Furious Pope Rips Trump After Death Threat…Trump Loses It?!!!
4/13/202621 mincomplete
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1:04Pope Leo XIV continues to call out Donald Trump and his criminal regime.
1:11Pope Leo XIV continues to call out Donald Trump's unlawful and catastrophic war in Iran,
1:18and Donald Trump's war crimes abroad, as well as Donald Trump's despicable treatment of migrants
1:24in the United States. Now, Donald Trump is absolutely losing it, as three of the
1:31top cardinals, three of the top individuals who are representing the Catholic Church in the
1:39United States, went on 60 Minutes, as well.
1:42And they called out Donald Trump.
1:45I'll talk more about that in a moment.
1:47And to show you what Donald Trump is doing, and we'll dig into this as
1:51well, Donald Trump went on one of these like thousand words, social media posts, deranged,
1:58unhinged slop that he puts out there, attacking Pope Leo XIV as weak on crime,
2:05as being terrible for foreign policy, that he would not be the Pope without me.
2:11And then Donald Trump started posting photos, AI images of himself as Jesus blessing a
2:19sick person. That is how sick and demented Donald Trump is right now.
2:25While there is this catastrophic war in Iran, while people are suffering in the United
2:30States and across the world because of Donald Trump's behavior and actions, he is posting
2:36images of himself as AI Jesus right now with the American flag in the background.
2:43Some deranged AI slop. Now, over the weekend, in a prayer vigil for peace, Pope
2:50Leo XIV delivered his sharpest condemnation of the Trump -Vance war on Iran to date.
2:57He called the current moment a, quote, delusion of omnipotence and condemn the dragging of
3:02God's name into the discourse of death.
3:06Leaders who turn their backs on God, the Pope said, have turned themselves and their
3:11own power into a mute, blind, and deaf idol that demands the whole world bend
3:18its knee. Enough of war.
3:21True strength is shown in serving life, Pope Leo XIV said.
3:25He told the faithful that he receives letters from children in war zones every day.
3:31Quote, they tell of the pain and sorrow of war while grownups boast of its
3:37effects. We must listen to the children.
3:41Listen to the children. Now, as I've said before, people who watch the Midas Touch
3:47Network come from all different backgrounds and faiths, whether you believe in God or don't
3:52believe in God, whether you're Catholic, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, whatever.
3:57Believe the children. Believe your eyes.
4:00Stand up for humanity. These are basic principles that we talk about here, and I
4:05am sure as heck glad that you have Pope Leo XIV out there calling Donald
4:11Trump out and using his powerful position in the Vatican to do so.
4:15Also, Pope Leo XIV undeterred, we reported earlier this week, how Donald Trump and the
4:23Department, the Defense Department, summoned Pope Leo XIV's top ambassador to the United States and
4:31basically threatened to kill the Pope.
4:33I mean, I don't want to mince words here.
4:35They threatened to do a, quote, Avignon papacy, the 14th century papacy where the French
4:42back then basically kidnapped and hijacked.
4:46The Pope killed them, brought the papacy to Avignon in France, and the Trump regime
4:52told Pope Leo XIV's ambassador, essentially, if you don't support what we're doing, if Pope
4:57Leo XIV doesn't shut his mouth, we are going to be doing to you what
5:03the French did in the 14th century, prepare for an Avignon papacy, which was interpreted
5:08back in the Holy See, back in the Vatican as a death threat.
5:11as a threat that the Trump regime would invade or attack.
5:15And you've seen Trump's behavior throughout the world.
5:18And so that's how it was viewed there.
5:20But if anything, this has only made Pope Leo XIV louder and making sure to
5:28call out all of Donald Trump's behavior.
5:30Now, Pope Leo XIV's top three American cardinals gave their first joint television interview to
5:3860 minutes. They condemned the Iran war, called out ICE, and revealed that Spanish language
5:44mass attendance has dropped 30 % because of fear.
5:49And they made clear that Leo's decision to spend America's 250th birthday on Lampedusa in
5:55Italy, where migrants drown instead of the country where he was born.
6:00Remember, he was born in Chicago, Pope Leo XIV, is a deliberate message about where
6:06moral authority lives. He's sending a message, one of the cardinals said, that his top
6:12priority right now is to be with those who are downcast and marginalized.
6:17I also want to give a shout out to Pope Leo XIV's close ally, Cardinal
6:23Robert McElroy. He's the Archbishop of Washington, D .C.
6:29And let me share with you what his homily said when he talked about Donald
6:34Trump's immoral and unlawful war in Iran.
6:37Here's what he said. And when we leave this church this night, we must move
6:43beyond prayer. As citizens and believers in this democracy that we cherish so deeply, we
6:54must advocate for peace with our representatives and leaders.
6:59It is not enough to say, we have prayed.
7:03We must also act. For it is very possible that the negotiations will fail because
7:12of recalcitrance on one or both sides.
7:16And our president will move to reenter this immoral war.
7:23At that critical juncture, as disciples of Jesus Christ, called to be peacemakers in the
7:30world, we must answer vocally and in unison, no, not in our name, not at
7:41this moment, not with our country.
7:46Powerful, powerful words. Now going back to Donald Trump's social media post last night, he
7:52says Pope Leo is weak on crime and terrible on foreign policy.
7:56He talks about fear of the Trump administration, but doesn't mention fear of the Catholic
8:01church. Then Donald Trump goes on to say that Pope Leo XIV wasn't on any
8:07list to be the Pope, and he's only the Pope because of me.
8:11He says that he meets with Obama sympathizers like David Axelrod, a loser from the
8:18left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested.
8:22Leo should get his act together as Pope, use common sense, stop catering to the
8:27radical left, and focus on being a great Pope, not a politician.
8:32It's hurting him very badly, and more importantly, it's hurting the Catholic church, Donald J.
8:38Trump. And here's what Donald Trump said on the tarmac last night after getting back
8:44from a UFC fight where he was telling the UFC fighters how handsome and good
8:49looking they were while negotiations fell apart in Iran because the Trump regime tried to
8:55impose conditions on Iran that differed from the 10 -point negotiating framework that the Trump
9:01regime agreed to. Let's play it.
9:02And they're going to go back, filled up with oil.
9:06Why did you attack Pope Leo on true social?
9:10I don't think he's doing a very good job.
9:12He likes crime, I guess.
9:15He hit us. Think of it.
9:18He's worried about fear. What about the fear when the ministers and the priests and
9:25the all of those great people that were arrested during COVID, and in many cases,
9:30they're outside 10 feet apart, and they were arrested.
9:34So we don't like it.
9:35We don't like a Pope that's going to say that it's okay to have a
9:39nuclear weapon. We don't want a Pope that says crime is okay in our cities.
9:44I don't like it. I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo.
9:47He's a very liberal person, and he's a man that doesn't believe in stopping crime.
9:52He's a man that doesn't think that we should be toying with a country that
9:58wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world.
10:02I'm not a fan of Pope Leo.
10:04I want to bring in right now someone who is a fan of Pope Leo,
10:09Christopher Hale, the founder of Letters from Leo, a very popular substack regarding Pope Leo
10:19XIV. You cover the happenings of the Catholic Church, and specifically right now, the intersection
10:25of the Catholic Church asserting itself with moral and formal authority in these moments of
10:32Trump fascism and Trump attack on basic dignity and decency.
10:38You helped us break down...
10:39Last week, the death threats on Pope Leo XIV, that video that you and I
10:45did on YouTube, it's got close to 2 million views already.
10:48So it's reaching a very big audience, Christopher.
10:51So talk to us about what you're seeing here now.
10:53Just give me a quick background on Christopher as well.
10:55He did a Catholic outreach in the Obama administration, and you've written before for lots
11:01of different kind of top websites and magazines on the Catholic Church.
11:08And so talk to us about what you're hearing about all of this.
11:12This is the most extraordinary moment in the history between the Catholic Church in the
11:16United States and this nation's government.
11:19It's been an extraordinary week.
11:21Avignon Gate, as we might call it, what happened, what was broke last week, this
11:25doesn't compare. I mean, this is the president of the United States attacking Pope Leo
11:29XIV. Mind you, an American -born pope, the only American -born pope, probably, maybe ever.
11:37That we'll elect another one after him for a long time.
11:40So it's an extraordinary moment.
11:42The latest that we have heard is that Pope Leo was made aware of this
11:46early morning hours in Rome.
11:52And so we expect him to be asked about it.
11:55And I think that what we'll find is that Pope Leo is not going to
11:58engage in one -on -one tit -for -tats with Donald Trump.
12:01He's going to look the other way.
12:03This was a stunning attack.
12:05I think the most part of it that struck me the most is that Donald
12:08Trump credited himself for getting Pope Leo elected.
12:12I want to note something.
12:14Catholics who are watching probably know this, but others might not.
12:17In the conclave, it's believed, the Catholic belief is that the Holy Spirit, which is
12:21God, which is part, we have a triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, that the
12:26Holy Spirit is the director of the election of a pope.
12:30So God helps elect the pope.
12:32God is in play in the pope.
12:34And Donald Trump has said that, no, no, no, he helped elect the pope.
12:37He got the pope elected.
12:38And we saw that grotesque image of him depicting himself as Jesus Christ.
12:44That is the answer tonight.
12:45Donald Trump has said that the vicar of Christ, Pope Leo XIV, we believe he
12:50acts and ministers in the name of Jesus Christ.
12:53He is not the vicar of Christ, that Donald Trump is the vicar of Christ.
12:57You might recall last April and May, after Pope Francis died, that Donald Trump tweeted
13:03a photo of him as the pope.
13:05He's jealous of Pope Leo XIV.
13:08He's jealous of his standing in the world.
13:10He's jealous of his popularity among the American people at 80%, Donald Trump in the
13:16high thirties. I think that's what's happening here.
13:18He's laughing out and he looks foolish.
13:20You know, my wife is Catholic.
13:22She talks about how proud she is of Pope Leo XIV.
13:26So does her entire family.
13:30I'm hearing a lot of that now because, you know, here's someone, and again, to
13:34be clear, you know, this network, this channel, regardless of religion, you know, this is
13:39a welcoming place for all and people who don't follow any religion.
13:43And for atheists, just people here who care about compassion, love, decency, human dignity, this
13:49network stands up for those kind of values.
13:53And what I appreciate, though, about Pope Leo XIV is that regardless of what our
13:58views on this religion or that religion, I think it's an undisputed fact that being
14:02the pope is a position of power, is a position of trust, and how you
14:08wield that moral and formal authority, you know, says a lot about your papacy, but
14:13also about, you know, the state of the human condition right now as well.
14:18And so the fact that we have someone who's out there calling it out this
14:23way, also in multiple languages, switching from this language to English, you know, and doing
14:29it in such an inclusive way.
14:31And then what seems to be really incredible, and you can talk about this too,
14:35is how you have, you know, the other ranks standing together, like total unity and
14:46talk about it, because there are different factions and different groups, you know, and some
14:50are more conservative and some, you know, and that means different things in the Catholic
14:54Church. But to have everybody together and unified and marching one, it is kind of
15:00a beautiful thing. It's running from the right to the left.
15:03I mean, from the far right to the far left, from truly the socialist to
15:06the fascist, from the all wings of the Catholic Church, there is support for the
15:11Pope tonight, you can see it online, there's no one defending Donald Trump, at least
15:16in the Catholic world. And I think that that is remarkable.
15:20One thing to realize, you notice for your spouse, even if you're religious or not,
15:25if you if you were born into the Catholic faith, if you were baptized Catholic,
15:29it stays with you. Even if you don't practice the faith anymore, it stays with
15:34you in your bones, it has an indelible mark on you.
15:38You can dislike the church even, it still means something to you.
15:41And so we respect the Pope, no matter who the Pope is, but this is
15:46one of our own. Pope Leo XIV was born in our nation, he voted in
15:50the 2024 election, he grew up in this country.
15:54He is an American through and through.
15:56And we love him. We love him because he's one of us.
16:00He's our brother. He's our fellow Americans.
16:02So I think the sentiment tonight is shared across the Catholic Church.
16:07Even, I think most importantly politically, I think this is devastating to MAGA Catholics.
16:13There has been, the Iran war has been a fissure within the Catholic community, the
16:18MAGA Catholic community, because a lot of MAGA Catholics are anti -war as the church
16:21is as well. And, you know, I just think that bleeding is going to go
16:25further and further out. Donald Trump is going to take a significant hit on his
16:31popularity ratings, not just across the Catholic community, but across the nation.
16:34I think we will see a significant turning point, even going down further than he
16:39is right now. You know, and one of the things that Pope Leo XIV recognizes
16:45that world leaders recognize in general is symbolism.
16:49You know, doing things very deliberately, sending messages.
16:53And when we're in positions of leadership, everything sometimes gets analyzed.
16:57And so in the past, you know, leaders are often very careful when to speak,
17:03when not to speak. And so I just reflect on Donald Trump's post where he
17:07was an AI image of him as Jesus.
17:10And then I'm just looking around at the image and I'm looking on the top
17:14of his head to see, like, what is actually in this image?
17:18And these are either random G .I.
17:21Joe action figures in heaven or it's characters from Metal Gear Solid, Front Mission, Bioshock.
17:29It's unclear what the heck that even is right there.
17:32But this just goes to this point where I think we have to just question
17:38the very basic core competency and just what the heck is this?
17:45Like, this is the opposite of leadership.
17:48And again, we'll end on this note and I'll just get your take kind of
17:50tying this all together. When you look at an image, like, you're like, what are
17:54you doing and how do you not have secondhand or firsthand embarrassment?
18:00I'm embarrassed when I see that as an American to be like, that's the guy
18:04who's representing me. Talk to us about that before you go and what you're hearing
18:08within the church. Well, I will say this.
18:10I think that one of the things that you see that's remarkable in the polling
18:13about Pope Leo XIV and his predecessor, Pope Francis, both popular among Catholics, but sometimes
18:20even more popular among non -Catholics.
18:24The historic notion of the pope is he's the pope of the entire world, not
18:28just the Catholic Church. And so this is an extraordinary popular man throughout the entire
18:33country because of those symbols that go beyond religion that you talked about.
18:37People know compassion and goodness and they see in Leo.
18:42As a Christian, I'll say this, I see in Leo and he reminds me of
18:45Jesus, the stories I heard about Jesus growing up of compassion for the poor, for
18:50the outcast, for the stranger, for the sick.
18:52But any person of any faith or no faith at all can see that the
18:56goodness that radiates out of him.
18:59And then the foil in Donald Trump, where there is no goodness out of this
19:03man. I think to use a Christian phrase, it seems demonic.
19:07To use a secular phrase, it seems crazy.
19:09And so I think tonight has brought that to the forefront.
19:13And I'll end with this.
19:14His vice president is, I think, the top candidate, leading candidate in 2028, who converted
19:21to Catholicism in 2019. If he had any integrity, if he had any fidelity to
19:26his faith, he would stand up to Donald Trump and even resign his office tonight.
19:31Donald Trump has attacked his vice president's pope, his faith.
19:35And I don't think he will step up, but he should own this.
19:38He should own what's happening here.
19:41And it should hang around his neck the next few years as he attempts to
19:45become the next president. Christopher Howell, thanks for joining us as always.
19:49And everybody, make sure you subscribe right now to Letters of Leo, Letters from Leo,
19:54Letters to Leo. It's on Substack.
19:55Check it out right now.
19:57Christopher Howell, appreciate you. Thanks for having me.
20:00Everybody hit subscribe here. Let's get to 7 million subscribers.
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