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Bishop Joseph V. Brennan waves at the conclusion of his episcopal ordination in 2015. (Victor Alemán) Bishops take more flak these days than a B-24 Liberator over Berlin in 1944. Even the Bishop of Rome nowadays is “fair game” for politicians, pundits, and even everyday Church-goers. I never thought I would be on a first-name basis with a bishop until my brother was consecrated as one in 2015. Those were heady days.

(Shutterstock) A friend of mine recently came home from a haircut with quite a story. His barber told him about another client, a professor from a prestigious university here in Los Angeles who had come in for a haircut the day before. The barber noticed the professor was preoccupied and mentioned how distracted her customer seemed. The professor’s response suggested some urgency about what Pope Leo recently wrote in his new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”).

Pope Leo XIV exchanges gifts with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a private audience at the Vatican May 7.(OSV News/Matteo Pernaselci, Vatican Media) I am grateful the dust seems to have wafted back to Earth after the much-publicized war of words between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV. Still, the headlines were a reminder that the relationship between Rome and Washington, D.C., has not always been an easy one.