The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has confirmed the authenticity of a soldier destroying a statue of Jesus in Lebanon

The IDF say that they are now investigating

@CatholicArena

Cardinal Pizzaballa has issued a STRONG response to the attack by an Israeli soldier on a statue of Jesus

His comments also point to other attacks on Christian sites:

'This act constitutes a grave affront to the Christian faith and adds to other reported incidents of desecration of Christian symbols by IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon. It further reveals a disturbing failure in moral and human formation, wherein even the most elementary reverence for the sacred and for the dignity of others has been gravely compromised'

@CatholicArena

'I carry with me a photo of a Muslim child who, during the visit to Lebanon, was waiting there with a sign saying “Welcome Pope Leo.” He has been killed in this final phase of the war. There are many human situations, and I think we must be able to think in these terms'

Pope Leo XIV

@CatholicArena

Pope Leo XIV has refuted one of the most common lies against him, namely the idea that he supports open borders:

'I believe that a State has the right to regulate its borders. I am not saying that everyone must be allowed to enter without order'

@CatholicArena

APRIL 24 1916, EASTER RISING BEGINS

'In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.

We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline, and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called'

Proclamation of the Irish Republic

@CatholicArena

On this day in 1916, the Easter Rising began in Dublin.

One of its leaders, Joseph Mary Plunkett, wrote this famous poem about Our Lord.

His father, Count Plunkett, visited Pope Benedict XV prior to the Rising and later claimed to have received his blessing for the plans.

Plunkett was executed two weeks later aged just 28.

I See His Blood Upon The Rose

I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.

I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice-and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words.

All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree

@CatholicArena

'Ireland will not find Christ's peace until she has taken Christ's sword. What peace she has known in these latter days has been the devil's peace, peace with sin, peace with dishonour. It is a foul thing, dear only to men of foul breeds'

On April 24th 1916, Padraig Pearse led the Easter Rising in Ireland

@CatholicArena

🚨 🇪🇸 Pope Leo XIV has just approved a recognition of martyrdom of 49 Catholics martyred by Communists during the Spanish Civil War

It comes ahead of the pope's visit to Spain in June

@CatholicArena

ISRAEL 🇮🇱

A Catholic nun has been violently assaulted in Jerusalem

The hate attack occurred near the tomb of King David and has been charged as 'racially motivated' while the nun's institute director called it 'sectarian violence'

A 36 year old man has been arrested

@CatholicArena

An inquest in Belfast today found that the 1972 slaughter of a Catholic priest and two children by a British soldier was 'not reasonable'

Fr. Noel Fitpatrick was described by the coroner as 'recognisable as a priest and also unarmed' when the British soldier murdered him

@CatholicArena

When I was a child of ten I went down on my bare knees by my bedside one night and promised God that I should devote my life to an effort to free my country.

I have kept that promise. As a boy and as a man I have worked for Irish freedom, first among all earthly things. I have helped to organise, to arm, to train, and to discipline my fellow-countrymen to the sole end that, when the time came, they might fight for Irish freedom. The time, as it seemed to me, did come, and we went into the fight. I am glad we did.

We seem to have lost.

We have not lost.

To refuse to fight would have been to lose; to fight is to win. We have kept faith with the past, and handed on a tradition to the future.

- Irish freedom fighter Pádraig Pearse, May 2 1916

@CatholicArena

Irish freedom fighter Padraig Pearse was executed on the 3rd of May 1916. These were his final words to his mother after receiving Communion:

'I just received Holy Communion. I am happy, except for the great grief of parting from you. This is the death I should have asked if God had given me the choice of all deaths—to die a soldier’s death for Ireland and for freedom.

We have done right. People will say hard things of us now, but later on will praise us. Do not grieve for all this, but think of it as a sacrifice which God asked of me and of you. Good-bye again, dear mother. May God bless you for your great love for me and for your great faith, and may He remember all you have so bravely suffered. I hope soon to see papa, and in a little while we shall be all together again. I have not words to tell you of my love for you and how my heart yearns to you all

I will call to you in my heart at the last moment.

Your son,

Pat'

@CatholicArena

🇺🇸 🇻🇦

Pope Leo XIV will meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Vatican on May 7th

@CatholicArena

3rd May 1916, Pádraig Pearse executed

Galway Cathedral features a mosaic with Pearse, John F. Kennedy and the Risen Christ

In 1963, Kennedy visited the burial place of Pearse and other 1916 leaders at Arbour Hill, becoming the first international head of state to do so

@CatholicArena

On this day in 1916, Irish Freedom Fighter Joseph Plunkett was executed

Plunkett played a significant role in efforts to have his relative Oliver Plunkett beatified

Before he died, Joseph Plunkett wrote this famous poem about Jesus:

'I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.

I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice-and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words.

All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree'

@CatholicArena

🚨 Donald Trump has once again LIED about Pope Leo XIV in his latest DERANGED attack

In an interview with Hugh Hewitt, Trump falsely claimed that Pope Leo XIV thinks that 'it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon'

Trump also claimed that Pope Leo XIV was 'endangering a lot of Catholics' by not endorsing Trump's backup service for Netanyahu's Iran War

@CatholicArena

“The mission of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, to preach peace. If someone wants to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let him do so truthfully.

For years, the Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt on that point"

Pope Leo XIV

@CatholicArena

'The culture of contempt for everything that isn't theirs, not just everything Arab but everything non-Jewish, is unfortunately growing. It's a diseased seed of a society that's being amplified by the media, and we must work on it to stem a phenomenon that is becoming worrying'

Cardinal Pizzaballa

@CatholicArena

Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress has launched an ATTACK on Pope Leo XIV

Jeffress, who was with Donald Trump in the Oval Office three days after the Iran War started, MOCKED the pope by claiming that Trump 'has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches' than the pope

@CatholicArena

IRELAND 🇮🇪

Mural of Saint Colmcille in Derry

Colmcille is one of the patron saints of Ireland

@CatholicArena