Pope and Trump
by Remy Jayasekere
2025/06/1
Pope Francis
- Well–respected One, a holy, kind and well–respected man and the other an arrogant man described as a liar, a cheat and a womaniser. Both are world leaders, but in very different ways. For a start, the above two photos show the vast difference between them. One a genuine photo showing a smiling and happy Pope, and the other is a doctored photo showing an angry and threatening President. Trump joked that he would “like to be Pope”, and then out of the blue, he posted the above photo on Twitter (X). This irreverent posting, which was in very poor taste, drew instant outrage and condemnation from all over the world. This act alone shows the terrible calibre of the man.
The Pope is the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics in the world. Francis lived in a modest guest house instead of the traditional Papal apartments and he was totally focused on humility and simplicity. He often spoke about social justice, inequality and the marginalised in the world. He also called for global action on climate change and promoted improved relations with other religions including Islam and Judaism. His criticism of free market economics and siding with the left prompted claims that he was a communist. He even said, “It is the communists who think like Christians”. He called capitalism a source of inequality at best and at worst a killer. It is shocking how things have changed in the Catholic church. One of his predecessors, Pope John Paul the second, is widely credited with playing a significant part along with Ronald Reagan and Margret Thatcher in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe. One Pope brings communism down and another wants to embrace it. While Francis’ behaviour and statements were progressive, kind and loving, it is doubtful whether they had a significant impact on any of the causes he was championing. He had no armies to fight and he cannot fix tariffs like Trump does. He could only preach but his preaching seems to fall in deaf ears.
On the other hand, Trump, a convicted felon is the ultimate capitalist, and almost everything he does as president affects the whole world. Before the election he said he will stop the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, in 24 hours after his election. When asked why this has not happened yet, he said he was joking. Similarly, he had to backtrack on many hasty decisions such as increased tariffs, annexing Canada, Greenland and Panama. His approval rating has fallen to historic lows and his arrogance seems to have no bounds. His deeds during the first 100 days are well documented and there is no need to repeat them here.
The US has always been a violent country. The genocide of the native Americans, Slavery and its associated cruelty, the civil war and wars with Mexico, Spain and the Philippines are some examples of the violent past. The US has 750 military bases in 80 countries around the world. The CIA was instrumental in effecting 100 regime changes around the world since 1947. Three million people were killed in Vietnam, a war initiated by the US. In the September 11, 2001 Twin Towers attacks, 3,000 people were killed in the US but in anger US bombed Afghanistan killing 15,000 people. They went to Iraq looking for WMDs and did not find any but killed a million Iraqis during the war and its aftermath. With this background and the power Trump wields, what he can do are obvious as he seems to ignore all the checks and balances built into the U.S. constitution. When he is done with the tariffs, immigration, education and DOGE, the US and the world are going to be different places.
The first Pope was St Peter the Apostle, appointed by Jesus 2,000 years ago. There has been a succession of Popes since then. While many popes are remembered for their holiness, reform, or leadership, a number have been widely regarded as morally corrupt, politically manipulative, or deeply scandalous. For example, Pope John XII (955CE – 964CE) became pope at 18 and is accused of conducting orgies, murder, incest and blasphemy. Pope Stephen VI (896CE – 897CE) exhumed the corpse of his predecessor, Pope Formosus, and put it on trial, dressed the body in papal robes, interrogated it, and declared it guilty, had the body stripped, mutilated, and thrown into the Tiber River. There were several such popes involved in weird behaviour and sexual and financial crimes.
During the early 1500s, the Vatican was financially broke and deeply in debt, largely due to lavish spending by the popes, expensive wars, and the ambitious project of rebuilding St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. At that time, the Papal courts resembled princely courts — with banquets, art commissions, and luxurious lifestyles. To raise funds, the Church intensified the sale of indulgences. Indulgences were certificates sold by the Church that promised to reduce time in purgatory for sins already forgiven, a controversial practice that became one of the primary triggers of the Protestant Reformation.
The biggest fraud of them all was the “Donation of Constantine”, one of the famous forgeries in Western history. It was a letter, an imperial decree, supposedly written by Emperor Constantine the Great (306CE-337 CE), in which he transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to Pope Sylvester I and his successors. The document claimed Constantine was healed of leprosy by Pope Sylvester and converted to Christianity and was baptized by Sylvester.
It was claimed that out of gratitude Constantine made this donation. The document served to Justify papal claims to political authority over Rome and parts of Europe and support the idea that the pope had supremacy over secular rulers, including emperors and kings. In the 15th century, Lorenzo Valla, a humanist and Catholic priest, proved the donation was a forgery. Even after it was exposed, the Church took centuries to fully distance itself from the document.
Today, the Catholic Church does not recognise it as legitimate. However, the Church benefited enormously from it for many centuries. For example, the first European colonisers Spain and Portugal had to seek and receive Papal approval for their overseas conquests. The Catholic Church often shared in the spoils of colonization, both materially and institutionally, through its close partnership with European colonial powers like Spain and Portugal. While the Church’s stated goal was the conversion of indigenous peoples, in practice it gained wealth, land, influence, and power from the colonial enterprise. One has only to visit the Vatican Museum to learn the scale of plunder. There are two large churches in Rome with Gold ceilings – not gold plated.
Trump depicted as the Pope in an AI-generated image
Christianity owes its popularity to Emperor Constantine who, mainly for political reasons, ended the prosecution of Christians and legalised Christianity in the Roman empire in 313 BCE through the Edict of Milan. In 380 BCE, Christianity was made the official religion of the empire. This made Christianity spread through the vast western Roman empire. The countries of the West were the colonisers of the world and they spread Christianity throughout their colonies. Now the largest Catholic populations are not in Europe but in places like Brazil, Philippines or the Democratic Republic of Congo, the result of colonisation.
The Catholic church and its papacy have a terribly violent past. The western countries claim that their civilisation is based on Judeo Christian values. Lord Jesus Christ, when asked what his commandments were, said “love god with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself.” However, there was no love in what the West did to the world and its innocent people during colonisation – massacres, hangings, torture, rape, plunder, famines and murder.
The first colonizers, Portugal and Spain had to seek and obtain papal sanction for their conquests which of course were granted. The Pope also issued the “Doctrine of Discovery” which allowed Spain and Portugal to seize lands and subjugate people on the seized lands if they were not Christian. The pope is also responsible for millions of deaths that occurred during events like the Crusades (1096–1291), The Inquisitions (12th–19th centuries) or the 30 Years’ War (1618–1648), where Catholics and Protestants massacred each other across Europe. While the Catholic Church has also been a force for art, education, healthcare, and spiritual guidance, its history is stained with violence and oppression tied to power — not the Gospel of love it professes.
Now, within the church, the fire for violence is gone. It is all about love, which is good. Pope Francis said that there is no hell but the suffering for sinners is the absence of God. He also tried to mellow down laws against remarried divorcees and same sex couples but faced tremendous opposition to these within the church. His opponents claim that God’s word cannot be changed just because it is the right thing to do. The Vatican Bank has been involved in money laundering, connections to organised crime, fraud and property investment scandals and the Pope has been unable to control any of these except putting the man in charge, Cardinal Becciu in jail. So, the Pope is unable to change things within his own church leave alone making a difference in the world. His fine words of love and tolerance seem to fall on deaf ears and war, hunger, cruelty, genocide seem to go on unabated.
On the other hand, Trump’s actions have consequences for the whole world. Just imagine his plan of chasing all the Palestinians from Gaza and making it a US controlled Riviera. To achieve this, he keeps funding the genocidal Israel. He can make or break the world. There are many crazy things he is proposing to do. It is difficult to imagine what the world would be at the end of his term. One hopes it would be a better place with minimal damage done.
Then there is this big question – why did Trump attend Pope Francis’ funeral. It was his first trip overseas after the election. Their ideas were diametrically opposite. Was it a case of paying respect to a world leader, even though they did not agree on many things or was it a case of political point scoring. We will never know.
The institutions headed by both gentlemen have violent and terrible histories. However, one has mellowed and is promoting love and peace in the world for which we are happy and thankful. The other, while talking about peace, fuels wars in Gaza and Ukraine and is involved in many such activities. Trump is converting the USA from a country whose government Abraham Lincoln said was “of the people, by the people and for the people” to “of the rich, by the rich and for the rich”. What affect all this will have on us, only time can tell.
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