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Woke pope versus Maga: Leo’s culture war clashes have only just begun
The Observer ^ | Wednesday 24 December 2025 | Hannah Roberts

Posted on 04/13/2026 4:49:08 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

Hours after Leo XIV became pope in May, Trump confidant and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer posted a brief message on social media. It said: “WOKE MARXIST POPE.”

She was not the only member of the American right to immediately cast Leo as a culture war villain. Steve Bannon, a Catholic and former altar boy, called him the “worst pick for Maga Catholics” and described his election as a victory for “the globalists that run the Curia”.

You might expect Donald Trump’s Maga base to embrace the first American pope. His administration is stacked with officials who speak proudly of their faith, including vice-president JD Vance. But the criticism of Leo only intensified as he took up the mantle of his predecessor, Pope Francis, on the climate crisis, inequality and migration.

(Excerpt) Read more at observer.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: antipope; chicaco; frank2; illinois; maga; popebob; romancatholic; splintersectinrome; whatsleosfrnick; whatwouldpopebobdo; wwpbd
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Do you realize that you are saying we can’t justify PROTECTING - only REACTING to a threat we failed to protect from? That view GUARANTEES the loss of innocent lives to whoever is strongest/sneakiest, because we are too gullible to actually take seriously the oath to protect rather than just respond too late.


61 posted on 04/13/2026 6:09:18 PM PDT by butterdezillion
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

That sounds great by today’s standards, but it doesn’t fit Scripture very well.

There is wisdom in much counsel. So yes, we hear differing views. But that involves actually hearing each other. I see no evidence that the Pope has heard anything that Trump, Rubio, or any of the others have said. And i see him not responding to any of the “checks” on him either.

Will he answer any of Trump’s questions to him, or will he stop at just rudely walking away saying “I’m not afraid of Trump”?


62 posted on 04/13/2026 6:14:23 PM PDT by butterdezillion
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

What does the Pope think of these people slandering Trump by claiming this is a “new” war, rather than an already-existent “endless war” that he promised to try to end - and is doing so?


63 posted on 04/13/2026 6:16:09 PM PDT by butterdezillion
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To: delchiante; butterdezillion

Many young men to become husbands and fathers. Raise families. Not have their paycheck drained at the gas pump twice a week. They didn’t vote for that. War also leaves many families fatherless and motherless…by default. Permanently.


64 posted on 04/13/2026 6:19:02 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Many more would become so under a mushroom cloud.


65 posted on 04/13/2026 6:19:44 PM PDT by butterdezillion
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To: butterdezillion

Someone on twitter made a poetic “America First” analogy about how the self destruction from within our country is even more radioactive.


66 posted on 04/13/2026 6:23:16 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: dfwgator

“Basically, it was the plot of The Godfather III, but they made it so convoluted, nobody could really follow it.”

I followed it and found it quite courageous that they made it.

By the way. Al was always my favorite, and he stuck with Micheal til the end. +1

Godfather III - Opera Murders

https://youtu.be/FlpV8MB0cKo?si=RuXinEuFLSWWP1sT


67 posted on 04/13/2026 6:25:37 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the Change You Filthy Animal !)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

And they should have risen up way before Trump came down an escalator and became a clear and present danger to their Swamp govt.

Trump is fighting the Swamp and Deep State here and in places lik Iran.

Who’s really been the biggest state sponsor of terror?

The US taxpayers. And the DC Swamp and their proxies..

Before Trump. That was always going to be...

45-47 is all about ending that endless..

And the swine are really squealing..

Especially the Pope

Wonder what crimes against humanity we’ll find out the Vatican has enabled before 45-47.


68 posted on 04/13/2026 6:31:27 PM PDT by delchiante
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

We have many enemies; our job is to fight them all.

I’ve said all over the place that our nation is in a spiritual war and that the only thing that can fix this mess is God’s intervention. But He’s waiting for us to repent. Part of what we need to repent of is trading His Word for a fake, watered-down “Kingdom of Niceness”, and settling for comfort rather than speaking the truth in love. Every condemnation God had for Israel in the Old Testament is true of this country’s people/culture as a whole right now. I’ve been trying to put my money where my mouth is by engaging civilly with people I disagree with on x. Speaking the truth in a considerate way, willing to consider what they say as well. That’s what we do as individuals. And pray. And have food drives. And try to get close enough to people so opportunities arise to share God’s Law and Gospel. And push against slander from all directions, and seek out true answers and evidence. Etc.

Those are all at the personal level.

That isn’t the job description for the US military or the US President. Their job is to protect.

We will always have to engage on both levels. Neither level negates the need for the other or is an excuse to chicken out of doing our responsibility for either level.

It’s not either/or, it’s both/and.


69 posted on 04/13/2026 6:34:02 PM PDT by butterdezillion
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To: Bayard
"Globalists wearing the Catholic Church like a skin suit. I bet the corruption of the Vatican bank goes right to the WEF."

People had a fit over President Trump's post of him dressed and shown as a healer, yet they have no issue with the Catholic Church wearing religious garb, while carrying the water for the evil globalists.

70 posted on 04/13/2026 6:43:42 PM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: butterdezillion

“This isn’t about advancing Christ’s kingdom. It’s about carrying out the civic responsibility that a President and a military has: to protect its people.”

+1


71 posted on 04/13/2026 6:50:26 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the Change You Filthy Animal !)
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To: butterdezillion

Well I would have had no problem had Hegseth prayed for wisdom instead of violence. As we all should be praying for that. - And it’s not that I don’t believe in “hardball” with Iran, but the appeal of Trump as a voter for me is his ability to play hardball and be shrewd without unnecessary spilling of blood or expending of treasure.


72 posted on 04/13/2026 6:50:34 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

You don’t want God to grant lethality against those who “deserve it”?

What, should God not have let David hit Goliath? Or should the Egyptians not have been drowned in the Red Sea?

Should our airmen have been captured & tortured instead of us killing their would-be Basij captors?

In the military when you are responsible to protect & doing so requires lethality, you NEED that lethality to do your job. Sure, I can go for prayers for wisdom but that’s not really the SecDef’s job either; his job is to carry out the orders of the people on a higher pay grade. Those are the ones who need the wisdom. What he and his military need for their jobs.... is protection & lethality.


73 posted on 04/13/2026 7:04:07 PM PDT by butterdezillion
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Try looking up Franklin D. Roosevelt’s D-Day Prayer (Broadcast to the Nation).


74 posted on 04/13/2026 7:06:09 PM PDT by deks (America cannot be made great in complete isolation from the adversaries that are harming Americans)
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To: MinorityRepublican

That anti-pope is a disgrace.


75 posted on 04/13/2026 7:06:47 PM PDT by dadgum (Fight to WIN or do not fight at all)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

The US military exists to do two things:

1. Kill people.
2. Break things.

That’s it.


76 posted on 04/13/2026 7:10:02 PM PDT by dadgum (Fight to WIN or do not fight at all)
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To: you

General Eisenhower ended his D-day message to the troops thusly:

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!

Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.


77 posted on 04/13/2026 7:11:58 PM PDT by deks (America cannot be made great in complete isolation from the adversaries that are harming Americans)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Also, 13 killed in an operation of this size is miraculous. I pray for the wounded. But what we’ve accomplished is phenomenal. And the Iranian people sit on their rooftops and balconies and cheer as the bombs come because they know they are safe if they are in their homes; we’ve warned them where to stay away from and have done an amazing job of protecting innocent civilians, even as the regime tries to use them as human shields.

The hit on the school in Minab was almost certainly with an IRGC missile. The locals there believe it was one of the missiles stored in the school fired from the launcher stored in the “health center”. It hit the corner of the school, where all the US missiles hit their targets dead-center. The missile had the profile of an IRGC missile, not a Tomahawk, and came from a direction other than where our ships/assets were. The IRGC families didn’t send their kids to school that day, the teacher acted strange and didn’t evacuate the kids because she “didn’t want them to worry” (interestingly enough, neither she nor the principal were hit in the strike even though the little boys and the girls they were supposed to be caring for were; they obviously knew to get out at the critical time but didn’t get the kids out), and the door to the first floor where the boys were was locked, insuring mass casualties.


78 posted on 04/13/2026 7:14:55 PM PDT by butterdezillion
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To: NFHale

My pope was a Polish guy that actually FOUGHT the communists.


And before that, he FOUGHT the real Nazis, in Kraków.


79 posted on 04/13/2026 7:18:35 PM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: deks; butterdezillion
There is honor in laying one’s life down, but not in killing in and of itself. God told King David:

‘You shall not build a house for My name, because you have been a man of war and have shed blood.’ (1 Chron 28:3)

The honor was never in the killing, it was in trusting God no matter the circumstance whether he gave you a sword or a sling, whether he gave you a tiny army or a massive one. Or a cross to die on…The real battle was always spiritual and it was ultimately God fighting the battle.

Regarding D-day and the heroic annals of US history: most people right now intuitively differentiate between ‘just wars’ like World War II and ‘wars of choice’ like Iraq. That’s the conundrum. The GOP base is generationally divided over how it sees Iran. Gen Z/millennials sees it as another North Korea.

There is great strength in restraint too, I believe…America exerts its power by how we live, not how we kill. And the Artemis outer space stuff is a good investment of energy too. That uplifts and inspires…

80 posted on 04/13/2026 7:25:43 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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