By Kellys Kaunda
TRUMP VS THE POPE – WHEN THEOLOGY CLASHES WITH POLITICS
US President Donald Trump has described Pope Leo XIV as “Weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy”.
He told him to “concentrate on being a great pope”.
Further he says he is “not a fan of the Pope”.
When Trump threatened to wipe out the Iranian civilization, Pope Leo XIV said that was “truly unacceptable”.
That’s what set off Trump. When the Pope was asked by reporters about Trump’s remarks, the Pope said he wasn’t “afraid of the Trump Administration”.
This exchange revealed something significant – the clash between theology and politics.
Pope Leo XIV was making his remarks on the Iran war in the context of the social teachings of the Catholic Church.
Specifically, he was situating them in the context of peace and justice.
When he took on the role of Pope, he took on the name Pope Leo after Pope Leo XIII who is credited with initiating modern Catholic social teachings on justice and peace.
This branch of theology is Biblical. Throughout the Bible – from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the theme of peace and justice is everywhere.
How you know what God says about war, is to read the entire Bible and pay attention to the general tenor on the subject.
In fact, you do the same for every topic. This is how the theology on war, peace and justice was established.
While the Old Testament speaks of war and crushing of enemies, the New Testament offers perspectives regarding how God wants His children to carry themselves this side of the cross – under the New Covenant.
Why Pope Leo XIV avoided direct political confrontation is because he needs to direct people’s attention to the power of the gospel, to God, who is mightier than the sword.
Without saying so, the Pope, like any well-meaning gospel minister, was saying that killing fellow human beings to impose a certain way of life was not God’s way and will.
Political leaders must understand that the owner of this life and the planet we live on didn’t give anyone the right to take life to force a certain way of life.
This is arrogance, a sin and, as the Pope put it, “truly unacceptable”.
Political leaders have been known throughout history to employ extreme means in the name of national security and national interest.
The ongoing destruction of life and property in Lebanon and Gaza provide very strong justifications for the theology of peace and justice.
Perhaps this explains the strong language employed by the late Pope Francis while in Kazakhstan when he expressed his distate for the union between church and state by saying, “The sacred must not be instrumentalized by the profane”.