DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, Grant us the graces we need to truly follow You today. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
AMERICAN HISTORY: On January 10, 1776, a short pamphlet entitled “Common Sense” quietly appeared in Philadelphia. Written by Thomas Paine, but published anonymously, it urged American colonists to break completely from Great Britain. Within weeks, its ideas were being read aloud in taverns, debated in meeting halls, and discussed around kitchen tables, helping turn the dream of independence into a shared conviction.
LESSONS FROM VENEZUELA: [5:50] – I was able to travel behind the Iron Curtain twice. Both times, I wanted to get on my knees and kiss the ground when I got back to the USA.
ORANGE MAN ECONOMICS: Things the Left Stream Media doesn’t want you to know …
Affordable Housing – To make home ownership more affordable, Trump will be banning institutional investors from purchasing more single-family homes, while instructing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds.
Affordable Credit – Fulfilling a campaign promise, President Trump has called for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%. As of August 2025, the Federal Reserve reported the average interest rate on credit card accounts was 22.83%. Some consumers with low credit scores pay nearly 30%.
Affordable Vehicles – Buyers of cars assembled in the U.S. will be eligible to deduct up to $10,000 per year in auto loan interest, whether they itemize or take the standard deduction.
PRAYER for OUR NATION: Dear Lord, Silence all the lying lips that speak with pride and contempt against the righteous. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
USDA: The Trump administration is suspending payments for all federal food programs in Minnesota until state and local officials provide documentation detailing expenditures and transactions for the past year.
GRAMMY NOTES: I had just stopped my car beneath the traffic light to wait for a chance to turn left when my clutch cable snapped. I had zero time to process the fact that my car load of young children was stranded in the exact center of six lanes of traffic on a major thoroughfare in downtown Ithaca, NY. I bolted out of the car, yelling for the kids to get OUT of the car NOW, then shepherded them to the nearest building. After shouting, “Put your backs against that wall and DO NOT MOVE!”, I turned around to begin thinking what to do about the car. What I saw still makes me tear up. The intersection was littered with cars whose doors were hanging open, because the occupants had jumped out to help push my useless vehicle into the blessedly empty parking space that was right on the corner I had been turning toward. ❤
DAILY PRAYER: Mary, Mother of Mercy, intercede for us, your children. Keep us under your protection, safe from all harm, healthy in mind, body, and spirit. Under your watchful care, may we avoid the pitfalls of prejudice, ingratitude, injustice, and violence. And may we be always worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
AI: When Mama Buzz first opened yesterday’s “Bits & Bytes” on her phone, the prayer showed up with a transparent background. She highlighted it, intending to make it visible so she could read it. Somehow, this triggered an AI to add what I’ve shown above. Wonderful thoughts, all of them, even if they did utterly miss the point I was trying to make by combining the prayer with that graphic. But I guess the Holy Spirit wanted us to see it, because when Mama reloaded, the prayer formatted correctly.
HANNITY: [4:35] – “No one is above the law!”
SOCIAL SECURITY: Our COLA for 2026 is projected to be +2.7 percent.
STILL WINNING: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Aug. 13 that the Trump administration may cut billions of dollars in foreign aid funds that Congress previously approved. This victory allows Trump to continue to wind down USAID.
I was very moved by what Christine Niles said in the video I posted previously and below, so I copied the pertinent part of the transcript and cleaned it up so I could re-read and share it.
The following from Christine Niles begins at the 24:00 mark. I am adding graphics to break up the text, because I believe it makes multiple paragraphs of text easier to visually scan and mentally process on a digital screen.
“I know people say … Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo, … is a product of the Chicago machine. Very, very huge differences here. First of all, Prevost was closer to Cardinal Francis George, who was known to be a very holy Orthodox defender of the faith in Chicago. He was closer to Cardinal Francis George also as a priest.
“[Prevost] was formed under Father Dudley Day, who had close associations with a traditionalist parish, Saint John Cantius, and Father Day, according to multiple people who knew him, said that he was probably one of the holiest, most devout, orthodox priests that they had ever met. He was an Augustinian. He had his own confessional at Saint John Cantius. So this was the man who helped form Prevost and actually helped to enroll him in the Augustinians.
“And then during Cardinal Bernardin’s reign in Chicago, Prevost was actually in Peru. You know, he spent 20 years in Peru. So he just wasn’t really around during Bernardin’s time in Chicago. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that Prevost is a product of the Chicago machine, the way that Archbishop Casey is now.
“Casey was ordained by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. Anybody who knows about Bernardin’s reign. I’m not going into all the details here, but it’s just scandalous. Utterly scandalous. Accused by numerous men, including seminarians, of sexual assault. Just a scandalous. You know, when he died, they actually had the Windy City Gay Chorus sing at his funeral. Okay, just anyway, this was the man who ordained him.
“And not just that, Casey was appointed to head Chicago’s Casa Jesus. From 1998 to 2003, he served as associate director and then as rector, so he was there for a total five years leading and forming these men. And during that time there were homosexual scandals, cancer. Casa Jesus was a house of formation founded in 1987 by Cardinal Bernadin for Latin American seminarians.
“They would go down to Latin America, various Latin American countries, and they would recruit seminarians there for Chicago. But during the entire time of his existence, there were so many homosexual scandals to it. And these were not just vague rumors, allegations, these were actually reported publicly in the Secular News. And there’s so many, so many details. I mean, so many stories. I’m not going to go into all the details here.
If you want to learn more, just go to my website @ https://stellamaris.media/. I published an article titled Priest Porn Scandal in Cincinnati marred by Bishop’s Falsehoods @https://stellamaris.media/f/priest-porn-scandal-in-cincinnati-marred-by-bishops-falsehoods. I go into the history of Casa Jesus. Some of the major homosexual scandals there, but especially the one that took place in 2015, 2016, which led to his use finally being shut down. It was quietly shut down in 2016 by Cardinal Cupich because the rector there, Octavio Munoz, he was busted for homosexual child porn found on his laptop. He was charged and he was convicted.
“Please keep in mind, he was rector for seven years of Casa Jesus. He would regularly go down to Latin America and recruit seminarians. This was the man who helped form these souls for seven years. Busted for child porn. Now serving his time. So 2016, it gets shut down after nearly 30 years in operation. But the point is that Father Robert, Father Robert Casey, now Archbishop Robert Casey, was rector of Casa Jesus for years, and during that time there was a gay subculture there, and he refuses to discuss his time there. … And now he’s in charge of the souls in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. And as I have already pointed out, his tenure has started out in a disastrous way. …
“When a bishop uses his sacred office, his spiritual authority to shame Catholics into silence, Catholics were scandalized and expressing sincere concerns over the behavior of a priest. When a bishop does that, that’s textbook spiritual abuse. I’ve seen it again and again and again, especially as an investigative journalist who’s reported on clergy sex abuse cover up. I’ve seen it again and again, and it’s disgusting and it’s sick and it’s abuse of the bishops office. Priests do it too. Many times. I’ve heard from whistleblowers or from victims who want to go report something. ‘Oh, you can’t do that. That’s a sin of detraction. That’s a sin of detraction. You’re sinning. You shouldn’t be revealing these things. It’s a sin.’ Spiritual abuse.
“But all of this is why we need to pray for Pope Leo. We need to pray for him. He’s got heavy burdens. He’s got a lot of work cut out for him. Pray that he has the wisdom, courage, and strength to clean house. Remember, Pope Benedict asked us to pray for him at the beginning of his pontificate. ‘Pray that I do not flee for fear of the wolves.’ How many of us actually prayed for him? He resigned.
“Pray for Pope Leo that he has the strength to clean house, and do so with fearlessness and courage. You know, you read about stories like this. You hear about stories like this, scandals like this, in which the bishop himself is possibly implicated in covering up for sexual misconduct. And you realize the church has a long way to go in being purged and purified of this filth.
“Now, one question I get asked a lot by people after hearing about these terrible things happening in the church, these scandals is okay, ‘Well, we can pray for the Pope. Obviously, but what can we actually do? What can we, as laity do to help turn this ship around? Well, Pope Leo actually gives us an answer. He said something significant and beautiful in his sermon for the commemoration of Mary, mother of the church, over the weekend. You know how how do you help the church? How do you help the Pope?
This is what he said. ‘The Holy See is holy as the church is holy in her original core. And the very fabric of her being. The Apostolic See thus preserves the holiness of its roots while being preserved by them. But it is no less true that it also lives in the holiness of each of its members. Therefore, the best way to serve the Holy See is to strive for holiness, each according to his particular state of life and the work entrusted to him or her.’
“What does this mean? It means we Christians are all part of the Mystical Body of Christ, and what we do affects others in the body of Christ. There’s no such thing as private sin because your sin affects others, whether you know it or not, whether you see it or not, it has a ripple effect in the body of Christ. It affects others for good or for ill. Just like the good things that you do, the holy things that you do also affect the body of Christ for good. Your sin affects the body of Christ for ill and only those with a spiritual view of things understand this. You don’t see the world in terms of the spiritual if you only see us as autonomous individuals, each doing our own thing, disconnected from everybody else. …
“God actually does want to reunite all of us into a single family unity matters, and it’s the message of Pope Leo. I’ve said this before, he’s the Pope of unity, and he said in numerous homilies and addresses, try not to demonize the other. Try to reach out and try to understand the other. Don’t make it about us versus them. But remember that the person on the other side, the other side of the political spectrum, theological spectrum, whatever that is a human being created the image of God endowed with dignity.
“Now, we don’t always act that way. Obviously, we can act very badly. We don’t act in conformity with our human nature, which is stamped with divinity. But even when we behave badly, even when we give way to evil urges and commit terrible crimes, we should try to resist the temptation to demonize such people. … Yes, of course, … they have to take responsibility. Nobody saying that they shouldn’t. But very often these people are in the grip of the evil one. They’re in the grip of Satan, who exists, who is real, an actual, real spiritual being. Which is why these people need prayers. Prayers to be set free from whatever evil spiritual forces are oppressing them, driving them to behave badly. … Some of them, quite frankly, I think, are partially possessed. They’re enslaved to evil, and God desires that they be freed from the grip of evil.
“It is why, after all, Christ came to earth to become man, to become one of us, to suffer on our behalf, to free us from our slavery to sin, and open the gates of heaven for us. This includes the worst sinners among us. He didn’t come to call the righteous, but the sick, so he came to call the lost the hopeless cases. God is constantly like a good, loving and merciful father, reaching out to the lost, bidding them come back, come back, turn back, repent. Allow Him to heal, heal them, transform them, sanctify them.
“You know, in the history of Christianity, the worst sinners have sometimes become the greatest saints. I did an episode on this. So this is why we should never lose hope for the salvation of others, no matter how wretched their lives may be, but also why we should try to resist the temptation to demonize others, because there are dark forces involved who wish to enslave us to sin, and to keep us there forever. Forever divorced from God, forever separated from God. That is the ultimate victory for Satan over souls.
“But Christ loves us and he wishes to help break free. Help us break free from that so he can heal us and ultimately bring us to be with him in heaven forever. That is the goal. Eternal union with God. It’s what God desires of all of us, without exception. And yes, even for those bishops who lie and cover up and commit spiritual abuse, even them, in fact, they need our prayers most of all, because if they don’t repent, they’re facing the most fearful judgment of all.”
You know, it’s funny when people hear that Pope Leo XIV has a math degree, taught physics, and wrote a thesis on monastic leadership, they act like it’s some wild plot twist. The Catholic Church has always been low-key obsessed with education. I mean, did you know nearly every pope since the Renaissance has had a PhD? Benedict XVI had five. Cardinals today basically need doctorate-level expertise to even get a seat at the table.
Leo XIV isn’t an outlier; he’s following a 2,000-year-old playbook where faith and reason are BFFs. This is the same institution that gave us the Big Bang theory (thanks to a Jesuit priest, Georges Lemaître) and the guy who invented genetics (shoutout to Gregor Mendel, the pea-plant-obsessed Augustinian friar). Yet somehow, we still think of the Church as just incense and hymns.
The Church’s duality; defending doctrinal tradition while pioneering intellectual frontiers, is its defining paradox. Consider the Vatican’s astronomical observatory, which has operated since 1582, or the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which has included members like Hawking and Einstein.*
Let’s break it down. Those monks and nuns you picture copying manuscripts in candlelit monasteries? They weren’t just praying, they were preserving ancient Greek philosophy, advancing math, and basically saving Western civilisation during the Dark Ages. Fast-forward to today, and the Vatican still runs its own space telescope (yes, really, Jesuit brothers track asteroids). The Church condemned Galileo, sure, but now it funds ethical stem-cell research and partners with IBM on AI ethics. It’s like the ultimate comeback story: “Oops, we messed up on heliocentrism; here’s a think tank on quantum physics.”
And let’s talk about those religious orders. Jesuits? They basically invented the modern university system. The Jesuits founded in 1540, by a chap called Ignatius Loyola, (half monk, half soldier) ran over 800 universities globally.ǂ Franciscans gave us Occam’s Razor; you know, that “simplest explanation is best” rule you learned in science class? That came from a 14th-century friar who loved logic more than the Pope loved his fancy hat. The Dominicans had Thomas Aquinas, who merged Aristotle’s philosophy with theology. Augustinians, Leo XIV’s crew, were all about community and critical thinking, traits he took to Peru, where he spent 20 years teaching in slums while quietly holding dual citizenship. The guy’s got more layers than a medieval manuscript.
But here’s the upper-cut: the Church thrives on this weird paradox. It’s conservative enough to make your grandma nod approvingly (“No women priests? Classic.”) but progressive enough to have a Pope who trash-talks climate deniers and slams border policies. Leo XIV fits right in; he’s a Republican primary voter who also called Trump’s family separations “illicit,” a social media critic who warns bishops not to be divisive online. It’s like the Church says, “We’ll debate evolution with Darwinians by day and chant Latin psalms by night and we’ll look good doing both.”
So next time someone acts shocked that a pope knows quantum physics or tweets about refugees, just smile. The Catholic Church has been playing 4D chess with knowledge for centuries. It’s not a relic; it’s a living library, where friars argue about black holes over breakfast and nuns run coding bootcamps. Leo XIV? He’s just the latest chapter in a story where faith doesn’t fear science … it fuels it.
ADDITIONS by CtH:
*The Vatican Astronomical Observatory was established in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, the man that Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost chose to honor with his own papal name.
The Daily Mail has published a story claiming the new pope is a registered Republican. This is incorrect. Illinoisans do not register by party. They may vote in one party’s primary per election, but can switch at any time.
Pope Leo XIV, who has lived in Peru and Rome for most of his career, has allegedly voted in some GOP primaries and presidential elections. Obviously, there is no record of whom he voted for when he did vote, but since he is staunchly pro-life, it is unlikely he voted for Harris last November. However, that doesn’t mean he’s a MAGA Trumper.
In January, J.D. Vance said, “There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.” The Daily Mail claims that then-Cardinal Prevost responded by writing an article entitled, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
I googled that title and got a hit at National Catholic Reporter; the article was written by Kat Armas. Prevost merely posted the link, without comment, on his X account. In his statement, Vance was referencing a concept in Catholic theology known as “ordo amoris” (Latin for “order of love”) which is based on the words of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In the words of St. Augustine, we are called to give “special regard” to those persons who, “by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection” with us.
Personally, I think it is odd that Pope Leo XIV appeared to criticize Vance with his tweet, given that he is an Augustinian priest and is certainly acquainted with this concept. I also doubt very much that he has not practiced ordo amoris in his own life. I mean … who hasn’t? Who couldn’t? If we were to reduce our most intimate personal interactions to only those that we grant to the billions of strangers living on the other side of the world, then we would have no personal interactions at all.
Jesus certainly practiced ordo amoris. He spent 30 years in intimate relationship with His mom, followed by less than 3 years in public ministry. But even during His public ministry, He treated His disciples differently than He did the people. Even amongst the disciples, He singled out some for special attention. E.g., only four of the twelve were at the Transfiguration.
The Left seems delighted to have found social media posts by Prevost that appear to be critical of the Trump administration. I noted a few reasons why they’re making way too much of it. One is that he rarely posts. There were no posts at all in 2024 and have only been five this year. Of these, two were about praying for Pope Francis’ health and three were links to published articles about Trump’s immigration policies.
Among other things, the American Magazine article entitled Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration by Jesuit priest Sam Sawyer says, “Catholic teaching both allows and calls for ‘development of a policy that regulates orderly and legal migration.’ No one, except those who are misrepresenting the church’s advocacy and care for migrants, claims that Catholics are in favor of illegal immigration or open borders.”
It concludes with, “The Gospel does not offer a charter for how to legislate about immigration. It does offer a standard for how far we are to go to love our neighbor, and a refusal to accept the limits we might be comfortable with on who our neighbors are. The question we need to answer is whether we judge our politics according to the Gospel or the other way around.”
The Catholic Standard article, entitled This Ordeal is the Passion by Bishop Evelio Menjivar, is much more biased, calling the early sweep of criminal illegals “shock and awe” campaign of “aggressive threats” and “questionable legality.” One wonders where God’s demand for honesty lies in this diatribe. One could say much the same about the previous administration’s open border and sanctuary welfare benefits. However, even that article comes around to pleading for putting the Gospel first, saying “we cannot let the dark side of anti-immigrant animus take hold.”
Let us hope and pray that the new pope’s focus will be more on the Gospel and less on propping up progressive political causes. And maybe we can also be just a little like these kids, even if our first ever American pope is from Chicago! https://x.com/Monocarp_/status/1920536512782889126 [:43]
DAILY PRAYER: Dear Lord, Today we lift up all of those who brave the elements on our behalf. We ask You to bless them and their loved ones abundantly. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
BEAUTIFUL: Bob shared “A Little Bird” by Sean Dietrich with me. It touched my heart and soul.
BORDER: This week, President Trump ordered 1,500 more U.S. troops to the southern border. Meanwhile, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove reminded all department employees that the U.S. Constitution requires state and local actors to comply with federal immigration enforcement.
The law carries a prison term of up to five years for each count of resisting, obstructing, or otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands from the executive branch. Furthermore, federal law bars individuals from bringing illegal immigrants into the United States, or harboring them in the country. These violators can receive up to 20 years in prison and may even face the death penalty if a violation results in the death of any person. (Who let Laken Riley’s killer in?)
Meanwhile, Mexico is building shelters in anticipation of all the illegals Trump is expected to deport.
CAN YOU READ CURSIVE? The National Archives is looking for “Citizen Archivists” to help reach and transcribe some of the more than 300 million digitized objects in its catalog. Those records range from Revolutionary War pension records to the field notes of Charles Mason of the Mason-Dixon Line to immigration documents from the 1890s to Japanese evacuation records to the 1950 Census. All that is required is to CLICK https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/get-started-transcribing to sign up.
CATHOLIC: A bill proposed by Montana Democrats would jail Catholic priests for upholding the confessional seal, to which they are bound by –
Canon Law 1386 – “A confessor [priest] who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; he who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the offence.”;
Canon Law 983 – “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.” and
Canon Law 984 – “A confessor is prohibited completely from using knowledge acquired from confession to the detriment of the penitent even when any danger of revelation is excluded.”
When questioned about the bill, its chief supporter said she used to be Catholic. Oh. The same is true of any priest who violates the sanctity of the Sacrament of Reconciliation; he would become someone who used to be Catholic.
COVID-19: Rand Paul tweeted, “If there was ever any doubt who bears responsibility for the COVID pandemic, Biden’s pardon of Fauci seals the deal. As Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I will not rest until the entire truth of the coverup is exposed. Fauci’s pardon will only serve as an accelerant to pierce the veil of deception.”
According to the site linked below, “The legal authority for preemptive pardons in the United States is rooted in the Constitution and clarified through key judicial precedents.” Biden’s pardon may keep Fauci out of jail, but it won’t save his reputation.
DEI: President Donald Trump has signed an executive order cutting off federal funding to any learning institution that mandates DEI or that hire contractors that engage in such practices.
He has also signed an executive order suspending all DEI activities immediately. By the close of business yesterday, they must have notified all staff they are on leave, closed every office, taken down any public-facing trace of those offices, withdraw any related guidance or directives they have pending and cancel all DEIA trainings.
FCC: [20:30] – Sen. Kennedy is always worth listening to. This one is especially important.
LIFE: Insanity suggests a mental illness that makes someone incapable of making moral judgments. This isn’t insane. It’s EVIL.
NATIONAL CATHEDRAL: The “Service of Prayer for the Nation” is held in this Episcopal church. The membership of this denomination now represents a tiny sliver of (mostly old; modal age = 69) Americans. There are actually six times as many Jews in the U.S. than there are Episcopalians. Maybe they should switch the service to the Nation BASILICA, which is Roman Catholic.
SERVICE OF PRAYER FOR THE NATION: The photo shows their faces as the leftist female “bishop” lectured them at a prayer service for “unity.” Afterwards, the new president issued this statement –
“The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our country and killed people. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!”
VPOTUS: CLICK https://www.facebook.com/reel/1321904552323328 to hear Senator J.D. talk about inclusive language. The guy’s answer … “I’d have to give that one some more thought” … is so typical of Woke Lefties. The man had a scheduled appearance before the U.S. Senate. He should have had all his thinking done beforehand. But every time you ask them to justify or even to stand up for their idiotic positions, they dodge and weave. Another common one that Kamala used all the time was, “We need to dialogue about that.”
GRAMMY NOTES: I am doing retroactive prayers today for old hurts caused by rude people. Their nastiness always felt so personal, but none of it was about me.
The pope has approved this anime-style mascot for the 2025 Year of Jubilee, hoping it will appeal to young people. The official word is that she is a little pilgrim named Luce. Pronounced loo chay, it means light in Italian and light from the east in Latin.
Luce is a pilgrim. From her muddy boots to her walking staff to her raincoat, she is dressed for life’s journey to Christ. The raincoat is yellow, the color of the Vatican’s flag.
Luce’s hair and eyes are blue, the color traditionally assigned to hope and to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The gleam shining in her eyes is in the shape of the scallop shell, a symbol that has long been associated with Catholic pilgrimage, in particular the famous Camino Way in Spain.
Luce wears a World Mission rosary, which was created by Fulton Sheen. Wearing a rosary as a necklace is common in some places and frowned on in others, but it seems to be a practical choice for a pilgrim on the road.
The Jubilee 2025 logo is embroidered on the raincoat’s front in green, the liturgical color for the Ordinary seasons of the year, the time when we focus on growing in Christ. The Jubilee 2025 site says of the logo, “The anchor is well known as a symbol of hope. In maritime jargon the ‘anchor of hope’ refers to the reserve anchor used by vessels involved in emergency manoeuvres to stabilise the ship during storms. It is worth noting that the image illustrates the pilgrim’s journey not as an individual undertaking, but rather as something communal, marked by an increasing dynamism leading one ever closer to the cross. The cross in the logo is by no means static, but it is also dynamic. It bends down towards humanity, not leaving human beings alone, but stretching out to them to offer the certainty of its presence and the security of hope. At the bottom of the logo is the motto of the 2025 Jubilee Year.“
N.b., The colors on the official logo are not a nod to the “pride” flag, but rather denote the regions of the world as used on the World Mission rosary.
Aleteia reports, “Within days of her reveal, Luce became a prime source of inspiration for Catholic and anime artists alike, who created many beautiful tributes to Luce on art sites and social media.”
Personally, I like this variation better than the official one. Until I did the research for this article, I did not know about the pilgrim’s scallop shell, so found the shape of the sparkle in the official version’s eyes off putting. This one has Bethlehem stars!
The other reason I haven’t warmed up to the official Luce is that her forked “pilgrim staff” is much more commonly known as a stang, a forked staff used in various forms of occult rituals as a tool of power and respect. Various sites say it represents the World Tree, connecting the heavens and the earth and standing tall as a reminder of the witch’s place between worlds. It may be placed in the center of an altar or carried as a symbol of authority. It may be used to call on deities during rituals. One witch said she uses it to ground herself when she travels the celestial planes.
However, I did find one article that delved into a different source for the forked staff. It was published in 2018 after Pope Francis carried a stang staff with a nail through the forked branches. An article at Patheos says, “It was a gift to Pope Francis by a group of young people, who asked him to use it during the synod.”
Catholic bishops and popes each have a special staff known as a crosier, or shepherd’s crook. They carry during rituals to symbolize their roles as shepherds of God’s flock. Bishops’ crosiers can vary tremendously, but they generally have a crook at the top.
By contrast, the papal staff (known as a ferula, which is Latin for rod) has cross or crucifix on top. There is no set standard; the photo shows Pope Francis with two different ones.
I wasn’t the only one bothered by the pope’s synodal ferula’s resemblance to a witch‘s stang. However, a deacon did some research and found that, though rare, there are examples of forked crosses in our church’s history. The author says, “The three arms of the cross are meant to remind us of the Holy Trinity and the attributes of God: omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence.”
Another author writes, “This cross also resembles the Greek letter Upsilon which capitalized looks just like the English letter ‘Y’. The Greek Upsilon is often called Pythagoras’ letter as it is said he used it as a symbol to demonstrate human life where the two horns of the letter represent the two paths of vice and virtue. We all travel down a road in life, but it is not always the easy road and we come to a split into the road where we must choose where we will take our life. Will it be down the road of virtue or the one to ruin?” This explanation goes a long way toward making me more comfortable with Luce’s staff.
Some critics have also objected to the name Luce, suggesting it is short for Lucifer. Like luce, the Italian word for light, Lucifer, the name of the first and greatest angel God created, comes from the Latin for light. But Jesus called Himself “the light of the world.” Lucifer’s light only exists to the extent that God created it; plus, he only uses it for himself. Jesus’ light is not only self-existent, but also used to guide pilgrim’s to God. I guess I can get on board the Luce lovers’ pilgrim trail.
polination.blog 