Faith Alive: A million young Catholics from around the world join Pope Leo in Rome; Trump accuses Senate Dems of slow-walking nominee confirmations as leverage for funding deals; Data show 66% of illegal immigrants are criminals; Planned Parenthood defunding remains in question amid legal challenges; Cambodia to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize for role in ending country’s conflict with Thailand; More questions emerge about firing of 3 Detroit seminary professors; and more —
A Million Young Catholics from Around the World Gather with Pope Leo for Prayer Vigil in Rome
An estimated one million young Catholics from around the world greeted Pope Leo XIV like a rock star Saturday at an open-air prayer vigil outside Rome, after the head of the Catholic Church made a dramatic entrance by helicopter.
Pilgrims began cheering when the white military helicopter descended over the sprawling, open-air site in Rome’s eastern outskirts.
Read/watch more at Breitbart; see also the National Catholic Register
Circus Maximus turned into huge confession centre for Jubilee of Young People
Two hundred confessionals were stationed across Rome’s Circus Maximus yesterday. The transformation of the ancient Roman site into an area for penance was part of the 2025 Jubilee of Young People, taking place in Rome from 28 July to 3 August.
Confessions took place non-stop from 10 am to 6 pm, with an estimated 25,000 people receiving the sacrament of reconciliation, served by nearly 1,000 priests. Languages available included Spanish, Swahili, English, French, Portuguese, Polish, Vietnamese, German, Hungarian, Slovak, Korean, and Chinese.
Read more at the Catholic Herald
Brian Burch confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the Holy See
In a rare Saturday session, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Brian Burch, President Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, in a vote of 49-44 along party lines Aug. 2.
Burch, the former president of the pro-Trump political advocacy organization CatholicVote, was confirmed amid a day of voting on a slate of nominees after Democratic senators refused to reach a deal to advance Trump’s backlog of executive branch nominees by unanimous consent or voice votes.
Read more at the Catholic Review
Trump tells Schumer to ‘GO TO HELL’ over Senate nominee deal funding demands after negotiations collapse
Senate Democrats wanted White House to unfreeze billions in NIH and foreign aid funding in exchange for confirmations
Hours of tense negotiations to strike a deal on President Donald Trump’s nominees blew up Saturday night, and now lawmakers are headed home.
Read more at Fox News
Federal Judges Keep Defying Supreme Court Orders Against Trump Admin
Federal judges are increasingly ruling against the Trump administration’s agenda and in defiance of Supreme Court orders.
The executive branch finds itself fending off endless counter-opinions from federal judges in the courtroom as it continues to implement its hard-line immigration policies. While the Trump administration has scored major victories in the nation’s highest court, including successfully reining in the scope of nationwide injunctions by federal judges, some have chosen to defy Supreme Court rulings.
Read more at The Daily Caller
Gov Abbott Says He Will REMOVE FROM OFFICE Democrat Lawmakers Who Fled Texas to Block GOP Congressional Redistricting
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) threatened to remove from office Democrat lawmakers who fled to Illinois to block GOP Congressional redistricting.
Texas Democrats fled the state to block the Republicans in the legislature from holding a special session and to block a redistricting vote on Sunday.
The Texas Democrats reportedly fled to Illinois to break quorum to block the Texas House from holding a vote in a special session.
Read more at the Gateway Pundit
Stephen Miller UNLOADS on Dems over Russiagate: ‘One egregious felony after another‘
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller on the origins of the Russia collusion narrative, holding its perpetrators accountable and his reaction to suggestions that statute of limitations does not apply in criminal conspiracy cases
Watch at Fox News
The Media Must Admit Their Complicity in Russiagate: The American people cannot allow this fraud to go unanswered. It was an orchestrated assault against America and its democratic institutions.
This past week Fox News host Greg Gutfeld called on the U.S. mainstream media to offer an apology to Donald Trump.
Those who played a “starring role” in amplifying the Russiagate conspiracy against President Trump must face consequences, Gutfeld said — and an apology is warranted. The U.S. media needs to make serious amends to many people for its role in spreading the now — thoroughly debunked — Russiagate hoax.
Read more at The American Spectator
Who is ICE arresting? Data show 66% of illegal immigrants are criminals
The Trump administration has come under fire in recent weeks for appearing to target noncriminals who are in the United States illegally, but internal government data shared with the Washington Examiner revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is still apprehending primarily criminals.
Since January, ICE has taken nearly 150,000 people into federal custody — 100,000 of whom either had pending criminal charges filed against them or had been previously convicted of a crime, according to ICE. About 67% of illegal immigrants arrested had a criminal charge pending or had been convicted.
Read more at the Washington Examiner
Illegal Aliens at Trump’s “Alligator Alcatraz” Enter Day 10 of Hunger Strike, Demand VIP Treatment
A group of detained illegal aliens at a South Florida immigration facility, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” have entered the tenth day of a so-called “hunger strike.”
These detainees, many with criminal backgrounds, are whining about “inhumane” conditions while refusing food, all in a bid to game the system and avoid rightful deportation.
Read more at the Gateway Pundit
Trump Will Overturn Biden Policy Allowing Abortions at VA Clinics
Today, the Trump administration published a proposed rule to rescind the Biden-era Veterans Affairs policy that pushed illegal abortions at VA hospitals and clinics.
Federal law authorizes the VA to provide certain health services to women veterans but explicitly excludes abortion. Federal regulation previously complied with the law and prohibited VA from killing babies in abortions and abortion counseling in its medical benefits package.
But the Biden administration reversed this, turning VA clinics and hospitals into abortion centers.
Read more at LifeNews
Planned Parenthood defunding remains in question amid legal challenges
Whether Planned Parenthood will ultimately be stripped of its federal funding remained in question amid ongoing lawsuits over a provision in President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda that would cut those funds for one year.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on July 29 joined 21 other state attorneys general and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in filing a lawsuit challenging the provision.
Read more at Our Sunday Visitor News
In full: U.S. bishops’ prayer to end taxpayer abortion funding
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a nationwide invitation to Catholics to join a focused campaign of daily prayer, invoking the intercession of Saint Joseph, Defender of Life, to stop taxpayers’ funds going to the abortion industry.
Bishop Daniel E. Thomas (chair of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities) and Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio (USCCB president) jointly encouraged the faithful to pray starting July 25 through October 1—the start of Respect Life Month—with the aim of ending federal Medicaid support for organizations that perform abortions.
Read more at the Catholic Herald
Are Frozen Embryos Alive, Dead or Somewhere in Between?
Here’s a tough question for you: Are frozen human embryos alive?
I mean, they’re frozen solid, not moving, not generating any energy. They were once alive… but now they’re no longer alive.
But are they DEAD? And if they’re dead, does that mean thawing them out and reanimating them is bringing the dead back to life?
Read more at Disputed Questions
Anonymous sources: Trump administration doesn’t plan to make insurance cover IVF
The Trump administration has backed down on forcing insurance to cover in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to two anonymous sources cited in an Aug. 3 Washington Post report.
The administration does not plan to require health insurance companies to pay for the services, “two people with knowledge of internal discussions said,” the newspaper reported.
President Donald Trump had said in 2024 that if he won the election, the government would either pay for IVF or demand the companies cover the treatment.
Read more at Catholic Vote
Good News: Child Gender Clinics Are Finally Shutting Down
Here’s some good news you may not have heard. From coast to coast, child gender clinics are shutting down, thanks to the leadership of the Trump administration. Children are safer because of these closures – protected from radical transgender ideology and the sex changes that threaten their bodies, minds, and futures.
The latest gender clinic to announce its closure is at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, which confirmed this news on July 23. Just one day earlier, the gender clinic at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles closed. The L.A. clinic was one of the first and largest in the country, subjecting hundreds of children to invasive and irreversible transgender treatments, including hormones and surgeries. Do No Harm, where I work, has documented nearly 20 gender clinics and programs either pausing child sex changes or shutting down since the start of the year.
Read more at Real Clear Politics
Ron Johnson Presses Pentagon On Reinstatement Of Troops Fired For Not Bowing To Biden’s Covid Shot Mandate
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is pressing the Pentagon on its efforts to reinstate military troops fired by the Biden administration for forgoing the Covid shot, the senator revealed Thursday.
In his Tuesday letter, the Wisconsin Republican asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide an update on what the Defense Department is doing to return service members booted for not getting the experimental jab under President Biden.
Read more at The Federalist
Jaguar CEO to Retire Following Last Year’s [Woke] Ad Controversy
The Jaguar CEO recently resigned in the wake of a controversial ad campaign the luxury car company released months ago in an effort to rebrand as “woke.”
After spending three years as CEO and three decades total with Jaguar Land Rover, Adrian Mardell will officially retire on Dec. 31, the company announced Thursday.
This comes following the recent release of American Eagle’s viral ad featuring actress Sydney Sweeney—which some on the Left are accusing of being “Nazi propaganda” for celebrating the “great genes” of a healthy, beautiful white woman, while others are hailing the cultural shift away from gender-fluid, LGBTQ-heavy ads as exemplified by the Jaguar campaign.
Read more at The Daily Signal
Cambodia to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize for role in ending country’s conflict with Thailand
Cambodia will nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after he helped the country reach a cease-fire agreement to end its border conflict with Thailand.
Sun Chanthol, Cambodia’s deputy prime minister, thanked Trump for bringing peace to the region while speaking to reporters earlier Friday in the country’s capital of Phnom Penh.
Read more at the New York Post
Vatican Signs Deal with Azerbaijan Rebuffing Warnings of Armenian Ethnic Cleansing
Scholars Condemn the Papacy’s Complicity with One of the World’s Most Repressive Dictatorships as Caviar Diplomacy Reaches the Vatican
The Vatican has signed an agreement with Azerbaijan, dismissing a warning from hundreds of academics who condemned Rome’s “complicity in legitimizing” Baku’s ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide of Armenian Christians.
The Holy See signed the accord on interreligious dialogue with Azerbaijan on July 28, 2025, against the backdrop of growing concern about Azerbaijan’s repression of Christians. “In recent decades, the Holy See and the Republic of Azerbaijan have demonstrated a shared desire to develop and strengthen their relations,” Cardinal George Koovakad, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, explained.
Read more at Middle East Forum
AJC donates $25,000 to repair Gaza Catholic church “unintentionally” shelled by Israel
The American Jewish Committee donated $25,000 to help repair the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza, which was damaged by errant Israeli munitions last month, the organization said.
“We are deeply saddened by the deaths, injuries and structural damage at the Holy Family Church in Gaza and stand in solidarity with our Catholic brothers and sisters,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch said in a statement. “We pray for the full recovery of the injured and the safety of all peoples affected by the devastation of war.”
Read more at the Jewish Insider
What is [Detroit’s] Sacred Heart Seminary’s protocol for firing professors? Did the seminary follow the protocol laid out in its handbook?
The dismissal last week of theology professors Ralph Martin and Eduardo Echeverria and canon law professor Ed Peters from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit has sparked controversy.
The three professors had each been teaching at the seminary for decades. News of their dismissal has proven contentious, prompting allegations that their terminations were politically motivated. …
[S]ome have questioned whether the case might have followed the seminary’s rules for dismissing faculty. …
Read more at The Pillar
