WASHINGTON—Secretary of State Marco Rubio will head to Rome this week to smooth things over with the Vatican amidst tensions between the United States and Pope Leo over the Holy Father&#8217;s criticisms of Operation Epic Fury.
Rubio&#8217;s visit to Italy will take place from Wednesday, May 6, to Friday, May 8, and is formally intended to &#8220;advance bilateral relations with Italy and the Vatican,&#8221; the State Department said on Monday, noting that Rubio will &#8220;meet with Holy See leadership to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere.&#8221; The Holy See says Rubio will meet privately with Pope Leo, who is the first pope from the United States. He will also meet with Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state.
The meeting comes amid high tensions between the White House and Pope Leo, who has repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration. The president has aggressively hit back at the pope, even suggesting that the Vatican chose him as a response to Trump&#8217;s presidency — and that &#8220;they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.&#8221;
&#8220;If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,&#8221; the president said in a fiery Truth Social post. Trump&#8217;s sentiment that Pope Leo was chosen to meet the second Trump administration, though generally considered to have been articulated too aggressively towards the head of the Catholic Church, is also widely held to be true.
The most recent bump in the road came in the form of Pope Leo&#8217;s appointment of a bishop to West Virginia: that bishop, <a href="http://t.co/mbCbdug0Fk">according to the Washington Post</a>, was illegally smuggled into the United States in the trunk of a car and has been vocal in his criticisms of the Trump administration&#8217;s immigration policies.
Things took a more hopeful turn of events when the pope downplayed reporter suggestions that he was warring with Trump, saying in late April that the &#8220;narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects&#8221; and that it was &#8220;not in my interest at all” to argue with Trump.
Vice President Vance took another step towards reconciliation with a social media post that praised the pope for his words: &#8220;I am grateful to Pope Leo for saying this. While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict — and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen — the reality is often much more complicated.&#8221;
&#8220;Pope Leo preaches the gospel, as he should, and that will inevitably mean he offers his opinions on the moral issues of the day,&#8221; Vance added. &#8220;The President — and the entire administration — work to apply those moral principles in a messy world. He will be in our prayers, and I hope that we&#8217;ll be in his.&#8221;
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Last May, both Rubio and Vice President JD Vance attended the pope&#8217;s inauguration and spoke privately with him. Vance led the delegation to Rome during that trip, on which they also extended an invitation to Pope Leo from President Donald Trump inviting the pope to the White House. This time around, Vance is staying home and is heading out to Iowa on Tuesday to message for the Trump administration.
Both Vance and Rubio are practicing Catholics and considered top contenders for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination: Vance is currently leading that field by wide margins, though Rubio has notably gained in popularity and name recognition in recent months. Some critics of the vice president are now arguing, in light of the visit, that Vance is being &#8220;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/vance-loses-out-to-rubio-in-major-diplomatic-snub/?utm_campaign=owned_social&amp;utm_medium=socialflow&amp;utm_source=twitter_owned_tdb&amp;via=twitter_page">sidelined</a>&#8221; from the conversations with Pope Leo.
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Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, doesn&#8217;t see it that way. Rubio&#8217;s meeting with the pope is just one &#8220;productive&#8221; step in what will hopefully be the healing of the relationship between the Holy Father and the White House, he suggested.
&#8220;I think ultimately it needs to be 3 people, but it&#8217;s very good that the Secretary of State is going,&#8221; he shared in a phone interview with The Daily Wire. Roberts, also a Catholic, stressed that the most important part of the dynamic is that Pope Leo and President Donald Trump meet and spend time together, &#8220;especially considering they&#8217;re both great leaders and great Americans.&#8221;
&#8220;In the meantime, I think the greatest tag team, for the conservative movement internationally, is Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So, no doubt, Rubio will have a great productive congenial visit with the Holy Father, and no doubt, at some point, the vice president will visit the Holy Father again, and no doubt, at some point, the president and Holy Father will visit again.&#8221;
Tensions escalated in early April when the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-the-infamous-meeting-between-the-vatican-and-the-pentagon?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=7&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Inside+The+Infamous+Meeting+Between+The+Vatican+And+The+Pentagon">Free Press published an &#8220;exposé&#8221; describing</a> a reportedly contentious January meeting between a Vatican diplomat and Pentagon officials. The report, citing unnamed sources, claimed that the Pentagon&#8217;s Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre, then the Vatican’s Apostolic Nuncio, chastised him and insisted the United States “has the military power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side.”
Notably, the story claimed that Colby invoked the Avignon Papacy, a period in the 14th century in which the Holy See moved from Rome to France, where a series of popes were largely bent to the will of the French monarchy. It also cast Colby as belonging to “a cadre of Catholic and ostensibly dovish officials” allied with Vice President JD Vance, who are “struggling to reconcile their isolationist instincts with the aggressive posture of a president who, within a single year, has bombed eight countries — with no sign of stopping.”
Allies of the vice president and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dont-fall-prey-to-claims-the-trump-administration-wants-to-bomb-the-vatican">some conservative commentators</a> took the story as a sign that Vance&#8217;s critics sought to ostracize Vance from Catholicism, just war, and Pope Leo himself. The Vatican, the Pentagon, and the American Ambassador to the Holy See all denied the Free Press report, saying it was cordial and respectful.
Michael Caputo, a longtime Catholic and advisor to President Donald Trump, reflected that both Vance and Rubio bring a different flavor of Catholicism to the table. Vance, a new convert, brings fresh perspective and evangelical zeal. Rubio was baptized Catholic as a baby, spent a few years in the LDS church in Las Vegas as a child, and returned to the Catholic Church by his early teens.
Caputo stumbled on Rubio&#8217;s memoir &#8220;American Son&#8221; during a particularly dark period when he was being targeted by the Biden DOJ, and he was incredibly impressed by Rubio&#8217;s reverence for the Catholic sacraments. That one specific chapter of &#8220;American Son&#8221; &#8220;drew me into my faith as Russia gate sucked my family in,&#8221; he shared.
&#8220;Marco and JD are two very different Catholics and Catholicism needs them both,&#8221; said Caputo. But he argued that it is &#8220;Marco Rubio’s deep and binding understanding of the sacraments and the role they played in connecting people to Christ&#8221; that &#8220;will make a difference as he comes to the Vatican.&#8221;
Rubio has cautioned respect for the Vatican, encouraging the public to see the office not as political but as spiritual.
&#8220;I understand there’s this temptation to cover the papacy as a political office,&#8221; Rubio <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-remarks-to-the-press-4">told reporters in May 2025</a> of the pope. &#8220;It is not a political office. It is a spiritual office, and it is one that – it has social teachings that are aligned with the faith and with the gospel.&#8221;
But he has also been unafraid to point out when the Vatican&#8217;s public posture on issues like immigration does not match its own actions.
&#8220;I don’t mean this to be snarky, but the Vatican has rules about who can come in and who can stay,&#8221; he noted that same day. &#8220;So every place has that. It’s just — it’s what you do to protect your sovereignty.&#8221;
Rubio was also formerly the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere and has spent much of his career focused on that hemisphere — as has Pope Leo. Though the pope is from Chicago, he has been heavily focused on Latin America.
That means there is a &#8220;common language between the two men,&#8221; Caputo stressed, &#8220;a deep and abiding concern for the hemisphere,&#8221; a granular level of understanding of the region, and it makes Rubio the right guy for Pope Leo to be talking to.
The pope has repeatedly condemned the war with Iran, saying in late April aboard a flight back to Rome, &#8220;As a pastor, I cannot be in favor of war,&#8221; and &#8220;I would like to encourage everyone to make efforts to look for answers that come from a culture of peace and not from a place of hate and division.&#8221;
His previous remarks on the war in Iran prompted President Donald Trump to publicly scold him and accuse him of being &#8220;WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.&#8221;
&#8220;I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.&#8221;
&#8220;I have no intention of getting into a debate,&#8221; Leo said in response in late April.
Catholics in the U.S. are also sensitive to the fact that the pope has said he has no plans to return to the United States to celebrate the country&#8217;s 250th anniversary.
&#8220;He has as much work to do as our friends who are public officials in the United States, in fact, I would strongly encourage him as a Roman Catholic and as an American, to visit the United States, his native country during America 250,&#8221; Roberts told The Daily Wire. &#8220;A lot of us conservative Catholics are slighted that the 1st American pope doesn&#8217;t have any plans to visit us this year.&#8221;

Rubio Pope

Rubio Heads To Rome To Make Peace With The Pope

JD Vance

Marco Rubio

Pope Leo

The Vatican

On April 6, The Free Press ran a <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/why-the-vatican-and-the-white-house">story</a> claiming the Pentagon summoned the Vatican&#8217;s apostolic nuncio to a meeting, and invoked the Avignon Papacy, threatening the Vatican. The <a href="https://x.com/DOWResponse/status/2042300020494418303">Department of War</a>, <a href="https://x.com/BrianBurchUSA/status/2042307511504519366">Ambassador Brian Burch</a>, and the <a href="https://www.ewtnnews.com/vatican/media-narrative-about-nuncio-s-pentagon-meeting-untrue-vatican-says">Vatican</a> all put out statements saying the &#8220;threatening&#8221; meeting story is completely untrue. DNC progressive Catholic operative Christopher Hale, however, spent all week pushing and amplifying the story even after it was shown to be false.
On April 9, Pope Leo XIV <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/pope-leo-xiv-meeting-david-axelrod-obama-advisor/">met with</a> David Axelrod, the former senior advisor to President Obama. Then, on April 10, the Pope made a clearly <a href="https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2042588417578668338">pacifist, anti-war statement</a> aimed at the Trump administration. To cap it all off, CBS aired a &#8220;60 Minutes&#8221; episode on Sunday, April 12, with three of the most liberal cardinals in the American Catholic Church who spoke in opposition to the Iran war and against the deportation of illegal aliens. Meanwhile, social media erupted with provocative arguments over who is to blame for America’s moral and spiritual collapse: Catholics or Protestants?
Without a doubt, there is a political operation underway to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pope-leo-responds-after-trump-calls-him-weak?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Pope+Leo+Responds+After+Trump+Calls+Him+%E2%80%98Weak%E2%80%99">set up a confrontation</a> between the Vatican and the United States. The goal is to divide conservative Catholic voters from the Evangelical bloc — an established and battle-tested political tactic, cynical and craven as it may be. This has the fingerprints of the DNC and NGO operatives all over it, and the liberal progressives within the Catholic Church are working in their service.
Non-Catholic Americans need to understand there is a serious intra-Catholic war going on between the liberal progressives within the Church and those who are trying to keep the Church faithful to its 2,000 years of Biblical teaching. This war has been hot since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Just like the Protestant progressives, the Catholic Church has a large segment of that generation that wants to do to Catholicism what the Protestant progressives have done elsewhere, not only on issues like abortion, sexuality, and women&#8217;s ordination, but in the liberalizing of the entire political and social order. Decades ago Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger fought hard against Communists and Socialists within the Church who were using Marxist ideology to form what is now called Liberation Theology — a politicization of the Gospel. Cardinal Ratzinger knew it posed a threat to the distinction between Church and State.
As a well-assimilated Iraqi Christian immigrant to America, who journeyed through different Protestant denominations until I converted to Catholicism ten years ago, I can say without a doubt that the only reason there is such a strong, faithful, intelligent, fruitful Catholic community in America is because of the kind of nation our Protestant brethren founded in 1776. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI praised the freedoms created by the American system — this shared, common freedom Founding Fathers built allows both Protestants/Evangelicals and Catholics to grow without the meddling hand of the government.
One can admire the traditions, customs, and observances of the Catholics in Europe, but they are a small community that hold no sway in the public squares of their countries. In spite of what seems to be a recent increase in Catholic converts in France, Catholicism as an institution, like its political counterpart in Europe has become a “polite and orderly caretakers of the West&#8217;s managed decline,” to use Secretary Marco Rubio&#8217;s words.
Some may boast about the Catholic evangelization of South America centuries ago, but Latin America today offers a different picture: societies in moral decline, an anemic Catholic Church losing people to the Pentecostal movement, and corrupt governments unable to provide even basic safety for their citizens.
American Catholicism has a “conservative” segment for two reasons: the faithful presence of our Evangelical and Protestant brethren, which encourages us to remain steadfast in Scriptural teaching, and the blessed miracle of American religious liberty.
European Catholics complain that American Catholics are more American than Catholic, they phrase it in this way because what they cannot tolerate to say is that American Catholics are overall more faithful Christians than European Catholics. And that faithfulness is the wonderful fruit of being in America.
The reason why America has not fully given itself over to the globalist progressive agenda is due primarily to the Evangelicals who have held the line, and their conservative Catholic counterpart who have partnered with them. These two groups have worked hard together in spite of theological differences. The next destructive ideology that needs defeating is the Islamist totalitarianism of the Islamists seeking world domination. Like Pope John Paul II who stood up against Communism, Pope Leo XIV should be working against that ideology, not chastising the only country in the world that has expansive religious freedoms.
Conservative Christians of all stripes need to see this political op for what it is and hold the line, for the good of us all, and for the good of all American citizens.
* * *
Luma Simms is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Vatican Pool Images 2026

The Real Target In This Vatican Drama Isn’t Rome. It’s American Voters.

60 Minutes

Catholic Church

David Axelrod

Democratic National Committee

Donald Trump

WASHINGTON—During a January meeting at the Pentagon, Vatican officials met with U.S. military leaders and discussed key national security objectives for the United States, according to a War Department official who was in the room.
Months later, the Free Press published an &#8220;expose&#8221; describing a reportedly contentious January meeting between a Vatican diplomat and Pentagon principal, as rumors of a rift between Washington and Rome have swirled.
But the Vatican, the Pentagon, and the American Ambassador to the Holy See all say the meeting was cordial and respectful. The parties involved have all made a public show of being friendly. And the contentious topic at the heart of the fracas — Pope Leo XIV&#8217;s criticism of military strikes in Iran — seems not to have come up at all.
So, what really happened?
The principals at the meeting were Undersecretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby and Cardinal Christophe Pierre, then the Vatican&#8217;s Apostolic Nuncio — functionally ambassador — to the United States. Both Colby and Pierre had staffers with them, The Daily Wire has learned.
American officials conveyed the administration&#8217;s position and intentions on Venezuela, Cuba, and other countries, and listened to the Vatican&#8217;s views on these topics.
&#8220;It was an attempt to engage seriously and respectfully with the Holy See&#8217;s position on matters relevant to the Department of War,&#8221; a War Department official who in the room for the January 22 meeting told The Daily Wire.
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Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby <a href="https://twitter.com/USWPColby?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USWPColby</a> had a substantive, respectful, and professional meeting with Cardinal Pierre, the then-Papal Nuncio, and his team on January 22, 2026. During the cordial meeting, they discussed a range of topics, including issues of… <a href="https://t.co/McI0sB2wKC">pic.twitter.com/McI0sB2wKC</a>
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) <a href="https://twitter.com/DOWResponse/status/2042300020494418303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
“We naturally, at the Department of War, in the Policy office, wanted to have a respectful discussion with the Vatican,&#8221; the official said. &#8220;Part of the role of Policy, in the Department of War, is to have dialogue between other nations on military matters.”
This is a stark contrast to The Free Press&#8217;s April 6 <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/why-the-vatican-and-the-white-house">report</a> that the Pentagon had summoned Pierre to the meeting, during which Colby and others chastised the cardinal and insisted that the United States &#8220;has the military power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side.&#8221; Citing unnamed sources, the story also notes that Colby invoked the Avignon Papacy, a period in the 14th century in which the Holy See moved from Rome to France, where a series of popes were largely bent to the will of the French monarchy.
Mattia Ferraresi, the freelance contributor who authored The Free Press piece, suggested the Avignon Papacy reference was a veiled threat that the United States was willing to use its military power to &#8220;dominate the papal authority.&#8221;
Ferraresi, who told The Daily Wire on Friday he stands by his reporting, also casts Colby as belonging to &#8220;a cadre of Catholic and ostensibly dovish officials&#8221; allied with Vice President JD Vance &#8220;struggling to reconcile their isolationist instincts with the aggressive posture of a president who, within a single year, has bombed eight countries — with no sign of stopping.&#8221;
The Avignon Papacy storyline was amplified by Democrat operative Christopher Hale, who <a href="https://x.com/ChristopherHale/status/2041959904823366074?s=20">suggested in now viral tweets</a> that &#8220;many in the Vatican saw the Pentagon’s reference to an Avignon papacy as a threat to use military force against the Holy See.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-the-infamous-meeting-between-the-vatican-and-the-pentagon/under-secretary-of-defense-for-policy-elbridge-colby-testifies-on-national-defense-strategy-during-senate-hearing" rel="attachment wp-att-1075509"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-1075509 size-large aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2264581833-851x576.jpg" alt="" width="851" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2264581833-851x576.jpg 851w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2264581833-300x203.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2264581833-768x520.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/GettyImages-2264581833.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 851px) 100vw, 851px" /></a>
In a statement, the Pentagon says Ferraresi&#8217;s characterization of the meeting was &#8220;highly exaggerated and distorted.&#8221;
&#8220;It is not unusual for Mr. Colby to have meetings with ambassadors,&#8221; that official noted, referencing the suggestion that the meeting was unprecedented. &#8220;He has often, at least one or two meetings with ambassadors from other nations a week. It&#8217;s certainly not unusual that we meet with ambassadors on these matters.&#8221;
&#8220;We invited them because we were interested in hearing the Vatican&#8217;s views,&#8221; the official explained, &#8220;and we wanted to convey the administration&#8217;s position, and intentions.&#8221;
&#8220;We talked about key American security objectives. Venezuela had just happened. We talked about that. We talked about this administration&#8217;s approach towards Europe, and NATO, Latin America. Also Cuba, Venezuela; the Vatican&#8217;s obviously very active in both those nations.&#8221;
Brian Burch, the United States Ambassador to the Holy See, spoke with Pierre on Thursday and shared their conversation in a public statement, saying that Pierre told him there was &#8220;no threat of Avignon&#8221; and that a &#8220;frank and cordial meeting that took place two months ago.&#8221;
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It could be said the US-Holy See relationship is much bigger than mere diplomatic relations. It is rooted in a civilizational idea that the Catholic Church helped advance, which the U.S. proudly inherited, and carries forth today. <a href="https://t.co/V7rfCU1jIY">https://t.co/V7rfCU1jIY</a>
— Ambassador Brian Burch (@BrianBurchUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianBurchUSA/status/2042649298265911391?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2026</a></blockquote>
&#8220;As expected, he confirmed that recent media characterizations of his meeting with Undersecretary Colby are &#8216;fabrications&#8217; that were &#8216;just invented,'&#8221; Burch said. &#8220;Given the intelligence and seriousness of Mr. Colby, I was likewise not surprised when His Eminence acknowledged there were no threats of any kind in the meeting.&#8221;
The cardinal and Burch have spoken regularly since Burch was nominated to become ambassador to the Holy See, Burch noted.
&#8220;When we disagree, we have done so with sincerity and respect,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I believe the same could be said of his January meeting with Undersecretary Colby. It’s regrettable that some journalists and online agitators chose to exploit a routine meeting to sow division between the Holy See and the United States.&#8221;
The Pentagon also characterized the meeting as &#8220;cordial,&#8221; &#8220;substantive, respectful, and professional&#8221; in a statement released Thursday — and called The Free Press report &#8220;grossly false and distorted.&#8221; 
&#8220;They discussed a range of topics, including issues of morality in foreign policy, the logic of the U.S. National Security Strategy, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and other topics,&#8221; the Pentagon statement said. &#8220;Cardinal Pierre expressed his appreciation for the outreach and both sides looked forward to continued open and respectful dialogue.&#8221;
And Vice President Vance, asked about the matter on Wednesday, told the press that he had not yet seen the reporting on the meeting: “I’d like to actually talk to Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and frankly, to our people, to figure out what actually happened.&#8221;
Pope Leo has repeatedly weighed in on the conflict in Iran, expressing hopes that the United States and Iran can come to an agreement &#8220;in a peaceful way&#8221; and condemning President Donald Trump for warning that a &#8220;whole civilization&#8221; would be wiped out if Iran did not agree to a peace plan.
But despite that criticism, both the White House and Vatican insist the parties have a positive relationship.
&#8220;Catholic Americans resoundingly supported President Trump in 2024, and the president’s administration has a positive relationship with the Vatican, which was strengthened when Vice President Vance attended the Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural mass last year,&#8221; White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. &#8220;The President has done more than any of his predecessors to save lives and resolve global conflicts, and following the completion of his military objectives in Iran, he is hopeful that the agreement under discussion can lead to a lasting peace in the Middle East.”
&#8220;We have nothing but the highest regard and welcome continued dialogue with the Holy See,&#8221; the Pentagon added.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni also denied the reporting, <a href="https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2026/04/vatican-denies-media-spin-of-envoy-meeting-at-the-pentagon">saying Friday</a> that, “As confirmed by His Eminence Christophe Pierre … his meeting with Mr. Elbridge Andrew Colby was part of the papal representative’s regular mission and provided the opportunity for an exchange of views on matters of mutual interest.&#8221;
&#8220;The narrative offered by some media outlets about this meeting is completely untrue,&#8221; Bruni added.

VATICAN-RELIGION-POPE-CONCLAVE

Inside The Infamous Meeting Between The Vatican And The Pentagon

Catholic

Pentagon

”Raising Hope for Climate Justice” Conference Opens

The Pope Hosts Cringe ‘Climate Justice’ Event

The Pope Hosts Cringe 'Climate Justice' Event

Abortion

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Climate Change

Dick Durbin

Environmentalism

Opinion

Pro-Life Movement

VATICAN CITY — In a meeting between Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, the Vatican prioritized the return of hostages in a statement on the Gaza conflict, aligning with Israel’s position that their release is key to ending the war.
The Holy See Press Office confirmed Herzog’s audience with the pontiff at the Apostolic Palace, followed by talks with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister. 
In a <a href="https://x.com/breeadail/status/1963593785524224346?s=46">statement</a> issued in Italian and translated by The Daily Wire, the Vatican stressed that “with willingness and courageous decisions, as well as with the support of the international community, the release of all hostages can be achieved, a permanent ceasefire can be reached urgently, [and] the safe entry of humanitarian aid into the most affected areas can be facilitated.”
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VATICAN CITY—The following statement was just issued by <a href="https://twitter.com/HolySeePress?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HolySeePress</a>:
“Today, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience at the Vatican Apostolic Palace the President of the State of Israel, His Excellency Mr. Isaac Herzog, who subsequently met with His Eminence Cardinal… <a href="https://t.co/V6OtLO1qGo">https://t.co/V6OtLO1qGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/bGEnAWkSDs">pic.twitter.com/bGEnAWkSDs</a>
— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) <a href="https://twitter.com/breeadail/status/1963593785524224346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The prioritization of hostages marked a notable emphasis in the Vatican’s message, and one that Pope Leo XIV has also reiterated, reflecting Israel’s insistence that no resolution can move forward until those taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023, are returned.
While the statement, issued by the Holy See press office, also mentions the two-state solution as “the only way out of the ongoing war,” the press office did not attribute that position directly to Pope Leo XIV. 
Cardinal Parolin, who has led the Secretariat of State since 2013, has long been a central figure in Vatican diplomacy, shaping deals that include the Holy See’s controversial recognition of the State of Palestine in 2015.
Parolin’s role in Thursday’s discussions highlights his influence. As Secretary of State, Parolin remains responsible for both Vatican foreign policy and relations with local churches, including Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Thursday’s statement acknowledged the “historical value” of ties with Israel and underscored the role of Christian institutions across the Middle East in promoting education, social cohesion, and stability.
President Isaac Herzog, in a <a href="https://x.com/isaac_herzog/status/1963581241128632825?s=46">statement</a> released in Italian following the meeting, underscored the alignment between himself and the Pope. “I am deeply grateful to Pope Leo XIV for the warm welcome I received today at the Vatican. First and foremost, Israel is doing everything possible to bring home the hostages held in brutal captivity by Hamas. Israel longs for a day when the peoples of the Middle East—the Children of Abraham—will live together in peace, cooperation, and hope.”
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Sono profondamente grato a <a href="https://twitter.com/Pontifex?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Pontifex</a> Papa Leone XIV per la calorosa accoglienza ricevuta oggi in Vaticano. 
Prima di tutto, Israele si sta impegnando in ogni modo possibile per riportare a casa gli ostaggi tenuti in brutale prigionia da Hamas. Israele anela a un giorno in cui i… <a href="https://t.co/jiRLu75olf">pic.twitter.com/jiRLu75olf</a>
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) <a href="https://twitter.com/Isaac_Herzog/status/1963581241128632825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Herzog added that “all leaders of faith and goodwill must be united in calling for the immediate release of the hostages as a first and essential step toward a better future for the entire region.” He also stressed Israel’s commitment to religious freedom, to the protection of Christian communities in the Holy Land and the broader Middle East, and to working for peace and stability.
“The Pope’s inspiration and leadership in combating hatred and violence and promoting peace throughout the world are appreciated and vital,” Herzog said. “I look forward to deepening our cooperation for a better future of justice and compassion.”

Vatican Pool Images 2025

Vatican Emphasizes Release Of Hostages In Meeting Between Israeli President And Pope Leo XIV

Israeli President Meets Pope Leo XIV

Gaza

Hamas

Isaac Herzog

Israel

President Donald Trump&#8217;s new ambassador to the Holy See was confirmed over the weekend.
Brian Burch, former president of CatholicVote, one of the country&#8217;s largest Catholic advocacy groups, was confirmed by the Senate as the United States ambassador to the Vatican on Saturday.
The Senate voted 49-44 along party lines.
&#8220;The Catholic Church is the largest and most important religious institution in the world, and its relationship to the United States is of vital importance,&#8221; Burch said in a statement on Saturday.
&#8220;I am committed to working with leaders inside the Vatican and the Trump administration to promote the dignity of all people and the common good,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;Brian is a devout Catholic, a father of nine, and President of CatholicVote,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-appoints-catholicvote-president-holy-see-ambassador">said</a> in December when he nominated Burch.
&#8220;He represented me well during the last Election, having garnered more Catholic votes than any Presidential Candidate in History! Brian loves his Church and the United States — He will make us all proud. Congratulations to Brian, his wife Sara, and their incredible family!&#8221; Trump said.
During election season, Burch led the conservative lobbying group, CatholicVote, whose political action committee <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/catholicvote-org/C00494021/summary/2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spent</a> more than a million dollars over the 2024 election cycle and <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/catholicvote-organization-endorses-trump-presidential-primary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endorsed</a> Trump in January during the primaries.
&#8220;I know many Catholics are divided over whether Trump is the best candidate to defeat Biden. But that&#8217;s also what primaries are for,&#8221; Burch <a href="https://catholicvote.org/catholicvote-endorses-donald-trump-for-president/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time.
Trump thanked CatholicVote for endorsing him later that day during a speech in New Hampshire, where he also spoke about the FBI&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/catholic-leaders-slam-fbi-over-illegitimate-targeting-of-catholics-as-bureau-defends-its-investigation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">targeting</a> of Catholics.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what it is with Catholics but the FBI is going after Catholics,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://catholicvote.org/catholicvote-endorses-donald-trump-for-president/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;Why would any Catholic vote for a Democrat?&#8221;
Burch fleshed out his vision for his diplomatic role in a statement in April to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He said the relationship between the United States and the Vatican &#8220;transcends traditional diplomacy, rooted instead in our shared commitments to religious freedom, human dignity, global peace, and justice.&#8221;
&#8220;My primary goal will be to deepen this partnership. The moral witness of the Holy See together with its global influence make it a key partner for an array of U.S. interests. I am confident we can contribute to a more just and peaceful world, reflecting the best of American values and the Holy See&#8217;s mission,&#8221; Burch said at the time.
The embassy to the Holy See was first established in 1984 between President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.

Conclave Elects Pope Leo XIV

Senate Confirms Leading Catholic Activist As Vatican Ambassador

Trump's Holy See Ambassador Brian Burch Confirmed

Catholicism

Trump Administration

Vatican

Could the Catholic Church have done more to fight the Nazis? Conventional wisdom says yes, but newly-released information from the Vatican suggests otherwise.
Beginning August 13, Daily Wire host Michael Knowles will correct the historical record surrounding the papacy and Nazi Germany in &#8220;The Pope and the Führer: The Secret Vatican Files of World War II.”
Using once-secret files, made public in 2020 by Pope Francis, Knowles takes viewers through private correspondence and long-buried testimony that reshapes the legacy of a pope long accused of silence during Hitler’s reign. Knowles — a devout Catholic — is joined by a range of leading historians and Vatican scholars, offering new insight into the man who led the Catholic Church through one of history’s darkest chapters.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/the-pope-and-the-fuhrer-the-secret-vatican-files-of-world-war-ii-the-official-trailer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH &#8216;THE POPE AND THE FUHRER&#8217; TRAILER HERE.</a>
“For eighty years, the world has condemned one man as the ‘Pope of Silence,’ the man who stood by in the face of shocking evil,” Knowles says in the trailer. “This is not just a story about Hitler and the Holocaust. One of the worst lies ever told about the Catholic Church is what she did or didn’t do in one of modernity’s darkest hours. Now, for the first time, the Vatican Secret Archive is open, and the truth is far more shocking than the fiction.”
In the four-part series, Knowles traces Pius&#8217; rise to the papacy, Rome&#8217;s fight against Hitler, and the Church’s response to the rising Soviet Union.
Knowles is the host of &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show,&#8221; &#8220;Michael &amp;,&#8221; and &#8220;Yes or No&#8221; on Daily Wire, as well as &#8220;The Book Club&#8221; on PragerU. In addition to his digital content, Knowles is the author of &#8220;Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds&#8221; and &#8220;Reasons to Vote for Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide.&#8221;
“The Pope and the Führer” premieres August 13 on DailyWire+. New episodes every Wednesday.

Copy of 16×9

Michael Knowles Reveals The Truth About The Vatican And The Nazis

History

Michael Knowles

Nazi Germany

Pope Francis

World War II

On Wednesday, I had a pretty incredible experience. I went to the Vatican for an event at St. Peter&#8217;s Square that’s held every Wednesday when the Pope holds a general audience.
It’s an amazing event. There are tens of thousands of people — divided by country of origin — who gather in St. Peter&#8217;s Square from all over the world. It&#8217;s a reminder that godly, Biblical values are the guiding force for billions of people around the world. The world seems like a very dark place from time to time, but the reality is that if you stick to eternal values, it does make the world a brighter place.
The Pope came in his vehicle, drove around, greeted the entire audience, and then he came up in the center of St. Peter&#8217;s Square, right in front of the basilica, and gave an address about the Bible which was read out loud in a variety of different languages.
I got to sit up there near where the Pope was. What the Pope said was quite beautiful. He quoted from the Book of John, the story about the Pool of Bethesda, in which Jesus goes to the Pool of Bethesda, where there are people who are ill and people who are paralyzed. There&#8217;s a man there who&#8217;s been sick and infirm for 38 years. And Jesus goes to that man and he tells him that he ought to get up, take his mat with him, and walk.
And the Pope said we should all reflect on Jesus&#8217; statement. At that moment when we feel stuck and trapped in a dead end, instead of allowing that to become an excuse for others to take care of us, we should not allow this to become a justification to avoid making decisions about our lives. Instead, we should get away from fatalism and embrace personal responsibility.
It is these kinds of messages that are implicit in the Biblical narrative that the Pope is spreading, and that is a wonderful thing for our civilization.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2220-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
I&#8217;ve talked about this before — I&#8217;m an Orthodox Jew. Obviously. I don&#8217;t have a dog in the fight when it comes to internal battles over doctrine in Catholicism, except to the extent that the Catholic Church remains a lodestone for Western civilization, a great spreader of Biblical values to humanity.
In the same way, there are Protestant churches that do the same. People of God, people of the book, people of the Bible are spreading eternal values. It is worth acknowledging that and honoring that.
That&#8217;s actually what I said to the Pope when I had an opportunity to meet him. I handed him a letter asking for an interview and introduced myself. You&#8217;re supposed to bring the Pope a gift.
I explained who I was. (Obviously, he has a lot of things to do, so I doubt he&#8217;s a regular listener to my show.) At this point, I explained to him that I was there to pay honor to the fact that he was representative of biblical values in the world. Then I added, “I happen to have been a devout White Sox fan since the time I was a child.”
Of course, Pope Leo is a White Sox fan. He recently spoke at Comiskey Park via video to some 30,000 people.
I told him that while he is Catholic and I am Jewish, one of the miracles that we can agree on is the 2005 White Sox winning the World Series. I brought with me from my personal collection a 2005 World Series White Sox baseball signed by the entire team, and gave it to him.
He seemed a little bit surprised, not by the fact that I was giving a gift, but because it was a gift and not just me showing him something cool, I suppose. You could see him crack a bit of a smile as he received it. He was pretty delighted by it.
So it was really a terrific experience. Honestly, the entire event was amazing.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It was an honor to meet His Holiness, <a href="https://twitter.com/Pontifex?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Pontifex</a> in Vatican City today, and to thank him for standing up for Biblical values in a chaotic world…and to present him with a signed 2005 White Sox World Series baseball I had in my collection (we’re both fans). <a href="https://t.co/hxlhUnKU7F">pic.twitter.com/hxlhUnKU7F</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1935350580458733762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
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My impression of him is that Pope Leo seems to be a man who has enmeshed himself in the office. And when you meet the Pope, you can see he’s a deeply humble man. You can tell that right away just from meeting him. And you could see the sheer joy that he had, I think, from getting the baseball, which is such a small thing for this man who has the weight of the spiritual fate of over a billion people on his shoulders.
I share that because there are a lot of moments in the political world that are not uplifting. There are a lot of moments that are fraught, that feel as though darkness is encroaching.
And so, there needs to be a meeting of the minds between all of us who believe in Biblical values, and that those Biblical values ought to be purveyed. It&#8217;s one of the reasons why I have encouraged people who are Catholic to go to church, people who are Protestant to go to church, and Jews to go to synagogue and relearn their traditions and engage with those traditions.
I&#8217;m very much in favor of the strengthening of the Catholic Church and the strengthening of Protestant churches all over the United States and the rest of the West.
I&#8217;m very much in favor of people reengaging with the values that made the West what it was in the first place.

Pope Leo XIV Arrives To Lead His Weekly General Audience At St Peter’s Square In The Vatican On June 18, 2025.

I Met The Pope. It Was Amazing.

Ben Shapiro

Bible

Catholics

Italy

Major League Baseball

WASHINGTON—Democrat lawmakers are blocking the confirmation of Brian Burch, President Donald Trump&#8217;s nomination for Ambassador to the Vatican, ahead of Pope Leo XVI&#8217;s installation as pontiff this Sunday.
Ambassadors are typically confirmed in large groups in order to speed up the process, given that there are 194 ambassadorial roles to fill. Yet in recent weeks, there have been a number of &#8220;cloture votes&#8221; in the Senate on Trump&#8217;s nominees, procedural votes requiring a simple majority vote.
&#8220;Democrats have thrown up an unprecedented level of obstruction for nominees that are usually allowed to compress their time,&#8221; a senior White House official told The Daily Wire, arguing that this type of obstruction is an assault &#8220;on the president&#8217;s officials and the president&#8217;s ability to stand up his government.&#8221;
&#8220;There&#8217;s been an unprecedented number of cloture votes, even for noncontroversial nominees, of which Mr. Brian Burch is one of those individuals,&#8221; that official explained.
Burch is the president and co-founder of CatholicVote, an organization dedicated to inspiring and mobilizing Catholics toward traditional Catholic teaching. He&#8217;s considered well-qualified by the White House and is supported by a wide range of organizations, but his vocal adherence to the Catholic magisterium on issues like life, gender, and marriage are likely to have angered Democrats as well.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
President Trump&#8217;s pick for Ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, is a PATRIOT. 👏
&#8220;My father taught me that America is the greatest country in the world, and to never take for granted our freedom.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/q7R8xxOBLr">pic.twitter.com/q7R8xxOBLr</a>
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) <a href="https://twitter.com/CatholicVote/status/1909628874364797333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations advanced his nomination to the full Senate for official confirmation in May, but he has yet to be confirmed. That delay is significant given the recent death of Pope Francis and the subsequent election of Pope Leo XIV.
The hold up on Burch&#8217;s confirmation has drawn the ire of Republicans like Eric Schmitt, the senator for Missouri, who slammed such attempts publicly on Wednesday after he went on the Senate floor and asked for unanimous consent for the Senate to approve Burch&#8217;s nomination. Democrats stood up and objected, further delaying the process.
&#8220;I never thought I&#8217;d see a day that resistance would mean holding up the ambassador to the Holy See, to be there for the installation of the pope, but here is where we are, total brokenness from the other side,&#8221; Schmitt <a href="https://x.com/Eric_Schmitt/status/1922413762960642161">said scathingly from the Senate floor</a>.
His remarks were an effort to &#8220;smoke out the Democrats in their extraordinarily obstructionist and radical approach&#8221; to the issue, a senior White House official said. Schmitt was executing a process that normally occurs in private in the Senate, but this time, required more publicity, the official suggested, praising the senator for putting pressure on Democrats.
And at this moment in history, they said, it is critical that the United States have an ambassador to the Holy See.
&#8220;We have a new pope, the American government needs to establish new relationships with Vatican City, obviously a critical faith leader for so many billions of people around the world,&#8221; the official reflected. &#8220;And Democrats, in order to attack the president and make a political point, are impeding the formation of this incredibly important relationship and insulting millions of American Catholics in the bargain. It&#8217;s a pretty critical situation.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://x.com/Eric_Schmitt/status/1922457133267705922">social media video posted this week</a>, Schmitt argued that &#8220;Pope Francis passed away a couple weeks ago,&#8221; and that since Pope Leo is the first American pope (&#8220;a big deal&#8221;) being installed this weekend, &#8220;it would be nice to have the Ambassador to the Holy See, Senate-approved, to go to that in time for this weekend.&#8221;
&#8220;This is a next-level obstruction,&#8221; he argued. &#8220;Now, we&#8217;re going to get through this. We&#8217;re going to spend the time to grind these [confirmations] out. But I just think it speaks to how broken these Democrats are&#8230;they can&#8217;t find their bearings. They have not come to grips with the election loss in November. They&#8217;re swinging at every pitch, there&#8217;s no doubt about that. And they look foolish.&#8221;
This post has been updated to reflect the cloture vote process.

Eric Schmitt 3/27/25

‘Next Level Obstruction’: Democrats Block Ambassador To Vatican Ahead Of Pope’s Installation

Democrats

White House

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

Pope Francis Visits Portugal For World Youth Day

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

As Conclave Begins, Conservative Catholics Make Sense Of Pope Francis

G.K. Chesterton <a href="https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/43811/stfrancisproblem.htm">wrote</a> of St. Francis of Assisi, “But after all, this man was a man and not half a dozen men. What seems inconsistency to you did not seem inconsistency to him.”
We should keep this same principle in mind today as we continue to pray for the repose of Pope Francis’s soul — and assess what we can learn from his legacy, both good and bad.
Much like the great saint whom he chose as his namesake and clearly intended to emulate, Pope Francis confounded caricature and was often misunderstood. In his life, and especially over the course of his pontificate, this quality often led to confusion for the faithful. No doubt, that pattern of confusion will be one hallmark of Francis’s papacy.
If we hope to learn from the life of Pope Francis, however, we must start by rejecting the mainstream media’s depiction of him as a “liberal” pope. Since his death, the New York Times has been filled with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/opinion/pope-francis-gay-muddle.html'" target="_blank" rel="noopener">headlines</a> regarding his perspective on “LGBTQ people,” women deacons, or the Church’s teaching on birth control. But while these may be important issues to the opinion writers of the New York Times, they were not central to Pope Francis’s work.
A much better place to begin is, well, the beginning: those early years of the pontificate when an energetic and vigorous Pope Francis set out to reform the Vatican’s bureaucracy and put an emphasis on serving the poor and taking care of the sick.
<div id="attachment_913279" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-913279" class="size-large wp-image-913279" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-165118482-864x576.jpg" alt="VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - MARCH 31: Pope Francis embraces a boy prior to his first 'Urbi et Orbi' blessing from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica during Easter Mass on March 31, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis delivered his message to the gathered faithful from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in St. Peter's Square after his first Holy week as Pontiff. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-165118482-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-165118482-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-165118482-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-165118482.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Franco Origlia/Getty Images</div>
I will never forget when the Pope, in 2013, reached down and kissed a man suffering from neurofibromatosis, a rare disease which had left him disfigured with boils all over his head. And this was far from the only example. In his first year in the seat of St. Peter, Pope Francis made a point of <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/26889/pope-francis-to-offer-hope-by-washing-young-inmates-feet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">washing the feet</a> of 12 young people at a juvenile detention center, <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/27588/pope-francis-invites-homeless-to-dine-at-vatican" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inviting</a> 200 homeless people to dine at the Vatican, and living in a modest guest house rather than the Apostolic Palace.
With this radical humility, Pope Francis — the first Pope from the global South, where the Church continues to grow — reminded the decadent old continent that the cultural inheritance of Christendom is not in attending U.N. Conferences, but the corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the prisoners, bury the dead, and give alms to the poor.
Yet as much as Pope Francis loved the poor, he was not a humble Franciscan friar but a savvy Jesuit political operator whose initial attention to the corporal works of mercy — though never entirely lost — soon gave way to practical considerations about what would secure his power over the Church. And unfortunately, as he aged and became more entangled in the politics of the Vatican, Pope Francis became vulnerable to manipulation by his advisers as well as the media and indeed made many missteps that confused and divided his flock.
Examples abound. One week he would promote the blessing of “unions of persons of the same sex.” The next he would say that marriage will always be the union of one man and one woman. On one occasion, he declared that abortion was akin to “hiring a hitman,” while nevertheless appointing a pro-abortion economist to the Pontifical Academy for Life.
And because of his excessive reliance on the likes of Cardinal Blase Cupich — the radical progressive archbishop of Chicago whom he appropriately dubbed “the little woman” — Pope Francis was especially misguided in his approach to more conservative segments of the Church. He imposed serious restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, which is growing rapidly in the United States. And despite his frequent denunciation of “clericalism,” he upended, for no apparent reason, the constitution of Opus Dei, a prelature distinguished for promoting the role of the laity in the Church’s mission.
In short, rather than working with the young, vibrant, and faithful segments of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis attacked them, choosing instead to champion progressive prelates and priests like Father James Martin, a Jesuit who pushes the Catholic church to abandon the traditional definition of marriage.
<div id="attachment_720181" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-720181" class="size-large wp-image-720181" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-619464578-864x576.jpg" alt="MALMO, SWEDEN - OCTOBER 31: Pope Francis gives a speech during the 'Together in Hope' event at Malmo Arena on October 31, 2016 in Malmo, Sweden. The Pope is on 2 days visit attending Catholic-Lutheran Commemoration in Lund and Malmo. (Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-619464578-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-619464578-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-619464578-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-619464578.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Michael Campanella/Getty Images</div>
In spite of his own opposition to these groups, however, Pope Francis’s pontificate witnessed a surge of conservative young people converting to Catholicism, in America and around the world. This Easter, dioceses across the United States <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/news/easter-converts-2024-by-the-numbers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> 30%, 40%, 50%, and even 70% increases in the number of converts coming into the Church on Easter Vigil. Young people seeking stability and rootedness account for most of these conversions, and the same phenomenon is happening in <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263349/france-sees-record-10384-adult-baptisms-in-2025-45-percent-increase-as-young-catholics-lead-revival" target="_blank" rel="noopener">France</a> and <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263329/surge-in-adults-entering-church-in-england-this-easter-prompted-by-internet-tradition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">England</a>, where a <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263239/catholics-now-outnumber-anglicans-among-gen-z-in-the-uk-study-suggestshttps:/www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263239/catholics-now-outnumber-anglicans-among-gen-z-in-the-uk-study-suggests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> shows that Gen Z Catholics now outnumber Anglicans two to one.
Amid this renewed interest in the Catholic Church, one of the great tragedies of Pope Francis’s papacy is that his misguided opposition to traditional religious communities and conservative political policies may have given many of these young Catholics the impression that a focus on serving the poor, feeding the hungry, and carrying out the other corporal works of mercy is somehow at odds with tradition and orthodoxy.
Let me be clear: this is not and never has been the case.
Christ tells his disciples in Matthew 25, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” The corporal works of mercy are essential for all Christians, regardless of denomination or political party. And beyond informing our personal faith, they also must guide our efforts to reclaim our institutions and restore our country.
Moreover, Pope Francis’s liberal posturing on things like the environment may obscure his urgent message to modernity. Consider the late Pope’s 2015 “global warming” encyclical, Laudato Si. While it did include entire sections on “pollution and climate change” which the liberal media fawned over and promoted, its deeper argument — that we have failed to “safeguard the moral conditions for an authentic human ecology” — was profoundly conservative and largely ignored.
In Laudato Si, Pope Francis beautifully lays out how a “technocratic paradigm” has led us to accept “every advance in technology with a view to profit, without concern for its potentially negative impact on human beings.” And in pursuit of this “unlimited human power,” he argues, we have undermined the various conditions that help us flourish: destroyed God’s majestic creation, contracepted our God-given gift to create life, and dishonored God’s plan for men and women to be different.
This message — not misguided one-off statements on airplane interviews or liberal media headlines about hot button political issues — is what we should take away from Pope Francis’s papacy.
Modernity, despite all its advances, has robbed us of many of the most basic spiritual and moral resources we need to flourish and be truly happy. To recover them, we don’t need complex coding or advanced AI, but rather, as Pope Francis sought to remind us, simply to follow the lessons Jesus taught us about serving our fellow man.
Much like the early parts of his pontificate, Pope Francis’s final days reflected this message.
On Sunday, the Pope’s last day on Earth, he met with Vice President JD Vance, squashing their public spat. He used his Easter message to make an appeal for peace in the world&#8217;s most war-torn regions. And finally, he made one last loop through St. Peter’s square, stopping several times to bless babies brought up to him and wish all his “brothers and sisters” a “Happy Easter.”
May he rest in peace, mixed legacy and all — and may his brother cardinals be inspired to choose a successor capable of combining Pope Francis’s initial emphasis on the corporal works with a steadfast commitment to tradition, both of which were sorely lacking in the final years of the Holy Father’s life.
* * *
Kevin Roberts is the President of The Heritage Foundation.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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What Can We Learn From Pope Francis?

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President Donald Trump has arrived in Rome, where he will attend Pope Francis&#8217; funeral Saturday morning in Vatican City, marking the first foreign trip of his second term.
The funeral comes six days after Francis passed away, the day after Easter, dying at age 88 of a stroke and heart failure after a battle with pneumonia. Since then, tens of thousands of people have come to pay their respects to the late pope as he lay in state at St. Peter&#8217;s Basilica.
The president and First Lady Melania Trump arrived in Rome late Friday night. They will depart early Saturday afternoon after attending the funeral.
Previous Papal Funerals
Trump is only the second sitting president to attend a papal funeral. The first was George W. Bush, who attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005. President Joe Biden did not attend the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 2023, despite <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/photo/2011/06/vice-president-biden-pope" target="_blank" rel="noopener">meeting</a> the former pope as vice president years earlier. Benedict died nine years after resigning as pope in 2013, an unusual move for a modern pope. He was succeeded by Francis.
Photos from that visit show three presidents, Bush, his father, President George H.W. Bush, and President Bill Clinton kneeling in the first pew behind Pope John Paul II&#8217;s body lying in state. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and First Lady Laura Bush kneel near them.
<div id="attachment_912385" style="width: 446px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-912385" class=" wp-image-912385" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-52596002-300x181.jpg" alt="" width="436" height="263" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-52596002-300x181.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-52596002-953x576.jpg 953w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-52596002-768x464.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-52596002.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 436px) 100vw, 436px" />(TIM SLOAN/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Who Else Will Be There?
Trump met with Pope Francis at the Vatican during his first term in 2017.
Biden met Francis twice: first as vice president in 2016, and during his presidency in 2021. Biden and former first lady Jill Biden will also travel to the Vatican to <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/3389950/trump-biden-pope-francis-funeral/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attend</a> Francis&#8217; funeral.
<div id="attachment_912389" style="width: 408px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-912389" class=" wp-image-912389" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2156863278-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="398" height="265" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2156863278-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2156863278-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2156863278-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2156863278.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 398px) 100vw, 398px" />(TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
<div id="attachment_912391" style="width: 406px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-912391" class=" wp-image-912391" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-480808665-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="396" height="264" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-480808665-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-480808665-865x576.jpg 865w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-480808665-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-480808665.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px" />(Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Neither former President Barack Obama nor former President George W. Bush will attend Pope Francis&#8217; funeral. Obama hosted Francis at the White House in 2015, marking the first papal visit to the United States since Pope Benedict in 2008. Francis was only the third pope ever to visit the White House.
Other world leaders who will attend the pope&#8217;s funeral include Javier Milei, president of Francis&#8217; birthplace, Argentina; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Prince William; French President Emmanuel Macron; and Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
As many as 200,000 people are expected to attend the funeral, the Italian government said.
How The Funeral Will Go
The funeral will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday morning local time, which is 4 a.m. Eastern time in the United States.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re will preside over the funeral Mass and deliver the homily, the Vatican said. He is the dean of the College of Cardinals, which will form a conclave next month to install the next pope.
On Friday night, Francis&#8217; coffin was <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-04/pope-francis-coffin-rite-sealing-funeral-mass-novemdiales.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">set</a> to be sealed in a ceremony and closed to the public.
On Saturday morning, the funeral will begin with a procession in St. Peter&#8217;s Basilica, where the coffin will then be brought and set down. The funeral Mass will follow.
The cardinals who attend will be recognizable by their purple liturgical garments, the Vatican <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-04/the-funeral-celebration-of-pope-francis-on-saturday.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
After Mass, the funeral procession will slowly make its way to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, a little over two miles away, where Francis frequently went to pray before an icon of Mary. Francis is the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in over a century. Many popes are buried in the underground crypt beneath St. Peter&#8217;s Basilica.
&#8220;The coffin will be welcomed by &#8216;the last ones,&#8217; a group of poor and marginalized people who always had a special place in Pope Francis&#8217; heart,&#8221; the Vatican said. &#8220;They will be the ones to give the final tribute before the coffin is carried to the altar of Saint Mary Major.&#8221;
The burial will be private and is expected to end around 2:00 p.m. local time or 8:00 a.m. Eastern time.
The last funeral for a sitting pope, John Paul II, was three hours long. Francis&#8217; funeral looks like it will be even longer, around four hours.
The faithful may begin visiting Francis&#8217; tomb on Sunday, the day after the funeral, the Vatican said.
The funeral kicks off nine days of mourning for the late pope, with Mass each day before the cardinals begin their work to select a new occupant of the Chair of Peter.
How Is Francis&#8217; Funeral Different?
Francis&#8217; funeral will look different from his predecessors. That&#8217;s because he himself changed the rules for papal funerals.
Francis will be buried in just one wooden coffin lined with zinc rather than the three coffins some other popes were buried in, which were made of cypress, lead, and oak.
The late pontiff will also be <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5374984/pope-francis-funeral-how-to-watch">buried</a> at the Basilica of St. Mary Major instead of St. Peter&#8217;s Basilica, the first pope in more than 350 years to be buried there since Clement IX.
Francis said in his autobiography published last year that a pope should be buried &#8220;with dignity, but like any Christian, because the bishop of Rome is a pastor and a disciple, not a powerful man of this world.&#8221; He also asked that his tomb be &#8220;in the ground; simple, without particular decoration, and with the sole inscription: Franciscus.&#8221;
Where To Watch
The Vatican News&#8217; YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@VaticanNews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">channel</a> will livestream the funeral and procession to the burial place.
A number of other news outlets and streaming services also plan to livestream the funeral.

U.S. President Donald Trump in Vatican

Trump Lands In Rome For Pope Francis’ Funeral. Here’s What To Expect.

Here's What To Expect As Trump Attends Pope Francis' Funeral Today

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