WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have invited Pope Leo XIV to the White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Daily Wire on Monday.
Leavitt took questions from the press at a 9:00 a.m. briefing, where she responded to The Daily Wire&#8217;s question about Vice President JD Vance&#8217;s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome.
“My understanding was it was a good meeting, a productive meeting, and we&#8217;re grateful that the vice president did it and that he also went to the Pope&#8217;s first mass in Rome,&#8221; Leavitt shared.
&#8220;I also have an update on that,&#8221; the press secretary added, sharing: &#8220;The Vice President passed along a letter to the Pope from the President and from the First Lady, extending their warm wishes and inviting him to the White House as soon as he possibly can come.”
Pope Leo and Vance sat down together for a 45-minute one-on-one discussion, after which Rubio joined them. Second Lady Usha Vance and Rubio&#8217;s wife, Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, joined the leaders afterward for an exchange of gifts. Vance gifted the Holy Father a Chicago Bears jersey with &#8220;Pope Leo XIV&#8221; on the back, a gesture towards the pope&#8217;s American heritage.
<div id="attachment_921995" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-invites-pope-leo-to-the-white-house-as-soon-as-he-possibly-can-come/pope-leo-xiv-meets-with-jd-vance-and-marco-rubio-the-day-after-inauguration-mass-2" rel="attachment wp-att-921995"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-921995" class="wp-image-921995 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2215850546-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2215850546-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2215850546-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2215850546-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-2215850546.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Pope Leo XIV exchanges gifts with Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife, Usha (Photo by Simone Risoluti Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)</div>
Vance also gave the pope &#8220;The City of God&#8221; and &#8220;On Christian Doctrine,&#8221; by St. Augustine. Vance chose St. Augustine as his patron saint when he converted to Catholicism, and Pope Leo is the first pope from the Order of St. Augustine.
&#8220;This morning in Vatican City, Vice President JD Vance met privately with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV,&#8221; the Vice President&#8217;s office said in a Monday statement about the visit. &#8220;The Pope also held expanded meetings with the Vice President, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the U.S. delegation.&#8221;
&#8220;Following his meetings with the Pope, the Vice President met with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations,&#8221; the statement added. &#8220;The Vice President and Archbishop Gallagher discussed religious freedom, the persecution of Christians around the world, and the shared commitment of President Trump and Pope Leo XIV to stop the killing in Ukraine and the Middle East.&#8221;
Vance met with Zelensky on Sunday in Rome, where the two leaders &#8220;discussed their shared goal of ending the bloodshed in Ukraine and provided updates on the current state of negotiations for a ceasefire and lasting peace,&#8221; according to a readout from the vice president&#8217;s office.
<div id="attachment_921975" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-invites-pope-leo-to-the-white-house-as-soon-as-he-possibly-can-come/unnamed-2-4" rel="attachment wp-att-921975"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-921975" class="wp-image-921975 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/unnamed-2-864x576.jpg" alt="Photo courtesy of the Office of the Vice President. " width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/unnamed-2-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/unnamed-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/unnamed-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/unnamed-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/unnamed-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/unnamed-2-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/unnamed-2-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Photo courtesy of the Office of the Vice President.</div>

Pope Leo XIV Meets With JD Vance And Marco Rubio, The Day After Inauguration Mass

Trump Invites Pope Leo To The White House ‘As Soon As He Possibly Can Come’

Donald Trump

Italy

J.D. Vance

Rome

An American tourist was impaled on a spiked fence at the Colosseum in Rome on Friday after climbing the structure in an attempt to snap a photo, per multiple news reports.
The 47-year-old American, currently living in Taiwan, climbed the fence to get the photo and lost his footing, causing him to become stuck on the pointed top. Italian outlets, including Informazione.it and Il Messagero, <a href="https://www.ilmessaggero.it/roma/centro_storico/turista_infilzato_cancello_colosseo_scavalca_cosa_e_successo-8813470.html">reported</a> that the man was screaming in agony for about twenty minutes before emergency personnel arrived to free him.
Per Il Messaggero, the unidentified man was administered a sedative so he could be removed from the spikes in a process that took an additional twenty minutes. Once freed, he was transported to a hospital where he received emergency surgery, including more than 80 stitches.
The outlet noted that the man was unable to speak for several hours after the accident, but was questioned by local police on Sunday. All that’s been reported so far is that the man was on vacation with family and friends. The police have not yet released specific details on how the accident occurred.
&#8220;It was terrible,&#8221; a witness told the outlet. &#8220;I saw that man impaled on a railing and he couldn&#8217;t free himself.&#8221;
There has also been talk of what punishments the man should face for breaking the rules. In 2023, a British tourist made headlines for carving his and his girlfriend’s names into the Colosseum walls. The crime meant he faced up to five years in prison and fines up to €15,000 ($16,850).
Then, a few weeks later, a Swiss girl attempted to do the same thing, per <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/teenage-girl-colosseum-carve-name-rome-b2376482.html">The Independent</a>. 
“It is the first time I have managed to film an act of vandalism at the Colosseum but in six years I have seen dozens, there are also those who rip off parts of the wall,” David Battaglino told Repubblica Roma at the time. “They even spat on me once for scolding a boy.”

Colosseum

American Tourist Impaled On Colosseum’s Spiked Fence After Climbing Up To Snag A Photo

American Tourist Impaled On Colosseum's Spiked Fence After Climbing Up To Snag A Photo

Crime

Tourism

World

President Donald Trump and Ukraine&#8217;s President Volodymyr Zelensky met early Saturday in St. Peter&#8217;s Basilica at the Vatican to discuss peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.
The last face-to-face meeting Trump had with Zelensky took place in February at the White House, and did not end well, with Trump saying Zelensky was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-cancels-meeting-sends-zelensky-packing-he-can-come-back-when-he-is-ready-for-peace" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not ready for peace talks</a>.
Trump and Zelensky met minutes before the start of Pope Francis&#8217; funeral, which took place at 10 a.m. Rome time and 4 a.m. Eastern. Pope Francis passed away on Easter Monday, drawing leaders from around the world to Rome.
The meeting <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/26/europe/zelensky-trump-talks-pope-funeral-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> lasted about 15 minutes, and Trump and Zelensky will continue such talks. The meeting this go-around, according to both sides, went more smoothly than the last face-to-face.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Behind Scenes, Vatican City—President Trump sat down to meet privately with Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine this morning in St. Peter’s Basilica… <a href="https://t.co/zzC78AgbNh">pic.twitter.com/zzC78AgbNh</a>
— Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) <a href="https://twitter.com/Scavino47/status/1916097251954278581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cm9y4ze6g00023b6mu3rvhrjv@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true" data-analytics-observe="off">Zelensky said on X that they had a &#8220;good meeting&#8221; and thanked President Trump.
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cm9y4zifh00063b6mykc3w9nn@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true" data-analytics-observe="off">“We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered,” Zelensky wrote. “Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Thank you [President Trump].”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Good meeting. We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to… <a href="https://t.co/q4ZhVXCjw0">pic.twitter.com/q4ZhVXCjw0</a>
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1916089502088524203?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<p class="paragraph inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cm9y2sojk000c3b6mb0t99v0x@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true" data-analytics-observe="off">A White House spokesman said the pair “met privately today and had a very productive discussion,&#8221; according to a CNN report.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump and Zelensky met in St. Peter’s Basilica for about 15 minutes (pictures per Team Zelensky) <a href="https://t.co/PP7iwK6qzi">pic.twitter.com/PP7iwK6qzi</a>
— Mathieu von Rohr (@mathieuvonrohr) <a href="https://twitter.com/mathieuvonrohr/status/1916069398537724361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
On Friday, Trump said Russia and Ukraine were “very close” to a peace deal, and called for top leadership of the countries to “finish it off.”
Trump made the comments on Truth Social just as he landed in Rome for Saturday&#8217;s funeral. On the same day, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/team-trump-arrives-in-russia-as-ukraine-hit-by-more-strikes-top-russian-general-assassinated?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Team+Trump+Arrives+In+Russia+As+Ukraine+Hit+By+More+Strikes%2C+Top+Russian+General+Assassinated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrived</a> in Moscow to speak with President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials and push for a peace deal.
“Just landed in Rome. A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine,&#8221; the president said. &#8220;They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off.’ Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Nothing like some tough diplomacy in one of the most beautiful places in the world. <a href="https://t.co/v23MhfVoBJ">pic.twitter.com/v23MhfVoBJ</a>
— Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelgwaltz/status/1916105166484316187?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
Trump also said earlier on Friday that Zelensky needs to sign a mineral deal with the United States, saying that he was “at least three weeks late.”
“Ukraine, headed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not signed the final papers on the very important Rare Earths Deal with the United States,” Trump posted online. “It is at least three weeks late. Hopefully, it will be signed IMMEDIATELY. Work on the overall Peace Deal between Russia and Ukraine is going smoothly. SUCCESS seems to be in the future!”
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-lands-in-to-rome-for-pope-francis-funeral-heres-what-to-expect?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Mairead+Elordi&amp;category=News+and+Analysis&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Trump+Lands+In+Rome+For+Pope+Francis%E2%80%99+Funeral.+Here%E2%80%99s+What+To+Expect." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump Lands In Rome For Pope Francis’ Funeral. Here’s What To Expect.</a>

Funeral Takes Place For Pope Francis

Trump Meets With Zelensky At Vatican Ahead Of Pope’s Funeral: ‘Very Productive’

Global Politics

Pope Francis

Ukraine-Russia War

Vatican

Volodymyr Zelensky

President Trump declared &#8220;there will be a trade deal, 100%&#8221; with Europe before a meeting Thursday with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the first European leader to visit the White House since he paused planned tariffs last week.
The meeting comes just days after both the European Union and Trump paused respective tariffs for 90 days to allow time for negotiations.
The Italian Prime Minister has been <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2025/04/17/europes-trump-whisperer-arrives-00295414">dubbed</a> the “Trump Whisperer” by the media, meeting with Trump before even EU Commission leader Ursula von der Leyen, who Trump has yet to schedule a meeting with 88 days into his presidency.
&#8220;I&#8217;m sure we can make a deal, and I am here to help with that,&#8221; Meloni said to the media prior to her lunch with Trump.
“I cannot lock this deal in the name of the European Union,” she <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/17/us-news/trump-vows-there-will-be-a-trade-deal-100-with-europe-as-italy-pm-georgia-meloni-visits-white-house/">added</a>, per the New York Post. “My goal would be to invite President Trump to pay an official visit to Italy and understand if there’s a possibility when it comes to organizing such a meeting with Europe.”
The White House sees Meloni as a possible bridge between Trump and the 27-member European bloc, who Trump has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/us/politics/meloni-trump-tariffs.html?smid=url-share">accused</a> of trying “screw” the United States on trade, establishing what officials describe as a &#8220;bespoke&#8221; trade deal.
Aside from trade, another issue likely to be addressed in the meeting is NATO, with Trump likely to prod Meloni on Italy’s failure to hit the requisite 2% of GDP on defense spending agreed to decades ago.
Italy is currently one of eight countries failing to hit that benchmark, at only 1.5%, per The New York Times.
Meloni addressed this point, saying, &#8220;Europe, as you know, is committed to do more, is working on tools to allow and help the [NATO] member states in increasing the defense spending. And we are convinced that everyone has to do more.&#8221;
Administration officials indicated Trump will also pitch having Italy import more American energy as part of his broader goal to &#8220;unleash American energy exports to the rest of the world.&#8221;
In 2024, the United States trade deficit with the European Union <a href="https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c0003.html">stood</a> at approximately $236 billion, with American manufacturers often competing against European products while facing higher tariffs and more restrictive regulations when exporting to EU markets.
Trump&#8217;s approach seeks to address these disparities through bilateral negotiations with key European partners.
Meloni&#8217;s visit carries particular significance as both leaders share common ground as populist conservatives who have emphasized national sovereignty and border security.
The Italian Prime Minister <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63351655">rose</a> to power in 2022 as the country&#8217;s first female leader, campaigning on a platform that resonated with conservative voters concerned about immigration and traditional values.
The &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs that Trump temporarily suspended <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/09/european-union-approves-first-set-of-retaliatory-tariffs-on-us-imports.html">included</a> a 25% tariff on European luxury cars, steel, and aluminum, and a 20% levy on billions of dollars of European goods ranging from food products to machinery.
Following their discussions, Trump and Meloni are scheduled to hold a joint press conference in the Rose Garden, where further details about potential trade agreements and bilateral cooperation may be announced.

US-ITALY-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-MELONI

‘There Will Be A Trade Deal, 100%’: Trump Eyes EU Agreement In Meeting With Meloni

European Union

Giorgia Meloni

Tariffs

Trade War

French opposition leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for political office following her conviction — along with several others in France&#8217;s Right-leaning National Rally Party — on charges of embezzling public funds.
The charges against Le Pen involved funding from the European Parliament to her party — some of which prosecutors said she had used to pay her own personal assistant and bodyguard.
Prosecutors asked that Le Pen receive two years in prison and five years of political ineligibility — the latter ensuring that she would not be able to run for president in 2027, a race she is currently favored to win.
Le Pen, who claimed prior to her sentencing that barring her from running would amount to &#8220;political death,&#8221; came in second to current French President Emmanuel Macron in the last two elections, and her party has been steadily gaining support. She argued that the court&#8217;s move to declare her ineligible to run would effectively disenfranchise millions of voters.
&#8220;There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent. So tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people would see themselves deprived of their candidate in the election,&#8221; she said ahead of the sentencing. She stormed out of the courtroom on Monday before her full sentence had been announced.
Le Pen, who claimed prior to the sentencing that the prosecution&#8217;s goal had been to sideline her in the 2027 election, doubled down in a Monday appearance on French television network TF1: &#8220;It was a political decision that was made. The magistrate took it upon herself to implement the provisional execution of the ineligibility, to render my appeal on this matter useless in order to prevent me from standing and being elected President of the Republic.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
C’est une décision politique qui a été rendue.
La magistrate a assumé de mettre en œuvre l&#39;exécution provisoire de l&#39;inéligibilité, de rendre mon appel inutile sur ce sujet pour m&#39;empêcher de me présenter et d&#39;être élue présidente de la République. <a href="https://t.co/N7TlTc4r9f">pic.twitter.com/N7TlTc4r9f</a>
&mdash; Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLP_officiel/status/1906777645557408031?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Le Pen is not the only person to believe that the move was primarily political. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini summed up his thoughts in a post on X, saying, &#8220;Those who fear the judgment of voters often seek reassurance from the courts. In Paris, they have condemned Marine Le Pen and would like to remove her from political life. A bad situation that is also being observed in other countries such as Romania. What is happening against @MLP_officiel is a declaration of war from Brussels, at a time when the belligerent impulses of Von der Leyen and Macron are terrifying. We are not intimidated, we are not stopped: full speed ahead, my friend!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Ceux qui craignent le jugement des électeurs cherchent souvent à se rassurer par celui des tribunaux. À Paris, ils ont condamné Marine Le Pen et aimeraient l’écarter de la vie politique. Un mauvais film que l’on observe également dans d’autres pays comme la Roumanie. Ce qui se…
&mdash; Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) <a href="https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1906666355572511062?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A number also pointed out via X that what had happened to Le Pen was exactly what Vice President JD Vance had been sounding the alarm about when he said that the major threats Europe faced would come from within.
&#8220;Less than 2 months after @JDVance warned that the greatest threat to Europe was from within, leftists in France have banned Marine Le Pen from running for President despite being the leading candidate. Fill up the JD Vance was right jar!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Less than 2 months after <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JDVance</a> warned that the greatest threat to Europe was from within, leftists in France have banned Marine Le Pen from running for President despite being the leading candidate. Fill up the JD Vance was right jar! <a href="https://t.co/J0kylN0R8F">pic.twitter.com/J0kylN0R8F</a>
&mdash; Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) <a href="https://twitter.com/robbystarbuck/status/1906709158499328259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;

FRANCE-POLITICS-JUSTICE-TRIAL-RN

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister On Le Pen Conviction: ‘A Declaration Of War From Brussels’

France

Marine Le Pen

Second lady Usha Vance announced that she will lead a presidential delegation on Friday to the 2025 Special Olympics Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
“Ms. Vance and the Presidential Delegation will join approximately 1,500 Special Olympic athletes and unified partners from 100 nations along with their families, coaches, volunteers, and thousands of fans,” a press release from the Office of the Second Lady read.
“Athletes will compete in varying Olympic events including, skating, snowboarding, floorball, etc, in hopes of bringing home Olympic gold,” it added. “The Second Lady plans to attend several events including the Special Olympics Opening Ceremony. The Presidential Delegation will return to the United States on Monday, March 10, 2025.”
The list of Americans who will be part of the presidential delegation, per the release, includes Fox News host and wife of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Rachel Campos-Duffy, T.H. Trent Michael Morse, Deputy Assistant to the President, Shawn Crowley, Chargé d’Affaires a.i., U.S. Embassy to Italy and San Marino, Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn, Mr. Douglass Benning, the consul general of the U.S. Consulate Milan, Italy, Riley M. Barnes of the State Department, and Richard Walters of FGS Global.
The American lawyer and Vice President JD Vance have been married for 11 years and share three children in Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel.
During the second lady&#8217;s recent trip to France with her husband and their kids, it was Usha and JD’s 5-year-old son, Vivek, who clearly stole the show during a family outing to see the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Vance&#8217;s trip to Paris was for an international summit on Artificial Intelligence, where he encouraged world leaders to look at AI development as more of an opportunity than a risk: “The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEWS: Tomorrow, Second Lady Usha Vance will lead a presidential delegation to the 2025 Special Olympic Winter Games in Italy.
The delegation includes Fox News host Rachel Campos Duffy, Richard Walters of FGS Global, Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn, Mr. Douglass Benning, the consul… <a href="https://t.co/xiGi4Cv9YC">pic.twitter.com/xiGi4Cv9YC</a>
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1897733769542746164?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
“‘Daaaaad, can we go now? I want chicken nuggets.’ Seriously, though, it’s great that JD and Usha are trying to give the kids as normal a family life as possible for the next 4 (8? 12?) years,” Mark Krikorian posted after the video surfaced on social media of the family at the cathedral.
“The 5 year old who will absolutely not stop asking questions in church is the realest,” Emily Zanotti added.
“Vance’s daughter won’t let go of him, his youngest son is talking to him like they’re just hanging at home in the living room and the oldest is chatting it up with Usha. It’s nice to see an average American family dynamic in leadership,” Brianna Lyman posted.
“I want a reality show about life as VP raising 3 little kids that don’t care that you’re the VP, you’re just dad and we follow them around on all the cool places they go and the kids just complain and ask questions nonstop,” another posted.
Virginia Kruta contributed to this piece.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jd-vance-tours-notre-dame-in-paris-with-his-family-5-year-old-vivek-steals-the-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">JD Vance Tours Notre Dame In Paris With His Family, 5-Year-Old Vivek Steals The Show</a>

Vice-Presidential Dinner Held In Honor Of J.D. Vance Held At National Gallery Of Art

Usha Vance To Lead Presidential Delegation To 2025 Special Olympic Winter Games

Entertainment

General

JD Vance

Special Olympics

Usha Vance

Pope Francis remains in critical condition following a significant health &#8220;crisis&#8221; early this morning, the Vatican has announced. 
According to a statement from the Holy See, the pontiff suffered an &#8220;asthmatic respiratory crisis of prolonged magnitude&#8221; requiring high-flow oxygen therapy, raising renewed concerns over his fragile health.
&#8220;The Holy Father&#8217;s condition continues to be critical, therefore, as explained yesterday, the Pope is not out of danger,&#8221; the Vatican announced. &#8220;Today&#8217;s blood tests also showed plateletopenia, associated with anemia, which required the administration of blood transfusions.”
 According to the <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/thrombocytopenia/symptoms-causes/syc-20378293?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Mayo Clinic</a>, Plateletopenia, also known as thrombocytopenia, is a condition characterized by an abnormally low level of platelets in the blood. Platelets are essential for blood clotting and help prevent excessive bleeding. Low levels lead to significant bleeding risks.
The Pope, 88, who has faced ongoing health issues—including a recent diagnosis of bilateral pneumonia—continues to be monitored closely by medical personnel. As reported in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vatican-says-popes-condition-has-stabilized-after-hospitalization">The Daily Wire on February 19</a>, Pope Francis had already been facing complications stemming from bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, which led to his hospitalization at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic. At the time, the Vatican had confirmed his condition was serious but stable, noting the necessity of additional drug therapies to manage pneumonia. 
Despite the severity of his condition—which saw a significant change after yesterday’s press briefing by doctors at Gemmelli Hospital—the Holy See reported that Pope Francis remained &#8220;alert and spent the day in an armchair, although in more pain than yesterday.&#8221; The prognosis remains guarded as doctors continue to evaluate his response to treatment, considering additional concerns associated with his prior gastrointestinal issues, low platelet count, and oxygen levels.
This latest episode has further intensified concerns about the Pope’s ability to fulfill his papal duties. While Vatican officials have not discussed contingency plans, Pope Francis himself has previously acknowledged the possibility of resignation should his health prevent him from effectively leading the Catholic Church. As previously reported, he signed a resignation letter in 2013, entrusting it to the Vatican’s Secretary of State for use in the event of incapacitation.
As the situation unfolds, prayers and messages of support continue to pour in from around the world, with faithful Catholics and global leaders expressing solidarity with the ailing Pope. The Vatican has assured that further updates will be provided as his medical team continues treatment and assessment.

Vatican Pool Images 2023

After ‘Crisis’ This Morning, Pope Francis Remains In Critical Condition

Catholic Church

Christianity

The Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Francis, hospitalized late last week for bronchitis, has been diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.
“Laboratory tests, chest X-rays, and the clinical condition of the Holy Father continue to present a complex picture,” The Holy See <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-02/pope-condition-remains-complex-but-he-is-in-good-spirits.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a message to journalists, per Vatican News.
“Nevertheless, Pope Francis remains in good spirits” and has “received the Eucharist,” while splitting his time between rest, prayer, and reading, the statement added. He asked that supporters continue praying for him and expressed gratitude for the worldwide outpouring of concern.
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Update from the Holy See Press Office. <a href="https://t.co/0flY1suEMs">pic.twitter.com/0flY1suEMs</a>
&mdash; Vatican News (@VaticanNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/VaticanNews/status/1891932817249997182?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The pope was hospitalized on Friday due to a respiratory tract infection, which was later referred to as bronchitis by the Vatican.
Medical staff at Rome’s Gemelli hospital reportedly acted quickly after discovering clear signs of spread in both lungs, though there has been no public statement about the possible duration of this advanced treatment plan.
The statement describes the Pope as having a &#8220;polymicrobial infection, which has arisen in the context of bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and has required the use of corticosteroid[s] and antibiotics, makes the therapeutic treatment more complex.”
Pope Francis, 88, has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/18/pope-francis-has-double-pneumonia-on-top-of-earlier-respiratory-tract-infection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suffered</a> from several bouts of illness since 2023, and he now requires a cane or wheelchair due to sciatic nerve pain and knee pain, per The Guardian.

Pope Francis Attends The Weekly General Audience

Pope Francis Diagnosed With Bilateral Pneumonia, Vatican Confirms

Religion

Female boxer Angela Carini celebrated taking home the 2024 Italian women&#8217;s title for boxing after being forced to fight in the 2024 Paris Olympics against a competitor with a sex development condition who had failed previous gender tests with the International Boxing Association (IBA). 
The victory for Carini came months after she had to endure being beaten up in the ring by Imane Khelif, an Olympic boxer from Algeria, who had failed past gender tests — per the IBA — and was later allegedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/french-journalist-claims-medical-report-proves-olympic-boxer-who-took-gold-in-womens-division-a-man">proven to be a biological male</a>, according to a French journalist who obtained a medical report.
After winning the title, the female boxer said, “Tonight was my revenge,” a <a href="https://x.com/oliverbrown_tel/status/1865887087456563426">Telegraph reporter</a> wrote on X. “Some 2024 for Angela Carini. She endured anguish and gross unfairness at the Paris Olympics, forced to withdraw after 46 seconds against an opponent who had failed two sex tests. Four months on, she has just won the Italian title…”
After Carini quit her match against Khelif — who had been allowed to fight in the female boxing category despite the controversy — the Algerian boxer went on to get the gold in the women’s welterweight final boxing match, something many criticized, as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shame-on-you-all-megyn-kelly-piers-morgan-and-others-react-to-algerian-boxer-getting-gold-after-failing-gender-test">The Daily Wire</a> has previously reported.
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Some 2024 for Angela Carini. She endured anguish and gross unfairness at the Paris Olympics, forced to withdraw after 46 seconds against an opponent who had failed two sex tests.
Four months on, she has just won the Italian title. ‘Tonight was my revenge,’ she says <a href="https://t.co/J1uxnKMsYE">pic.twitter.com/J1uxnKMsYE</a>
— Oliver Brown (@oliverbrown_tel) <a href="https://twitter.com/oliverbrown_tel/status/1865887087456563426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2024</a></blockquote>
Megyn Kelly, host of “The Megyn Kelly Show” podcast, blasted the move by writing, in all caps, about how unfair it was that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded Khelif the gold medal in a women&#8217;s event.
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“Don’t you see? Don’t you see what this insanity is doing to women??” Kelly <a href="https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1822024750845325447">wrote</a>. “WHY DO GIRLS HAVE TO SHARE THEIR BATHROOMS W/BOYS? THEIR LOCKER ROOMS? THEIR SPORTS? THEIR PRISONS?”
“To all the media who have FAILED WOMEN AT EVERY TURN on this boxing and virtually EVERY trans story: SHAME ON YOU ALL,” Kelly <a href="https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1822022126184099840">added</a><a href="https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1822022126184099840" target="_blank" rel="noopener">.</a>
Talk show host Piers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/piers-morgan">Morgan</a> called Khelif being named the women’s champion a “travesty.”
“From Emmeline Pankhurst to this … where are the world’s feminists now, as women’s hard-fought rights get so shamefully destroyed?” Morgan’s <a href="https://x.com/piersmorgan/status/1822023148646363464">post</a> read.
“BREAKING: A biological male just won an Olympic Gold medal in a women’s boxing competition. Congrats to everyone who supported this travesty,” he <a href="https://x.com/piersmorgan/status/1822024690556399657">added</a>.
Khelif previously failed gender eligibility tests by the IBA, but was allowed by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to compete against biological women in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Olympics formally cut ties with the IBA, which the IOC now dismisses as “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/boxer-who-failed-gender-tests-wins-gold-in-womens-boxing-without-dropping-single-round-entire-olympic-run">not credible</a>,” and allows boxers to compete based on the gender listed on their passports rather than enforcing any gender-related testing.

Boxing – Olympic Games Paris 2024: Day 6

‘Tonight Was My Revenge’: Female Boxer Wins Title After Olympics Gender Controversy

‘Tonight Was My Revenge’: Female Boxer Wins Title After Being Forced To Fight Male Boxer In Olympics

Boxing

female sports

Olympics

Paris

Transgenders

Actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alec-baldwin">Alec Baldwin</a> claims most Americans are “uninformed” about the real world. 
The 66-year-old made his feelings known while speaking at the Torino Film Festival in northern Italy, where he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Television news in the United States is a business. They have to make money,” Baldwin said during his speech, per <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/alec-baldwin-turin-film-festival-rust-shooting-americans-know-nothing-1236070459/">The Hollywood Reporter</a>. 
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<div id="id__cr5diph5l2n" class="css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-1inkyih r-16dba41 r-bnwqim r-135wba7" dir="auto" lang="en" data-testid="tweetText">&#8220;There&#8217;s a hole, there&#8217;s a vacuum. There is a gap, if you will, in information for Americans,&#8221; the actor said on Monday. &#8220;Americans are very uninformed about reality, what&#8217;s really going on — climate change, Ukraine, Israel &#8212; you name it. The biggest topics in the world, Americans have an appetite for a little bit of information. That vacuum is filled by the film industry. Not just the independent film industry, not just the documentary film industry&#8230; but by narrative films as well.&#8221;</div>
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Alec Baldwin thinks Americans are &quot;uninformed&quot; about &quot;what&#39;s really going on&quot; in the world and says the film industry is helping to plug the gap.
&quot;There&#39;s a hole, a vacuum&#8230; a gap in information for Americans,&quot; the actor said at the Turin Film Festival on Monday. &quot;Americans are… <a href="https://t.co/lVBD6UO4pi">pic.twitter.com/lVBD6UO4pi</a>
&mdash; The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) <a href="https://twitter.com/THR/status/1861033691612410019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2024</a></blockquote>
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A reporter for THR asked specifically about the incoming Trump administration, which Baldwin answered indirectly without mentioning President-elect Donald J. Trump by name.
“There are many challenges to face,” he said. “The environment, the problem of plastic, of permafrost: There are plastic molecules in every corner of the planet. These are the real problems to solve.”
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Baldwin continued, “It will be necessary for every building to have an alternative energy component. Every hospital, school, airport and government building will have to have photovoltaic panels on the roof. We must force states to work on alternative energy sources. But we will never get rid of oil and gas. Can you imagine an ambulance car or a fire department car that runs on electricity and has to be refueled at a charging station?”
The one thing the actor refused to discuss was the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mother-of-cinematographer-killed-on-set-boycotts-rust-premiere-says-alec-baldwin-will-profit">fatal shooting</a> on the set of his movie, “Rust,” when a prop gun Baldwin was holding discharged and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The movie premiered this week at the Camerimage Film Festival in Torun, Poland, but Baldwin did not attend.
A New Mexico judge dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin, who has multiple civil lawsuits pending, including one from Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey.
“Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March and received the maximum sentence of 18 months in jail.
Baldwin has maintained all along that he was not responsible for Hutchins&#8217; death.

Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin: ‘Americans Are Very Uninformed About Reality’

Alec Baldwin: 'Americans Are Very Uninformed About Reality'

Celebrities

Hollywood

The following is part four of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dante-and-the-redemption-of-politics-part-i-understanding-dantes-vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">four-part series</a> taken from a <a class="c-link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b9wODrWwQo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b9wODrWwQo" data-sk="tooltip_parent">speech</a> delivered by <a class="c-link" href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Michael Knowles</a> at the National Intercollegiate Studies Institute Honors Conference.
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So let’s go back down to Francesca for a final point on language. Francesca attempts to translate the story of Lancelot and Guinevere into her own life. She makes an interpretive error: She confuses her own life with the life of the characters in the text, which leads to her death and damnation. And this terrifies Dante.
The canto ends with Dante falling “like a dead body falls.” Why? Because Francesca quotes Dante’s own style of poetry back to him. She alludes to a poem by Guido Guinizelli, the founder of Dante’s sweet new style of poetry. And Dante fears that he might have played a role in her damnation.
Which is why the canto is, if not political, at least politics-adjacent. Because it reminds us that there is no such thing as a purely personal sin. Man is the political animal. What we do affects other people. Dante is telling us what the feminists will tell us seven centuries later: the personal is political.
Now we come to the first political canto, “Inferno” VI, which concerns Florence. This is the circle of the gluttons, and Dante meets a Florentine he doesn’t recognize: Ciacco. When Dante asks him to identify himself, Ciacco responds, “Your city, which is so full of envy that the sack already overflows, kept me with her during my sunny life. Your citizens called me Ciacco.” Ciacco is like Florence. The city is like a body. It’s the body politic. And political ills are like bodily ills. The glutton is filled to overflowing, just as Florence is filled to overflowing.
<div id="attachment_807263" style="width: 875px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-807263" class="wp-image-807263 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1055451688-865x576.jpg" alt="Ponte Vecchio bridge. The historic centre of Florence is protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The dome of Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore otherwise known as the Duomo can be seen. Ian.CuiYi. Getty Images." width="865" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1055451688-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1055451688-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1055451688-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1055451688-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1055451688-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1055451688-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/10/GettyImages-1055451688-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px" />Ponte Vecchio bridge. Florence, Italy. Getty Images.</div>
The allegorical meaning, Ciacco tells us, is that Florence is filled with envy. But there is a literal meaning too: There are too many people in the city. Dante’s ancestor Cacciaguida recalls this fact (and analogy) in “Paradiso” XVI, when he warns, “The mixing together of persons has ever been the beginning of harm to the city, as excessive food is cause of your diseases.” This argument follows Aristotle, who warns in “Politics” against “the reception of foreigners” in polities, as their presence “has generally produced revolution.” The practical politicians in the room will here find philosophical, poetical, and heavenly sanction to wear their MAGA hats and “build the wall.”
Foreigners are not bad in themselves. They just don’t fit. They’re not appropriate. Polities and people are not interchangeable. Florence, like all polities, is not just “an idea.” Ciacco traces the history of Florence through individuals and families. He recounts 86 years of Florentine history by recalling what happened after one Florentine nobleman (Mosca dei Lamberti) plotted the murder of another nobelman (Buondelmonte de&#8217; Buondelmonti) for jilting a Ghibelline girl for a Guelph. 
In our ideological age, it’s difficult to imagine that a romantic slight could be the immediate cause of a nearly two-century civil war. But sometimes it did. Dante actually traces the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict back to a single utterance by Mosca, recalled in “Inferno” XXVIII: “a thing done comes to a head.”
For Dante, history is civil war. A thing is done, it invites revenge, and then more revenge, and more revenge. Mosca’s utterance, which denies man’s agency in the unfolding of history, constitutes “the seed of evil for the Tuscans.” It’s the demise of the city.
But cities die. As Cacciaguida reminds us, “Cities have their end. The things of your world all have their deaths, just as you do, but in some it is hidden, for they last a long time, and lives are short.” Politics is the indispensable medium in which our salvation occurs, but politics understood as an end in itself leads to death.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h4>
So how do we attain the freedom to avoid this death? We find the answer in “Purgatory,” which opens with Cato, the great exemplar of Roman liberty. We meet in “Purgatorio” II a friend of Dante, the singer Casella, who recites one of Dante’s own poems back to him: “Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona” — “love, which reasons with me in my mind.”
This old poem is important because it declares Dante’s belief that love is a rational thing. Others disagreed. Dante’s poet friend Guido Cavalcanti, for instance, thought love was irrational. The courtly love tradition presented love as a kind of madness. Dante says no: Love, properly understood, is rational — which will help us to understand the famous final line of the “Comedy.”
Having glimpsed the beatific vision, Dante concludes, “Here my high imagining failed of power; but already my desire and will were turned, like a wheel being moved evenly, by the Love that moves the sun and the other stars.” That love is not only rational; it’s the Logic of the universe. And the concord between that rational love and the individual will is, for Dante, the substance of freedom.
So the line that Casella sings to Dante is good and true. And still, Cato yells at the group for listening to it. “What negligence, what standing still is this?” he cries. “Run to the mountain to shed the slough that keeps God from being manifest to you.”
The souls have fallen prey to nostalgia, which is a danger not because the past is bad but rather that it’s past, and we’re on a journey, and we need to keep your eyes on the prize. History and the political order serve an important purpose, but the purpose is to point us beyond history and politics. Dante and Casella are delighting in the sweetness of a poetical and philosophical intuition, but in so doing, they’re forestalling the reality of that which they intuit and seek.
The past is good because it’s for the future. The polity is good because it’s for a community beyond the polity. The particular is good because it’s for the universal. History is good — but only in light of its end, which is the eschaton and the life of the world to come.
It’s all about hope, which is the theological virtue oriented toward the future. In “Purgatory” VI, Dante asks Virgil whether prayer works. Because in Book VI of the “Aeneid,” Virgil denies the efficacy of prayer. But the souls in Purgatory all pray that God hasten their journey. How does Virgil answer?
“Their hope is not deceived,” he says. “Where I fixed this point, defect was not amended by praying, because prayer was disjoined from God.” But with the Incarnation, God has entered into history and reunited man with himself. The pagans had no such communion with God — crucially, they didn’t even have hope for such a union. So the pagans have hopeless eternity; Christians have hopeful history. We get what we desire. And our desires are mediated and shaped by the people we encounter — most perfectly, by the God who becomes man.
In the world of politics, things don’t always appear hopeful. Hence Dante’s invective in “Purgatory” VI against Italy. “Ah slavish Italy,” he cries, “dwelling of grief, ship without a pilot in a great storm, not a queen of provinces, but a whore! … What does it profit that Justinian fitted you with the bridle, if the saddle is empty? Without the bridle the shame would be less.”
Emperor Justinian, who appears in “Paradiso” VI, codified Roman law, the bridle on human action. No offense to our libertarian friends, who say that “politics is downstream of culture.” But Dante sees the law as a tutor — the bridle that reins in our lower and destructive desires and thereby establishes the conditions for true freedom.
But the bridle is useless if the saddle is empty; law does nothing without a ruler to enforce it. So Italy has become a slave, having traded the liberty of the queen for the licentious servitude of the whore. Rome weeps, Dante says, “widowed and alone, and day and night calls out: ‘My Caesar, why do you not accompany me?’”
Italy is a bride in need of a bridegroom as the Church is the bride of Christ. Dante cries out, “O highest Jove, who were crucified on earth for us, are your just eyes turned elsewhere?” The polity is the bride of the Emperor, and that this natural union is a figure of that supernatural union. Nature and supernatural orders work together — or they should.
But the emperors — Albert and Rudolph Habsburg, specifically, in Dante’s view — have abandoned their bride because of covetousness. They preferred private interest to the common good. Albert and Rudolph show us that noble lineage does not necessarily confer true nobility. But, Dante says, this is how God arranged it. “Seldom does human probity rise up through the branches, and this is willed by him who gives it, that it may be attributed to him.”
Dante spells out this lesson more fully in “The Banquet.” “The divine seed,” he writes, “does not fall on a lineage, that is on a family stock, it falls on individual persons … the stock does not make individuals noble; rather, individuals make the stock noble.” Why? Because “God alone bestows it on the soul” for “every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above.”
Here again, a tension. On the one hand, Dante says we’re essentially creatures of social context, formed by historical, political, and legal circumstances out of our control; on the other hand, he says we’re essentially individuals, whose stock will be ennobled or degraded according to the graces bestowed by God on us individually. So which is it?
We find out in “Purgatory” XXVI, where Marco of Lombardy restates the problem: “You who are alive still refer every cause up to the heavens, just as if they moved everything with them by necessity. If that were so, free choice would be destroyed in you, and it would not be justice to have joy for good and mourning for evil.”
In reality, he explains, “The heavens begin your motions … a light is given you to know good and evil, and free will, which, if it lasts out the labor of its first battles with the heavens, afterwards overcomes all things, if nourished well. To a greater Power and a better Nature you lie subject and therefore free, and that creates the mind in you, which the heavens do not govern.”
We are born in our circumstances, made by “a happy Maker.“ But then we taste the flavor of lesser goods, which we pursue to our detriment “if a guide or rein does not turn away” our love for them. We need just rulers to direct our desires back toward reason. Therefore, Marco explains, “you can clearly see that bad government is the cause that has made the world wicked, and not nature corrupt in you.”
And the chief cause of this bad government, for Dante, is that the Church has usurped the power of the Emperor. Which brings out a beautiful paradox that becomes apparent in “Purgatory” XXVII, when Virgil bids farewell to Dante by saying, “No longer wait any word or sign from me: free, upright, and whole is your will, and it would be a fault not to act according to its intent. Therefore you over yourself I crown and mitre.” “Crown and mitre” — state and Church.
The purpose of the separation of Church and State on earth, in other words, is that they be united in heaven. The purpose of our subjection to rulers is that we become free and whole as individuals. The purpose of our particular experience in time is universal blessedness in eternity. These apparent opposites are not really opposed. One is simply the way to the other.
Thus, Justinian tells Dante in the final canto of the political triptych, “Different voices make sweet notes: thus different thrones in this our life produce a sweet harmony among these wheels.”
Dante’s voice will be formed by the particular trials of his particular exile, as Cacciaguida foresees in “Paradiso” XVII: “You will experience how salty tastes the bread of another.” This is an inside joke. The bread will be salty because of the tears of exile but also, specifically, because Florentine bread is made without salt — a universal saltiness understood through a particular saltiness.
“You will experience,” Cacciaguida warns, “what a hard path it is to descend and mount by another’s stairs” — the universal indignity of exile but particular to Dante’s — here is another little play on words, I think — because Dante’s patron is Cangrande della Scala — scala meaning “stairs.”
Notice the order. We expect an exile begging patronage to ascend the stairs of the patron’s court. But Dante says “to go down” and then “to go up,” which is the form of both the poem and salvation. As for Dante’s fellow partisans, Cacciaguida warns, “Of their stupidity the outcome will provide the proof, so that for you it will be well to have become a party unto yourself.”
Does this mean we should ignore politics? No. Dante has insisted in excruciating detail upon the importance of politics even to salvation. Dante himself remained active in politics as a pamphleteer until the death of Henry VII in 1313. But Dante is reminding us that exile and salvation ultimately pertain to the individual. We are judged alone.
“If I am a timid friend to the truth,” Dante concludes, “I fear I will lose life among those who will call this time ancient.” If Dante prefers political expediency to the truth, not only will he forfeit his salvation; he will lose even his significance in history. So having seen the face of God, with memory failing and only sweetness in his heart remaining, he returns to earth to meet us, who are where he was, to guide us on our own particular pilgrimages. And thank God for that.
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<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dante-and-the-redemption-of-politics-part-i-understanding-dantes-vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: Dante And The Redemption Of Politics, Part I: Understanding Dante’s Vision</a></h3>
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dante-and-the-redemption-of-politics-part-ii-the-pilgrims-journey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: Dante And The Redemption Of Politics, Part II: The Pilgrim’s Journey</a></h3>
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dante-and-the-redemption-of-politics-part-iii-distinguishing-between-true-and-false-freedom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: Dante And The Redemption Of Politics, Part III: Distinguishing Between True And False Freedom</a></h3>

Florence rooftops and cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore or Duomo view

Dante And The Redemption Of Politics, Part IV: The Political Animal

Books

Dante

Florence

History

Michael Knowles

The following is part three of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dante-and-the-redemption-of-politics-part-i-understanding-dantes-vision">four-part series</a> taken from a <a class="c-link" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b9wODrWwQo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b9wODrWwQo" data-sk="tooltip_parent">speech</a> delivered by <a class="c-link" href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" data-sk="tooltip_parent">Michael Knowles</a> at the National Intercollegiate Studies Institute Honors Conference.
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So does this mean Dante hates freedom? Nothing could be further from the truth. We hear in “Paradiso” V that “the greatest gift that ever in his bountifulness God gave in creating, and the most conformed to his goodness, the one that is most prized, was the freedom of the will, with which the creatures with intelligence, all of them and only they, were and are endowed.” Dante tells us in “Monarchia” that “the human race is in its ideal state when it is completely free” and that “the first principle of our freedom is free will, which many people talk about but few understand.”
Here Dante seems to be speaking directly into our own time, when so many people are confused about the true meaning of “freedom.” 
Dante distinguishes between true and false freedom: “If judgment controls desire completely and is in no way pre-empted by it, it is free; but if judgment is in any way at all pre-empted and thus controlled by desire, it cannot be free, because it does not act under its own power, but is dragged along in the power of something else.” Lord Acton summarizes this view in the pithy statement that freedom is not the ability to do what we wish but the right to do what we ought. 
Dante loves freedom. And it is because he loves freedom that he demands universal monarchy. Because, as he tells us in “Monarchia,” “The activity proper to mankind considered as a whole is constantly to actualize the full intellectual potential of humanity, primarily through thought and secondarily through action (as a function and extension of thought).” He adds that “mankind most readily attends to this activity … in the calm or tranquility of peace.” Therefore, “universal peace is the best of those things which are ordained for our human happiness.” And the only way to get universal peace is through a universal ruler.
But then doesn’t this therefore imply a merger of Church and State under one single ruler? Not for Dante. But Dante’s enemy Pope Boniface VIII thought it did, as the pope argued in 1302 in his papal bull “Unam Sanctam.”
Boniface argued that all power on earth lies ultimately with the pope — that even the emperor is subordinate to the pope. To defend his claim, Boniface made a couple of dubious scriptural arguments. Boniface also relied on the Donation of Constantine — a document later proven to be a forgery — in which the Emperor purportedly transferred authority over the western Roman Empire to the pope.
Dante says no. Even if Boniface’s questionable readings of scripture were accurate, even if Constantine had really attempted to transfer political authority to the pope, nevertheless it would not be possible. Because on earth, everything has limits. Even the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, which our Lord gives to St. Peter — the power “to loose and to bind” — cannot be absolute because Peter could not do things that God himself cannot do.
Peter could, for instance, absolve an unrepentant sinner. He could not “loosen a wife from her husband and bind her to another while the first was still alive.” There are limits not only to the power of the emperor but also of the pope. Those limits derive from the nature of their respective offices, and the distinction between the offices derives from the fact that man himself has two natures: corruptible body and incorruptible mind. Mankind therefore, having two natures, necessarily has two ends: happiness in this life and happiness in eternity. The political order — the Empire — is meant to serve man’s temporal happiness; the spiritual order — the Church — should conduce to man’s eternal happiness.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h4>
And yet Dante does not call, as later political thinkers will, for a “firm separation of church and state.” On the contrary, he concludes by warning that his argument “should not be taken so literally as to mean that the Roman Prince is not in some sense subject to the Roman Pontiff, since this earthly happiness is in some sense ordered towards immortal happiness. Let Caesar therefore show that reverence towards Peter which a firstborn son should show his father, so that, illumined by the light of paternal grace, he may the more effectively light up the world, over which he has been placed by Him alone who is ruler over all things spiritual and temporal.” 
The pope and the emperor have distinct realms of action. But we cannot totally separate the temporal and the spiritual just as we cannot separate the literal from the allegorical or the particular from the universal.
Now, having digressed for all that context, let’s move on to the pre-political canto, Canto V of “Inferno.” Here Dante encounters Francesca da Rimini, who had an affair with her brother-in-law Paolo, both of whom are killed by her jilted husband when he discovers them.
Paolo and Francesca fall in love, she tells us, while reading. They read the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. And here Dante makes an important point about language. When read in Italian, it is most important to listen to the language.
<blockquote>Amor, ch&#8217;al cor gentil ratto s&#8217;apprende,
prese costui de la bella persona
che mi fu tolta; e &#8216;l modo ancor m&#8217;offende.
&nbsp;
Amor, ch’a nullo amato amar perdona,
mi prese del costui piacer sì forte,
che, come vedi, ancor non m’abbandona.
&nbsp;
Amor condusse noi ad una morte.
Caina attende chi a vita ci spense&#8221;.
Queste parole da lor ci fuor porte.</blockquote>
“Love, which is quickly kindled in the gentle heart,” “love, which does not pardon any beloved from loving,” “love led us to one death.” That last phrase: “amor condusse noi ad una morte.” “Amor” — love — is precisely in the middle of “una morte” — “one death.”
It’s untranslatable. It is possible to gist in translation, but it only really works in Italian. Dante is showing, as he tells explicitly in his essay on language, “De Vulgari Eloquentia,” that particular languages are appropriate for particular works and particular writers. Not only do different circumstances call for different forms of language — the high grammatica of Latin versus the vulgar vernacular — but writers have a special obligation to their own native vernaculars simply by virtue of those vernaculars’ being their own. Dante writes in “The Banquet” of “the perpetual shame and mortification of the wicked men of Italy who praise the vernacular of others and disparage their own.”
Dante condemns his own teacher Brunetto Latini in part for betraying his vernacular. The point is that language is particular. There’s an old expression, “traduttore, traditore” — the translator is a traitor. Individual experiences are not interchangeable.
This is more evident in Canto XXXI of Inferno when Dante meets Nimrod, who builds the Tower of Babel. When Dante meets him, Nimrod says, “Raphèl maì amècche zabì almì,” which is untranslatable, not because of some pun, but more basically because no one knows what language it is. It seems the phrase is nonsense. Which in itself is meaningful.
Observing the Babel builders, the Lord says, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” So he confused their language and scattered them over the face of the earth.
The combination of political and linguistic unity would have unleashed invincible evil on the world. So God disrupted — temporarily — their political unity and permanently severed their linguistic unity. Now we see a chasm between what is said and what is understood — a chasm which is itself merely an exaggeration of the gap that appeared between word and meaning at the Fall.
Nimrod attempted to short-circuit the particularity of politics and history. He transgressed the limits placed on man at the Fall. We learn more about this fact in “Paradiso” XXVI, when Dante meets Adam, who explains that ”the tasting of the tree in itself” did not cause “so long an exile, but only going beyond the sign.” A crucial word: “sign.” Adam in disobedience figuratively “goes beyond the sign,” and as a result there emerges a distance between literal signs — that is, words — and the meanings that they signify.
In “Paradiso” XXVI, Adam corrects Dante’s earlier belief, articulated in “De Vulgari Eloquentia,” that Hebrew alone survived the confusion of languages at Babel — that Hebrew is in fact the original language created by God — “so that our redeemer, who was to descend from them (in so far as He was human), should not speak the language of confusion, but that of grace.”
Adam says no. “The language that I spoke was all extinct before Nimrod’s people became intent on the unfinishable work.” This is because “no rational effect, because of human preference, which changes following the heavens, has ever been enduring.” Nothing is immune from history. God himself enters into history, and the Word himself speaks a language that is contingent, particular, and constantly changing.
Even the names we call God change: first it was “I,” then “El,” and so on. “This is necessary,” Adam explains, “for the usage of mortals is like a leaf on the branch, which departs and another comes.” The usage of mortals changes because, as Dante writes in “De Vulgari Eloquentia,” “Nothing can be conveyed from one reasoning mind to another except by means perceptible to the sense.” And percepts are always changing. God does not change, but everything else does, including the names we call him.
This is one reason Dante chose to write the “Comedy” in the vernacular. For some of his minor works, he chose the high grammatica of Latin. For his magnum opus, he chose the low vernacular. To go up, we must go down.
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<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dante-and-the-redemption-of-politics-part-i-understanding-dantes-vision" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: Dante And The Redemption Of Politics, Part I: Understanding Dante’s Vision</a></h3>
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dante-and-the-redemption-of-politics-part-ii-the-pilgrims-journey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: Dante And The Redemption Of Politics, Part II: The Pilgrim’s Journey</a></h3>

The Florence Cathedral – Santa Maria del Fiore in an orange sunset.

Dante And The Redemption Of Politics, Part III: Distinguishing Between True And False Freedom

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