Pope Leo XIV

[Kryztian]

Pope Leo XIV talks about how he carries a picture of a young Muslim Lebanese boy with him. The boy was holding a sign, welcoming the Pope to Lebanon, and was latter killed "in the war." Leo didn't mention exactly which country murdered him.

Leo then went on to talk about "a culture of peace, not of war and division." He didn't mention exactly which culture it is promoting war and division.

But we know exactly what he is talking about.

Pope Leo is a class act.

(Here he is speaking in Italian with English subtitles.)

[Ewan]

Pope Leo XIV condemned the death penalty

....seemingly on the same day as Trump okayed...

Beside allowing execution by firing squads—a method that has not been used in the U.S. in centuries—and reinstating the lethal injection protocol stopped by the Biden administration, the department will also streamline internal processes “to expedite death penalty cases.”

[Ravenlocke]

Catholic Sat

Pope Leo XIV speaking to centre-right politicians of the European Parliament:

“To be a Christian engaged in politics requires a realistic perspective that starts with people’s concrete concerns. This perspective should seek, above all, to foster dignified working conditions that will encourage people’s ingenuity and creativity in the face of a market that is increasingly dehumanizing and unfulfilling. Such an outlook must enable people to overcome the fear of starting a family, of having children, a fear that seems to be particularly prevalent in Europe. It also needs to address the root causes of migration, caring for those who suffer, while also taking into account the real capacities for welcoming and integrating migrants into society. It likewise requires confronting in a non-ideological way the great challenges of our time, such as care for creation and artificial intelligence. The latter offers great opportunities, but it is also fraught with danger.”

https://x.com/CatholicSat/status/2048032186243170362

[Ravenlocke]

Sachin Jose

Pope Leo XIV will visit the tomb of Bartolo Longo next month, the former Satanic priest who converted to Catholicism and devoted his life to the Rosary and the Virgin Mary, and who was declared a saint last year.

https://x.com/Sachinettiyil/status/2048209310287565002

So who was St Bartolo Longo?

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/bles...el=tw-20064348

Blessed Bartolo Longo, the Ex-Satanist Who Was Freed Through the Rosary
The stories about Blessed Bartolo Longo, who was beatified in 1980 by Pope St. John Paul II, are truly legendary.

Angelo Stagnaro December 12, 2016

St. Francis of Assisi often reminded his friars that if God could work through me, He could work through anyone.

This is a bit unfair. Francis is, after all, Francis. They called him, the Alter Christus or the "Other Christ." God wouldn't have to work too hard to work through Francis.

However, Bartolo Longo was a true challenge.

He certainly didn't make it easy for the Holy Spirit.

After all, Bartolo Longo was a satanic priest.

It's the same old story: Catholic kid grows up in religious family, goes away to university, falls in with a bunch of drug-fueled Satanic pagans, becomes a Satanic high priest, comes to his senses and realizes he's made the stupidest mistake world history and ultimately reverts back to the Church.

It's the basic Satanic-rags-to-saintly-riches story.

The stories about Blessed Bartolo Longo are truly legendary. Some of the details aren’t acceptable for mixed company and even some of the battle-hardened Marines I know have blanched in horror at the tales.

But, just in case curiosity has grabbed a hold of you…

Bartolo Longo was born in the small town of Latiano, near Brindisi, in southern Italy on Feb. 10, 1841. His parents, Dr. Bartolomeo Longo and Antonina Luparelli, were wealthy and exceptionally devout Catholics who prayed the Rosary together daily.

Longo became alienated from the Church when his mother died in 1851. Being far from his family when he left to study law at the University of Naples, he drifted further away. The final coup de grâce occurred when he fell in with a pagan group that "ordained" him as a Satanist priest.

He participated in séances and fortunetelling. He fooled himself into thinking he could do “real” magic and that just set him up for a greater fall than the First One. He felt motivated to publicly ridicule Christianity at every turn and did everything within his power to subvert Catholic influence in society and culture. He even convinced many other Catholics to leave the Church and participate in occult rites.

But the more he experimented with dark forces, the deeper he sank into depression and demonic obsession. Joy, like God, were far from him. In their stead, his life was marked with extreme depression, paranoia, hatred, confusion and nervousness. He was horribly afflicted by dark diabolical visions which frightened him and threw him into a cycle of ever declining health. He ultimately experienced a mental breakdown.

In his darkest moments, he heard his deceased father begging him to: “Return to God! Return to God!” greatly moved by this vision, Longo turned to his old friend Professor Vincenzo Pepe. Vincenzo convinced Longo to abandon Satan and introduced him to Father Alberto Radente, a Dominican priest. He heard Longo’s confession and brought him back to God and His Church.

One evening, as he walked near chapel at Pompeii, Longo had a profound mystical experience about which he wrote later:

As I pondered over my condition, I experienced a deep sense of despair and almost committed suicide. Then I heard an echo in my ear of the voice of Friar Alberto repeating the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary: ‘If you seek salvation, promulgate the Rosary. This is Mary's own promise.’ These words illumined my soul. I went on my knees. ‘If it is true ... I will not leave this valley until I have propagated your Rosary.’
Longo was so moved, he attended a séance and in the middle of it, stood up raising a medal of the Blessed Virgin Mother and yelled, “I renounce spiritism because it is nothing but a maze of error and falsehood.”

On March 25, 1871, Longo became a Third Order Dominican and took the name Br. Rosario in honor of the Rosary. He joined a charitable group in Pompeii and worked with Countess Mariana di Fusco, a wealthy local widow who he married a year later at Pope Leo XIII’s recommendation.

The devout couple started a confraternity of the Rosary and searched for a painting of the Blessed Virgin to serve as a spiritual focus for the group. Sister Maria Concetta de Litala of the Monastery of the Rosary at Porta Medina gave one which she found at a Neapolitan junk shop. And, as they say, good things don't come cheap and cheap things don't come good.

The painting portrayed Our Lady of the Rosary with Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena, but only barely. It was poorly executed and in miserable condition but he viewed it as a divine gift. He later described it in his journal:

Not only was it worm-eaten, but the face of the Madonna was that of a coarse, rough country-woman ... a piece of canvas was missing just above her head ... her mantle was cracked. Nothing need be said of the hideousness of the other figures. St. Dominic looked like a street idiot. To Our Lady's left was a St. Rose. This I had changed later into a St. Catherine of Siena ... I hesitated whether to refuse the gift or to accept ... I took it.
He repaired it and had a more competent artist touch it up and had it installed at a ramshackle church which he also repaired in October 1873. Miracles were reported within hours of its installation. Seeing the devotion of the pilgrims, the bishop of Nola encouraged Bartolo to construct a larger church. The born-again Catholic approached architect Giovanni Rispoli to build saying:

In this place selected for its prodigies, we wish to leave to present and future generations a monument to the Queen of Victories that will be less unworthy of her greatness but more worthy of our faith and love.
Construction began on May 8, 1876. Cardinal La Valetta consecrated the church in May, 1891. In 1906, Bartolo and his wife donated the Pompeii shrine to the Holy See. Bartolo continued to promote the Rosary until his death on Oct. 5, 1926, at the age of 75. He tirelessly evangelized young people at parties and in local cafes, explaining the dangers of occultism to them.

In 1939, the church Bartolo and his wife built was enlarged and reconsecrated as a basilica. It was officially renamed the Basilica of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Pompeii. It soon became a focus of pilgrimages for more than a century.

Apparently, most Catholics and non-Catholics found the church built by an ex-Satanist to be devilishly irresistible.

When Bartolo died, the call for his canonization was immediate. Pope St. John Paul II beatified him on Oct. 26, 1980 calling him the "Apostle of the Rosary." More than 30,000 people attended the ceremony.

Every school student in Christendom knows what happened to the city of Pompeii on Aug. 24, AD 79 — most people don't realize that the "new" Pompeii rose from the destroyed city's ashes 1,796 years later because of Our Lady of the Rosary and her devotee. In his "The History of the Shrine of Pompeii," Bartolo wrote:

Next to a land of dead appeared, quite suddenly, a land of resurrection and life: next to a shattered amphitheater soiled with blood, there is a living Temple of faith and love, a sacred Temple to the Virgin Mary; from a town buried in the filth of gentilism, arises a town full of life, drawing its origins from a new civilization brought by Christianity: The New Pompeii! ... It is the new civilization that openly appears beside the old; the new art next to the old; Christianity full of life in juxtaposition to long surpassed paganism.
The newly constructed Basilica attracted new families, a railway station, postal and telegraph services, the police, roads, water, electricity, hotels, restaurants and shops. About 3 million pilgrims come to the Basilica every year thus bringing new life the long-dead city of Pompeii.

Thus, the resurrection and salvation of Pompeii is now eternally linked with the resurrection and salvation of Blessed Bartolo Longo — the once demonic prodigal son returned home to the embrace of Holy Mother Church.

The truly wonderful thing about Bartolo Longo becoming a saint in the very Church he had worked so hard to destroy is that if God could work through him, there's still hope for the rest of us … including myself. (It's really such devilish irony.)

In God, all things are possible.

[Ravenlocke]

Archbishop Sample (archbishop of Portland), describes what it was like to meet with the Holy father, Pope Leo in a private audience. His first private audience and it was amazing, he says. The pope let him speak and is a really good listener.

https://x.com/ArchbishpSample/status...40644148580663

[Ravenlocke]

Rich Raho

Apr 27
Pope Leo in audience with the Archbishop of Canterbury: “As my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis, said to the Primates of the Anglican Communion in 2024, ‘it would be a scandal if, due to our divisions, we did not fulfil our common vocation to make Christ known.’ For my part, I add that it would also be a scandal if we did not continue to work towards overcoming our differences, no matter how intractable they may appear.” https://vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/e...anterbury.html

https://x.com/RichRaho/status/2048712747676774437

[Ravenlocke]

Pope Leo XIV

Apr 26
Today marks the 40th anniversary of the tragic Chernobyl incident, which left a lasting mark on the conscience of humanity. It serves as a warning about the inherent risks in the use of increasingly powerful technologies. We entrust those who died and all who still suffer from the aftermath of the disaster to God’s mercy. I hope that discernment and responsibility will always prevail at every level of decision-making, so that every use of atomic energy may be placed at the service of life and #Peace.

https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2048379063371497858

[Ravenlocke]

Rich Raho

Apr 29
At General Audience, Pope Leo reflects on Africa trip: “I cannot forget what happened in the prison in Bata. The prisoners sang at the top of their voices a song of thanksgiving to God and to the Pope, asking him to pray for their sins and their freedom. I had never seen anything like it. And then they prayed the ‘Our Father’ with me in the pouring rain. A genuine sign of the Kingdom of God!”

https://x.com/RichRaho/status/2049433736735752253

[Ravenlocke]

Mark Lambert - Catholic Unscripted Podcast

Apr 27
"I was very pleased to be part of the Archbishop of Canterbury's audience with Pope Leo today. It is a further witness to the co-operation between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. The Holy Father's call to bring Christ's message of peace to the world is a spur to our continued Christian witness and service to the common good; especially to the most vulnerable." — Archbishop Richard Moth

https://x.com/AuditeInsulae/status/2048872873289294203

EWTN News Nightly

Apr 27
Pope Leo XIV held a private audience with the recently installed Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the Church of England. The Holy Father expressed his joy at receiving the Archbishop during the Easter season and reflected on decades of dialogue between Catholics and Anglicans aimed at “complete communion in faith and sacramental life.” Pope Leo also said it would be a scandal if the two churches did not work together to overcome their differences:
https://youtu.be/6m98y0Ae_XE

https://x.com/EWTNNewsNightly/status...27729530061030

[Ravenlocke]

Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Pope's proposed prayer intention for the month of May:

Lord of the creation,
You have given us the fertile land and with it our daily bread,
as a sign of your love and provision.
Today we recognize with pain
that millions of brothers and sisters are still starving,
while so much food is wasted on our tables.

Awaken in us a new consciousness:
que aprendamos a agradecer cada alimento,
to consume with simplicity,
to share with joy,
and to care for the fruit of the earth as a gift from you,
meant for all, not just a few.

The kindest Father,
makes us able to transform the logic of selfish consumption
in the culture of solidarity.
That our communities promote concrete gestures:
awareness campaigns, food banks,
and a sober and responsible lifestyle.

Give us a new heart,
Hungry for justice and thirsty for fraternity
May no one be left out of the common table
and what we learned to see in bread
a sign of communion and caring.

Amen

This May, Pope Leo XIV invites us to look back at one of the most urgent pains of our time: world hunger. In his prayer intention, the Holy Father reminds us that while millions have nothing to eat, many foods are wasted daily.

https://x.com/FrUgochukwu/status/2049842895738298615

[Ravenlocke]

Christopher Hale

NEW: Pope Leo XIV appoints the youngest bishop in the United States.

Robert Boxie III, 46, is a new auxiliary bishop of Washington.

Boxie has been outspoken against the White House’s attacks against racial diversity.

“It’s really frustrating — especially this moment that we’re living in. The attacks on ‘DEI’ — I don’t even know what that means anymore. It’s a term that’s been hijacked. It means a lot of things to a lot of different people.”

“I think at its core, it’s what America is all about. We are a diverse nation with people from all over the world. Diversity is a good thing. Diversity is of God.”

“And the fact that it’s been turned into something negative — or something that should be avoided or not talked about — just flies in the face of who we are as Americans.”

“So much of our history has been exclusive, especially when it comes to race. And it’s just un-American; it’s un-Christian; it’s anti-Catholic.”

https://x.com/ChristopherHale/status...72465846911391

[Ravenlocke]

Christopher Hale

UPDATE: I believe Evelio Menjivar-Ayala is the first undocumented migrant ever to be named a bishop leading an American diocese.

He’ll be leading a diocese that’s 90% white and voted for Donald Trump by 42 points.

https://x.com/ChristopherHale/status...68624728871140

Christopher Hale

Replying to
@ChristopherHale
Here’s how the bishop describes his journey from El Salvador to the United States:

“I came to the United States in 1990, unchecked. I crossed the border by San Ysidro in California. But a few weeks after, I applied for political asylum. I got the permit to work and to stay, but it took me seven years in order to go back to El Salvador.

“So it was a difficult time, being away from my family and not being able to see my parents. I would say that that was the most challenging thing of being undocumented, not being able to travel and to see my parents.”

“Whatever work I could, my first job was as a receptionist in Los Angeles. Then I worked in construction, maintenance. And so that is what I was doing when I felt the call to be a priest. I was doing construction work.”

https://x.com/ChristopherHale/status...08464002441347

https://x.com/HuffPostPol/status/2050326995414753319

[Ravenlocke]

OSV News

Pope Leo XIV has named a new bishop for the Diocese of Laredo, Texas, marking the first episcopal succession in a diocese created by St. John Paul II.

https://x.com/OSVNews/status/2050313113384133102

[Ravenlocke]

The Washington Post

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will to travel to Italy to meet with Pope Leo XIV this week, marking the first high-ranking encounter between the pontiff and a top administration official since President Trump issued withering criticism of the pope.

https://x.com/washingtonpost/status/2051036590223360277

[Ravenlocke]

Tasnim News Agency

May 3
Amid Rising US-Vatican Frictions, Pope Leo XIV to Host Marco Rubio

With US-Vatican relations under strain, Pope Leo XIV is set to host Secretary of State Marco Rubio on May 7, though the meeting has yet to appear on the pontiff’s official agenda, ANSA reported.

https://x.com/Tasnimnews_EN/status/2050918755044401640

[Ravenlocke]

Christopher Hale

NEW: In a major diplomatic snub to JD Vance, Donald Trump is sending Marco Rubio solo on Thursday to meet with Pope Leo XIV.

This comes as Rubio’s star is rising and Vance’s allies are privately accusing the Vatican of coordinating with American journalists and operatives to sully Vance’s 2028 prospects.


https://x.com/ChristopherHale/status...04613797945387

[Ravenlocke]

Jonathan Liedl

When Fr. Prevost was made pastor in Trujillo in 1988, there was just one problem: the community didn't have an actual church building.
The missionary called the people to Mass in a tent--and then relied upon God for a new building.

From "Pope Leo's Peru": https://youtube.com/watch?v=ziN1QrXh5vs

https://x.com/JLLiedl/status/2051370913292042552

When I think of how Pope Leo seems to be handling many of the Church crises that he inherited, I'm reminded of how he handled a different situation he was faced with as Chiclayo's bishop: priests cohabitating with women.
Watch "Pope Leo's Peru" for more: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ziN1QrXh5vs

https://x.com/JLLiedl/status/2051344944753754468

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ziN1QrXh5vs

[Ravenlocke]

ChurchPOP

Volume up!

This morning at the general audience, the band at the Vatican slipped into full ABBA mode — you can hear clear “Dancing Queen” and “Mamma Mia” vibes as Pope Leo rolls by.

Only at the Vatican do you get papal blessings with a side of ABBA.


https://x.com/Church_POP/status/2052032727877136676

[Kryztian]

The Pope Wanted Peace, Marco Rubio Brought a Crystal Football, and the Internet Did the Rest
Ejiro Akpobare
Fri, May 8, 2026 at 8:01 AM EDT
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/...120128124.html

If you needed a single image to explain the current state of American diplomacy, well, congratulations, the Vatican has already given us one. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood inside Pope Leo’s private library and handed the first U.S.-born pope a tiny crystal football while trying to smooth over a months-long political feud tied to an actual war.

Needless to say, Pope Leo stared at the thing with the exact energy of somebody opening a Secret Santa gift from a coworker they barely tolerate. And somewhere, every PR handler in Washington probably felt a sudden sharp pain in their chest.

The timing made the whole thing even messier. According to a YouGov poll cited by The Independent, 48 percent of Americans said they side more with Pope Leo than President Trump on the Iran conflict, while just 23 percent backed Trump’s position. So, the administration sent Rubio to Rome to calm tensions with a pope publicly criticizing the war, and the peace offering turned out to be a decorative football that looked suspiciously like something grabbed from an airport gift shop between boarding groups.

... full article at https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/...120128124.html

The Gift Exchange That Accidentally Became Internet Theater

Then came the moment that completely hijacked the internet. During the official gift exchange, Pope Leo presented Rubio with an olive-wood pen, bearing his papal coat of arms. He described it as “the plant of peace.” The symbolism could not have been clearer if somebody had projected it onto the Sistine Chapel ceiling. A pope who spent months condemning war gave America’s top diplomat a handcrafted symbol of peace.

Rubio handed him a tiny crystal football emblazoned with the State Department seal.

Even Rubio seemed aware that the optics were about to get cooked online. While presenting the gift, he joked, “What to get someone who has everything, I thought a crystal football.” Unfortunately for him, the setting was not a White House Christmas mixer. This was a tense Vatican meeting tied to an active global conflict, which made the football land with the energy of bringing scented candles to a hostage negotiation.

Pope Leo’s reaction instantly became meme material. “Wow, OK,” he said, with almost no visible emotion. That was enough. Social media immediately locked onto the clip because the pope looked exactly like somebody trying very hard to stay polite after receiving the worst birthday present of their adult life.

The football choice somehow became even funnier once people pointed out that Leo is famously a baseball fan. Baseball. Not football. So Rubio arrived at one of the most awkward diplomatic meetings of the year carrying the wrong sport entirely. The internet treated that detail like it had just been handed comedy gold on a silver platter.

... article continues at https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/...120128124.html

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Just wondering what Rubio is trying to say here ... "The Ball is in your court" or "Let's play ball."

[Ravenlocke]

Press TV 🔻

Dr. Mohammad Hossein Mokhtari, Iran’s ambassador to the Vatican, received the highest diplomatic honor from Pope Leo XIV. Established in 1847 under Pope Pius IX, the medal is awarded to ambassadors and notable figures for their efforts to strengthen diplomacy and promote peace.

https://x.com/PressTV/status/2054167202044035483

Ryan Rozbiani

Trump is going to CRASH OUT when he sees this story

🇮🇷🇻🇦 Pope Leo XIV Awards Iran's Vatican Ambassador the Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX

The certificate, signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, names Dr. Mohammad Hossein Mokhtari as a Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX, the HIGHEST active papal decoration the Holy See currently confers.

The award is typically reserved for heads of state and senior ambassadors, and comes as Leo XIV has repeatedly called for ceasefire and diplomacy over the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.

The Vatican just gave Iran's envoy its top diplomatic honor from an American Pope to Iran, mid-war. A signal for peace over war.


https://x.com/RyanRozbiani/status/2054209456695541904