Pope Leo's "State of the World" Address

[00:00:12] Last week, Pope Leo gave his State of the World address to the Vatican's Diplomat corps in which he condemned war, abortion and Orwellian style language. We're going to break down the Pope's priorities and his vision for the future. [00:00:25] That's the topic for today on Crisis Point Hill. I'm Eric Sims, your host, editor in chief of Crisis magazine. Okay, so before we get started, I just want to wish everybody a happy feast of the Baptism of the Lord. For those on the old calendar, I think it was last Sunday. For those on the new calendar, today is the Octave day in the old calendar, the Octave day of the Epiphany. And I just love epiphany. It's one of my favorite feast days. The baptism of the Lord is great. So I just want to wish everybody happy birthday. Baptism of the Lord. If you are somebody who happens to be watching this podcast or listening to it, who has not been baptized, I don't think there's probably many of you get thee to a church and get baptized in a Catholic church and get baptized. So also I just want to thank everybody who's on the live podcast. We do this live Tuesday afternoons, usually at 3pm Eastern time. Feel free to add your comments to the live chat and we'll try to address some of them at the end of the program. [00:01:21] So last Friday, January 9, Pope Leo gave his first state of the world address. That's what it's dubbed when the Pope every year at the beginning of the year, this has been going on for decades now. The Pope will give an address to the diplomat corps accredited to the Holy See. [00:01:38] And typically, like I said, it's a state of the world, meaning it's kind of what's the Pope's vision for how things are going in the world? What's kind of the foreign policy priorities of the Vatican, of the papacy. And what does he want to address? And so like I said, people have been doing this. Pope's been doing this for years. [00:01:57] And so Pope Leo, though this was his first one. Of course, obviously Pope Francis gave him Pope Benedict, Pope JP2 and others. But for Pope Leo, this was his first one. So I do think it's important that we talk about this in kind of what he said and the priorities for it. And also I think it's important because I think Pope Leo thought was important because this is literally, I saw where this is literally the longest speech he's given so far in his pontificate. He's been Pope now for, what is it, nine months or something like that, and this was the longest address of his pontificate. So let me just kind of break down some of the things he said. But first, before I do that, I just want to address kind of the tone of this address. [00:02:43] It was very different from a Pope Francis address. [00:02:47] I actually went back and looked at some of Pope Francis's state of the world addresses. [00:02:53] The style couldn't be more different. I've said this before, but I really think that Pope Leo, his style is a little bit more like Benedict xvi. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's a Benedict 16th in a lot of ways, but his style, in the way he speaks does have similarities. First of all, it just, it's far more Catholic sounding, if nothing else. I mean, when Pope Francis would give these addresses, it was just like the, the head of an ngo, head of some social group or something like that. It wasn't the head of the Catholic Church. [00:03:27] Leo is much more Catholic sounding. [00:03:30] He's more intellectual, like I said, than Francis was. Like Benedict, he's less ideological. There's some ideology in there, but he's less. I mean, for Francis, it was very ideological. [00:03:42] Another thing about the tome I thought was interesting is he starts off by basically talking about St. Augustine's City of God. Now, of course, Leo himself is an Augustinian, so I would imagine St. Augustine's one of his favorite saints. [00:03:56] But it really set the tone for this address that it was not going to be just a political thing. That's what you got so often from Francis. I don't want to just be this whole thing in comparison to Francis. But the fact is, a lot of times when Francis spoke, it came across very political, like you weren't even sure if it was a Catholic leader saying it, whereas Leo wove in the City of God and Augustine's analogy or statement that there's two cities, the City of God, City of Man, and he talked and Leo talked about that and how that pertains to the fact that Pope is talking about world affairs, that there's a relationship between the City of God and City of Man, but they are two different spheres. And so I appreciate that because I do think it raises. [00:04:45] You can listen or read Pope Leo and you're not, you're not. Your brain doesn't automatically go to political categories like they did with Francis, because let's be honest, when you listen to Trump, you're automatically either going to be forward or against it based upon what you think of Trump and his politics, no matter what he says. Even if he goes against this way he did in the past. You're still going to be for it because you've liked him in the past. [00:05:10] And the same thing, you listen to Obama or somebody like that, the same thing is true. And I felt like that was Francis, like, whenever he talked about, like, foreign relationships and world affairs, you just immediately like, okay, this is just a progressive politician, European politician. I know he's Argentinian, but you know what I mean. [00:05:27] With Leo, at least, there is a rising above that sum. Yes, he gets into some of the, some of the specifics of politics, but it's more a rising above into deeper theological waters, I should say. [00:05:40] So what did he talk about? Well, the primary topic was about war and peace. In fact, the money quote for the entire document, the entire address was quote, war is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading. [00:05:57] War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading. I thought that was a, a very deep insight from the Pope that the fact is, is war is, is back in vogue. There was a time, you know, after World War II, you know, we, we've had conflicts in America and throughout the world all the time, but there was a time when it was like, it was seen that war, military. And by war, I think the Pope means, and I know I mean a little more generically, not just declarations of war, but military actions. So, for example, I'm, I would state very strongly, and I've had people disagree with me on this, that, that, that Trump's abduction of Maduro in Venezuela was an act of war. It doesn't mean we're in a war with Venezuela right now. It just means that simply the act was an act of war. And that's what Pope's talk. I think that's what Leo's talking about, is that war is back in vogue. People, I mean, Russia obviously invading Ukraine, the, You know, the, the situation in the Middle east, there's a zeal for war. There's a zeal for we can solve our problems through military solutions. And nations are less hesitant. They seem to be less hesitant. I mean, historically, nations were very quick to use military force to get their way. But in the 20th century, that did be nations, especially developed nations in the west, became less hesitant, became more hesitant to do that. But now I think that's, that's decreasing. Some people are willing, world leaders are willing to put their, Their, their military at risk in order to achieve their objectives. I think it's definitely true. In America, we know. Well, we, we. This isn't A debatable point. Whether or not Trump's able to use his. [00:07:40] Use the military to. To get his objectives, he's obviously done that already. [00:07:46] But one thing that I thought that Leo said, that I thought was interesting, was he said everybody, everybody, without exception, desires peace. He got this from Augustine. Even the conqueror wants peace on his terms. [00:07:57] So even, you know, if you think, for example, Vladimir Putin is a warmonger, even he wants peace. He just wants on his terms. [00:08:06] No matter who you're talking about, they want peace. And so the Pope, obviously, as the Pope, is urging peace, and I completely back him, and I think this is one thing I think popes in the modern era have done a very good job of is advocating for peace. [00:08:21] I will say, though, I'm not convinced that the methodology that popes and most and many church leaders think is the way to peace is really. [00:08:35] I'm not sure how much it works anymore. And that's because they urge peace through dialogue, that the whole thing is about sitting down, talking. And I do think that's important. [00:08:44] But I feel like they think that talking will solve all problems, that if we just get these people in a room and they talk to each other, and then our problems will be solved. And the fact is that's just not realistic. That's not what happens, and that's not what will happen. Action has to happen. I mean, you, for example, if you took this to the extreme, you would basically, a. A country wouldn't have to have a military because, oh, we'll just talk it out and all the problems we solve. But obviously, a country should have a military to defend it. [00:09:21] And so there's a certain. There's. Now, I don't go on the other side either, which is like, basically, might makes right, which is probably the flip side of the coin, is like, we just, you know, we're just going to invade people and take over and things like that. [00:09:34] But I do think, and I understand the Pope, he's going to be. Lean towards the. This is the way of the progressive world that the church has been infected with for decades, which is just simply always a matter of dialogue. I mean, I've talked about this numerous times, this podcast. I wrote about my book Deadly Indifference. [00:09:52] But really, dialogue became the ultimate virtue, the ultimate good, the ultimate mission in the 1960s in the Catholic Church, actually, not at Vatican II. It was a document by Pope Paul I, Ecclesium Suum, that really elevated dialogue to this level. And so dialogue is kind of everything now. [00:10:13] But I do think that, like, we're Living in a different world now. [00:10:18] Because another thing that the Pope talked about was like, he really put, he seems to put a lot of trust in the United Nations. This is a very Vatican thing. They think the United nations is great, that that should be basically almost a world government in a lot of ways. [00:10:30] And really we, we know the United nations is a joke. They're just a joke. Because what's happened is you get a bunch of people together who, countries together who disagree vehemently with each other and they're just, nothing's going to get done. It has no real authority. The fact is, here's the reality on the ground, we're not in a multilateral world anymore. He talked about this, Pope did, about how multilateralism is going out the window. And multilateralism, this idea of countries getting together and working things out, particularly through international law. The fact is, is that international law, you know what international law is? If you can enforce it, it's law. [00:11:09] That's what international law is. If you're a country that can enforce what you want, what you think is right, that's the law. And if you can't enforce it, then it's not the law. I'm not saying that's a good thing. I'm just simply saying that's the reality on the ground. For example, I think it'd be pretty obvious that what Trump did in Venezuela violated international law by a lot of people's standards. [00:11:32] But the fact is he was able to do it and nobody stopped him. [00:11:37] No country attacked America or anything like that, or defended Venezuela. It, it just happened. And I think that the problem is, you know how Vatican II is the lodestar for everything we talk about in the church, in the official church, everything's always has to reference. Vatican II always goes back to that. I feel like the same thing is true in world affairs when it comes to World War II. [00:11:58] Everything is somehow related to World War II and related to World War II and he and Pope Leo does as well. Everything's connected to it. But the fact is, is the, the post war consensus is over. [00:12:10] And so I feel like the Vatican should maybe kind of wake up a little bit. Poplio needs to kind of recognize the reality on the ground. I'm not saying he endorses might makes right, but I do think that just simply always saying dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, people have realized that just doesn't work, that there has to be some teeth in what you say, in your backing, and there needs to. And, and here's the other thing. [00:12:34] Here's why I think a lot of countries have turned away, a lot of people have turned away from this multilateralism world that Pope Leo is advocating for is because it really does slip into globalism. It does end up bleeding into globalism, this idea that basically the global community is more important than your national interest. And the fact is, every country should put their own country first. America first should be the policy. In Canada, it should be Canada first in Canada, Mexico first in Mexico, Switzerland first in Switzerland, whatever the case may be, Russia first in Russia. Now, if you take that to extreme, you could. You have real problems. But obviously, every country should. First and foremost, their duty of the government of a country is to their citizens, not to the global community. [00:13:23] Yet when you, you hear about this, like the Vatican speak about, like, multilateralism and United nations and things like that, I really feel like it's Catholic theology that a country would put itself the needs of its citizens first. [00:13:40] And there's nothing wrong with that. That's completely moral to do that. In fact, that's the moral thing to do. You don't put the needs of the citizens of Europe before the needs of citizens of America. If you're the President of America, that's just the way things should be and vice versa. And so I'm very pleased and very happy that Pope Leo is emphasizing peace like his predecessors did and that, and condemning war. [00:14:03] But there's some part of me that says, okay, you need to get the lay of the land better if you're really going to be able to have an impact on people. And by encouraging countries to put their national interest as a priority, I think that's a good thing to do. But it seems like they always want to say, no, you got to put the global community first. This is why they're so big on immigration, because there's no, there's no, like, real identity for a country. Now, I know we're the Catholic Church, we're universal. That means every single person on Earth, we want to become Catholic and be part of it. That does not, though, eliminate national boundaries or nationalism, a healthy nationalism. You know, patriotism is the better word, but putting your country as something you owe a certain allegiance to. [00:14:53] But you get the sense from a lot of the Vaticanistas that it's just a matter of you put the world first, you put everybody else first. So that's why you, you have open borders, essentially. That's why you're so always talking about migration, that, that countries like America should just let everybody in because the global community needs it. But that's not good for America. So we don't, we don't want to do that necessarily. [00:15:13] So another topic. So that was the, the main thing he started with. Another thing Pope Leo talked about in his State of the World address is freedom of expression and the use of language. And I thought this was very good because one of the things he said that I really struck me, he said a new Orwellian style language is developing, which, in an attempt to be increasingly inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that are fueling it. Let me read that again. [00:15:42] A new Orwellian style language is developing, which, in an attempt to be increasingly inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that are fueling it. This is very, a great insight. I'm so glad the Pope's saying. I don't think this is something Francis would have said, but this is basically against wokeness, a big part. This is against wokeness, this idea that, you know, you have to have certain style language, and things mean what they don't mean and they don't mean what they mean. And yet we have to go along with it all to be inclusive. But what it's really doing is excluding. It's excluding normal people, frankly, people who aren't behind these ideologies that are pushing it. And so I thought that was interesting that he, he brings up the importance of freedom of expression. But he goes beyond just the cliches of, okay, people need to be free to express themselves. But he says also the language we use must be accurate and must be conformed to the truth. [00:16:36] And so what's called freedom of expression does not mean people are free. Like, for example, I'm free to say I'm a girl, even though I'm a boy. [00:16:45] I don't have that freedom because that's a lie. [00:16:48] And so that, I think, is a great insight by the Pope. And I think it's interesting he brought this up in the state of the world. He sees this globally as something that matters. And so I think that's another. That's something else obviously important to him. Another thing he talks about is the persecution of Christians. [00:17:05] He emphasizes this, and it's very good because the fact is, because of the Pope. I'm sorry, not the Pope. So the Vatican's policies over the years, with interreligious dialogue and never wanting to criticize any non Christian religions, there's been a tendency at times to downplay the persecution of Christians around the world. Yes, Pope Francis talked about some. I Don't want to act like he didn't, but I feel like it's been downplayed. Why? [00:17:33] Because who is persecuting Christians more than anybody? [00:17:38] Islam. Call it radical Islam, we'll call it whatever you want. But Muslims, Muslim countries, that's where the persecution, or at least countries where Muslims have a dominant power, that's where Christians are most persecuted. And so the Vatican's got this tightrope. They want to always kiss up and be chummy, chummy with the Muslims, but at the same time, they see their fellow Christians being killed and slaughtered and persecuted and tortured and all that. [00:18:04] So I was very happy to see that Leo made this front and center, that persecution Christians is a real thing, and that, you know, he condemned it. But then he. I also think he went further on this as well, just like he did with the language and freedom of expression. He said, we must not forget a subtle form of religious discrimination against Christians which is spreading even in countries where they are in the majority, such as in Europe or the Americas. [00:18:31] This subtle form of religious discrimination there they are sometimes restricted in their ability to proclaim the truths of the gospel for political or ideological reasons, especially when they defend the dignity of the weakest, the unborn, refugees and migrants, or promote the family. [00:18:47] And so I thought this was great that he brings this up, that we think of persecution and Christians. A lot of people would just think, oh, Christians being killed in Muslim countries, think that. Which obviously that's the highest priority. But there's this subtle form of religious discrimination going on against Christians. We've seen it in America for decades. We've seen it growing. I mean, I have seen it in my own lifetime grow more and more that Christians feel less and less free to speak out to. To. To preach, you know, the Gospel, to tell others about Christ, to defend Catholic values and beliefs because they're shouted down. They're. They're. You know how many people. I bet you there is a large percentage of people who are listening to this podcast who have jobs where they don't feel like they can say what they really believe. And it's all they believe is just simply Catholic truth. I mean, I hear this all the time from people. I can't really say that outwardly because of the fact that I might get fired, even though what it's saying is something that's just reality, like the unborn are really. Babies are really human beings, or a man can't be a woman, whatever the case may be. This is that subtle form of religious discrimination that he is talking about. That Pope Leo is talking about. So I was very happy, again, that he brought this up as well. [00:19:59] Another thing he talked about was the defense of life and family. Now, I know some people might say, well, he's a pope. Of course he's going to defend the right to life and defend the family. [00:20:09] But I do think how you do it matters for the Pope. I mean, we know Francis had comments about, like, you know, don't breed like rabbits, and he would say things that undermined big families and things like that. Pope Leo is very strong on this when he talked about the importance of life and the family. In fact, he says, we firmly reiterate. [00:20:30] First of all, I just like the fact to use the royal we there, the papal we, we firmly reiterate that the protection of the right to life constitute the indispensable foundation of every other human right. [00:20:41] A society is healthy and truly progresses only when it safeguards the sanctity of human life and works actively to promote it. So he makes it very clear, the right to life is not just another right among the list. It's the preeminent one, the prior, the primary one, which is why, you know, Catholic politicians should never not be pro life, they should always be pro life and defend the right to life. So he makes it very clear. He also says the vocation to love and to life, which manifests itself in an important way in the exclusive and indissoluble union between a woman and a man, implies a fundamental ethical imperative for enabling families to welcome and fully care for unborn life. [00:21:22] This is great as well, because this is important to reiterate as much as possible. Every child deserves a mom and dad. Yes, I know because of tragedy, sometimes that doesn't happen. You know, a father passes away, something like that. [00:21:35] But the fact is, every child deserves that. And so when we have these Frankenstein families, where we create families in our own image, in man's image, okay, we're going to have two dudes adopting, you know, surrogate kids or whatever. We're going to have, you know, three people in a relationship and they have kids and things like that. No, that is an abuse. Every single time, it's an abuse. [00:21:56] A child deserves a father and a mother. Not two dads, not two moms, nothing like that, or just a mom or just a dad. But ideally, every child deserves a man, a father and a mother. And if it should never be chosen to have something different. [00:22:10] And the Pope is saying this is a priority. So these are some of the things that the Pope was talking about in His State of the World, he talks about the importance of war and peace, that war is becoming in vogue and we need to resist, as Catholics, we need to resist this. I know I probably wear out entire some of my audience because my anti war jihad to say something that kind of doesn't make much sense, my desire for peace. But I really do think, as Catholics, this is something we always have to understand. War is the last resort. War is the last resort. I don't think we treat it as the last resort. And that's what the Pope's saying. We're not treating as last resort. [00:22:48] I also, you know, he trusts a little too much in multilateralism, but, you know, so he's emphasizing against war and for peace, emphasizing freedom of expression and using language properly. This is a big problem. [00:23:00] He's emphasizing defending Christians from persecution, both explicit and implicit, subtle persecution of Christians, which is happening all over the world. The defense of life and family as well. These are the priorities. So this tells you somewhat the priorities of Pope Leo and what he thinks is important. And I did appreciate in the address how much he weaves it in. [00:23:22] It sounds very Catholic, because he's weaving in Augustine, city of God, city of man, things of that nature. And it doesn't come across as just a political talk, which I don't think Pope should ever come across, just straight politics. And I think Francis did that too often. It's not ideological. [00:23:38] Now, I will say I've said some very nice things, and I believe all those things. [00:23:43] I will say they can't avoid it. [00:23:48] They have to bring in their kind of progressive pet issues, the progressive themes that will always come out. And I've said this before, that Pope Leo, he is in many ways an average American bishop, an average American Catholic bishop in his kind of priorities. What he talks about, the way he talks, things like that. And you see it here as well, you know, he brings up migrants. He says every migrant is a person. And as such, I mean, first of all, of course, every migrant is a person. See, this is when we're starting to get into kind of like saying things that are just like straw men. Who doesn't think a migrant's a person? Nobody thinks it thinks that. So every migrant is a person, as such, has inalienable rights that must be respected in every situation. Okay, not all migrants move by choice, but many are forced to flee because of violence, persecution, conflict, and even the effects of climate change, as in various parts of Africa and Asia. Okay, let's break this down for a minute. [00:24:46] Not all migrants move by choice. Okay, granted, Holy Father, but many of them do. [00:24:51] Many of them do. So can't we keep them out at least? [00:24:56] I mean, when you say it's kind of like. I'm not saying it's the exact same, but it reminds me a little bit of when pro aborts argue for abortion because of like the extreme cases like rape, incest, life and the mother, things like that. When it's like, we know, like most of abortions are elective. [00:25:11] Well, likewise migration. Yes, some do move by. Do not move by choice, but so many of them do. So can we at least agree that country has a right to keep them out? [00:25:24] But then also it says now migrants move by choice, but many are forced to flee because of violence, persecution, conflict, and even the effects of climate change. Effects of climate change. That's just stupid. [00:25:33] But, you know, violence, persecution, conflict. [00:25:36] Well, what's the solution then? Just we let them all in or we do something about the violence, persecution, conflict. Why aren't you calling out these countries that have violence, persecution, conflict and get them. I mean, he is calling them out in one sense, but why isn't the emphasis on get the bishops of the countries where people are leaving and say, you need to work harder instead of guilting the bishops of where they're going, that they need to receive them all. [00:26:03] That's the thing that bothers me the most about the whole immigration debate is that the entire 100% focuses on the country receiving them and what they need to do. Which, yes, there are certain obligations a country has. I'm not acting like that. Every country at all times should never let migrant in. I think that that would be dumb. I do think there's a certain obligation for countries to let in some amount of migrants at least, maybe not all the time, but at least on a regular basis. That being said, though, why not focus on why they're leaving, why are they coming to America, why are they going to Europe? I mean, in some cases, I'm convinced that a lot of people are. A lot of migrants are coming from the Middle Eastern countries to Europe because of Western foreign policy in the middle. In the Middle East. The wars and conflicts that are causing makes people flee to Europe and to America, but I think that's. I wish a pope would focus a little bit more on that, emphasize that part of it. [00:27:04] Also, you know, another kind of progressive canard that he brings out is the death penalty. He says penalties are proportionate to the crimes committed, dignified conditions are guaranteed for prisoners, and above all, efforts are made to abolish the death penalty, a measure that destroys all hope of forgiveness and renewal. So he says, above all, we have to abolish the death penalty, a measure that destroys all hope of forgiveness and renewal. I will just say it. That's wrong, that is incorrect. The death penalty, in fact, can bring about forgiveness and renewal. I think that's something we need to recognize is because what happens is when somebody is a hardened criminal and they're just put in prison for life, there's no urgency to convert. There's no urgency to, to realize where you, you are in life and that you need to change. [00:27:53] When you have a date on the calendar that you're going to die, boy, that urgency comes to you real quick. [00:27:59] And so I do think actually there is hope of forgiveness and renewal with the death penalty, because it's not like I wouldn't support, for example, something where you kill my death penalty the day they commit the crime or the day after they're, they're convicted. I do think there should be some time for appeals and things like that. That's because of a just system, includes appeal, the right to appeal, because there can be mistakes made, especially on death penalty cases. [00:28:24] But I do think that the death penalty by its nature can bring about forgiveness, hope of forgiveness and renewal. And it's happened many times in the past. [00:28:32] I also think, of course, the death penalty is not just about that, about the person who's being killed, but about restitution, about justice, about protecting the common good. [00:28:43] So I just reject this idea that we need to abolish the death penalty because it, it destroys all hope of forgiveness and renewal. That's just simply not true, Holy Father. I'm sorry. [00:28:52] So like I said, I'm not saying this address was like the greatest address ever. It's so far better than anything Francis did. And it's very Catholic in many ways. It has, it throws in a few of the kind of progressive pet pet issues like migration and the death penalty. But overall, I would hope that Catholics would look to what Pope Leo is saying here and would consider the fact that we just really need to emphasize the importance of peace in the world. [00:29:25] So like I said, overall, my assessment is that it's solid, far better than Francis. [00:29:30] It still falls for some of the progressive fallacies. But like I said, overall, good. [00:29:36] The last thing I want to say is I'm very interested in what, how this American Pope is going to deal with Trump. [00:29:45] You could tell that when he talks about Venezuela, he's in a rock between a rock and a hard place. He doesn't want to support Maduro. I think he knows that guy was terrible. At the same time, I don't think he wants to support Trump either in removing him from office. [00:30:01] And so he some generic things and I. I think that is a difficult for him. [00:30:06] I do think some language that he uses should be something that kind of calls Trump to account he has actually there's one place in there don't know if I obviously to and what it's was very interesting. He didn't say he does talk say something basically I'm looking for if I can find it. [00:30:31] Oh yeah, here we go. [00:30:33] He says I would like to draw particular attention to the importance of international humanitarian law. Compliance with this cannot depend on mere circumstances and military strategic interest. [00:30:43] Humanitarian law, in addition to guaranteeing a minimum of humanity during the ravages of war is a commitment that states have made. [00:30:52] Such law must always prevail over the the ambitions of belligerence in order to mitigate the devastating effects of war. Also with a view to reconstruction then he says we cannot ignore that the destruction of hospitals, energy infrastructure, homes and places essential to daily life constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law. The Holy See firmly reiterates his condemnation of any form of involvement of civilians in military operations. [00:31:16] And so this is obviously talking about Israel, what Israel did in Gaza. I mean there's no, it's. This is clearly a call out that he doesn't say Israel. But the idea is something that we as Catholics need to remember. There's two aspects to just war theory. One is whether or not you can go to war. [00:31:32] The other one is the actions you take during war. Whether or not those are just. And so the Pope rightly distinguishes them between the. You know, yes, you could even go to war for legitimate reason, but it doesn't mean everything you do in that war is automatically justified. [00:31:50] So I think though that I think I'm just more and more interested in how he's going to be dealing with Trump because here's the thing with Trump, with Trump administration in general, it is very, very good on a number of issues important to Catholics. It is also frankly, very, very bad on a number of issues important to Catholics. And so my hope is is that Pope Leo will not just focus on the bad issues, but will also commend. I don't. Has he committed Trump? Will he commend Trump ever? I don't know. I mean I was happy that Bishop Coakley, I think it is the new head president, usccb he just met with Trump and Vance and he was very diplomatic, what he said. [00:32:26] And I'm hopeful that he said, yeah, President Trump, we really. Vice versa, Vance, we're really happy that you're doing these things, but you need to work on these things. That's. That's okay to do that. So. [00:32:36] Okay, so let me just get a couple of the comments here before I sign off. [00:32:41] Phoenix says in Nigeria, on Nigeria, Leo really downplayed the Christian specific persecution, but Islam specifically, by saying Christians and Muslims have been slaughtered. It's economic. Yeah, I. I don't think that was in this document. Right. That was somewhere else. I think he said that. [00:32:57] Yeah, I think you're right. [00:33:00] Again, it's that balance they try to play, I don't think they should, where they're trying to pacify and be nice to Islam, to Muslims, but yet also acknowledge, hey, why are you killing our people? Because Nigeria, the real persecution is against Christians. I mean, you saw that if you were old enough when Benedict said one thing that was slightly critical of Islam was actually just quoting somebody from the Middle ages back in the 2008 or something like that. And there was riots, there was a huge controversy, and I think the Vatican remembers that. [00:33:31] So I think that's really part of it. So, Anthony, I saw you pop up. I was gonna close that says you're looking a little under the weather. Eric, are you feeling okay? Didn't you see me last week? Did you watch last week, Anthony? I was literally crying and I was, like, blowing my nose because I was sick. I'm actually not sick anymore. I think honestly the reason I might look a little under the weather might be because I've changed my lighting a little bit and I didn't get set up properly beforehand. So I think it makes me look a little bit more. I'm making some changes to the podcast soon, and so I've been fiddling with some stuff, but. Or I just could be getting old, Anthony. Don't forget how old I am. That could be all it is. So. Okay, I'm going to cut it out there. Appreciate everybody who joined the. The. The live stream and. And contributed live chat. So just as always, you know, pray for the Pope, pray for our world leaders, pray for peace in the world. Really make an effort to pray for peace. Don't just say it, but actually pray and fast for peace. So. [00:34:23] Okay, everybody, until next time, God love you. And remember the poor.