A new survey shows our own Evita Perrone, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has a lead over Vice President JD Vance in a hypothetical 2028 presidential matchup. She edges him out 51% to 49% in The Argument/VeraSite survey. The alleged reason for her beating him out is that the younger voters like her. Cortez dismissed early polling but […] The post This Is Who Leads JD Vance for President in a New Survey appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday announced his government will seek to crack down on hate speech and guns following last weekend’s terrorist shooting that killed 15 people, ages 10-87. Albanese recently called for stamping out Islamophobia in Australia. His focus is not on the problem. He has made the perpetrators into the victims. […] The post Australian Prime Minister Calls for Stricter Hate Speech & Gun Laws appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

VATICAN CITY, Dec 18 (Reuters) — Pope Leo replaced Cardinal Timothy Dolan as leader of the Catholic Church in New York, the Vatican announced on Thursday, sidelining a prominent American church figure in a major shake-up of the country’s Catholic leadership. Leo, the first American pope, appointed a relatively unknown cleric from Illinois, Bishop Ronald Hicks, to replace Dolan as leader of the nation’s second-largest Catholic diocese, home to some 2.8 million Church members. “Hicks represents not just a new chapter for New York but for the American church as a whole,” said David Gibson, a U.S. church expert. Dolan, Archbishop of New York since 2009 and a former president of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference, offered to resign in February upon turning 75, as required by Church law. Cardinals often serve until 80, the mandatory retirement age. He is regarded as a leading conservative among the U.S. bishops, who have become increasingly divided in recent years amid deepening political polarization. Cardinal Dolan delivered one of the invocations at Trump’s second inauguration and praised late Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk as a “modern-day St. Paul,” sparking online criticism from a range of Catholics. Known for his gregarious personality, Dolan has been a frequent guest on “Fox & Friends” and hosts his own weekly program on SiriusXM’s The Catholic Channel. NEW ARCHBISHOP HAS ‘GREAT HEART’ FOR LATINO COMMUNITY At a press conference in New York a few hours after the Vatican’s announcement, Hicks, 58, gave some remarks in Spanish before speaking in English. He said he has a “great heart” for the Latino community, citing his experience as a former missionary in Latin America. Hicks also repeated an earlier endorsement of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ condemnation of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships He said the United States should protect its borders but “also be a country that upholds human dignity, respect, (and) treating each other well.” Hicks, leader of the Church in Joliet, Illinois, since 2020, has several similarities to Pope Leo. They are both originally from south Chicago suburbs but spent years as missionaries — Leo in Peru, while Hicks was in El Salvador. “(Leo) is elevating to the most prominent American see an Illinois native very much like himself,” said Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture. Hicks joked at the press conference that he and Leo even have the same favorite pizza restaurant. The Archdiocese of New York is a sprawling and influential institution, serving Catholics across Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, and in seven counties to the north across 296 parishes and hundreds of Catholic schools and hospitals. Leo’s replacement of Dolan comes as the archdiocese is struggling to raise more than $300 million for expected settlements with survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy. The archdiocese has entered mediation with some 1,300 alleged survivors, with Dolan announcing on December 8 that the archdiocese would cut its operating budget by 10%, lay off staff, and sell properties as it sought to raise funds for payouts. Hicks will be installed in his new role on February 6, the New York archdiocese said in a statement. Dolan will remain as the temporary leader in the interim. HICKS SEEN AS SUPPORTER OF POPE FRANCIS’ REFORMS Gibson said Hicks is “a soft-spoken Midwesterner who embraces the reformist line of Pope Francis and who is respected by many across the divides in a polarized church.” The late Pope Francis, who led the Catholic Church for 12 years until his death in April, pursued a reform agenda and sought to make the Church more inclusive of diverse viewpoints, sometimes drawing pushback from conservative cardinals. In an October pastoral letter to the roughly 520,000 Catholics in Joliet, Hicks did not address political issues or Church reforms and instead urged his people to focus on their prayer lives and spread their faith to others. (Reporting by Joshua McElwee, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Chizu Nomiyama)  

'It was right to do that'

'Quite the drop'

'No one believes you anyway'

TRUMP ADDRESSES THE NATION ... HIGHLIGHTS FROM RAPID RESPONSE 47 ...