A Tale of Two Americans (Under the Fig Tree Part 54)

UNDER THE FIG TREE (#54)

A hermit observing the world from his cave

A TALE OF TWO AMERICANS

      We live in a troubled world and even in a troubled Church. There is division and confusion. Due to armed conflicts, both between nations and within nations, there is serious threat of another world war, this time with nuclear weapons. The Catholic Church herself is deeply split between liberals and conservatives, between modernism and tradition, between heresy and orthodoxy. The situation is extremely dire.      That is, until this year, when significant transitions happened. It is about two Americans.       Donald Trump was elected as President of the USA, after years of destructive Democratic rule (with an interregnum of Trump’s first term), and Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected pope, taking on the name Pope Leo XIV, after a dozen years of Pope Francis’ reign.      Trump has turned not just the USA but the whole world upside down, with his bold visionary policies and acts. For Pope Leo XIV, it remains to be seen, as he is just starting.      I am intrigued by the reality that two Americans are at the helm of the world’s greatest superpower and the world’s greatest Church. Surely the hand of God is there. Will they be at odds with each other, or will God forge a partnership, one secular (though quite spiritual) and the other spiritual (though engaged with the secular), that can finally bring the world back to God’s design? 

What are their similarities?

• Both are visionaries and have brilliant minds.

• Both have a worldview, that is, concern not just for the USA or the Catholic Church, but for all peoples of the world. Both are prominent on the global stage, immersed in the intricacies of diplomacy and statecraft.

• Both want to fight for a just society.

• Both want peace in the world, and an end to all wars.

• Both are Republicans (though Pope Leo XIV has not been engaged in domestic US life and politics).

       Let us look at each in turn.

     Trump has a well-defined record of what he stands for, from his first term as US President (2017-2020), to his first 100+ days in office for his second term (2025-2028). Learning from the lessons of his first term, including having then a team still infested by globalists and neocons, Trump has moved swiftly and decisively to radically transform the American bureaucracy, as well as the relationships of the US with the world, both allies and enemies.

     What does Trump stand for?

• He is pro-God, pro-Church, pro-family and pro-life.

• He is against liberal ideologues, such as those who push the culture of DEATH, LGBT, DEI, destructive green energy (Net Zero), climate alarmism, vaccine/pandemic tyranny, as well as unelected globalist elites including those who dominate the UN, WHO, WEF, EU.

• He is against forever wars. He has challenged traditional allies and has been building bridges with radical regimes, including former enemies. He looks to peace in and prosperity for the whole world.

      How about Pope Leo XIV? He is not well known to most people (except for the Church hierarchy), and was not even one of the leading papabile. What he will turn out to be remains to be seen. We Catholics of course hope for the best, and give him all-out support as he starts out.     

     What do we know so far (though there are different points of view on what he really stands for)?

• He looks to the primacy of Christ.

• He looks to the hard teachings of the gospel as precisely what draw people to salvation in Jesus, not to a feel-good, do-good gospel that looks to the well-being of man at the expense of the righteousness of God.

• He is against abortion and is pro-life.

• He opposes woke-gender ideology. He is not pro-LGBT, having condemned the gay lifestyle. He opposes gender ideology indoctrination in schools.

• He is supportive of traditional marriage and family. He is not for any redefinition of marriage that is opposed to the gospel.

• He is pro-poor and those who are marginalized, looking to Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum and the authentic social doctrine of the Church. It was also Pope Leo XIII who composed the prayer to St Michael the Archangel.

• He looks to doctrine and tradition, not to emphasis on pastoral accompaniment while neglecting spirituality. He does not redefine Biblical and age-old Church teachings in favor of the zeitgeist and cultural conditioning.

• He sees the Church as missionary, to proclaiming the gospel and to bear witness to Jesus.

• He is perhaps open or even favorable to the Traditional Latin Mass (TVM) which was suppressed by Pope Francis. His first Mass as Pope was in Latin, with accompanying incense, Gregorian chant and traditional paraphernalia.

• He promotes Marian devotion and commends the Church to the Mother of God.

      All the above should be more than enough to get these two Americans to work well together, for the sake of both the secular and spiritual world. But it is also true that the two have differences, or rather, Pope Leo XIV has criticisms of Trump. Among others:

• He has been a critic of Trump’s policies, especially on immigration, following along the line of Pope Francis. But Trump’s policies are fully Christian, not being against immigration per se (the US certainly was built up by immigrants and even his wife Melania is an immigrant), but only against illegal and destructive migrant policies.

• He supports climate change ideology, which Trump rejects. But Trump is concerned about the environment, but does not favor unscientific and unrealistic climate activism.

• He opposes the death penalty, which Trump does not agree with. The death penalty had always been part of established Catholic teaching, until Pope Francis unilaterally changed it and amended the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

• He was very much aligned with Democrats in decrying racism, such as in the George Floyd incident. Trump himself deplores racism and is a man for all.

      One hopeful reality: Pope Leo XIV’s eldest brother, Louis Prevost, is a Trump fan.      I believe that with President Trump and Pope Leo XIV, the world can become a much better place. Let us pray intently for that and for these two Americans.

SALVE REGINA.