Pope Leo XIV is simply not President Donald Trump’s kind of pope, despite his hailing from Chicago.
Or maybe because of it.
The pope has criticized Trump for his attack on Iran and his over-the-top threats to blow the place off the map.
Trump, in turn, has called the pope weak.
It is obvious that the bellicose president is much more comfortable with popes of yore when in cooperation with kings they used to invade countries on a regular basis, like Germany used to do to France.
Trump has not even invaded Iran, at least not yet. He simply bombed the hell out of it.
While both world leaders would like to see an end to Iran’s nuclear war program — now in smithereens — Trump’s militant approach to end it was by peace through strength. The pope’s religious approach is by peace, through peace.
Trump’s approach seems to be getting more results.
This recalls Soviet Union Joe Stalin’s response to warnings against conflict with the Roman Catholic church. Stalin replied, “How many divisions does the pope have?”
Yet Pope Leo XIV is criticizing Trump for what the medieval popes used to do on a regular basis.
And that was to inspire, raise, and command armies of European Christians, including kings, commoners and peasants, to invade the Holy Land and free it from Muslim occupation.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Some say the battle is still going on today with the addition of Israel into the mix.
They were called the Crusades and there was at least eight of them over hundreds of years, beginning with Pope Urban II in 1095, who promised spiritual rewards to those who participated. They ended around the year 1300.
You were nobody back then unless you went on a Crusade.
When the pope called for a Crusade, people answered, including kings, or especially kings, like Louis VII of France and King Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) of England, to name just two.
With the blessing and leadership of various popes, the nobles of Europe raised armies, crossed various countries or sailed to the Middle East to fight and save the Holy Land (Palestine) from Muslim domination, something that echoes down the centuries to today.
There was even a Children’s Crusade in 1212 that turned out badly when some 30,000 children ended up dead or in bondage.
No doubt if somebody had a nuclear weapon back then they would have used it.
Which brings us to today, a time when — if it were not for Trump — the Islamic religious fanatics who ran Iran would surely have used the nuclear bombs they were developing, first on Tel Aviv and second on Manhattan.
It was only a matter of time.
Consider, Trump is the only world leader, Pope XIV included, who not only vowed to prohibit the apocalyptic fanatics in Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, but did something about it.
His decisive actions in Iran, and now in the Strait of Hormuz, would have been applauded by the pope, the indecisive European leaders and Trump’s Democratic Party critics had he outlined his goals in the soothing words of Barack Obama, the president who bowed to Iran.
But that is not Trump. What you see is what you get, which are results. Trump has the divisions.
And Iran, pope or no pope, will not get a nuclear bomb.
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com
President Donald Trump (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)