Trump administration has riled head of Catholic church over use of theology to justify conflict in Iran
The contrast in experience between the two men disagreeing over war and theology was striking.
On the one side was Pope Leo XIV, the first North American to head the Catholic church and the first cleric from the Augustinian order, who this week visited the modern Algerian city where Saint Augustine once lived. For Leo, who wrote his doctoral thesis on Augustine’s ideas, it was the culmination of a lifelong intellectual interest.
On the other, the US vice-president, JD Vance, a very recent adult convert to Catholicism with no academic background in the history of the church’s thinking.
Everybody’s got nukes these days, that isn’t really even the issue. The issue is the Conservative Propaganda Machine has convinced everybody that the very second that Iran has an operational nuclear weapon, they are going to launch a hundred of them and instantly destroy the entire world, and since they get high on their own supply, they’ve convinced themselves most of all.
In reality, Iran would do what everyone has done once they’ve gotten their hands on a Nuke - they use it to demonstrate that they deserve a seat at the big table, where they can influence international geopolitics.