WTF?

[nonilex@masto.ai]

WTF?

#SteveBannon courted #Epstein in his efforts to ‘take down’ #PopeFrancis

Steve Bannon, a former White House adviser to #Trump, discussed opposition strategies with convicted sex offender #JeffreyEpstein against #Pope Francis, with Bannon saying he hoped to “take down” the pontiff, according to newly released files from the #DOJ.

#EpsteinFiles #law #criminal #rape #ChildSexCrimes #pedohilia #SexTrafficking #felon47 #RapistInChief #CoverUp
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/14/world/bannon-epstein-take-down-pope-francis-latam-intl?cid=ios_app

[seanplynch@mastodon.social]

@Nonilex

Another chapter in the Republican war on Christianity

[nonilex@masto.ai]

Messages sent between the pair in 2019, released in last month’s massive document dump, reveal #SteveBannon courted the late sex offender in attempts to undermine the pontiff after leaving the first #Trump admin.
Bannon had been highly critical of #PopeFrancis whom he saw as an opponent to his “sovereigntist” vision, a brand of nationalist populism which swept through Europe in 2018 & 2019. The released #EpsteinFiles from the #DOJ show that #Epstein had been helping Bannon to build his movement.

[nonilex@masto.ai]

“Will take down (Pope) Francis,” #SteveBannon wrote to #Epstein in June 2019. “The Clintons, Xi, Francis, EU – come on brother.”

#PopeFrancis was a significant obstacle to Bannon’s brand of nationalist populism. In 2018, the #Trump aide described Francis to The Spectator as “beneath contempt,” accusing him of siding with “globalist elites”.

#EpsteinFiles #law #criminal #rape #ChildSexCrimes #pedohilia #SexTrafficking

[nonilex@masto.ai]

acc/to “SourceMaterial,” #SteveBannon urged Matteo Salvini, now Italy’s deputy prime minister, to “attack” the pontiff. For his part, Salvini has used Christian iconography & language when pursuing his anti-#immigrant agenda.

Rome & the Vatican have been important for Bannon. He set up a Rome bureau when he ran Breitbart News & has been involved in trying to establish a political training “gladiator school” to defend Judaeo-Christian values not far from the Eternal City. [of all people]

[nonilex@masto.ai]

Francis, meanwhile, was a counterweight to the Trumpian worldview, strongly critiquing #nationalism & making advocacy for #immigrants a hallmark of his pontificate.

The recently released #DOJ files reveal #Bannon messaged #Epstein on several occasions in his efforts to undermine the late #pope.

In his messages with Epstein, Bannon references “In the Closet of the Vatican,” a 2019 book by French journalist Frédéric Martel that lifted a lid on secrecy & hypocrisy at high levels of the church.

[nonilex@masto.ai]

Martel created a storm with his book by claiming 80% of the clergy working in the Vatican are gay, while exploring how they keep their sexuality secret.

The whole question of homosexuality in the church has been a lightning rod for some conservatives, who see it as evidence of a deeper, systemic crisis in the church, with some linking it to the wider sexual abuse scandals. Experts & researchers view any conflating of sexual orientation with abuse as scientifically inaccurate.