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[YoshidaYui]

This message was self-deleted by its author (YoshidaYui) on Sun May 11, 2025, 03:43 AM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Good Theory My Friend

Surely trumps anti Christian way of strolling through life may have been on their minds in deliberation.

[4139]

2. Nope... I think it's about $$$$s

[YoshidaYui]

4. how so???

[4139]

10. Catholic Church finances took a whopper hit during Covid, which has continued

Catholics have been fading in the US.

[4139]

14. And my prediction is he'll visit the us in October 😀

[4139]

15. ... and will hold outdoor mass at both Wrigley field and Rate field in Chicago

John Paul held out mass at Shea and Yankee stadiums so Leo gotta do both in Chicago

[boonecreek]

33. In '79 John Paul II held a mass in Grant Park.

The idea of Leo holding masses at both ballparks is intriguing though.

[4139]

55. If the pope were to hold Mass at NFL stadium,...

The NFL would charge $18 to dip your finger in holy water

[FadedMullet]

31. Putting the Vatican's finances in order has been mentioned, but I can't be so cynical as to believe that getting more...

.....dough from U.S. Catholics was a major concern.

[Iris]

34. I don't think it was. His experience actually running an organization is what would get finances in order

[jls4561]

3. Unless he has a button labeled "SMITE!" Installed on the papal desk, good luck countering the orange devil.

[Meowmee]

5. I don't know really

I wasn’t paying much attention and I forgot that he was even in the running. The pope has no real control over what psycho does ultimately though.

[YoshidaYui]

6. the POPE CONTROLS CATHOLICS,...

THINK about it...

[Meowmee]

9. No need for caps 😀

Many Catholics in this country are ultra conservative and voted for psycho, think about that. The last pope was named as a progressive yet he had zero influence on stopping psycho from getting elected or having any real effect on anything he did.

By the way, the new pope, Leo 14, is an R and has mostly supported and voted for R.

New poll shows Latino voters helped Trump win the overall Catholic vote in 2024 election

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/261317/new-poll-shows-latino-and-white-catholics-shifted-toward-trump-in-2024-election

[anamnua]

27. I did a bit of checking

He voted in both R and D open primaries in Illinois. He never openly endorsed or supported either party.

[Meowmee]

49. He voted mostly R I found and once D

Also voting in the primary of the opposite party, does it mean you support them. I think we all know that.

[Ms. Toad]

11. You must not know many garden variety Catholics.

Control only applies when they feel like being controlled.

Of my brother's-in-law, all 4 have vasectomies (it used birth control - I only know specifically about 2 vasectomies. Two have had adulterous affairs - including one who swore at me from his hospital bed where he was recovering from a car accident involving his mistress because I was about to marry his sister - and that was a sin. All the girls, including my spouse, had sex outside of marriage - two of them repeatedly when they or the person they were involved with were married. Three of the siblings were divorced, some more than once.

Aside from the hypocritical brother, I am not commenting on the morality of any of these things. Simply that, out of 7 Catholic siblings I know well enough to know, not a single one is controlled by the Catholic church.

[Diamond_Dog]

12. You are so right, Ms. Toad

I grew up Catholic, don’t really attend church any more, almost every Catholic friend or couple I know well enough to know, uses birth control.

[Hekate]

20. Well spotted

[mobeau69]

51. Good Lord!

[H2O Man]

13. It isn't a matter

of "control." It is a matter of encouragement to do the right thing at this time. When he speaks out against "evil" -- and I use that term in the psychological sense, though that includes the religious sense -- he encourages others to take a stand and speak up.

As I noted elsewhere, Leo subscribes to liberation theology. That is not limited to Catholics. A person can be an atheist and adhere to liberation theology -- as my late friend Rubin "Hurricane" Carter did. But it is something that many good people do not have an inner grasp of -- they may know the lyrics, but not the tune -- and hence we see that lack of understanding on the part of some of our friends on this forum. And to be fair, the church has insulted and offended a lot of good people over the decades of our lifetimes, and centuries before. Thus, they are not able to view Leo objectively.

[tinrobot]

19. He doesn't "control Catholics"

He only controls the Catholic church.

Catholics themselves are free to do whatever the hell they want.

[YoshidaYui]

21. Yeah i should have rephrased that better you are right, he controls the church

but he can suggest any time in regards to policies that the TRUMP administration has and People like STephen Miller...

[DBoon]

26. if true,he does a very poor job of controlling them

Catholics range from arch-reactionaries who long for the days of the Spanish Inquisition (really) to social-justice leftists to those in DignityUSA who hope for a church that fully include the LGBT community

These groups have been at odds with mainstream church doctrine yet still maintain a presence within Catholicism.

[JI7]

38. Not American Catholics unless they are very religious

I think the Pope has more influence in Latin America and maybe some African countries where people are more conservative.

[H2O Man]

7. Recommended.

I think so. And so do my family members and friends who are Catholic. There were other "front-runners," but they picked Leo. He is an advocate of liberation theology, as was Francis. They picked him because they saw the disruption the felon & co are creating around the planet.

[peggysue2]

8. Yesterday, I read . . .

That one of the 'conservative' American Bishops said the Vatican would never elect an American Pope unless the country was in decline.

Ta-Dah!

More prescient than said Bishop expected.

[Beastly Boy]

16. Remember what happened in Poland shortly after the Vatican picked a Polish Pope

[Cha]

37. What happened in Poland, Beastly Boy?

I haven't paid attention to the Popes until now.

Mahalo

[Beastly Boy]

46. Lech Valensa, the Solidarnosc movement and the eventual fall, first of the Warsaw Pact and then the Soviet Union.

Poland is 90% Catholic. The Polish Pope, if not all of Vatican, had something to do with these events for sure

[Cha]

48. Thank you! I had a few things to look up

Before I could comment.

Thank you for the History Lesson, BB .

[Beastly Boy]

50. You are very welcome, Cha

This is one of the now trivial matters that not too many people are aware of. But having somewhat peculiar interest in the conspiracy theories surrounding the Vatican, I remember this being the topic long ago.

[Cha]

52. And, it came in Handy today.

Very Interesting! I'm so Encouraged by Pope Leo XIV.

[drmeow]

17. My local paper had this interesting comment

"... but there had long been a taboo against a U.S. pope, given the country's geopolitical power already wielded in the secular sphere."

I think they have decided that the U.S. no longer wields the same level of power it did and that isn't going to change, so they were "able" to elect a U.S. pope.

[YoshidaYui]

18. Think how fast the decision was??

IT had to be about keeping TRUMP in check.

[drmeow]

23. Sure, whatever nt

[Cha]

39. The Cardinals obviously loved

Pope Leo XIV's background and History like many of us DO.

[tinrobot]

22. That was probably one of many factors.

Pope Francis seems to have favored him, that was another factor. He was also somewhat of a compromise candidate, a bit more middle of the road.

[Cha]

41. Pope Leo XIV just called out Russia for starting

the War Against Ukraine.

That doesn't sound "middle of the road" to me.

[muriel_volestrangler]

44. In world terms, it is middle of the road (and for American citizens, for that matter)

It's just Republicans who are pro-Russian.

The "call out" was a couple of years ago: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=20307531

[TnDem]

24. re: the pope

No Pope is going to keep trump in check

[YoshidaYui]

25. NO but the people around him

will especially the Catholics

[TnDem]

35. re: pope

Trump talked all manner of shit about the prior pope and catholics voted for him by the droves both times.

[Cha]

42. Of course not.. nobody can stop that Idiot. But

Pope Leo XIV has already called out Russia for starting the War Against Ukraine.

He's a Strong Voice for Reality and Humanity.

[Rebl2]

28. Nobody

can keep trump in check.

[flvegan]

29. How is the pope going to keep Trump "in check" anyway?

It's not like Orange Turdmonkey nor his legions of disciples are Catholic, or even Christian for that matter.

That said, I wouldn't mind seeing some splashes of holy water and a couple "the power of Christ compels you!" tossed his way. Just to see what happens.

[Mariana]

54. 59% of Catholic voters cast their ballots for Trump in 2024

according to the exit polls. So, a significant portion of his base is Catholic. For Protestant voters, it was 63%, so not much different.

The Pope can't do a thing about Trump. Some people like to imagine that if the Pope criticizes Trump, then a bunch of Trump's Christian supporters will turn on him. They won't, of course. And even if they did, what difference would it make?

[FadedMullet]

30. My first thought was that they picked Leo XIV, an American, to add weight to the churches message about compassion.....

......for the poor. They see what we have become politically and how it has influenced how we interact with the rest of the world. How our status as a force for good is now diminished and will continue to decline as Trumps second term hits it's stride. The cardinals want the church to be a counterweight to America's ongoing psychosis and felt that having an American Pope would be even more effective. Not the only reason for his choice, but I think a significant factor.

[global1]

32. Divine Intervention.......

The Cardinals didn't pick Pope Leo xiv - God did.

God has a plan for Tr**p.

[hunter]

36. The Cardinals voted the same way the Australians and Canadians did...

... and for similar reasons.

The election of Trump in the U.S.A. woke them up.

[Cha]

43. Hey Good Point! TY

[JI7]

40. I wasn't paying mutch attention but someone said there wasn't really anything negative about him

[ananda]

45. It does stick it to Trump but will never keep him in line.

Only we Americans here can do that.

[4th]

47. A lot of right wingers in effect speculate the same thing. n/t

[TexLaProgressive]

53. I don't hold that opinion

Here we have a man born in Chicago but was a missionary in a poor place in Peru. I suspect his heart is more with them than Chicago.

His ver1st words were in Spanish to the Peruvians, he switched to Italian because he's bishop of Rome and lastly in the language of the Church, Latin.

I think this was a less than subtle method of saying that he's not an American pope but the Pope for all.

I suspect he will be holding tRump and Vance's feet to the fire. He doesn't have a big online presence but he retreated this from
“There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all.” Cardinal Blase J. Cupich.