Leonard Leo was born on Long Island in the mid-sixties.
When he was only a toddler, he lost his father a pastry chef to cancer.
He was so effective at raising money for his senior prom that his classmates nicknamed him the Moneybags Kid.
Leonard Leo speaks to media at Trump Tower in New York, Nov. 16, 2016.AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
She decided to convert not long before her marriage.
Despite accusations of sexual harassment hanging over him, Thomas won Senate confirmation by a slim margin.
He reveled in his reputation as the financial savior of this important community.
Despite its lofty aims, the commission had a tiny budget and its commissioners were unpaid.
He became embroiled in a lawsuit after one former colleague accused him of firing her because she was Muslim.
Several staff members resigned because of the controversy, and Leo was fired not long after.
By the time of the Federalist Societys twenty-fifth anniversary dinner in November 2007, his influence was clear.
Chief Justice John Roberts sent a video message.
Margaret had been born with spina bifida and used a wheelchair.
Events around her death had reinforced Leos faith.
She especially loved angels and priests, insisting on a hug every time she saw one.
As he was walking down the hall, she started gasping for breath and died shortly afterward.
I will always think that she did her job, he later said.
She did her job.
After her death, strange signs appeared.
On the way there, they spent a night in a hotel in San Francisco.
In it, she discovered a Sacred Heart medal.
On the last day at the ranch, Leos wife Sally came across another medal.
The experience would deepen his faith, marking him out as a crusader and a target for Opus Dei.
Blue-eyed and silver-haired, Father Arne was a big figure within Opus Dei.
For a period in the nineties, he was the organizations most senior man in the United States.
And so the John Paul II Award was born in 2012.
His mission was to reverse this creeping secularism and put Opus Dei at the heart of a spiritual awakening.
Oftentimes, Robby will bring up the door, you know, Tellez explained.
Leonard Leo was one of those invited to participate.
At around the same time as the Humanum conference, Leo was invited onto the CIC board.
Their two worlds were already entwined.
Both parties were also becoming ever more aggressive politically.
The appointment of Leo marked a shift in the CIC board.
But in 2014, all that changed.
Alongside Leo, Bill Barr, the former attorney general, was also appointed.
It isnt only a spiritual awakening thats coming, Arne Panula explained.
Students leave these schools with no jobs, no intellectual sustenance of worth, and a huge financial debt .
students are being duped.
But the deeper reaction is more personal.
Some of these students come to realize that theres a world out there that they never knew existed.
Theyve been purposefully sealed off from it by their teachers and other authorities.
That begs for reaction.
Theyve been sold a bill of secular progressive goods!
Opus Dei would help guide them toward this new world.
Arne Panula was right a new Great Awakening was coming.
But it wouldnt rise up from the student population.
Instead, it would emerge out of the dark-money networks.
His children and grandchildren attended Opus Dei schools.
That Christmas, like many Christmases before it, the Supreme Court hosted its annual holiday party.
It was a dark portent for what was to come.
The money was used to set up two advocacy groups.
Instead, Leo cultivated him as a funder of his own dark-money data pipe.
Their importance only grew following Scalias death, as Leo pumped his web connection for ever larger sums.
It was just the start.
They also used the web connection to line their own pockets.
It was no coincidence.
Leos status as the worlds third most powerful figure soon made him a rich man.
Once again, the Corkery name was all over the money flow.
It was only a foretaste of what was to come.
Instead, Leo had cultivated him for his own web connection.
Opus Dei soon benefited from these dark-money streams.
It soon directed money to other Opus Dei initiatives.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of the foundation was the Catholic Information Center on K Street.
From that hand, a golden light emanated, surrounding the girls head like a halo.
written at the bottom.
His book was calledLittlest Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christand it detailed the miracles.
Opus Dei had offered the lobby of its most public-facing institution in America to further this cause.
The portrait symbolized a growing symbiosis between Opus Dei and Leo.
No one has done more to advance traditional values and especially the right to life than Leonard.
Paul Scalia spoke, too, recounting his memories of Margaret Mary.
Its been a real privilege to be a part of this great enterprise and have you as a friend.
They are the cutting edge of the New Evangelization, continued Leo.
Few organizations are doing more to raise up a new generation of courageous and faithful Catholic men and women.
Leo asked in a promotional video for his latest initiative Teneo, which promised to crush liberal dominance.
In short, he was creating a Federalist Society for everything.
Copyright 2024 by Gareth Gore.
