8221; Catholic faith in spite of her support for abortion and other social issues not embraced by the Church, said it was a &#8220;chef&#8217;s kiss&#8221; moment when she&#8217;d learned that Pope Leo XIV — formerly known as Cardinal Robert Prevost from Chicago — had &#8220;Haitian and black roots.&#8221;
WATCH:
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After denouncing him last week, The View&#8217;s race baiter, Sunny Hostin does a 180-flip-flop on Pope Leo once she found out of his black ancestry: 
&#8220;As it turns out, our new American pope has Haitian and black roots! So, we actually have a black pope! &#8230; It&#8217;s a chef&#8217;s kiss for me… <a href="https://t.co/EYzfI7jbYR">pic.twitter.com/EYzfI7jbYR</a>
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1921981640072364101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;There&#8217;s one other thing that&#8217;s also very interesting to me because President Trump, as you remember, called Haiti a certain type of country,&#8221; Hostin began, recalling Trump&#8217;s assertions that Haiti was a &#8220;s***hole country.&#8221;
&#8220;As it turns out, our new American pope has Haitian and black roots! So, we actually have a black pope! Apparently — it&#8217;s like a chef&#8217;s kiss for me — so apparently both of his maternal grandparents are described as black, Haitian, or mulatto in several census documents. And on their marriage license, his birth — the grandfather&#8217;s birthplace is Haiti, listed as Haiti, her birthplace is listed as born in New Orleans. They were identified as people of color, but in 1920 when they migrated to Chicago, the census reflected their race as white.&#8221;
&#8220;So I&#8217;m loving everything about this new pope,&#8221; cohost Ana Navarro interjected.
&#8220;So, I’m loving it. I’m really enjoying it,&#8221; Hostin agreed. &#8220;And it’s good to have a black pope!&#8221;
Just three days earlier, during Friday&#8217;s broadcast of the ABC midday talk show, Hostin raised her concerns about Pope Leo XIV — primarily citing his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/catholic-hosts-of-the-view-were-hoping-for-a-new-pope-who-was-less-catholic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previous statements</a> about the LGBTQ+ community.
&#8220;I’m a little concerned about this choice for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2012, he gave an address to bishops, and he lamented ‘the popular culture fostered and sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel.’ And that’s a quote,” she complained. “And then he cited the homosexual lifestyle and alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.&#8221;

The View’s “Behind The Table” Podcast

Flip-Flop: ‘The View’ Host Approves Of New Pope After Learning He Has Black Ancestry

Flip-Flop: 'The View' Host Approves Of New Pope After Learning He Has Black Ancestry

Media

Politics

Race

Sunny Hostin

The View

There&#8217;s quite a mystery unfolding right now at the highest levels of one of the largest churches on the planet. And it&#8217;s a pretty confounding question: Where exactly is the archbishop of Canterbury, the senior bishop of the Church of England? No one has any idea. To be clear, this isn&#8217;t a missing persons case. The post has been vacant for more than four months. And yet, to this day, the position still hasn&#8217;t been filled. As of May 12th, 2025, there is still no archbishop of Canterbury. And at least on paper, this is something of a head-scratcher. Here you have a Protestant church with something like 26 million baptized members all over the world, and hundreds of thousands of active members, by some estimates. It&#8217;s known as the &#8220;mother church of the Anglican tradition.&#8221; And yet, as of right now, there&#8217;s no clarity whatsoever as to when they&#8217;ll pick a new archbishop to lead the church.
There doesn&#8217;t seem to be any urgency, either. Lawyers are <a href="https://anglican.ink/2025/05/08/process-to-elect-next-archbishop-of-canterbury-an-omnishambles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> getting involved for one reason or another. The latest estimate is that it&#8217;ll be several more weeks, at a minimum, until the Church of England decides who&#8217;s in charge. And it&#8217;s not as if this vacancy was a surprise. The previous archbishop didn&#8217;t die suddenly or anything like that. Instead, it was announced months in advance that the archbishop would resign, before he finally stepped down in January. But here we are. It&#8217;s now May, and the church of England still has no archbishop.
The contrast with the Catholic Church, especially after the election of Pope Leo the 14th, could not be any more clear. On the one hand, you have total dysfunction and chaos among the Anglicans. On the other, the Catholics had a new pope two days after the conclave started. When Pope Francis died, everyone heard about it. People flooded into Rome from all over the world. And when his successor was selected, there were celebrations all over the globe. Meanwhile, almost no one has even realized that there isn&#8217;t an archbishop of Canterbury anymore. In fact, if you ask a random person on the street about the archbishop of Canterbury, there&#8217;s a very good chance that no one will have any idea what you&#8217;re talking about.
One of the reasons for this distinction is that, for quite some time, the Anglicans have been effectively leaderless, even when they&#8217;ve had an archbishop. The monarchs in England stopped caring about religion, and their bishops don&#8217;t really have the authority to do anything. So in response, they became &#8220;progressive&#8221; in a desperate bid for relevance that obviously hasn&#8217;t panned out. The Anglicans tied their fortunes to the King&#8217;s power back in the days of Henry the 8th. But once that power waned, they had no answer whatsoever. We&#8217;re left now with a very trendy church &#8212; one that supports gay marriage and so-called LGBT clergy &#8212; that also has few core guiding principles, no real authority, and ultimately no archbishop. The Church of England became liberal to win over the liberals, but in the end, the liberals don&#8217;t care. And in the process, they&#8217;ve lost the conservatives, too. So now, no one even notices the fact that, for several months, there has been no archbishop of Canterbury.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1594-the-left-discovered-the-new-pope-is-actually-catholic-and-they-re-horrified?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a>
Billions of people noticed the lack of a pope, though, because the pope actually stands for something. In particular, he&#8217;s the successor of Saint Peter and the vicar of Christ, whose responsibility includes teaching and interpreting Catholic doctrine. And in the Catholic church, unlike the Church of England, doctrine does not change on a moment&#8217;s notice. It isn&#8217;t revised because trans activists or feminists or corporate overlords start screeching at maximum volume. The doctrine remains consistent because it&#8217;s not a response to political demands. It&#8217;s not beholden to polls or media pressure. This is one of the reasons why people care about the identity of the pope. It&#8217;s why they notice when the papacy becomes vacant. When you teach the word of God instead of reading the latest talking points from the Human Rights Campaign, people pay a lot more attention.
Or at least, most people pay attention. Not everyone seems to understand the implications of the selection of Pope Leo, or the point of the papacy in general. And in particular, at the moment, there appears to be a genuine panic among the media and LGBT activists about the very unsettling and incomprehensible prospect that the new pope might actually be Catholic, if you can imagine that. They&#8217;re &#8220;unearthing&#8221; some of the pope&#8217;s previous comments on same-sex relationships and abortion, for example. And they can&#8217;t believe what they&#8217;re seeing.
Here&#8217;s the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/09/pope-leo-xiv-lgbtq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guardian&#8217;s reporting</a> on the dismay that&#8217;s now supposedly rampant among Catholics: &#8220;After years of sympathetic and inclusive comments from Pope Francis, LGBTQ+ Catholics expressed concern on Thursday about hostile remarks made more than a decade ago by Father Robert Prevost, the new Pope Leo the 14th, in which he condemned what he called the &#8216;homosexual lifestyle&#8217; and &#8216;the redefinition of marriage&#8217; as &#8216;at odds with the Gospel.&#8217; In a 2012 address to the world synod of bishops, the man who now leads the church said that &#8216;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.'&#8221;
Over at &#8220;The View,&#8221; self-described &#8220;devout Catholic&#8221; Sunny Hostin offered her expert analysis of these comments. She begins by explaining that she thinks papal conclaves are &#8220;exciting&#8221; because of the whole white smoke/black smoke thing. And then she articulates her greatest fear about the new pope. Watch:
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Purported &quot;devout Catholic&quot; Sunny Hostin fears Pope Leo XIV because of he believes marriage is between a man and a woman: &quot;I&#39;m a little concerned about this choice for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2012 he gave an address to bishops, and he lamented &#39;the popular culture fostered and… <a href="https://t.co/HirlDlUQyq">pic.twitter.com/HirlDlUQyq</a>
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1920861014561530227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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As a general rule, if you&#8217;re a Catholic in public life &#8212; especially one who delivers opinions and analysis every day &#8212; nobody should be surprised to learn that you are a Catholic. Your Catholicism should be evident in your worldview, politics, ideology, et cetera. But you would never know that people like Sunny Hostin are &#8220;Catholic&#8221; based on what they say and do every day. Therefore, she has to declare that, contrary to all outward appearances, she is indeed a &#8220;devout Catholic.&#8221; Even though she rejects essentially all of the fundamental moral teachings of the Catholic church &#8212; two years ago, she was <a href="https://x.com/NickFondacaro/status/1633500417698181121" target="_blank" rel="noopener">demanding</a> female priests &#8212; that&#8217;s not important. The important thing is that Sunny Hostin likes looking for the white smoke, and gets really excited during the conclaves. And based on her experience getting excited during conclaves, Sunny Hostin wants you to know that she&#8217;s very concerned about this new pope&#8217;s previous comments on gay marriage.
That&#8217;s when we heard from Ana Navarro, who describes herself as a &#8220;sinful Catholic&#8221; &#8212; as opposed to all the other Catholics apparently. And for her part, Navarro tried to calm Sunny Hostin down by explaining that the pope&#8217;s comments were from all the way back in 2012. And that&#8217;s plenty of time for fundamental church teachings to change, she says. Watch:
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Self-described &quot;sinful&quot; Catholic Ana Navarro points out that what Hostin was quoting was from 2012, and she hopes Leo has changed his mind about Catholic doctrine: &quot;Maybe, you know, with the weight of the papacy and the idea that he just said when he went out on the balcony that… <a href="https://t.co/8hbcaAVYwS">pic.twitter.com/8hbcaAVYwS</a>
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/1920862957065421147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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This is one of the better ways of illustrating why no one cares about the missing archbishop of Canterbury. In the Church of England, what Ana Navarro just said is totally plausible. Anglicans could very well change their fundamental positions in a matter of years.
But in the Catholic church, it&#8217;s a very different story. Of course this pope isn&#8217;t going to abolish 2,000 years of moral teaching for the sake of &#8220;accepting&#8221; LGBT lifestyles and validating LGBT &#8220;marriages.&#8221; And Pope Francis, for all the talk of his liberalism and his softer &#8220;tone&#8221; on these issues, didn&#8217;t do that either. Ana Navarro seems to think he did, but she&#8217;s wrong. Francis didn&#8217;t change church doctrine on gay marriage in any way. The church teaches, and has always taught, that the homosexual lifestyle is disordered and mortally sinful. Marriage can only occur between one man and one woman. Gay marriage is a contradiction in terms. There can&#8217;t be a gay marriage for the same reason that there can&#8217;t be a square circle. This is church teaching, whether the &#8220;devout Catholics&#8221; in the media like it or not.
At the moment, no one in the corporate press seems to realize that. Neither do many LGBT activists or academics, including people who describe themselves as Catholics. NBC News, for example, just ran this <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/pope-leo-xiv-lgbtq-catholics-francis-legacy-acceptance-rcna205690" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quote</a> from someone named Jason Steidl Jack, who identifies as a &#8220;gay Catholic and an assistant teaching professor of religious studies at St. Joseph’s University, New York.&#8221; Here&#8217;s what he had to say: “The church’s teaching, even under Pope Francis, remains incredibly homophobic, and the church goes on inventing new ways of being transphobic as it really avoids learning about trans people and their experiences.&#8221;
Again, this is a professor of religious studies at a supposedly Catholic university. And he&#8217;s openly rejecting some of the most fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church. In fact, he&#8217;s not just rejecting these teachings. He&#8217;s calling them hateful and ignorant. Of course, you can have that perspective. It&#8217;s a free country. This isn&#8217;t Canada or North Korea. You can mock whatever you want to mock, as long as Democrats don&#8217;t control the Justice Department. But I&#8217;ll make this as clear as I possibly can: If you publicly denounce fundamental tenets of the Catholic faith, then you&#8217;re not a Catholic. If you represent yourself as Catholic, for the purposes of speaking to NBC News or teaching a class at a Catholic university, even as you deny the teachings of Christ, then you are a fraud.
What we&#8217;re seeing with this panic over Pope Leo is precisely the reason why progressives can never actually be devout Catholics or devout members of any other ancient faith, for that matter. They can&#8217;t even be devout, patriotic Americans. They want to corrupt and destroy every institution that has existed for more than about 15 minutes. They deny timeless moral truths in principle. They despise tradition. They reject the wisdom of our ancestors. They believe that basically everyone who lived on Earth (and certainly every Catholic leader and theologian) has been wrong about essentially everything. They think that they alone hold the truths of the universe that nobody before them could see. If they are devoted disciples of any church, it is the Church of the Self. There is plenty of room for people like this in the Church of England, where nothing means anything, to the point that they don&#8217;t care if the archbishop disappears for half a year. But there cannot be room for people like this in the Catholic Church. For all his mistakes, the previous pope understood that. And based on these newly &#8220;unearthed&#8221; comments from Pope Leo &#8212; and the resulting howls from Left-wing activists &#8212; Catholics can be assured at the moment that the new pope understands it, too.

The Left Discovered The New Pope Is Actually Catholic And They’re Horrified

Leftists

LGBT

Liberals

Matt Walsh

Opinion

The world eagerly awaits details about the newly elected Pope Leo XIV, who made history for being the first pontiff to hail from the United States.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, was born in Chicago, and according to one family member, he spent his leisure time doing two things that many Americans will instantly recognize. Pope Leo’s brother, John Provost, said that the newest head of the Catholic Church enjoys playing Wordle and just watched the Academy Award-winning film, “Conclave.”
“First we do Wordle ‘cause this is a regular thing, then we do Words with Friends,” John <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@nbcnews/video/7502211263188225326?_r=1&amp;_t=ZP-8wCYrET9bMl">told</a> NBC News. “It’s something to keep his mind off life in the real world.&#8221;
He continued, referencing the red socks that Catholic cardinals are traditionally required to wear.
 &#8220;And then we talk about what’s going on and I said, ‘Well, do you have your red socks?’ That doesn&#8217;t go over well all the time. And then just that kind of stuff.&#8221;
“And I said, ‘Well are you ready for this?’ I said, ‘Did you watch the movie ‘Conclave’ so you know how to behave?” John said. “And he had just finished watching the movie ‘Conclave.’ So he knew how to behave. So it’s that kind of stuff because I wanted to take his mind off of it. You know, laugh about something because this is now an awesome responsibility.”
“Conclave,” directed by Edward Berger and starring Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, is a political thriller that explores the process of electing a new pope following the sudden death of the previous pontiff. It’s based on a 2016 thriller novel by the same name. 
In the film, the College of Cardinals convenes within the Vatican, and Lawrence uncovers hidden scandals and power struggles among the leading candidates, including revelations of corruption and personal indiscretions. 
Some practicing Catholics have <a href="https://www.missiodeicatholic.org/p/why-as-catholics-we-should-not-support">called the film</a> “blasphemous,” saying it “misaligns with our values” and “mocks the church.”
The real-life conclave began on Wednesday and concluded on Thursday, with Prevost selected as pope. He appeared before the assembled crowd in St. Peter’s Square on Thursday, addressing them in both Italian and Spanish.
&#8220;We still keep in our ears that weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis blessing Rome,&#8221; Pope Leo said. &#8220;The Pope who blessed Rome gave his blessing to the world, to the whole world that morning on Easter Sunday.&#8221;

Pope Leo Recently Watched The Movie ‘Conclave,’ His Brother Says

Pope Leo Watched The Movie 'Conclave,' His Brother Claims

American-born Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost is chosen as the next pope, the Trump administration signs a trade deal with the United Kingdom, and a Daily Wire investigation uncovers fraud in an African Aid group.
It’s Friday, May 9, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
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If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
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<h2>A New Pope</h2>
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Topline: The world has a new pope – the first American in history — Pope Leo XIV.
A new pope was named on Thursday. Cardinal Robert Prevost, a Chicago native, was elected pope on the second day of the conclave. Leo XIV, the Church&#8217;s 267th pope, will lead 1.4 billion Catholics around the world.
Pope Leo appeared visibly emotional as he appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and addressed the massive crowd in the square.
“Peace be with you all! Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the resurrected Christ, the good shepherd who has given up his life for God, and I should also like this greeting of peace to enter our hearts and your families and to all those people wherever they are. All peoples throughout the world, peace be with you.”
Leo was born in the United States, but spent much of his priesthood in Peru. He became Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru for eight years until 2023, when he was made a cardinal by Pope Francis. He also led the Augustinian Order. Francis then made Prevost the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops — this means he was a Vatican official responsible for recommending priests to be made bishops around the world. Prevost was not considered the most likely cardinal to become pope, but Vatican officials are often considered for the position.
Pope Leo has been strong on Church doctrine, but he has overall been seen as a centrist on political issues.
<h2>Trump Secures U.K. Trade Deal</h2>
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Topline: President Donald Trump announced a trade agreement with the United Kingdom on Thursday, and the markets responded well amid hope of more trade deals to come.
Ever since President Trump rolled out his Liberation Day tariffs, he’s promised that U.S. trading partners would come to the negotiating table and that deals would follow — and on Thursday, we saw the first such deal. The president announced a “full and comprehensive” trade agreement to “cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come.”
&#8220;This morning, I&#8217;m thrilled to announce that we have reached a breakthrough trade deal with the United Kingdom,” Trump said. “Today is a victory day in World War II, we won the war together, so there could be no more perfect morning to reach this historic agreement.”
The president held firm on the ten percent universal tariff he put in place last month, but did offer concessions elsewhere –  for example, he agreed to lower the tariff on British automobiles from 27.5% to 10%, while the rate for steel and aluminum will fall to zero.
For their part, the British agreed to open their markets to American ethanol, beef, and poultry — the White House said that means billions of dollars in new profits for our farmers and ranchers. They also agreed to purchase $10 billion of Boeing airplanes in exchange for the elimination of U.S. tariffs on Rolls-Royce engines and plane parts. Tech stocks skyrocketed when it was announced that the Brits would also eliminate a digital tax on American tech companies.
Trump hinted that he was “very close” on “numerous deals,” adding that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would be heading to Switzerland for negotiations with China. He also made sure to note that, rather than taking a piecemeal approach with the rest of Europe, he’s working on a single comprehensive deal with all of the EU – but the president also suggested that future deals would be unlikely to lower tariffs to the same degree.
<h2>Fraud Uncovered In African Aid</h2>
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Topline: A new Daily Wire investigation uncovers how one government agency went to great lengths to block a DOGE audit.
The African Development Foundation was deemed a resistance hero by the media for stonewalling DOGE auditors, including locking their doors. A small federal agency with 30 employees and a $45 million budget, by law, the foundation is tasked with giving grants of up to $250,000 for economic development in Africa, and it’s only allowed to give to African-run entities.
Employees at the African Development Foundation refused to let DOGE in, and said they wouldn’t recognize Trump’s appointee to lead it – Peter Moracco, who was also dismantling USAID. They also filed a lawsuit claiming DOGE was intruding on their privacy. Ultimately, the Trump administration seized the building with the assistance of U.S. Marshals.
A Daily Wire investigation found that the African Development Foundation would give money to African organizations and then require them to redirect that money back to the United States to pay officials, their friends, or former employers. Americans who worked at the headquarters of this agency in D.C. were wired money from African entities.
“I literally have a receipt for $17,000 from Kenya to a woman who was working as the assistant to the African Development Foundation’s CEO,” Daily Wire Investigative Reporter Luke Rosiak told Morning Wire. “The CEO, CD Glin, would actually push unwanted projects on Africans as a way of steering money to his friends. In one case, they told African groups that they’d give a grant to manufacture COVID masks, but they had to subcontract it to Glin’s friend in Colorado. The African groups said there’s no demand for that, we already have all the COVID masks we need, but Glin didn’t care.”
USAID inspector general agents suspect that at least some of the refusal to cooperate with DOGE was an attempt to cover up criminal conduct. The African Development Foundation’s chief financial officer, Matthieu Zahui, repeatedly steered about a million dollars in grants and contracts to an African company called Ganiam Ltd. without competition. One of them was for “travel” during COVID, when international travel dropped precipitously. USAID IG seized Zahui’s phone and found that Ganiam was owned by Zahui’s friend, and every time he gave it a contract, the friend sent money to Zahui’s personal bank account. But Zahui was never arrested.

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Morning Brief: A New Pope, Trump Secures U.K. Trade Deal & Fraud Uncovered In African Aid

Africa

Christianity

Morning Wire

trade

United Kingdom

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected the new pope of the Catholic Church on Thursday afternoon.
Prevost will take the name Pope Leo XIV.
Prevost, 69, was born in Chicago and is the first American pope and the Church&#8217;s 267th pope. He will lead the world&#8217;s 1.4 billion Catholics.
He appeared visibly emotional as he appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and addressed the crowd in St. Peter&#8217;s Square.
&#8220;Peace be with you all!&#8221; Pope Leo XIV began his address.
&#8220;Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the resurrected Christ, the good shepherd who has given up his life for God,&#8221; he said, explaining his greeting, &#8220;and I should also like this greeting of peace to enter our hearts and your families and to all those people wherever they are. All peoples throughout the world, peace be with you.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Habemus Papam! We have a Pope!
The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel have elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV. <a href="https://t.co/7COawsKvWu">pic.twitter.com/7COawsKvWu</a>
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/VaticanNews/status/1920529171664507289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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I announce to you a great joy; we have a Pope: The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord, Lord Robert Francis Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Prevost who has taken the name Leo XIV.
Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti announces that the Cardinals have elected Cardinal Robert… <a href="https://t.co/u3lDDlk1L4">pic.twitter.com/u3lDDlk1L4</a>
&mdash; Vatican News (@VaticanNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/VaticanNews/status/1920531999690772969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Prevost spent much of his priesthood in Peru. He became Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru for eight years until 2023, when he was made a cardinal by Pope Francis.
He also led the religious order started by St. Augustine.
Francis then made Prevost the Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the Vatican official responsible for recommending priests to be made bishops around the world. Prevost was not considered the most likely cardinal to become pope, but Vatican officials are often considered for the papacy.
Prevost has been strong on Church doctrine, but he is seen as a centrist on political issues.
President Trump offered a congratulatory message on Thursday as the announcement was made.
&#8220;Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114473380014194441" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on Truth Social.
The election of the new pope comes less than three weeks after Pope Francis passed away, the day after Easter, after he was hospitalized with pneumonia.

Pope Francis creates 21 new cardinals

Cardinal Robert Prevost Chosen As First American Pope

A new pope was chosen on the second day of the conclave, signaled by white smoke rising from a chimney above the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. He is American-born Cardinal Robert Prevost, who has taken the name of Pope Leo XIV.
The new leader of the Catholic Church is expected to address the massive crowd in St. Peter&#8217;s Square within moments.
The election of the new pope comes less than three weeks after Pope Francis passed away, the day after Easter, after he was hospitalized with pneumonia.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
White smoke! The 133 Cardinal electors gathered in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel have elected the new Pope. He will appear soon at the central window of St. Peter’s Basilica. <a href="https://t.co/XejI7mY43m">pic.twitter.com/XejI7mY43m</a>
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/VaticanNews/status/1920512085424787521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

VATICAN-RELIGION-POPE-CONCLAVE

New Pope Elected As White Smoke Rises From Sistine Chapel

The first day of the conclave to elect the late Pope Francis’ successor closed without a decision.
The 133 cardinals sworn to secrecy to take part in the election gathered in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday to begin the process to decide the next head of the Catholic Church. Francis’ death just over two weeks ago set the process of choosing his successor in motion.
Black smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday night, signaling to a crowd of tens of thousands of onlookers that the conclave had closed its first day with no decision. The result was expected as the first vote has little chance of resulting in a pope.
For the next pope to be elected, he must receive a two-thirds vote from the cardinals in the conclave. The conclave is made up of Catholic cardinals under the age of 80. Bishop Robert Barron, founder of Word on Fire, said that the first vote, while inconclusive, is an important gauge for the cardinals to see who the viable candidates may be.
“For the first time they’re going to sense exactly who are the candidates,” said Barron, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/new-pope-conclave-day-one-05-07-25#cmae76xdt001g3b6p6z3wvvg5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>. “Maybe some people that we’ve all been talking about are not really going to get votes. And then they’ll see, ok, probably someone a little more left, someone a little more right. So, this vote will be an important one, almost certainly indecisive, but it will give a good indication of where the conclave is.”
The cardinals will reconvene in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday to resume voting. As many as four votes may be held that day. When a new pope is chosen, white smoke will rise from the chimney in the chapel, a message to the Catholic faithful that the conclave has been successful.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A handy graphic. All times are EDT. <a href="https://t.co/iDkN8sWZ1C">pic.twitter.com/iDkN8sWZ1C</a>
&mdash; Father V (@father_rmv) <a href="https://twitter.com/father_rmv/status/1919912732771406121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This conclave is the largest in history, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05/07/world/pope-conclave-updates/heres-the-latest?smid=url-share" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>. Most of the 133 cardinals involved were handpicked by Francis.
In some sense, the election of the next pope may be a referendum on Francis’ papacy. The late pontiff was accused of making confusing statements and ignoring canon law.
“I think it was a very conflictual legacy,” Fr. Robert Sirico, founder of the conservative Acton Institute, told <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/as-conclave-begins-conservative-catholics-try-to-make-sense-of-pope-francis?author=Mairead+Elordi&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=As+Conclave+Begins%2C+Conservative+Catholics+Try+To+Make+Sense+Of+Pope+Francis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a>.
“I think you had almost opposites in the same person because he would affirm clearly and sometimes in very blunt language the Church’s teaching on the controversial issues, but on the other hand he was sending messages that endeared him to the most progressive elements of the Church, and it’s not clear to me what his strategy was,” said Sirico.

Sistine Chapel

Conclave Closes Day One With Key First Vote, No Pope Chosen

Pope Francis

The papal conclave begins today, with dozens of cardinals arriving from around the globe to lock themselves away in the Sistine Chapel and cast ballots in secret for Pope Francis&#8217; successor.
Amid the excitement, conservative Catholics in the United States are reflecting on Pope Francis, trying to make sense of a complicated papacy and wondering where the Catholic Church may be headed next.
The late pope was known for his love of the poor and his humble habits, but he also attracted controversy.
&#8220;Without a doubt he was inspirational to many people,&#8221; Austin Ruse, president of the Center for Family and Human Rights told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;There&#8217;s an outpouring of love toward him upon his passing and even conservatives can rejoice that he is now in the presence of his Maker. Even conservatives can recognize that he loved the Lord deeply,&#8221; Ruse said. &#8220;Having said that, I will also say that for many people, his pontificate was confusing.&#8221;
Both Francis&#8217; official statements and offhand remarks frequently caused confusion among the faithful and sparked vehement criticism, even from his own cardinals.
&#8220;I think it was a very conflictual legacy,&#8221; Fr. Robert Sirico, founder of the conservative Acton Institute told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;I think you had almost opposites in the same person because he would affirm clearly and sometimes in very blunt language the Church&#8217;s teaching on the controversial issues, but on the other hand he was sending messages that endeared him to the most progressive elements of the Church, and it&#8217;s not clear to me what his strategy was,&#8221; Sirico said.
The litany of Francis&#8217; controversial moves is long.
In 2023, Francis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pope-says-blessings-for-individuals-in-same-sex-relationships-cannot-resemble-marriage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that Catholic priests can give &#8220;spontaneous blessings&#8221; to same-sex couples, but cautioned that such a blessing does not sanction the union and cannot resemble a marriage ceremony. Nevertheless, media outlets and commentators <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1736752055362936938" target="_blank" rel="noopener">presented</a> that Vatican document as a major shift for the Catholic Church.
This came a decade after Francis famously responded, “who am I to judge?” when asked about gay clergy at a press conference shortly after he became pope in 2013.
Francis caused controversy again in 2015 when he <a href="https://wherepeteris.com/communion-for-the-divorced-and-remarried-a-defense-of-amoris-laetitia/#:~:text=In%20chapter%20eight%20of%20Amoris,in%20certain%20cases%2C%20receive%20Communion." target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> guidelines saying divorced and remarried Catholics may be able to receive communion in certain cases where there are mitigating factors, <a href="https://www.catholic.com/video/what-did-pope-francis-change-about-communion-for-divorced-catholics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">such</a> as duress, that make them not culpable for the mortal sin of adultery. Afterward, some cardinals <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/12/pope-francis-divorce-remarriage-communion-guidelines-letter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> on the pope to clarify his position.
Francis sparked questions in 2018 when he <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-08/pope-francis-cdf-ccc-death-penalty-revision-ladaria.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">changed</a> the Catechism of the Catholic Church to state that the death penalty is now &#8220;inadmissible.&#8221; Previously, the Church had said the death penalty was permissible in &#8220;very rare&#8221; cases if it was the only way to defend people from the aggressor.
Francis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vatican-clarifies-opposition-to-radical-gender-theory-says-it-threatens-a-persons-unique-dignity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">condemned</a> gender ideology in strong terms, saying sex change procedures threaten the “unique dignity” of a person. Meanwhile though, the Vatican <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/people-who-got-transgender-surgery-can-be-baptized-and-be-godparents-under-certain-conditions-vatican-clarifies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> a document in 2023 that, while it ultimately reiterated Catholic doctrine on baptism and godparents, caused confusion around same-sex couples and people who currently identify as transgender.
On abortion, Francis was not vague, <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/cna/belgium-to-rome-in-flight-papal-presser" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> abortions are homicides and calling doctors who perform them &#8220;hitmen.&#8221;
Francis <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dntdUwbIaIA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gave</a> a humorously blunt answer — &#8220;no&#8221; — when 60 Minutes asked him last year whether the Church would ever allow women to become priests.
Several offhand comments, like the pope&#8217;s reference to large Catholic families having children “<a class="css-yywogo" title="" href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/january/documents/papa-francesco_20150119_srilanka-filippine-conferenza-stampa.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">like rabbits,</a>” and telling priests to stop wearing “grandma’s lace” during Mass, ruffled feathers among more traditional Catholics.
However, Francis then stunned those who saw him as a beacon of inclusivity when he <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/what-should-pope-francis-have-said" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used</a> the Italian word frociaggine, often translated as “faggotry” twice within the span of a few weeks — with a Vatican apology in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-apologises-after-homophobic-slur-vatican-2024-05-28/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">between</a> — in the context of homosexual seminarians.
&#8220;There was this old kind of homophobic Argentinian operative inside this man who wanted to reach out to transgender and gay people and all that. This is part of the whole thing that needs to be sorted out,&#8221; Sirico said.
&#8220;It&#8217;s almost what you would call in an informal way, a kind of schizophrenia,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I mean, if I was dealing with this person in my real life, I&#8217;d sit him down and say, well, what is it? Is it A or B? And nobody did that with him.&#8221;
Sirico said he was &#8220;unsatisfied&#8221; with the theological accusations against Francis, but he was concerned with the pope&#8217;s disregard for Canon law, such as ignoring the procedure for replacing bishops.
&#8220;If he wanted to change it, he could have, but he didn&#8217;t. He just violated it,&#8221; Sirico said.
He gave the example of Fr. Marko Rupnik, a Jesuit priest who was excommunicated after allegations surfaced of decades of sexual and psychological abuse from dozens of nuns, including that he had sex with nuns and then absolved them in confession. Later, Rupnik <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/is-the-tide-turning-on-the-rupnik" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ended</a> up in a diocese in his native Slovenia.
&#8220;So the excommunication had been lifted, but by whom? The only one who could have done it was the pope, but nobody owned that. This is the stuff I&#8217;m saying that I hope will come out,&#8221; Sirico said.
Some critics, such as Fr. Gerald Murray, pastor of Saint Joseph’s Church in New York City, level weightier charges against Francis.
&#8220;Pope Francis’ principal legacy will be that of a Pope who sought to change Catholic doctrine and practice regarding divorce and remarriage, by allowing Holy Communion to be given to Catholics in invalid second marriages, and regarding homosexuality, by authorizing priests to bless same-sex couples,&#8221; Murray told The Daily Wire.
Murray also said that Francis&#8217; &#8220;secret agreement with the Chinese Communist government, giving the regime a major role in the naming of Catholic bishops in China, is something unimaginable during the reigns of the two previous popes.&#8221;
The Vatican renewed that agreement last year <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259997/vatican-renews-china-bishop-appointment-deal-for-four-more-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">despite</a> reports of China abusing it, detaining bishops and naming new bishops for new dioceses not recognized by the Vatican. The details of the agreement have not been made public.
Ruse said that another &#8220;unfortunate move&#8221; was Francis &#8220;going to great lengths to stamp out the Traditional Latin Mass, which has been extremely painful to many people in the Church.&#8221;
In 2021, Francis <a href="https://www.ewtnvatican.com/articles/vatican-publishes-new-guidelines-on-the-traditional-latin-mass-552" target="_blank" rel="noopener">imposed</a> severe restrictions on the Latin Mass, requiring priests to get permission from their local bishop if they wanted to say it. In 2023, he clarified that bishops must obtain approval from the Vatican itself if they wanted the Latin Mass in their diocese, and newly ordained priests would need special permission.
Pope Benedict XVI had <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_ben-xvi_motu-proprio_20070707_summorum-pontificum.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">given</a> priests broad permission to say the Latin Mass in 2007.
&#8220;It speaks to divisions that we have had in the Church for quite a long time. Even before the Second Vatican Council these types of divisions existed in the Church,&#8221; Ruse said. &#8220;I think in some ways they were exacerbated in recent years.&#8221;
However, Ruse added that one of the &#8220;very good things&#8221; about Francis&#8217; papacy was that he cured the &#8220;papolatry,&#8221; or idolizing of the pope by some right-of-center Catholics.
During his papacy, Francis <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/financial-markets-first-do-no-harm#:~:text=%22It%20is%20increasingly%20intolerable%20that,food%20prices%20%22a%20scandal%20which" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticized</a> capitalism and was known for calling on countries to care for migrants, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/04/920053203/pope-francis-laments-failures-of-market-capitalism-in-blueprint-for-post-covid-w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> &#8220;racism is a virus.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think he was a Marxist,&#8221; Sirico said. &#8220;He certainly wasn&#8217;t a free market kind of guy the way [Pope John Paul II] was, but on the other hand, I think he profoundly misunderstood the United States on a very visceral level, and I think that is owing to his Argentinian background and what happened in his lifetime in Argentina.&#8221;
During Francis&#8217; youth, Argentina&#8217;s government had powerful socialist elements, and the country saw several government overthrows.
Ruse agreed: &#8220;I don&#8217;t believe that he had a real understanding of the dynamics of the Church in the United States, and I think he was relying on partisans who were advising him,&#8221; he said.
Early on in his pontificate, Francis <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/27720/pope-to-youth-shake-things-up-bring-church-to-the-streets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> a group of young people from Argentina to &#8220;make a mess&#8221; in the Church.
&#8220;And he did,&#8221; Sirico said. &#8220;He&#8217;s made a mess, and I think the next Pope is going to have to do something about that &#8230; I think he&#8217;s left the church divided.&#8221;
Sirico spent a month in Rome before Pope Francis died, and was set to be in Rome during the conclave as well.
At the Vatican, there was a sense of &#8220;people staying in the foxhole, looking out very cautiously to see what was going to happen,&#8221; Sirico said of his conversations with numerous bishops, cardinals, and members of the Vatican bureaucracy around the time of the pope&#8217;s death.
The atmosphere of the Vatican during this last papacy was &#8220;very personal, at times very petty,&#8221; he said.
Sirico said he doesn&#8217;t view the search for the next pope through the lens of &#8220;liberal or conservative.&#8221;
&#8220;I think people across the spectrum are going to just want a little more clarity and calm,&#8221; he said, adding that the next pope will likely want to &#8220;let the dust settle on this pontificate.&#8221;
&#8220;This pope is going to be a hard act to follow if they want to follow in those footsteps. I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s going to be a Francis 2.0,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I think it will be a much more traditional pontificate than that of Francis, but that&#8217;s a low bar. He&#8217;s a revolutionary in a lot of ways, stylistically, not doctrinally. At the end of the day, the Church&#8217;s doctrine remains the same.&#8221;
On that note, Ruse cautioned the faithful not to get too deeply involved in the &#8220;sturm und drang and controversies in the Church.&#8221;
&#8220;What I have done in recent years is to try to view myself as a 13th-century peasant, who may know the name of the pope, probably knows the name of his bishop, doesn&#8217;t know the names of any other bishops, says his rosary and goes to Mass,&#8221; he said.
As for the future of the Catholic Church, Ruse has a simple prayer.
&#8220;Where do we go from here? Well there&#8217;s going to be a new pope in a handful of weeks, and we&#8217;re all praying that it will be a good and holy man,&#8221; he said.

Pope Francis Visits Portugal For World Youth Day

As Conclave Begins, Conservative Catholics Try To Make Sense Of Pope Francis

As Conclave Begins, Conservative Catholics Make Sense Of Pope Francis

Catholicism

Catholics

The Vatican

Vatican

President Donald Trump shrugged off criticisms of an AI-generated image showing him as the pope, saying first that the image had prompted far more negative reactions from media than from Catholics and then adding, &#8220;My wife thought it was cute.&#8221;
Trump responded on Monday to a question from Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, who suggested that the backlash was primarily coming from Catholics.
&#8220;Some Catholics were not so happy about the image of you looking like the pope,&#8221; she said.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
President Donald Trump was asked by Fox News&#8217; <a href="https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JacquiHeinrich</a> about the viral AI-generated image of him as the Pope that was posted on the official White House account.
HEINRICH: &#8220;Some Catholics were not so happy about the image of you looking like the Pope&#8230;&#8221;
TRUMP: &#8220;Oh, I… <a href="https://t.co/rvwelwIzOC">pic.twitter.com/rvwelwIzOC</a>
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1919453147640004975?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Oh, I see. You mean they can&#8217;t take a joke,&#8221; Trump replied. &#8220;You don&#8217;t mean the Catholics, you mean the Fake News Media. The Catholics loved it.&#8221;
Heinrich pushed back, but Trump kept going, saying, &#8220;I had nothing to do with it. Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the pope and they put it out on the internet. That&#8217;s not me that did it, I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it was AI, but I know nothing about it.&#8221;
&#8220;I just saw it last evening. Actually, my wife thought it was cute. She said, &#8216;Isn&#8217;t that nice?'&#8221; Trump continued, adding, &#8220;Actually, I would not be able to be married, though. That would be a lot. To the best of my knowledge, popes aren&#8217;t getting married, are they? Not that we know of, no.&#8221;
Several people in the room laughed, and Trump concluded, &#8220;I think it&#8217;s the fake news media that — they&#8217;re fakers.&#8221;
Heinrich kept at it, asking Trump whether he felt it &#8220;diminished the White House account&#8221; to have posted such a picture.
&#8220;Give me a break,&#8221; was Trump&#8217;s reply. &#8220;It was just — somebody did it in fun. It&#8217;s fine.&#8221;
Vice President JD Vance, who is a practicing Catholic, responded to the picture when prompted by Bill Kristol.
&#8220;As a general rule, I&#8217;m fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen,&#8221; he said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
As a general rule, I&#8217;m fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen. <a href="https://t.co/2WQPsofVIH">https://t.co/2WQPsofVIH</a>
— JD Vance (@JDVance) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance/status/1918742839560741235?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Vance was also among those who joked — after Secretary of State Marco Rubio was temporarily asked to take over the responsibilities of exiting National Security Adviser Mike Waltz — that Rubio could take on one more job open only to a &#8220;devout Catholic &#8230;&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I think he could take on a bit more.
If only there was a job opening for a devout Catholic… <a href="https://t.co/CbOZNZ1e5o">https://t.co/CbOZNZ1e5o</a>
— JD Vance (@JDVance) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance/status/1918083148803453334?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

US-POLITICS-ELECTION

‘My Wife Thought It Was Cute’: Trump Shrugs Off Criticism Of AI Pope Image

'My Wife Thought It Was Cute': Trump Shrugs Off Criticism Of AI Pope Image

Donald Trump

Every time there is a change in the White House or the cabinet, it often seems as though President Donald Trump fills in the holes in his staff by giving extra responsibilities — and occasionally job titles as well — to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
When it happened again on Thursday — President Trump dropped a surprise announcement that he&#8217;d be nominating his National Security Adviser Mike Waltz to serve instead as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, saying that in the meantime, Rubio would assume the national security adviser&#8217;s duties — Vice President JD Vance could not resist throwing one more suggestion into the mix.
&#8220;I think he could take on a bit more. If only there was a job opening for a devout Catholic …&#8221; Vance posted via X, clearly suggesting that Rubio — who is a practicing Catholic — should be considered as a potential replacement for the late Pope Francis.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I think he could take on a bit more.
If only there was a job opening for a devout Catholic… <a href="https://t.co/CbOZNZ1e5o">https://t.co/CbOZNZ1e5o</a>
— JD Vance (@JDVance) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance/status/1918083148803453334?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) appeared to be on the same page as Vance, sharing an AI-generated image of Rubio as the Pope.
&#8220;I’m just saying. He can wear many hats,&#8221; Lee quipped.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I’m just saying
He can wear many hats <a href="https://t.co/5gwiKMZ8de">pic.twitter.com/5gwiKMZ8de</a>
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) <a href="https://twitter.com/BasedMikeLee/status/1918125313860751856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The conversation around Rubio&#8217;s many jobs within the Trump administration came up during a Thursday evening interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on his eponymous show — and Rubio noted that there was one major barrier to him ever taking on the rope of Pope: his wife.
&#8220;Rubio joked tonight about all the roles he plays in the Trump admin. On the idea of seeking role as pope, too, @SecRubio said you have to be an unmarried Catholic male. &#8216;I&#8217;m happily married,&#8217; he told @seanhannity,&#8221; Jennifer Jacobs posted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Rubio joked tonight about all the roles he plays in the Trump admin. On the idea of seeking role as pope, too, <a href="https://twitter.com/SecRubio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecRubio</a> said you have to be an unmarried Catholic male. &#8220;I&#8217;m happily married,&#8221; he told <a href="https://twitter.com/seanhannity?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@seanhannity</a>.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) <a href="https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/1918123006468972605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Semafor&#8217;s Burgess Everett listed Rubio&#8217;s job titles in a post, saying, &#8220;I believe Marco Rubio is now: Secretary of State, National Security Adviser, Acting USAID admin, Acting archivist.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I believe Marco Rubio is now: 
Secretary of State 
National Security Adviser 
Acting USAID admin 
Acting archivist
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) <a href="https://twitter.com/burgessev/status/1918008871932584269?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Marco at the next cabinet meeting <a href="https://t.co/mG5siaaycc">https://t.co/mG5siaaycc</a> <a href="https://t.co/mwdY00Woc6">pic.twitter.com/mwdY00Woc6</a>
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) <a href="https://twitter.com/HashtagGriswold/status/1918283152830902440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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US-DIPLOMACY-RUBIO-CARICOM

Trump Keeps Giving Secretary Of State Rubio Extra Jobs — And Now JD Vance Has One To Add

Executive

Marco Rubio

Social Media

President Donald Trump joked on Tuesday that his first choice to replace the late Pope Francis was &#8230; himself, a crack that was destined to inspire meltdowns from those who hate him the most.
Trump took a few questions from the press outside the White House as he marked the 100th day of his second term in office, and the topic turned to the imminent conclave during which the Catholic Church&#8217;s next leader will be chosen.
&#8220;Who do you want to see as the next Pope?&#8221; a reporter asked.
&#8220;As Pope?&#8221; Trump repeated before quipping, &#8220;I&#8217;d like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &#8220;I&#8217;d like to be pope.&#8221; 🤣
&#8220;We have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who&#8217;s very good, so we&#8217;ll see what happens.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/WPdRPwHxP9">pic.twitter.com/WPdRPwHxP9</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1917289085938590136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The reporters continued to talk, but were drowned out by the sound of Marine One in the background.
&#8220;No, I don&#8217;t know, I have no preference,&#8221; the president continued. &#8220;I must say we have a cardinal that happens to be out of a place called New York who&#8217;s very good, so we&#8217;ll see what happens.&#8221;
Trump was likely referring to Cardinal Timothy Dolan, one of ten American cardinals who will participate in the conclave and vote on the next pontiff. Critics say that Dolan is a long shot for the church&#8217;s highest office himself, largely based on the perception that he is too American.
Some took Trump&#8217;s remark as a joke and responded in kind.
&#8220;Make Rome Great Again,&#8221; one said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Make Rome Great Again
— Jess Fields (@jessalanfields) <a href="https://twitter.com/jessalanfields/status/1917289220755833208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;The Vatican has a chance to do the funniest thing,&#8221; another posted.
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The Vatican has a chance to do the funniest thing <a href="https://t.co/hf271V1EOL">https://t.co/hf271V1EOL</a>
— The Dank Knight 🦇 (@capeandcowell) <a href="https://twitter.com/capeandcowell/status/1917307476719833388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;You&#8217;re not gonna convince me Trump saying &#8216;I’d like to be pope&#8217; isn’t funny,&#8221; said one.
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Youre not gonna convince me Trump saying “I’d like to be pope” isn’t funny. 
<a href="https://t.co/6eh0qqi05u">pic.twitter.com/6eh0qqi05u</a>
— Timothy HJ Nerozzi (@TimothyNerozzi) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimothyNerozzi/status/1917310456328241166?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
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One posted before he even made the comment, &#8220;I feel like Donald Trump wearing this white hat is to remind us that the danger of him becoming pope is slim…*but it’s never zero.*&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I feel like Donald Trump wearing this white hat is to remind us that the danger of him becoming pope is slim…*but it’s never zero.* <a href="https://t.co/D7RbEsT1V0">pic.twitter.com/D7RbEsT1V0</a>
— Emily Zanotti 🦝 (@emzanotti) <a href="https://twitter.com/emzanotti/status/1916874695795769794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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But the critics were not amused.
&#8220;I think the prerequisite is &#8216;need to be able to go into a church without bursting into flames,'&#8221; one said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I think the prerequisite is &#8220;need to be able to go into a church without bursting into flames&#8221;
— TheGeekReborn (@thegeekreborn) <a href="https://twitter.com/thegeekreborn/status/1917294375803183233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Now he wants to be the next pope, God help us,&#8221; another added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Now he wants to be the next pope, God help us. <a href="https://t.co/1VChIzdagI">pic.twitter.com/1VChIzdagI</a>
— 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐊𝐎𝐌𝐒𝐀 | 🇪🇺🇫🇷🇵🇱🇺🇦 (@tweet4Anna_NAFO) <a href="https://twitter.com/tweet4Anna_NAFO/status/1917303304498848022?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Trump. Does. Not. Joke,&#8221; one claimed.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump. Does. Not. Joke.
— Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) <a href="https://twitter.com/leftcoastbabe/status/1917289577150308490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Isn&#8217;t he already considered the pope of white evangelicals?&#8221; another asked.
&#8220;Isn’t he already considered the pope of white evangelicals?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Isn’t he already considered the pope of white evangelicals?
— 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢 (@ChidiNwatu) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChidiNwatu/status/1917289977949389247?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
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President And Mrs Trump Depart White House For Rome

Cue The Pearl-Clutchers: Trump Just Said He’d ‘Like To Be Pope’

Cue The Pearl-Clutchers: Trump Just Said He'd 'Like To Be Pope'

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