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When hell rained down on Lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001, most people were desperately running for their lives.
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Father Mychal Judge ran straight into the inferno.
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As smoke swallowed the North Tower, the 68-year-old FDNY chaplain marched side-by-side with the brave firefighters he served. He didn&#8217;t cower.
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Instead, Judge set up shop right in the lobby of the burning tower, uttering prayers, giving last rites to the dying, and bringing a calm presence to a scene of absolute horror. Minutes after the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m., sending lethal debris blasting through the North Tower, Judge was struck in the head and killed while praying over a fallen firefighter.
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In the immediate, heart-wrenching aftermath, a group of rescuers gently lifted his body, carrying him through the ash on a makeshift chair. Processed as Victim 0001 of the tragedy, Judge became the very first officially recognized casualty of that fateful day.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This one hurts. 💔
On September 11, 2001, Father Mychal Judge could have stayed somewhere safe.
He didn’t.
The FDNY chaplain walked into the North Tower alongside the firefighters he loved and served. In the chaos, smoke and terror, he remained there—praying, comforting the… <a href="https://t.co/mWrox2xPVw">pic.twitter.com/mWrox2xPVw</a>
&mdash; 🎹 Ames™ 🎹 (@AmesStraight) <a href="https://x.com/AmesStraight/status/2097899470788694323?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
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For those who knew the beloved Franciscan priest, his ultimate sacrifice came as no surprise. It was simply the final chapter of a life spent running toward the hurting.
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Born Robert Emmett Judge in Brooklyn in 1933 to Irish immigrants, he grew up tough during the Great Depression following his father&#8217;s early death. Embracing his faith at a young age, he joined the Franciscan order as a teenager, took the name Mychal, and was ordained in 1961.
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Judge built a reputation as a compassionate, hands-on street priest across New York and New Jersey. He cared for the homeless, ministered to recovering alcoholics as a recovering alcoholic himself, and offered comfort to AIDS patients during the dark height of the 1980s crisis when many others turned their backs.
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By 1992, he stepped into his dream role as FDNY chaplain. Known for his warm Irish wit and relentless devotion, Judge was a constant presence at firehouses at all hours, showing up to offer a word of encouragement or a shoulder to cry on in New York’s toughest moments.
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In a chilling twist of fate, Judge even confessed to a fellow priest just two months before 9/11 that he had a strange, lingering feeling his time on Earth was swiftly drawing to a close.
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Today, Judge’s legacy looms large over the city he loved. Filmmakers captured his final moments in the acclaimed documentary &#8220;9/11,&#8221; and every September, New Yorkers honor his legacy with the annual &#8220;Father Mychal Judge Walk of Remembrance.&#8221;
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While some Catholic groups have called for him to be canonized as a saint, to the bravest of the FDNY and the city of New York, Father Mychal Judge was already a hero who gave everything for his flock.
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<div id="attachment_1176395" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1176395" class="wp-image-1176395 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/GettyImages-1162615-865x576.jpg" alt="" width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/GettyImages-1162615-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/GettyImages-1162615-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/GettyImages-1162615-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/GettyImages-1162615.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images</div>
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September 11th Terrorist Attacks.

The FDNY Chaplain Who Sacrificed Everything On 9/11

catholic church

fdny

new york city

september 11 attacks

France just crossed a moral line that a generation ago would have been unthinkable. On August 19, President Emmanuel Macron <a href="https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/19/france-president-emmanuel-macron-signs-assisted-dying-law">signed</a> into law a bill legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide. This made France the latest European country, joining Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Spain, to turn a doctor’s prescription pad into an instrument of death.
The French government calls this a new “right,” but what kind of society responds to suffering by making death a medical service?
That question is not confined to France. Here in America, the same battle is playing out, and some of the people standing in the way are Catholic nuns who have spent their lives doing precisely what our culture increasingly seems unwilling to do: caring for people when they are sick, dependent, and dying.
The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne have been caring for impoverished people dying from cancer for more than 125 years. At Rosary Hill Home in New York, the sisters have <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/exclusive-nuns-suing-new-york-assisted-suicide">treated </a>roughly 45,000 low-income cancer patients at no charge, regardless of faith or background.
Think about what that mission looks like in our current culture. These sisters intentionally enter the part of life that most of us would rather not see. They wash the sick, feed them, and sit beside the dying. They accompany people through the suffering that medicine cannot cure. Now they are in federal court to protect their ability to care for those with terminal cancer, because the state of New York wants to force them to participate in suicide.
New York’s assisted suicide law took <a href="https://compassionandchoices.org/in-your-state/new-york/new-york-amendment-explainer/">effect </a>August 5, making New York the 13th state, along with the District of Columbia, to allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to terminally ill patients. Under the law, medical providers caring for terminally ill New Yorkers must proactively inform and counsel their patients about their “option” to kill themselves, a mandate the plaintiffs <a href="https://becketnewsite.s3.amazonaws.com/20260717162615/Carmelite-Sisters-for-the-Aged-and-Infirm-v.-James-Complaint.pdf">argue</a> is “far broader than anything required by states like California, Oregon, and Washington.”
The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, Missionary Sisters of St. Benedict, and Little Sisters of the Poor joined the lawsuit, as did the Diocese of Rockville Centre and Catholic Health, a network of Long Island hospitals. The State of New York temporarily <a href="https://becketfund.org/case/carmelite-sisters/">agreed</a> not to enforce its assisted-suicide mandates against the Catholic plaintiffs, but this is not a final victory. The motion for a preliminary injunction remains before the court and the underlying constitutional case has yet to be decided.
In other words, nuns whose entire vocation is caring for the dying are in federal court fighting for the right to care for the dying without being forced to usher them toward suicide.
Mother Marie Edward, Superior General of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, put it <a href="https://thegoodnewsroom.org/dominican-sisters-serving-the-dying-seek-religious-exemption-from-new-york-mandate/">plainly</a>: for more than a century, her order has ministered to the poor who are dying of cancer as if they were Christ himself, offering comfort, prayer, and medical care, not death. That is the calling New York&#8217;s law now threatens to override.
But New York is not an isolated case; Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield has joined a Lutheran nursing home and four Catholic physicians in suing to block the “End-of-Life Options” law, set to take <a href="https://www.law360.com/articles/2516905/ill-won-t-hold-religious-docs-to-aid-in-dying-law-for-now">effect</a> September 12. The coalition <a href="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63d954d4e4ad424df7819d46/6a7b60b010c1a6286ce6050b_260811-EOLO%20Complaint-dkt%201_Redacted.pdf">argues</a> that the state’s suicide regime abandons “nearly two millennia of medical practice” while requiring conscientious objectors to participate in it. Health care entities must promote the “benefits” of the suicide law to patients even if they object, and are required to allow on-site practitioners to facilitate patient access to assisted suicide.
France. New York. Illinois. Different countries, different courts, same disease. A throwaway culture that has grown deeply uncomfortable with dependence, it&#8217;s one that prizes autonomy and productivity so highly that when a person can no longer keep pace, the question quietly shifts. It&#8217;s no longer &#8220;what do we owe this person?&#8221; It becomes &#8220;is this life still worth the trouble?&#8221;
We already ask that question at the beginning of life and call the answer &#8220;choice.&#8221; Now we&#8217;re asking it at the end and calling it &#8220;compassion.&#8221; The logic is the same. So is the result: a culture that treats the inconvenient as disposable.
There&#8217;s another way to respond to suffering, and it isn&#8217;t complicated. It&#8217;s presence instead of a prescription. It&#8217;s service instead of an exit. A civilized society doesn&#8217;t make it easier to die; it makes it easier to be cared for. That means investing in hospice and palliative care. It means real support for the families quietly caring for aging parents and disabled children. It means making sure no one facing a terminal diagnosis ever has to wonder if dying quickly would simply be easier on everyone else.
New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks <a href="https://thegoodnewsroom.org/archbishop-hicks-warns-new-yorks-aid-in-dying-law-marks-a-new-and-frightening-era/">warned</a> that the state&#8217;s law ushers in &#8220;a new and frightening era,&#8221; and asked how long &#8220;compassion&#8221; for the terminally ill will take to harden from a choice into an expectation for the disabled, the elderly, and the poor. That is a question worth sitting with.
For 125 years, the Hawthorne sisters did not ask whether a dying person’s life is worth living. They simply washed him, fed him, and stayed. In a culture that measures people by what they produce and discards what it cannot use, that is the most radical act remaining.
We are not losing our humanity because we have become cruel. We&#8217;re losing it because we&#8217;ve forgotten where our humanity comes from in the first place — not our usefulness, but the simple fact of having been made in His image. The sisters see Christ in the dying because they&#8217;ve never stopped looking for Him there. A nation that trains itself to stop looking will eventually find it can&#8217;t see anyone at all.
***
Clare Ath is the Co-Founder and President of Vita et Terra, a conservative Catholic environmental nonprofit that champions care for creation.

Reinterment Of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wife And Daughter To Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

The Catholic Nuns Fighting New York’s Suicide Mandate

assisted suicide

dominican sisters of hawthorne

euthanasia

new york

opinion

A 68-year-old man is in custody on an arson charge after a historic Catholic church in eastern Canada was reduced to ashes on Monday.
Gilles Mallet of Saint-Simon, New Brunswick, was arrested Monday after the blaze consumed Saint-Simon Catholic Church, a more than century-old landmark on the Acadian Peninsula. In its <a href="https://rcmp.ca/en/nb/news/2026/08/4356298">news release</a> announcing the arrest, New Brunswick RCMP said the Office of the Fire Marshal had determined the fire was intentionally set.
The church was unoccupied when the fire began. Firefighters responded shortly after 4 a.m., but flames had already spread through the sacristy and into the roof. The building was ultimately declared a total loss, while four neighboring homes suffered heat damage. No one was injured. 
Mallet appeared in Bathurst Provincial Court on Monday and was remanded into custody. His bail hearing is scheduled for Friday.
The destruction devastated a community that regarded the wooden church as far more than a place of worship. Caraquet Mayor Bernard Theriault <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fire-saint-simon-church-wood-9.7318148">said</a> the church was the last major institution in Saint-Simon that had been built by and for the community.
“It was a gathering place — it was the soul and the heart of Saint-Simon,” local resident Monica Albert Légère told <a href="https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/americas/suspect-arrested-for-arson-in-burning-of-historic-catholic-church-in-new-brunswick-canada">EWTN News</a>. 
Bishop Michel Proulx of Bathurst called the destruction an “immeasurable loss,” remembering the baptisms, weddings, and funerals celebrated there across generations. The church, started as a mission in 1910 and completed in 1918, was the largest remaining wooden church in New Brunswick.
Although authorities have not connected Monday&#8217;s fire to any broader trend or publicly identified Mallet&#8217;s motive, the destruction comes after years of elevated arson attacks against religious institutions across Canada. 
A <a href="https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/scorched-earth-a-quantitative-analysis-of-arson-against-canadian-religious-institutions-and-its-threat-to-reconciliation/">2025 study</a> by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute found that arson attacks against religious institutions more than doubled in 2021 compared with the pre-2021 baseline and have not substantially declined since.
The surge coincided with a national controversy that began with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-mass-graves-hoax-is-officially-dead-and-no-one-will-be-held-accountable">now-debunked claims of unmarked graves</a> at former Indigenous residential schools, many of which had been operated by Catholic institutions. The claims generated intense public anger and were followed by a wave of attacks on churches.
Updated Statistics Canada data <a href="https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/residential-school-burials-controversy-continues-to-fuel-wave-of-church-arsons-new-data-suggests-edgardo-sepulveda-for-inside-policy/">released</a> in 2025 showed that arsons at religious institutions remained high in 2024, at nearly twice the baseline level recorded before 2021. Of 306 arsons at religious institutions from 2021 through 2024, 53 resulted in charges.
The report called for a more coordinated approach to investigating arsons at religious sites, including greater cooperation among police and fire authorities and improvements to Indigenous police and fire services.
Authorities have not said whether Mallet&#8217;s alleged actions were motivated by religion or connected to the increase in church arsons. The investigation remains ongoing.

BURNING-CHURCH

108-Year-Old Catholic Church Burns To The Ground, Man Charged With Arson

canada

church arson

new brunswick

world

Scholars have discovered two previously unknown sermons by St. Augustine of Hippo while translating an 11th-century manuscript from a German monastery, shedding new light on one of Christianity&#8217;s most influential theologians.
University of Würzburg Latin scholar Christian Tornau discovered the sermons while translating a manuscript originally from Bad Doberan Abbey in Germany. The manuscript contained copies of six sermons attributed to Augustine.
&#8220;Two of the six sermons are previously undiscovered writings by Augustine,&#8221; Professor Tornau <a href="https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/news-and-events/einblick/single/news/two-new-sermons-augustine-discovered/">said</a>.
Because forged works attributed to Augustine are common, Tornau and his colleagues initially suspected the sermons were inauthentic,  The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/29/science/saints-lost-sermons-reveal-secrets-of-the-witch-of-endor/">reported</a>. 
After identifying Augustine’s trademark humor, references to his North African Christian tradition, and a distinctive style of prayer, however, Tornau and a panel of 20 Latin scholars concluded: “they are indeed authentic.” 
Augustine, who was born in what is now Algeria, is regarded as one of Christianity&#8217;s most influential theologians. His writings, including Confessions and The City of God, helped shape medieval philosophy and Western thought. 
The newly discovered sermons focus on the biblical account of King Saul and the Witch of Endor from the First Book of Samuel. In the story, Saul seeks guidance from God before a battle but instead turns to the Witch of Endor, asking her to summon the prophet Samuel, who foretells Saul&#8217;s death.  

Tornau <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/travel/lost-sermons-christianitys-greatest-saints-discovered-after-1600-years">told</a> Fox News Digital that Augustine’s interpretation of Saul&#8217;s repentance was the &#8220;most remarkable element” of the sermons.
While many Christian scholars throughout history viewed Saul as an unrepentant villain, Augustine interpreted the story as suggesting Saul made peace with God before his death.  
&#8220;In any event, it is indicative of Augustine’s [independence] of mind and his willingness to think everyone, even those who appear most evil, [is] capable of salvation through the grace of God,&#8221; Tornau said.
&#8220;This combines intellectual honesty and episcopal humility in a remarkable and very Augustinian way.&#8221;
The sermons also revisit one of the Bible&#8217;s longstanding theological questions.
“The story [also] raises a theological question: ‘Why can a necromancer summon the spirit of a prophet?’” Tornau said. “This in turn opens up the theodicy problem: ‘how can an omnipotent God allow this or is he not really omnipotent?’” 
According to Tornau, Augustine explored whether the encounter was merely an illusion or whether God permitted it, using the account to examine the relationship between divine providence and evil. 
Tornau is working with the publisher Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (CSEL) to bring Augustine’s sermons to the public.

Screenshot 2026-07-29 at 2.20.30 PM

Lost Sermons From One Of Christianity’s Greatest Saints Finally Come To Light

christianity

church

Germany

western civilization

The building that was once St. Ann’s Church in Buffalo, New York, burned down after sustaining two fires in less than a week, and officials have confirmed the latest fire was arson. 
The 140-year-old church suffered a three-alarm fire last Friday, which the firefighters contained for the most part, per <a href="https://www.btpm.org/local/2026-07-17/buffalo-firefighters-take-on-second-multi-alarm-fire-this-year-at-former-st-anns-parish">PBS</a>. The building seemed to remain structurally stable after the fire, but firefighters were called back to the church at 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday as another fire tore through the building. 
These were not the first fires at the St. Ann’s Parish this year, where the 140-year-old church resides. Back in January, a massive four-alarm fire gutted St. Ann’s schoolhouse, causing $600,000 in damages, according to <a href="https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/buffalo/tuesday-fire-at-former-st-anns-church-determined-to-be-arson/">WIVB</a>.
St. Ann’s Parish was closed by Bishop Richard Malone in 2013, but the Vatican confirmed the closure in 2017, according to <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/news/2017/11/21/historic-st--ann-church-in-buffalo-officially-closed">Spectrum News</a>. The Catholic church was then sold to the Buffalo Crescent Holdings, which is associated with a Muslim group, in November 2022 for $250,000. It was set to be converted into a mosque. The multimillion dollar project, which included an Islamic school and college, shopping plaza, and Muslim funeral home. Developers have made no further plans for the project, according to <a href="https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/will-a-buffalo-catholic-church-become-a-mosque-here-s-what-to-know?utm_source=chatgpt.com&amp;redirectedfrom=cna">EWTN News</a>. 
Leah Halton-Pope, Buffalo Common Council Member, said that earlier on Tuesday she had talked about securing the building. 
“I literally just had a conversation this afternoon with a member of the administration asking what are we going to do about it and stressing that something has to be done over there to secure it, and then said it’s probably going to be set on fire again, but I just didn’t think it would happen today,” she said.
Bernice Radle, executive director at Preservation Buffalo Niagara, said that the owners of the property have been unresponsive and “refuse to secure the building.”
“Preservation Buffalo Niagara calls on the City of Buffalo to pull out all the stops to wrestle this landmark church from its negligent absentee owner,” Radle said. “Enough is enough!”
This <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/173-year-old-church-burned-down-its-not-the-first-in-recent-months?author=Trinity+Gentry&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=9&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=173-Year-Old+Church+Burned+Down.+It%E2%80%99s+Not+The+First+In+Recent+Months.">church fire</a> isn&#8217;t the first for New York in the past months. In June, a landmark 173-year-old church, whose congregation still met weekly, was burned in Brooklyn. Officials determined that the blaze was caused by a firebug. In April, a 138-year-old church in Astoria was destroyed by a five-alarm fire and still remains under investigation. Police also arrested a man on July 8 who allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at two different houses of worship in Queens.

Church building

Another Historic New York Church Burned Down In Arson Attack

arson

Mosques

Muslim

Vice President JD Vance sat down with prominent Catholic theologian Bishop Robert Barron this week to discuss his new book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back.” The conversation ranged far beyond typical book tour talking points, touching on Vatican diplomacy, artificial intelligence, faith, and family life. 
The most candid moment of the discussion came when Vance reflected on a Vatican meeting that followed his conversation with Pope Francis shortly before the pope&#8217;s death. As he did previously, Vance reiterated that the discussion never moved beyond surface-level diplomatic language.
&#8220;It just felt like [Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher] didn&#8217;t want to move past the diplomatic platitudes,&#8221; Vance told Barron. He recalled Vatican officials telling him the Church &#8220;would really prefer that you show more respect for the dignity of the migrant,” but argued that was something everyone already believed.
&#8220;There is an impulse within the church that is very comfortable in dealing with the highest level of generality because then it&#8217;s not challenging to anybody,&#8221; Vance said, adding that he believes &#8220;the current hierarchy is way too uncomfortable dealing with anything other than abstraction.&#8221;
Vance said he hopes that changes under Pope Leo XIV, whom he described as &#8220;a brilliant guy&#8221; and &#8220;clearly a very holy man.&#8221; He acknowledged the pope would likely criticize some Trump administration policies but said he welcomed the dialogue and didn’t believe the Church and the administration had to agree on everything.
“I think again there is this demand that you treat people with dignity… There&#8217;s also an acceptance, maybe even endorsement, of the fact that nations are allowed to control their borders,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;How do you balance these things when controlling your borders inevitably leads to law enforcement operations that sometimes can create issues? That&#8217;s the balance that we fundamentally have to strike.”
Much of “Communion” deals with Vance&#8217;s admission that he spent his younger years &#8220;worshipping success&#8221; while attending Yale Law School.
&#8220;The social currency is credential,&#8221; Vance told Barron. &#8220;People don&#8217;t care about what you&#8217;ve achieved. They don&#8217;t care about what you&#8217;re going to achieve. They don&#8217;t care about your family.&#8221; He contrasted that with the community he grew up in, where &#8220;the thing that people were most interested in you is how are your kids doing.&#8221;
“And yet at Yale it was who is going to get ahead in this game of life. And I found that very unsatisfying,” he added.
Vance made the distinction between being ambitious and what he now sees as the disordered pursuit of success. 
&#8220;There&#8217;s the ambition to do something amazing or to do something transformative or to help a lot of people or to build a beautiful building,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But there&#8217;s a separate kind of ambition… which is like the desire to just get ahead for its own sake.&#8221;
Barron and Vance spent a significant portion of the conversation discussing French philosopher René Girard and his theory of mimetic desire, the idea that people desire things because others desire them.
&#8220;Once you see it… it&#8217;s very hard to unsee it,&#8221; Vance said, describing how it happens at home with his kids. &#8220;My 9-year-old will pick up a toy that none of the kids have played with in six months. And instantly, all of them want that toy.&#8221;
Vance argued that social media makes mimetic desire spread faster.
 &#8220;Because it sets that desire aflame and makes it spread so rapidly, it also makes the conflict side of it spread so rapidly,&#8221; he said, recalling watching friends on Facebook &#8220;get into arguments on the internet&#8221; and thinking, &#8220;these are two really lovely human beings that are calling each other these terrible names.&#8221;
The two also discussed Pope Leo XIII&#8217;s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, a foundational document of Catholic social teaching. Vance said the document was impressive for trying to strike a balance between two extremes rather than picking a side.
&#8220;He&#8217;s very worried that if we don&#8217;t strike the right balance between human dignity and prosperity, between workers and capital owners, that it&#8217;s going to inevitably lead to this conflict,&#8221; Vance said of Leo XIII. He argued the encyclical rejects both the Marxist assumption that class conflict is inevitable and the libertarian belief that there is no conflict. 
&#8220;There can be a real compromise,&#8221; he said.
Vance argued that same philosophy also separates President Donald Trump&#8217;s economic approach from the Reagan era. 
&#8220;What President Trump has brought is a recognition… that there is a national and community element to economics,&#8221; Vance said, pointing to shortages of masks and hospital gowns during the COVID pandemic.
Vance described his grandparents as &#8220;classic blue dog Democrats&#8221; and said the biggest difference between their beliefs and today’s Democratic Party is the absence of religion. 
&#8220;I do think that religion itself has become very disfavored among Democratic elites,&#8221; he said.
Later in the interview, Vance described a backstage conversation at a Turning Point USA event in which a young woman told him she and her friends were using ChatGPT to help respond to boys&#8217; text messages. 
&#8220;I realized that the technology that actually brings man and woman together successfully is the church,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;You have young people who are using ChatGPT and they don&#8217;t want to.&#8221; 
He said the rise of AI presents an opportunity for churches to step in.  
Barron also asked Vance about his prayer life. The vice president admitted that praying consistently with young children at home can be difficult. 
&#8220;Probably 80% of the time I fail on that,&#8221; Vance said. &#8220;Either because bedtime is too chaotic or because I&#8217;m at the White House.&#8221; 
He said part of his return to Christianity involved relearning how to pray after years as an atheist. 
&#8220;It&#8217;s like when I was 17 and I would get on my knees and clasp my hands together, I would know what to say. When I was 28, I didn&#8217;t know what to say anymore.&#8221;
&#8220;You don&#8217;t have to be perfect at it,” he said of praying. &#8220;Try to just do as much as you can.&#8221;
Vance&#8217;s book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back,” is on sale now.

JD Vance Bishop Barron

EXCLUSIVE: JD Vance Tells Bishop Barron What’s Gone Wrong In America

immigration

jd vance

politics

religion

Vice President

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA — Bishop Michael Burbidge is aware that a good percentage of the 432,700 Catholics in his flock are politically important.
“One of the first shocks I experienced when I became the Bishop of Arlington was being in this office and looking out and seeing the Capitol and the Washington Monument from my window,” Burbidge told The Daily Wire in a recent interview. “There are some heavy hitters here who are influencing our country&#8217;s politics.”
For about two years, those heavy hitters included Vice President JD Vance, who, as a first-term senator from Ohio, settled his family in Northern Virginia. Vance’s Catholicism has been a central part of his identity since his <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/j-d-vance-becomes-catholic/">2019 baptism</a> — back when he was still just “the author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy’” and a promising young man.
Vance, who tells the story of his faith journey in a forthcoming book, <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/communion-j-d-vance?variant=45116963192866">“Communion,”</a> may have broken the land speed record for transition from catechumen to prominent Catholic. By the time Donald Trump asked him to join the presidential ticket, he was one of the most well-known American Catholics, second only to the man he and Trump were running to succeed.
Once in office, Vance became the locus for Catholic critiques of the Trump administration’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pope-leo-addresses-narrative-suggesting-he-and-trump-are-at-war">foreign policy</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hours-before-zelensky-meeting-vance-praises-trump-for-pursuing-a-path-of-peace">immigration crackdown</a> — which earned the White House rebukes from Pope Francis and now Pope Leo XIV, whose elevation to the Throne of St. Peter moved Vance a few notches down the list of prominent American Catholics.
Burbidge knows all of this. He’s met Vance, he says, but hasn&#8217;t had a formal meeting with him since he became vice president. And Burbidge realizes the vice president has a particular challenge before him, not just as a Catholic leader, but one with a countryman in Rome. But the bishop — who <a href="https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/2025/01/31/a-pastoral-statement-on-the-catholic-imperative-of-upholding-human-dignity-and-the-common-good-in-american-immigration-law/">encouraged</a> Trump and Vance in January 2025 to “develop a national immigration policy that reflects the Catholic commitment to human dignity and the common good” — stressed that Vance has all the tools he needs to navigate choppy theological-political waters.
“We have a mandate to be not only citizens, but to be faithful citizens,” Burbidge says. “You can&#8217;t separate what you know to be true and what you profess to believe into your life as a politician. And will you have to pay a price for that sometimes? Of course you will. Will you maybe be rejected by others? Of course you will. But there&#8217;s no other path.”
“This is what&#8217;s so great about being Catholic,” the bishop adds. “There&#8217;s a consistency of the gospel of life and the truth.”
“Now, does this become more challenging for a politician? I&#8217;m sure it does. But you can&#8217;t be one person here and another person here.”
A Philadelphia native ordained in 1984, Burbidge began his episcopal journey as the auxiliary bishop of his hometown in 2002. Named bishop of Raleigh in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI, he held that post for a decade before Pope Francis named him the fourth bishop of Arlington. It’s a role to which Burbidge — a polished speaker unafraid to preach the “gospel of life” to all manner of politicians — seems uniquely suited.
“It really doesn&#8217;t matter who&#8217;s in office,” Burbidge says when asked how he’s navigated the transition from President Joe Biden, a Catholic who flouted the Church’s teaching on abortion, to Trump and Vance, whose paeans to the faith have not kept them out of the fray.
“It&#8217;s always going to be a challenge, because [the Catholic Church is] so beautiful, the way we teach the gospel of life. It confuses people that we can be on this side or that side, but the truth of the gospel, what we&#8217;re teaching doesn&#8217;t change because of who&#8217;s in office.”
The bishop certainly practices what he’s preaching here. Burbidge issued his statement on immigration less than two weeks after Inauguration Day, reminding the Trump team of the Church’s stance before it had finished unpacking.
Burbidge had plenty of practice dealing with politicians by this point. From 2022 to 2024, he chaired the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Pro-Life Activities Committee. In that role, he <a href="https://catholicvote.org/bishop-of-arlington-calls-president-biden-to-repent/">chastised Biden</a> for “causing great scandal when he announces both his faith and his pro-abortion position publicly,” calling on the president to “repent.”
Still, Burbidge goes out of his way to stress that his role is no different than that of other bishops. He does not tell his priests to preach to the powerful in the pews and thinks there “should be no effort at all” for priests to do that.
For all that’s happening in the American church, Burbidge is most excited about the things that get bishops excited: seven ordinations this year and 12 in 2025; 39 active seminarians; mass attendance rebounding to pre-COVID numbers; 27 George Mason students brought into the church this Easter alone, the work of just one campus priest.
“We have so many young adults who are fully engaged in the life of the church,” Burbidge says. “We are very, very blessed with vocations … and we have so many beautiful holy families, holy marriages, from which vocations so often come.”
With a flourishing diocese and rising levels of religiosity among young Americans, Burbidge is optimistic about the future of the country and the church. And he sees even more reason for hope in Pope Leo, whom he praises for “the serenity and the simplicity and the joy” he has projected in his first year as pontiff.
“I think it was a blessing, a gift, that he knows the United States,” Burbidge says. “He&#8217;s lived here, he&#8217;s from here. He speaks the language. He gets us, and I think he understands us, in our politics and our culture and things like that.”
One might say it’s providential, the ascension of an American pope at the dawn of a very Catholic age in American politics. Abortion and immigration, the twin issues of our time, make it clear that Catholic social teaching does not cleave easily along party lines. And yet, the days of Catholics sidestepping politics seem to be over.
The Republican nominee for president in 2028 will almost certainly be Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both Catholics. And at least two Democratic frontrunners — California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — are proximately Catholic as well. Our nation’s next presidential election may not just be a referendum on competing political systems, but competing conceptions of Catholicism.
Regardless of whether that happens, American Catholics will certainly be glad to have one of their own leading the church in the coming years. But perhaps they’ll also look to a prelate just two years younger than Pope Leo, another son of a great American city whose ordination came almost two years to the day of the Holy Father’s.
“As a bishop, I have to have full responsibility for every soul entrusted to me,” Burbidge says. “And therefore, I have to speak truth and love, and love involves speaking the truth.”
“So, I think that if you&#8217;re a Catholic and you&#8217;re running for office, your bishop&#8217;s going to be talking to you.”

Arlington Bishop dedicates Mass to victims of Las Vegas shooting

JD Vance’s Bishop Wants Catholic Politicians To Do What’s Right

marco rubio

Pope Leo

Washington D.C.

Lego has unveiled a massive new model of Barcelona&#8217;s iconic Sagrada Familia basilica, a release timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the death of its chief architect, Antoni Gaudí. 
The set contains 12,060 pieces, making it the largest Lego set ever released, according to the company.
“The new set captures the evolving story of Barcelona’s most iconic landmark, with the building steps mirroring the basilica’s actual construction sequence,” Lego <a href="https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news/2026/june/lego-architecture-sagrada-fam-lia-set-unveiled">said</a> in the statement. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Lego Architecture Sagrada Familia revealed!
12060 pieces / $799.99 / £649.99 / 1st a November 2026<a href="https://x.com/hashtag/Lego?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Lego</a> <a href="https://x.com/hashtag/Legonews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Legonews</a> <a href="https://x.com/hashtag/Legoleaks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Legoleaks</a> <a href="https://x.com/hashtag/architecture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#architecture</a> <a href="https://x.com/hashtag/SagradaFam%C3%ADlia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SagradaFamília</a> <a href="https://t.co/t3HrbmSP0s">pic.twitter.com/t3HrbmSP0s</a>
— Brick Built Blogs (@BlogsBrick) <a href="https://x.com/BlogsBrick/status/2062520774313840830?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“The build begins with the foundational Apse and Crypt, moves through Gaudí’s original Nativity façade and the dramatic Passion façade, before rising into the grand naves, Western Sacristy and six iconic towers. The final stage brings the model together with the Eastern Sacristy and the Glory façade.”
The release comes as the real Sagrada Familia approaches a major milestone of its own.
Construction on the basilica began more than 140 years ago and has continued ever since. According to <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/06/04/gaudis-sagrada-familia-finally-shakes-off-its-incompletable-tag-as-pope-prepares-to-inaugurate-tallest-and-final-tower">The Art Newspape</a>r, Pope Leo XIV is expected to bless the newly completed Tower of Jesus on June 10, the centennial of Gaudí&#8217;s death.
&#8220;The inauguration marks the symbolic completion of the church, though work is expected to continue for another decade,” according to the outlet.
The Sagrada Familia is the latest religious landmark to receive the Lego treatment. In 2024, the company released a model of Notre-Dame Cathedral, one of the world&#8217;s most renowned Catholic landmarks, during the reconstruction of the famous Paris church. The move signaled a willingness to create sets based on prominent religious sites.
The new set was designed by Rok Žgalin Kobe, who has also worked on Lego versions of the Eiffel Tower, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Trevi Fountain, and other architectural icons. 

The Sagrada Familia Lego set is available for preorder for $799.99 and is scheduled for release on November 1.
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Barcelona, Sagrada Familia

A Catholic Work Of Architecture Is Set To Become Largest Lego Set Ever

Catholic

Catholicism

Catholics

Lego

Notre Dame

Notre Dame Cathedral

spain

Toys

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held face-to-face meetings with Pope Leo on Thursday as President Donald Trump remains critical of the pope&#8217;s position on the Iran war.
In Vatican City, Rubio, America&#8217;s top diplomat and a Roman Catholic, met with Pope Leo and Holy See Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to discuss issues such as the Middle East. A State Department official told The Daily Wire that &#8220;today&#8217;s conversations were friendly and constructive.&#8221;
&#8220;Secretary of State Marco Rubio met today with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to discuss the situation in the Middle East and topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere,&#8221; State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/05/secretary-rubios-meeting-with-pope-leo-xiv/">said</a>. &#8220;The meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity.&#8221;<iframe style="aspect-ratio: 9/16; max-width: 220px; display: flex; justify-content: center; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/RMTDsb9XI826a85Kic7O02MfT7Hx9DR6r?metadata-video-content-type=short&amp;metadata-video-id=5affd718-0d57-4cf0-b89e-ca7ee6e24961&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=Rubio%20makes%20peace%20with%20Pope%20Leo%20XIV%20inside%20the%20Vatican&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fshorts%2F30318a23-322c-4ce8-9a57-6eb3e88036e3.jpg&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
The Holy See “exceeded expectations” in their welcoming of Secretary Rubio to the Vatican, a source familiar with the protocol told The Daily Wire, demonstrating “strong U.S.-Holy See ties.”
The Holy See also arranged for Rubio’s motorcade to enter through the Arch of Bells, which is usually reserved for the head of state or head of government — a special mark of respect for Rubio. The Vatican also sent the Prefect of the Papal Household, Archbishop Peter Rajik, to greet Rubio as the secretary of State arrived in the San Damaso Courtyard. Rubio was greeted by the full Swiss Honorary Guard who welcomed his delegation, the source familiar shared.
During the meeting, Rubio also discussed the United States&#8217; work with the Catholic Church and Caritas in Cuba with the Holy See leadership, according to the State Department official.
The meeting follows recent clashes between President Trump and the pope, whose outspoken criticism of the war against the Islamic Republic of Iran has drawn sharp rebukes from the president.
Ahead of Rubio&#8217;s meeting, Trump sent a &#8220;simple&#8221; message to the leader of the Catholic Church.
&#8220;As far as the Pope is concerned, it&#8217;s very simple. Whether I make him happy or I don&#8217;t make him happy: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/CatholicVote/status/2052108392060133721?s=20">Trump said</a>. &#8220;And he seemed to be saying that they can, and I say, they cannot.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨 President Trump shares a &#8220;simple&#8221; message for Pope Leo ahead of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s meeting with the pontiff.
&#8220;As far as the Pope is concerned, it&#8217;s very simple. Whether I make him happy or I don&#8217;t make him happy: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/WfHKQZAMcJ">pic.twitter.com/WfHKQZAMcJ</a>
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) <a href="https://twitter.com/CatholicVote/status/2052108392060133721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
In an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKqngLaiqsE">interview</a> with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, the commander-in-chief said the pontiff&#8217;s position endangers Catholics.
“I think he&#8217;s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people, but I guess if it&#8217;s up to the Pope, he thinks it&#8217;s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,&#8221; Trump asserted.
The American-born pope rejected that criticism, saying the mission of the church is to preach the Gospel of peace. 
“If someone wants to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let him do so truthfully,&#8221; Leo said, <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-05/pope-leo-xiv-castel-gandolfo-press-nuclear-weapons.html">according to a Catholic news outlet</a>. &#8220;For years, the Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt on that point.&#8221; 
Last month, Trump launched a broadside against the Pope, following a Sunday-night “<a href="https://x.com/60Minutes/status/2043471794074448140?s=20">60 Minutes</a>” episode featuring prominent American cardinals who offered several critiques of the Trump administration. 
Hours later, Trump slammed the Pope as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116394704213456431">Trump said on Truth Social</a>. “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”
In a <a href="https://x.com/Acyn/status/2043498719270637656?s=20">gaggle with reporters</a>, the president piled on.
“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime I guess,” Trump said at Joint Base Andrews. “I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person.”
Pope Leo has not backed away from his criticism, though he has insisted he does not seek a political confrontation with the White House.
“I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do,” Leo told <a href="https://x.com/catholicourtney/status/2043619307993665935?s=20">reporters aboard the papal plane</a>. “We are not politicians. We don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
In response to a personal attack by President Donald Trump the night before, Pope Leo told journalists on the papal plane to Algeria:
“I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what… <a href="https://t.co/zV6FuacGSM">pic.twitter.com/zV6FuacGSM</a>
— Courtney Mares (@catholicourtney) <a href="https://twitter.com/catholicourtney/status/2043619307993665935?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
Thursday&#8217;s meeting between Rubio and Pope Leo suggests both sides may be looking to find common ground and shift towards private diplomacy over public attacks.
&#8220;We share with the Catholic Church a concern about the destruction of religious liberty, the persecution of Christian minorities, and also, you know, the challenges that are being faced by Christians in Africa,&#8221; Rubio said at a recent White House press briefing. &#8220;So the trip is really not tied to anything other than the fact that it would be normal for us to engage with them.&#8221;

How Rubio Is Smoothing Things Over With The Pope

donald trump

iran

Vatican

A former FBI official who oversaw the agency&#8217;s production of an infamous memo targeting “Radical Traditional Catholics” joked about how it would make good fodder for a memoir, according to emails viewed by The Daily Wire. 
Stanley Meador, who now works in Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger&#8217;s administration, ran the FBI’s Richmond field office when it produced an <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/fbi-anti-catholic-memo.pdf">internal memo</a> attempting to link traditional Catholic beliefs to criminal activity. After backlash to the memo, Meador downplayed it and suggested that one of the agents who produced it include it in their memoirs, according to emails released by the Justice Department. 
“No apology needed [redacted],” he wrote on July 7, 2023. “I’m glad you are on the team and thankful for your commitment. Keep that head up, this too shall pass. Will make for a great chapter in your memoirs some day!”
<div id="attachment_1086743" style="width: 1601px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1086743" class="size-full wp-image-1086743" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-29-at-2.05.35-PM.png" alt="" width="1591" height="495" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-29-at-2.05.35-PM.png 1591w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-29-at-2.05.35-PM-300x93.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-29-at-2.05.35-PM-1024x319.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-29-at-2.05.35-PM-768x239.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-29-at-2.05.35-PM-1536x478.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1591px) 100vw, 1591px" />Justice Department report.</div>
The emails were included in a Justice Department report released Thursday morning on anti-Christian bias from the federal government during the Biden administration. 
The document, referred to as the “Richmond Memo,” relied on the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), now facing criminal wire fraud charges, to link racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists with what the agency called “radical-traditionalist” Catholic beliefs. The memo was retracted shortly after it was leaked in February 2023, generating outrage from Republican lawmakers and Catholics. 
Meador’s July 7 email came after one of the FBI agents involved in crafting the memo apologized over the document.
“I am terribly sorry for all that everyone has had to endure as a result of this product. Each person negatively impacted is a trusted colleague and/or supervisor whom I deeply respect and admire,” the unidentified FBI employee wrote. “I feel personally responsible as I should have known the potential DT pitfalls and the susceptibility to politicization surrounding this paper better than anyone. Thanks for supporting us and please accept my sincerest apologies.”
Meador, now <a href="https://www.governor.virginia.gov/cabinet/name-1081469-en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Secretary</a> of Public Safety and Homeland Security in Virginia, was removed from the FBI in June 2025 after serving for over two decades with the agency. 
The Richmond Memo was an FBI product known as a “Domain Perspective,” or an internal threat assessment document. The document argued that the FBI should pursue threat mitigation based on the interest in violent extremists in so-called “radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology.” Using SPLC data, the FBI identified nine of these groups.
Other documents included in Thursday&#8217;s Justice Department report showed that intelligence officers inside the FBI expressed concerns about the citation of the SPLC, but were ignored by leadership. 
“This product cites more subjective information from SPLC (a list of hate groups) without examining SPLC’s threshold for determining a hate group or explanation of how that threshold aligns with the FBI’s definition,” one intelligence officer wrote. “This product’s Source Summary Statement does not address factors that would affect the quality and credibility of SPLC as a source for subjective information, such as it previously issuing apologies and retracting its naming of individuals or groups as extremist.”
The DOJ wrote in its anti-Christian bias report that the FBI used “an unsubstantiated claim by the Southern Poverty Law Center that several traditional Catholic churches were ‘hate groups’ — as justification to launch a two-pronged attack against traditional Catholics.”
“FBI Richmond thus assessed that traditional Catholics and racially motivated violent extremists may share ‘common cause’ on issues of ‘abortion rights, immigration, affirmative action, and LGBTQ protections,’” the DOJ wrote Thursday. “In an appendix, the Domain Perspective cited to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s identification of radical traditional Catholics.”
As criticism mounted, former President Joe Biden&#8217;s FBI Director Christopher Wray said the Richmond Memo did &#8220;not reflect FBI standards.”
“We do not conduct investigations based on religious affiliation or practices, full stop,” Wray said. “We have also now ordered our inspection division to take a look at how this happened and try to figure out how we can make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”
In an interview with the task force investigating anti-Christian bias, FBI Director Kash Patel said his team did a deep dive into the Richmond Memo. 
“We came to learn that companies like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League were out there working with the FBI, giving them false information to generate a memo that allowed law enforcement a [] &#8216;justification&#8217; to go after and attack people of faith,” Patel said. 
The DOJ report also details how the Biden administration targeted pro-life Christians for peaceful protests and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-biden-partnered-with-abortion-activists-to-track-and-imprison-pro-lifers?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=BREAKING%3A+How+Biden+Partnered+With+Abortion+Activists+To+Track+And+Imprison+Pro-Lifers">outlines</a> other Biden-era policies that suppressed Christian expression.
The release of the report comes one day after The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-biden-doj-lawyers-fantasized-about-prosecuting-catholic-nuns-emails-show?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=Exclusive&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Biden+DOJ+Lawyers+Fantasized+About+Prosecuting+Catholic+Nuns%2C+Emails+Show">obtained text messages</a> from Biden-era DOJ prosecutors discussing their desires to target Catholic nuns. One prosecutor said he would &#8220;like to prosecute any nun who still wears the head habit,&#8221; when working on January 6-related cases.

MixCollage-29-Apr-2026-03-15-PM-9949

READ IT: The Internal ‘Joke’ That Followed The Biden-Era FBI Targeting Of Catholics

abigail spanberger

biden administration

christopher wray

department of justice

kash patel

trump administration

virginia

Step aside, Thomas Aquinas. Make room, St. Augustine. There is a new Bible scholar in town, and she didn’t find her calling in a cathedral — she found it in a Reno lounge act and a Disney-funded wardrobe department.
Whoopi Goldberg, a woman whose theological training apparently consists of wearing a polyester habit in two &#8220;Sister Act&#8221; films, has decided that she is the preeminent authority on the &#8220;Bible-Bible.&#8221; Speaking on &#8220;The View&#8221; on Thursday, Goldberg donned her invisible miter to lecture the masses on why the U.S. shouldn&#8217;t deal with Iran, wielding Scripture with the surgical precision of a blindfolded butcher.
Citing the Beatitudes and the command to &#8220;turn the other cheek,&#8221; Goldberg lamented that her own cheeks are &#8220;getting tired&#8221; from all the slapping.
It’s a touching sentiment, truly. One can almost hear the angels weeping — or perhaps that’s just the sound of anyone who has actually read Romans 13 hitting the floor in a dead faint.
Whoopi, ever the humble scholar, warned her audience that they only have a &#8220;half a quote&#8221; and need to &#8220;get into the Bible-Bible&#8221; to truly understand that being a &#8220;peacemaker&#8221; apparently means letting a theocratic regime develop ICBMs.
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Despite Joy Behar&#39;s refusal to apologize for calling Jesus a &quot;narcissist&quot; for saying he was the Messiah, earlier in the week, Whoopi wants to lecture the faithful on the right about the Bible and war. She says you need to learn about &quot;The Bible-Bible&quot;:
GOLDBERG: But Jesus said,… <a href="https://t.co/YmrDUIsqm4">pic.twitter.com/YmrDUIsqm4</a>
&mdash; Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickFondacaro/status/2044803372809675171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
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It’s a bold move for a woman who <a href="https://church4everychild.org/2015/10/20/if-we-value-life-we-dont-get-to-choose-which-lives-we-value/#:~:text=During%20one%20such%20discussion%20on,be%20reading%20the%20same%20Bible.">previously informed</a> the world that &#8220;there’s nothing in the Book that says anything about abortion.&#8221; Apparently, in Whoopi’s version of the &#8220;Bible-Bible,&#8221; God’s intricate knitting together of an unborn child in the womb mentioned in Psalm 139 was just a suggestion, and the &#8220;sword&#8221; the state bears in Romans 13 is actually a pool noodle used for rhythmic gymnastics.
But Goldberg’s expertise doesn’t stop at foreign policy. She’s also been there to fix the Catholic Church’s administrative issues. When Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone dared to enforce Canon 915 by denying Communion to Nancy Pelosi, Whoopi was there to <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/the-view-whoopi-goldberg-nancy-pelosi-communion-video/">set him straight</a>: &#8220;This is not your job, dude!&#8221;
According to the Gospel of Goldberg, the Eucharist isn’t a sacrament requiring a state of grace; it’s a participation trophy for anyone with a &#8220;View&#8221; microphone.
She’s &#8220;schooling&#8221; us, folks. We just don&#8217;t understand the &#8220;Bible-Bible&#8221; like she does. After all, she played a nun twice.
That’s basically two-thirds of a Trinity.

Whoopi Goldberg

Our Lady Of The Perpetual Habit: Whoopi Goldberg ‘Schools’ Us On The ‘Bible-Bible’ And War

bible

Iran war

whoopi goldberg

In a blistering rebuke of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy, U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan fired back Monday at high-ranking clergy who have criticized the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement and mass deportation policies.
Speaking after several American cardinals echoed the Vatican’s opposition to the administration’s border strategy, Homan — a lifelong Catholic himself — warned the Church to &#8220;stay out of immigration,&#8221; arguing that religious leaders lack a foundational understanding of the &#8220;atrocities&#8221; occurring at the border.
&#8220;I’m not going to speak for the president; I’m speaking for myself,&#8221; Homan said. &#8220;If they wore my shoes for 40 years, and talked to a 9-year-old girl that got raped multiple times, or stood in the back of a tractor-trailer with 19 dead aliens at my feet &#8230; I think their opinion would change.&#8221;
Homan’s comments follow a high-profile &#8220;60 Minutes&#8221; <a href="https://www.cathstan.org/voices/in-60-minutes-interview-three-u-s-cardinals-reflect-on-pope-leos-leadership-and-churchs-opposition-to-iran-war-and-mass-deportation?utm_source=chatgpt.com">interview</a> featuring three prominent U.S. cardinals: Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of San Diego, and Joseph Tobin of Newark. During the segment, Cardinal Tobin stood by his previous characterization of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a &#8220;lawless organization,&#8221; claiming the agency &#8220;violates guarantees of our Constitution&#8221; to &#8220;terrify people.&#8221;
The religious leaders argued that the administration’s focus on deporting long-term residents has created a climate of fear so pervasive that attendance at Spanish-language Masses has plummeted by 30 percent in some areas. Cardinal McElroy, while conceding that border crossings had grown &#8220;out of control&#8221; under the previous administration, denounced the current &#8220;roundup&#8221; of people who have lived &#8220;good, strong lives&#8221; in the U.S. for years.
&#8220;I would like to know what Catholics feel about this indiscriminate mass deportation,&#8221; Cardinal Cupich added. &#8220;I think that it’s very clear the American people are saying, ‘We really didn’t vote for this.’&#8221;
However, Homan countered that a secure border is the only moral path, claiming President Trump is &#8220;saving thousands of lives&#8221; by putting human traffickers out of business and bankrupting cartels. &#8220;Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime,&#8221; Homan said, welcoming a direct debate with the clergy.
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Border czar Tom Homan, to question on Trump feud with Pope Leo XIV: &quot;I&#39;m speaking for myself, a lifelong Catholic. I wish they&#39;d stay out of immigration…If they understood the atrocities that happen on an open border, I think their opinion would change.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ZKVgKmy96D">pic.twitter.com/ZKVgKmy96D</a>
&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/2044152154944860585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The friction between the White House and the Church has reached all the way to the Vatican. Pope Leo XIV, who, as Bishop Robert Prevost in 2018, retweeted a social media post that stated, “There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all,” issued a <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2025/documents/20250210-lettera-vescovi-usa.html#:~:text=Letter%20of%20the%20Holy%20Father,of%20America%20(10%20February%202025)">formal letter</a> to U.S. bishops last year in which he stated, “The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”
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It&#8217;s fascinating to see what social media reveals about a person before they become the Pope.
Before he became Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Robert Prevost was on Twitter trashing Trump, criticizing Vance, calling for open borders, promoting COVID vaccines, endorsing stricter gun… <a href="https://t.co/B60TqSYk7O">pic.twitter.com/B60TqSYk7O</a>
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) <a href="https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/2044123715865325932?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Despite the forceful opposition from the pulpit, a majority of Catholic voters supported President Trump in the last election, gravitating toward his promises of national security and border integrity — a mandate Homan insists the administration is duty-bound to fulfill, regardless of the Vatican&#8217;s &#8220;critical judgment.&#8221;

Tom Homan

Homan Torches Catholic Hierarchy Over Opposition To Trump’s Immigration Policy

illegal immigration

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