One year on the job, the first US pope wins support for his progressive views and his defiance of Donald Trump
AsPope Leo XIVconcludes his first year as the first American pope on Friday, Americans shared with the Guardian how they feel about the 70-year-old pontiff who has increasingly found himself at odds withDonald Trump.
Several described his papacy as a “breath of fresh air” compared with earlier, more conservative eras of church leadership.
For Brock Horton, a 69-year-old retired public school teacher in San Antonio, Texas, the pope feels “authentic and not just an archaic mouthpiece for a failing religion”.
“Pope Leo is bringing Jesus’s teachings forward instead of church dogma … If you can’t welcome strangers and treat everyone with love and dignity, you have no place leading anyone. I will never become a Catholic, but with Leo, I see a loving person first, and a pontiff second,” Horton said.
“The fact that he lives in Donald Trump’s head is also a plus,” he added, referring to Trump’s latest attacks on the pope.
In recent weeks, the president has repeatedly criticized Pope Leo after the pontiff said a“delusion of omnipotence”was fueling theUS-Israel war on Iran. Trump accused the pope of“endangering a lot of Catholics”through his condemnation of the war, which has killed at least3,400 Iraniansand13 US service members. Trump has alsodescribedthe pope as “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy”, comments Pope Leo dismissed bysaying: “I’m not afraid of the Trump administration.”
Kelly Raghavan, a 64-year-old medical interpreter in San Diego, California, hailed the pope’s willingness to speak out, saying: “Kudos toPope Leo XIVfor his outspokenness in the face of the bigoted tyrant who is running this country into the ground.”
Catholics and non-Catholics alike said they had taken notice of the pope’s willingness to challenge Trump publicly. Chris Kell, an interfaith minister in Minneapolis, Minnesota, praised the pope’s measured approach.
“He is strong enough, savvy enough, and more than intelligent enough to stand up to Trump without resorting to personal attacks. His reasoned commentaries are based in unshakeable faith, not whimsey,” Kell said.
Source: Drudge Report
