Trump announces $5 billion pledge in Gaza aid from Board of Peace members; Cardinal, responsible for secret deal with Chinese Communists, declares Vatican will not take part in Trump’s Board of Peace; Minnesota bishop warns of Marxist influence on politicians; Trump administration rescinds endangerment finding regarding carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles; Epic sewage spill into the Potomac River – environmentalists mum; New network offers lifeline to converts from Islam to Catholic faith; Catholics begin Lent today wearing ashes in the sign of the Cross on their foreheads; and more —
Trump announces $5 billion pledge in Gaza aid from Board of Peace members
Members of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace have pledged more than $5 billion in aid for Gaza, the president announced Sunday.
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, saying the funding would be formally pledged during a Feb. 19 meeting in Washington, D.C. The Board of Peace was chartered in January and currently includes nearly 20 countries.
“On February 19th, 2026, I will again be joined by Board of Peace Members at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., where we will announce that Member States have pledged more than $5 BILLION DOLLARS toward the Gaza Humanitarian and Reconstruction efforts, and have committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and Local Police to maintain Security and Peace for Gazans,” Trump wrote.
Read more at Fox News
Vatican Secretary of State refuses Trump’s invitation to join Board of Peace
See @MLJHaynes; read more at Vatican News and @breeadail
President Trump honors Rush Limbaugh on the 5th anniversary of his passing
Watch @WhiteHouse
The New York Times Tries Impotently to Fix AOC’s Munich Disaster
The New York Times’ Kellen Browning would very much like us all to know that the key problem with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s excruciating performance at the Munich Security Conference was that we noticed it. Today, Browning writes that, rather than the substance of her arguments, it was her on-camera stumbles when answering questions about specific world affairs that rocketed around conservative social media and drove plenty of the discussion about her visit, as political observers speculated whether they would make a dent in a potential presidential run in 2028. …
[According to the national review] At best, [AOC’s] answer on Taiwan represented a meandering refusal to respond. She was asked, “Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move?,” and, in return, she said, “I hope it doesn’t happen.” Which . . . yes, we all do. That’s why we ask politicians what they’d do if it does. As for the other line — “a rules-based order that eliminates the hypocrisies around when too often in the West we look the other way for inconvenient populations, to act out these paradoxes” — I would defy even Kamala Harris to top that exercise in flustered filibustering. If, at some point in the future, Mad Libs decide to contrive an International Relations–themed version of its famous game, I guess they’ll know exactly whom to call. …
Read more at the National Review (behind a partial paywall)
Scott Jennings on American ‘performances’ at Munich Security Conference
Watch @ScottJenningsKY
JD on running for Prez in 2028
Watch @EricLDaugh
Bishop Barron Says Marxist Ideology is Affecting American Political Leaders
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Rep. of New York, has been both lauded and criticized for her comments during the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
But what caught Bishop Robert Barron’s attention was AOC’s Marxist slant during her comments, he said. He liked Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s impassioned comments regarding Western civilization and its bedrock found in the Catholic Church, but did not like that Cortez criticized the culture that spawned the best of modern western life.
“Just last week, Marco Rubio gave a talk that I thought was really good in Munich. He was talking about the shared culture of Europe and America. He referenced gothic cathedrals and Dante and Shakespeare and even The Beatles,” Barron said during a video Post on X, regarding Rubio’s speech at the Munich conference. … He wasn’t afraid to reference the Christian faith as a key element in giving rise to the shared culture of Europe and America.”
After Rubio’s speech, Barron, who is the Bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and the founder of Word on Fire, said he was struck by AOC’s criticism of Rubio’s comments and how she downplayed culture, calling it thin and ephemeral. Instead, people should pay attention to the class struggles, AOC said.
Read more at Catholics for Catholics
43 Catholic Democrats pledge migrant solidarity, invoke Leo XIV, Francis
More than 40 Catholic Democrats in the House of Representatives signed onto a statement of principles regarding immigration, which urged “solidarity” with migrants and cited Catholic social teaching and the visions of Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV to back up their positions.
The statement comes as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) continues to speak out against indiscriminate mass deportations. Lawmakers are also negotiating an end to a partial government shutdown, which was spurred by debates about funding and potential reforms for immigration enforcement.
“We feel called in solidarity to stand with immigrants — especially those who are poor, marginalized, or fleeing hardship — and to ensure they are treated with dignity, justice, and compassion,” the statement said.
Read more at EWTN News
Christianity and Immigration Enforcement – Essay by Steve Cortes
As Americans insist on law and order and a restoration of sovereignty, a concerted effort unfolds among prominent church leaders and theologians. These church officials quite brazenly seek to “guilt” believers into accepting a lax immigration agenda—and even the lunacy of porous borders.
But guilt is not gospel. Emotional manipulation does not flow from authentic pastoral authority.
So, what are the actual, legitimate principles of Christianity that should guide the consciences of Gospel followers when it comes to this foundational issue? …
Read more at The Daily Signal
EPA ADMINISTRATOR ZELDIN: We finally demolished the Democrat climate insanity
For 16 years, the so-called Endangerment Finding has been the weapon of choice for climate change zealots in Washington. Created by the Obama EPA in 2009, it justified trillions of dollars in regulations, restricted which cars could be manufactured, and drove up the cost of living for American families. It pushed this country toward an unpopular electric vehicle mandate, imposed crushing compliance requirements, and promoted a new level of government overreach that has made hardworking Americans’ blood boil.
On Thursday, standing alongside President Trump in the White House, I was proud to announce that the Endangerment Finding has been eliminated — and with it, all federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and engines that followed.
This is the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history, and it will save American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion. The action will result in an average savings of more than $2,400 per vehicle. By eliminating regulatory compliance costs, we are making it easier for families to buy the car they actually want — improving affordability and helping Americans reach jobs, grow small businesses and participate fully in the transportation and logistics systems that power the U.S. economy.
Read more at Fox News
Potomac River watcher: ‘One of the largest raw sewage spills ever seen in US’
Watch @nicksortor
New Network Offers Lifeline to Converts From Islam to the Catholic Faith
A new support network for converts to the Catholic faith from Islam is flourishing as increasing numbers of Muslims turn to Christ, with many parishes struggling to offer the catechumens the help they need.
The “St. Nicholas Tavelić Network for Morisco Catholics” — TavNet for short — is a lay-run Catholic missionary network that since 2024 has served converts living in Muslim-majority communities or societies where ordinary parish structures cannot easily reach them.
Named for St. Nicholas Tavelić — a 14th‑century Croatian Franciscan friar, priest and missionary who openly proclaimed the Christian faith before Muslim authorities, refused to renounce it, and was martyred with three companions in Jerusalem on Nov. 14, 1391 — its core purpose is to provide pastoral care, the sacraments and solid catechesis to often hidden or underground communities and to articulate the faith in ways that are intelligible within Islamic cultures while remaining fully orthodox and traditional.
The idea for such a network support grew out of “the sheer depth of that need” among ex-Muslims, said Hasan [a former Shiite Muslim], one of TavNet’s founders.
Read more at the Catholic Register
Reports: Christ appearing to Muslims in dreams
See @EdwardPentin
LATIN MASS SUPPORTERS SAY SSPX CONTROVERSY HAS ‘THROWN A HAND GRENADE’ INTO TLM DEBATE
Supporters of the traditional Latin Mass have urged Catholics not to confuse their movement with the more controversial Society of St. Pius X, commonly referred to as SSPX, whose leaders currently risk excommunication by threatening to ordain their own bishops.
“We’ve waited patiently for Pope Leo to consider relaxing Latin Mass restrictions — the SSPX has now thrown a hand grenade into this,” said Joseph Shaw, chairman of the London-based Latin Mass Society, part of an international network of traditionalist groups.
“We’ve absolutely no influence over their reasoning and timing, and their approach is completely separate. But we risk being lumped together by people who don’t care one way or the other.”
The lay Catholic spoke during a packed Feb. 12 symposium on liturgical renewal at London’s Oratory Church, founded in the 1880s by St. John Henry Newman.
Read more at Our Sunday Visitor (OSV)
Lent and Lenten Fish Fries
Mother responds to an email from a listener who wants to hear her opinion on whether Lenten Fish Frys are acceptable on Fridays or not. While Mother admits it’s not wrong to have a Fish Fry on Fridays, she also believes it misses the point of the Lenten season.
Watch at Mother Miriam Highlights
Practical advice on negotiating Lent
Read @father_rmv
Irish bishop hits the streets distributing ashes to huge numbers
See @CatholicArena
Old English Description of Ash Wednesday
Read @ClerkofOxford
40 Minutes of Gregorian Chants For Lent
Watch/list at Gregorian Chant Academy
Lenten Prayer for America with Cdl. Raymond Burke
Watch @CatholicVote; read more at Zeale
