Letters from Leo — the American Pope & US Politics

Letters from Leo — the American Pope & US Politics

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U.S. Bishops’ President Condemns Hegseth’s Plan to Livestream an Execution
Archbishop Paul Coakley called the Pentagon’s firing-squad livestream “a barbaric promotion of a culture of death.” His rebuke lands as Pope Leo XIV…
 • Christopher Hale
“The Asian Francis” — Tagle Elected Dean of the College of Cardinals
The progressive favorite of the 2025 conclave, smeared by the online right for singing “Imagine,” now holds the most senior post among the cardinals…
 • Christopher Hale
In Fourth Attack, Peter Thiel Accuses Pope Leo XIV of Using AI to Deflect From Sex Abuse Crisis
JD Vance’s top donor also lumped the pope in with Barack Obama, saying “Obama knows the Democrats have no ideas, but they can at least oppose AI.” Vance…
 • Christopher Hale
Dashing Conservative Hopes, Pope Leo XIV Defends Pope Francis’s Amoris Laetitia
Opening a weeklong Vatican summit on the exhortation’s 10th anniversary, the pope put mercy and the freedom of the Holy Spirit at the center. Critics…
 • Christopher Hale
“A Multilateral Order That Truly Delivers for All” — Cardinal Parolin Brings Pope Leo XIV’s Case to the United Nations
The Vatican’s top diplomat defended the institutions Trump keeps abandoning, one day after Pope Leo XIV warned UNESCO about a “crisis of effectiveness…
 • Christopher Hale
Pope Leo is challenging MAGA authoritarianism. Get the story no one else is telling — free in your inbox.

News & Analysis

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“A Priest First” — Commonweal Honors Father John Jenkins, the Man Who Brought Obama to Notre Dame
On Monday night in New York, Commonweal honored the former Notre Dame president who defied dozens of bishops in 2009. His acceptance speech was a…
 • Christopher Hale
Following Pope Leo XIV, St. Louis Archbishop Sues Trump’s ICE Over Sacraments for Detainees
A Missouri jail proposed that priests hand the Eucharist to a guard in a package. Archbishop Rozanski sued on Monday — two days after Cardinal Cupich…
 • Christopher Hale
New Book: Pope Leo XIV Helped Francis Draft His Rebuke of JD Vance
NPR’s Scott Detrow and Daniel Burke also report that Prevost privately disliked Trump’s politics. Go yearly by Thursday and their book, American Pope…
 • Christopher Hale
The Catholic Church Is Back
Sixteen years after a Vatican cardinal dismissed the abuse crisis as “petty gossip,” Pope Leo XIV sat with survivors at Lourdes. Benedict and Francis…
 • Christopher Hale
Palantir Executive Photoshops Pope Leo XIV in a Company Hoodie as Silicon Valley Splits Over Him
The stunt came eight days after Palantir’s co-founder called the pope a “useful idiot” for China. Not everyone in tech laughed, and some of the pope’s…
 • Christopher Hale
“Algorithms Lack the Spark of Humanity” — Pope Leo XIV Leads the Revolt Against Silicon Valley’s Idolatry
His words to artists at the Vatican on Friday drew 6.4 million views in hours, days after the New York Times exposed Anthropic’s lobbying of his…
 • Christopher Hale
NYT: Anthropic Nearly Walked Out on Pope Leo XIV’s AI Encyclical — Then Lobbied His Advisers
Chris Olah saw an advance copy of Magnifica Humanitas days before the Vatican launch and proposed withdrawing over its stance on machine consciousness…
 • Christopher Hale
Defying Pope Leo XIV and Tennessee’s Bishops, Bill Lee Sends Christa Pike to a Botched Execution
Two doses of pentobarbital failed to kill her on Wednesday night, and Michael Knowles answered with a joke about crushing her skull. Twelve days…
 • Christopher Hale
“Walking Around Shining Like the Sun” — What a Louisville Street Corner Taught Me About Pope Leo’s America
Thomas Merton found his vision at Fourth and Walnut in 1958, and a Tennessee priest put his books in my hands. With the midterms weeks away, I’m asking…
 • Christopher Hale
Six Things We Learned About Pope Leo XIV in France
Hours after Nvidia’s Monday launch, Leo was already rebutting Jensen Huang on the papal plane. The trip revealed a pope who reads the news in real time…
Pope Leo XIV Is the Leader of the Free World
Eighty-two years after his father landed at Normandy, the American pope drew 800,000 people to the Champs-Élysées and asked Europe to hold together…
 • Christopher Hale
“It Is Not True That Those Who Seek Revenge Are Stronger” — Pope Leo XIV Ends His France Journey in Metz
Hours after preaching against revenge, the first American pope pushed back on Nvidia’s chief over AI regulation and called Germany’s far-right religion…
 • Christopher Hale

Pope Leo Takes on AI

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Palantir Executive Photoshops Pope Leo XIV in a Company Hoodie as Silicon Valley Splits Over Him
The stunt came eight days after Palantir’s co-founder called the pope a “useful idiot” for China. Not everyone in tech laughed, and some of the pope’s…
 • Christopher Hale
Pope Leo XIV’s New AI Encyclical Is Already Making a Dent in Trump’s Washington
Days after Magnifica Humanitas landed, JD Vance quoted it to Air Force cadets and Trump signed an AI order he had shelved. Pope Leo XIV is quickly…
 • Christopher Hale
Pope Leo XIV Just Quoted The Lord of the Rings Against Peter Thiel’s Empire — and Thiel Is Now Fleeing America
The man who calls his venture fund ‘the precious’ — Gollum's name for the One Ring — is in Buenos Aires, discussing the Antichrist over dinner.
 • Christopher Hale
‘The Grand Humbling’ — Silicon Valley Responds to Pope Leo XIV
Dean Ball, Doug Burgum, David Sacks, and Raymond Arroyo all came for Magnifica Humanitas this week. JD Vance praised it. The men who actually own AI…
 • Christopher Hale
“Disarm AI” — Pope Leo XIV Drops His First Encyclical on Slavery, Algorithms, and War
The pope’s first encyclical takes on autonomous weapons, the layoff cycle behind generative AI, and the algorithmic capture of democracy — and asks…
 • Christopher Hale
Pope Leo XIV’s First Encyclical Arrives Tomorrow — Here’s What We Expect
Pope Leo XIV says humanity faces a choice: the Tower of Babel or a civilization of love. Magnifica Humanitas, his first social encyclical, releases…
 • Christopher Hale
“An Eclipse of What It Means to Be Human” — Pope Leo XIV Previews AI Encyclical
At the Vatican on Friday, the American pope previewed Magnifica Humanitas — the encyclical Cardinal Michael Czerny tells CBS News will confront “control…
 • Christopher Hale
Confronting Silicon Valley, Pope Leo XIV Drops His AI Encyclical on Memorial Day With Anthropic Onstage
“Magnifica Humanitas,” the first papal encyclical on artificial intelligence, lands Monday in the Vatican’s Synod Hall — alongside an Anthropic…
 • Christopher Hale
If You Want to Understand Pope Leo’s New Encyclical, Read This First
Multiple Catholic outlets report Pope Leo XIV signed Magnifica Humanitas this morning, with public release set for later this month. The document it’s…
 • Christopher Hale
JD Vance’s Top Donor Brings His War on the Pope to Rome
The billionaire behind JD Vance’s political rise delivered invite-only Antichrist lectures blocks from the Vatican — and Catholic institutions rushed to…
 • Christopher Hale
Pope Leo XIV Tells Rome’s Priests: No AI Homilies, No TikTok Priesthood
As Block fires 4,000 workers and Anthropic battles the Pentagon, the pope delivered a message Silicon Valley should hear — stop outsourcing your soul to…
 • Christopher Hale
Tech Billionaire’s “Never Die” Religion Meets Pope Leo’s Rebuke
Bryan Johnson claims Jesus had a 2,000-year monopoly on conquering death. Now Silicon Valley’s immortality guru is boasting he can break it. But Pope…
 • Christopher Hale

Pope Leo's Life & Formation

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Pope Leo XIV’s College Years Included a Laxative Prank — and the Vatican Put It on Film
An Augustinian friar recounts the practical jokes of the international college in “Leone a Roma,” and the editors cut to a photo of young Bob Prevost…
 • Christopher Hale
“John, I’m the Pope” — Viral Nikes, Car Talk, and the Disarming Humanity of Leo XIV
Fr. Jim Sichko just handed Leo XIV a pair of custom Nikes, and we learned about Pope Leo XIV’s tech repair work for his brother. The world is meeting…
 • Christopher Hale
“Families Fight. But Family Is Forever.” — Pope Leo XIV’s Brother on the Year MAGA Tried to Tear the Prevosts Apart
Across EWTN, La Croix, NBC Chicago, and CNN, John Prevost talked Trump, Pete Hegseth, the bank teller, AI deepfakes, the Peeps, Bozo’s Circus, and the…
 • Christopher Hale
“Would It Matter If I Told You I’m Pope Leo?” — The Bank Teller Who Hung Up on Robert Prevost
Father Tom McCarthy, who has known Pope Leo XIV for 43 years, told the story at a parish outside Chicago this past Sunday — alongside Peeps closets…
 • Christopher Hale
“I Confessed Everything Short of Murder” — Pope Leo’s MAGA Brother Bares All
Louis Prevost’s surprise tell-all on Piers Morgan Uncensored revealed a contrite, self-reflective older brother to Pope Leo XIV — a far cry from the…
Villanova Days: How College Shaped Pope Leo XIV
Before he was the pope railing against a “throwaway culture,” he was Bob Prevost, a quiet and nerdy math major at Villanova University with a passion…
 • Christopher Hale
The Pope’s Closest Aide Is a Millennial from Peru
The charismatic young priest’s close bond with Leo — from the villages of Peru to the halls of the Vatican — has already won him a following among the…
 • Christopher Hale
How Peru Made Pope Leo XIV
New revelations from Pope Leo XIV’s years in South America show why his gentle style hides a radical vision for the Church and the world.

Letters from Leo — the American Pope & US Politics

Letters from Leo is a chronicle of how Pope Leo XIV’s papacy intersects with American politics, faith, and the digital age during the presidency of Donald Trump.
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