Pope Leo XIV used Easter to smack down Trump’s war—preaching against a thirst for death and destruction.
Without naming the American president, the pope delivered the pointed rebuke from St. Peter’s Basilica on Christianity’s holiest day.
“Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” the Chicago-born pontiff said in his first Easter Sunday message since becoming the head of the Catholic Church last year.,
Throughout the address, the pope returned to the same theme, warning that the Cross is a reminder of the suffering and agony wrought by violence—and of how easily the world grows numb to it.
“We are growing accustomed to violence… becoming indifferent,” he said, ticking through the toll: deaths, division, and the economic fallout of conflict.
Lamenting what he called the “globalization of indifference,” Leo echoed his predecessor Pope Francis, who addressed his final words to the world, warning of a world gripped by a growing “thirst for death” amid escalating wars.
The Augustinian described Easter as “the victory of life over death, of light over darkness, of love over hatred,” and proclaimed: “We cannot continue to be indifferent! And we cannot resign ourselves to evil!”
The White Sox-loving pope was elected on May 8, 2025, as the first-ever American Pope—after 266 pontiffs before him—and hasn’t shied away from judging the MAGA takeover of his homeland.
The people delivered one of his most scorching messages last week, when he suggested that prayers from Trump and his minions—including out-and-proud Catholic convert JD Vance—would go unanswered.
“Jesus is the King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them,” Leo said.
While the murmurs from the ICE- and lethal weapon-loving GOP seemingly fall silent, the Pope emphasized that his Church can “hear the painful groans of all those who are oppressed by violence and are victims of war.”
As the ICE- and firepower-cheering GOP falls conspicuously quiet, the pope stressed that the Church still “hears the painful groans of all those oppressed by violence and victimized by war.”
Despite Trump’s well-worn claims of religious devotion, he doesn’t appear to be winning over the Vatican.
The pope has called the Iran war “atrocious,” and urged the media to “show the suffering that war always brings” rather than falling to “propaganda.”
