Trump’s taken aim at the Pope. It’s another holy war he can’t win |
Trump’s taken aim at the Pope. It’s another holy war he can’t win
April 18, 2026 — 3:00am
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.
Remove items from your saved list to add more.
Save this article for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.
If I could sneak into any room in the world under an invisibility cloak right now, it would be wherever the Pope is hanging out with his gang, combing through the news. Imagine the unfiltered reactions, the flinching and the roars, the deep concern and the bemusement.
Just this week Secretary for Defence Pete Hegseth in a prayer at the Pentagon cited what he claimed to be a verse from Ezekiel but was, in fact, from the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction.
Then, on April Fools’ Day this year, Donald Trump described himself, again, as a Christ-like leader. “On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem as crowds welcomed him with praise honouring him as king,” he reminded us. “They call me king now. Do you believe it?”
How jarring it must have been for the American president, who has repeatedly touted himself as a messianic figure saved by God from an assassin to make America great, and sold copies of “God Bless the USA” Bibles under his name, to be felled by a man who actually reads, understands and correctly quotes the Bible: the Pope.
In recent weeks, as the war in Iran has become increasingly cloudy and destructive, Pope Leo XIV has forcefully argued for peace, calling world leaders to “lay down your weapons” and issuing blunt reminders that the Bible says God does not listen to the prayers of those whose “hands are full of blood”.
When Trump declared “a........