You asked for it and we delivered. Welcome to the first ever Face-Off to finally settle "Who is the better Catholic" Matt Walsh or Michael Knowles? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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| You know, here at the Daily Wire, we've had many inter-faith battles. | |
| Ben, everyone knows, is a Jew. | |
| Drew is an Anglican. | |
| Jeremy is a protestant, as he describes it. | |
| And I believe he's styled as a minor deity himself. | |
| And then Matt Walsh and I are Catholics. | |
| Never have we had an intra-faith battle, but we get this question all the time. | |
| People ask, who's the better Catholic at the Daily Wire? | |
| Which is very confusing, because in the Catholic faith... | |
| We're so concerned with guilt that, in a way, the worst Catholic is kind of the best Catholic. | |
| It's very complicated. | |
| In any case, we are going to finally take up this listener question. | |
| We will have a Catholic face-off. | |
| Yeah. | |
| I just want to say for the record that I, just to be totally honest, I turned down this bit like three times. | |
| They kept asking me about it. | |
| They asked me months ago and I said, I don't want to do that because I'm terrible at trivia and I'm about to get demolished here. | |
| And I do not agree with the premise, which is that if you don't know trivia, then it means you're a bad Catholic. | |
| Because you already mentioned it. | |
| Yeah. | |
| The best Catholic is the person who hates themselves the most. | |
| Yeah. | |
| And that has to be me. | |
| So I already won. | |
| But now we're going to find out who knows more trivia. | |
| And trivia is just not my bag. | |
| So that's why I kept saying, nah, can we do a different... | |
| But they kept coming back. | |
| So now I'm here. | |
| So the ground rules are what? | |
| We're going to... | |
| Drew's going to... | |
| He came up with the questions, even though he's not Catholic. | |
| He came up with the Catholic trivia questions. | |
| And we're going to play those. | |
| And then we're going to have 30 seconds to write down our answers on these whiteboards. | |
| So that's the one good thing is we have these... | |
| I've always wanted to do a thing where I write answers on whiteboard, so that's the one good thing about this. | |
| And we'll write our answer on the whiteboard, and then at the end, the loser has to what? | |
| The loser reads an ad for the winner on their social media platforms, I take it. | |
| And the winner goes to heaven? | |
| I don't know. | |
| I haven't brushed up on my theology recently, but I guess the winner gets their ad read on the platform. | |
| Okay. | |
| I'm game. | |
| Well, not really. | |
| I'm not really game, but we'll do it. | |
| I'm here. | |
| All right, Drew, take it away. | |
| All right, we're here with the Catholic face-off to determine who is the better Catholic, Matt Walsh or Michael Knowles. | |
| It's Matt Walsh, but we still have to ask the questions and go through the motions. | |
| Here are the questions. | |
| In January 1959, Pope John XXIII, I think that's what XX111 means, shocked the world when he announced the creation of this ecumenical council. | |
| Okay, I'm ready. . | |
| And the answer is Vatican II, or as Knowles calls it, the Great Transgression. | |
| Drew just knows me too well. | |
| Do we both hold up our answer at the same time? | |
| Okay. | |
| Oh, okay. | |
| Sorry. | |
| There it is. | |
| The ecclesiastical boogaloo. | |
| Yeah. | |
| This famous Catholic, who holds two Academy Awards for the same film in 1996, has been quoted as saying, God is the only one who knows how many children we should have and we should be ready to accept them. | |
| One can't decide for oneself who comes into this world and who doesn't. | |
| That decision doesn't belong to us. | |
| A Catholic with Academy Awards said that. | |
| Yeah, I actually don't know who that is. | |
| I'm impressed with this person, whoever it is. | |
| Yeah. | |
| I like them. | |
| Famous Catholic with Academy Awards. | |
| I don't... | |
| Hmm. | |
| How many famous Catholics are there with Academy Awards? | |
| Okay. | |
| I guess I'll go with the only one I can even think of. | |
| Yeah, I don't like my answer at all here, but I'm... | |
| Also, my writing is illegible, so I have that going. | |
| Oh, Mel Gibson. | |
| I put Robert De Niro. | |
| Is De Niro a Catholic? | |
| I assume he is, because he's Italian, so I just assume that he's Catholic. | |
| That's Mel Gibson, who forgot to mention, you're only supposed to do it with one wife. | |
| See, I didn't even realize that Robert, Mel Gibson, I thought he was some sort of weird sect. | |
| I didn't think he was actually Catholic. | |
| Yeah, he's kind of trended a little bit like more, the term is Sede Vacantis, you know, in recent years. | |
| But he, you know, the reason I thought it might be Gibson is because, you know, he's pretty traditional. | |
| And that statement, where it's basically like, have as many kids as you can, that's pretty trad. | |
| In 1981, the Vatican Observatory set up a second research center for astronomical observation in this American city. | |
| Astronomical observation. | |
| What is this city that would have? | |
| I do like that the Vatican is just, after they gave up the papal states, they're just coming in and pulling off different pieces of other countries, including our own. | |
| But, gosh, I don't know. | |
| Is this a city we're supposed to pick? | |
| Alright. | |
| Okay. | |
| The answer is Tucson, Arizona. | |
| And anyone who doesn't know that, of course, has to spend time in purgatory. | |
| That's Catholic doctrine. | |
| I chose basically the dumbest place to put an observatory, which would be New York, so I think I was wrong about that. | |
| I chose Austin, Texas, because I know there is an observatory there, but I visited it, and I have to tell you, it was very hipster. | |
| It was not very Catholic. | |
| Until the papacy moved to the Vatican in 1377, the Pope resided at this location on the other side of Rome. | |
| Oh, hmm. | |
| In Rome. | |
| I think I know the answer here. | |
| I'm just going to name the only other place I can even think of. | |
| It was Lorenzo's Bar and Grill. | |
| The wings were... | |
| No, it wasn't. | |
| It was Lateran Palace. | |
| Lateran Palace. | |
| I said Palatine Hill. | |
| I actually put Lateran Palace. | |
| It's hard to read, but I wrote it very quickly, but it actually says Lateran Palace right here. | |
| Is that in Koine Greek, perhaps? | |
| Yeah, in fact, yeah, I wrote it in several different languages all at once. | |
| To be the Pope's bodyguard and applicant must be Catholic, single, male, between the ages of 19 and 30, at least 5 feet, 8 and a half inches tall, and a citizen of this country. | |
| All right. | |
| The answer is Switzerland. | |
| And of course, to wear that outfit, you have to be gay. | |
| Yeah, I said Italy. | |
| So this is going about as well as I thought it would. | |
| This is the whole reason I didn't want to do this bit. | |
| Well, you did get Lorenzo's Bar and Grill or whatever the answer to the last one was. | |
| I got one right. | |
| I'm going to count that one. | |
| In ancient times, scribes copied books by hand on scrolls and paper, or printmakers printed text from hand-carved wooden blocks before this Catholic inventor's creation changed the world. | |
| Oh my god, I can't believe the name is escaping me. | |
| This is one of the most important people that's ever lived. | |
| Alright, play the answer before the name comes back. | |
| Oh gosh, this is driving me crazy. | |
| Play it now. | |
| I need to get at least one. | |
| I need to have at least one point on the board here. | |
| Oh no, it's the... | |
| The answer, of course, is Al Gore. | |
| No, it's Johannes Gutenberg. | |
| Gutenberg! | |
| Oh my gosh, I had Guggenheim in my head. | |
| I actually got Gutenberg. | |
| That's very frustrating. | |
| That basically says it. | |
| Brutal. | |
| In 2006, Cardinal Ercilio Tonini denounced this former Catholic's upcoming music tour as a blasphemous challenge to the faith and a profanation of the cross. | |
| Former, like... | |
| I feel pretty good about this one. | |
| Because I want to say Bono, but he still considers himself Catholic. | |
| Okay, all right, let's see. | |
| I don't see Bono being denounced. | |
| Yeah. | |
| Although he should be. | |
| He should be, though. | |
| The answer is Madonna. | |
| All right. | |
| Not the Madonna, but Madonna. | |
| So is this even right now? | |
| No way it's even. | |
| It's like seven to two. | |
| In 1961, the government of Brazil declared this Catholic a national treasure... | |
| Brazil? | |
| Is that it? | |
| How the hell are we supposed to know that? | |
| Yeah, I don't... | |
| I don't... | |
| I'm thinking of, like, old historical figures, but I just don't... | |
| I don't think any of this is right. | |
| All right. | |
| I think I got it. | |
| Answer, of course, is Pele. | |
| Who else? | |
| Wait, was it actually Pele? | |
| Oh, come on. | |
| I drew one of those cool, fancy S's that... | |
| Can I at least get half a point for that? | |
| I was going to say Cortez, because I think that was before political correctness came in and ruined everything, but no. | |
| Pele, wow, okay. | |
| Born in 1473, this Catholic astronomer practiced medicine without a medical degree. | |
| Astronomer practiced medicine. | |
| 1473. | |
| The answer is Nicholas Copernicus. | |
| Yes, okay, hold on. | |
| Nicholas Copernicus. | |
| So I didn't finish writing it, but I did get the COP. I think it's pretty clear. | |
| Unless I was talking about someone else. | |
| No, we can't count. | |
| Wait, come on. | |
| I was right. | |
| Galileo, but... | |
| You can't count? | |
| What other COP? I'm talking about like a buddy cop movie, Bell Gibson again? | |
| Coppola was born in 1473. | |
| That's some Bush League stuff, guys. | |
| Okay, if you can prove that he went by the nickname Cop, if people just talk... | |
| Hey, Cop, what's up, man? | |
| I'm taking this up to the judicial authorities of this game. | |
| That's outrageous. | |
| That's outrageous. | |
| What is the only historically black and Catholic university in the United States? | |
| Hmm. | |
| What was the question? | |
| Historically black and Catholic. | |
| What is the only historically black and Catholic university in the United States? | |
| Hmm. | |
| Hang on, I got a text real quick. | |
| Oh yeah, do you have a text coming in? | |
| My wife's texting me about dinner or something. | |
| Historically black and Catholic university in the United States. | |
| I don't know the name of that many. | |
| The sad thing is I'm cheating right now and I still can't find the answer. | |
| This is why I barely graduated high school. | |
| What is that? | |
| The answer is Xavier University. | |
| You could have given me, like, all the time in the world. | |
| I never would have gotten that. | |
| Well, I was Googling it, and I still see it. | |
| It didn't immediately come up in the Google results. | |
| What was the greatest distance from Vatican City where communion was taken? | |
| Ever? | |
| I don't understand the question. | |
| What was the greatest distance from Vatican City where communion was taken? | |
| I don't understand the premise of the question. | |
| The greatest distance from Vatican City ever? | |
| So it would be, I think... | |
| This is going to come down to some serious definitions. | |
| Wait, greatest distance from... | |
| Am I the only one dumb enough to not even understand what the question is supposed to be asking here? | |
| Where the communion was given and received, how far... | |
| From Vatican City that would be. | |
| So the question has to be about wordplay, right? | |
| I guess so. | |
| So who was farthest away from Vatican City when they received communion? | |
| I think I actually do have the answer to this. | |
| Oh, hold on a second. | |
| Apollo 11 moon landing. | |
| There it is. | |
| There it is, baby. | |
| Yeah. | |
| You were about to write cop down there? | |
| I was just about to say the moon. | |
| You didn't give me a chance to write it down. | |
| This Scientologist went back to her Catholic roots after divorcing her movie star husband. | |
| Oh, I think I know this. | |
| I know all the celebrity questions. | |
| How embarrassing is this? | |
| Who else? | |
| It was Nicole Kidman. | |
| Oh man, I picked the second wife. | |
| Oh, I'm completely wrong. | |
| I said Kate Cruz because I forgot her last name, but I thought it would be Trad to use his last name. | |
| I thought it was, what's her name, Leah Remini from the King of Queens? | |
| Yeah. | |
| Used to be Scientologist, and I assume she was Catholic, but... | |
| I actually think she didn't go back to Catholicism, though. | |
| I think she's, like, stayed with some, like, kind of weird view. | |
| All right. | |
| All right, well, so much for that one. | |
| What are the five countries with the largest population of Catholics? | |
| The five countries? | |
| With the largest number? | |
| Or like largest percentage. | |
| Alright, we'll just say the largest number. | |
| Okay. | |
| Most total number? | |
| I'm done. | |
| The answer is Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, the United States, and the country of Michael Knowles' imagination, also sometimes known as Italy. | |
| All right, I'll take three. | |
| I got U.S., Brazil, and what was the only one, Mexico? | |
| He said that, right? | |
| Yeah, he said Mexico. | |
| All right. | |
| All right, that one's even. | |
| Even money. | |
| What country has the largest percentage of Catholics by population? | |
| Ugh. | |
| The Vatican at 100%. | |
| Kind of a trick question. | |
| But you still go to hell for getting it wrong. | |
| Wait a second. | |
| Is Matt still writing there? | |
| I wrote Italy. | |
| Yeah. | |
| All right. | |
| I'll take my Vatican. | |
| I believe the country is actually... | |
| Isn't the country called the Holy See? | |
| I put Vatican in parentheses just in case. | |
| Back when there was good political power and the Holy See had the papal states, there were even more people. | |
| But I guess the percentage was probably the same. | |
| Third century Bishop Saint-Denis is known for his beheading and consequent carrying of his own head before finally dying. | |
| What country is he the patron saint of? | |
| I like this guy, first of all. | |
| I do like him. | |
| You know, it reminds you that it doesn't matter how far you go, it's the first step that counts. | |
| Okay, well, I've just got one completely, just a total dartboard guess. | |
| Saint-Denis. | |
| The country is France. | |
| Oh. | |
| I guessed Syria, because it sounded kind of... | |
| I actually put Syria too. | |
| Did you? | |
| That says something about our cultural perceptions, I think. | |
| How many books does the Catholic Bible include? | |
| I'm going to get this off by like one or two. | |
| Old and New Testament, I assume, right? | |
| Yeah. | |
| Oh man, I'm gonna get, I'm definitely gonna get this wrong. | |
| The answer is 73 books. | |
| I put 72. | |
| I had 59, so I was a little bit off. | |
| Yeah, do we get any relative points here or is that, ah man, that's brutal. | |
| And the bonus question, how many are in the Protestant Bible? | |
| See, this is a trick because if you get it right, then you lose a point. | |
| That's right, this is the problem. | |
| Unfortunately, I think I know this one. | |
| Huh, wait. | |
| I think I know what Matt is thinking of right now. | |
| It's 66. | |
| Nailed it. | |
| I'm actually ashamed to have gotten that right. | |
| I got 68. | |
| Yeah, I'm sorry that I knew that. | |
| So you lose a point for getting that right. | |
| I should really lose all the points for getting that right. | |
| What denomination is the lord of the multiverse, Andrew Klavan? | |
| Oh, we're kind of giving this one away, haven't we? | |
| All right. | |
| I'll just leave you to answer that one on your own because it's so many different multiverses There's so many different denominations. | |
| Do we know what it was? | |
| That actually is. | |
| I actually do happen to know this answer. | |
| So he says he's Anglican. | |
| He thinks Anglo-Catholic, but I think he goes to a Presbyterian church. | |
| I wrote Anglican too, but I have no idea at all. | |
| I think that is the more correct answer. | |
| I think that's the one. | |
| All right. | |
| There we have it. | |
| The better Catholic is, of course, Matt Walsh, but Noel's got more answers right. | |
| All right. | |
| I am... | |
| Even more sure that I was right to begin with about this whole idea. | |
| So, I feel vindicated in a way. | |
| In a way, I feel vindicated. | |
| You know, at the very least, we were both able to demonstrate our embarrassing ignorance of our faith. | |
| And then it adds to the guilt and the shame, which makes us better Catholics in the end. | |
| So, I think we're all winners in the end. | |
| That's a good point. | |
| You want me to get a 45-second commercial? | |
| That's real money, man. | |
| That's pretty good. | |
| Okay, are we rolling? | |
| Watch the Michael Knowles show It's a great show. | |
| There are many things about it that you might enjoy. | |
| If you were to watch it. | |
| If you were to watch it, or even say, listen to it. | |
| We could watch and listen to it. | |
| Sometimes there are some who would watch and then listen to it. | |
| Listen and then watch it. | |
| Both at the same time. | |
| This is the Michael Knowles show. | |
| This is a great, great show. | |
| And I would just recommend really watching it. | |
| There you go. | |
| I feel like I really nailed that. | |
| Thank you very much. | |
| I appreciate it. | |
| You're welcome. | |
| Yeah, absolutely. | |
| Anytime. | |
| Make sure, by the way, that everyone out there in the internet's lands sends in your next thoughts for the next highly contentious, serious, high stakes face-off. | |
| That's it for now. | |
| The Daily Wire hopes you're having a terrific Christmas holiday. | |
| We will be back January 4th with new episodes of The Michael Knowles Show. |