Church should boldly confront the ills bedevilling our world

Suggestions that Pope Leo XIV’s election was engineered to place an American at the pinnacle of the Holy See to counter Trump merely stir controversy. [AFP]

The recent clash between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV has attracted widespread attention, not simply as a dispute between two prominent Americans, but as a revealing moment that lays bare a deeper fault line between politics and faith. It sharpens a question about the uneasy relationship between political power and religious conviction.

Politics and religion have long kept uneasy company: One grounded in persuasion through negotiation, compromise, and sometimes coercion; the other in the absolutes of conscience, doctrine, and commandment. When the two intersect, harmony is rare. While political power remains fluid and transient, the spiritual realm, whether expressed through Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, or Christianity, rests on truth.

The divine cannot be bent to serve ego or win arguments, which explains why the Pope remains steadfast in proclaiming the Gospel’s call to peace: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Historically, the Church has positioned itself as a moral compass. Its covenant is centred on spiritual truth anchored in the will of God rather than shifting human opinion. Religious voices have stood in contrast to political authority, which often emphasises power, influence, militarism, and expansion—traits commonly seen today in figures such as Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ecclesiastes 3:8 declares “a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” Yet, by any moral measure, peace is better than war. War destroys life and brings ruin upon human habitation. In War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy observed that “war is so unjust and ugly that all who wage it must try to stifle the voice of conscience within themselves,” a view that aligns with the Pope’s emphasis on compassion and the sanctity of life.

In the Kenyan context, religious leaders have not remained silent in the face of injustice. Clergy such as Alexander Muge, Henry Okullu, Manasses Kuria, and Timothy Njoya shaped struggles for justice, while in the United States and South Africa, Martin Luther King Jr and Desmond Tutu led movements rooted in moral conviction to emancipate their people.

Donald Trump’s political approach is often confrontational and largely driven by national interest, economic strength, and dominance rather than spirituality and faith. To his “Make America Great Again” base, it signals power and strength; to critics, it reflects a disregard for ethical restraint and an imperialistic tendency. By contrast, Pope Leo XIV embodies a moral authority not founded on electoral power, but on a spiritual tradition within the Catholic faith.

One wonders: Between the Pope and Trump, whose approach is right? Is it that of elected leaders, answerable to voters and the national interest, or that of spiritual authority, answerable to moral principles and a higher being?

The row has already spilled beyond America. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have both rallied behind the Pope. His recent trip to Algeria, an overwhelmingly Islamic country with a small Catholic minority, sharpens the Pope’s wider moral reach, influence, and commitment to religious ecumenism.

In matters of faith and morals, consistency is key. The Pope cannot cherry-pick his battles. He must name Putin’s war in Ukraine, call on Israel to restrain, and press Muslim leaders to disown extremism without caveat or equivocation. Selective silence, or blame served à la carte, bleeds moral authority dry. The Vatican must look Africa in the eye and denounce its bad leadership through plunder.

The Catholic Church should have a spine, a diplomatic tone, unyielding principles and moral conviction based on faith to fully confront the societal ills bedevilling our world. The Pope’s approach is a step in the right direction.

As the Pope departs Africa amid continuing global conflicts—from the fragile ceasefire involving Iran to tensions in Lebanon, and the war in Ukraine, the question remains whether he will stand firm or soften his stance. The Vicar of Christ is no diplomat of convenience. Guided by Saint Augustine, who saw war as a source of suffering rather than a solution, the Pope is called to remain a resolute advocate for peace.

Religion’s enduring role is not to affirm power, but to challenge it. From the Old Testament biblical prophets, Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, to modern-day faith leaders, the call to speak truth to power is vital to building a better world.

How the clash between Trump and the Pope will unfold in the weeks and months ahead remains uncertain. Reports that US officials have raised concerns with the Vatican’s diplomatic mission in Washington only deepen fears of a widening rift. Yet suggestions that Pope Leo XIV’s election was engineered to place an American at the pinnacle of the Holy See to counter Trump merely stir controversy. In truth, a papal election rests on prayer, discernment and deep meditation, and not on external pressure or internal lobbying.

Ultimately, moral authority dies the moment it turns selective. The papacy, whether in the hands of the late Pope Francis or his successor, Pope Leo, can’t afford to go silent. To be the world’s conscience in a world littered with turmoil, strife and inequality, the Church must speak with a single voice and with consistency. The same measure of human dignity, love, justice and peace — applied to every throne, every flag, every faith. Anything less, and the chair of Peter becomes empty.