Pope Leo XIV is a continuator of the doctrinal line of his predecessor, Francis, but from the very beginning he has sought to differentiate himself by his methods: where Bergoglio was vehement, talkative, and a bit torrential, Prevost has strived to emphasize, in his first year of pontificate, a calm, discreet, and relatively understated way of doing things, seeking to moderate his presence and public expressions.That is why it has caught everyone's attention that the Pope has decided to openly respond to the provocations and impertinences of Donald Trump. The orange pachyderm, who presides over the USA with a guilty verdict in the Stormy Daniels case, and from the very alleged condition of having been a prominent member of Epstein's pedophilia network and now also a war criminal, did not like it that the Pope of Rome reminded him that “God is not on the side of those who drop bombs” on the civilian population. He responded with a couple of insults and a meme in which he himself, Trump, appeared characterized as a kind of stuffed and grotesque Jesus Christ, who acted as if he were about to heal a dying person. The White House had to withdraw the image in the face of protests from Christian associations, but Trump reaffirmed himself in statements in which he maintained that he can indeed heal the sick. Leo XIV, for his part, also reaffirmed himself in his role: he recalled that he would continue to speak out against wars and said, textually: “I am not afraid of the Trump administration.” That a pope finds himself in the situation of declaring that he is not afraid of the president of the country that boasts of representing democratic values is just one of the paradoxes of the days we live in.European citizens (the so-called despised Europe, often by itself, which, however, we need like the bread we eat), educated and/or convinced of the idea of the secularity of states, had perhaps forgotten that religions continue to be important engines of power throughout the world. The episode of the clash between a character like Trump and a pope like Leo XIV reminds us, once again paradoxically: Trump, president-elect, behaves like a parasite of the rule of law, while a figure like the Pope of Rome, of absolutist and theocratic tradition, is the one who defends this rule of law, along with human rights and civil liberties. Meanwhile, a good part of the major wars underway in the world (such as the genocide in Gaza, or the war in Iran) have religious pretexts or backgrounds. And many of the new authoritarian or neo-fascist leaders, starting with Trump himself, proclaim themselves inspired by God or sent by divine providence. Leo XIV (of whom Trump celebrated the fact that he was American, to then add that he had been elected thanks to him) seems to have well understood that —like everything contained in the scriptures— the mandate to always forgive and turn the other cheek should not be taken literally.
