Move over Mark Carney: it's Pope Leo
Is the Pope the new “anti-Trump”?
I nearly drove off the road when I heard Pope Leo’s powerful message on the radio this week.
“The Masters of War pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy!” he called to a roaring crowd in Cameroon. “Yet often a lifetime is often not enough to rebuild.”
Wow, it hit me like a bolt of lightning.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” the leader of the Catholic Church said firmly.
“They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing, on devastation. Yet the resources needed for healing, education, and restoration are nowhere to be found.”
The U.S.-born Pope Leo XIV was speaking in Africa – but we all know who he was talking about in America.
For days he has been the target of a barrage of insults from President Donald Trump after the Pope opposed the attack on Iran. The President accused the Pope of being weak and captive to the “radical left.” Trump event went so far as to post AI-generated images of himself as Jesus, healing the ill.
A group representing Catholic bishops across Canada spoke out against using images of Christ for political rhetoric as being, “disrespectful.”
“Blessed are the peacemakers, but woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic, or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” Pope Leo responded.
The Pope says he will not change his message, despite strong opposition from the American administration.
“I will continue to speak out strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems,” Pope Leo said.
“I’m not afraid of the Trump administration.”
Until now Canada’s Mark Carney has been positioned as the intellectual counterweight to Trump and other authoritarians since the Prime Minister’s globally-celebrated speech in Davos.
“I’m not afraid of the Trump administration.”
But I think Mark Carney – who is quadrupling Canada’s military spending at the expense of social programs and health care – should heed the Pope’s criticism of war spending while so many people are in need.
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Save a thought for Cuba
It’s been two months since we last looked at Cuba’s struggle under sanctions from the Trump administration.
Attention has been diverted to the Middle East, but the situation in Cuba has grown worse, my colleague at Common Frontiers tells me.
“Cuba needs access to fuel now. Power outages are constant,” she said. “The situation in hospitals is absolutely dire with medication shortages and decreased access to life-saving equipment.”
Nearly a million Canadians visit Cuba every year – the Caribbean island is close to our hearts and we have had a special, independent, relationship for decades.
Please add your name and send this message to the government urging immediate action to help the Cuban people.
Readers divided on PM Carney’s handling of Iran war
The ceasefire in the Persian Gulf seems to be holding, thankfully, and Iran has reopened tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Canada originally sided with the illegal U.S. attack on Iran, but managed to keep troops out of the conflict (so far).
PeaceQuest readers are roughly divided evenly over the PM’s handling of the conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran. Two-out-of-five (41%) said he has handled it well, while slightly more said he has not handled it well (49%).
Yes. I think Canadians should ,as you write, heed the Pope’s criticism of war spending while so many people are in need. This is a wake up call for us. We need to have 3.5% of the Canadian population to bring about a change in our government, as explained by Erica Chenoweth in 2013 : when 3.5% of the population of a country protest nonviolently, change can happen.