Papa Leo cere pace de peste 400 de ori și se află pe o cale de confruntare cu Trump

Diarmuid Pepper

Reporting from Naples

AS POPE LEO XIV prepared to celebrate a year in office this week, Vatican News pointedly noted that the pontiff has made over 400 appeals for peace during this time.
Indeed, his first words from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica just over a year ago were “peace be with all of you”.
Later in that same speech, his first as pope, Leo spoke of an “unarmed and disarming peace,” a phrase he has continually returned to.

Pope Leo appearing from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica after his election Alamy Stock Photo

Alamy Stock Photo

And in remarks to representatives of the media a few days after becoming pope, Leo cautioned that journalists are “on the front lines” of working towards peace.
“You are capable of leading us out of the Tower of Babel in which we sometimes find ourselves, out of the confusion of loveless languages, often ideological or partisan.”
He has spoken out against the fact that billions of dollars are spent to “kill and devastate, while the resources needed to heal, educate and lift people up cannot be found”.
In pointed remarks on Palm Sunday, he also remarked that God “does not listen to the prayer of those who wage war, and rejects it”.
And in a Mass in Pompeii to mark a year in office, Leo cautioned that “we cannot resign ourselves to the images of death that the news presents to us every day”.
But while Leo’s calls for peace have been winning him plaudits in many quarters, including most recently from Poland prime minister Donald Tusk and Britain’s King Charles, it has also placed him on an unlikely collision course with US president Donald Trump.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that Leo wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon, despite Leo and the Catholic Church being steadfast in their opposition to nuclear arms and in their calls for nuclear disarmament.
Leo has since called on Trump to speak “truthfully” in his criticisms.
Meanwhile, Trump told reporters that before the meeting between Leo and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week, he told Rubio to “tell the pope very nicely, very respectfully, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon – also tell the pope that Iran killed 42,000 innocent protesters who didn’t have guns”.
An NBC News poll in March among US voters found that Leo is the most favourably viewed popular American figure, far outranking Trump.
However, a poll this week found that 30% of US adults are against Leo “urging peace and rejecting war”.

Pope Leo marked a surprisingly whirlwind year in office with a visit to Pompeii and then Naples on Friday.
Outside Naples Cathedral, a young man wore a t-shirt made for the occasion that depicted a cartoon Leo with a lion.
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He told The Journal that the Pope’s repeated calls for peace are the “mo