The Pope
The Pope
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The Pope
The Pope stood at a window of the Apostolic Palace. The square below was full. It was Sunday and the light was on the stone and the crowd waited. He was seventy years old and the first American to wear the soutane.
He spoke to the crowd below in a steady voice with steady hands.
He said the word humanity. He said the word conscience. He said the word peace. He did not say the word ceasefire. He did not name those who dropped bombs and killed children but he spoke to them. They knew. We all knew.
I read the Pope’s words. I am not a Catholic but I respect his words because he took a stand and he should. He leads 1.4 billion Catholics and his words have impact and consequence. These are not normal times but times of war.
Israel dropped its bombs across Lebanon and 358 people died in one day. A day Lebanon called Black Wednesday. The Pope spoke to those who mourn their dead children and mothers and fathers and friends.
In Le Monde, I read the story of Fatima Amhaz. She worked at an NGO-sponsored pharmacy in Lebanon. She distributed free medication to the old and the sick and the injured. On Black Wednesday her shift ran late. Israel bombed the building and she was killed. She was a 33-year-old pharmacist. Her father searched 6 hospitals to find her body. She was a mother.
Donald Trump heard the Pope. He was not named but he heard the Pope. He erupted on social media and said the Pope was part of the ‘Radical Left.’ He posted an AI-generated image of himself as God. Trump as God. The sitting US President. Posting images of himself as God. The man with the nuclear codes.
I read Trump’s posts and I saw his image and I had to make sure they were not fake but they were not. It is vile and tasteless and childish and boorish. Even if you are not a Christian it should make you sleep less. This man runs the world's deadliest military.
Trump supporters will say his AI-image was a joke. That it was Trump being Trump and we do not understand him. I do not know what Trump being Trump means. Chaos being Chaos. Vile being Vile.
The Pope speaks of peace and humanity. Trump posted the AI-picture of himself as God. He said on Fox News he could ‘take out’ Iran in one day. 93 million people.