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Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Saturday, January 10, 2026

Pope Leo XIV, the first ever American pontiff, warned the entire membership of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Vatican that human rights and freedoms are under strain and that "war is back in vogue."

Pope Leo XIV Addressing Ambassadors

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4/ The US Navy seized another oil tanker with links to Russia that was attempting to bypass US sanctions against Venezuelan oil. Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Hulyaipole. Russian forces advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area.

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-- Institute for the Study of War (@thestudyofwar.bsky.social) Jan 9, 2026 at 9:30 PM

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The annual meeting between the Pope and all of the Ambassadors accredited to the Holy See is considered one of the most significant moments in the Vatican's diplomatic calendar.

Often dubbed the "State of the World" Address, the Pope's discourses in these occasions tend to offer a moral reading of international life - an appeal not to interests, but to conscience - offered at the beginning of a new year as a call to responsibility, restraint, and renewal.

For Pope Leo XIV, who said the occasion is "a new experience," having been called only months ago to "shepherd Christ's flock," the address also served to articulate the moral horizon within which the Holy See understands diplomacy: a patient work of encounter, a defense of the vulnerable, and a commitment to peace rooted in truth.


~snip~

The US Ambassador to the Holy See is Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote.org. While at the University of Dallas in Texas, he was involved with the secretive right-wing Opus Dei organization. Burch, a father of nine children, married into a large Irish-Catholic clan and they all reportedly indoctrinate their children in Opus Dei-run schools.

First Lady Melanoma Trumpf was raised Roman Catholic in her native Slovenia. Watch the expressions on the faces of the incoming Trumpf family and junta while Episcopal Bishop the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde sermonizes them all to have mercy on vulnerable people: "Have Mercy"

Dummkopf Trumpf illegally abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and has threatened to attack Colombia, Greenland, and drug cartel targets inside Mexico, ICC-indicted Vladimir Putin continues his savage war against Ukraine, and the IDF High Command recently issued a warning to be prepared for a three-front war against the West Bank, Lebanon, and Iran. Source: Benjamin Netanyahu Itching for More War

The Axis of Evil certainly does have a "zeal for war," don't they?


#1 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-10 06:32 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Dummkopf Trumpf bleated in an interview that aired Thursday night that the US needed a $600 billion increase in military spending next year to address "some real threats out there," but he did not specify the threats.

Link: ca.news.yahoo.com

#2 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-10 06:57 AM | Reply

Dummkopf Trumpf bleated in an interview that aired Thursday night that the US needed a $600 billion increase in military spending next year to address "some real threats out there," but he did not specify the threats.

The "threats"? They come to sweatyTrump late in the night and set him to yip-yip-yapping and tip-tip-tapping.

#3 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-01-10 07:47 AM | Reply

MAGA=Neocons.

Of course they love war.

#4 | Posted by Zed at 2026-01-10 08:43 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

#4

S'trewth!

MAGA are the Neocon's semiconscious Foot Soldiers who have been Trumped into thinking they aren't doing the Oligarch's bidding.

#5 | Posted by Corky at 2026-01-10 09:02 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Thousands of competent, experienced, or well-educated US diplomats never make it to the pinnacle of their careers at the State Dept by being appointed Ambassador. Many are happy to be made Consul-Generals.

Dummkopf Trumpf appointed ex-football player Herschel Walker as US Ambassador to the Bahamas and other good-for-nothings as US Ambassadors to France and Greece.

Here is the c.v. of Brian Burch, the underqualified political hack appointed to the prestigious sinecure of US Ambassador to the Holy See, which is considered the "Ruby in the Goat's Ass" in the diplomatic world.

Brian Burch will spend most of his time networking, pushing the Opus Dei and Trumpf junta agendas, all while enjoying delicious Roman cuisine, paid for by the hardworking American taxpayer.

And the title "Ambassador" will stay with him for life.

Link: press.vatican.va

#6 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-01-10 04:21 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Trump people don't give a crap what the pope says.

#7 | Posted by Angrydad at 2026-01-10 07:47 PM | Reply

#7 Including supposed Catholic JD Vance.

#8 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-01-10 07:50 PM | Reply

@#1 ... The Axis of Evil certainly does have a "zeal for war," don't they? ...

That image is most telling.

What policies has Pres Trump aligned the US foreign policy with?

The image seems to show the alignment.


#9 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-01-10 08:27 PM | Reply

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