Daniel Burke
@burke13.bsky.social
- Senior Editor of Religion & Spirituality @NPR. - Co-author of "American Pope," new biography of Pope Leo XIV. - Book events and contact info on my website
As Pope Leo returns to Peru this week, there's lots of stories about his time as a missionary and bishop. If you want just one to get a sense of his extraordinary work there, this is a good one substack.com/home/post/p-...
How Pope Leo XIV steered his Peruvian diocese through COVID
Pope Leo XIV returns to Chiclayo, Peru this week. The people there will never forget how, as bishop in 2020, he confronted the medical and spiritual crisis of COVID.
substack.com
Argentina's Catholic bishops sang a tango for Pope Leo 💃⛪ He loved it. www.youtube.com/shorts/CoJ6Z...
Bishops serenade Pope Leo with a tango
YouTube video by EWTN News
youtube.com
In Argentina this week, Pope Leo said he's following Pope Francis' footsteps. Today, he's in Cordoba, where Francis lived through a dark night of the soul in the 1990s. I wrote a piece about why Francis was exiled there and what he learned from the experience. www.cnn.com/interactive/...
The Pope's Dark Night of the Soul
Why the future pope was exiled, and how the painful lessons he learned are changing the church.
cnn.com
"Each of these appearances by Christian leaders, it must be emphasized, was after the criminal investigation into Brand was made public." religionnews.com/2026/11/06/r...
Russell Brand, convicted of rape, told us who he was. Why didn't Christian leaders listen?
(RNS) — After Brand's conversion to Christianity, Bishop Robert Barron, Carl Lentz, Tullian Tchividjian and Gabe Lyons all appeared in interviews with him — even though the accusations against Brand w...
religionnews.com
A little in-flight reading, Holy Father? You may know the subject quite well 😅
Ol' Bob really leaning into the wizard look
Massimo Faggioli@massimofaggioli.bsky.social · last wk.for a history of papal playlists
Wrote a piece about how Pope Leo is actually a pretty tough dude www.nytimes.com/2026/11/01/o...
Opinion | Pope Leo XIV, the Tough Guy of ‘High T’ Christianity
The pontiff draws on his missionary background for a show of fortitude.
nytimes.com
Wrote a piece about how Pope Leo is actually a pretty tough dude www.nytimes.com/2026/11/01/o...
Opinion | Pope Leo XIV, the Tough Guy of ‘High T’ Christianity
The pontiff draws on his missionary background for a show of fortitude.
nytimes.com
"The Pope doesn't take sides. Prevost has another opinion, but we won't talk about that now." Leo joking about rooting for his alma mater Villanova University, which is playing Notre Dame in hoops at the Eternal City Tip off in Rome.
"When a vampire is at your door or your child is possessed, you don't call for a Methodist." 💀💀💀 www.npr.org/2026/10/30/n...
Why so many horror movies have Catholic themes
From exorcisms to demons, when it comes to creeping out audiences, directors often turn to religion. For some filmmakers, spirituality provides bewitching mix of the mundane and the supernatural.
npr.org
Leo’s vote was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, which quoted the chief of staff at the Will County clerk’s office as saying the pope, registered at an Illinois address, requested a mail-in ballot on Oct. 3. apnews.com/article/vati...
Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope in history to vote in a US general election
Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope in history to vote in a U.S. general election. The Vatican on Friday confirmed the Chicago-born Leo submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of the November m...
apnews.com
Appreciate this piece on American Pope from People! people.com/after-dads-d...
After His Dad’s Death, Pope Leo Used His Inheritance to Help Build a Church in Peru
Pope Leo XIV’s new biography ‘American Pope’ details his final days with his mother, how he used his inheritance following his dad’s death to help his community in Peru and other personal moments from...
people.com
Pope Leo XIV denounces any religious justification for wars raging around the world saying, “There is no such thing as a holy war.”
Pope says 'there is no such thing as a holy war' in message to religious leaders
The American pope denounced the “troubling revival of war as an instrument of international politics” and its religious justifications by leaders.
nbcnews.to
Vatican says Pope Leo's trip to Peru will go forward as scheduled. “I am looking forward to returning to the continent where I’ve experienced so many moments of my life," Pope Leo said.
"We should never have been put in that position by the White House.” www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/mil...
Milwaukee Archbishop Grob issues ‘public apology’ over White House meeting
Archbishop Jeffrey Grob said his “intention was never to cause confusion, anger, or disappointment among the people entrusted to my care” and that the meeting was publicized without consent.
ewtnnews.com
Pope Leo driving home from the hospital ... for a man who just had lung surgery he looks pretty good
"On the second day after the operation, we turned around and found him arranging the chairs in the chapel himself. We said, “Holy Father, we can do that.” And he replied, “It doesn’t matter. I can do it, so I will.” www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news...
Pope’s surgeon: No clinical reason to cancel visit to South America - Vatican News
In an interview with Vatican News, Professor Stefano Margaritora, who operated on Pope Leo XIV on October 13, says the surgery was routine, though he ...
vaticannews.va
What's striking about this -- in addition to the evangelical-Catholic alliance -- is that these are not liberal groups by any means religionnews.com/2026/10/15/e...
In rare joint statement, evangelicals and Catholic bishops urge compassionate immigration laws
(RNS) — Catholic bishops and leaders from the National Association of Evangelicals drew on the Bible and Declaration of Independence to make a case for immigration reform.
religionnews.com
“What struck me is that the Pope isn’t saying ‘stop AI’. He’s making a more careful argument: that we need to actively preserve what’s human in the face of it. That lines up with something I’ve been arguing myself." www.vaticannews.va/en/world/new...
Bill Gates: Technology is a world in need of governance - Vatican News
In an interview with Vatican News, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates speaks about the potential dangers associated with the growth of artificial ...
vaticannews.va
Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass for medical staff on his fourth day in the hospital. Photo via Vatican News
Talked to two medical experts in lung cancer who said that: 1. Leo is lucky that they seem to have caught the cancer early. 2. He will have to keep monitoring, but should make a full and relatively quick recovery.
Daniel Burke@burke13.bsky.social · 4w agoLung tissue examined after the surgery confirmed a previous test that revealed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said.
Talked to two medical experts in lung cancer who said that: 1. Leo is lucky that they seem to have caught the cancer early. 2. He will have to keep monitoring, but should make a full and relatively quick recovery.
Daniel Burke@burke13.bsky.social · 4w agoLung tissue examined after the surgery confirmed a previous test that revealed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said.
Lung tissue examined after the surgery confirmed a previous test that revealed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said.
Pope Leo has lung cancer, the Vatican announces after surgery
Pope Leo XIV had surgery on Tuesday to remove a cancerous growth in his lung, the Vatican announced.
npr.org
Following the news that Pope Leo has lung cancer: Worth noting that he has never been a smoker, as far as we could tell from pictures, interviews and other research. But there is a history of cancer in his family, including his mom, who died in 1990 at age 77 after chemotherapy.
Catholic bishop of the military archdiocese says Catholic soldiers should refuse to participate in a planned livestream execution. "I oblige any Catholics assigned to the firing squad to request to be excused from this action contrary to the teaching of the Church." www.milarch.org/archbishop-b...
Archbishop Broglio Issues Statement on Proposed Execution Livestream - Archdiocese for the Military, USA
Archbishop Broglio has issued a statement on the proposal to livestream the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad.
milarch.org
AP: "Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees the Catholic Church’s pastoral services to Catholics in the U.S. military…stipulated that any Catholic soldier assigned to the U.S. Army firing squad should ask to be excused from that duty, which he described as contrary to the teachings of the church."
Archbishop of the US military says Catholic soldiers should not serve on firing squad
The archbishop described the planned execution of a gunman who killed 13 people on a military base as contrary to the teachings of the church.
politico.com
