The following is a Catholic Action League of Massachusetts news release…
On May 4th — just three days before U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was to meet with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican — President Donald Trump launched another unprovoked attack on the Supreme Pontiff, accusing him, falsely and absurdly, of wanting Iran to have nuclear weapons.
While interviewing Trump on his program, “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” on the Salem News Channel (video embedded below), Hewitt sought to elicit a response from Trump by saying he hoped the Pope would call for the release of Jimmy Lai, the Catholic democracy activist from Hong Kong imprisoned by the Red Chinese.
Trump then replied: “The pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s O.K. for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think that’s very good. I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people, but I guess, if it’s up to the pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Piling on, Hewitt, an Evangelical Presbyterian, added: “He’s from Chicago; he’s got to learn a few things.”
Like his predecessors, Pope Leo has consistently opposed both the use and possession of nuclear weapons.
Responding to the President’s fabrication, the Pope said: “The Church has spoken for years against all nuclear weapons. There is no doubt about that,” adding “If someone wishes to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, they should do so with the truth.”
This is, at least, the third time since April 13th that the President has publicly maligned the Pope.
The controversy began on April 7th, when Donald Trump threatened to annihilate Iranian civilization, asserting on Truth Social “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
The response of the Holy Father was remarkably restrained and low-key, stating, that same day, “Today as we all know there was this threat against all the people of Iran. This is truly unacceptable.”
For this simple and unarguable comment, the Pope was made the object of sophomoric insults from Donald Trump, conspiracy theories from Trump’s Evangelical supporters, and scurrilous accusations of anti-Semitism from supporters of Israel.
The Catholic Action League called Donald Trump’s remarks “shamelessly dishonest, completely unwarranted, and increasingly unhinged.”
Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comments:
“President Trump has claimed, outrageously, that the Pope is ‘endangering a lot of Catholics.’
The only person endangering Catholics is Donald Trump. His attack on Iran has emboldened the Israelis to invade the last Christian stronghold in the Middle East — Lebanon.
Since February 28th, the Israelis have killed more than 2,700 Lebanese, and wounded or injured another 8,300, most of them innocent civilians.
According to the United Nations, more than one million Lebanese have been displaced by the invasion.
Now, we have learned that the Israelis have demolished a convent and a school, administered by the Salvatorian Sisters, in the Lebanese village of Yaroun.
The Holy Father’s conduct in this controversy has been entirely blameless. President Trump should have the decency to apologize, but that is unlikely.
Conservative Catholics have a decision to make.
They must decide whether they are going to defend the Vicar of Christ when he is upholding long established Catholic just war doctrine, or whether they are going to remain silent when bigots, heretics and a non-Catholic political leader defame him.
Their choice awaits.
The Salem Media Group — the corporate parent of the Salem News Channel — is partially owned by Donald, Jr. and Lara Trump.
Oriented towards an American Evangelical audience, Salem partners with Clocktower X, the U.S. public relations firm which represents the Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel.
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