In Case You Missed It – Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- Souls and Liberty
- 21 hours ago
- 5 min read
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Eric Schmitt Rips Senate Dems for Blocking Vatican Ambassador's Confirmation
There's petty...and then there's party. The Democrats, as much as they may be in disarray of late, are nothing if not pros at lock-step voting, and they've shown that once again, blocking the confirmation vote of President Donald Trump's nominee as Ambassador to the Vatican.
Read/watch at Red State
‘DA POPE!’ Leo XIV’s Chicago roots unleash spate of holy humor
“You just saw a billion jokes,” says Chad Nackers, who was raised Catholic and now presides as editor-in-chief of The Onion, the satirical site that heralded Robert Prevost’s elevation with an image of the smiling pontiff encased in a poppyseed-dotted bun. “Conclave Selects First Chicago-Style Pope,” read the headline.
Read more at AP News
The Pope is now on X
A new Pope Leo appears to answer tech's new anti-human 'disruption'
Leo XIV, like his predecessor Leo XIII, is concerned with technology's power to shift us away from the family and a life connected to God’s creation.
Read more at Religion News Service
Essay: The Catholic Artificial Intelligence Moment
Soon after his election, Pope Leo XIV revealed why he chose his papal name, and he noted that the rise of artificial intelligence was on his mind …
Read more at Crisis Magazine
The childhood home of Pope Leo XIV in Dolton, Illinois
View at Become a Saint on X
Chicago archbishop says Pope Leo will focus on immigration, drug trade, rising sea levels
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, said on Sunday that he thinks Pope Leo XIV will carry forward Francis’s commitment and focus on immigration, climate change and human trafficking.
“I think he’s going to help complete and complement our political agenda,” Cupich told ABC News’s Martha Raddatz in a “This Week” interview from the Vatican City.
Read more at The Hill
Humorous reaction of Crisis Magazine editor to Cupich's pronouncement (above)
The Catholic church's social service arm in Chicago uses lobbying firm that also represents abortion provider
The Catholic church’s social service arm has long offered resources to women with unplanned or unwelcome pregnancies to give them alternatives to abortion, which the church’s leadership opposes.
But Catholic Charities in Chicago is using a lobbying firm that also represents an abortion provider, and the same lobbying firm and its employees have given campaign money to politicians and groups backing abortion rights, the Chicago Sun-Times found.
Read more at Chicago Sun Times
The Network That Led to Pope Leo XIV’s Election
Having quickly risen to become the most networked Curia cardinal, will Pope Leo XIV be able to do what his predecessors couldn't, and effectively reform the Curia?
Read more at Crisis Magazine
Pentagon halting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender troops, memo says
The Pentagon is halting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender troops as it moves to implement President Donald Trump's plan to kick them out of the U.S. military, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Monday.
The instructions from the Defense Department barred any new hormone treatments as well as any surgical procedures for transgender troops, the memo said.
Read more at Reuters
Michigan Judge Overturns Pro-Life Laws That Save Babies and Protect Women
A Michigan Court of Claims judge has struck down several pro-life laws designed to protect unborn babies and ensure women’s safety, ruling them unconstitutional under the state’s 2022 pro-abortion amendment.
The decision, handed down Tuesday by Judge Sima Patel, eliminates a 24-hour waiting period, informed consent requirements, and restrictions on non-physicians performing abortions, prompting outcry from pro-life advocates who argue these measures safeguard both mothers and their unborn children.
Read more at LifeNews.com
Trump rebukes ‘neocons’ in anti-globalist foreign policy speech in Saudi Arabia
President Donald Trump delivered a forceful speech rebuking “neocons” and “interventionists” while announcing the latest in U.S. relations with Middle Eastern countries today.
Trump is on a three-day tour of the region to drum up investments and hold diplomatic discussions. Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman has already promised $600 billion over the next four years.
Read more at LifesiteNews
President Trump's reception in Doha, Qatar
View at Rapid Response 47 on X
Elon Musk interview with Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology in Riyadh
Watch at Gorklon Rust on X
House Republicans Put Ivy League’s Massive Endowments On Chopping Block
House Republicans are proposing to dramatically raise taxes on elite universities’ massive endowment profits as part of President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.”
Read more at The Daily Caller
Key House Committees Release Draft Tax Bill
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is moving forward on President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda. But major hurdles remain.
Read more at Amac
Federal grand jury indicts judge Hannah Dugan on charges of helping illegal immigrant evade ICE
A federal grand jury has indicted Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, who has been charged with helping an illegal immigrant evade ICE when federal agents showed up to her courtroom earlier last month.
Read more at The Post Millennial
Angelicum rector: Pope's election 'greatest mercy God has ever shown on Catholic Church in America'
Quoting St. Augustine in the original Latin, he wrote, "Praeposti sumus, et servi sumus; praesumus, sed si prosumus." "We are put in charge and we are servants; we possess authority, but only if we serve."
Read more at the Trenton Monitor
Essay: Robert Prevost and Leo XIV
Who is Cardinal Robert Prevost? And why is that the wrong question?
Read more at The Pillar
Francis in Full by Robert Barron
[P]ope Francis did indeed make the evangelical outreach to the wider world the leitmotif of his papacy. During the ad limina visit of the California bishops in early 2020, I heard Francis say that Evangelii Gaudium, his apostolic exhortation on the new evangelization, was “the key to understanding” his magisterium.
Read more at First Things
South Africa’s President Calls Afrikaner Refugees ‘Cowards’ for ‘Running Away’
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa slammed Afrikaner refugees who left for the United States on Tuesday, saying that it was “cowardly” for them to leave racial discrimination and threatened expropriation.
Ramaphosa spoke the day after after the first flight of 49 white Afrikaners granted refugee status by the U.S. arrived in Washington, DC. As many as 70,000 more have sought to apply to enter the U.S. under the policy.
Read more at Breitbart
TikTok influencer issues direct threat to the 59 white [Afrikaner] refugees, says that black people will be hunting them down
Watch at End Wokeness on X
Conclave Secrets — Why Prevost Won, Parolin Lost
It is remarkable that Robert Prevost, an American, became Pope. It long had been held that an American could never become Pope.
But Vatican sources, who are impeccable, tell Newsmax he was the man to beat from the minute the conclave began.
Read more at Newsmax
Romanian populists rally for Polish presidential candidate, chant "Donald Trump"
Wow! People are chanting "Donald Trump! Donald Trump! Donald Trump! " and "Karol! Karol! Karol!" at Karol Nawrocki's rally in Zabrze, Poland. Romanian presidential candidate George Simion just showed up at the rally to support Karol Nawrocki. Karol Nawrocki is a candidate for President of Poland who met with President Trump at the White House two weeks ago.
View at Wojciech Pawelczyk on X
Tusk’s man in pole position for the Polish presidency
Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski is ahead in presidential election polls; if he wins he’ll make the Polish PM’s life much easier.
Read more at Politico
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Stephen Wynne
Editor-in-Chief, Souls and Liberty