If you look at the Gospels, 

Jesus spent a lot of time eating with people and feeding them.

Did you ever wonder why that is?

To prepare a meal for another person,

to invite someone to a meal, and to accept that invitation, 

are powerful signs of welcome and love. 

And turn it around: what would it mean to say, 

“NO! I will NOT eat with you!”?

So the reason there’s so much eating in the Gospels?

Because Jesus wants us to know: he likes being with us!

He wants to feed us! He loves us.

So notice what Jesus put at the center of the life of the Church:

The Holy Mass, where he gives us, 

not just ordinary food, but his own, precious, Body and Blood! 

The best of foods! The best of meals!

Many of us have family or friends 

who belong to other Christian traditions, and for them, 

Holy Communion, or the Lord’s Supper as some call it,

Is only a sign, or only a reminder.

They believe that the bread and wine never become anything else.

That’s not what we believe as Catholics, together.

However, some individual Catholics actually think that way.

They say, well, it looks like bread, it tastes like wine,

So that’s all it is, and I don’t believe there’s any miracle.

But then, there were people who met Jesus, and said,

He looks like he’s only a human being, 

So I don’t believe he’s also the Lord our God!

People don’t ever say these things to me, but if they did, 

here’s what I would want to say back to them:

And, 2nd graders, these questions I’m going to pose are only for reflection, 

you don’t have to raise your hands!

But: I would ask people who doubt the Eucharist:

Do you believe that you need to be saved?  

Do you need God to rescue you from what sin does?

Do you need God to forgive your sins and change you, 

to keep you from hell and bring you to heaven? 

Now, some people, if they were very candid, would admit:

No, I don’t need God to do those things. 

I’m doing just fine.

And if that’s what you believe, then Jesus makes no sense.

Baptism, confession, all the sacraments make no sense.

Above all, the Mass and the Eucharist just aren’t very important.

So bread, wine, body, blood, whatever? Who cares?

On the other hand, if you look in your heart, and see:

I’m not just fine on my own. I do wrong things, 

And if it weren’t for God helping me, I’d end up in a terrible state!

Then it makes all the difference whether Jesus gives you a cracker, 

or he gives you his own Body, his own Blood! 

His own divinity and soul and self!

If you believe this, if you believe 

Jesus really is making this happen at Holy Mass –

and that is our Catholic faith – 

then isn’t it obvious why we come Sunday after Sunday?

Like a lot of people, I have a pill I’m supposed to take every day.

It keeps my arteries clear. So, I take my pill.

Jesus doesn’t offer us a pill;

He offers us his very self.

Jesus says, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood.” 

And he said, “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood 

has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”

Now, in today’s Gospel, Jesus is drawing Peter especially to a meal; 

But it’s not about fish and bread.

It’s about healing Peter’s earlier betrayal.

This episode on the beach is like going to confession:

Peter is forgiven and brought back into union with Jesus;

back to the union that is Holy Communion.

That’s what the Eucharist really is: not merely a ritual, 

but that union with Jesus that begins in this life, 

and it becomes perfect in eternity.

So why wouldn’t all Catholics want to have this Food, this Life, 

as often as they could?

Today, our second graders are making their first communion. 

I can see how much you have been looking forward to this day. 

So have your parents, and so have I!

But I want to say something I try to say each year.

It isn’t your first communion that matters the most, 

but our last communion, and all that come between.

That repetition is critical. Parents, you know this is true! 

You remind your kids over and over to say “please” and “thank you.”

Having to keep reminding them drives you crazy, 

but if you don’t, the habit will never take root.

So, why be surprised that Jesus knows this too?

And says, keep coming back, Sunday after Sunday?

Sad to say, lots of people make a first communion, but drift away.

So, you keep coming. Stay close to Jesus through prayer 

and especially in the sacrament of confession.

And keep coming to Mass and keep receiving Jesus’ Body and Blood.

He so wants to feed us. It’s the most important thing to him.

We need to pray. Go to Mass. By all means, go to Confession.

As I posted on Monday, you can read about the orchestrated campaign for this dude here:

https://catholicvote.org/legacy-catholic-media-promote-cardinal-same-time-coincidence-or-campaign/

HABENT PAPAM – They have a Pope (or so they think)…

‘Pope Leo XIV’

American Cardinal
Robert Francis Prevost
is New Head of Vatican II Church

Born in Chicago, Illinois, on Sep. 14, 1955, his most recent role was prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.

Prevost’s ecclesiastical milestones can be found here.

Leo XIV is considered a ‘moderate reformer’ and aligns very much with the Bergoglian agenda. He was a close confidant of ‘Pope’ Francis and has been responsible for the selection of ‘Catholic bishops’ throughout the world.

MORE INFORMATION TO BE ADDED SHORTLY!… READ MORE

In a historic moment for the Catholic Church, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago-born prelate, was elected as the 267th pope on Thursday, becoming the first American to ascend to the papacy.

The announcement came as white smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaling that the 133 cardinal electors had reached a two-thirds majority in the conclave to succeed Pope Francis, who died on April 21.

Prevost, 69, took the name Pope Leo XIV, honoring his roots in the Order of Saint Augustine, where he has served as a priest, missionary, and leader.

His election marks a significant shift, breaking centuries of European dominance in the papacy and reflecting the global reach of the Catholic Church, which counts nearly 40% of its 1.4 billion members in Latin America, a region Prevost knows well from his decades of service in Peru.

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Born in Chicago in 1955, Prevost’s journey to the Vatican began in the Midwest, where he was shaped by his family’s faith and the vibrant parish life of his youth. After earning a mathematics degree from Villanova University, he joined the Augustinians, later studying theology and canon law in Chicago and Rome. His missionary work in Peru, where he served as a parish pastor, seminary teacher, and bishop of Chiclayo, earned him a reputation as a pastor who “walks with the people,” a quality he emphasized in a 2023 interview with Vatican News: “We are often worried about teaching doctrine, but we risk forgetting that our first duty is to communicate the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus.”

As prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops since 2023, Prevost played a pivotal role in selecting bishops worldwide, aligning with Pope Francis’ vision of pastoral leadership over rigid doctrinal enforcement. His fluency in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Latin, along with his experience in Latin America, positioned him as a bridge between the Church’s diverse regions.

Prevost’s election has sparked joy among many American Catholics, who see it as a moment of pride and a call to deeper faith.

On issues like abortion, Prevost has not made explicit public statements, but his alignment with Pope Francis and traditional Catholic teaching suggests a firm stance against it, balanced by a pastoral approach that emphasizes mercy and forgiveness for women who have had abortions.

Prevost is who Pope Francis met with right before outspokenly pro-life Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland was removed from his duties. Strickland had called Joe Biden a “fake Catholic.”

The post Cardinal Robert Prevost Becomes First American Pope to Head Catholic Church appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Pray for the Pope and the Church.

 PRIOR TO THE WHITE SMOKE, AND I MEAN JUST PRIOR, I TOOK THE PHOTO FROM MY TV SET OF THE BABY SEAGULL BY THE PAPAL SMOKE STACK! YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP! WE HAVE A BABY POPE NOW! PRAISE GOD AND LONG LIVE THE POPE!

Conclave ends as Vatican II Sect chooses new ‘Pope’…

WHITE SMOKE!
Waiting for Announcement of ‘New Pope’…

VATICAN NEWS LIVESTREAM

… READ MORE

From 2019-23, the Government gifted €37,711,250 of Irish taxpayers’ money to the pro-abortion UN Population Fund (UNFPA). The staggering sum was confirmed in a reply to a Parliamentary Question submitted by Cork North Central, Independent Ireland TD, Deputy Ken O’Flynn.

Commenting on this latest disclosure, Eilís Mulroy of the Pro Life Campaign said:

“The decision of the Government to donate almost €38,000,000 of Irish taxpayers’ money over a four year period to such a controversial and ideological focussed group is extremely troubling. For years, the UNFPA has been a leading player in the promotion of abortion internationally, particularly in developing countries. For the Government to give such a staggering sum of money to the group without any public debate beforehand, makes the decision all the more disgraceful.

“The fact that the UNFPA distributes portions of the money it receives to areas other than abortion, may serve as a diversion, but it’s certainly not a defence. Terms like “sexual and reproductive health” widely used by groups like the UNFPA is a very familiar and accepted codeword for abortion.

Follow LifeNews.com on Instagram for pro-life pictures and videos.

“Funding given to groups like the UNFPA is not legitimate foreign aid. Rather, it’s an ideological abuse of Irish taxpayers’ money, done in our name but without our consent. The sheer amount of taxpayers’ money being spent by the Government in recent years on contentious issues like supporting the promotion and provision of abortion worldwide is astounding. There are countless more worthy causes, at home or abroad, to which this money could be diverted.

“In addition to the latest revelations regarding funding to the UNFPA, it also emerged recently that since 2022 Ireland donated €2,300,000 to International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF), the world’s largest abortion provider.

“When you add the over €50m spent by the Government on abortion provision in Ireland over the past six years (calculated from replies to other Parliamentary Questions) to the latest sums revealed in the reply to Deputy Flynn’s PQ, close to €100m has been earmarked for abortion over that period of time. When you consider that the Government has refused to explicitly earmark a single cent during the same time period to facilitate the promotion of alternatives to abortion, it tells a very sad story indeed. Given the latest revelations, there’s going to have to be more accountability for what’s happening and more openness to discussing how taxpayers’ money is being spent. This is something we are going to pursue with vigour in the coming weeks. It is time for public resources to be deployed to life-saving projects, not life-ending ones.”

In response to the reply he received to his parliamentary question, Deputy Ken O’Flynn said: “This extortionate use of Irish taxpayers’ money is not just wasteful but is funding an entity with controversial aims (implicitly supporting abortion liberalisation) that many Irish people will find profoundly disagreeable.”

The post Ireland Gives €38 Million in Taxpayer Dollars to Pro-Abortion UNFPA appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Palestinian Christians in the West Bank are expressing a profound sense of betrayal as American evangelical leaders continue pushing for policies that directly harm their communities.

Nicholas Kristof recently traveled to Bethlehem to hear directly from Christians living under occupation – and their testimony stands in stark contrast to the narrative promoted by many American evangelical groups.

“Do we feel betrayed?” mused Mitri Raheb, a Lutheran Palestinian pastor who is President of Dar Al-Kalima University. “Yes, to some extent. Unfortunately, this is not new for us.”

The Roots of a Modern Movement

American evangelical support for the state of Israel didn’t emerge in a vacuum. It grew from seeds planted in the 1800s, when a theological idea called dispensationalism took root in Protestant circles.

A British preacher named John Nelson Darby first spread this teaching across America during speaking tours. Later, the Scofield Reference Bible – with its margin notes linking Old Testament prophecies to future events – carried these ideas into countless American churches.

Dispensationalism reads Bible prophecies about Israel with a rigid literalism. The ancient promises about land don’t belong to the Church, these teachers claim. They remain the property of ethnic Jews – waiting for fulfillment in our time.

This belief system found political opportunity after World War I. Christian voices helped push for the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which backed “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. When Israel declared statehood in 1948, many evangelicals saw divine prophecy unfolding before their eyes.

Cold War politics supercharged these religious convictions. As Israel aligned with America against Soviet influence, supporting Israel became both a spiritual and patriotic duty for many Christians.

Today, this theology drives concrete political action through organizations like Christians United for Israel – a group claiming 10 million members, dwarfing the better-known and politically-powerful AIPAC.

Lives Caught in the Crossfire

While American evangelical leaders urge President Trump to “reject all efforts” limiting Israeli control of the West Bank, flesh-and-blood Christians live under the policies these American churches champion.

They’re a minority twice over. Christians make up less than 2 percent of West Bank Palestinians today. But their small numbers can’t protect them from home demolitions, land seizures, and restricted movement – hardships they share with their Muslim neighbors in the shadow of expanding settlements.

In the Makhrour Valley near Bethlehem, Kristof met Alice Kisiya, 30, a member of an old Christian family. Kisiya said that she was physically attacked by Israeli settlers, that her family restaurant was torn down four times, and that she had been finally forced off her land last year by the Israeli government. She also pointed to where she said the Israeli authorities had knocked down a wooden church her family had built.

When asked about American Christian leaders who cite biblical authority for supporting these policies, Kisiya responded: “Let them come and live here so they can maybe deal with the settlers.”

When Ancient Text Collide With Modern Politics

The gap between biblical Israel and today’s nation-state spans nearly 2,000 years. They share a name but little else. One was an ancient kingdom; the other, a modern political entity established in 1948.

Many scholars who’ve devoted their lives to Scripture note a profound contradiction here. The New Testament repeatedly transforms promises about land into something broader – a covenant extending to all peoples through Christ (e.g., Galatians 3:28-29, Romans 9-11). Yet this nuance gets lost when ancient texts become modern political blueprints.

Daoud Kuttab has witnessed this contradiction firsthand. As a Palestinian Christian writer whose new book State of Palestine NOW examines the conflict, he sees the spiritual damage.

“When the Bible is used to justify land theft and war crimes against civilians, it puts the faithful in an awkward position,” he said.

The irony cuts deeper still. Prime Minister Netanyahu embraces support from evangelical leaders whose end-times theology often includes the belief that Jewish people who don’t convert to Christianity will face divine judgment when Jesus returns. Strange friends indeed.

Living the Gospel Under Occupation

One of the most poignant examples of Palestinian Christian resilience is the Tent of Nations, a community established on the Nassar family farm near Bethlehem. Their slogan, prominently displayed at the entrance, declares: “We refuse to be enemies.”

Despite this commitment to peace, the Nassars have documented years of hardship: regular assaults by settlers, destruction of their olive trees, denial of access to running water and electricity, and prohibition against building new structures on their own land.

Daoud Nassar, as he showed Kristof around the family farm, expressed deep disappointment that American Christian leaders remain silent about the repression of their fellow Christians in the holy land.

“Persecution is happening,” he said, noting for example that some Christians and Muslims alike have difficulties getting permission to pray at religious sites in Jerusalem. American Christians can easily visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Jesus is said to have been crucified, but it’s harder for West Bank Christians to get permission to worship there.

The First Followers vs. Modern Politics

“We were the first followers of Christ,” Nassar reminded Kristof. American pulpits rarely mention this uncomfortable truth: the Christians of Palestine descend from the earliest followers of Jesus in history. Their ancestors walked the land with Christ himself.

Instead, many evangelical teachings transform Bible verses about ancient Israel into political mandates supporting modern military occupation. Palestinian believers wonder: What happened to Jesus’ words about caring for the oppressed? When did land claims become more sacred than the people living on that land?

The disconnect between American evangelical politics and the reality for Palestinian Christians highlights a broader tension between human rights principles and religious nationalism.

Trump’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former Governor of Arkansas, has gone as far as saying “There is really no such thing as a Palestinian,” while favoring Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.

Meanwhile, some international Christians attempt to provide a protective presence for vulnerable Palestinian communities. During Kristof’s visit, a Dutch Christian volunteer named Riet Bons-Storm, a retired theology professor, was staying in a cave on the Nassar farm (since they aren’t permitted to build new structures) and celebrating her 92nd birthday.

“We are like human shields,” she explained.

‘We Are Also People‘

Nassar expressed a desire for more American Christians to visit and witness the inequalities of life under occupation firsthand.

“We need the U.S. Christians to understand what is happening,” he said. He sighed and added, “We are also people.”

Four simple words carrying the weight of decades of violence. To be forgotten by the world is one thing. To be rendered invisible by those who share your faith cuts deeper.

The theological confusion between ancient covenant and modern nation has real victims. When American churches envision the Holy Land, they often see prophecy charts and political movements – not the Christians who’ve worshipped there alongside Peter and the Apostles since Pentecost.

This theological framework didn’t emerge from careful Bible study. It grew from 19th-century innovations that skip over the New Testament’s expansion of God’s family beyond ethnic boundaries. The consequences aren’t theoretical debates for seminary classrooms. They translate into demolished homes, uprooted olive groves, and families separated by checkpoints.

As American evangelical voices help shape U.S. policy toward Israel, Palestinian believers wonder: will their spiritual siblings ever recognize their existence? Or will biblical prophecy continue to be wielded like a weapon against those living in the very land where Jesus taught love for neighbors?

Rome woke up under a leaden sky. As one might expect, many faithful pilgrims, and curious onlookers are still gathering in St. Peter’s Square, hoping to catch sight of the white smoke. This morning’s two ballots ended without a result. Yesterday, everyone was surprised by the delay in the smoke signal (black), which was perceived as unusually late. Various explanations for this delay have…

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Above: Vienna Antonio Salieri’s name has often been overshadowed by myths—particularly those surrounding his supposed rivalry with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart († 1791). However, when Salieri passed away on May 7, 1825, he left behind a legacy far richer than these rumors suggest. Revered as a composer, conductor, and teacher, his influence on European music was both profound and enduring.

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This is Silieri non Possum’s headline for this gaff. Push the title for their English post:

Vatican News Blunder: If Mediocrity Were a Virtue, They’d Be Canonised by Now