{"id":114561,"date":"2026-05-09T11:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T09:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/?p=114561"},"modified":"2026-05-09T12:58:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T10:58:57","slug":"the-political-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/franz-alt-en\/comments-interviews\/the-political-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"The Political Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A year ago, US citizen Robert Francis Trevost was elected Pope Leo XIV.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His choice of name alone made his political agenda clear: his predecessor, Leo XIII, was the founder of Catholic social teaching. Catholic social teaching means peace and social justice. The new Pope is living up to this agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US President Donald Trump\u2019s vulgar tirades against his compatriot in the Vatican have quickly made Pope Leo popular worldwide. Anyone who insults this Pope of social peace makes themselves unpopular. Donald Trump\u2019s poor poll ratings make this fact clearer by the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump says that without him, \u201cLeo would never have become Pope\u201d. The truth is rather that, partly because of Leo, Trump could soon be finished. The S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung wrote: \u201cWhat does it mean for Catholics in the US that their president attacks their Pope in this way: could it be the beginning of the end for Trump? And for Leo, the beginning of something greater?\u201d (S\u00fcddeutsche, 7 May 2026<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pope is \u201cterrible\u201d and \u201cweak\u201d, he even wants \u201cIran to have the atomic bomb\u201d, Trump ranted on several occasions. Yet everyone knows that popes have long condemned global nuclear policy. Pope Pius XII himself said: \u201cNothing is lost with peace, but everything can be lost with war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leo\u2019s measured response to Trump: \u201cIf anyone wishes to criticise me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so with the truth.\u201d Trump has once again been exposed as a liar, by the Pope himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Power versus morality<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Trump has now said for the second time that he wants to \u201cwipe out Iranian civilisation\u201d. A follower of Jesus must, of course, take a stand against this madness. Leo: \u201cThe peace of the risen Christ is an unarmed and disarming peace, humble and persevering.\u201d Leo is quite simply right when he sharply laments the \u201cglobal trend towards military rearmament\u201d and criticises the \u201czeal for war\u201d. The battle \u201cpower versus morality\u201d thus continues. Leo: \u201cA disciple of Christ never stands on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.\u201d The Pope did not name Trump by name. But a cornered dog will bite. Trump now has a powerful new adversary. After just one year, Leo has already become the anti-Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the number of warmongers grows, peacemakers become ever more important. \u201cSwords into ploughshares\u201d: under this biblical motto, the peace movement in the GDR defeated the GDR regime over 35 years ago \u2013 with the help of the peace advocate Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev was a friend of Jesus\u2019 Sermon on the Mount and took his message of peace seriously. Together with him, I wrote the book in 2016: <\/a>\u201cListen to reason \u2013 War no more!: An Appeal from Mikhail Gorbachev to the world\u201d<\/a> (English Edition). Where is today\u2019s Gorbachev? Will today\u2019s Gorbachev soon be called Leo?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For centuries, the Christian churches have struggled with the secular Enlightenment. Yet today, paradoxically, it is a Pope of all people who wants to help a contemporary Enlightenment achieve a breakthrough. Thank God. On the subject of climate change, too, Leo XIV repeatedly criticised those \u201cwho do not yet recognise the urgency of caring for our common home, creation\u201d. In April, he toured four African countries for eleven days to criticise the exploitation of natural resources, call for greater social justice and urge an end to violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A church in step with the times needs the Jesus-inspired visions of peace, the preservation of creation and social justice. As early as autumn 2025, Pope Leo had asked the US bishops to take action against Trump\u2019s xenophobic migration policy. The conflict between power and morality has only just begun, for the Vatican has just announced that it will continue to uphold international law, globalisation and the values of the Enlightenment. \u2018Catholic\u2019 derives from the Greek \u2018katholikos\u2019 and ultimately means \u2018worldwide\u2019, \u2018all-encompassing\u2019, \u2018concerning the whole\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leo has appointed a new bishop for West Virginia.<\/a> The man originally came to the USA from El Salvador. As a migrant without a residence permit. That is Pax Christi in action. It is impossible for Christians to be apolitical.<\/p>\n\n\n

Source<\/h5>\r\n\n\n\n

Franz Alt 2026<\/a> |  Translated with www.DeepL.com\/Translator<\/a><\/p>\n

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