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It was a peaceful scene, if you didn’t look too closely: Earlier this week Pope Leo visited the ancient city where St. Augustine of Hippo once lived, preached, and wrote. Leo prayed, planted an olive tree, and watched as doves were released. Never mind the swarm of press, police, and sharpshooters who surrounded the pontiff as he walked through muddy ruins. Or the palpable tension between the Vatican and the White House, as the president and vice president ratcheted up their rhetoric following Leo’s blunt condemnation of war. On his Truth Social platform, Trump said Leo should “focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.” In an interview with Fox News, Vice President J.D. Vance said the Vatican should “stick to matters of morality,” and “let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.” Which raises the question: To what extent should a pope—or any religious leader, for that matter—be involved with politics? And while the pope is clearly not a politician, this week experts in Catholic theology and international policy told Sojourners news editor Mitchell Atencio that “it would be a mistake to interpret the pope or bishops as suggesting that the gospel or his papacy are apolitical.” Elsewhere this week, we’re looking at the blasphemous AI-generated meme that earned even MAGA’s condemnation, attempts to baptize the Iran war, a new TV show about women in the Bible (yes, really), and a call for churches to practice digital equity.
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