President Trump launches blistering attack on the Pope
Donald Trump has posted a blistering attack on Pope Leo on his social media platform “Truth Social”. In the early hours of this morning, he said “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy”. He said he doesn’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon and that it was terrible that America attacked Venezuela. He said: “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do”, citing low crime figures and the “Greatest Stock Market in History”. He says Pope Leo was only “put there” because “they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.” He says Leo should “stop catering to the Radical Left and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician”. The full statement is reposted on Twitter here and on film here.
Pope Leo: Prayer for peace is ‘bulwark against delusion of omnipotence’
On Saturday evening, Pope Leo led a global vigil for peace with an address to around 10,000 people in St Peter’s Square urging – again – an end to war. He was speaking as talks were underway in Pakistan, between US and Iranian officials, which eventually broke up without agreement. He said to world leaders: “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”. He said prayer teaches how to act: “It is here that we find a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive. The balance within the human family has been severely destabilized. Even the holy Name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death.”
‘Blasphemy’ and ‘militant Christian theology’ in the United States of America
Christian rhetoric has echoed around Washington DC in the justification for war in Iran. US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, prayed for “overwhelming force and victory over our enemies, in the name of Jesus Christ”. Trump said the rescue of the US airman was divinely guided: “God was watching us”. Jim Wallis, founder of The Sojourners Movement, has written on “How Easter turned to blasphemy at the White House”, referring to Trump’s expletive laden post on Easter Sunday, and the faith leaders praying around him, likening him to Jesus Christ. Julia Carri Wong, writing in The Guardian, explains Pete Hegseth’s “militant Christian theology animating the US attack on Iran”.
Loud applause for US Cardinal calling for civic action to end ‘immoral war against Iran’
Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, the Archbishop of Washington DC and one of the senior Catholic leaders in the US, received loud applause for calling on Catholics to take civic action to help end the “immoral” war against Iran. He was speaking during a Vigil Mass for Peace on Saturday at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, joining Catholics in parishes throughout the world, taking part in a day of prayer for peace, called for by Pope Leo. He said: “When we leave this church tonight, we must move beyond prayer. As citizens and believers in this democracy that we cherish so deeply, we must advocate for peace with our representatives and leaders. It is not enough to say we have prayed. We must also act. For it is very possible that the negotiations will fail because of recalcitrance on both sides, and the president will move to re-enter this immoral war. At that critical juncture, as disciples of Jesus Christ called to be peacemakers in the world, we must answer vocally and in unison: ‘No. Not in our name. Not at this moment. Not with our country’.” Text of speech is here. Service recording is here.
Resounding defeat for Victor Orbán who put Christian nationalism centre stage
Victor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, has been defeated in the parliamentary elections after 16 years in power. It was a decisive rejection of his policies which were based on his version of Christian nationalism, the idea that “Christian culture is the unifying force of the nation”. He said it was at risk from migration and liberal secularism, and its roots needed protection, forging close links with the Catholic church on issues such as school ownership and funding, marriage, LGBT issues and family policy. Hungary is 42.5 per cent Christian according to the 2022 census. The campaign against his victorious rival, Catholic educated lawyer Péter Magyar, was so intense that Catholic bishops pledged in October 2025 to avoid the campaign and there has been no official statement following last night’s result. Magyar has not campaigned on Christian identity politics but on issues such as closer ties with the EU, anti-corruption and pro the rule of law. According to journalist Christopher Lord: “To Magyar and his party’s benefit, Orbán’s vision of Hungary as a Christian nation has always been an illusion.” He reviews Orban’s Christian nationalism in ‘Truthdig’ here. Another article in Catholic Weekly quotes András Máté-Tóth, a religious studies professor at Szeged University saying: “Although the government has attempted to portray its opponents as anti-Christian, Magyar has sent clear messages, publicly and privately, that he’ll maintain a positive attitude to the churches”.
Pope embarks on 11 day visit to Africa
Pope Leo starts his eleven day visit to Africa today, visiting 11 cities in four countries: Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. There are 288 million Catholics in African – more than a fifth of the world’s Catholic population and is said to be growing fast. There are themes for each country. Today he starts in Algeria, with the theme “Dialogue and encounter”, pointing to the need for understanding between the minority Christian population and Muslim majority. In Cameroon, a Christian majority population where 25 per cent are Catholic, the theme is unity, kin a country which has seen violence between government and separatists, seen as a colonial legacy. In Angola, a Christian-majority country, with 49 per cent Catholic, the theme is reconciliation and peace in a society accommodating many refugees from neighbouring DRC. And in Equatorial Guinea, the theme is a future of hope. The Conversation has published this explainer >>
How Lambeth Palace took issue with ‘The Archers’ when the vicar married a Hindu
The Rev Alan Franks has been the fictional vicar of Ambridge in the Radio 4 series “The Archers” for 23 years, enmeshed in community life, abseiling down the church tower for charity, courting opposition by proposing ripping out the church pews. But it was his marriage to Usha Gupta, a Hindu solicitor in 2008, which provoked a furious response from Lambeth Palace, when the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office rang the programme’s producers to ask: “What the hell do you think you’re doing? A Church of England vicar marrying a Hindu?”. The team replied that the plot was based on the true story of a Church of England vicar in the southwest, who had married a Hindu in real life. The remarkable story was told by the actor John Telfer, who plays the vicar, in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme, explaining how the programme has mirrored the role of the rural church over its 75 year history. Only this week the vicar had to tackle a ceiling falling down during an Easter service. John Telfer said: “I think he’s the epitome of what a local priest should be – concerned for the community… He is an activist. He cares for people. And yes, sometimes it’s difficult, sometimes people are awkward, but that doesn’t mean he leaves them behind. It doesn’t mean that he shrugs them off”. The Archers celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. The Daily Telegraph has been investigating here.
