Sometimes, the “good guys” do wear white hats.
Well, sort of.
The “good guy” I am referring to is the American-born leader of the Catholic church, Pope Leo XIV, who shepherds a 1.4 billion-strong congregation.
The “white hat” he dons is a skullcap called a “zucchetto” – which is meant to signify his authority and humility in equal measure.
Lately, Leo has been exercising his authority – imbued with a quiet humility – to confront a bully who ought to have been confronted a long time ago.
That bully is, of course, United States President Donald Trump – whose idea of diplomacy is to strut around the globe spewing puerile, profanity-laced threats meant to frighten or intimidate other presidents and prime ministers into acquiescence or submission.
For years, Trump’s modus operandi worked. Too often, too many presidents and prime ministers opted to mollify him, instead of challenging him.
Their myopic reasoning – that assuaging Trump’s ego would soothe his petty, vindictive instincts – only emboldened a president who, like every bully, takes keen pleasure in exploiting weakness to satisfy a narcissism-centred hunger for dominance.
Clearly, Leo rejects appeasement as an antidote to coercion and hate.
Unlike a host of callow politicians who couch their misgivings in carefully worded evasions and bureaucratic-speak, Leo has, to his credit, taken a blunt, public stand against the furious, foolish architects of a disastrous war.
In this welcome regard, Leo has not only adopted his predecessor’s – Pope Francis – honourable defiance against suffering and injustice, but has also refined it into a sharp, uncompromising critique of autocratic hubris.
While most “leaders” of Western, “liberal” democracies were reluctant to condemn Trump’s overt expression of genocidal intent, Leo made his objections plain – without hesitation or even a hint of qualification.
“As we all know, there was also a threat against the whole people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable,” Leo said in Italian. “And I wish to invite all to really think deep inside their heart about … innocent people who are also victims of this escalation of a war.”
Not surprisingly, Leo’s admonition and appeal prompted Trump and his evangelical supporters to confirm that “thinking” about the plight of “innocents” is, for them, a disagreeable, alien concept.
Trump and carpet-bombing-giddy company framed the unprovoked attack on Iran as a necessary Holy War sanctioned by a Lord whose teachings they claim, unconvincingly, to be faithful to.
Leo rejected outright the blatant blasphemy.
In a homily delivered during Sunday mass, Leo repudiated the absurd notion that the God he serves and worships heeds the hysterical call of warmongers.
He insisted, instead, that their “hands are full of blood”.
“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood.’”
Leo did not name him, yet his stinging broadside was, no doubt, directed at America’s preening secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, and the gaggle of faux “Christian” preachers cheerleading a calamitous war of choice.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not escape Leo’s piercing rod.
Although addressing Trump’s misbegotten adventurism may have been top of mind when Leo held a prayer for peace in St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on Saturday, Netanyahu was, I am convinced, in his rhetorical crosshairs, as well.
Leo derided the “delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive”.
Trump and Netanyahu resemble conjoined twins who share a “delusion of omnipotence” and an insatiable craving for war.
Leo urged them to stop the carnage they have unleashed – this time, on Iranians.
“To them we cry out: Stop. It is time for peace. Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation – not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided.
“Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life,” he added.
The Trump regime’s response has, predictably, been a reflection of the US commander-in-chief’s signature brutishness and self-aggrandisement.
A senior Pentagon official conveyed a not-so-veiled threat in a “bitter” meeting with the Vatican’s US envoy.
Reportedly, Cardinal Christophe Pierre was warned that Washington “has the military power to do whatever it wants – and that the Church had better take its side”.
Faced with the raw, unchecked hostility of a president who demands devout loyalty, Leo has offended the bully braggart.
The pontiff’s reply was a simple, powerful statement of uncommon resolve.
“I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do,” Leo said.
While a besieged president wails about “weakness”, Leo has established – through his poignant words and fine example – that true strength lies in moral clarity, not in the frantic, vacant pursuit of riches and hegemony.
The clarifying aspect of this clash between a demagogue and a pope became apparent when Trump posted – and then deleted – an image portraying himself as the literal figure of Christ.
It was, at once, a sorry attempt at self-deification, and a reminder of the startling magnitude of Trump’s defining conceit and vanity.
It was a tawdry grasp at sanctity from a man whose life has been the antithesis of the values and beliefs he sought to appropriate for his parochial political ends.
In this contest of personalities and will, the divide is stark: One side offers the familiar tropes of the strongman, while the other reminds us that dignity is a dividend of tolerance and understanding.
The bully may have the missiles and a presidential seal, but he has finally met a principled antagonist who will not be cowed, bought, or brow-beaten into collusion or silence.
And that, it seems, is the one idea Donald Trump cannot abide.
www.aljazeera.com
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