WarRoom Battleground EP 885: Shining Light On Scandals In The Catholic Church

Date: November 6, 2025
Host: Stephen K. Bannon’s War Room (Ben Harnwell at the helm)
Guests: Jenny Holland, Liz Your, Frank Walker

Episode Overview

This episode explores scandals and controversies facing the Catholic Church, focusing sharply on its response to global Christian persecution, internal corruption, and cultural decay. The War Room hosts and guests dissect major stories at the cultural-Christian-political intersection, including pop culture figures weighing in on religious issues, heinous commercialization of embryos, the Vatican’s involvement in sociopolitical issues, and the diminishing influence and integrity of Church leadership. The tone is combative, impassioned, and unapologetic.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nicki Minaj, Trump, and Support for Persecuted Christians

Segment Start: 03:10

• Context:
  Rapper Nicki Minaj thanked Trump on social media after he threatened to intervene for persecuted Nigerian Christians. Her public statement broke with typical entertainment-industry anti-Trump sentiment, signaling, as Jenny Holland put it, “a vibe shift” (04:27).
• Cultural Impact:
  Minaj’s praise for Trump’s defense of persecuted Christians highlighted the permeability of cultural boundaries, countering the idea that all celebrities are anti-Trump “frothing at the mouth.”
• Notable Quote:
  Jenny Holland:

  “This is what I think what Bannon often refers to as signal, not noise. It’s a vibe shift.” (05:26)

• Further Amplification:
  Comedian Steven Crowder joked “the stewardship of Christendom now falls to Nicki Minaj” owing to the Pope’s silence (05:46).
• Challenging the Woke Crowd:
  Minaj clapped back at a fan upset about her supporting Christians, saying,

  “Imagine hearing about Christians being murdered and you make it about you being gay.” (16:31, paraphrased at 17:26) This was hailed by all panelists as an act of rare courage in the current celebrity environment.

2. Debate on US Intervention for Persecuted Christians Abroad

Segment Start: 06:46

• Divergent Views:
  Ben Harnwell questions the appropriateness of US intervention in Nigeria, pointing to America’s debt and the risk of overextension.
• Panel Split:
  Guests Liz and Frank defend the importance of at least raising the issue, with Liz stressing economic and diplomatic pressure over military intervention.
• Notable Quote:
  Liz Your:

  “If we were to intervene in every country that is having revolutions in Africa around the world, we would be spent of all of our resources… The Pope should be using his bully pulpit not to bless blocks of ice from Greenland, but for the attention of the world on the persecution of Christians.” (11:38)

3. Embryos as Jewelry: Commercialization of Human Life

Segment Start: 21:23

• Story:
  English company ‘Blossom Keepsake’ offers to create jewelry containing human embryos, targeting parents ending embryo storage.
• Panel Reaction:
  Liz Your and all hosts express horror, drawing analogies to Nazi atrocities and branding it a “logical extension” of abortion culture:

  “This commercialization commodification of human beings…this is no different than exploiting children with human trafficking. This is the exploitation of human for money.” (23:33)

• Societal Implications:
  Frank Walker stresses that the jewelry trend aims to normalize guilt and further assimilate the death culture into public life.

  “Having this, turning it into jewelry, something that is out there that everybody sees, assuages your guilt by making it something that everybody shares.” (33:02)

• Spiritual Dangers:
  Harnwell highlights the risk of sentimental parents being drawn into practices with occult or satanic undertones (34:20).

4. Pope Francis (“Saint Leo of Migrants”) and the Migrant Crisis

Segment Start: 35:27

• Critique:
  The panel sharply rebukes Pope Francis (referred to sarcastically as “Saint Leo of Migrants”) for focusing on migrants’ access to sacraments and ignoring pandemic-era denial of sacraments to Catholics.
• Hypocrisy Called Out:

  “Where were these people, right, during the pandemic? Speaking out of Catholics’ need for the sacraments. Where were they?” (37:51)

• ICE Agents Appeal:
  Ben Harnwell provocatively suggests the Catholic Church should also minister to ICE agents, not just migrants:

  “Provide spiritual support to the ICE agents as well... Those ICE agents… need spiritual oversight.” (39:02)

• Child Migrant Crisis:
  Liz Your reminds the audience that Catholic Charities helped foster an ongoing scandal of 450,000 unaccompanied children, questioning the sincerity of Church leadership’s concern for migrants’ spiritual needs (41:28).

5. US Bishops, Catholic Relief Services, and Climate Change

Segment Start: 45:06

• COP30 and Climate Agendas:
  US Conference of Catholic Bishops and CRS issue statements supporting international climate action, referencing “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
• Panel’s View:
  This is attacked as spiritual capitulation to “Gaia, the pagan earth goddess,” with Church institutions pursuing funding and global relevance at the expense of doctrinal clarity.
• Notable Quote:
  Ben Harnwell:

  “This is spiritual prostration to Gaia, the pagan earth goddess. And it is in your face.” (47:20)

6. Vatican Doctrinal Note on ‘Co-Redemptrix’

Segment Start: 48:35

• Summary:
  Cardinal Fernández releases a note discouraging use of ‘Co-Redemptrix’ for Mary, aligning with ecumenical and modernist priorities.
• Panel Outrage:
  Liz Your frames this as “mission creep,” yet more evidence of a Vatican intent on erasing Catholic uniqueness in favor of a “one world religion.”

  “They are neutering the dogma of the Catholic Church, erasing all liturgy for the sake of the new synodal church, which is the one world religion.” (49:34)

• Bannon’s Position:
  “The people who are pushing this aren’t even Christian. They’re neither Catholic nor Protestant. They’re doing this to diminish the power of the Catholic faith.” (50:14)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jenny Holland (re: Nicki Minaj):

  “Nicki Minaj for pope as far as I'm concerned.” (18:53)

• Liz Your (re: climate change statement):

  “This is outrage… It’s done to please the Protestants. Now it's okay to bless homosexual couples. That's appropriate. But the Blessed Mother is not the Co Redeemer? Outrageous.” (48:35)

• Frank Walker (re: Church authorities):

  “The only vocation these people have is the vocation to eat three times a day.” (39:02)

• Ben Harnwell (re: bishops and climate funding):

  “It's all about the funding. It's all about the grift, it's about the management level getting funding.” (46:16)

Timestamps of Key Segments

• Nicki Minaj, Trump, and Christians in Nigeria: 03:10 – 19:52
• Debate on America First and Foreign Policy: 06:46 – 14:42
• Embryos as Jewelry: 21:23 – 34:20
• Pope Francis, Migrants, and ICE: 35:27 – 43:00
• US Bishops & Climate Change: 45:06 – 48:35
• Vatican’s ‘Co-Redemptrix’ Statement: 48:35 – 51:06

Panelist Social Media (from outro)

• Liz Your: Twitter and Substack (@ElizabethYour), website ‘Your Children’
• Frank Walker: Canon212.com, Gloria TV, Twitter (@Canon212 spelled out)
• Jenny Holland: X profile @SemperFemina

Summary

This episode serves as a combative critique of Catholic Church leadership, both in terms of its internal priorities and its engagement with contemporary moral crises. The hosts and guests attack what they see as corruption, hypocrisy, and spiritual decline. Meanwhile, they elevate authenticity, courage, and fidelity to traditional doctrine. The show’s usual “war room” posture mixes news, cultural commentary, and biting satire, driving home the message that laity must reclaim and defend the Church in an age of both secular and internal adversity.