They were mocked. Outnumbered. Poor.

But they had priests, processions, and the fire of faith.

This is the story of the Cristeros, the forgotten martyrs of Mexico - a🧵✝️🇲🇽
Mexico, 1926. The Church is outlawed. Mass is suspended. Priests are hunted.

Catholics are treated as criminals.

On July 25, the bishops suspend all public worship to protest the regime.

On August 1, the anti-clerical laws take full effect.
The persecution has begun.

Few tales from the Crusades are as strange & inspiring as that of the Leper Knights.

Scarred in body but burning with faith, these warriors bore both their Cross & a disease feared by all, yet they rode into battle undaunted.

The Order of the Leper Knights – a 🧵✝️ To understand how the Leper Knights came to be, we must first understand the medieval Christian attitude toward leprosy.

It was a terrible disease, but it was also seen as a "sacred disease" with religious meanings attributed to it.

The most based quotes from Pope Leo the XIV - a 🧵🇻🇦 “The apostolic tradition is very clear, especially with regard to the question of the possibility or not of the ordination of women to the priesthood.”

Catholicism has an insane aura.

The skull of Mary Magdalene in St Maximin Basilica in France.
The skull of Saint Thomas Aquinas

A Pope elected on May 8? That’s no ordinary date.
May 8 is the Feast of the Apparation of St. Michael the Archangel.

And the new Pope is named Leo the XIV, the lion.
Let’s talk symbolism.

What could be the new Pope telling us - a🧵✝️
May 8: the Feast of St. Michael at Monte Gargano

The Feast commemorates St. Michael’s miraculous apparition at Mount Gargano, Italy, in 490 AD.

Michael appeared as a warrior, claiming the mountain for God.

Ever since, May 8 has been a day invoking Michael’s protection in spiritual warfare.

This is providence, God elected a warrior.

A Pope choosing “Leo” doesn’t pick lightly.

It’s the name of lions. Of warriors. Of defenders.
13 Popes have carried it. Each left a mark.

Here’s why the name “Leo” matters and what every Pope Leo did - a 🧵🇻🇦✝️
1. Pope St. Leo I (440–461) Leo the Great

>Defended Catholic doctrine against heresies (Monophysitism)
>Wrote the famous Tome of Leo
>Met Attila the Hun and turned him away from sacking Rome

A giant of tradition & leadership.

On May 8th, Pope Leo XIV was elected, on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel.

A providential echo: In 1886, Pope Leo XIII composed the St. Michael Prayer after his terrifying vision.

What did he see? Why does it matter?
A vision, a warning & a prayer - a 🧵✝️
After celebrating Mass, Pope Leo XIII suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. Witnesses say he stood motionless, his face pale and fearful.

Then he collapsed.

Doctors rushed to him. He revived and went straight to his study, where he penned a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.

Rome stood on the brink of destruction.
Attila the Hun, the Scourge of God, was coming.
No army could stop him.

But one old man rode out alone, with nothing but faith.

This is the story of Pope Leo I and the day he saved Rome -🧵✝️ The year is 452 A.D. Attila the Hun has already devastated northern Italy.

Cities burned.
Villages slaughtered.

Now his armies march toward Rome.
The Eternal City prepares for the worst.

If you think you’re too far gone for redemption, you’ve never heard of St. Moses the Black.

He was a gang leader. A thief. A murderer.

But then the man who shed blood became a monk who gave his life for Christ.

This is the story of the rebel who became a saint - a 🧵✝️
He was born in Ethiopia around 330 A.D.

A tall, strong man, a former slave who became leader of a gang of robbers.

Moses and his band of brigands did many evil deeds.
They terrorized villages. Burned houses.
Killed anyone who stood in their way.

People were afraid at the mere mention of his name.

Moses lived by the sword.

Photos of Pope Saint John Paul the II that prove he was cooler than all of us - a 🧵

If you think the Inquisition was just cruel torture, you have no idea what it was.

You’ve heard the stories.
Dungeons. Chains. Burning at the stake.
"A ran a reign of terror."

But the truth?
It’s not what Hollywood told you.

This is the truth about the Inquisition - a 🧵✝️ First, there wasn’t just one Inquisition. There were several:
>The Medieval Inquisition (13th century)
>The Spanish Inquisition (1478–1834)
>The Roman Inquisition (1542+)

Each had different goals, methods, and levels of severity.

But none were what the myths suggest.

You’ve been told the Church “supported slavery for centuries.”

That’s false.

Since the beginning, the Catholic Church has rejected the enslavement of human beings & spoke out when no one else dared to.

Forget the lies, here's the truth - a 🧵🇻🇦 ✝️ St. Paul, 1st Century.

In his letter to Philemon, Paul sends back a runaway slave, not as property, but “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother” - Philemon 1:16

Christianity undermined slavery at its root: by declaring the equal dignity of all souls.

The year was 1936, Spanish civil war, churches are burning. Religious are hunted like criminals.

The Communists came to kill.

Thousands refuse to deny Christ & are martyred for their Faith.

This is the story of the Catholic martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, - a 🧵✝️ 🇪🇸 In July 1936, Spain erupted into civil war.

But this was not only a political conflict.
It became one of the worst religious persecutions in modern history.

The Catholic Church was declared the enemy by the anti-clerical factions of the Spanish Republic.

When the crusader knights retook Jerusalem in 1099, they not only seized the city, they reestablished law and order.

In the deserts and fortresses of the East, they raised Christian kingdoms amidst the Islamic sea.

The Laws of the Christian Crusader States - a 🧵
It was necessary to create laws, organize justice, and maintain order.

Thus were born the Laws of the Crusader States, one of the most fascinating legal codes of the Middle Ages.

The most famous code of the crusaders was the Assizes of Jerusalem, also known as the Assizes of the Kingdom of the Holy Land.

It was a set of laws that established the rights, duties, and obligations of each social class in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Its origin dates back to the first crusader king, Baldwin I, who reigned from 1100 to 1118.

The year was 1177, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem stood on the edge of annihilation.

The great Sultan Saladin swept across the land with an army of nearly 26,000 men

Outnumbered 20 to 1 Baldwin the young leper King stood in defiance.

The battle for the Holy Land - a 🧵✝️
With what many believed to be the end of campaign season, many of Baldwin’s barons had already ridden north.

But when word reached Jerusalem of Saladin’s approach, Baldwin, the young leper King, did not hesitate. War was once again upon them and they were to fight, or die.

The year was 1683 & the armies of Islam stood at the gates of Vienna

The city was starving. The walls were crumbling.

But inside the chapels, the priests kept saying Mass.

This is the miracle of Vienna & the cavalry charge that changed history forever - a 🧵✝️ For two months, Vienna had been under siege.
An army of 150,000 Ottoman Turks surrounded the city.

The Islamic crescent stood poised to strike the heart of Christian Europe.

But Vienna did not fall.

If the legend of Saint Christopher doesn't make you want to hit the gym I don't know what will.

He was a warrior who served kings, then the devil himself.

But when he met Christ, everything changed.

This is the legend of Saint Christopher, the Christ-bearer - 🧵✝️ They say his name was Reprobus.
He was said to be a Canaanite, a giant in both stature and strength.

So powerful, he vowed to serve only the greatest king on earth. But that quest would take him to the edge of hell, and back.

They were warrior-monks. Crusaders. Men of God.

Until one Friday the 13th, they were all arrested.

This is the fall of the Knights Templar, and the king who died under their curse - a🧵✝️
On October 13, 1307, at dawn, King Philip IV of France ordered the simultaneous arrest of every Templar in his kingdom.

Hundreds were seized, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay.

The date, Friday the 13th, would live in infamy.

Something unexpected is happening in Europe

While the world talks about secularism & a crisis of faith, the youth is returning to Church

Masses are overflowing.
Processions are packed.
And baptisms? Shattering records.

This is the revival they said would never come - a 🧵✝️🇫🇷
In a nation once emblematic of secularism, France is witnessing an unprecedented spiritual resurgence.

This Easter Sunday alone, over 17,800 individuals were baptized into the Catholic Church, a record-breaking number in recent history. A 45% increase from last year.

The tilma of Guadalupe still hasn’t decayed after 500 years.

Its colors can’t be reproduced.

And in her eye? A reflection of witnesses, 1/100th of a millimeter.

This is the image that shouldn’t exist , but it does - a 🧵✝️ The year was 1531. A poor indigenous man named Juan Diego sees a woman “brighter than the sun” on a hill near Mexico City.

She speaks to him in his native tongue.
She says: "Am I not your mother?"

What happened next changed the Americas forever.

To some, the Crucifixion is just a legend.

But for 2,000 years, Christians have safeguarded the evidence.

These are 10 holy relics of Christ’s Passion that still exist today - a🧵

1. The Crown of Thorns in Notre-Dame, Paris.
2. The True Cross in Jerusalem, Rome, and beyond

After Emperor Constantine’s mother, St. Helena, discovered the Cross in the 4th century, fragments were dispersed to churches across Christendom.

Today, you can venerate parts of the True Cross in:

>Basilica of the Holy Cross, Rome
>Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
>Monastery of Mount Athos, Greece

These relics are among the most sacred in the world.