These past days have witnessed a verbal joust, mainly by US President Donald Trump, and Pope Leo XIV, the first US-born Pontiff. Pope Leo had said something unexceptionable when he quoted from the Gospel that “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall inherit the earth”. Trump saw in this a veiled criticism of his conduct during the Iran war, and retorted that the Pope “was weak on crime” and did not understand war. Upon hearing of such a response, Pope Leo said that the Papacy “did not fear (President Trump)”. The impact of the spat that Trump had initiated with Pope Leo was felt even by Vice-President JD Vance, who was met when he addressed a group of members of Turning Point USA, the evangelist movement founded by Charlie Kirk. Almost all the chairs in the hall were empty, less out of anger at Vance than at his boss, President Trump. The Catholic community in the US has largely been supportive of President Trump, preferring him in 2024 even to a Catholic President, Joe Biden. Now they were annoyed, disillusioned, at the way in which Trump was talking about Pope Leo. By the time the midterm elections come and Trump has not made amends for his harsh language against the well-liked and respected Pontiff, several Republican members of the US Congress could taste defeat. Many, and not just within the Catholic community, are privately urging President Trump to make amends by a visit to Rome and a (hopefully cordial) meeting with Pope Leo XIV.
Interestingly, a thousand years ago an emperor trekked for days in the icy snow to express his penitence to Pope Gregory, the successor to Pope Leo III. A similar show of penitence would yield political dividends for President Trump, not to mention that it would be the gentlemanly thing to do. Pope Leo XIV has been vocal about the danger posed by “a handful of tyrants”. The Pontiff is conveying an important message through his speeches, that tyranny must end. In Cameroon he obliquely made clear his distaste for colonialism, thereby differentiating himself further from President Trump, who in effect colonized Venezuela and uttered much the same language in the matter of Iran. The fact is that only governance with the full and enthusiastic participation of those governed can unlock potential. Forced labour is both cruel and inefficient, serving as a perverse example of the edict given by Parson Malthus centuries ago, that famine and plenty would weave a pattern within humanity of a sea of poverty with islands of prosperity. Overall, the Christian community is by far the largest in the US, as it is in the UK. In the UK, the Anglicans are the largest Christian denomination, and a short while ago, the 89 million Anglicans in the world got their first woman head. The new Archbishop of Canterbury, the summit of the Anglican church, is a lady. It is only a matter of time before Pope Leo XIV pays a visit to his country of origin, the US. President Trump would be well advised to invite the Pontiff to the US for a state visit. He need not “trudge towards Canossa” as an emperor did a millennium back, setting in train the process of formation of the institution of the Holy Roman Emperor, where the monarch submits to being beholden to the church. Even in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has made no secret of his fealty to the Russian Orthodox Church, an institution of great importance in the Russian Federation. The leader of a country must perforce be close to the aspirations and wishes of his people, which is why President Trump needs to extend an olive branch to Pope Leo XIV, who is gaining in popularity in the US while Trump is losing popularity rapidly by a series of faux pas, such as his clash with the first ever US-born Pontiff in the long history of the Catholic church.
