Thomas Aquinas College announced this week that Brian Burch II, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, will deliver the May 16 commencement address to its California class of 2026, with Father Luke Mata serving as principal celebrant and homilist at the Baccalaureate Mass.
College President Paul O’Reilly said in a statement the school is “delighted and grateful that Ambassador Burch would take time from his diplomatic duties to speak to our graduates as they prepare to enter an uncertain world, armed with their faith and the blessings of a Catholic liberal education.”
Burch, the 13th U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, is a longtime advocate of Catholic education and co-founder of CatholicVote, where he served as president for 17 years before stepping down in 2025 to assume his diplomatic post. The college described his role as working with Pope Leo XIV on issues including religious freedom, protection of vulnerable populations, peacebuilding, and the ethical use of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence.
O’Reilly said the college “would be hard pressed to think of anyone better suited to discuss the challenges they will face or the good they can work to achieve.”
Fr. Mata, a priest of Opus Dei and a native of Spain, will celebrate the Baccalaureate Mass of the Holy Spirit. He holds degrees in theology and a doctorate in moral philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and regularly preaches retreats and provides spiritual direction in the U.S.
“We are deeply honored to welcome Ambassador Burch and Fr. Mata to our California campus,” O’Reilly said, adding that their work “in service of religious liberty, the family, and forming faithful Catholics” offers an example to graduates as they enter “their own roles in the Church and society.”
From Zeale.co
Looks for issues that unite Trump and Leo
U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch said he intends to focus on issues that unite President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV in his role to foster a relationship between the two leaders rather than on recent disagreements about the Iran War.
“As the U.S ambassador for the Holy See, my efforts are many, but one of the roles as a diplomat is to remind stakeholders of what unites us and what must never divide us,” Burch said after delivering remarks on the persecution of Nigerian Christians at the U.S. embassy to the Vatican in Rome.
From EWTN News
Brian Burch is a good man and a good Catholic. And, a University of Dallas alumnus! Just sayin’. Please pray for him in his challenging role. Good choice, TAC.
The persecution of Christians in Nigeria is beyond serious and of utmost urgency. There’s very little emanating from the Vatican on this issue. Pray for the persecuted Christians from Nigeria.
Pope Leo has spoken repeatedly about that (and others facing severe persecution as well). One recent example is posted below:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-11/pope-leo-xiv-angelus-appeal-against-persecution-of-christians.html
You are wrong.
He has spoken repeatedly about this.
According to pope Leo God doesn’t hear the prayers of those who drop bombs in support of the common good but gay couples can have their unions blessed and the Vatican won’t interfere with that. Trump is bad but Cardinal Marx is good.
Uh-huh. Mmhmm. Okay. The problem is obvious.
Such unions are not to be blessed. Pope Leo provided some clarity and direction during a recent interview. While blessings may be prayed for all persons, two persons engaging in sexual relations, straight or gay, outside of marriage (which is one man and one woman) should not be blessed as a “couple.” Such unions are not Christ’s will. As reported, “Pope Leo rejected German Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s promotion of formal blessings for people in same-sex unions. The Vatican “has made it clear that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of couples, in this case, ‘homosexual couples,’ as you asked, or couples in irregular situations, beyond what was specifically, if you will, allowed for by Pope Francis in saying all people receive blessings,” the Holy Father said in answer to a reporter’s question. He went on, ““When a priest gives a blessing at the end of Mass, when the pope gives a blessing at the end of a large celebration like such we had today, these are blessings of all people.” He added, “[Pope] Francis’ infamous, famous, well-known expression of ‘Tutti, tutti, tutti’ is an expression of the church’s belief that all are welcome, all are invited, all are invited to follow Jesus, and all are invited to look for conversion in their lives.” “To go beyond that today, I think that the topic can cause more disunity than unity, and that we should look for ways to build our unity upon Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ teaches. So that’s how I would respond to that question.””
Deacon Craig, what Leo objected to is the formalization of blessings for same-sex unions. As long as the blessings are informal, they are acceptable. But Cardinal Marx is simply carrying the logic of Fiducia Supplicans one step further. Once the gay inch was given to bless same sex couples (that is the document’s language) spontaneously and informally, the gays now take a gay mile; the gay camel’s nose is in the tent and soon his whole gay body will be. Leo won’t be able to stop it, and he won’t have the courage to fight it. He will make a faint verbal objection, as he did on the plane, for the sake of appearances but take no action to stop it.
I love that President Trump reinstated the firing squad as a means of execution in federal death penalty cases. What a masterful way to troll Pope Leo. Trump always wins. Leo is regretting ever stepping into the ring with him. Maybe Leo doesn’t fear the Trump administration — he has no reason to be fearful, anyway — but Leo has sure been made to look the fool.
The only fools are the people who are underestimating the Holy Father’s wisdom and charity.
Here’s looking at you “firing squads”.
The past two popes have revised how I view the papacy and not in a good way. They are just men who are treated like celebrities, intellectuals, saints, gurus, and they are given massive unearned and undeserved attention.
Imagine if the world’s press suddenly hung on your every word. It would change you and not in a good way.
One year ago would anyone have extolled Cardinal Prevost’s “wisdom and charity”? No. The poster “James” pins those on Prevost now, one year later, not because of anythig Prevost has done or demonstrated but only because of “James” projecting onto the office of the papacy intrinsic “wisdom and charity”. The pope is just a man who is protected by the Holy Spirit from leading the Church into error in ex cathedra statements. That’s a protection from committing grave teaching error in a formal pronouncement, not a positive grant of supernatural gifts.
Yep.
I see that you are the resident expert on who is granted supernatural gifts.
Pray tell, expound upon yours.
Since you hate the Holy Father, I am sure that the Lord has opened your eyes to the supernatural.