On May 25, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” warning about the growing influence of artificial intelligence. He informs us that AI requires an increasing use of “energy and water, significantly influencing carbon dioxide emissions, and place(s)…
Pope Leo’s ‘evangelical’ encyclical
I read Pope Leo’s papal encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person In the Time of Artificial Intelligence.” Imagine my surprise in finding an “evangelical” Catholic diametrically opposite American MAGA evangelicals. What captured my attention was the first third…
What’s the risk of Trump’s fight with Pope Leo?
I don’t believe President Donald Trump understands the political risk of picking a fight with Pope Leo XIV. My best guess is he believes the unquestioning submission demonstrated by his fawning white evangelical followers exists among all his Christian followers….
Graham comes to Trump’s defense and Kinzinger calls him out
Once again, Franklin Graham has come to the defense of President Donald Trump, but this time former GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger isn’t having it. After the evangelist and Trump cheerleader posted a defense of Trump sharing an AI-generated image of…
Speaker Johnson joins Trump and Vance in warning to Pope Leo
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has joined President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in telling Pope Leo to stay out of U.S. politics. Johnson, a Southern Baptist who is a Christian nationalist — believing America is a…
Trump has a ‘God complex,’ Bishop Barber says
President Donald Trump’s Easter promise to send Iranians to hell and his anger at papal criticism of the Iran war shows the president has a God complex, civil rights activist Bishop William Barber said. “Why is the pope’s teaching getting…
Immoral vice president tells pope to stick to ‘matters of morality’
Some stories are so stupidly simple they virtually write themselves. This is one such article. But bear with me a moment, please, for just a splash of embellishment. Here’s the stupidly simple part: U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who speaks…
Pope v. Trump is about the value of a moral tradition
The recent entirely predictable online attack by Donald Trump on Pope Leo XIV has made an argument over values into a personal dispute. But the issue between the two men is not a personal dispute. It is instead a powerful…
In post full of lies, Trump lambastes Pope Leo
One week after he threated to end Iran as a civilization, U.S. President Donald Trump went after Pope Leo via social media. Relations between the White House and the Vatican already were strained, as the pope has soundly criticized Trump’s…
White House and Vatican relations reportedly strained
Even though Vice President JD Vance is a convert to Catholicism, relations between the White House and the Vatican may be at the lowest point in modern history, according to a report in The New Republic. At issue now is…
The Iran bombing is a religion story for all but one person
When the United States and Israel bombed Iran Feb. 28, the motivations and repercussions were religious as well as political. We cannot think of Iran as a modern state unhinged from its religious moorings. And we cannot think of President…
Religious leaders react to Maduro’s capture with conflicting views
The capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has been a hit among President Donald Trump’s Christian nationalist allies while the reaction from moderate and progressive Christian leaders has varied from concerned to condemning. “We have a president who acts decisively…