Furious Pope Freezes Out Trump in Front Of World!!

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2:54Ben Meiselas:saying, no, thank you. I don't want to be anywhere near that. In addition, the Vatican has now confirmed that Pope Leo XIV officially rejected the invite to show up at America's 250th day celebration on July 4th back in May when J.D. Vance showed up to the Vatican and presented a formal invitation to Pope Leo XIV. He rejected it to J.D. Vance's face. And this past week, the Vatican leaked out that Pope Leo XIV said, absolutely no way, I'm not going. He put the invitation aside and just said, I'm not going to be doing that. In fact, this week we learned what Pope Leo XIV is doing. Hat tip to Christopher Hale, who does a great job on his substack and elsewhere reporting on the Vatican and what's happening in the Catholic Church, and especially as it asserts itself against Donald Trump and its regime.

3:50Ben Meiselas:But Pope Leo XIV has announced that he will be spending the July 4th day on the island of Lampedusa, a migrant gateway in the Mediterranean. This is sending a powerful message because this remote island is kind of ground zero in what people consider the European migration issues. And he's saying that I'm going to be spending my time with migrants and individuals there and showing that we are one world and we are one people. And he said, also announced as well, that there will be no plans to show up at all in the United States in 2026. He previously appeared in Chicago via, you know, at the baseball stadium there, but did not actually attend.

4:43Ben Meiselas:And he has his Cardinal Kupic over there. And one of the developments that has been happening as well, and Pope Leo XIV has been rallying the cardinals and the bishops and the clergy in general to fight back against Trump and his regime. Remember, Donald Trump has, they were planning on banding Ash Wednesday services. They have tried to ban religious rights or any type of religious services at the detention centers. You have the detention center Broadview in the Chicago area, for example, had prohibited any type of Catholic priests or any religious clergy at all from showing up there. There had to be a lawsuit that was filed recently in federal court in Chicago where a federal judge said, hey, you know, there's a free exercise clause in the Constitution and there's also a free speech clause in the Constitution.

5:45Ben Meiselas:And the government is infringing upon the rights of the migrants who are being detained in these concentration camps in the United States from receiving any type of visits from religious leaders, from religious leaders, you know, being there and supporting them at all. And an emergency order was made to allow on Ash Wednesday for there to be ceremonies outside of the Broadview facility. And at first, it seemed like the Trump regime was not going to follow the court orders, but then ultimately the court orders were followed. And here's how it's being reported by Christopher Hale. In his Ash Wednesday homily, Pope Leo XIV warned that the world is ablaze not just with war, but with the collapse of law, ecology and the sacred.

6:37Ben Meiselas:The Pope argued lent a time not just for penance, but for rebuilding. He called for faithful not to be rigid and complacent, but also open to moving and changing. This is reporting from Christopher Hale right before Ash Wednesday. It appeared there's a chance that the Trump-Vance White House was going to defy a federal court order to allow Pope Leo's top ally, Chicago Cardinal Kupich, and Catholic clergy to enter the Chicago area ice facility for Ash Wednesday Mass. This would be a historic confrontation between the American government and the Catholic Church. And again, this also comes on a week where we learn from the Epstein files how Steve Bannon was working with Jeffrey Epstein in order to try to take down Pope Francis.

7:27Ben Meiselas:And we know that Steve Bannon was also trying to take down Pope Leo XIV. We've seen him on Pierce Morgan and other shows when he was Cardinal Prevost. Before he became the Pope, you had Bannon and Bannon's crew also trying to take down Pope Leo XIV before he became Pope Leo XIV. I want to go through some receipts with you right here as well. So first, I want to show you over here earlier this past week where Caroline Levitt accused Pope Leo XIV of being a, quote, partisan, political, and controversial individual because Pope Leo XIV, through his spokespeople, said that the Vatican Pope will not join the Board of Peace.

8:16Ben Meiselas:They called it a pay-to-play colonialist operation. Here's what Caroline Levitt had to say. Let's play this clip right here.

8:52And the Board of Peace is overseeing the reconstruction of a territory that has been plagued with violence, with bloodshed, with poverty for far too long. And this president has a very bold and ambitious plan and vision to rebuild and reconstruct Gaza, which is well underway because of the Board of Peace. This is a legitimate organization where there are tens of member countries from around the world. And we think that's an unfortunate decision. We give up comfort every day. Don't let style be another reason. Mack Weldon's Ace Collection makes it effortless to look put together while feeling truly comfortable.

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10:53Ben Meiselas:Even the former Cardinal, he's now in Cardinal Emeritus from the New York area, Timothy Dolan, who to me came off kind of very MAGA, very right wing as well. Here's what he discussed this past week. Again, great reporting by Christopher Hale here. Vice President J.D. Vance had to privately apologize to Cardinal Timothy Dolan for falsely claiming that Catholic bishops oppose immigration enforcement because they profit from migrant resettlement programs. Vance, who made the accusation during a televised interview last year, told Dolan the statement was out of line and not true, according to the Cardinal.

11:35Ben Meiselas:In the same interview, Dolan condemned the Trump Vance administration's decision to conduct immigration raids near churches, calling the practice harassment and a profound violation of religious liberty. Here's where Cardinal Dolan accused the Trump Vance of targeting, harassing, and going into Catholic parishes. And again, this is an extraordinary statement coming from Cardinal Dolan right here. Here, play this clip. Franklin Graham, who's not a Catholic, and I were very worried when I started going into churches and harassing churches. So we had here in the Archdiocese of New York that ICE would show up on Sunday Mass just in trucks and cars, and the people wouldn't come.

12:17That was happening? That was happening here. So I called Reverend Graham, and I said, we need to bring up to the religious freedom that this is a violation of religious freedom. People have the right to worship on the Sabbath. The federal government cannot impede that or harass it, and they are. Franklin Graham wisely said, let's go, let's bring it to the attention of ICE. And we did. And the director here in New York said, thanks for bringing that to my attention.

12:41Ben Meiselas:And over here, Cardinal Dolan talks about how J.D. Vance admitted that he lied when he claimed Catholic bishops were pro-immigrant because they wanted to make money. Here, play this clip right here. You bet. I would sometimes say, uh-oh, can't agree with you there. He and I had a little tete-a-tete, you probably know, when he suggested that bishops in the United States were pro-immigrant because we were making money, which I said was not only untrue, it was scurrilous, and he apologized. All right, he says that was out of line, and that's not true. Now, just to show you the video back from May, this was the exchange right here, and again, Christopher Hale's got it all.

13:21Ben Meiselas:He's on top of this coverage of J.D. Vance when he handed Pope Leo XIV the invitation to attend Trump's 250th celebration. You can see how disinterested Pope Leo XIV looked right here when he received this invitation. He just kind of put it aside. And now we know that Leo XIV rejected showing up. And instead, he's not going to be there. He's going to be at that small Mediterranean migrant gateway. Lampedusa is where he'll be on that day. And this comes just days after leo publicly rebuffed trump's invitation to join the board of peace here let's play this clip right here good morning how are you good so good to see you welcome a couple things first of all this is a letter from the president first lady uh inviting you come to you many things to do but i wanted to make sure i gave that letter of course of course

14:24so this of course is chicago bears jury jersey good choice with your name and i hopefully he just tried to sign it with a pattern but they um they got a little nervous oh i see yeah so i guess that's there's our kid right there okay you probably imagine in the united states people are extremely excited about something about you about your year Okay, thank you very much. The original brand's sculpture, the piece is a fragile flower, and in the beginning we can be part of it. That's right. Well, Francis did not live in, and I may live in, so don't be designed, but... Oh, that's wonderful. ...which is right upstairs from here.

15:05I almost see that. Thank you. And then this is just another explainer in the sculpture. I see. Great. And there's one of these for the circuitry also. Okay, wonderful.

15:22Goodbye. Thank you. And we'll pray for you. Thank you for being here for the celebration. Yes. I'm sure we will meet again and be in contact. Okay, fantastic. Thank you. Very nice to meet you.

15:32Ben Meiselas:Now, just to show you what it ended up looking like Ash Wednesday in Illinois, Watch as you'll see here Chicago Archbishop Kupich. Play this clip. It was led by Chicago Cardinal Blaise Cupich. He celebrated mass, then led a procession to the Broadview Detention Center. The site gained attention during the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Operation Midway Blitz, aimed at arresting illegal immigrants with criminal records. Joining us now is Father Leandro Fossa from Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Melrose Park, Illinois. Father, you attended the Mass and procession. Can you tell us more about the turnout and the overall feeling?

16:15Yes, I attended the Mass and procession. It was in my parish. I'm the pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Melrose Park. Cardinal decided to be with us because we wanted to do a mass and procession in front of the Scalabrini Center and support our families who are being affected by these immigration raids.

16:36Ben Meiselas:Here's what Steve Bannon previously said when he was trying to undermine Pope Leo XIV. Let's play this clip. I do think one of the dark horses, and I think unfortunately he's one of the most progressive, is Cardinal Prevost. I don't think he's getting enough play. He is certainly on the shortlist as being, and I think it's pretty shocking given the contempt they hold the American church. The American church gives so much money, they're afraid it has too much power. So they've never really wanted to have an American pope. But my understanding is Prevost is one of the ones closest to Francis ideologically.

17:09He's also had tremendous experience in Latin America. And so he's one of the ones on the shortlist. I'm a big believer that Cardinal Seurat from Africa would be a perfect selection right now for this moment in the church. But I will tell everybody, this is anybody's game right now. Between Paralon, one of the traditionalists, you have no earthly idea how this is going to turn out. That's why I think this time, this run-up is so important. And it's kind of, it's interesting that it's ironic. It's going to take place. It's going to kick off, I think, on either the day of or the day before the 80th anniversary of victory in Europe.

17:47So it's very symbolic of what's coming together here in the first part of May.

17:52Ben Meiselas:And here's Pope Leo XIV statement on the world becoming a much more dangerous place as a result of what the Trump regime has been engaged in and other authoritarians have been engaged in. It's a very powerful speech right here. You're going to play this clip. In our time, the weakness of multilateralism is a particular cause for concern at the international level. A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force by either individuals or groups of allies. War is back in vogue, and the zeal for war is spreading. The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined.

18:49Peace is no longer sought as a gift and a desirable good in itself, or in the pursuit of the establishment of the ordered universe willed by God, with a more perfect form of justice among men and women.

19:03Ben Meiselas:There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers and thanks for watching.

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