Is Pope Leo becoming a political activist?

This is my second article this month that’s critical of Pope Leo. I’m not trying to play “Rope-A-Pope.” However, “to whom much is given, much is required” (Luke 12:48). He’s in a position of authority over more than 1 billion people, and we should all hold him accountable, whether we’re Catholic or not. The way I see it, there’s only ONE church, with Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach) as the Head (Colossians 1:18). 

To be clear, I'm not opposed to religious leaders weighing in on political issues that overlap biblical principles. They should! But when they choose non-biblical issues as a "hill to die on," or more importantly, when they’re on the wrong side of scripture on biblical issues, they look foolish.

Anti-War Activist

Leo has repeatedly called for an end to the war since it began, even though there is “a time for war” (Ecclesiastes 3:8). I, and many others, have called him out on that with many examples in the Scriptures where God instructed His people to go to war. Even The Babylon Bee mocked him with this post: “Pope Leo boldly proclaimed today that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, so long as you don't count King David, or Joshua, or Gideon, or Samson, or Elijah, or Hezekiah, or any of those other people in the Bible.” It’s sad when a parody site has to correct the spiritual leader of a billion people!

Pope Leo responded to Trump’s insults with “Blessed are the peacemakers” as a rebuke … to the leader of the free world who ended 8 wars in 8 months.

As reported in All Israel News on April 12, Leo said, “’Even the holy Name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death.’ This last comment was apparently directed at Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of War, who has often prayed publicly in Jesus’ name for victory in this war.’” It sounds like Leo doesn’t think “the holy Name of God” should be invoked into war in any way. Excuse me, Pope Leo, but In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat appointed men to literally march in front of the army singing praises to the Lord! And the Lord confused their enemies, so that the Ammonites and Moabites attacked each other! In modern wars, we’ve seen “embedded reporters” on the front lines of battles. Can you imagine today seeing on CNN or BBC a group of “embedded worshippers” singing praises to God?

With the pushback from Trump, Pope Leo trotted out three of his influential cardinals on 60 Minutes to echo his sentiments. Cardinal Robert McElroy said in the interview, "The Catholic faith teaches us there are certain prerequisites for a just war.” First of all, with all due respect, most of us don’t really give a “posterior, south end of a north-bound rat’s anatomy” what the Catholic faith teaches if contrary to God’s Word. Had I been Norah O'Donnell, I would have asked, “So, is the #1 sponsor of terrorism on planet earth—that has shouted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” for 47 years—getting dangerously close to a nuclear weapon, not a “prerequisites for a just war”? Or slaughtering at least 40,000 of their own innocent citizens in the streets? 

Open Borders Activist

Although an American-born citizen of the United States, Leo is skipping out on our 250 year celebration on July 4 this year. Instead, he is choosing to spend that momentous day on the island of Lampedusa, which is a primary entry port for migrants. So, he’s snubbing America to make a big statement for open borders. Under Biden’s open border, the administration lost track of 320,000 children! We all where most of them went—to human trafficking. Deaths from fentanyl during that period are estimated as high as 266,000. Where’s the Pope’s compassion for them? And for the many young women who were raped and brutally murdered by illegal immigrants?

Of course, the cardinals also managed to get in a plug for open borders during the 60 Minutes interview. Cardinal Joseph Tobin said. "But when people act in this way, when they have to hide their identities to terrify people, when they can actually violate other guarantees of our Constitution and Bill of Rights." (1) Members of ICE have to hide their identities because the far-left lunatics are doxing them to threaten them and their families. (2) The Constitution and Bill of Rights are for CITIZENS. If you’re in this county illegally, you have no rights! Those cardinals had strictly a political agenda and made fools of themselves. In fact, we could probably have been enlightened more with three of the Saint Louis Cardinals! 

The hypocrisy of their open borders rhetoric is almost breath-taking since the vast majority of the Vatican is enclosed by a wall. To enter, you have to go through security check-points, equipped with metal detectors (much like airports). The only exception is St. Peter’s Square, which is considered a public space, however, you can’t access the rest of the Vatican from there. Also, there’s more than 100 armed Swiss guards on site (about one per acre) dedicated to protecting the Pope at all costs. And never mind the bullet-proof “Popemobile.” And immigrants? Nope. The Vatican doesn’t take any immigrants, other than a “token” family on rare occasions. 

What would Jesus say? He was compassionate with people who committed most sins … the woman caught in adultery (John 8), Zacchaeus’ extorsion of money from taxpayers (Luke 19), and even with Judas, who He knew would betray Him. It seems the only sin that Jesus spoke harshly on was HYPOCRISY, and that was to the religious leaders of the day. He said of the scribes and Pharisees, “They say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matthew 23:3-4). Skipping to verse 13, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”

Devious and Naïve 

On a plane to Algeria, Leo said, “I am not a politician, I speak of the Gospel.” That is—at best—gaslighting, and at worst—devious (I’m being kind). He’s become a political hack for anti-war, open borders, and global warming (remember him praying over the block of ice?). “The Gospel” that he claims to speak, is the good news of Jesus Christ, who came to this earth as God in the flesh and proclaimed Himself to be the only way to eternal salvation. In my view, he has undermined that good news by trying to warm-up to Muslims and has made comments alluding to the “many roads to God” ideology. He visited (and walked barefoot in) a mosque in Algeria a few days ago and wrote on X, “Here, in #Algeria, the maternal love of Lalla Meryem gathers everyone as children, within our rich diversity, in our shared aspiration for dignity, love, justice, and peace.” 

He cherry-picked a (uniquely) friendly Muslim location for a nice photo-op. In my view, these are actually “fringe Muslims,” who either aren’t aware the Quran instructs them to kill us Christians and Jews, or they don’t believe in a literal interpretation. (Similarly, we have “fringe Christians,” who don’t know what the Bible really says, other than John 3:16 and a few other select verses.) If he is really serious about unity with Muslims in general, why doesn’t he visit Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, or Pakistan and proclaim Jesus Christ? It’s because they would probably cut off his head! That religion is incompatible with Christianity. The Quran states, “It is not befitting for Allah to take a son” (Surah 19:35), which is diametrically opposed to the bedrock of Christianity. Yes, we should walk in love with all people, but a part of doing that is proclaiming the truth. He should stop pretending that there’s a “middle ground” in order to appease them. There is no systemic violence in the world today from any other religion—only Islam.

 Pope Leo recently said, "We should perhaps be a little less fearful of Islam." But Cardinal Robert Sarah, retired head of the Vatican’s liturgy office, disagrees. Sarah, who served under three popes (who many thought should have succeeded Francis), said, “Wake up. Islam is a danger. If Christians don’t start caring about our faith, Islam will take over the West. They’ll impose their laws and culture. They’ll grow massively in number. And we will decline.”

In a car analogy, the Pope does not seem to function as the engine, providing power to move the body of Christ forward. Nor does he act as the tires, serving “where the rubber meets the road.” To me, he acts more like the hood ornament for brand identification and prestige signaling.