Donald Trump has tangled himself in an almighty rift with God’s representative on Earth – The Pope.
Upon hearing of the death of Pope Francis, the President told reporters, ‘I’d wish to be pope. That might be my No.1 selection.’
As a substitute, American-born Pope Leo XIV now occupies the Chair of St Peter. Despite this, and amid the Iran war, relations between Washington and the Vatican seem like reaching a breaking point.
Trump, who also said only his own ‘morality’ can stop him, has still continuously been seeking to the Vatican for its approval for his designs on the world.
A fired-up member of Team Trump dredged up a 700-year-old threat to Pope Leo after called the President’s promise to wipe out Iranian civilisation ‘truly unacceptable’.
One Vatican official told The Free Press, that Cardinal Christophe Pierre – Pope Leo XIV’s ambassador to the US was summoned to a secret meeting on the Pentagon in January.
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There Under Secretary of War for Policy, Elbridge Colby, delivered to the Cardinal what was described ‘as a lecture’.
Colby and his team told him America has the military power to do whatever it wants on the planet. And the Catholic Church had higher fall in line.
On the fiery meeting, one US official reportedly invoked the Avignon Papacy, where the French pope fled violence in Rome to take up residency in Côte d’Azur within the 14th Century.
Other nations denigrated the move because the ‘Babylonian Captivity’, damaging the prestige and supposed independence of the papacy.
The move led to the Great Western Schism where three rival Popes vied for power nearly causing the downfall of the Catholic Church.
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The fallout of the disastrous meeting led the Vatican to cancel a planned trip to the US on Independence Day.
However the Pope doesn’t appear to have been particularly bothered by the furore and was recently pictured spinning a basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters.
In a move that may infuriate the White House further, Leo urged people to contact their political leaders and congressional representatives to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war.’
(Picture: AFP)
‘We’ve a worldwide economic crisis, an energy crisis, (a) situation within the Middle East of great instability, which is barely scary more hatred throughout the world,’ he said.
He said the message to political leaders ought to be: ‘Come back to the table, let’s talk, let’s search for solutions in a peaceful way and let’s remember especially the innocent children, the elderly, sick, so many individuals who’ve already turn out to be or will turn out to be victims of this continued warfare.’
The Vatican also fears that the Iran conflict has spread to south Lebanon, threatening Christians who’re a very important protector of the church within the Middle East.
Trump’s team have been desperate for a visit from America’s first Pope, but he has now reportedly snubbed his invitation to attend the nation’s 250th anniversary events.
As a substitute of spending July 4th in his homeland, the Pope will visit Lampedusa, a small Mediterranean island that has turn out to be an entry point for African migrants attempting to achieve Europe.
When contacted, the War Department sought to downplay reports of the rift.
‘The Free Press’s characterisation of the meeting is extremely exaggerated and distorted. The meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials was a respectful and reasonable discussion.
‘We’ve nothing but the best regard and welcome continued dialogue with the Holy See,’ a War Department official said.
However the Vatican could hand Donald Trump one other bloody nose by meeting with Barack Obama – who recently was giddy on a podcast, insisting the one person he would love to satisfy on Planet Earth is Pope Leo, without hesitation.
And with the Pope’s term in office normally only ending in death, and Trump’s calls for a 3rd term, thus far, denied – there can only be one winner on the international stage.
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