{"id":6095,"date":"2026-04-16T08:47:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T08:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/the-pope-has-shown-the-world-how-to-stand-up-to-trump\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T08:47:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T08:47:01","slug":"the-pope-has-shown-the-world-how-to-stand-up-to-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/the-pope-has-shown-the-world-how-to-stand-up-to-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"The pope has shown the world how to stand up to Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sometimes, the \u201cgood guys\u201d do wear white hats.<\/p>\n

Well, sort of.<\/p>\n

The \u201cgood guy\u201d I am referring to is the American-born leader of the Catholic church, Pope Leo XIV, who shepherds a 1.4 billion-strong congregation.<\/p>\n

The \u201cwhite hat\u201d he dons is a skullcap called a \u201czucchetto\u201d \u2013 which is meant to signify his authority and humility in equal measure.<\/p>\n

Lately, Leo has been exercising his authority \u2013 imbued with a quiet humility \u2013 to confront a bully who ought to have been confronted a long time ago.<\/p>\n

That bully is, of course, United States President Donald Trump \u2013 whose idea of diplomacy is to strut around the globe spewing puerile, profanity-laced threats meant to frighten or intimidate other presidents and prime ministers into acquiescence or submission.<\/p>\n

For years, Trump\u2019s modus operandi worked. Too often, too many presidents and prime ministers opted to mollify him, instead of challenging him.<\/p>\n

Their myopic reasoning \u2013 that assuaging Trump\u2019s ego would soothe his petty, vindictive instincts \u2013 only emboldened a president who, like every bully, takes keen pleasure in exploiting weakness to satisfy a narcissism-centred hunger for dominance.<\/p>\n

Clearly, Leo rejects appeasement as an antidote to coercion and hate.<\/p>\n

Unlike a host of callow politicians who couch their misgivings in carefully worded evasions and bureaucratic-speak, Leo has, to his credit, taken a blunt, public stand against the furious, foolish architects of a disastrous war.<\/p>\n

In this welcome regard, Leo has not only adopted his predecessor\u2019s \u2013 Pope Francis \u2013 honourable defiance against suffering and injustice, but has also refined it into a sharp, uncompromising critique of autocratic hubris.<\/p>\n

While most \u201cleaders\u201d of Western, \u201cliberal\u201d democracies were reluctant to condemn Trump\u2019s overt expression of genocidal intent, Leo made his objections plain \u2013 without hesitation or even a hint of qualification.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we all know, there was also a threat against the whole people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable,\u201d Leo said in Italian. \u201cAnd I wish to invite all to really think deep inside their heart about \u2026 innocent people who are also victims of this escalation of a war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Leo\u2019s admonition and appeal prompted Trump and his evangelical supporters to confirm that \u201cthinking\u201d about the plight of \u201cinnocents\u201d is, for them, a disagreeable, alien concept.<\/p>\n

Trump and carpet-bombing-giddy company framed the unprovoked attack on Iran as a necessary Holy War sanctioned by a Lord whose teachings they claim, unconvincingly, to be faithful to.<\/p>\n

Leo rejected outright the blatant blasphemy.<\/p>\n

In a homily delivered during Sunday mass, Leo repudiated the absurd notion that the God he serves and worships heeds the hysterical call of warmongers.<\/p>\n

He insisted, instead, that their \u201chands are full of blood\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,\u201d Leo said. \u201cHe does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: \u2018Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo did not name him, yet his stinging broadside was, no doubt, directed at America\u2019s preening secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, and the gaggle of faux \u201cChristian\u201d preachers cheerleading a calamitous war of choice.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not escape Leo\u2019s piercing rod.<\/p>\n

Although addressing Trump\u2019s misbegotten adventurism may have been top of mind when Leo held a prayer for peace in St Peter\u2019s Basilica in Vatican City on Saturday, Netanyahu was, I am convinced, in his rhetorical crosshairs, as well.<\/p>\n

Leo derided the \u201cdelusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump and Netanyahu resemble conjoined twins who share a \u201cdelusion of omnipotence\u201d and an insatiable craving for war.<\/p>\n

Leo urged them to stop the carnage they have unleashed \u2013 this time, on Iranians.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo them we cry out: Stop. It is time for peace. Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation \u2013 not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Trump regime\u2019s response has, predictably, been a reflection of the US commander-in-chief\u2019s signature brutishness and self-aggrandisement.<\/p>\n

A senior Pentagon official conveyed a not-so-veiled threat in a \u201cbitter\u201d meeting with the Vatican\u2019s US envoy.<\/p>\n

Reportedly, Cardinal Christophe Pierre was warned that Washington \u201chas the military power to do whatever it wants \u2013 and that the Church had better take its side\u201d.<\/p>\n

Faced with the raw, unchecked hostility of a president who demands devout loyalty, Leo has offended the bully braggart.<\/p>\n

The pontiff\u2019s reply was a simple, powerful statement of uncommon resolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not afraid of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do,\u201d Leo said.<\/p>\n

While a besieged president wails about \u201cweakness\u201d, Leo has established \u2013 through his poignant words and fine example \u2013 that true strength lies in moral clarity, not in the frantic, vacant pursuit of riches and hegemony.<\/p>\n

The clarifying aspect of this clash between a demagogue and a pope became apparent when Trump posted \u2013 and then deleted \u2013 an image portraying himself as the literal figure of Christ.<\/p>\n

It was, at once, a sorry attempt at self-deification, and a reminder of the startling magnitude of Trump\u2019s defining conceit and vanity.<\/p>\n

It was a tawdry grasp at sanctity from a man whose life has been the antithesis of the values and beliefs he sought to appropriate for his parochial political ends.<\/p>\n

In this contest of personalities and will, the divide is stark: One side offers the familiar tropes of the strongman, while the other reminds us that dignity is a dividend of tolerance and understanding.<\/p>\n

The bully may have the missiles and a presidential seal, but he has finally met a principled antagonist who will not be cowed, bought, or brow-beaten into collusion or silence.<\/p>\n

And that, it seems, is the one idea Donald Trump cannot abide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, the \u201cgood guys\u201d do wear white hats. Well, sort of. The \u201cgood guy\u201d I am referring to is the American-born leader of the Catholic church, Pope Leo XIV, who shepherds a 1.4 billion-strong congregation. The \u201cwhite hat\u201d he dons is a skullcap called a \u201czucchetto\u201d \u2013 which is meant to signify his authority and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}