CatholicVote president urges bishops to confront immigration with ‘Catholic realism’, avoid superficial slogans like ‘human dignity’; Trump administration pushes illegal immigrants to self-deport; Rubio says Trump’s response to Iran’s ‘an eye for an eye’ strategy is ‘a head for an eye’ policy; Ben Carson: World Cup changed view of international fans about US; Trump wants FIFA president Gianni Infantino to become UN secretary-general; Cardinal Sarah accuses EU of imposing abortion and gender ideology on Africa as condition for receiving aid; President Nawrocki vetoes same-sex partnerships in Poland; Buffalo diocese sells downtown properties to pay victim-survivors of clergy sexual abuse; Catholics celebrate 19th century Lebanese saint famous for thousands of healings among Catholics and Muslims alike; and more —
CatholicVote president urges bishops to confront immigration with ‘Catholic realism’
CatholicVote president urges bishops to examine immigration patterns and cultural integration rather than rely on “superficial slogans” about human dignity.
In a July 23 letter, CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt called on U.S. Catholic bishops to address immigration with what she described as “Catholic realism,” arguing that some bishops have relied on “superficial slogans” instead of confronting harder questions about culture, security, and assimilation.
Reinhardt, who previously worked as a legislative correspondent for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on immigration and refugee issues, wrote that she is “not talking about panic, contempt or cruelty” toward migrants, and she affirmed that “active and effective charity towards the needy of any kind is an unavoidable duty to all Catholics.”
However, she argued that many bishops have avoided a harder question.
“The difficult question is not whether immigrants possess inherent human dignity,” she wrote. “They do. And this truism is repeated as if the vast majority of Catholics are not aware of it. The difficult question is whether every pattern of migration, every country of origin, every ideology, every cultural formation, and every legal pathway serves the common good of our nation.”
Reinhardt built her argument around concerns expressed by the late Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, archbishop of Bologna, Italy, at an Italian bishops’ seminar in 2000. …
“Speaking about Italy’s growing immigration in 2000, he warned that different immigrant communities do not arrive with identical capacities for integration,” Reinhardt wrote. “He did not say this as a racist. He did not say it as a partisan. He said it as a Catholic bishop concerned for the future of Christian people living in a nation and a culture shaped by Christianity.”
Reinhardt noted that the cardinal had argued, most controversially, that Muslim immigration in particular needed to be examined “with eyes open and without illusions.”
Read more at Zeale
Trump administration pushing illegal immigrants to self-deport
See @VictorNieblas; read ‘The Choice Facing Some Immigrants: Pay $1.8 Million in Fines or Leave’ at NYT (behind paywall)
Two men stabbed in NYC on July 23, alleged perpetrator shouts ‘Allahu akbar’, DOJ investigating
See @AAGDhillon
State Sec: President’s policy is “a head for an eye,” indicating a doctrine of strong retaliation to deter attack
Marco Rubio at press conference in the Philippines for ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meetings (July 21–23, 2026)
Watch @StateDept; watch full remarks at US Department of State
Steve Hilton teams up with Spencer Pratt to fight Xavier Becerra
Watch @SteveHiltonx
DSA Assault on Prisons Is Rooted in Third World-ist Lust for Barbarism by Josh Hammer
The Left’s flirtation with abolishing prisons and policing isn’t rhetorical excess — it’s the predictable destination of a deeper revolutionary worldview.
The Democratic Socialists of America are having a moment. In fact, they’re having a season. DSA candidates are winning nationwide in Democratic Party primaries, knocking off incumbents while running on some of the most deformed and deranged platforms in recent political memory. Zohran Mamdani, the charismatic young socialist in Gracie Mansion, is the new leader of the DSA pack. Terrifying as it may be, Zo may be the closest thing the entire activist left has these days to a kingmaker.
It couldn’t be clearer what the DSA wants: The democratic socialists want to finish the job, launched by Barack Obama on the precipice of presidential victory in 2008, of “fundamentally transforming” the United States. The DSA’s new policy platform, released earlier this month, says the quiet part out loud: “We are workers fighting to transform society,” to “draft a new constitution, and create a democratic socialist republic.”
It would be one thing if these were the words of a starry-eyed freshman pothead, first exposed to Marx and pontificating to dormmates while John Lennon’s dreadful song “Imagine” plays in the background. But people like Hizzoner and the new uptown socialist “it girl,” Darializa Avila Chevalier, are adults. They are serious. And that makes them not just naive but dangerous
Read more at The American Spectator
Ben Carson to Newsmax: World Cup Changed Minds
International fans who traveled to the U.S. for the World Cup had been “preprogrammed to believe that America was a bad place,” Dr. Ben Carson told Newsmax on Thursday.
Appearing on “Wake Up America,” the former Housing and Urban Development secretary said the tournament gave millions of foreign visitors a firsthand look at what he called the freedoms, hospitality, and optimism that define the United States.
“It was just wonderful to see the foreigners having so much fun because they have been preprogrammed to believe that America was a bad place, that the people weren’t happy, that it wasn’t free,” Carson told co-hosts Marc Lotter and Sharla McBride.
Instead, Carson said, visitors found “exactly the opposite” — friendly Americans, welcoming communities, and everyday conveniences that became viral sensations on social media, from free drink refills and air conditioning to popular destinations such as Buc-ee’s, Costco, and Chick-fil-A.
Carson said the biggest takeaway was not what tourists discovered about American food or stores, but what they experienced from the American people.
Read more at NEWSMAX
FIFA President next UN Secretary General?
See @NEWSMAX
Deranged Sportswriter Compares the WNBA’s Caitlin Clark to the Men Who Lynched Emmett Till
The knives have been out for WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark ever since she joined the ranks of professional hoops a few years back. Her undeniable talent on the court, not to mention her ability to connect with fans, has catapulted her into a career most athletes can only dream of …
Even the most casual WNBA observer – and, hey, that’s probably most of us – know that the league is crippling its own meager reputation by allowing dirty play against Clark, who plays for the Indiana Fever, to go unchallenged. RedState’s Sister Toldjah wrote recently about an incident in which Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas appeared to push her fist into Clark’s throat after Clark had tumbled down to the court.
Although Thomas was later given a one-game suspension, Fever coach Stephanie White was irate that her star player was being treated differently than others. “She is not called the same way everybody else is called,” White said after the game.
Because she is so clearly being treated differently than others – and WNBA refs and officials seem determined to look the other way – Clark has taken to gesticulating wildly on the court to bring attention to the fouls against her that are often ignored.
And it’s Clark’s attempts at self-preservation that have earned her the ire of USA Today sports columnist Nancy Armour, who has bizarrely and rather dangerously compared the possible repercussions of Clark’s “flopping” to the lynching of black teenager Emmett Till in 1950s Mississippi.
Read more at RedState; watch Riley Gaines push back against stance of USA Today sports writer @FoxNews
Former Hungarian Prime Minister visited White House and State Department
Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited the White House and State Department during a trip to Washington, D.C., last week, as his successor works to undo his 16 years in power.
The previously unknown visit, revealed to the Washington Examiner by a source familiar with the matter, appears to be his first since leaving power in April. Previous reports disclosed that Orban visited the United States to attend the World Cup in a private capacity, but not Washington, D.C. It’s unclear who he met with and what was discussed during the visits, but it shows that the Trump administration hasn’t given up on its former biggest ally in power in Europe.
After losing in April, Orban is still president of his Fidesz Party but is no longer a sitting member of parliament.
Read more at The Washington Examiner (behind partial paywall)
President Nawrocki Vetoes Act on Same-Sex Partnerships in Poland
The veto halts the mechanism of the “law of small steps”: the bill’s own authors openly declared that it was merely a stage on the road to “marriage equality,” and the experience of 22 European countries shows that civil partnerships have everywhere preceded the redefinition of marriage.
The President of the Republic of Poland has exercised his right of veto (Article 122(5) of the Polish Constitution) and vetoed the Act on the Status of the Closest Person in a Relationship and the Cohabitation Agreement (Sejm print no. 2110) and the Introductory Provisions act (Sejm print no. 2111), passed by the Sejm on May 29, 2026, and transmitted to the head of state on June 26, 2026. Both laws now return to the Sejm, where overriding the veto would require a three-fifths majority – a majority the current ruling coalition does not have.
The President’s decision is consistent with his earlier declarations. As early as October 20, 2025, Karol Nawrocki announced: “I will not sign any law that would undermine the status of marriage, which is protected by the Constitution.” On May 27, 2026, the day before the vote in the Sejm, the Chancellery of the President presented a position which spelled out the logic of the process in plain terms: “the first step is the introduction of civil partnerships, the second step is the transcription of foreign same-sex marriages, and this then leads to further steps: to the fostering and adoption of children.”
Read more at Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture
The largest monument of Our Lady in Europe
The largest monument of Our Lady in Europe. The monument, together with the crown, is to have a height of 55.6 meters. This will make it taller than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro (38.5 meters) or Jesus Christ the King in Świebodzin. The state is scheduled to be consecrated on August 15, the feast of the Assumption.
See @Laurunia3; read more here (translation available)
[Buffalo] Diocese sells former HQ, two other downtown parcels for $4.6M
The Diocese of Buffalo has sold three downtown properties for $4.6 million total.
The Diocese of Buffalo has officially sold three downtown properties, including its former headquarters, in a pair of deals totaling $4.6 million.
The largest of the three parcels houses both the former Courier-Express newspaper building at 795 Main St. and an attached office building at 801 Main St., as well as the adjoining parking lot. It sold for $2.76 million to an affiliate of Buffalo-based developer Greenleaf and Co.
The other two parcels — a parking lot at 814 Main St. and a garage at 821 Main St. — sold for a combined $1.84 million to a partnership led by local developers Peter Krog and Bruce Wisbaum. …
The Diocese of Buffalo provided the following statement to 2 On Your Side:
“The Diocese is pleased that the sale of its former Catholic Center at 795 Main Street has been completed. The office space was far more than what was needed in recent years for the Catholic Center staff and its operations. The sale proceeds will be directed to the settlement fund that has been agreed to with the Creditor Committee to provide long-awaited financial restitution to the victim-survivors of clergy sexual abuse.”
Read more at 2WGRZ
Arson hits St. Ann’s Church in Buffalo for a second time
See @charismamag
Cardinal Sarah accuses the EU of imposing abortion and gender ideology on Africa as a condition for receiving aid
Cardinal Robert Sarah denounced on Wednesday in the European Parliament that the European Union is promoting a new form of “ideological colonization” over Africa by imposing abortion, gender ideology, and so-called sexual and reproductive rights as a condition for international cooperation. …
The cardinal began his intervention by asking whether Europe and Africa still share the same meaning of fundamental concepts such as “human rights,” “family,” “freedom,” “dignity,” or “gender.”
“Can we still understand each other? Do the words we use—human rights, dignity, development, freedom, health, gender, family—still mean the same thing to those who pronounce them in Brussels, Strasbourg, Kampala, or Conakry?” he asked.
As a starting point for his reflection, he cited words recently spoken by Leo XIV before the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.
“We need words to once again express certain realities unequivocally. Only then can an authentic dialogue without misunderstandings resume,” he recalled, making the Pontiff’s approach his own.
From there, he argued that numerous terms used today in international documents have ceased to describe reality and have become tools of cultural transformation.
“Expressions such as ‘sexual and reproductive health’ often designate access to abortion; ‘gender equality’ may mean the deconstruction of the sexual difference between man and woman inscribed in the human body,” he stated.
Read more at Infovaticana
Deadly drone strike on Christian monastery in Ethiopia
Watch @ChristianEmerg1
Increase in Muslims converting to Christianity across various European nations
A significant spiritual revolution is underway in Europe, marked by a remarkable increase in Muslims converting to Christianity across various nations. This movement is particularly evident in regions like Georgia, where a historic shift has seen the majority of the population transition from Islam to Orthodox Christianity, reflecting a profound return to ancestral faith.
Watch at Dr. Steve Turley
Today is the Feast of St. Charbel of Lebanon (1828 – 1898)
See @LPJerusalem; read ‘The Lebanese Saint Who Unites Christians and Muslims’ at the National Catholic Register (2023)
Cardinal Dolan on St. Charbel (also Sharbel)
Watch @CardinalDolan
A special blessing on the Feast Day of St. Charbel
See @EWTN; watch also ‘St. Charbel: ‘The Saint with the Most Miracles Ever?’ at Divine Mercy
