Scat-id, When flying to Algeria on Monday to begin his historic African tour, Pope Leo was faced with a choice. He could ignore the incredible social media attack Donald Trump had on him overnight, or he could face it directly.
In the end, he chose a second option, taking a very unusual step by criticizing Trump's government. Talking to reporters in a papal plane, the Pope said that he was not afraid of the government and would continue to speak loudly against the war.
"I think a Bible message should not be abused, as some people do," he said, as he added, "too many innocent lives have been lost... I believe someone should stand up and say there's a better way."
Leo's comments have made him the most prominent international counterbalance for Trump and triggered an unprecedented clash between the first American whales and the president of the United States who has repeated attacks against him.
However, this Chicago birth Pope, known in his gentle style and with respect, did not begin this conflict. After spending most of his adult life in the Order of Saint Augustine, whose monks and nuns in it utter the word of poverty, chastity, and obedience with focus on unity and community, his priority is unity and building bridges.
Alih-instead of starting his post with a series of executive orders or initiatives that attract public attention, the Pope has used most of his first year to listen and make changes gradually. He also emphasized the importance of multilateral institutions such as the United Nations Union and the respect of international law, at the time the US president declared that he was not bound by these norms.
Although he has a more silent personality than his predecessor, Pope Francis, U.S. military operations in Iran have arisen Leo's resolve, and the will to speak frankly. He decided to mention Trump's name personally -- something the whales rarely do. Although he did mention the name of another Trump government member, his statement that "God does not listen to the prayers of those who are at war" seems to offend the wishes of U.S. Secretary Pete Hegseth to frame conflict in the Middle East in religious context.
The Pope who calls for peace and defies war is nothing new. The Pope John Paul II was strongly against the Iraq invasion led by the U.S. in 2003. However, with an American whale, the situation was different. Leo XIV speaks English as his mother's language, something that hasn't happened since the 12th century, and it's been able to reach the U.S. audience, the White House, and the surrounding. Leo was also known in the Vatican because "his faceless face" - he had a mysterious aura that made it unpredictable, and his speech was careful and meticulous, so to speak, a larger weight to his words.
The Pope's peace message.
While in Africa, Leo kept making his voice, saying that his time on the continent was offering a message of peace that the world needed to hear. In a peace gathering in Batenda, Cameroon, Leo delivered a speech that had global impact.
"The world is being destroyed by a handful of tyrants, yet the world remains united by many brothers and sisters who support each other," he says.
"Woe to those who manipulate the religion and the name of God itself for the gain of the military, the economy, or their politics, dragging what is sacred into darkness and filth."
The tension between the Pope and Trump has been heating up since before the latest clashes. It reminds me of an AI that Trump uploaded - and then removed it - that describes him as a figure like Jesus shortly after attacking the Pope.
Instead, Vice President JD Vance, who became Catholic in 2019, attended Leo's inauguration, and gave him an invitation to visit the United States. The Vatican said the Pope would not visit the U.S. in 2026 and instead plan to spend the July 4th - the 250 year anniversary of US Independence - on the island of Lamgamasa in southern Italy, which is the primary landing point for immigrants. It's hard to imagine the Pope making a visit to the homeland during Trump's post as president.
On Tuesday, Vance commented on such disagreements, by saying that the Pope needs to be careful when talking about theology and to remember the "fair war" theory when talking about war in Iran.
The mention of Vance's fair war theory was striking. For centuries, these teachings are often used by military analysts as an ethical and moral criteria for armed conflicts. One of the main architects was Saint Augustine of Hippo, the spiritual father of the Catholic ordo where Leo was fighting. While in Algeria, the Pope made a personal pilgrimage to the place where Augustine served as bishop at the end of the fourth century and early fifth century, and he showed that people didn't see the war in Iran as a fair war.
Vatican News argued in an editorial published the day after Vance's statement that in the last few decades, Catholic teachings had shown "how increasingly difficult it was to claim that" fair war "existed," especially in "the atomic age."
The editorial director Andrea Tornielli insists that Leo XIV, "faced with the insanity of increasing conflicts and unproportional spending of armaments again," continues to "take the path that was opened by his predecessor, calling for peace, dialogue, and negotiations with realism and prophecy clarity."
'The empire comes and goes. '
Vance's criticism of the Pope may be taken more seriously by the Vatican. As a Catholic musician, he has used Saint Augustine's teachings to defend Trump's strict acts of immigration. Meanwhile, Leo has criticized the treatment of immigrants in the US.
"Since Vance entered the Church, City of the Lord's works Augustine [a masterpiece], "said Dawn Eden Goldstein, a writer and Catholic academic, to CNN.
He said that "Pope Leo's undeniable expertise in Augustine's mind... posed a direct threat to the vice president's efforts and his friends' liberals to present themselves to the Catholics as an authoritative socialist and political teachings of the Church."
Leo menjadi paus hanya beberapa bulan setelah Trump terpilih kembali sebagai presiden. Sebelumnya, gagasan tentang seorang paus dari AS dianggap mustahil karena para kardinal tidak ingin bersekutu dengan Gereja dengan kekuatan dominan dunia. Namun, kembalinya Trump ke Gedung Putih mengubah cara pandang para kardinal terhadap AS di panggung dunia. Hal itu membuka pintu bagi mereka untuk memutus tradisi, dan sosok Robert Prevost, dengan pengalamannya yang panjang di Amerika Latin, menjadikannya figur yang menarik.
Keputusan bersejarah itu tidak jauh berbeda dengan konklaf tahun 1978 yang memilih Yohanes Paulus II. Paus Polandia pertama, dan paus non-Italia pertama dalam 400 tahun, dipilih pada puncak Perang Dingin dan kemudian memainkan peran penting dalam jatuhnya Komunisme di Eropa Timur.
“Insiden terbaru ini mengingatkan saya pada Harold Macmillan [mantan perdana menteri Inggris] yang mengatakan bahwa di antara tiga lembaga yang tidak boleh diserang oleh orang waras adalah Vatikan,” kata Gerard O’Connell, koresponden Vatikan untuk majalah America, sebuah media Katolik, dan pengamat berpengalaman dalam urusan gereja. “Saya membayangkan Vatikan akan melihat ini melalui kacamata sejarah, mengetahui bahwa kekaisaran datang dan pergi.”
