Steve Bannon says that “he’s more dangerous than Francis.” MAGA is melting down over Pope Leo XIV’s messages lifting up the poor and migrants — and some are starting to panic.

Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein tried to takedown Pope Francis. The former Buenos Aires bouncer prevailed.

A new book reveals Pope Leo XIV nearly wasn’t elected at all. After the first ballot, arch-conservative Peter Erdo of Hungary led the conclave. Here’s how Robert Prevost reversed the momentum — and became the first American pope in the Catholic Church’s two millennia history.

Epstein and Bannon conspired to take down Pope Francis. DOJ-released messages reveal Epstein’s Vatican obsession — and a disturbing alliance with Bannon to “purify” the Church. Here’s the first part of the story behind their attempt to take down the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Days after Donald Trump posted a racist image portraying the Obamas as apes, Pope Leo XIV is calling on Christians to give up cruelty — online and off — this Lenten season.

“A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love, is the Church that the world needs today.” — Pope Leo XIV

Almost Friday.

NEW: Top U.S. Catholic bishops are demanding Donald Trump apologize for a racist post depicting the Obamas as apes. The Vatican has weighed in — and Pope Leo XIV, the first modern pope of Black descent, is watching.

“We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace.” — Pope Francis

Bad Bunny — who first began singing as a child in his parish Mass choir — looks to the heavens and makes the Sign of the Cross before his Super Bowl halftime performance.

Here’s my promise to you today: We are in this for the long haul. And by the grace of God, we will win. To Pope Leo XIV — we will follow your lead. To our neighbors who are afraid — we will protect you. To Donald Trump, JD Vance, and every MAGA purveyor of cruelty and lies — we will defeat you.

As I told Vox today, it’s time to stop pretending. Christian nationalism does not have a place for Catholics. Its architects do not believe Catholics are fully Christian — or fully saved. Our future depends defeating Trump’s MAGA authoritarianism once and for all. By the grace of God, we will win.

While fringe MAGA world tuned in to Kid Rock singing about strippers, the rest of America watched Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga celebrate marriage, family, and the full diversity of American Catholicism at the Super Bowl.

NEW: In newly surfaced emails from 2015, written during Pope Francis’s visit to the United States, Jeffrey Epstein suggested inviting the Holy Father over for a “massage” and joked crudely about the pope sexually climaxing during it.

Long before he wore a collar, @jamesmartinsj.bsky.social was learning hard lessons about failure, humility, and power — not in the sanctuary, but on factory floors, behind restaurant counters, and under managers who treated workers like cogs in a machine.

NEW: Newly surfaced emails show Jeffrey Epstein telling his brother he wanted to invite Pope Francis over for a “massage” during the Holy Father’s 2015 visit to New York. In the same exchange, Epstein crudely suggested the late pope would ejaculate during the massage at the name of Jesus.

🚨 Stand by for major revelations from Jeffrey Epstein’s disturbing emails about the late Pope Francis. 🚨

The Gospel for today doesn’t ask Christians to be polite, quiet, or safe. It asks them to be visible. In dangerous times, Jesus says, neutrality is not an option.

Steve Bannon and the MAGA Epstein Class tried to destroy Pope Francis. They failed. They’re now trying to destroy Pope Leo XIV. We won’t let them. By the grace of God, we will defeat the evildoers once again.

The conclave is built to withstand empires, spies, and kings. Not iPhones. Yet during the very first vote to elect Pope Leo XIV, Vatican security detected an active SIM card inside the Sistine Chapel. Someone had brought a phone. Here’s what happened next.

Steve Bannon worked with Jeffrey Epstein for years to try to take down Pope Francis. He failed miserably. Now he and his friends in the MAGA Epstein class are trying to destroy Pope Leo XIV. By the grace of God, we will defeat him and his cronies once and for all.

NEW: Days after his anti-ICE song reached the top of the charts, Bruce Springsteen met with Bishop David O’Connell and other New Jersey Catholic leaders. The meeting comes amid intensified Catholic criticism — from Pope Leo XIV on down — of President Trump’s deportation campaign.

“The Church isn’t a country club.” Ron Hicks opened his ministry in New York with that line — and then presided in Spanish at America’s parish cathedral. As families are being torn apart by Trump-Vance’s raids, Pope Leo’s replacement for Cardinal Dolan left no doubt about where the Church stands.

Steve Bannon — who conspired with Jeffrey Epstein to “take down” Pope Francis — warned that the election of the man who would become Pope Leo XIV would be his worst nightmare. Bannon and Esptein lost. The world won.

“The Catholic Church isn’t a country club. A club exists to serve its member. The Church exists to go out and serve all people. We exist to follow Jesus who fed the hungry, healed the sick, rejected hatred, and proclaimed love.” — New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks

NEW: Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t just obsessed with money and power. He was obsessed with the Vatican — and Pope Francis. New messages show Epstein and Steve Bannon plotted to “take down” the pope. This is part one of our investigation.

As Trump–Vance mass-deportation raids continue — and are repeatedly condemned by Pope Leo and his brother bishops — Ronald Hicks, the new Archbishop of New York, presiding in Spanish in America’s parish cathedral is a powerful, unmistakable statement.

NEW: Epstein and Bannon conspired to take down Pope Francis. DOJ-released messages reveal Epstein’s Vatican obsession — and his alliance with Bannon to “purify” the Church. Here is the first part of the story behind their failed attempt to take down the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

In a 1700-word diatribe against Pope Leo XIV and Catholic teaching, Speaker Mike Johnson falsely claims God backs mass deportations — and mercy is not the government’s concern.

Speaker Mike Johnson just tried to mansplain the Bible to the Vicar of Jesus Christ. It’s the latest in a long MAGA campaign to smear Pope Leo XIV — and it falls apart under any honest reading of Scripture.

God does not merely prefer the weak; God chooses them. Consider the story of Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old boy caught in the machinery of Trump and Vance’s godless immigration deportation raids. No power. No voice. No leverage. And yet his suffering exposes everything.

“The Church cannot stay silent before injustice towards migrants. You stand with me. And I stand with you.” — Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo distributes communion to his brother John.

Pope Leo has condemned ICE more than a dozen times — and wept after hearing migrants describe the terror they endured. Now, after ICE killed two Americans, it’s clear: no Catholic can remain in ICE. St. Thomas More said it well before a tyrant: “I am the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”

James Carville is asked: “How can you be a Democrat and a Catholic?” His answer: “How can you be a Republican and a Catholic?”

Pope Leo XIV has issued a stark warning to President Trump over Cuba, urging restraint and dialogue as U.S. threats escalate. Trump ignored the pope’s plea on Venezuela earlier this year. He might want to reconsider this time as his approval among U.S. Catholics has fallen to an all-time low.

Bishop Anthony Taylor’s powerful statement adds fuel to the growing moral uprising from U.S. Catholic leaders against Trump-Vance’s MAGA authoritarianism.

“Blessed are you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you shall be satisfied.” — Matthew 5:6

A five-year-old American child has become an unwitting witness to a central Christian claim: that God shames the strong through the suffering of the weak.

To Pope Leo — we will follow your lead. To our neighbors who are afraid — we will protect you. To Trump, Vance, and the MAGA tryants of cruelty and lies — we will defeat you. And to our children — as long as God gives us breath, we will work every day to leave this nation better than we found it.

NEW: Trump’s approval among Catholics falls to a historic low. A rising movement of Catholics, emboldened by Pope Leo, is turning against MAGA. With over 20,000 members, we are the fastest-growing Catholic group in America. To the MAGA purveyors of cruelty and lies — we will defeat you.

“The Church cannot stay silent before injustice towards migrants. You stand with me. And I stand with you.” — Pope Leo XIV

NEW: An Arkansas bishop is comparing Donald Trump’s America to Nazi Germany. Bishop Anthony Taylor joins a growing revolt inside the Catholic Church, as Pope Leo and U.S. bishops escalate their warnings about Trump-Vance’s MAGA authoritarianism. open.substack.com/pub/lettersf...

Pope Leo and his top ally Cardinal McElroy are right: silence in the face of evil is itself evil.

”We condemn without reservation the use of indiscriminate and lethal force against civilians.” As McElroy says, Leo XIV may be leading the struggle — but he can’t do it alone. Deal us in. By refusing to bow to godless MAGA authoritarianism, we are the fastest-growing Catholic community in America.

Pope Leo and the Catholic Church are escalating their moral offensive against the Trump-Vance White House. After visiting Denmark to back it against the White House’s threats to invade Greenland, Pope Leo’s top deputy says the ICE killings in Minneapolis “cannot be accepted.”

“Don’t listen to the vilification from our national leaders.” That’s what Fr. Harry Tasto said about Alex Pretti — the Catholic nurse he served with for a decade. One patient, Marta Crownheart, remembers him holding her hand for 20 minutes and praying with her when she thought she’d had a stroke.

Alex Pretti was a Catholic and a Minnesotan. After his death, bishops across the country have spoken out. But Minnesota Bishop Robert Barron — who found time to tweet about woke universities, Dr. Phil, and Jordan Peterson — has said nothing. What’s behind Barron’s silence?

Every American Catholic faces a choice today. We can follow Christ — or we can follow Trump and Vance’s godless MAGA ideology, built on lies, cruelty, and the worship of power. One path leads to repentance, conversion, and new life. The other leads deeper into deception, violence, and death.

NEW: Cardinal Blase Cupich — one of Pope Leo’s top allies in the U.S. — says the Trump–Vance White House lied about Alex Pretti’s death. And he’s clear: Pope Leo cannot confront injustice alone. It’s time for every American to stand up and join the fight.