Christopher Hale

Living Water for a Doom-Scrolling Nation We check our phones 144 times a day. Jesus offers a new spring that never runs dry.

The only thing more original than original sin is God's grace.

The Samaritan woman came to the well looking for water. She walked away without the jar.

“It’s Sickening” — Cardinal Cupich Blasts White House for Gamifying War From the streets of Chicago to the halls of the Vatican, Pope Leo’s hometown cardinal is waging one of the most sustained moral confrontation with an American president in modern Church history.

NEW: A close ally of Pope Leo XIV is accusing the Trump-Vance White House of turning war into entertainment.

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich blasted a White House video celebrating U.S. strikes on Iran as “sickening,” warning that real deaths are being reduced to spectacle in the age of social media.

“Weapons Must Fall Silent” — Pope Leo XIV Again Demands Peace in Iran Altar girls, a young woman's embrace, and a fourth call for peace in Iran — how Pope Leo XIV marked International Women's Day.

NEW: Pope Leo XIV spent the morning urging President Trump to end his war in Iran — for the fourth time this week — then celebrated Mass with altar girls at his side in a struggling Roman parish no pope has visited in forty years.

“Weapons Must Fall Silent” — Pope Leo XIV Again Demands Peace in Iran Altar girls, a young woman's embrace, and a fourth call for peace in Iran — how Pope Leo XIV marked International Women's Day.

NEW: Pope Leo XIV spent the morning urging President Trump to end his war in Iran — for the fourth time this week — then celebrated Mass with altar girls at his side in a struggling Roman parish no pope has visited in forty years.

On International Women’s Day, Pope Leo XIV is flanked by two altar girls as he celebrates Mass.

Pope Leo XIV Sends His Best Diplomat to America Archbishop Gabriele Caccia — the Vatican's veteran envoy to Duterte's Philippines and the United Nations — is now headed to Washington at the most turbulent moment in modern Vatican-U.S. relations.

When Rodrigo Duterte was waging war against his own population in the Philippines, Pope Francis sent one of its most experienced diplomats to Manila.

That diplomat was Archbishop Gabriele Caccia.

Now Pope Leo XIV has chosen him to be the papal envoy to the United States.

God Never Tires of Forgiving Us The words that rearranged my life — and the parable that proves them true.

My biggest self-delusion is that I can earn love.

I rehearse my apologies. I draft my plans for self-improvement. I calculate what it will take to deserve love again — what penance, what performance, what proof of change.

I turn it into a project because that is the only language I've ever known.

God Never Tires of Forgiving Us The words that rearranged my life — and the parable that proves them true.

I carry a card-size print of Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal Son — not for the son kneeling in the father’s arms, but for that older brother who will not go in.

That is the question Jesus leaves unanswered at the end of this parable: not just will you come home, but will you enter the feast?

“No War Is Holy” — Hegseth, the Pentagon, and America’s Unchristian Crusade in Iran Military commanders are telling troops the Iran war is “God’s divine plan” for Armageddon. Thirty members of Congress want answers — and Catholic teaching has a verdict.

No Catholic can support Trump’s war in Iran. It’s illegal, immoral, and a total affront to our faith.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Our Trash is God’s Foundation Joseph was thrown away. Jesus was rejected. God builds on what we discard.

We build our national story around the builders. God builds his story around the ones the builders threw away.

The immigrant detained at the border. The mother working three jobs. The incarcerated man the system forgot.

These are the rejected stones. And the Gospel says they are the foundation

Pope Leo XIV Sees What America Won’t Admit Cardinal Parolin warns of a world “set ablaze.” Cardinal Cupich questions the war’s legitimacy. Pope Leo prays for disarmament. And the New York Times traces a school massacre to American bombs.

The question for Americans is whether we will have the courage to look at what our government has done and call it what it is.

Pope Leo asked today: “Would you imagine what a world without wars would be like?”

One hundred and fifty girls in Minab will never get to imagine anything again.

“I would like to address the powerful of the world with an ever-timely appeal: never again war!” — Pope Leo XIV

TGIF

Pope Leo XIV Sees What America Won’t Admit Cardinal Parolin warns of a world “set ablaze.” Cardinal Cupich questions the war’s legitimacy. Pope Leo prays for disarmament. And the New York Times traces a school massacre to American bombs.

Here’s the full story on the pope’s escalating criticism of President Trump’s Iran War — and the Vatican’s behind-the-scenes response.

“People are becoming more aware of the amount of money that ends up in the pockets of merchants of death. With that money, hospitals and schools could be built. Instead, those already built are being destroyed.” — Pope Leo XIV

Pope Leo XIV Sees What America Won’t Admit Cardinal Parolin warns of a world “set ablaze.” Cardinal Cupich questions the war’s legitimacy. Pope Leo prays for disarmament. And the New York Times traces a school massacre to American bombs.

In a new interview, Pope Leo XIV's top deputy is warning that President Trump’s strikes on Iran risk “setting the world ablaze.”

Three times in three days, Pope Leo XIV has rebuked Donald Trump's war in the Middle East. No pope has spoken this forcefully in a generation.

www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/pope-leo-x...

“Would you imagine what a world without wars would be like?

“A world without the terror of approaching explosions, without rocket alarms shattering the silence of the night?

“Please join me this month in prayer for disarmament and peace. Let's pray and share with others.” — Pope Leo XIV

Then came the backlash. Pope Leo called for peace, and MAGA called him a Marxist. The pope didn't back down.

www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/pope-leo-x...

Then he said it again: "Violence is never the right choice." Pope Leo rebuked the war for a second time.

www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/violence-i...

‘Stop the Spiral of Violence’ — Pope Leo XIV Demands End to Trump’s Iran War The first American pope used his Angelus to deliver a forceful moral plea to end Operation Epic Fury — the latest in a pattern of prophetic opposition to Trump’s military campaigns across the globe.

Pope Leo's first rebuke came on day one of the Iran strikes. He told Trump to stop the spiral of violence.

"War is never holy! Only peace is holy, because it is willed by God!" — Pope Leo XIV

Pope Francis Never Talked About Poverty Before you get upset, let me explain myself.

The rich man in Luke doesn’t oppress Lazarus.

He doesn’t exploit, rob, or strike him. He does something worse. He walks past him.

That’s the sin the modern world has perfected.

We have built entire systems — economic, digital, architectural — designed to make the Lazaruses of the world disappear.

“Illegal and Immoral” — Pope Leo Expected to Condemn Trump’s Iran Strike and Appeal for Peace at Sunday Angelus A source close to the pontiff tells me that the first American pope will use tomorrow’s address to deliver a forceful moral rebuke of the U.S.-Israeli military assault.

A source close to the pontiff says he views the strikes as "immoral, illegal, and a grave threat to the entire human family."

This week represents one of Pope Leo's most direct moral confrontations with President Trump since his election.

Pope Leo XIV Criticizes Trump’s Iran War for the Third Time in Three Days From St. Peter's Square to Castel Gandolfo, the first American pope has made peace the unmistakable mandate of his pontificate — and Operation Epic Fury his clearest target yet.

Three times in three days. Pope Leo XIV has made it clear that the Catholic Church opposes this folly.

Pope Leo XIV Called for Peace. MAGA Called Him a Marxist. After Leo's plea for diplomacy amid Iran strikes, the MAGA Catholic meltdown entered its most revealing chapter yet.

MAGA called the pope a "sh*tlib Marxist" for opposing the war. Here's what actually happened.

“Violence Is Never the Right Choice” — Pope Leo XIV Laments “War Again” In Middle East He told the world to stop a war. Then he sat with mothers of addicted children in the Quarticciolo.

Then he spoke out again just hours later: "Violence is never the right choice."

‘Stop the Spiral of Violence’ — Pope Leo XIV Demands End to Trump’s Iran War The first American pope used his Angelus to deliver a forceful moral plea to end Operation Epic Fury — the latest in a pattern of prophetic opposition to Trump’s military campaigns across the globe.

Pope Leo's first rebuke came on the first day of the Iran strikes. He told Trump, Netanyahu, and all involved to stop the spiral of violence.

”War is never holy! Only peace is holy, because it is willed by God!” — Pope Leo XIV