It’s been 50 days since the president precipitated his brutal air war against Iran. This “little excursion” has morphed into a regional war with devastating consequences for virtually everyone: To the unfortunate Lebanese, caught in the cross fire; to every one of the petro-states on both sides of the Persian Gulf; and to every nation that continues to depend on the world market for petroleum products.
It’s a war with Congress blind to the reality that the American people oppose it.
It’s a war that Trump initiated in close consultation with only one ally: Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
Who does benefit from this war? Analysts cite only two nations: Putin’s Russia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Putin benefits from vastly increased sales of Russian oil and gas—made possible by Trump’s decision to remove the heavy sanctions placed on the Kremlin since the 2014 invasion of Crimea.
The Saudis benefit from rent-free use of American and Israeli armed forces to “obliterate” their sworn enemies in Iran and Iranian proxies like the Houthis in Yemen.
Trump views this war as a 21st century Christian Crusade, as do all the “holy warriors” in the administration who would happily bring us to Armageddon. The crusader-in-chief is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who literally wears his “Christian nationalism” every day with pride: It’s tattooed on his chest. His belligerent views were revealed in a recent “Christian” prayer service in the Pentagon, where he prayed to a vengeful God: “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness [with] overwhelming violence against those who deserve no mercy.”
Just a few days after the media learned of Hegseth’s “prayer,” Pope Leo XIII used his Palm Sunday message to reject such misguided appeals to the Almighty. Citing Isaiah 15, Pope Leo reminded all Christians to view Jesus as “the King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them.”
Then on Easter Sunday, Trump issued a profane demand for Iranians to surrender—on Easter Sunday, the most sacred day for Christians: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day and Bridge Day in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”
Then, only two days later Trump posted this ominous threat: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
In response, Pope Leo told reporters in Italy that Trump’s threat to wipe out an entire civilization was “truly unacceptable.”
Our nation needs a peacemaker, not a warmonger. Americans need to elect leaders who build bridges, not bombers eager for an apocalypse.
On April 12, Trump posted a bizarre AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus. Replete with images of high-tech weaponry, Trump extends two AI-enlarged hands toward a prostrate man who holds an astonishing resemblance to Jeffrey Epstein.
Within hours, Pope Leo resoundingly denounced the distortions of the message of Jesus, citing the Beatitudes: “The message of the Gospel is very clear, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’”
But the president wasn’t happy with Pope Leo, and that same day he tried to explain away his post to CBS reporter Weijia Jiang, saying, “I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross … . It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better. And I do make people better.”
Then another reporter asked Trump whether he might apologize to the pope. He declined, of course. Instead, he doubled-down on his criticism of Pope Leo, calling him “weak on crime, terrible for foreign policy.”
What kind of leader—what kind of person—would attack the pope as “weak on crime?” The pope isn’t some Democratic big-city mayor; he’s the spiritual leader of 20 percent of Americans who identify as Catholic. The man who occupies the Chair of Saint Peter often speaks for the 2 billion Christians throughout the world.
In 2024, 55 percent of American Catholics voted for Trump. A recent poll for the National Catholic Register now shows that a majority—52 percent—now disapprove of the job he is doing. And that poll was taken before Trump’s trash talk directed at the pope.
This is the man who has claimed that the only limit to his power is “my own morality.”
We already know where this president has hidden his morality: In the gutter.
And what more insistent moral issue is there than the choice of war versus peace? Jesus’ first words to his disciples when he appeared to them, cowering in their hideaway after the crucifixion, were these: “Peace be with you.” In Matthew 5, the central lesson of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is “blessed are the peacemakers.”
Our nation needs a peacemaker, not a warmonger. Americans need to elect leaders who build bridges, not bombers eager for an apocalypse. In the Oval Office, we need to have an advocate for the rule of law rather than ignoring international alliances. ∆
John Ashbaugh “strongly approves” of Pope Leo. And he’s not even Catholic. Respond to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in April 16-23, 2026.
Thank God there isnt a religious litmus test to hold public office and there is a separation between church and state.even .ore importantly, we have a system of checks and balances. As much as you may dislike Trump, Congress is even worse.
If there is a God, I pray for the safety of our men and women in military uniform. Iran will most likely sink every navy ship blockading the Straits of Hormuz.
If Congress is as corrupt as they seem, they will give the Pentagon the 1.5 trillion dollar budget Trump is requesting. This budget represents defense contractors trying to front run the collapse of the dollar. If this budget gets approved, it’s the end of American economy, ladies and gentlemen. Kiss the dollar and purchasing power goodbye. The Fed will print it out of thin air. The dollar will spend like a dime.
We can expect immediate price controls, rationing, and when the public rightly fights back, martial law and a suspension of elections. This is by design. The petrodollar will end and we will exist like east Germany, complete with an underground economy and barter system. All the 1lb jars of instant coffee I’ve been stacking that I’ve been buying for $10 each, will be worth their weight in gold. We are in WWIII, folks.
I am always impressed by the “ideological agility” of those who can in one breath snarl terms like “Christofascist” and the like at anyone whose faith keeps them from jumping on board the latest bandwagon on gender and sexual mores, and in the next breath, coo approval at the same figure for taking a stance they approve of.
Even as an apostate, I am insulted by the way fake Catholics like Vance twist the lessons of Christianity for their own vile purposes. Worshippers of Mammon, every one.
The Irony of the Pope and his church daring to wag their blood dripped fingers at anyone other than themselves, is beyond me. As they do so, they pay billions in reparations for their closeted clergy raping children and ignoring their own involvement in killing millions in the European Wars of Religion. The Pope can kiss the sky as far as I’m concerned.
Lastly, one can only assume that the members of his church who have overrun our country by illegally entering it and which a portion of engage in murdering our people, do so while being actual ordained members.
This (American) Pope’s wet dream is to turn our Protestant nation into a bunch sheep who trade liberty and material progress for assurance from a third party (a priest) that they will get into heaven rather than comport their lives with the teachings of Christ and receive simple Grace. The Pope’s church is heretical as is everything he says.
Just look at every nation south of our border where his church dominates, they are failed states. The last thing our country needs is an expansion of his religion in our borders. The nice thing to know though is that one can never be “excommunicated” when one’s salvation comes directly from God and not a priest or priestly bureaucracy based in Rome. The Pope’s religion doesn’t even belong in this century, let alone this country. It is after all, his religion who foisted the concept of a “blood libel” on Jews, he would be quite happy to see Israel destroyed as well as it’s “Christ killers,” right?
If the Pope gets his way, he will resurrect a new Holy Roman Empire with the US as just another outpost. A majority of SCOTUS are members of his religion and if his religion can get enough adherents, he will use that power in Congress to change the tax structure that allows even the smallest (Protestant) congregation to enjoy a tax free existence, much of which is simply used to pay for rent or good works. This can be done by Congress only allowing churches with a certain size (extremely large) to enjoy this benefit. This will eliminate the tax free basis of countless tiny churches and chapels across our nation that often serve as the bedrock of their communities. The Pope’s church, being the size it is, will then have no resistance in the voting booth from Protestants and can then send our country back to the Dark Ages. The tool his religion uses, is the threat of excommunication. If an adherent, be it a President or CEO, fails to do what his church tells him to do, his mortal soul will be on the line, according to the Pope’s religion. As Americans, we need to be on guard of him, his followers, and his church. History tells us that with enough time, they’ll be burning is at the stake.