Jack Posobiec is joined by Ben Harnwell to discuss the latest news and reaction to the latest events in the world, including the news that the Houthis have decided not to fight anymore, and the announcement that Canada will become the 51st state, the Supreme Court is allowing President Trump to implement his ban on transgender people serving in the military, and Cardinals gather for a mass in Rome ahead of the first vote to elect a new pope.
00:02:13.160The Supreme Court is allowing President Trump to implement his ban on transgender people serving in the military, at least for now.
00:02:20.620The high court lifting a lower court injunction, blocking the policy while litigation continues.
00:02:27.340Cardinals from 70 countries will begin the secretive voting ritual to elect a new pope.
00:02:32.640The next spiritual leader for the Catholic Church needs a two-thirds majority.
00:02:38.440Cardinals in the papal conclave gathered for a mass in Rome this morning ahead of the first vote to elect the new pope of the Catholic Church.
00:04:22.020Yeah, I mean, it's important because even a bad pope impacts badly on the global witness of Christians.
00:04:29.120I think we've seen that right across the world, possibly over the last 12 years.
00:04:32.540We've had this pseudo-fake, pseudo-anti-pope figure undermining the cohesiveness and the coherence of Catholic witness, especially on the pro-life issues.
00:04:44.160And I often point out the fact that the rise of the woke phenomenon, really, in the political sphere on the left, really took place in the last anti-pontificate.
00:04:52.680And I actually don't think that's just correlation. I actually think that's cause and effect.
00:04:56.660Well, and what's been so amazing, and we'll get into it after the break, but what we do see happening throughout Europe, on the continent, and really throughout America, is the rise of Gen Z returning to the church.
00:05:11.100However, the church that they're returning to, and you see, by the way, you see this with the evangelicals as well.
00:05:38.340Look how many people, sort of younger than us, like kids to us, right, coming up, as you say, Generation Z, how MAGA they are, right?
00:05:49.080They might not even be that political, but they know there's something about President Trump that they respond to.
00:05:56.200And I think part of that is, you know, look, social scientists have been pointing out for generations that kids rebel against their parents.
00:06:04.140And what we're really seeing now is that rebellion taking place, not just on the political sphere, but also on the religious sphere as well.
00:06:13.200You know, I had this conversation with someone yesterday, a good friend of mine, and he said, why is it that Gen Z seems to be moving almost on the right?
00:06:23.580They're going towards full Trump, and on the left, they're going full extreme.
00:06:27.200And I said, what's interesting, and I'd love to get into this, they've never lived in a world where institutions worked.
00:06:33.660And so they are now saying, we've got to go further and further, whether that means in the past or further towards the future, it's somewhere where they want to be able to find some clarity.
00:06:45.600Live here in the Eternal City, we are in the Vatican, St. Peter's Square, the dome built by Michelangelo himself right behind me.
00:06:55.000And we're waiting to see black or white smoke be coming from right, right there.
00:07:25.000All right, Jack Posobiec, here we are.
00:07:28.620We are back live in the Eternal City, Rome, sitting just outside, as you can see, steps away from St. Peter's Basilica, waiting for that proverbial white or black smoke to determine whether or not a pope has been chosen.
00:07:46.780But, folks, let me tell you something.
00:07:48.260When I travel, something that I think about a lot is my health.
00:07:53.760And that's why I made sure when I was traveling.
00:07:57.380And, hey, Producer Russ, can you actually go grab the – I want to show the truth on this.
00:08:03.560I've got my wellness company travel kit is right here with me because you never know what you're going to get when you're traveling.
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00:08:55.540The wellness company, in addition to all the great travel medicine that I've definitely got with me because if I'm going to be doing the show and other shows while I'll be here, I need to be at peak performance.
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00:10:19.520And that's something I would actually fear quite a lot possibly because it would signify that Bergoglio was able to stitch up his successor with the 80% of the conclave that he appointed.
00:10:35.660The fix would be in, and the votes have already been cast long before anyone went into the Sistine Chapel.
00:10:41.680And all of this, you know, sort of papabile and the betting markets, which apparently there's betting markets here as well.
00:10:50.800This, of course, would, you know, would all be for naught because, in fact, there would be, there would be, in the sense, a, you know, a fix in.
00:11:00.500And, by the way, you know, I know we're having some, we're dealing with some signal issues as well because we're here just outside the Faraday cage of the Sistine Chapel.
00:11:09.160So, we're, you know, we're fighting some of those signal jammers as well as we're dealing with that.
00:11:12.780And so, but, but Ben, so what you're saying then is, as the days go longer, perhaps the faithful could be more hopeful that we get a non-progressive pope, someone potentially who is more interested in even being opening and not persecuting the traditional Catholics.
00:11:34.760I reckon there's going to be a progressive that comes out of that, comes out onto the, on the lodger, the balcony, whatever happens.
00:11:42.440The, the, the way I heard it termed the other day, and I think it's a useful way of defining the issue, is are we going to get a revolutionary or simply a mere reformer?
00:11:51.540Now, Parolin, the present or outgoing Secretary of State, the Vatican's Prime Minister, he would consider to be, I suppose, broadly a moderate reformer, but not a revolutionary.
00:12:02.500And that is why the, the Bergoglio appointees are massively putting out the spin against him, saying he was obstructing Bergoglio on some of his pro, his pro openness reforms, for example, on the divorced and remarried receiving communion.
00:12:20.460They're, they're saying that Parolin was trying to obstacle them from behind.
00:12:24.240Um, so that's just an indication that, that, that the, that the Bergoglio rights really don't want someone who is going to slow down the, uh, the, the revolutionary, uh, momentum.
00:12:38.920It's also turned down the momentum, but not the trajectory.
00:13:29.600We are back live, Rome, Italy, at the site of the papal conclave.
00:13:37.280This is a conclave which will decide the future for a billion plus Catholics around the world and also set the trajectory of world affairs in many ways, depending on which cardinal comes out yet.
00:13:52.660And we're double-checking this, but I've got just behind me is where the smoke will arise from the Sistine Chapel.
00:14:01.500It has yet to arise, which could potentially mean that tonight's deliberations, tonight is, this is the first day, this is the first evening of deliberations.
00:14:10.760It could go, perhaps, later into the evening, much later than was originally thought.
00:14:17.320We were expecting to see smoke as of now already.
00:14:21.440I want to bring in my favorite anti-communist, but also a great Gen Z Catholic in her own right.
00:14:28.540It's Evita Duffy, the host of the GINA Report early edition.
00:14:52.640We knew there's a lot of good Catholics in the Bongino army.
00:14:55.560But, you know, Evita, we were talking a little bit earlier and something that I've been saying all week and is the direction of the next papacy is potentially one where, one where we could continue this persecution.
00:15:10.280Of the traditional Latin mass, the Orthodox version of the Catholic rites, or perhaps find a pope who strikes a chord that bridges some of these main, these burgeoning schisms.
00:15:27.480I hate to use the word, but that is what it is.
00:15:29.160It is a potential schism within the church itself.
00:15:32.160Or, you know, there's also the great, as Taylor Marshall says, the choice of the Sigma cardinal, Pizzaballa, who, Cardinal Pizzaballa, who comes from, he's currently situated in the Holy Land.
00:16:06.880What is Gen Z looking for when it comes to a new pope?
00:16:10.640Well, such a good question, Jack, because the clear answer is tradition.
00:16:17.400Gen Z is incredibly attracted to tradition.
00:16:20.440If you look at churches that are growing and thriving, where there's lots of little babies and families coming together, they tend to be the more trad churches.
00:16:29.100It's funny, when I was growing up in Wisconsin, I went to a Latin mass church.
00:17:13.420This is a great thing to keep in mind if you're not a Catholic.
00:17:16.640The Catholic Church is civilizational.
00:17:19.000It's an institution that has lasted for centuries.
00:17:21.260It has clearly a massive impact on the entire world.
00:17:25.540There are faithful Catholics everywhere in every single country and every corner of the earth.
00:17:28.740So it matters if we want to have a Christian traditional revival in this country, in the world more broadly, that we have a conservative pope leading the Catholic Church.
00:17:38.980This is good for everyone, irrespective of whether you're actually a Catholic.
00:17:44.720And I think that's so important, you know, and as we wait here, and of course, you know, I'm hearing horns, I'm hearing sirens, you know, or perhaps, well, part of that's just being in Italy.
00:17:54.820But another part of it is people are waiting, and there are thousands of people that we saw even earlier today waiting, praying, as each cardinal made, they did the roll call, they made the vow of silence.
00:18:07.340They went up one by one, and then the doors of the Sistine Chapel were closed, and the order given extra omnes, which means every person who is not a cardinal, is ejected from the Sistine Chapel.
00:18:23.400The all power cords are pulled out of that place, it's turned into a Faraday cage, no one is allowed out.
00:18:30.300So you do get that, of course, while you're here, you do get that connection to these traditional rites.
00:18:37.880And so it's amazing that here you are talking about how this is what Gen Z is looking for.
00:18:42.220It's like, well, when you hold a papal conclave, this is one of the most ancient rites that there is.
00:18:47.660And yet, why is it that Rome can seem to have that, and yet when it comes to just the average person wanting to go to Mass in anywhere in the States or anywhere across the continent,
00:18:59.220it's so much harder to find those types of churches that are absolutely gorgeous, having the Latin Mass, or even going to, you know, even if it's a Norvis Ordo Mass, in a church that doesn't look like a YMCA with a cross-up.
00:19:15.940And, you know, the church is under attack right now.
00:19:17.780It's not, there aren't Christians being beheaded as there are in Congo, but in the United States, we have this problem.
00:19:22.940I mean, under the last administration, you had FBI officials infiltrating traditional Catholic communities for potential extremism.
00:19:31.000Right now, you have in Washington, forcing priests to potentially break the seal of confession and report crimes to law enforcement.
00:19:41.240So there is a war against the Catholic Church waging right now.
00:19:45.160And unfortunately, lukewarm Catholicism is not going to be capable of defending the faithful.
00:19:50.840The church militant need strong leadership that leans into exactly what the Catholic Church stands for, all of the traditions, all of the moral teachings, and being proud of them instead of shying away from them, which is what we've been doing for a long time.
00:20:11.100By the way, folks, I want to remind everybody out there that, you know, people say, how do you do this every day, day in, day out?
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00:21:27.660Evita, you know, as we think about this, it's so true.
00:21:31.620The church has been under attack, and I've just got to say it.
00:21:35.160I didn't hear the biggest responses to attacks on the church from the clergy.
00:21:39.900I heard it from people like Donald Trump, like senators like Josh Hawley, people out there as conservative pundits, Dan Bongino fighting back, who went along with Kash Patel to go and shore up the FBI that was conducting some of these attacks.
00:21:56.640But it almost feels like the American clergy.
00:21:58.440And I know when I talked to Charlie Kirk, and he says he sees the same thing in some of the evangelical world, that you just have these priests and pastors who kind of want to go along to get along, go with the flow and meet the world where it is, rather than being that unchanging rock, that unchanging beacon of truth in a world gone mad.
00:22:19.260That's what the church is called to be, isn't it?
00:22:22.620And Jack, I actually wrote multiple articles in the wake of these reports that the FBI was surveilling and infiltrating traditional Catholic communities, asking the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, will you come out and defend the faithful who are being targeted by this administration?
00:22:38.620They did not respond to me, there were a couple individual bishops who had comments on what happened, but the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops was silent.
00:22:47.780And in fact, where I lived in Chicago, Cardinal Cupich shut down Latin Mass, they shut down the church that I was attending.
00:22:55.040So in my view, what the church was doing in the last few years is not only did they not defend the faithful, they actually piled on by trying to restrict traditional liturgy.
00:23:05.040And it just goes to show there is a corruption, there is a rot in the church, there needs to be a rebirth, there needs to be a revival of the church.
00:23:15.940We're conservatives, you don't believe in tearing things down and destroying them like the left does.
00:23:20.420There needs to be a revival that is not abandoning the church in this time of need, but to really pray for it, to ask for true guidance, which we have not had in a very long time.
00:23:30.200Well, and that's exactly right. You know, people say when you hear people say why they left the church, one of the first things they'll say is because of the clergy and the corruption scandal from sort of the late 90s, early 2000s.
00:23:47.780So many people will say that was the problem. And not just that it happened, but the fact that so much of the American bishops were covering it up.
00:23:55.500They were absolutely covering it up. We as Catholics have to say we demand more, we demand better.
00:24:02.540We are going to clean up our own house before anyone else even has a chance to.
00:24:07.540So that's something as well that, by the way, I would love to see out of this conclave right now.
00:24:12.780And I've even heard people say that I would hope I'm praying for this. Of course, we pray that the Holy Spirit is in that room right now, working on the heart of every single member of the conclave.
00:24:21.760But in addition, what I hope is that someone in that conclave, one of the cardinals will get up and say, if there was any cardinal here that was associated with one of these scandals, they should recuse themselves.
00:24:34.320They should recuse themselves from the vote, and they should, in fact, step out of this.
00:24:39.160And that would include, I'm sorry, I hate to say this, but it would include a lot of high-level cardinals.
00:24:44.600Last minute in the segment, Evita Duffy.
00:24:47.600Well, I'll just say, if you go to LifeSite News, great organization.
00:24:50.260They're actually keeping track of some of these individuals who are high-ranking cardinals who are going to be voting and who have connections to Cardinal McCarrick, one of the worst child sex abusers in the Catholic Church's history.
00:25:00.820So, these people definitely should recuse themselves. They can't be guided by the Holy Spirit. In fact, they should take a step back, focus on their own spiritual health at this time.
00:25:09.200So, there are a lot of people who should not be voting. What's most important right now is that everybody, whether you're a Catholic or not, pray for this conclave. It matters to the Catholic Church. It matters to the world.
00:25:19.060That absolutely matters to the world. Evita, let's hold you over one more segment because there's a lot to talk about here.
00:25:26.680And, of course, we're waiting for that smoke over my right shoulder. It's a little bit darker, but we've got a shot where it's lighter.
00:25:33.640I mean, these guys, don't they understand that we're live right now? They should be a little more appreciative.
00:25:39.620I flew all the way here for human events daily, and they can't even get one measly puff of smoke while we're on air. My gosh. My gosh. What are we going to do, folks? Quick break. Right back. Jack Posobiec, live from Rome.
00:25:53.380Jack is a great guy. He's written a fantastic book. Everybody's talking about it. Go get it. And he's been my friend right from the beginning of this whole beautiful event. And we're going to turn it around and make our country cry to get to him. Amen.
00:26:47.820And of course, of course, we won't know until that white smoke comes up behind me above the Sistine Chapel. There's perhaps no clearer sign of an ensuing conclave. Vatican firefighters installing the chimney where, when the Pope has been named, white smoke will billow.
00:27:05.220As for who the next one will be, the church leaves it to 133 cardinal electors and the Holy Spirit.
00:27:13.880When I'm working long hours, I'm always listening to human events with Jack Posobiec.
00:27:28.280All right, Jack Posobiec here back. We are live in Rome, Italy, just steps away from St. Peter's Basilica itself, the Vatican. Of course, we are waiting for a billow of smoke.
00:27:45.280And earlier, when the show started, it was a little bit lighter, but the sun is now down.
00:27:51.960And so if we do get that black smoke, I'm sorry, folks, you won't be able to see it.
00:27:56.440And for those of you listening on the Salem Radio Network or on the podcast, you wouldn't be able to see it anyway.
00:28:01.300But I tell you all about it, and you've probably seen smoke before.
00:28:03.420We're on with Evita Duffy of the Bongino Report, early edition.
00:28:08.620Evita, let's step back a little bit here and talk about this just from a more meta perspective as we end up the show.
00:28:17.620Religion, specifically Christianity, is always targeted by the forces of revolution, by the forces of the left.
00:28:27.600Why is it that religion is something that they always target first, just like in the United States in the 1960s, it was God in the public square and God in schools that was the very first target?
00:28:43.440Well, look, Jack, I mean, authoritarian regimes everywhere, they thrive off of the authority that they have.
00:28:49.200They thrive off of fear of people viewing them as the absolute.
00:28:52.960And when you have tons and tons of people in your country viewing God in heaven as their ultimate authority, suddenly those people become a lot less, a lot more difficult to control.
00:29:08.180This is why communist regimes everywhere hate Christianity.
00:29:11.720This is why they purposely try to subvert the church everywhere they go.
00:29:17.800And if I could just say, Jack, right now, there are a lot of people on TikTok and on Instagram who were Catholics, former Catholics, who are now weighing in on the conclave.
00:29:27.700And they have all these opinions about the Catholic Church and why it should be woke.
00:29:32.040I just have to say the Catholic Church needs really strong, really traditional leadership.
00:29:37.100And everybody weighing in, the vast majority of them, do not care about Catholicism.
00:29:41.360They said nothing about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence back during the Biden admin.
00:29:47.920They said nothing about the targeting of traditional Catholics under the Biden admin.
00:29:51.200I really don't want to hear it from a lot of these people.
00:29:53.580The church is under attack and we need strong leadership.
00:30:02.260They are done with the, as C.S. Lewis would call it, the men without chests.
00:30:07.880You want someone who has, but, and this is also something, by the way, that, you know, it gets into a different discussion, but it is, there's a difference between physical strength and moral strength.
00:30:20.200And physical strength, you can go to the gym, you can work out, you can do your reps, you can do all that.
00:30:25.540Lots of great people can go out and be an athlete.
00:30:28.240But then many times we see this with some athletes and many others, they lack moral strength and moral character.
00:30:36.220And Evita, isn't that really what we're lacking so much in society today?
00:30:40.200Yeah, I mean, well, what is, what is society geared toward today?
00:30:46.380It's all about what makes me feel good in every circumstance.
00:30:50.120And the Catholic Church actually says, you know what?
00:30:52.580You actually need to suffer a little bit in life.
00:30:54.880You need to go through some hardships, you need to actually make difficult decisions that are the right decisions.
00:30:59.980If you want to truly be happy, you need to turn to Christ if you want to be happy, which is a really hard thing to do, especially in the world that we live in.
00:31:09.380It's actually a radical departure from what the modern world is presenting to people.
00:31:15.260And it's a threat to the, to the cultural norms of our time.
00:31:19.200It's a threat to authoritarian governments.
00:31:20.800It's a threat to a lot of things and a lot of people.
00:31:23.740And that's why this conclave is so important.
00:31:26.480And it's why so many people who you think shouldn't be caring about the Catholic Church at all are weighing in because this is such a momentous occasion.
00:31:33.880And as it comes down to, this is going to affect not just the 1.5 billion Catholics, but a voice for so many out there when it comes, by the way, we have so many wars that are going on right now that were not happening when the last Pope actually didn't die, but stepped aside, which is a whole other conversation we could have, I'm sure.
00:31:58.400But we see the war in Israel and Gaza, we see the war in Ukraine, we see India and Pakistan, which it popped off, seems to have simmered down.
00:32:10.220But, you know, we see if that will escalate.