The elections coming this November are going to be a referendum on President Donald Trump as this Republican-controlled Congress has essentially abdicated its constitutional duties to the him. Catholics also seemed to have abdicated their moral responsibilities to Trump. In 2024, 55% of Catholic voters voted for Trump, according to the Pew Research Center. Per the United States Conference of American Bishops, “the Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met. Therefore, every person has a fundamental right to life and a right to those things required for human decency.”
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Catholics who support Trump are not meeting this fundamental responsibility, as they have supported a person who tramples the protection of human rights and directs others to do the same. Under Catholic teaching, immigrants to the United States, like all humans, are God’s creation and children, and they are entitled to human dignity. That is not taken away when they cross a border.
Catholics need to decide if they support the Catholic God of Jesus and Christianity or Trump, who has threatened the elimination of an entire civilization and directs the abuse of immigrants.
The pope is recognized by the Catholic Church as the “Vicar of Christ” — the supreme representative or emissary of God on earth. Pope Leo XIV has recently come under attack by Trump representatives for his criticism of Trump’s treatment of immigrants and Trump’s war in Iran. In November, a vote for the continuation of these Republican representatives is a vote in support of the leadership of Trump.
Catholics need to decide.
— George Recchia, Oak Park
Grateful as a Protestant
As a Protestant, I say: Praise God for Pope Leo!
— Victoria Young, DeKalb
Pope should read Bible
I am a Vietnam veteran, a machine gunner with the 9th Infantry and 101st Airborne, and I don’t like war. But I favor Franklin Graham’s support of the war in Iran versus the pope and his anti-Donald Trump comments.
The pope quoted from Book of Isaiah on Palm Sunday to criticize the war on Iran. Isaiah is one of the greatest books of the Old Testament regarding the prophecy of Jesus Christ as savior. Isaiah was a prophet during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah, which was being attacked by the Assyrian Empire. This Mesopotamian empire hated Israel. When Hezekiah prayed for help, Isaiah told him that God would answer. An angel then killed 185,000 Assyrian idolaters.
The pope should read more of his Bible and less of The New York Times.
— Roy Carr, Burr Ridge
‘Soft on crime’ criticism
President Donald Trump has pardoned more than 1,000 people involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection, many corrupt business cronies and the drug-dealing president of Honduras. Trump himself has been convicted of fraudulent business practices and found liable in a sexual abuse case.
And he is calling the pope “soft on crime”?
— Sanford Stein, Evanston
Not indicative of maturity
If anyone thinks that berating the pope, posing as Christ, calling for the destruction of an enemy country and degrading any person who opposes him are the actions of a stable, mature person, they need to reevaluate acceptable conduct and rational thought processes.
— John Hester, Indian Head Park
Trump’s show of ‘mercy’
The news is so somber lately. Though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s quotation, as noted in the Tribune’s Quotes of the Week on Sunday, did make me laugh, albeit derisively. Hegseth said, “President Trump had the power to cripple Iran’s entire economy in minutes, but he chose mercy.” Isn’t that an inane statement? An apt analogy would be a schoolyard bully saying, “I could have beat him to death, but I chose mercy; I only put him in the hospital.”
Per Hegseth, President Donald Trump is choosing mercy by limiting his violence. The entire economy of Iran wasn’t crippled. In addition to other bombings and fatalities, a U.S. missile hit a school that killed about 170 people, most of them schoolchildren. I wonder if the parents are thankful for Trump’s mercy.
During a vigil at St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope demanded an end to the violence, declaring: “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power!” Doesn’t that sound suspiciously like a thinly disguised reference to Trump?
— Megan Bedard, Round Lake Beach
I support pope’s stance
As a Catholic, I fully support the pope’s stance on President Donald Trump’s war against Iran. The purpose for this war was never really explained to Congress or the American people. The intelligence community never backed the conclusion that Iran was planning an attack on America or Israel.
I would have been very disappointed if Pope Leo XIV had not spoken out against this war.
— Tim Ryan, Downers Grove
Trumpism isn’t eternal
“Idolatry of self and money.” Pope Leo XIV got the essential rot of MAGA’s leaders, the billionaires who pull their strings and Donald Trump, exactly right.
The Catholic Church has lasted two millennia. It buried the last Roman emperors; it watched kings revel in their magnificence and disappear into obscurity with nary a trace. It has watched the works of people rise, crumble and be forgotten by succeeding generations.
The message is eternal. Love thy neighbor, welcome the stranger, care for the sick, do unto others as you would have them do unto you and you are most important when you realize you are not important at all.
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President Donald Trump and his bootlickers can rail against the church, but in the long run, they’ll be forgotten, and the church will still be teaching the same lesson. Maybe someday, humans will be developed enough to take it to heart.
— Tom Madden, Oak Park
The blockade will fail
How could anyone have believed that we could negotiate peace in the Middle East? Sending Moe, Larry and Curly to convince Iran that they had lost the war was not a good move. These guys have no real experience in diplomacy, and to make matters even more difficult, our own King George III is not any more reasonable than the original 18th century model.
The blockade will fail, as all piracy is doomed to collapse. And if you think the United States can keep its own oil while others are starving, forget it! The nations in Southeast Asia, as well as Japan, will soon state their displeasure at having to suffer while their old Yankee friends are swimming in barrels of black gold. History does repeat itself. The last time we cut off Japan’s supply of oil, it stated its anger with a loud bang at Pearl Harbor.
We can’t just pretend that the war is over and leave the mess for others to clean it up. We are all going to suffer. I still remember the little tickets we needed to buy gas during World War II. “For the duration” was the nice phrase we all heard.
I won’t be so polite this time.
— Al Munneke, Crest Hill
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