The most annoying convert TradCath in the world, JD Vance, whose cherubic face belies all his bootlicking aggression, gets his moment with Pope Bob. Usha stands behind him in a black mantilla. He hands the pontiff an oversized envelope: an invitation from Donald and Melania to a White House dinner. Bob smiles guardedly as he takes it and without looking at it, setting it on his desk. “I’ll read that at some point,” Vance sputters, “of course, of course.” 

The scene is set for the Church-State tension of whatever phase of global fascism we’re now entering. These ghouls who jail students, disappear immigrants, and lobby for the Trump Gaza resort, shuffle into the Vatican with hats in hand to meet a fellow American who is nothing like their boss, asking for pats on the head, wondering what kind of alliance they can forge, perhaps through anti-wokeness discourse.

The enigmatic response from Pope Bob sums up where we all are as we read the incense swirls for whether he’s going to keep steering the world’s 1.4B Catholics against the tides of late-stage capitalism and environmental disaster, Francis-style. 

Show Notes

Michelle Remembers | Satanic Panic Patreon Collection 

Brief: Deep Church Conspiracy (w/David Lafferty) 

Brief: The CPAC Pope and the Icicle Babies (w/ Brad Onishi)

183: Woke Pope Cancels America's Bishop (w/Mike Lewis)

Sisters of the Little Way

Vatican’s financial watchdog reports decrease in suspicious activities reports in 2024

Why the next Pope faces major money challenges

Pope warns the Vatican pension fund needs urgent reform as employees demand transparency

Cardinal convicted of embezzlement won't participate in conclave for Pope Francis's successor

A cardinal is convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in Vatican trial 

Church defends Indigenous peoples: ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ was never Catholic

Vatican Denounces ‘International Law of Colonization’

Reparations for empire: What the new pope owes to Africa | Slavery

Catholic Order Pledges $100 Million to Atone for Slave Labor and Sales

The Dark History of How the Catholic Church Built Its Massive Wealth

The Vatican—Bulwark of Imperialism

Indigenous leaders hope Vatican's repudiation of oppressive colonial concepts leads to real change

The Man Who Took On Pope Francis: The Story Behind the Viganò Letter

The Excommunication of Archbishop Viganò - Crisis 

Bishop Strickland removed from diocese after accusing pope of backing 'attack on the sacred'

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