Near the end of his life, Norah O’Donnell asked the pope what he hoped his legacy would be; he didn’t mention reforms, speeches, or titles.
He replied: “The Church is the legacy. The Church—not only through the pope, but through you, through every Christian, through everyone.”
We are his legacy.
Pope Francis never led from above.
In Buenos Aires, he gave up the chauffeured limousine — and rode public transportation for forty years.
More than anyone I’ve ever known, he reminded me of Jesus.
Jesus called you Peter. We called you our father, brother, and friend.
Requiescat in pace.
NEW: The immigrant Catholic bishop overseeing Mar-a-Lago had a statement read at Masses across the diocese calling Trump's attack on Pope Leo XIV “disrespectful and violent.”
This comes as Bishop Robert Barron once again whitewashes the war, saying it’s not the Church’s place to judge it.
NEW: Mark Levin — a Reform Jew who admits he first read the Catechism of the Catholic Church a few days ago — quoted it to lecture Pope Leo XIV on Christian just war doctrine.
Leo spent twelve years leading Augustine's religious order.
Augustine invented the doctrine in the fourth century.
“If the two disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, this means that we too must recognize him in this way: wherever there is a life that becomes like broken bread, wherever someone offers himself or herself as a gift of compassion like him.“ — Pope Leo XIV
Pope Leo XIV is the one American single-handedly holding up our stature around the globe.
From Scotland today:
NEW: The families of more than 100 school children killed in the U.S. bombing of an Iranian school have written a letter of gratitude to Pope Leo XIV.
In it, they thank him for being a champion of peace and a voice for their deceased children.
The White House has yet to apologize for the incident.
Sean Hannity called himself “uniquely qualified” to lecture Pope Leo XIV on the Bible.
Hannity said Leo is a “run-of-the-mill Trump-hating Democrat that lacks clarity about radical Islam.”
Leo holds four degrees and a doctorate in canon law from the world’s most prestigious Catholic university.
To my fellow Catholics in the MAGA movement:
“The coalition many of you joined in good conscience did not lift a finger in recent days to defend our pope.
“JD Vance then mocked the pope himself .
“Consider what that silence reveals about how much your voice actually matters inside MAGA.”
There is a tell in what gets taken personally.
Pope Leo XIV’s Bamenda speech condemned those who manipulate religion for military, economic, and political gain.
He named no American official.
The Trump-Vance White House assumed he meant them anyway.
NEW: President Trump has attacked Leo XIV eight times in seven days.
Leo made plain today that he is not fighting with Trump and Vance.
That has not stopped MAGA from treating every papal warning against delusion, greed, warmongering, and corruption as a personal indictment.
Why is that the case?
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading TheLettersFromLeo.com.
A very joyful Pope Leo XIV is serenaded by the choir today during Mass in Cameroon.
Sean Hannity called himself “uniquely qualified” to lecture Pope Leo XIV on the Bible Thursday night.
Pope Leo XIV holds four degrees and a doctorate in canon law from the world’s most prestigious Catholic university.
Hannity is a three-time college dropout who publicly quit the Catholic Church.
MAGA: Pope Leo is the worst pope of all time.
Pope Leo today:
Since Sunday night, Trump has attacked Leo eight times in less than five days. The president will never say the real reason for his behavior.
The rest of us can.
None of this is new. Anti-Catholicism is in America’s DNA. MAGA is its newest face.
The Church is our mother. We’ll defend her.
We owe nothing to a vice president who found his way to the faith last Tuesday. The president who manipulates the holy name of Jesus does not get to define our Church.
America’s best export.
“Woe to those who manipulate religion in the name of God for their own military, economic, or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into filth.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters.“ — Pope Leo XIV
NEW: After President Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV, a bomb threat was sent to the pontiff's older brother at his home in suburban Chicago.
John Prevost is a quiet Catholic school administrator.
Trump, in his post attacking Leo, singled out Leo’s other brother, Louis, as a supporter of the president.
“Jesus told us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’ but woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic, or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.” — Pope Leo XIV today in Cameroon
BREAKING: In an unprecedented violation of religious liberty, the Trump–Vance White House has cut funding to Catholic Charities in Miami, shutting down a shelter for homeless children — just days after President Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV.
NEW: Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters today that Pope Leo XIV doesn't understand “something called the just war doctrine.”
Pope Leo is an Augustinian friar who spent twelve years leading Augustine’s religious order.
Augustine invented the doctrine.
BREAKING: The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine just issued a formal statement defending Pope Leo XIV's teaching authority on just war doctrine — less than twelve hours after JD Vance told a Turning Point USA crowd the pope should “be careful” talking theology.
This is a serious escalation.
NEW: Speaker Mike Johnson, an evangelical with no theological training, says Pope Leo XIV doesn’t understand Catholic just war doctrine.
Pope Leo XIV’s patron, St. Augustine, invented the Catholic just war doctrine.
Pete Hegseth is doing to Christianity what Al-Qaeda did to Islam.
Trump posted two tweets: one that enraged Catholics and one that enraged evangelicals. He deleted the tweet that enraged evangelicals.
The one mocking Leo XIV stayed up.
Why? MAGA Catholics have zero influence over President Trump.
He cares about what evangelicals think, and nothing else.
While Donald Trump was cheating on his first wife with his second wife, his second wife with his third wife, and his third wife with a porn star, Pope Leo XIV was working for peace.
BREAKING: Trump attacks Pope Leo XIV for the sixth time since Sunday.
Despite the president’s false claim, the pope spoke out against the regime’s violence in real time this January.
