I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of the Catholic Church. Yet, I have to admit Pope Leo XIV almost makes me want to join up.
I do remember a lot of the Bible, though having been raised Lutheran, and the pope certainly seems to know what he’s talking about. As the leader of the faith, you’d think that he would know the difference between good and evil. And as the leader of the faith, he would have the responsibility to inform his followers about which is which. Wouldn’t you think?
Recently, the pope gave a sermon on the New Testament according to Matthew 5:9 – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”
Around the same time, the vile Pete Hegseth, who likes to call himself the Secretary of War, was giving a sermon at a white Christian nationalist church service at the Pentagon, citing the gospel according to Quentin Tarantino on the glories of war.
But back to the pope, who continued, “Woe to those that manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into the darkness and filth.” This, of course, caused President Trump to have a major meltdown. It could be that somewhere in Donald’s delusional brain he actually remembered that old adage, “If the shoe fits, wear it.” The pope responded that news outlets had “misunderstood his remarks as criticism of Trump, but he didn’t want to debate the president.” Soon after, J.D. Vance, a recent convert to Catholicism, actually tried to school His Holiness, the arbiter of faith, the pope, urging him to stick to religion and leave politics to politicians. The oh-so-religious Mike Johnson came out with much the same message.
Some people really don’t seem to get how screwed up this is, and WRONG. So, you might not see me at St. Anthony’s yet. But you can bet I will be paying a little more attention to Pope Leo XIV from now on.
Kate Furness
Ely