It’s been two months since the president precipitated his brutal air war against Iran. This “little excursion” has morphed into a regional war with devastating consequences for virtually everyone: to the unfortunate Lebanese, caught in the cross fire; to every one of the petro-states on both sides of the Persian Gulf; and to every nation that continues to depend on the world market for petroleum products.
It’s a war with Congress blind to the reality that the American people oppose it.
It’s a war that Trump initiated in close consultation with only one ally: Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
Who does benefit from this war? Analysts cite only two nations: Putin’s Russia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Putin benefits from vastly increased sales of Russian oil and gas—made possible by Trump’s decision to remove the heavy sanctions placed on the Kremlin since the 2014 invasion of Crimea.
The Saudis benefit from rent-free use of American and Israeli armed forces to “obliterate” their sworn enemies in Iran and Iranian proxies like the Houthis in Yemen.
Trump views this war as a 21st century Christian Crusade, as do all the “holy warriors” in the administration who would happily bring us to Armageddon. The crusader-in-chief is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who literally wears his “Christian nationalism” every day with pride: It’s tattooed on his chest. His belligerent views were revealed in a recent “Christian” prayer service in the Pentagon, where he prayed to a vengeful God: “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness [with] overwhelming violence against those who deserve no mercy.”
Our nation needs a peacemaker, not a warmonger. American need to elect leaders who build bridges, not bombers eager for an apocalypse.
Just a few days after the media learned of Hegseth’s “prayer,” Pope Leo XIV used his Palm Sunday message to reject such misguided appeals to the Almighty. Citing Isaiah 15, Pope Leo reminded all Christians to view Jesus as “the King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them.”
Then on Easter Sunday, Trump issued a profane demand for Iranians to surrender—on Easter Sunday, the most sacred day for Christians: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day and Bridge Day in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”
Then, only two days later, Trump posted this ominous threat: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
In response, Pope Leo told reporters in Italy that Trump’s threat to wipe out an entire civilization was “truly unacceptable.”
On April 12, Trump posted a bizarre AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus. Replete with images of high-tech weaponry, Trump extends two AI-enlarged hands toward a prostrate man who holds an astonishing resemblance to Jeffrey Epstein.
Within hours, Pope Leo resoundingly denounced the distortions of the message of Jesus, citing the Beatitudes: “The message of the Gospel is very clear, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’”
But the president wasn’t happy with Pope Leo, and that same day he tried to explain away his post to CBS reporter Weijia Jiang, saying, “I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross. …. It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better. And I do make people better.”
Then another reporter asked Trump whether he might apologize to the pope. He declined, of course. Instead, he doubled down on his criticism of Pope Leo, calling him “weak on crime, terrible for foreign policy.”
What kind of leader—what kind of person—would attack the pope as “weak on crime”? The pope isn’t some Democratic big-city mayor; he’s the spiritual leader of 20 percent of Americans who identify as Catholic. The man who occupies the Chair of Saint Peter often speaks for the 2 billion Christians throughout the world.
In 2024, 55 percent of American Catholics voted for Trump. A recent poll for the National Catholic Register shows that a majority—
52 percent—now disapprove of the job he is doing. And that poll was taken before Trump’s trash talk directed at the pope.
This is the man who has claimed that the only limit to his power is “my own morality.”
We already know where this president has hidden his morality: In the gutter.
And what more insistent moral issue is there than the choice of war versus peace? Jesus’ first words to his disciples when he appeared to them, cowering in their hideaway after the crucifixion, were these: “Peace be with you.” In Matthew 5, the central lesson of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is “blessed are the peacemakers.”
Our nation needs a peacemaker, not a warmonger. Americans need to elect leaders who build bridges, not bombers eager for an apocalypse. In the Oval Office, we need to have an advocate for the rule of law rather than ignoring international alliances.
John Ashbaugh “strongly approves” of Pope Leo. And he’s not even Catholic. Respond to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in May 7 – May 14, 2026.