Pope calls on Catholic politicians to say “no” to “party directives” when the truth is at stake; US-based Jewish organization accused of endorsing attacks on Christians in Gaza; Minnesota school shooting came after bishops’ pleas for security went unanswered; Trump floats a GOP national convention ahead of 2026 midterms; VP Vance defends public prayer after tragic shooting; and more —
Pope Leo to Catholic Politicians: Defend Natural Law, Oppose Anti-Christian “Party Directives”
Pope Leo XIV today called on Catholic politicians to strengthen their knowledge of Catholic doctrine, defend the natural law, and have the courage to say “no” to “party directives” when the truth is at stake.
Speaking to a delegation of French Catholic political figures on pilgrimage in Rome during the Holy Year, the Pope insisted that “there is no division” within the personality of a public figure who is Catholic but only “a politician who, under the gaze of God and of his conscience, lives out his commitments and his responsibilities in a Christian manner!”
Read more at Diane Montagna substack
US-based Jewish organization accused of endorsing attacks on Christians in Gaza
A Washington D.C.-based Jewish policy group is facing backlash after posting a message on X that critics say justifies the killing of Christians who have refused to leave churches in Gaza City. The organization deleted the controversial statement hours after posting it.
As CatholicVote reported Aug. 26, Christian clergy and nuns said earlier this week they would remain inside church compounds in Gaza City despite an Israeli military offensive moving deeper into the area, citing their responsibility to care for the elderly, disabled, women, and children who are unable to move.
Read more at Catholic Vote
Minnesota school shooting came after bishops’ pleas for security went unanswered
After a pair of out-of-state school shootings in 2022 and 2023 shocked the nation, Minnesota’s bishops implored state lawmakers to provide security funding for local nonpublic schools.
Now, two years after their appeals went unheeded, tragedy has struck one of their own.
On the morning of Aug. 27, a gunman opened fire during an all-school Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, killing two students, aged 10 and 8; 14 other students and three adults were injured.
Read more at Catholic News Agency
Minnesota Catholic School Leader Warned Tim Walz Of ‘Critical’ School Safety Threats. He Did Nothing
Two years before a shooter opened fire on students attending daily mass in Minneapolis, the leaders of independent and Catholic schools in Minnesota begged Democrat Governor Tim Walz for help securing their schools, according to a 2023 letter reviewed by The Daily Wire. The funding was never authorized.
In a letter dated April 14, 2023 that specifically addressed “school safety in nonpublic schools,” Tim Benz, the president of MINNDEPENDENT and Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, stressed an “urgent and critical need in Minnesota to make sure our schools are secure and safe” in light of “recent, and continuing attacks, on our schools in this country and in our state.”
Read more at the Daily Wire
RFK Jr. launches investigation into meds trans Minneapolis shooter was using
Watch @NickSortor on X
Minneapolis church shooter’s mother refuses to talk to police, obtains criminal defense attorney
The mother of the shooter who opened fire on a Minneapolis Catholic church Mass Wednesday is not cooperating with investigators as they try to determine what led to the tragic events that left two children dead and 18 others injured, including 15 children.
Fox News learned the shooter’s mother, Mary Grace Westman, has retained criminal defense attorney Ryan Garry. ..
Court documents show the shooter’s mother applied for her son to legally change his name, writing in 2019, “minor identifies as female and wants her name to reflect the identification.”
Read more at Fox News
RFK Jr. defends CDC overhaul, says agency has misplaced priorities
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended the leadership overhaul at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during an Aug. 29 FOX News interview, saying the agency is “in trouble” and requires “strong leadership” to advance the Trump administration’s agenda.
The comments came a day after the HHS fired CDC Director Susan Monarez. The New York Times reported Aug. 26 that Monarez had refused Kennedy’s request to resign amid tensions over vaccine policy earlier in the week. Four other senior CDC officials resigned following her ouster, according to The Hill.
Read more at Catholic Vote
Vice President JD Vance Delivers Remarks in La Crosse, WI – 8/28/25
Watch @RSBN on X
Trump Ends Kamala Harris’ Security Protection
President Donald Trump has canceled Secret Service protection for former vice president and 2024 Democrat rival Kamala Harris, a White House source confirmed to Newsmax on Friday morning.
Multiple outlets Friday reported Trump revoked Harris’ security protection after then-President Joe Biden in January had extended it to 18 months.
A senior White House official confirmed the reports and added that a vice president’s detail typically continues for six months after leaving office.
Read more at Newsmax
Trump DOJ Files Blistering Response To Lisa Cook Lawsuit
The Justice Department has filed a response to Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook’s lawsuit over her Monday firing – claiming that the President was within his right to boot her over allegations of mortgage fraud (with a third property disclosed by Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte last night), and that Cook is “highly unlikely to prevail on the merits.”
Trump’s legal team argues that the Federal Reserve Act (FRA) gives the President “broad discretion” to remove governors “for cause” and that courts cannot second-guess that judgment:
Read more at Zerohedge
Trump floats a GOP national convention ahead of 2026 midterms
President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested he may organize a national convention of the Republican Party before the 2026 midterms, breaking with the standard practice of holding the RNC every four years.
“The Republican Party is doing really well. Millions of people have joined us in our quest to MAKE AMERICA, GREAT AGAIN. We won every aspect of the Presidential Election and, based on the great success we are having, are poised to WIN BIG IN THE MIDTERMS,” he posted on Truth Social. “We have raised far more money than the Democrats, and are having a great time fixing all of the Country Destroying mistakes made by the Biden Administration, and watching the USA heal and prosper.”
Read more at Just the News
Barack Obama and Eric Holder cut an ad calling TX/FL redistricting racist
Watch @BreitbartNews on X
Republicans investigate Wikipedia over allegations of organized bias
Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee opened a probe into alleged organized efforts to inject bias into Wikipedia entries and the organization’s responses.
Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), chair of the panel’s subcommittee on cybersecurity, information technology, and government innovation, on Wednesday sent an information request on the matter to Maryana Iskander, chief executive officer of the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia.
Read more at The Hill
Original co-founder of Cracker Barrel has a lot to say about the rebranding chaos
Co-Founder of Cracker Barrel Tommy Lowe says the best thing the brand can do is keep it ‘country.’
The 93-year-old founder of Cracker Barrel took aim at the CEO’s attempt to rebrand: “Bland nothing. Pitiful. $700 million to do that? Throwing money out the street.” He added: “It’s crazy… It’s PITIFUL!”
Watch at News Channel 5
How the TLM Conversation Has Changed Under Pope Leo XIV — and What It Might Mean
In his first three months as pope, Leo XIV has not issued any significant changes to the status of the traditional Latin Mass (TLM). Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’ 2021 policy calling for restrictions like the removal of the pre-conciliar liturgy from all parish churches, is still in effect.
[But] since the new Pope assumed office on May 8, several prelates who had previously kept silent under Pope Francis have spoken out in favor of the TLM. Some of these Church leaders, who have included high-ranking cardinals, have made appeals to Leo XIV to reconsider the restrictions placed on the traditional liturgy, while others have critiqued some of the reasons for limiting its availability in the first place.
Read more at the National Catholic Register
Ohio bishop opens up about Catholic upbringing, Latin Mass in recent interview
Bishop Earl K. Fernandes of the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, gave an interview this week to Catholic World Report (CWR), discussing his upbringing as an Indian Catholic living in America, the Latin Mass, and other topics.
Bishop Fernandes’ family immigrated from Mumbai, India, in 1970, and he was born two years later. His father practiced medicine in Toledo, Ohio, and his wife, Thelma, raised their five sons.
Read more at Catholic Vote
Minneapolis Shooting Reveals Democrat Party’s Comfort With Satanic Talking Points
This week, another transgender shoot-up of a Christian school provides more chilling evidence that the culture war is a spiritual war. The Minneapolis shooter’s actions and Democrats’ interpretation of them both demonstrate this.
The New York Post published excerpts of the shooter’s journal posted on YouTube that include a drawing of him communing with a Satanic figure in a mirror. As I’ve written before, Satan-worshippers can be startlingly more direct than many Christians about the connections between their spiritual and political beliefs.
Read more at The Federalist
Nobody Prayed: In the midst of calls to ‘action’ after the shooting, they left out one – essay by Rick Marschall
There they were. Grim-faced and angry. Raced to their marks before the cameras. Not to console but to scold. The first to lecture was Governor Tim Walz. Lord, hasn’t this community suffered enough already…?…
We were also chastised about prejudice and hate. Not so much about the emotions that motivated the shooter, no; but any negative feelings toward the shooter, a member of the amorphous transgender “community.” The killer, whose feelings we are supposed to respect, reportedly had barricaded the school’s doors and shot repeatedly into the chapel through its stained-glass windows. The children and a few elderly adults were at Mass. Suddenly, there were blood stains amidst the stained glass. …
In their sociology lessons, the assembled politicians and officials managed, with all other factors addressed and avoided, to earnestly scrub God from the discussion.
Read more at The American Spectator
Vance defends public prayer after tragic shooting: ‘God listens’ and inspires ‘further action’
Vice President JD Vance this week defended the importance of prayer in the face of tragedy after several prominent Democrats criticized calls for prayer for the victims of the tragic shooting of Catholic schoolchildren in Minneapolis.
On Aug. 27, 23-year-old gunman Robin Westman opened fire on Catholic school students at Annunciation Catholic Church during the first morning Mass of the school year. He killed an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old and injured 17 other victims, most of whom were also children. Westman formerly attended the K-8 school. During his teens, he began identifying as a “transgender” woman, changing his name from Robert to Robin.
Read more at Catholic Vote
Two child martyrs in Minneapolis died due to hatred of the faith (in odium fidei)
See @fr_rmv on X
Pray for the Children of Annunciation School
See @Cassie on X
