> Pope Leo XIV
> born chicago 1955
> nobody special. just a catholic kid from the suburbs
> played "mass" with his brothers at home as a kid
> studied math at uni. not even theology. math
> graduated then walked straight into a monastery same year
> ordained priest at 26
> rome called him
> flew over. got a full doctorate in canon law
> could've stayed in rome living comfortable
> went to peru instead
> first mission: chulucanas. semi-arid desert at the foot of the andes
> spent his first year doing disaster relief after el niño floods hit the regio
> went back to chicago briefly to finish his thesis
> then went straight back to peru
> settled in trujillo. stayed there for nearly a decade
> this was during peru's civil war
> witnessed car bombs & military crackdowns (he stayed)
> learned spanish. founded a parish. trained future priests
> travelled by horse on difficult roads to reach isolated communities in the mountain valleys
> spoke out publicly against fujimori's government (when other bishops stayed quiet)
> went back to chicago in 1999
> won election as head of the augustinian province on reputation alone
> 2001: elected to lead the entire worldwide augustinian order
> ran it for 12 years. based in rome. travelled every continent
> never gave interviews. never chased headlines
> 2023: francis called him to rome
> made him the man who decides who becomes a bishop anywhere on earth
> made cardinal september 2023
> two years later, francis died
> second day of the conclave. fourth ballot
> walked out onto the balcony of st peter's basilica
> spoke for 10 minutes in flawless italian
> speaks 5 languages. holds 2 passports
> first american pope in 2,000 years of church history
> first augustinian pope ever
> two years earlier he was one of 5,400 bishops with zero global visibility
Every vatican insider said an american pope was impossible...
The Archbishop of Washington D.C. just said it directly.
“In Catholic teaching, this is not a just war.”
This isn’t a foreign pope making diplomatic statements from Rome.
This is the Archbishop of the American capital. The man who leads the Catholic Church in the city where the war was decided, where Congress was gaveled into silence, where the Pentagon threatened the Vatican’s ambassador for daring to disagree.
He just told Washington — from Washington — that what they are doing fails the moral test their own faith demands.
The just war doctrine has four criteria. A just cause. Right intention. Last resort. Proportional means.
Cardinal McElroy is saying this war fails them.
He joins Pope Leo XIV who called it unjust. Who called Trump’s threats unacceptable. Who the Pentagon summoned and threatened with the Avignon Papacy for saying so.
They threatened the Pope. They didn’t silence him.
They can’t silence the Archbishop either.
🚨 POPE LEO just fired back at President Trump: "To put my message on the same plane as what the President has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is."
"And I'm sorry to hear that, but I will continue on what I believe to be the mission of the Church in the war period."
"I will not enter into debate. The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone, and the message of the Gospel is very clear, blessed are the peacemakers."
"I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel, of inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges for peace and reconciliation, of looking for ways to avoid war anytime that's possible."
In response to a personal attack by President Donald Trump the night before, Pope Leo told journalists on the papal plane to Algeria:
“I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do. We are not politicians. We don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker.”
(Video: @OSVNews)
For the first time since 1994, the Pope is personally carrying the Cross for all 14 Stations of the Cross, as Pope Leo XIV leads the Via Crucis at Rome’s Colosseum in the first Good Friday of his Pontificate.