The Pope Sends a
Veiled Message to Trump And His Generals
Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church, is concerned
about the future of the world now that Donald Trump is the leader of the free
world.
He visited a U.S. military cemetery and issued a heartfelt plea
for world peace, reports Reuters. He
was joined by the U.S. Ambassador to Italy and the acting U.S. Ambassador to
the Vatican.
The cemetery is located south of Rome and marks the
final resting points of some 7,860 Americans who died liberating Italy from
fascists during World War 2.
The pope said that the sacrifices of
the dead are more crucial to remember than ever as it seems like the world is
preparing to go “even more forcefully into war” than it is now. “Humanity
has not learned the lesson and seems that it does not want to learn it,” he
added.
The comments can be seen as an oblique reference to President
Trump’s evermore bombastic rhetoric towards a nuclear-armed North Korea.
Trump has regularly taken to Twitter to threaten the dictatorial slave state with annihilation, jeopardizing the survival of South Korea and Japan in the process. While Donald prepares to visit Asia for a lengthy diplomatic trip, the pope is planning an anti-nuclear weapons summit at the Vatican.
“Please Lord, stop. No more wars.
No more of these useless massacres,” the pope said while walking amongst the
graves.
He also said a prayer with Rome’s most prominent
rabbi. “This is the fruit of war: hate, death, vendetta. Forgive us Lord,”
the pope wrote in the cemetery’s visitor log.
On his way back from the
cemetery, Pope Francis also set time aside to visit Ardeatine, where the Nazis
massacred 335 Italians by shooting them in the necks, then detonating
explosives in the cave to try to conceal the crime.
It’s crucial that the
world has a prominent voice like Pope Francis advocating peace in a time when
our leaders seem to be hurtling us towards more war.
There seems to be little chance that Trump heeds the pope’s
calls, but hopefully, the religious leader’s entreaties will inspire the rest
of the world to seek paths forward that eschew bloodshed.