I have repeatedly stated that no place or person is immune to Trump’s insults and castigation. With his recent mocking of Islam and now Christianity, he has drawn furor from Pope Leo XIV and a few of his loyal followers.
To begin with, he removed an image from his Truth Social account depicting him as Jesus Christ, garbed in a robe and his hand on the forehead of an ailing person. “I thought it was me as a doctor,” he explained when asked about the image.
There was no image to dispute in his criticism of Pope Leo, in which he delivered a scathing broadside, saying he didn’t believe the first U.S.-born pope was “doing a very good job.”
The pontiff told the press, “I will not enter into debate. The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone. The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’” He said this without impugning Trump, but clearly underscored everything about his bellicosity. Moreover, Pope Leo said, “I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel and inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges of peace and reconciliation, and looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible.”
These suggestions cut to the heart of Trump’s attacks on governments and people — ones that unfortunately fall on deafened ears. Trump may have been additionally incensed by Leo’s charge that “a delusion of omnipotence” is fueling the US.-Israel war in Iran.
Trump’s response was stinging: “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” he wrote. “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
Nor, I might add, do we need an unhinged dope with his finger so close to a nuclear holocaust.