The LOOP
The Wednesday Loop - January 15, 2025
HEGSETH CONFIRMATION HEARING HEATS UP ON DAY 1
The Senate met Monday for its confirmation hearing of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to become the next U.S. Secretary of Defense. During the often heated hearing, failed 2016 Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA, repeatedly brought up Hegseth’s family and relationship history.
TRUMP ANNOUNCES CREATION OF ‘EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE’
Trump announced Tuesday that he will create a new agency on Jan. 20 called the External Revenue Service to collect tariffs, duties, and other foreign revenues. “We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share,” Trump stated.
PAPAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY RELEASED
Pope Francis’ autobiography was released Jan. 14, and it covers a wide array of topics, including his childhood, adult life, and decisions as pope. Pope Francis also wrote about his restrictions of the Traditional Latin Mass. “[I]t is unhealthy for the liturgy to become ideology,” he wrote in part. “Not a return to the sacred but to quite the opposite, to sectarian worldliness.”
PRAY FOR LOS ANGELES FIRE VICTIMS
The death toll of the deadly fires in Los Angeles County, California, has climbed to at least 24 souls. Dozens of residents are also still reported missing. About 90,000 Los Angeles County residents are under evacuation orders, and an additional 89,000 people are under evacuation warnings.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: FLAGS TO FLY FULL-STAFF AT INAUGURATION
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, announced Tuesday that U.S. Capitol Building flags will fly full-staff at Trump’s inauguration, despite President Joe Biden’s order that they remain at half-staff until Jan. 28th in honor of late President Jimmy Carter. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott previously also defied Biden’s order as well, citing the tradition, never yet broken, of flying flags at full-staff for presidential inaugurations.
LA FIRE CAPTAIN RESCUES TABERNACLE
A Los Angeles Fire Department captain who salvaged a tabernacle from the rubble of Corpus Christi Church in Pacific Palisades has a mysterious observation: “Talk to any firefighter. In any religious building what usually survives is the cross and certain specific items that are highly religious, unless they’ve been specifically set on fire.”
TEXAS DEMOCRATS GET THEIR PREFERRED SPEAKER
A coalition of Texas Democrats and moderate Republicans Tuesday elected Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, as state House Speaker over Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, the nominee of the House Republican Caucus. Burrows won the vote tally 85-55 in the overwhelmingly Republican Texas state House, despite a majority of his own party’s lawmakers opposing him.
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REPORT DISPELLS RUMORS OF PRO-‘GAY’ ITALIAN BISHOPS DOCUMENT
Contrary to many misleading headlines, a new document from the Italian Bishops’ Conference does not, “for now,” allow for homosexual men to enter seminary, according to the Italian Catholic site La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana.
4 RELIGIOUS FREEDOM STEPS TRUMP CAN TAKE
"The Biden administration waged an unprecedented assault on religious freedom," says Conscience Project Director Andrea Picciotti-Bayer. "Here are four steps President Trump should take to restore religious liberty."
DISTRACTED TO HELL
In a fantastic passage from C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters,” Screwtape mindless distractions can lead a person to Hell. In these days, what encapsulates this danger more perfectly than hours of doomscrolling? Here’s how to reclaim your spiritual grounding if you find yourself getting sucked into that habit.
CATHOLIC 101
The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office, is the official prayer of the Church – and it’s not just for priests and religious. When we pray it, we are connected to Catholics everywhere. From the rising of the sun to its setting, we proclaim the glory and honor of God!
SAINT OF THE DAY
Considered the first of the Christian hermits, St. Paul of Thebes (c. 230 - c. 343) was hiding his Christianity from the world when his uncle attempted to betray him to the Romans. Paul fled to a remote desert cave, where he found himself thriving in a life of intense aestheticism and poverty. He never returned to the outside world and lived in the desert for the rest of his days.
DAILY PSALM
“The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.” (Psalm 105:8)
DAILY READINGS
Today's Mass readings.
MUSIC
This is the future of the Church! Watch these Chesterton Academy students praise the Lord with angelic song inside Rome’s Chiesa Nuova.