Waiting for Smoke: JD Visits the Pope

The symbolism is a bit much.

I am not religious, but Francis was a relatively progressive Pope who lived according to his values. He was a good man. He took serious steps to curb extremism in the Church, including excommunicating Mike Flynn’s personal priest Carlo Vigano, dissolving the leadership of Knights of Malta, and banning “personal prelatures” like Opus Dei.

Yesterday, JD Vance met the Pope. About 12 hours later, Francis died.

The symbolism of this is honestly a bit much. I have, in all sincerity, repeatedly referred to Peter Thiel as the Antichrist. He is, in my view, the essence of evil, should one believe that evil exists. Peter Thiel was recruited into Opus Dei as an undergrad at Stanford by Arne Panula who became head of Opus Dei and the Catholic Information Center.

In 2011, JD Vance met Peter Thiel as an undergrad at Yale. Eight years later, Peter Thiel gave JD Vance $15 million and ownership in Rumble — and JD converted to Catholicism. I wrote about the connections in this article.

So, we will be waiting for smoke to see if we get another Francis, another John Paul II who embraced Opus Dei, or something worse. There will be a Conclave in secret to determine what direction the Catholic Church goes from here. As Cardinals debate on the right man for the job, there will be crowds in Vatican Square waiting for white smoke.

At the same time, around the world, people will be lobbying to push the Church towards the dark side. For example, Kevin Roberts, President of Heritage Foundation and head of Project 2025, meets every week with an Opus Dei priest to get his “spiritual guidance” according to OPUS author Gareth Gore.

Here’s an interview with Gareth Gore on my podcast Radicalized. He gives a great introduction to the dangers of authoritarian cult Opus Dei.

To make things even more consequential, 6 of the 9 Justices on the Supreme Court are Catholic integralists, meaning they believe the Church and the government should be one thing — an end result that is directly opposite from the intention of the Constitution. Nevertheless, this was the entry requirement to be on Leonard Leo’s Federalist Society list of Judges sanctioned to be on SCOTUS. Leonard Leo is a proud member of Opus Dei and a proud Knight of Malta.

It won’t just be 1.4 billion Catholics affected by the decision of who will be the new Pope. The direction the Catholic Church takes will be a signal to the entire world. Are we moving towards evil, towards Mike Flynn, Peter Thiel and Carlo Vigano’s brand of spirituality, or will the Church help guide the world out of the dark? Here’s Vigano three years ago being introduced by Flynn.

Frankly, I think it’s silly and wrong that a bunch of old men in robes on the other side of the world are making such an important decision for all of us. Nevertheless, here we are.

Rest in peace, Francis. Everyone else, hang on for a bumpy ride.

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