I confess I winced when President Trump remarked, “I am not a fan of the Pope.” Since Pope Leo is an American from Chicago and a fan of the White Sox, I thought of Jim Croce’s lyrics:
Well, the south side of Chicago
Is the baddest part of town
And if you go down there
You better just beware
Of a man name of Leroy Brown.
And don’t forget, President Barack Obama, who lives rent free in Trump’s mind spent 20 years on the south side of Chicago. Trump has made the negation of Obama’s legacy the foundation of his own.
I doubt President Trump made the connection. Robert Prevost, native son of the south side of Chicago and fan of the White Sox is Pope Leo. I do believe Trump has been scrambling to find a way out of his absurd comments.
President Trump, Vice President J. D. Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson have claimed the Pope lacks the theological acumen to address American politics. These are strong claims. We should investigate these claims to see if there is any validity to them.
First, it is not a sin for a politician to criticize the Pope. Have breakfast with a group of Catholics at Peter Paul’s in Schenectady, NY one morning and you will know criticizing the Pope is routine banter.
Second, we should look at the content of the criticisms. President Trump claims the Pope is “not doing a very good job.” “He’s a very liberal person” and should “stop catering to the Radical Left.” “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.”
Vice-President Vance attempted to be less political and more theological: [The Pope] should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
Johnson attempted to push a camel through the eye of a needle: “I’m not one to criticize clerics and religious leaders. We defend free speech, and we certainly defend the right, the free exercise of religion,” Johnson said. “A pontiff or any religious leader can say anything they want, but obviously, if you wade into political waters, I think you should expect some political response, and I think the pope’s received some of that.”
The absurdity of Trump, Vance and Johnson’s claims are dismissed with a factual look at Pope Leo’s resume (C.V) .
· A friar in the Order of Saint Augustine, 1977
· Ordained as a priest, 1982.
· Doctor of Canon Law (JCD) degree, Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, 1987.
· Missionary to Peru, 1980s and 1990s.
· Parish pastor, diocesan official, seminary teacher, and administrator.
· Elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine, 2001 to 2013.
· Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023.
· In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome, and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America
· Made a cardinal.
· Elected Pope, 2025.
The only way to make sense of the criticisms is to understand the nature of the virulent populism of our time. In the fantasy world of MAGA, any opinion is valued above credentialed, experienced experts. Like most populists Trump and company believe they have the same epistemic power on any subject as any other person.
Faith and politics a single fabric
Our political leaders seem confused about the relationship between politics and faith. The Torah came into existence as a political document ordering the way of holiness for Israel, God’s people. The Ten Commandments are political statements. The Old Testament prophets assailed the bad politics of kings and nations. The prophet Isaiah said, “kings will shut their mouths” at the appearance of God’s servant.
The prophets speak to all people and all nations to be just and righteous. Justice and righteousness are political words. Amos prophesied against Israel, Damascus, Edom, Gaza, Tyre and Moab. Isaiah addressed “all you inhabitants of the world” (Isaiah 18:3). Jeremiah announced he was “a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
The political message of the prophets condemned idolatry, xenophobic and imperialistic policies, dependence on military power (“For not by force shall man prevail” – I Samuel 2:9) and the worship of power and money. As Cornel West puts it, “The golden calf of wealth, along with the blood-soaked flag that envelops it, is the true idol of empires, past and present.”
And how can ignore the politics of Jesus? There’s no ambiguity in Jesus’ political claims. Even his mockers inadvertently admitted the truth with they posted: “He said he was the king of the Jews.”
Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36).
Jesus is not denying he is a king. He is saying his kingdom is not another form of Rome. His kingdom is a political alternative to the politics of fear, violence and death. Jesus forces us to answer the most important political question: Is Jesus Lord or Caesar/
Then Jesus drops the bomb exploding all politics based on deception and lies: “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37).
The political lesson for politicians like Trump, Vance and Johnson is clear. The Father sent the Son to be the politics of truth opposed to the politics of violence. God created the Church to be the alternative politics to the politics of lies. Pope Leo is the Vicar of the Church, the spokesperson of the Truth. Pope Leo stands in the prophetic tradition, the apostolic succession and has been given the keys of the kingdom. What was Trump thinking?
Trump and company attempt to do political theology. Pope Leo does what Arne Rasmussen defines as “theological politics” in The Church as Polis.. By this he means, the church is an alternative polis presented in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Don’t mess with the Pope
Trump has assailed the citadel of heaven and God’s Vicar on earth. Even MAGA Catholics were stunned. They have been faithful Catholics much longer than they have been under the spell of Trump.
Bottom line: Don’t mess with the Pope. Trump has been trying to escape his mistake of attacking the Pope by posting AI photos of himself as Jesus, a doctor, or someone sublime, of Jesus whispering in his ear and he has now announced he will do a public reading of the Bible to kick off a campaign called, “America Reads the Bible.” Does the president think he can dupe the world with a media campaign?
Pope Leo is right. Politics can’t be based on lies. President Trump tells lies leading Americans to believe peace can be achieved through war.
I’m tempted to believe Pope Leo knows more about politics than Trump. He certainly knows more about theology. He has a deep theological politics immune to secular political opinions.
Jim Croce gets it so right:
“You don’t tug on Superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off that old lone ranger
And you don’t mess around with [Pope Leo].”
