Furious Pope Rips Trump After Death Threat…Trump Loses It?!!!

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1:29Ben Meiselas:Pope Leo XIV continues to call out Donald Trump and his criminal regime. Pope Leo XIV continues to call out Donald Trump's unlawful and catastrophic war in Iran and Donald Trump's war crimes abroad, as well as Donald Trump's despicable treatment of migrants in the United States. Now, Donald Trump is absolutely losing it as three of the top cardinals, three of the top individuals who are representing the Catholic Church in the United States went on 60 Minutes as well, and they called out Donald Trump. I'll talk more about that in a moment. And to show you what Donald Trump is doing, and we'll dig into this as well.

2:17Donald Trump went on one of these like thousand words, social media posts, deranged, unhinged slop that he puts out there, attacking Pope Leo XIV as weak on crime, as being terrible for foreign policy, that he would not be the Pope without me. And then Donald Trump started posting photos, AI images of himself as Jesus, blessing a sick person. That is how sick and demented Donald Trump is right now. While there is this catastrophic war in Iran, while people are suffering in the United States and across the world because of Donald Trump's behavior and actions, he is posting images of himself as AI Jesus right now with the American flag in the background, some deranged AI slop.

3:11Now, over the weekend, in a prayer vigil for peace, Pope Leo XIV delivered his sharpest condemnation of the Trump-Vance war on Iran to date. He called the current moment a, quote, delusion of omnipotence and condemned the dragging of God's name into the discourse of death. Leaders who turn their backs on God, the Pope said, have turned themselves and their own power into a mute, blind, and deaf idol that demands the whole world bend its knee. Enough of war. True strength is shown in serving life, Pope Leo XIV said. He told the faithful that he receives letters from children in war zones every day.

3:57They tell of the pain and sorrow of war while grown-ups boast of its effects. We must listen to the children. Listen to the children. Now, as I've said before, people who watch the Midas Touch Network come from all different backgrounds and faiths, whether you believe in God or don't believe in God, whether you're Catholic, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, whatever. Believe the children. Believe your eyes. Stand up for humanity. These are basic principles that we talk about here. And I am sure as heck glad that you have Pope Leo XIV out there calling Donald Trump out and using his powerful position in the Vatican to do so.

4:41Also, Pope Leo XIV undeterred, we reported earlier this week, how Donald Trump and the Department, the Defense Department, summoned Pope Leo XIV's top ambassador to the United States and basically threatened to kill the Pope. I mean, I don't want to mince words here. They threatened to do a, quote, Avignon papacy, the 14th century papacy where the French back then basically kidnapped and hijacked the pope, killed them, brought the papacy to Avignon in France. and the Trump regime told Pope Leo XIV ambassador, essentially, if you don't support what we're doing, if Pope Leo XIV doesn't shut his mouth, we are going to be doing to you what the French did in the 14th century, prepare for an avignon papacy, which was interpreted back in the Holy See, back in the Vatican as a death threat, as a threat that the Trump regime would invade or attack.

5:41And you've seen Trump's behavior throughout the world. And so that's how it was viewed there. But if anything, this has only made Pope Leo XIV louder and making sure to call out all of Donald Trump's behavior. Now, Pope Leo XIV's top three American cardinals gave their first joint television interview to 60 Minutes. They condemned the Iran war, called out ICE, and revealed that Spanish language mass attendance has dropped 30 percent because of fear. And they made clear that Leo's decision to spend America's 250th birthday on Lampedusa in Italy, where migrants drown instead of the country where he was born.

6:26Remember, he was born in Chicago, Pope Leo XIV, is a deliberate message about where moral authority lives. He's sending a message, one of the cardinals said, that his top priority right now is to be with those who are downcast and marginalized. I also want to give a shout out to Pope Leo XIV's close ally, Cardinal Robert McElroy. He's the Archbishop of Washington, D.C. And let me share with you what his homily said when he talked about Donald Trump's immoral and unlawful war in Iran. Here's what he said. And when we leave this church this night, we must move beyond prayer. As citizens and believers in this democracy that we cherish so deeply, we must advocate for peace with our representatives and leaders.

7:25It is not enough to say we have prayed. We must also act. For it is very possible that the negotiations will fail because of recalcitrance on one or both sides. And our president will move to reenter this immoral war. At that critical juncture, as disciples of Jesus Christ called to be peacemakers in the world, we must answer vocally and in unison, no, not in our name, not at this moment, not with our country.

8:12Ben Meiselas:Powerful, powerful words. Now, going back to Donald Trump's social media post last night, he says Pope Leo is weak on crime and terrible on foreign policy. He talks about fear of the Trump administration, but doesn't mention fear of the Catholic Church. Then Donald Trump goes on to say that Pope Leo XIV wasn't on any list to be the Pope, and he's only the Pope because of me. He says that he meets with Obama sympathizers like David Axelrod, a loser from the left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. Leo should get his act together as Pope, use common sense, stop catering to the radical left, and focus on being a great Pope, not a politician.

8:58Ben Meiselas:It's hurting him very badly. And more importantly, it's hurting the Catholic Church, Donald J. Trump. And here's what Donald Trump said on the tarmac last night after getting back from a UFC fight where he was telling the UFC fighters how handsome and good looking they were while negotiations fell apart in Iran because the Trump regime tried to impose conditions on Iran that differed from the 10-point negotiating framework that the Trump regime agreed to. Let's play it. And they're going to go back, build up with oil. Why did you attack Pope Leo on true social? I don't think he's doing a very good job.

9:38He likes crime, I guess. He hit us. Think of it. He's worried about fear. What about the fear when the ministers and the priests and all of those great people that were arrested during COVID. And in many cases, they're outside 10 feet apart and they were arrested. So we don't like it. We don't like a pope that's going to say that it's OK to have a nuclear weapon. We don't want a pope that says crime is OK in our cities. I don't like it. I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo. He's a very liberal person and he's a man that doesn't believe in stopping crime. He's a man that doesn't think that we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world.

10:28I'm not a fan of Pope Leo.

10:30Ben Meiselas:I want to bring in right now someone who is a fan of Pope Leo, Christopher Hale, the founder of Letters from Leo, a very popular substack regarding Pope Leo XIV. You cover the happenings of the Catholic Church and specifically right now, the intersection of the Catholic Church asserting itself with moral and formal authority in these moments of Trump fascism and Trump attack on basic dignity and decency. You helped us break down last week the death threats on Pope Leo XIV. That video that you and I did on YouTube. It's got close to 2 million views already. So it's reaching a very big audience, Christopher.

11:17Ben Meiselas:So talk to us about what you're seeing here now. Just give you a quick background on Christopher as well. He did a Catholic outreach in the Obama administration, and you've written before for lots of different kind of top websites and magazines on the Catholic Church. And your sub stack is just crushing it right now. So talk to us about what you're hearing about all of this. This is the most extraordinary moment in the history between the Catholic Church in the United States and this nation's government. It's been an extraordinary week. Avignon Gate, as we might call it, what happened, what was broke last week, this doesn't compare.

11:52I mean, this is the president of the United States attacking Pope Leo XIV. Mind you, an American-born pope, the only American-born pope probably, maybe ever, that will elect another one after him for a long time. So it's an extraordinary moment. The latest that we have heard is that Pope Leo was made aware of this early morning hours in Rome. And so we expect him to be asked about it. And I think that what we'll find is that Pope Leo is not going to engage in one-on-one tit-for-tats with Donald Trump. He's going to look the other way. This was a stunning attack. I think the most part of it that struck me the most is that Donald Trump credited himself for getting Pope Leo elected.

12:38I want to note something. Catholics who are watching probably know this, but others might not. In the conclave, it's believed, the Catholic belief is that the Holy Spirit, which is God, which is part – we have a triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the director of the election of a pope. So God helps elect the pope. God is in play in the pope. And Donald Trump has said that, no, no, no, he helped elect the pope. He got the pope elected. And we saw that grotesque image of him depicting himself as Jesus Christ. That is the answer tonight. Donald Trump has said that the vicar of Christ, Pope Leo XIV, we believe he acts and ministers in the name of Jesus Christ.

13:19He is not the vicar of Christ, that Donald Trump is the vicar of Christ. You might recall last April or May after Pope Francis died that Donald Trump tweeted a photo of him as the pope. he's jealous of Pope Leo XIV. He's jealous of his standing in the world. He's jealous of his popularity among the American people at 80 percent, Donald Trump in the high 30s. I think that's what's happening here. He's lashing out and he looks foolish. My wife is Catholic.

13:48Ben Meiselas:She talks about how proud she is of Pope Leo XIV. So does her entire family. I'm hearing a lot of that now because, you know, here's someone, and again, to be clear, you know, this network, this channel, regardless of religion, you know, this is a welcoming place for all and people who don't follow any religion, for atheists, just people here who care about compassion, love, decency, human dignity, this network stands up for those kind of values. And what I appreciate, though, about Pope Leo XIV is that regardless of what our views on this religion or that religion, I think it's an undisputed fact that being the Pope is a position of power, is a position of trust, and how you wield that moral and formal authority, you know, says a lot about your papacy, but also about, you know, the state of the human condition right now as well.

14:43Ben Meiselas:And so the fact that we have someone who's out there calling it out this way, also in multiple languages, switching from this language to English, you know, and doing it in such an inclusive way. And then what seems to be really incredible, and you can talk about this too, is how you have the cardinals and the bishops and other ranks standing together like total unity and talk about it because there are different factions and different groups and some are more conservative and that means different things in the Catholic Church. But to have everybody together and unified and marching one, it is kind of a beautiful thing.

15:27It's running from the right to the left. I mean, from the far right to the far left, from truly the socialist to the fascist, from all wings of the Catholic Church, there is support for the Pope tonight. You can see it online. There's no one defending Donald Trump, at least in the Catholic world. And I think that that is remarkable. One thing to realize you notice for your spouse, even if you're religious or not, if you were born into the Catholic faith, if you were baptized Catholic, it stays with you. Even if you don't practice the faith anymore, it stays with you in your bones. It has an indelible mark on you.

16:03You can dislike the church even. It still means something to you. And so we respect the pope no matter who the pope is, but this is one of our own. Pope Leo XIV was born in our nation. He voted in the 2024 election. He grew up in this country. He is an American through and through. And we love him. We love him because he's our Holy Father, but we also love him because he's one of us. He's our brother. He's our fellow American. So I think the sentiment tonight is shared across the Catholic Church. Even, I think most importantly, politically, I think this is devastating to MAGA Catholics. There has been, the Iran war has been a fissure within the Catholic community, the MAGA Catholic community, because a lot of MAGA Catholics are anti-war, as the church is as well.

16:48And, you know, I just think that bleeding is going to go further and further out. Donald Trump is going to take a significant hit on his popularity ratings, not just across the Catholic community, but across the nation. I think we will see a significant turning point, even going down further than he is right now.

17:06Ben Meiselas:You know, and one of the things that Pope Leo XIV recognizes, that world leaders recognize in general symbolism, doing things very deliberately, sending messages. And when we're in positions of leadership, everything sometimes gets analyzed. And so in the past, leaders are often very careful when to speak, when not to speak. And so I just reflect on Donald Trump's post where he was an AI image of him as Jesus. And then I'm just looking around at the image and I'm looking on the top of his head to see like what is actually in this image. And these are either random G.I. Joe action figures in heaven, or it's characters from Metal Gear Solid, Front Mission, Bioshock.

17:55Ben Meiselas:It's unclear what the heck that even is right there. But this just goes to this point where I think we have to just question the very basic core competency and just what the heck is this? Like this is the opposite of leadership. And again, we'll end on this note and I'll just get your take kind of tying this all together. When you look at an image, you're like, what are you doing? And how do you not have secondhand or firsthand embarrassment? I'm embarrassed when I see that as an American to be like, that's the guy who's representing me. Talk to us about that before you go and what you're here and within the church?

18:35Well, I will say this. I think that one of the things that you see that's remarkable in the polling about Pope Leo XIV and his predecessor, Pope Francis, both popular among Catholics, but sometimes even more popular among non-Catholics. The historic notion of the Pope is he's the Pope of the entire world, not just the Catholic Church. And so this is an extraordinary popular man throughout the entire country because of those symbols that go beyond religion that you talked about people know compassion and goodness and they see and and they see in leo and the christian i'll say is i see in leo and he reminds me of jesus the stories i heard about jesus growing up of compassion for the poor for the outcast for the stranger for the sick but any person of any faith or no faith at all can see that the goodness that radiates out of him and then the foil in Donald Trump where there is no goodness out of this man.

19:30I think to use a Christian phrase, it seems demonic. To use a secular phrase, it seems crazy. And so I think tonight has brought that to the forefront. And I'll end with this. His vice president is, I think, the top candidate, leading candidate in 2028 who converted to Catholicism in 2019. If he had any integrity, if he had any fidelity to his faith, he would stand up to Donald Trump and even resign his office tonight. Donald Trump has attacked his vice president's pope, his faith. And I don't think he will step up, but he should own this. He should own what's happening here. And it should hang around his neck the next few years as he attempts to become the next president.

20:12Ben Meiselas:Christopher Howell, thanks for joining us as always. And everybody, make sure you subscribe right now to Letters of Leo, Letters from Leo, Letters to Leo. It's on Substack. Check it out right now. Christopher Hall, appreciate you. Thanks for having me. Everybody hit subscribe here. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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