…it is the duty of the pope to speak truth to power, no matter how bitter. Pope Leo XIV has always defended the poor, refugees, and others who have no one to speak for them. As the first American Pope, Leo XIV has shown that his commitment to truth and human dignity transcends ideology, race, and nationality.
“Touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” That is a biblical injunction stated in Psalm 105:15 and 1 Chronicles 16:22, warning against harming or mistreating people set apart for God’s purpose.
Right from the beginning of organised Christianity, the pope, as head of the Roman Catholic Church, is the chief servant and peace ambassador. No matter his educational or cultural background, it is predictable that once he is elected, he will be an advocate of peace and love. After all, Christ reduced the Ten Commandments to one— love of God and neighbour.
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Jesus Christ was the foremost peace advocate. Just hours before he was crucified, he was concerned for the peace and wellbeing of his followers: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you…” No wonder he is called ‘Prince of Peace’.
Peace Advocacy
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In today’s crazy world, preachments about peace and harmony may seem ‘old school’ to those benefiting from the humongous profits routinely posted by companies in the military-industrial complex. Every war generates its billionaires.
But it is the duty of the pope to speak truth to power, no matter how bitter. Pope Leo XIV has always defended the poor, refugees, and others who have no one to speak for them. As the first American Pope, Leo XIV has shown that his commitment to truth and human dignity transcends ideology, race, and nationality.
Last year, the Pope called for “deep reflection” on how migrants are treated in the United States. He called on clergy to protect migrants and expressed outrage over migrants being barred from receiving communion in detention facilities.
The Pope also warned that the US bombing of Venezuelan ships, suspected of carrying drugs, risked increasing tensions in the region. Speaking in English in order to reach the US audience directly, he reiterated the Catholic church’s belief that every Christian will ultimately be judged on how he or she welcomed “the foreigner”.
The Pope strongly condemned Trump’s threats to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age” and to exterminate the Iranian civilisation as “truly unacceptable”. He rather urged a shift from military action to diplomacy.
The trump administration is not one to keep quiet in the face of such a challenge. Earlier this year, Pentagon officials, including Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, met with Vatican representatives to demand the Church “take its side” in geopolitical conflicts.
Intimidation
The US usually communicates with the Vatican through the Secretary of State’s foreign desk, not the Pentagon.Summoning the Papal Nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, to the Pentagon was meant to intimidate, but it failed woefully.
At the meeting, there was a subtle threat to declare war on the Vatican. Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby led the American team.
“America has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world,” Colby and his associates informed the cardinal. “The Catholic Church had better take its side.”
As the monologue revved up, one US official reportedly invoked the Avignon Papacy when the French Crown used military force to bend the reigning pope to its will.
During the Avignon Papacy, the pope relocated his residence to Avignon in southeastern France. The move was made in 1309 by Clement V, as he sought the protection of the French monarchy from rebellions in Rome. Seven popes maintained the residence in Avignon over a period of nearly seventy years. The exile ended when Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome in 1377.
Aha! Does it take a genius to interpret that thinly veiled threat?
State of the World
According to credible sources, the pope’s January state-of-the-world address was what riled the Trump team. And what did Pope Leo XIV say?
“In our time, the weakness of multilateralism is a particular cause for concern at the international level. A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies. War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading. The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined. Peace is no longer sought as a gift and a desirable good in itself, or in the pursuit of “the establishment of the ordered universe willed by God, with a more perfect form of justice among men and women.” Instead, peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion. This gravely threatens the rule of law, which is the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence.”
Trump has since broken all protocol and lowered the moral bar in a resort to profanities in his social media post after he issued an ultimatum to Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz: “Open the Fu..ing Strait, you crazy bas***ds, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” Wow! That lowlife lingo was an all time low for any American president.
Since Pope Leo’s ascension to the papacy in May 2025, the US had been hoping to leverage his high office to exert more influence globally. Domestically, too, there are about 70-75 million Catholics in the US. A papal visit would surely feather the political nest of President Trump. Vice President Vance, a Catholic, was dispatched to the Vatican last year with an invitation to the Pope to attend America’s 250th birthday celebration (1776-2026) on July 4, 2026. Pope Leo XIV has reportedly turned down the White House invitation and instead chosen to visit Lampedusa (a centre for migrant arrivals where many souls had met their watery deaths), signalling a deliberate distance from the US administration.
Easter Message
The Pope’s Urbi et Orbi 2026 Easter message also did not go down well with the US.
Excerpts: “We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people. Indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow. Indifferent to the economic and social consequences they produce, which we all feel. There is an ever-increasing “globalisation of indifference,” to borrow an expression dear to Pope Francis…
“On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil. To the Lord we entrust all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only He can give.”
Pope Leo XIV may not have a standing army, but his is the only surviving moral voice in a unipolar world where the United Nations has been reduced to a paper tiger. As the head of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, the pope owes it to the world to uphold the torch of truth and justice, even if the wielders of temporal battle axes think that might is always right. In this era of normalising the unthinkable (like the bombing of Gaza incubators in which tiny preterm babies were blown to pieces), nothing is far-fetched anymore. But let no one threaten the pope. For now, that is the only moral authority standing.
Viva Papa!
Wole Olaoye is a Public Relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached on [email protected], Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021
