Is the Pope Catholic?

“A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest Pope without it.” —Martin Luther

Pope Leo XIV is off to Muslin Algeria today. He has already established a Muslim prayer room in the Vatican, at the Apostolic Library, and has issued impassioned homilies about peace that are thinly-veiled attacks on President Trump, no doubt intended to separate his Catholic supporters from the MAGA base.

The first American Pope, a product of Chicago’s Democratic cesspool, is making the Vatican political, and a lot of American Catholics don’t like it. “Ignore the Pope, Follow Jesus” is now trending online. Rev. Jordan Wells, a Protestant, wrote of the Pope, “He's pushing open borders, radical leftist policies, and ideas that directly oppose Scripture. He's acting more like a false prophet than a shepherd.”

At one point in a recent anti-Trump diatribe, the Pope said, “God doesn’t answer prayers of those who start war.” What an ungodly thing to say. What if the Iran War ushers in a period of peace around the world unlike any seen in history?

The Pope’s close ally, Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington, D.C. echoed the message at the end of his homily Sunday, as he called on Catholics to fight the “immoral” war against Iran. “When we leave this church tonight, we must move beyond prayer. As citizens and believers in this democracy that we cherish so deeply, we must advocate for peace with our representatives and leaders.”

The Pope has yet to blame Muslims for targeting Christians in Nigeria for assassination, explaining that these crusades also hurt the Muslims. Nor has he chastised Iran for slaughtering 40,000 of its own citizens. Instead, he sends envoys to echo his attack on Trump for the Iran war and his deportations of illegal immigrants.

In an unprecedented interview, three U.S. cardinals — Chicago’s Blase Cupich, D.C.’s McElroy and Newark’s Joseph Tobin — spoke with CBS’s “60 Minutes” to nod in agreement with the Pope’s anti-Trump campaign. Hello Bari Weiss, you there?

As if that were not enough to signal his interests, the Pope met for half an hour last week with David Axelrod, a member in good standing of Barack Obama’s inner circle.

Axelrod, like all Dem activists, is pro-abortion and pro LGBTQ+. Was the visit part of another Obama cabal to spur a wave of anti-Trump hatred? Remember, Obama gave Tehran billions of dollars, in cold cash. Trump was the first American leader in 47 years to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions, shaming Obama’s record. And all the others too, one reason perhaps no former president has cheered our military’s prowess in ridding the world of an existential threat.

Finally, President Trump unleashed, on Truth Social, calling the Pope weak.

I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History. Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.

As he departed for Algeria today, the Pope responded, insisting he is all gospel, no politics. But ever since his unexpected selection, he has embraced the political orthodoxy of globalism.

Shortly after his installation last year, he blessed a block of ancient glacier ice during a “Raising Hope for Climate Justice” conference near Rome. The ice sat on a pedestal, symbolizing the melting polar cap. The pope placed his hand on the dripping ice and said a blessing over the water: “Lord of Life, bless this water, may it awaken our hearts, cleanse our indifference, soothe our grief, and renew our hope, through Christ our Lord.” Online, critics called it a “pagan Earth-worship ritual,” “a climate stunt,” and especially evidence of a “woke pope,” mixing religion and politics.

Posting at @Pontifex, the Pope recently used his X platform to spread socialism.

“Hundreds of millions of people throughout the world are immersed in extreme poverty. Yet, disproportionate wealth remains in the hands of a few. It is an unjust scenario, in the face of which we cannot fail to question ourselves and commit to change things. There is no lack of resources at the root of disparities, but the need to address solvable problems related to a more equitable distribution of wealth, to be achieved with moral sense and honesty.”

Economic data suggests that market-oriented economies (capitalism, with private property, price signals, competition, and trade) have a far better track record of lifting large numbers of people out of extreme poverty than socialist systems relying on central planning and state ownership of production.

As Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, suggested, “Shameful that @Pontifex is pushing Marxist talking points. Extreme poverty has fallen dramatically worldwide. Countries that strengthen the rule of law, reduce corruption, and protect economic and property rights have had good success lifting citizens out of poverty.”

When the Iran War began, the Pope called it “an unjust war” and called for an immediate ceasefire, directly chiding leaders responsible for launching the conflict. “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

This led some commentators to wonder if the Pope was familiar with Scripture.

In the Old Testament, God himself unleashed a global flood (Genesis 6–9), destroying destroys all humanity and life due to widespread wickedness, sparing only Noah. He also punished Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18–19) by fire and brimstone for their sins. And then there were those Passover plagues on Egypt, culminating in the death of the firstborn (Exodus 11–12) that allowed the Jews to escape Pharaoh’s slavery.

In the New Testament, Herod massacred (Matthew 2:16–18). All male children under two in Bethlehem killed out of fear of the newborn Jesus. John the Baptist was beheaded (Matthew 14:1–12; Mark 6:14–29). Most infamously, Jesus was crucified in a brutal execution involving flogging, mocking, and nailing to the cross.

AJ Steel, a self-described immigrant and self-made millionaire, urged the Pope to remember the dictum: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. For your first papal act, I suggest you tear down the walls of the Vatican and allow thousands of Muslim illegals to move in. Plus, stay out of America’s business!” After Steel went viral, he posted again. “I noticed a weird trend,” he wrote. “Most folks who agreed with me were proud Catholics, yet those who took the Pope's side were Leftists, Atheists & Muslims —folks who hate the church.”

Jackie Chea, a conservative Christian blogger, wrote, “The pope is still tweeting passive aggressive statements about war, evil, arrogance, and profit in the midst of Trump’s strikes on the Iranian regime. He didn’t tweet when the Ayatollah massacred tens of thousands of protesters. He didn’t tweet when Nigerians were massacred by Islamic militants on Palm Sunday.”

When Charlie Kirk was assassinated for speaking truth about transgenderism, the church ignored that awful killing, despite the fact that Charlie Kirk was perhaps the most important apostle for Jesus Christ since Paul. But when Donald Trump prosecutes a just war against the nuclear-armed world leader in state-sponsored terrorism, the church is all over it? How is that not political?

Todd Starnes, a Newsmax anchor, said Pope Leo earned Trump’s ire.

“That guy's been spewing hate from inside the Vatican for months now and President Trump turned the other cheek,” he posted. “Looks like Trump ran out of cheeks to turn - so he decided to go full hell, fire and brimstone on the pontiff. Don't start what you can't finish, Preacher Leo.”

Let us pray.