Peter Thiel backs the Hallow prayer app, which is now promoting “The Way,” a book composed by Josemaría Escrivá, the initiator of Opus Dei. Leonard Leo (Federalist Society, Teneo) reportedly belongs to Opus Dei. 1/
2/ h/t author @garethgore.bsky.social for noting the connection between Hallow and Opus Dei!
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5/ Here is the Catholic publication reporting that Leonard Leo belongs to Opus Dei. It is a piece defending Leo against alleged “anti-Catholic bigotry”. catholicleague.org
6/ Pete Hegseth promoted the Thiel-backed Hallow Prayer on Fox and Friends last year. huffpost.com
www.huffpost.com
7/ Katherine Boyle—who is Catholic and a partner at DOGE advisor Marc Andreessen’s VC firm—spearheaded General Catalyst’s investment in Hallow back when she worked at General Catalyst. She reportedly saw Hallow’s founder pitch the app at Stanford in 2019. pillarcatholic.com
www.pillarcatholic.com
8/ Boyle says that Hallow just had its biggest day in history.
9/ Hegseth’s Venmo contacts list has reportedly included Evan Baehr, a former advisor to Peter Thiel. (It was Baehr & Thiel who conceived of the Teneo Network, which is now led by Leonard Leo.) prospect.org
prospect.org
10/ You can hear Evan Baehr explain Teneo’s origin story in this video clip. In addition to the Teneo part, I find it interesting that Baehr said that he was working for Thiel on a “political database” at the time. h/t @andykroll.bsky.social
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13/ Evan Baehr left Teneo in 2022, per his LinkedIn.
14/ Per Teneo’s tax returns, Leonard Leo became chairman of Teneo in 2021. projects.propublica.org
15/ The most recent published tax return for Teneo is from 2023. It states that Teneo paid $199K to Flourish Strategy, LLC. as an independent contractor that year. projects.propublica.org Evan Baehr is the registered agent for Flourish. bizapedia.com
16/ “Advisor to Peter Thiel” linkedin.com
17/ “The Teneo Network serves as ‘a pipeline’ that seeks to place conservatives in ‘positions of influence in key industries in America,’ including entertainment, politics, and finance.” monitoringinfluence.org
www.monitoringinfluence.org
19/ As for Hallow, it has been promoted by Gwen Stefani, Mark Wahlberg, Chris Pratt, Harrison Butker & Jonathan Roumie.
20/ prweb.com
21/ “Vance has $15,000-$50,000 invested in Hallow, a Catholic prayer app. The app reportedly collects significant user data, which is at odds with Vance’s previous attacks on Silicon Valley firms for similar practices.” theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com