Members of the media may directly contact the following experts on this topic:
Emma Anderson (English and French)
Full Professor, Department of Classics and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts.
Professor Anderson's research touches on the history of Christianity, sainthood, canonization, the Vatican and papal politics.
“Until recently Pope Leo has been trying to stay above the political fray and avoid confrontation with Trump and JD Vance. But the recent attacks have galvanized him, such that he is now proving to be their voluble critic. Trump has made a terrible error in antagonizing him, as he clearly will fight when he feels that his religious role is being questioned or slighted or undermined.
Pope Francis, on the other hand, was much bolder about his priorities right from the beginning of his papacy. It could be that Trump feels threatened by Pope Leo because he is another American with considerable power.
The current dust-up with the Pope is only one element of several religiously inflected strategic errors that Trump has made over the last week, especially with AI generated images of himself WITH or AS Jesus.
In questioning whether the Pope understands just-war theory, Vance is playing to the Pope’s strong suit. The Pope is an Augustinian priest; St. Augustine is the author of Catholic just-war theory, which lays out the conditions that must be present for violence to be morally justifiable.”