NEW: Pope Leo XIV has named Salvadoran immigrant Evelio Menijar-Ayala to be West Virginia’s lone Catholic bishop.

As a teenager, he made three attempts to enter the United States illegally.

He finally arrived in California in 1990, having been smuggled in the trunk of a car with his brother over the border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego.

Over the next several years, Menjivar-Ayala worked janitorial and construction jobs in California before deciding to become a priest.

It’s a remarkable choice in a state that is over 90% white and voted for President Trump by 42 points. NEW: Pope Leo XIV appoints the youngest bishop in the United States.

Robert Boxie III, 46, is a new auxiliary bishop of Washington.

Boxie has been outspoken against the White House’s attacks against racial diversity.

“It’s really frustrating — especially this moment that we’re living in. The attacks on ‘DEI’ — I don’t even know what that means anymore. It’s a term that’s been hijacked. It means a lot of things to a lot of different people.”

“I think at its core, it’s what America is all about. We are a diverse nation with people from all over the world. Diversity is a good thing. Diversity is of God.”

“And the fact that it’s been turned into something negative — or something that should be avoided or not talked about — just flies in the face of who we are as Americans.”

“So much of our history has been exclusive, especially when it comes to race. And it’s just un-American; it’s un-Christian; it’s anti-Catholic.”

NEW: Trump’s border czar Tom Homan says he wants to take Pope Leo XIV on ICE raids so he can educate him on Catholic teaching about deportations — arguing his 1960s Catholic grade school education qualifies him to correct the pontiff on migration.

This is the same Tom Homan who was caught taking a $50,000 bribe in an FBI sting. thelettersfromleo.com/p/trump-border… Here’s Tom Homan’s most recent exchange with Benny Johnson where he brags about “calling out” Pope Leo XIV on immigration.

In his strongest condemnation yet of the Trump-Vance war against Iran, Pope Leo XIV said today:

“We are surrounded by a delusion of omnipotence that’s becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive.”

“We are met by threats instead of invitations to come together.

“Those who pray don’t threaten death. Death enslaves those who have turned their backs on God and turned themselves and their own power into a mute, blind, and deaf idol.

“They demand the whole world bends their knee. Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!

“True strength is shown in serving life!” NEW: In a prayer vigil for peace, Pope Leo XIV delivered his sharpest condemnation of the Trump-Vance war on Iran to date.

He called the current moment a “delusion of omnipotence” and condemned the dragging of God's name “into discourses of death.”

Leaders who turn their backs on God, the pope said, have turned themselves and their own power into a “mute, blind, and deaf idol” that demands the whole world bend its knee.

"Enough of war. True strength is shown in serving life."

He told the faithful that he receives letters from children in war zones every day.

“They tell of the pain and sorrow of war, while grown-ups boast of its effects. We must listen to the children.” thelettersfromleo.com/p/enough-of-wa…

NEW: A stunning new report claims that the Pentagon summoned Pope Leo XIV’s top American diplomat and threatened him after the U.S.-born pontiff gave his January state-of-the-world address.

Leo used the address to denounce a world ruled by “a diplomacy based on force” and “zeal for war.”
thelettersfromleo.com/p/the-pentagon… In January, behind closed doors at the Pentagon, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre — Pope Leo XIV’s then-ambassador to the United States — and delivered a lecture.

America, Colby and his colleagues told the cardinal, has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.

As tempers rose, one U.S. official reached for a fourteenth-century weapon and invoked the Avignon Papacy, the period when the French Crown used military force to bend the bishop of Rome to its will.

That scene, broken this week by Mattia Ferraresi in an extraordinary piece of journalism for The Free Press, may be the most remarkable moment in the long and knotted history of the American republic’s relationship with the Catholic Church. substack.com/home/post/p-19…

I have a list of over 300 Members of Congress cell phone numbers.

If the president is threatening nuclear war, perhaps it’s time to publish it, so we can end this nonsense once and for all. Mike Lawler (518) 320-6683
michaelvlawler@gmail.com

NEW: Cardinal Dolan accuses the Trump-Vance ICE of “targeting, harassing, and going into” Catholic parishes.

He called it a major violation of religious liberty. Here’s a thread of the Trump-Vance White House targeting and harassing Catholic parishes over the past year:

NEW: Peter Thiel, JD Vance’s top donor and one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful men, recently called Pope Leo XIV a tool of the Antichrist — and directly told the vice president not to listen to him. thelettersfromleo.com/p/new-jd-vance… Peter Thiel wants us to be terrified of this man and not of his Palantir project, which enables real-time government monitoring at scale.

NEW: Following Pope Leo XIV's lead, the U.S. bishops release a new video condemning the Trump-Vance White House’s “inhumane” deportation raids. At Pope Leo XIV’s urging, U.S. Catholic bishops just delivered the strongest rebuke of a sitting president in Church history — condemning Trump-Vance raids as “inhumane” and “dehumanizing” in a nearly unanimous vote. thelettersfromleo.com/p/breaking-at-…

A shooting during a Catholic school Mass left two children dead and seventeen more injured.

Today, top U.S. bishops went beyond thoughts and prayers.

They’re demanding Congress act. Here’s what they said — and what they want passed. 👇 Pope Leo's ally and fellow Chicagoan Cardinal Cupich said the failure to pass gun laws was a major part of the problem — and condemned the misuse of “freedom” to block reform. archchicago.org/en/statement/-…

🧵Under Pope Leo, Catholics in MAGA country are defying Trump’s ICE raids.

500 sisters in Atlanta. Kansas bishops telling ICE to stand down. Texas priests accompanying migrants to court. Florida clergy forcing Mass inside Alligator Alcatraz.

A state-by-state rundown below. ⬇️ 500 Catholic sisters marched through downtown Atlanta for migrant families — prayer, signs, and courage. In MAGA country, the Church is loud. thelettersfromleo.com/p/500-nuns-mar…

American Catholic bishops are confronting Donald Trump in ways we never saw during his first presidency.

What changed?

Eight years of appointments by Pope Francis — and now, Pope Leo.

👇 A thread on their recent acts of defiance.

https://x.com/chrisjollyhale/status/1936250250223874436

Silicon Valley says: Move fast and break things.
Democrats say: Form a committee.
That mindset is killing us.
Here’s how we beat DOGE—and Trump—by doing the opposite. 🧵 DOGE wins headlines, voters, and legitimacy—not because of its ideas, but because it acts first and figures out the rest later.
Sound reckless?
It is.
But it works.
Democrats need to understand that before we lose the country.

Every veteran who is applying for a VA housing loan will have their application canceled and denied today at 5:00 EST by President Donald Trump. Why is President Trump doing this to our nation’s veterans?

With Congressman Matt Gaetz's nomination, Donald Trump has officially wiped out his narrow majority in the United States House of Representatives. I think Trump wants to shrink the GOP’s already slim House majority Why?

— Limits Mike Johnson’s power.
— Reduces pressure on him to pass significant legislation, shifting focus to executive orders.
— Solidifies Trump’s role as the uncontested leader of his party.

A Latino prison guard who voted for Clinton and Biden told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing he voted for Trump yesterday because “Democrats make me feel bad about who I am.” I'm not sure what he means, but it reminded me of this:

"The cliché is voters judge politicians based on their likability. The deeper question isn’t how much voters like a politician, but whether they believe a politician likes them." — @EzraKlein vox.com/2020/8/21/2138…

If you're a Catholic who is supporting @KamalaHarris to be the 47th president of the United States, I hope you'll join us on Tuesday.

RSVP here: bit.ly/catholicsforha…
Warning: if you come to this meeting, Donald Trump will say you're a traitor to the shared faith of our ancestors.

The Irish have come a long way in this great country.

It was an honor to spend St. Patrick’s Day with President Biden and friends at the White House. President Biden started tearing up as the violinists played his favorite hymn: “On Eagle’s Wings.”

Father Mychal Judge — the first recorded death at Ground Zero on September 11 — is on the pathway to becoming the first openly gay saint in the history of the Catholic Church.⁣ ⁣ He died as he lived: ministering to the suffering as a firefighter, patriot, priest, and saint.⁣ As Mychal rushed into the North Tower with firefighters, the Mayor called out, "Father Mike, pray for us!" The priest responded, "I always do! I always pray for you!"⁣

The national right-wing attack on Tennessee Democrats has begun in earnest today.

First Matt Walsh and now Tucker Carlson have outrageously accused @Justinjpearson of doing “verbal blackface.” Matt Walsh is the one who accused Pearson of “doing blackface” first. Now Tucker is coming in tonight with the same argument. This will be the new GOP talking point.

They’re not criticizing the GOP’s own goal. They’re doubling down on the nonsense.

https://twitter.com/jasonscampbell/status/1646225420134522881

With Speaker Sexton's statement below, it's now official — the three most powerful officials in Tennessee's GOP supermajority government have offered support for red flag gun laws. I have a prediction that something similar will happen in Kentucky in the coming days as well. Tennessee and Kentucky might (shockingly) lead the way on red flag laws throughout the South.

Father Mychal Judge — the first recorded death at Ground Zero on September 11 — is on the pathway to becoming the first openly gay saint in the history of the Catholic Church.⁣
⁣
He died as he lived: ministering to the suffering as a firefighter, patriot, priest, and saint.⁣ As Mychal rushed into the North Tower with firefighters, the Mayor called out, "Father Mike, pray for us!" The priest responded, "I always do! I always pray for you!"⁣