Folks, let’s make something clear here:
It is quite literally Pope Leo XIV’s job to articulate Catholic teaching. If you’re not Catholic, then you are free to simply answer “noted” and move on. If you are Catholic, you should already know our rules on the matter — and in the United States, compliance with them is legally voluntary.
Catholics emphatically do not believe that our religious beliefs are a private part of who we are and how we live. Our understanding of “separation of Church and State” is that there is no official religion in the United States — i.e., we’re supposedly free to practice ours. See the First Amendment.
And our beliefs touch every part of who we are and how we live. Again, if you’re not Catholic, the proper response is very likely just saying “noted” and moving on. We Catholics will worry about our own conformance to Church teaching.
We Catholics also have every right to let our religious beliefs determine how we vote and what civic positions we take. Last time I checked, people were free to base their political opinions on anything they wanted — up to, and including, rank ignorance, selfishness, and blatant immorality.
Pope Leo is American. The Catholic Church is not. Just because Leo says it doesn’t mean it necessarily is aimed at the United States. In fact, there’s a decent chance something likely isn’t*.
There’s very little that’s morally neutral. War and nuclear weapons definitely aren’t, given that they destroy God’s creations by their very design. Don’t forget — it is Leo’s job to state the Catholic Church’s position on both issues.
It’s not his problem if Trump doesn’t like those positions. Last I checked, Trump isn’t Catholic so he’s free to dissent from Church teaching. He is not free, however, to attempt to change or suppress it. Because the Catholic Church is not subject to the United States, any more than the United States is subject to the Catholic Church.
Leo’s status as Pope is a higher and broader status than any national citizenships he may have. (You do know he has more than one, right?) And the United States government is supposed to be subject to its people, not the other way around.
Finally: yes, I too am Catholic first and then American. The way I understand it, if U.S. laws are actually being administered correctly, there never should be any conflict between the two anyway since I am free to practice any religion. See the Constitution.
Thank you, drive through.
* As an example: it doesn’t take much humility to realize that Fiducia supplicans was primarily a response to situations in Europe, not the United States. When you view it through that lens, the message and its timing become a lot clearer…and so does the fact that it didn’t change Church teaching.