Luis Ruben de Valadéz

Director of Business Development, Immigration Law, Humanitarian Relief

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

The goodness of even a few people can overcome the fear of many. We must be like an open Bible for everyone. May others encounter the Word of God in our faces and lives. Love is the language that makes everyone feel at home. #ApostolicJourney

[Casa de S.M. el Rey @CasaReal]

La Reina Sofía ha asistido esta tarde a la oración y la ofrenda floral de Su Santidad el Papa León XIV a la Virgen de la Almudena, en la Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena.

Durante la ceremonia, Su Santidad ha hecho entrega a la Virgen de la Almudena de la Rosa de Oro.

➡️https://t.co/rdUgiUXjLU

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

Crowds in Madrid were delighted to see Pope Leo make a visit to Santa Maria de la Almudena Cathedral with Queen Sofia, the wife of Spain’s former King Juan Carlos, on Monday.

[Real Madrid C.F. @realmadrid]

El presidente Florentino Pérez 🤝 El papa León XIV

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

I come to #Spain to confirm, encourage, and inspire renewed fidelity to the Gospel among believers, as well as deeper reconciliation and cooperation among the different souls of this nation. Spain's own history reminds us that stability and prosperity are born not of a culture of confrontation, but of a culture of encounter. #ApostolicJourney

[Casa de S.M. el Rey @CasaReal]

Los Reyes, la Princesa de Asturias y la Infanta Sofía se han desplazado hasta el Ayuntamiento de Madrid, donde el Papa León XIV ha recibido las llaves de la ciudad de Madrid y ha firmado en el Libro de Honor.

Posteriormente, han asistido a la Santa Misa del Corpus Christi oficiada por Su Santidad en la Plaza de Cibeles.

[EWTN News @EWTNews]

On the Solemnity of Corpus Christi and during his first visit to Spain, Pope Leo made history: for the first time ever, the Successor of Peter carried the Eucharist on foot through the streets of Madrid.

Although St. John Paul II visited Spain five times and Benedict XVI made three visits, the country had never witnessed a Eucharistic procession like this led by the Pope himself.

A historic moment for the Church in Spain and the world.

Video: Alvaro de Juana / EWTN News

[Universitarios Católicos @UniCatolicos_es]

Pueblo de reyes, asamblea santa
Pueblo sacerdotal, pueblo de Dios
Bendice a tu Señor

Comienza la celebración de la Solemnidad del Corpus Christi.

[Jose Moreno @Josemn1_]

El Papa León XIV hace uso del Cáliz de la Reina María de las Mercedes de Orleans, una de las piezas más preciadas de la Casa Ansorena del siglo XIX que fue encargada por la propia Reina para ser cedida a las Religiosas de la Asunción. Un tributo a la Consorte Real, que ofreció su ‘sí, quiero’ más romántico al Rey Alfonso XII.

María de las Mercedes era sobrina de Isabel II. La amada del Rey era hija de María Luisa de Borbón y Antonio de Orleans, duque de Montpensier, uno de los culpables de aquella Revolución de 1868 que provocó el exilio de la Reina a París, por lo que Isabel II nunca vio con buenos ojos este enlace matrimonial. Por aquel entonces, y a pesar de las circunstancias y de todos los impedimentos, el amor continuó su curso. Entonces, el Gobierno se negó a que el Rey se casase con una princesa. Este debate llegó a las Cortes, siendo el diputado Claudio Moyano el defensor de la española: “La infanta doña Mercedes está fuera de toda discusión: los ángeles no se discuten”. Restaurada la monarquía, Alfonso XII afirmó que “nada ha cambiado para mí; si soy rey, tú serás mi reina, y prefiero dejar de serlo antes que dejar de ser tu marido”. Ahora sí, el matrimonio disfrutó de su luna de miel, aunque no por mucho tiempo. En marzo, la Reina quedó embarazada, pero este no llegó a término. A finales del mismo mes, la Reina sufría un aborto.

Desde entonces, la salud de la Reina no volvió a mejorar. El 26 de junio de 1878 la edad de tan solo 18 años, la Reina de España moría en brazos de su esposo. El Rey jamás se recuperó de aquella pérdida; el Gobierno lo forzó a contraer un nuevo matrimonio. La elegida fue María Cristina de Habsburgo. Ahora, 148 años después, la fallecida Reina, es homenajeada por León XIV.

➡️ Si te ha gustado esta historia, sígueme para no perderte nada; @Josemn1_

[Ayuntamiento Madrid @MADRID]

Así ha recibido el papa #LeónXIV la Llave de Oro de #Madrid de manos del alcalde @AlmeidaPP_ en el Palacio de #Cibeles

Los reyes de España han sido testigos de este momento histórico, que ha tenido lugar durante la #VisitaDelPapa a la capital

[Paulina Guzik @Guzik_Paulina]

Amazing scenes in Madrid, Spanish capital of 3,5 mln people, 7 mln in the metropolitan area, where 1,5 mln witness Eucharistic procession with Pope Leo XIV carrying the Blessed Sacrament in the heart of the city, with First Communion girls laying flower petals en route.
Video: Vatican Media

[CooperBaggs 💰🍞 @edgaralandough]

Major cheat code in life: Master the graceful exit. From conversations. From parties. From opportunities. "This has been wonderful, but I need to go." No elaborate excuses. No fake emergencies. Just clear, kind departure. Most people don't know how to leave. They stay too long or leave badly. Master the exit.

[Holy Bible @Holy__Bible1]

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:13

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

At 20, he just became the youngest person ever to direct the number one movie in America. He has arthritis, skipped college, and taught himself the whole craft on YouTube. His name is Kane Parsons, and five years ago he was a teenager making Attack on Titan fan videos.

He was diagnosed at 13. On bad days the pain made standing hard, so instead of filming outside, he set up at his family's kitchen table in California and worked on a computer. He stacked furniture into a standing desk. A free program called Blender taught him animation, and he learned special effects from YouTube tutorials whenever he got stuck. By his own count he made more than 400 videos as a kid. Almost nobody saw them.

The Attack on Titan clips were the first thing of his that strangers actually stopped to watch. In 2021, at 15, he recreated scenes from the anime as grainy black-and-white footage that looked like it came from an old war archive, built almost entirely on his laptop.

Then in January 2022, at 16, he posted a nine-minute video called The Backrooms. A guy filming in an office falls straight through the floor into an endless maze of empty, yellow, humming rooms. It is slow, quiet, and it gets under your skin. Today it has more than 78 million views. He kept going and made about 20 more, each one seen by millions.

A24, the studio behind the Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once, came calling while he was still a high school senior. He shot the film over the summer of 2025 and helped write the music on piano.

The movie cost around 10 million dollars. In three days it made more than 81 million in the US, over eight times its entire budget, and 118 million around the world. That gave A24 the biggest opening weekend in its history, more than triple its previous record. Before Kane, the youngest director to ever top the American box office was 27, and that record had stood since 2012.

Those Attack on Titan videos were a teenager teaching himself, one free tutorial at a time, the exact skills that just put his first movie at number one in the country. He did all of it at that same kitchen table.

[Joseph Kahn @JosephKahn]

Obsession and Backrooms are not the same situation. Obsession was made off the grid and that director had to completely fend for himself on peanuts. Backrooms was well funded and supervised by a studio with seasoned pros. I like both, but only Obsession is true the "low budget" of the two. $10 million on Backrooms is actually a big budget for the "small horror movie" space.

[Jim Cummings @jimmycthatsme]

It is finally happening.
An indie film can make $100M at the box office without celebrities.
The times they are a changin'.
Make your movie.

[Catholic Sat @CatholicSat]

Vatican News has published an audiobook of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical "Magnifica humanitas.” Listen to it for free here: https://t.co/eARt2C5Ild

[Bishop Robert Barron @BishopBarron]

The horror film “Obsession” is a surprise hit at the box office this summer. Made for around one million dollars, it has already grossed over a hundred and fifty million. But it's not only a financial success; it's also a spiritually quite interesting film. What drives the plot is a young man's ardent desire to be loved by the woman whom he loves. Seeking a gift for Nikki in an occult store, Bear finds a device that advertises itself as “One Wish Willow.” If you break the stick and make a wish, it will come true. In his desperation, he follows the instructions, and it works like a charm. The previously diffident Nikki becomes totally devoted to the delighted Bear. All his dreams, it seems, have come true. Then things go, shall we say, south. I won't spoil any more of the plot. Suffice it to say that Nikki proceeds to devour the young man and push him toward despair.

Throughout this film, I kept thinking of Oscar Wilde's famous line: “the only thing worse than not getting what you want is getting what you want.” The spiritual issue here is one that the masters have recognized for centuries and one that stands at the very heart of Biblical revelation: if you tie your deepest desire to anything or anyone other than God, you will find, not satisfaction, but destruction. This is the moral teaching behind the great Shema prayer: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is Lord alone.” Jesus reiterates this when he says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your strength.” The psalmist affirms it when he sings, “Only in God will my soul be at rest.”

During the rite of Confirmation, I ask the young people a series of questions, the first of which is “do you renounce Satan and all his works and empty promises?” Up and down the ages, Satan has made the same empty promise: I will give you something less than God and it will make you happy. In point of fact, it will ruin you, and the more you seek to acquire it, the unhappier you will become. What becomes clear in the course of “Obsession” is that the owners of the occult shop where Bear bought the fateful wish-willow are in fact involved with very dark spiritual powers. In my conversations with exorcists, I hear over and over again that those who get ensnared by the devil commence by dabbling in the occult.

“Obsession” is a good horror movie. If you like the genre, and you're not too squeamish, go see it. For it won't just scare you; it will offer some important spiritual truths.

[EWTN News @EWTNews]

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Maria Montserrat Alvarado, President and Chief Operating Officer of EWTN News, as Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. The appointment will take effect Nov. 5, 2026.

Since 2023, Alvarado has overseen EWTN News’ global and multilingual news operations across television, radio, print, digital, and social media platforms. During her tenure, she helped expand the network’s international news presence and deepen collaboration across its multilingual platforms.

“Montse’s background in international media, public affairs, and Church engagement has helped shape EWTN’s outreach at a critical moment in the history of our apostolate: the pivot into a deeper engagement with the digital space,” said Michael P. Warsaw, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of EWTN. “Just as importantly, she has remained deeply committed to the mission that defines EWTN: proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ and the teachings of His Church with clarity, fidelity, and charity.”

Before joining EWTN, Alvarado spent 14 years in leadership roles at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, where she worked extensively on issues related to religious freedom and human dignity.

In a statement released following the appointment, Alvarado said she received the news “with deep gratitude, humility, and trust in the Lord,” adding that the faithful witness of the EWTN family strengthened her faith.

The Dicastery for Communication was established by Pope Francis in 2015 as part of his reform of the Roman Curia, bringing together the Holy See’s various communications entities, including Vatican News, Vatican Radio, L’Osservatore Romano, Vatican Media, the Vatican Publishing house and printing press, Filmoteca Vaticana, and the Holy See Press Office. Appointed for a five year term, the Prefect is responsible for overseeing the entire media network of the Holy See.

Alvarado succeeds Paolo Ruffini, whom Pope Francis appointed in 2018 as the first lay prefect of a dicastery in the Roman Curia. Ruffini said he had come to know Alvarado “over the last couple of years” and will work closely with her in the coming months “in the spirit of communion that unites us in the Church.”

In recent years, Pope Francis entrusted a growing number of leadership roles in the Vatican to lay men and women, including several senior appointments for women religious. Alvarado’s appointment continues that development and marks the first time a woman who has not taken religious vows as a nun or a sister has been appointed to lead a dicastery of the Holy See.

Born in Mexico City, Alvarado earned academic degrees from Florida International University and George Washington University. She has received several national recognitions for her commitment to religious freedom and service to the Church, and her writings and commentary have appeared in a range of international media outlets.

While noting that EWTN would miss Alvarado’s leadership, Warsaw said the network rejoices in her new mission of service to the universal Church.

“We offer her our prayers, our encouragement, and the full support of the EWTN family as she begins this important mission in service to Pope Leo XIV and his pontificate.”

Full story at https://t.co/PMVA8rgVqO