CANADA PERSPECTIVE

The last time a leader mocked the pope, it was Stalin — and the Globe and Mail remembers.

The Globe and Mail publishes two in-depth analyses that form the most comprehensive dossier in the panel. The first recalls that American presidents — Nixon the Quaker, Biden the Catholic, Reagan and Bush the Protestants — have all treated the pope with absolute public respect. "Until now," writes the newspaper. Trump has accused Leo XIV of being "WEAK on crime," of "serving the radical left," and of being elected pope because of him.

The second analysis is even sharper. It opens with Francis Rooney, former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican under Bush, who recalls that "the last time a world leader openly picked a fight with the pope was when Joseph Stalin asked how many divisions the pope had." Rooney claims that Trump "has crossed serious red lines" — nearly two-thirds of Americans identify as Christian, and many, even non-Catholics, respect the pope. The article also documents the AI image of Trump as a Christ figure: ancient robe, light emanating from his hands, a bedridden man touched on the forehead. Trump deleted the image on Monday and claims he saw himself as a doctor. Rooney and evangelical conservatives call the image blasphemous.

The Globe and Mail places this dispute in the context of the Iran war — Leo XIV condemned the strikes as "inhumane." But the newspaper notes that the real danger for Trump is electoral: Catholics represent one-fifth of the American electorate and are a swing bloc in Pennsylvania and Nevada.