Guided Missal: Pope Leo Becomes The Darling Of The Godless

Growing up Catholic taught you that the guys in Rome were not victims of passing fashion. The Popes were dyspeptic Italians who let you know that the 15th century was alive and well and living in the Vatican. Name Of The Rose styled scandals you heard about were deep and dark and laden with sexual repression.

Most Catholics learned where to zig and where to zag in their dealings with the Holy Father who wears infallibility like Darth Vader wears a black helmet. Here the brilliant Kathleen Madigan describes the experience of navigating the hierarchy of the Catholic Church for some meaningful one-on-one time with God:

“In a Catholic school, I was given a laundry list of people to contact… before, the nuns said, because otherwise I’m bothering Jesus. ‘You are gonna’ call these people, Kathleen, before you bother Jesus. You could start with your guardian angel. He’s got nothing to do 24 hours a day except tend to your needs. If he’s not available, you can speak to the saint in charge of the activity you’re upset about. Every single saint has been assigned an assignment. You can speak to Jesus’ mother if you’d like to. You can give Mary a shout. But you are not to bother Jesus…Okeydokey.”

Even when the Catholic Church finally elected an avuncular Pole, John Paul II, his reforms were largely anti-communist. But hardline teachings? Abortion? Women priests? Gay marriage? Medical assistance in dying? Be serious. The Catholic Church didn’t get this far by blurring the lines separating it from the fashionable Left.

When confronted with scandals about sexual abuse by priests (see: Spotlight) and massive fraud in their finances, the shoes of the fisherman stayed firmly planted in infallibility. The Church of Rome portrayed by Dan Brown was not simply a literary device. It was the counting room of heaven.

Naturally, this intransigence pissed off the Woke folk. For decades the secular Left flailed the Catholic Church over a menu of their own depraved notions about right to third term abortion, trans rights, Marxist financing etc. The odds of the two solitudes ever finding anything in common were as dim as the smoke emerging from the papal conclave. 

But in 2025 the cardinals elected a Chicago native marinated in Daley’s Chicago and then groomed in the Marxist South American finishing school. Like his native Chicagoans, Pope Leo XIV put an immediate target on Donald Trump because… did he really need a reason? Leo criticized Trump’s Iran gambit as a “delusion of omnipotence” and contrary to the Lord’s teachings. On social media he criticized J.D. Vance’s views on the Catholic teachings on caring for others.

Coming after Pope Leo’s noisy interventions in the ICE activities in Minneapolis— remind us how many migrants the Vatican is housing?— the reaction was predictable.

The long-distance social criticisms brought Captain Bombast to social media. In his usual soothing way, President Trump told Leo to stick to his own lane of ministering to old ladies and the cripples at Lourdes. “Why does the pope think it is fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon and to kill 42,000 unarmed protesters?” Trump thundered

“I said to the pope you can’t allow them to have a nuclear weapon, because they will use it and millions of people will be dead, including Italians and Catholics around the world.”

Cue Pope Leo: “I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do.” Fair enough. Both sides playing to type.

What no one could have foreseen was the sudden embrace of Leo by the people who’d made their hatred of the Church and organized religion a crusade. A gaggle of film glitterati— including Spike Lee, Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen, Adam Scott, Chris Pine and Monica Bellucci plus directors Judd Apatow, Gus Van Sant, Greta Gerwig and George Miller— gathered recently to rub cassocks with the Pope.  

“I find comfort in the thought that cinema is not just moving pictures — it sets hope in motion!” Leo told them. In return Leo has gone easy on the pro-abortion, trans-loving Catholic Lite segment of  American political life, grifters like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi who choose traditional Catholic values to ignore lest they interfere with the Democratic Left. 

The Hollywood trendies were followed in Leo worship by the deep blue L.A. Times which framed the battle between the Vatican and the Orange Man as “Pope Leo's brave stance against Trump". Trump-hating  Newsweek gleefully piled on. “US Catholics Back Pope Leo as Trump Loses Support”. The Daily Beast went all in. “Trump Posts Crazed Meltdown at Pope Leo for Criticizing Him".

On the theory that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Pope Leo has vaulted in the pantheon of Trump enemies. He joins Robert DeNiro,. Mark Ruffalo and Bruce Springsteen as noble warriors in the service of DEI.

The hypocrisy of this glam squad was noted by American comedian/ host Bill Maher. “See, liberals suddenly love the Pope,' Maher said. 'The Pope, who two weeks ago was all in the headlines. You know why? Exorcisms… Yeah, that's who the f***ing Pope is. Okay? A guy who does exorcism, doesn't believe in gay marriage. No women priests,' he added. 'But now, because he's feuding with Trump, MSNBC loves this guy.’”

Indeed. The Loaves and the Fishes have become influencers. Who had that on their biblical bingo card?

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his 2023 book Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, was voted a Top 20 greatest professional hockey books of all time by bookauthority.org . https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1770415300?linkCode=gs2&tag=uuid0a1-20 His previous book with his son Evan, Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. His new poetry collection In Other Words is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca and on Kindle books at https://www.amazon.ca/dp/106980270