Recommendations of the Editorial team
On Thursday evening (April 16), the “Late Show” satirized the dispute between Pope Leo
“You got JD [Vance]”I got JC, though,” raps the show Leo with a Chicago accent. “You keep Rubio, I ride around with the holy trio/I’m up in the Vatican, You’re still in denial/I’m the Holy See… you’re the holy senile.” And if that wasn’t enough of a jab at Trump, the faux-pe upped the ante – much like Lamar did with Drake on “Not Like Us,” with a solid accusation: “How many mentions of you in the Epstein files?/Certified bestie with that certified pedophile.”
The clip shows a “senile” Trump dancing with a sword, hanging out with Jeffrey Epstein and sleeping. “Seems like it’s past time you retired,” raps Kendrick Leo. “Called Jesus a doctor, and it’s probably Alzheimer’s,” it says over a shot of Trump’s creepy, AI-generated Jesus image. In the end, the Pope repeatedly shouts “They are not pious,” while the newly minted Catholic Vance crosses himself and Trump holds a Bible into the camera – and finally stands next to someone in a tacky Easter bunny costume with the words “We’re honoring Jesus Christ.”
Donald Trump’s attack on Truth Social
On Monday (April 13), Trump railed against the Pope on Truth Social. “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” wrote the US President, as if he were campaigning against the pontiff. “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”
The trigger was statements by the real Leo – the first American pope – who condemned America’s attack on Iran ordered by Trump. “God does not bless conflict,” the pope wrote. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, never stands on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military actions do not create space for freedom or times of #peace, which only come about through the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue between peoples.”
