WarRoom Battleground EP 870: "False Popes Promote False Prophets"

Podcast: Bannon's War Room
Date: October 15, 2025
Host: Stephen K. Bannon, with Ben Harnwell (C), Frank Walker (B), and Jenny Holland (D)
Main Theme:
This episode focuses on alleged corruption, scandal, and hypocrisy within the leadership of the Catholic Church, particularly regarding abuse scandals, controversial figures honored by recent popes, and the decimation of institutional Catholicism in traditionally Catholic countries. The panel critically examines Vatican actions, attacks what they see as a regime of false moral leadership, and discusses broader cultural shifts affecting faith and morality in the West.

Overview of the Episode’s Main Theme

The episode delivers a searing critique of the modern Catholic Church hierarchy—particularly Popes Francis and Leo XIV—accusing them of promoting figures with histories of abuse or doctrinal error, and enabling an institution-wide culture of impunity and confusion. Discussion begins with a justification for "exposing" rather than "supporting" the Church as an act of service to laity, then progresses through examples of scandalous priestly behavior, the Vatican’s responses, and the dramatic collapse of Catholic faith in Ireland. In the second half, the cultural context is broadened to include currents in secular elite society and the search for spiritual meaning.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Purpose of Church Critique: Service to Catholics

[00:54–06:46]

• Ben Harnwell (C) frames the show's criticism as an act of service, asserting that laity must know what is done "under the cover of darkness" (00:54).
• Asserts laity should have a stronger governance role, just as the Vatican allows the Chinese Communist Party to nominate bishops in China, but not western laity.
  • Quote: “The Catholic laity should have in the West exactly the same prerogatives that the Catholic Church has given to the CCP apparatus in China.” (C, 05:34)
• Maintains obedience to clergy is used to shield “appalling atrocities” against the laity.

2. The Honoring of Don Lorenzo Milani: Outrage at Church Role Models

[06:46–14:36]

• Frank Walker (B) highlights a new article about the late priest Don Milani, recently honored by Pope Leo XIV and previously by Pope Francis, despite Milani’s controversial writings suggesting inappropriate relationships with boys.
• Quote: (Don Milani, as cited by Walker)
  "If there is a danger for my soul, it is certainly not that I have loved too little, but that I have loved too much, meaning even to the point of taking them to bed… who will ever be able to love boys to the bone without in the end putting up their backside, if not a teacher, who together with them also loves God and fears hell and longs for heaven." (B, 09:17)
• Host panel is horrified; suggests this symbolizes a larger collapse of moral boundaries and discernment in the Church.
  • Harnwell: “The man who wrote that letter has been called by the late, unlamented Pope Francis a role model for priests. And a prophet by Pope Leo.” (C, 11:58–12:01)
• Draws connection between honoring Milani and the broader acceptance or excusing of scandalous conduct.

3. Communism & “Confusion” in Church Teaching

[12:24–13:39]

• Walker condemns the “scripted” veneration of Milani as a sign of Vatican adherence to leftist ideology, conflating concern for the poor with socialist or communist thought, and accuses Church authorities of using “love” rhetoric to mask or institutionalize perversion.
• Quote: “The important thing is the new structures. But … as Catholics… they go together.” (B, 13:23)

4. Historical Pattern: Abuse Cover-Ups & Institutional Impunity

[31:16–41:00]

• Focus shifts to the U.S. with a case study: Fr. Neil Doherty, a prolific predator priest whose behavior was known to the Archdiocese of Miami since 1958.
• Frank Walker: Details Doherty's crimes, the lack of action from bishops, and the hypocritical use of “love” rhetoric.
  • Quote: “They used to screen for these things. But at some point everything switched… sometimes they screen [predators] in.” (B, 32:02)
• Harnwell connects individual abuse cases in Florida to broader Church dysfunction, noting repeated elevation or protection of abusers, including those promoted within the French Church despite criminal convictions.
• Quote: “False popes praise false prophets. That is the only conclusion I can draw from this.” (C, 40:34)

5. Collapse of Catholicism in Ireland

[45:42–50:36]

• Jenny Holland (D) discusses the dramatic decline in vocations and Mass attendance: 13 new Irish seminarians this year, 16% Mass attendance, down from ~90% in the early 1960s.
• Holland attributes the collapse primarily to “sexual hypocrisy” by Church leadership, and stipulates that disillusioned Irish have largely replaced Catholic faith with “woke” ideology, not atheistic freedom.
  • Quote: “The Irish population seems to have replaced almost wholesale the Catholic religion with a fealty to woke religion.” (D, 47:29)
• GAA (Gaelic Athletic Assoc.) is described as “the new church,” illustrating the vacuum left by Church collapse.

6. Secular Elite’s Turn Toward Religion and Moral Authority

[17:31–26:21]

• Brief detour into American intellectual trends as Charles Murray’s recent writing on the “God-shaped hole” is discussed.
• Jenny Holland explains the new prominence of religious discussion among otherwise secular and Ivy League elite circles; sees this as a “green shoot” that arises not from the Church itself, but broader cultural need.
  • Quote: “Even in the mainstream liberal non-woke elite … there is attention being paid to how much God is really needed.” (D, 17:56)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the laity’s rights:
  “The Catholic laity should have in the West exactly the same prerogatives that the Catholic Church has given to the CCP apparatus in China.” (C, 05:34)

• Trigger warning before reading Don Milani’s letter:
  “If you’ve got kids watching the show today, send them out the room for 30 seconds… It's so appalling.” (C, 08:50)

• Summary of Milani letter:
  “It’s soft pederast porn, right? …Who’s ever going to be able to love boys to the bone without in the end putting it up their backside?” (C, 10:39)

• On the institutionalization of perversion:
  “How convenient to institutionalize this and bless it now… If they can just get the Catholic Church to actually make this all seem okay, even with children…” (B, 36:26)

• On the Irish Church’s collapse:
  “I cannot think of any institution that has been more damaged by a set of decisions than the Catholic Church has been damaged by the Second Vatican Council.” (C, 45:35)

• Final summary of decline:
  “Among the 40% who view the Catholic Church unfavorably, 73% said it was because of, you guessed it, the abuse scandals.” (C, 50:39)

Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:54–06:46: Motivation for Critiquing the Catholic Church; role of the laity.
• 06:46–14:36: Don Milani's letter, papal honors, conflation of perversion and sanctity.
• 17:31–26:21: Charles Murray’s God-shaped hole; secular elite returning to the God question.
• 31:16–41:00: Fr. Neil Doherty and chronic institutional abuse cover-up.
• 45:42–50:36: Collapse of Irish Catholicism; sociological and cultural analysis.

Tone & Language

The episode maintains an intense, sometimes alarmed tone. Language is direct, critical, and at points outraged—especially in discussions of abusive priests and Church hierarchy. There is strong rhetorical opposition to both Church authorities and what panelists describe as a “woke” secular replacement for organized religion.

Panelists' Attribution for Socials

• Jenny Holland:
  • Substack: jennyeholland.substack.com
  • Twitter/X: @semperfemina21
• Frank Walker:
  • Website: canon212.com (with one “n”)
  • Twitter: @canon212
  • Content also at Rumble and Gloria.tv

Conclusion

This episode stands as a polemic against what is framed as systemic and spiritual collapse in Catholic leadership, posing the laity as both victims and would-be saviors of the faith. In parallel, it explores wider questions about the role of religious belief within secularizing Western societies—suggesting that, despite institutional failure, the need for spiritual authority remains acute and may be finding unexpected new expression.