The Pope, the President, Pete Hegseth ... and the Unholy War of Words

At least one of them can use some divine intervention.

Once again I find myself in a familiar place — caught in the middle of two opposing sides … and disagreeing with both.

To the left stands a man of peace, Pope Leo XIV. To the right, the secretary of war — or at least a man who seems comfortable with the title — Pete Hegseth. Both men, I assume, mean well. But as we’ve seen time and again, good intentions don’t always lead to sensible conclusions.

Let’s start with the pope. He recently said, “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

Okay, a not too subtle shot at President Trump without mentioning Mr. Trump by name. We shouldn’t be surprised. Pope Leo is a man of the left. And no surprise either that Donald Trump took to Truth Social to fire back at the pope, just as he fires back at everybody who says something about him that he doesn’t like. The pope, Mr. Trump said, is “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” before adding, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” Not long after that, an image of the president looking a lot like Jesus popped up on Trump’s Truth Social— the latest piece of evidence indicating that Donald Trump desperately needs some divine intervention.