Over the past week, President Donald Trump has been in a verbal war with none other than Pope Leo XIV. The pope had come out in opposition to the U.S.-Iran War as a representative of peace and the Catholic Church. When the President heard about these comments, he went after the American-born pope.
According to AP News, Pope Leo had stated, “I will continue to speak out strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems.” He continued by saying that he is not afraid of the Trump administration, and will continue to advocate for peace in these times of war.
In response to the pope’s comments, Trump tweeted out on Sunday, April 12, “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” the president wrote in his post, adding, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” according to AP News.
Along with the tweet full of words attacking the pope, Trump posted an image that depicted himself as some sort of savior or god who was reaching down to help those in need. Although the president denied that the image was a depiction of a savior such as Jesus Christ, many of his religious-based supporters came out to question his actions.
Not only was the president verbally attacking the face of the Catholic Church, but he also went on to depict himself as a leader of religion.
In Exodus 20:3 and in Deuteronomy 5:7, it is said that “You shall have no other gods before me,” but in the image, the president is depicting himself as just that. The image is a direct contradiction of Christianity, which a majority of his supporters fall under. It is also fairly backwards to attack the face of the Catholic Church, as another large chunk of his supporters specifically fall under Catholicism.
How can a majority of Christians or Catholics view the president’s decisions to argue with Pope Leo and depict himself as Jesus as a positive thing while he is simultaneously bombing Iran to smithereens? If they are not enraged, then it is the most backwards thinking out there to continue to support the president in full. If they continue to serve the president like the god he depicted, they are strictly going against the words in Matthew 4:10 that says, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Willingly supporting the president’s actions here is just drifting closer to the idea of worship of another god.
Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said, “Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician,” Coakley said in a statement. “He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls,” according to AP News.
No, he is not his rival, but I suppose that anyone who opposes the great and mighty Don becomes a rival. Even the pope.
Jacob Enscoe can be contacted at
