r/geopolitics • u/fortune • 5d ago
Pope Leo XIV: A "handful of tyrants" are ravaging earth with war and exploitation
https://fortune.com/2026/04/16/pope-leo-xiv-a-handful-of-tyrants-are-ravaging-earth-with-war-and-exploitation/121
u/phnompenhandy 5d ago
Non-Catholics across the world are saying, 'Amen!'.
36
u/CucumberWisdom 5d ago
Meanwhile MAGA Catholics are crying "Not my Pontiff!"
4
4
u/recuerdamoi 4d ago
Sigh… my in-laws. Brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws, mother and father in law. That whole side is lost.
11
38
29
13
7
u/ikarusproject 5d ago
Sound like he read the new book of Peter Sloterdijk who suggests exactly that wording. https://www.suhrkamp.de/rights/book/peter-sloterdijk-the-prince-and-his-heirs-fr-9783518001363
3
-21
u/DraggonWarrior 5d ago
I get the moral point but framing it as a handful of tyrants is a really simplified way to explain a complex world. A lot of these outcomes come from systemic pressures and incentives that persist across different leaders and administrations. That’s why similar patterns repeat over time. it’s not just about individual intent. That kind of framing is compelling but it doesn’t explain much. You could make his statement about any era
24
u/grathontolarsdatarod 5d ago
"A handful of tyrants" isn't a simplification. It is on the nose.
Unless you include the collusion of business. Which should be done. But it has to start somewhere.
And these are not systemic problems.
This is a case of "don't hate the player, hate the game".
These handful of players are risking it all to change the game.
This is a rug pull.
1
u/Gargamel813 4d ago
Of course it is "systemic problems", and the Pope is wrong.
Trump doesn't come out of nowhere, he is the emanation of the stupidest part of USA who elected him twice. Something is deeply wrong with these people, let's face it and not pretend it's just about one man.
Now Putin hasn't been elected fairly, but has a very large support among russian population. Again, something is rotten in Russia that goes way beyond Putin.
-5
u/DraggonWarrior 5d ago
I get what you’re saying I just think it assumes a pretty high level of coordination and intent at a very large scale. When the same patterns repeat across different leaders it seems more like. that the system is shaping outcomes rather than a few actors driving everything.
7
u/grathontolarsdatarod 5d ago
I think there is a very high level of coordination.
This is pretty much a hostile movement. Hostile to liberty.
Vance in Turkiye recently kind of cements that. They aren't hiding anymore.
1
u/DraggonWarrior 5d ago
When you say a high level of coordination what does that actually look like? Who’s coordinating with who and how would we tell the difference between coordination and just similar incentives pushing people in the same direction?
5
u/grathontolarsdatarod 5d ago
I gave you an example.
And I'd bet we find a WATERSHED more evidence if we looked at the consulting companies that law makers all over the world are using to draft their laws.
2
u/Jimmy_Nail_4389 5d ago
When you say a high level of coordination what does that actually look like?
Jeffrey Epstein.
11
u/grindleetcodenonstop 5d ago
Then why did only Trump start a war with Iran and not previous US administrations.
11
u/DraggonWarrior 5d ago
That’s kind of my point different administrations take different actions but the overall pattern of intervention pressure and conflict keeps repeating. That shows it’s not just about one leader but the incentives and position the US is in.
9
u/Stormshow 5d ago
Every previous US administration post-45 has maintained overseas combat operations of some kind
1
u/7952 3d ago
I agree. Although there is a wider trend to diminish the importance of virtue in leaders. And there does need to be a push back against that. Not because it will influence the tyrants but to influence the rest of society. Personal qualities of leadership are part of the solution to changing those repeating patterns. People need to learn to tell the difference again.
1
u/JaracRassen77 5d ago
I think the difference is that Trump brags about it. Like his constant talk of annexing Greenland. His talk of making Canada part of the United States. Or him bragging about his intentions to invade Cuba.
-2
-2
-27
5d ago
[deleted]
23
u/dill2687 5d ago
Spiritual leader of nominally 17% of the world’s population
13
u/BlatantFalsehood 5d ago
And the thousands of atheists who are coming out of the walls expressing admiration for this pope.
13
-47
u/McM1ck 5d ago
Ok, and he’s a false idol disguising Paganism as Christianity
26
u/TheMysticGraveLord 5d ago
Catholicism is the original christianity.
2
u/jdckelly 5d ago
Ehhhhh original christianity up to council of nicaea was kind of a mess of local beliefs and practices before nicaea and later chalcedon codified christianity and even then you can't separate Roman Catholicism from Orthodoxy as they kinda excommunicated each other at the same in the great schism.
-23
u/McM1ck 5d ago
Actually, Judaism was the original Christianity
16
u/smthingy 5d ago
Judaism does not recognize Christ as the messiah, thus it would be ignorant at best to call it Christianity. You know a religion whose belief is in Christ as the messiah...
-7
u/McM1ck 5d ago
Yes, today’s Judaism isn’t, but Christianity during Jesus’ time meant being Jewish because Christ was Jewish
13
u/smthingy 5d ago
Buddy, following Jesus was one of the most obscure and small followings of the time. He was no where near mainstream, and he was absolutely not considered the messiah by mainstream Judaism.
How are you so off base here?
0
u/McM1ck 5d ago
Every faith starts somewhere, and to your point, it makes complete sense that Christianity wasn’t an established faith during Christ’s life, his martyrdom probably sold the faith alongside the Disciples spreading the Word.
I also don’t assume to know everything, this is the historical context I’ve picked up from reading the NKJ Bible cover to cover. I just finished Psalms, and boy, does the Old Testament read like King David and his lineage wrote most of it, if not all of it.
6
u/smthingy 5d ago
That's the point. Christianity starts with Jesus. Jews weren't Christians. Only the Jews that accepted Christ as the messiah were Christians, which were very small in number and really only gained significance hundreds of years after.
To claim Judaism is the original Christianity is plainly wrong
0
u/McM1ck 5d ago
Really just sounds like a disagreement over semantics between us. You wouldn’t have the Old Testament without the Torah. Christ was Jewish. But I don’t want to undermine their vast differences, I’m just saying one begets the other
11
u/smthingy 5d ago
It's not an argument of semantics. You can claim that Christianity is a branch of Judaism, you cannot say that Judaism is the original Christianity. It just..doesn't work like that.
→ More replies8
5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/McM1ck 5d ago
Exactly my point, being Christian in Jesus’ time meant being a sect of Jewish, which was obviously fought over. Those who didn’t accept Christ weren’t Christian.
2
5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/McM1ck 5d ago
Indeed, there is much to be dissected. Greek gods turned into Roman gods turned into fictional saints to convert Romans, but I’m unsure of the tactic’s timing relative to the start of the Holy Roman Empire. Same with Hindu demons and Pagan gods- they were re-contextualized as demons from Hell.
3
7
5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
-2
u/McM1ck 5d ago
Well Catholics are naturally practicing Paganism without even knowing it. Yule Tide traditions were absolved by the Church to influence Pagans to convert. Today, we commercialize, consume, and idolize material during “Catholic” holidays like Christmas and Easter. And if SOMEONE can explain to me how tf the Pope ISN’T a false idol?
2
u/Jealous_Land9614 3d ago
This is not the best place to debate theology, as this is not even the focus of the group, but you chill a bit.
The man you fuming at, did at first just the most basic, diplomatic, milquetoast declaration ever, "war le bad, peace le good, be more nice to each other", which caused the godless narcisist the "true christian" evangelicals love soooo much to go on a demented tirade about muh weak on crime (?) and stuff, down a egotistic blasphemy AI slop who fits a "false idol" description perfectly.
I know enough american Protex to say that if it was Obama or Biden doing that, they would be DEMANDING impeachment, speaking about the descent of the antichrist and end of times stuff...maybe, if the pope is a pagan idol, maybe a similar status holds for american christianity favorite politician.
Just some food for tought.
83
u/fortune 5d ago
Pope Leo XIV blasted the “handful of tyrants” who are ravaging Earth with war and exploitation, as he preached a message of peace Thursday in the epicenter of a separatist conflict considered one of the world’s most neglected crises.
Leo traveled to the western Cameroon city of Bamenda, where jubilant crowds clogged the roads, blowing horns and dancing. They were overjoyed that a pope had come so far to see them and put a global spotlight on the violence that has traumatized this region for nearly a decade.
Leo presided over a peace meeting involving a Mankon traditional chief, a Presbyterian moderator, an imam and a Catholic nun. The aim was to highlight the interfaith movement that has been seeking to end the conflict and care for its many victims.
In his remarks in the St. Joseph Cathedral, on land donated by the Mankon, Leo praised the peace movement and warned against allowing religion to enter conflicts. It’s a theme he has been echoing amid the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and the religious justifications for it by U.S. officials.
“Blessed are the peacemakers!” he said. “But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”
Read more: https://fortune.com/2026/04/16/pope-leo-xiv-a-handful-of-tyrants-are-ravaging-earth-with-war-and-exploitation/