Marcellino DAmbrosio

Theologian, historian, professor, speaker, author, media personality, tour leader; husband & dad of 5, love fitness, the sea, my garden, & Italian culture.

[Marcellino DAmbrosio @DrItaly]

The USS Liberty was an American vessel savagely attacked in 1967 by Israeli forces who did all they could to ensure there would be no survivors. Miraculously, some survived and their tale will finally be told in congress today.

[Mandy Arthur @mandyarthur]

10 Things They DON’T Want You to Know About Israel’s Attack on the USS Liberty:

1. Israel identified the ship as American hours earlier and then attacked anyway.

2. Israelis jammed all U.S. distress frequencies so the ship couldn’t call for help.

3. One torpedo instantly killed 25 crew.

4. Israel shot up life rafts with machine guns.

5. Israeli helicopters circled the ship after the attack but refused to help the wounded crew.

6. U.S. jets launched twice to save the ship but the U.S. military ordered them back during the attack.

7. Congress never did a full investigation despite 34 dead and 171 injured.

8. Navy investigation was rigged: top lawyer swore they were forced to call it a mistake.

9. Joint Chiefs chairman and NSA leaders called it deliberate and a U.S. cover-up.

10. Survivors were threatened with court martial if they talked about it.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Every truly just society is built upon the recognition of the inviolable dignity of the human person. Such dignity precedes any concession by the State and cannot be subordinated to shifting social consensus. It belongs to every human being by the very fact of their existence, and for this reason, it must guide every positive legal system. When this conviction remains alive, the law becomes a safeguard for all and a guarantee against the imposition of particular interests and agendas. #ApostolicJourney
https://t.co/FaELbiAnPk

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Silence can help us most to recognize the voice of God, since it fosters attention and recollection. Freed from the noise of a thousand voices, we come to recognize that some voices deceive our desires, others buy us without nourishing us, and still others speak out of self-interest. In silence, we understand that ideologies pass away, while truth remains. https://t.co/lbaMqHx1cJ

[Marcellino DAmbrosio @DrItaly]

What Israel is doing in Lebanon should arouse the outrage of the world.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. #ApostolicJourney #Cameroon https://t.co/bKteFZ3iWE

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Without the fire of the Spirit, the Church remains a prisoner of fear, timid in the face of the world’s challenges, closed in on itself, and thus also incapable of entering into dialogue with changing times. #Pentecost

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

In these days leading up to the Solemnity of Pentecost, as we prepare to relive the mystery the miracle of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the nascent Church, let us #PrayTogether to the Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of life. May He grant us the gift of #ChristianUnity, bestow upon us enduring peace, and renew the face of the earth.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Peace begins in the human heart, passes through relationships, takes root in neighborhoods and peripheries, and expands until it embraces the entire city and the world. Peace is built by promoting a culture that rejects violence, through daily gestures, education, and practical acts of justice. #PastoralVisit #Naples

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

The DOJ's deadline to charge Fauci for lying under oath about funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan is in 6 days. We can’t allow the statute of limitations to run out. He MUST be charged!

Agree? RT.

[Edward Feser @FeserEdward]

While just war doctrine allows “preemptive war” (military action to head off an attack that is just about to be launched) it forbids “preventive war” (military action against a country that merely might someday attack). The pope and the USCCB are simply upholding this teaching.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

It is not always easy to believe. It was not easy for Thomas, and it is not easy for us either. Faith needs to be nourished and sustained. For this reason, on the “eighth day” — that is, every Sunday — the Church invites us to do as the first disciples did: gather together and celebrate the Eucharist. #GospelOfToday (Jn 20:19–31)

[Edward Feser @FeserEdward]

St. Augustine: “What is wrong in war is an eagerness to cause harm, a cruel vengeance, a remorseless and uncontrollable spirit, a rebellious wildness, a desire to dominate, and other things of that sort” (Contra Faustum, Book XXII, Ch. 74)

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Absurd and inhuman violence is spreading ferociously through the sacred places of the Christian East, profaned by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives, which are considered at most collateral damage of self-interest. But no gain can be worth the life of the weakest, children, or families. No cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood.

[Catholic News Service @CatholicNewsSvc]

1st station: "Every person in authority will have to answer to God for the way they exercise their power." Jesus says, "whatever you do to another human being, especially to the small & vulnerable, you do unto me. And it is to me that you will one day give an account."

[Giorgia Meloni @GiorgiaMeloni]

“La libertà non consiste nel fare ciò che ci piace, ma nell’avere il diritto di fare ciò che dobbiamo”.

Il 2 aprile 2005 ci lasciava Giovanni Paolo II. È il Papa con cui sono cresciuta.
Ho avuto la fortuna di incontrarlo, e una cosa mi è rimasta impressa più di tutte: il suo sguardo. E quella forza tranquilla di chi sa indicare una strada senza imporla.
In fondo, quello che ha insegnato è molto semplice quanto potente: la libertà non è scegliere ciò che conviene, o ciò che è più comodo. È avere il coraggio di fare ciò che si ritiene giusto. Anche quando costa. Anche quando non è la strada più facile. È un insegnamento che torna, ogni volta che bisogna tenere la rotta. Con serietà, senza scorciatoie.

A distanza di 21 anni, il suo esempio continua a parlare. Non solo nella fede, ma nel modo in cui affrontiamo le sfide di oggi, con ancora più di coraggio e più responsabilità.

[Catholic Sat @CatholicSat]

Pope Leo XIV on Palm Sunday, forcefully denounces those who use God to justify war: “Brothers and sisters, this is our God, Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them saying “Though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.”

[Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 @MLJHaynes]

JUST IN: Israeli Police prevented Cardinal Pizzaballa from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre today, as he went to say Mass.

@LPJerusalem calls it a “grave precedent” which “constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure.”

Full statement from @LPJerusalem below

——

Joint Press Release
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land

Holy City of Jerusalem
Palm Sunday, 29 March 2026

This morning, the Israeli Police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, together with the Custos of the Holy Land, the Most Reverend Fr. Francesco Ielpo, OFM, the official Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass.

The two were stopped en route, while proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act, and were compelled to turn back. As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

This incident is a grave precedent,and disregard the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem.

The Heads of the Churches have acted with full responsibility and, since the outset of the war, have complied with all imposed restrictions: public gatherings were cancelled, attendance was prohibited, and arrangements were made to broadcast the celebrations to hundreds of millions of faithful worldwide, who, during these days of Easter, turn their eyes to Jerusalem and to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Preventing the entry of the Cardinal and the Custos, who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and the Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure.

This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the Status Quo.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land express their profound sorrow to the Christian faithful in the Holy Land and throughout the world that prayer on one of the most sacred days of the Christian calendar has thus been prevented.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

The wars that stain the present moment with blood are the fruit of the idolatry of power and money. Let us not grow accustomed to the clamor of weapons and images of war! #Peace is not merely a balance of power. It is the work of purified hearts, of those who see others as brothers and sisters to be protected, not enemies to be defeated. #ApostolicJourney https://t.co/WeRUclJHqq

[EWTN News @EWTNews]

The Latin parish priest of the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank appealed for the solidarity of Christians worldwide in the face of new attacks by “fanatical Israeli settlers” seeking to displace the local population.

Father Bashar Fawadleh issued an appeal on Saturday, March 21, telling ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that the lands seized this week by Israeli settlers “belonged to the people of Taybeh and were, moreover, our private property.”

These incursions, he continued, in addition to constituting “a violation of international law and of the rights of the local community,” represent an affront that, for the village’s inhabitants, goes far beyond a mere legal or political matter.

“This story is about the life of a Christian community that has been present in this land for more than 2,000 years,” Fawadleh said.

Taybeh is the modern name of the biblical village of Ephraim, where Jesus went to rest shortly before his passion (cf. John 11:54). In addition to being the only entirely Christian village in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza, it is also renowned for its beer.

In recent days, Israeli settlers have seized areas near the village’s quarry and cement factory. These encroachments have been ongoing for some time. In July 2025, settlers set fire in the area near the ruins of St. George Church, built in the historic Byzantine style and dating back to the fifth century, where the local community typically holds religious celebrations.

Several vehicles were also set ablaze, and the attackers “painted hateful graffiti,” according to sources in Taybeh. Christian leaders have demanded immediate action from Israeli authorities and called upon the international community to halt the escalating violence.

When asked what message he would like to send to Pope Leo XIV and to all Christians around the world, he said: “We ask not only for compassion, but for solidarity.”

Fawadleh, whose mother was born in Venezuela but returned to the West Bank at the age of 16, told ACI Prensa: “As a church, our mission is to help people remain in their land, to live with dignity, and to keep the Christian presence alive in the Holy Land. Our presence here is a living testament to the roots of Christianity — where it all began.”

According to the parish priest, “when the land is threatened, people become fearful.” The local community simply wants “to live in peace, with dignity, and on our own land,” he said, noting that the farmers of Taybeh are even afraid to go out to their fields.

“This is a matter that concerns the entire Church. We ask for your prayers, and for your visits to the Holy Land and to the ‘living stones’ in Taybeh and throughout the Holy Land,” he said.

“And your support, so that Christians may remain here through education, housing, and employment opportunities. For the Christian presence in the Holy Land is not merely a local matter,” he pointed out.

“For the truth is one; it is not a matter of distorting it. Thank you; we will remain in contact and united in prayer,” the priest said.

https://t.co/b98VX2WuXD

[Edward Feser @FeserEdward]

Pope St. John Paul II: “No one can ignore how much the Palestinian people have had to suffer in recent decades. Your torment is before the eyes of the world. And it has gone on too long. The Holy See has always recognized that the Palestinian people have the natural right to a homeland, and the right to be able to live in peace and tranquility with the other peoples of this area…My predecessors and I have repeatedly proclaimed that there would be no end to the sad conflict in the Holy Land without stable guarantees for the rights of all the peoples involved” (March 22, 2000)