With a mystifying voter support from the religiously-minded and launching a war with high flown claims about morality and invocations about the historic ‘Crusades’ (mainly failures) it seems counter-productive for Trump to fall out with the Pope and the Catholic Church.
As with so much else it makes no sense. But the Vatican are not taking it lying down. Pope Leo’s Easter message issued a sharp rebuke of war. And Archbishop Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services questioned the legitimacy of America’s war in Iran, arguing that it was likely not justified under Catholic teaching on legitimate defense by military means, sometimes called just war theory.
Pope Leo, 14 September 1955, Chicago, Illinois, no birth time, is just the man to stand up to Trump since his Pluto is conjunct Trump’s Mars and Ascendant; his Mars in Virgo is square DT’s Uranus; his Virgo Sun Venus are square DT’s Gemini Sun opposition Sagittarius Moon. His determined Saturn in Scorpio is square DT’s Mars/Pluto midpoint. And the Pope’s North Node opposes DT’s North Node = trains heading in opposite directions.
Their relationship chart has been under considerable strain since last month with tr Uranus square the composite Mercury and moving (across the midpoints) to square the composite Mars in July and again at the end of the year and into 2027. It will be a longish phase of high tension, ratty arguments with eruptions of bad temper.
The Vatican, 7 June 1929, has its Neptune in late Leo also conjunct DT’s Mars so it will be an evasive combatant for him – and a good deal more intelligent. Their Uranus squares his Mercury so will pierce holes in his claims; and their Mars is conjunct his Pluto for implacable opposition. His relationship with the Vatican has been on a slide since the final weeks of Neptune and Saturn in Pisces in January/February of this year – and the second half of this year will see quite a tussle for the upper hand.
I am not normally a great fan of the Vatican but all power to them on this one.
The First Crusade was announced in 1095 with Pluto in early Aries. The last one in 1291 with Pluto in early Aquarius.
Wiki: The siege of Acre (also called the fall of Acre) took place in 1291 and resulted in the Crusaders’ losing control of Acre to the Mamluks. It is considered one of the most important battles of the period. Although the crusading movement continued for several more centuries, the capture of the city marked the end of further crusades to the Levant. When Acre fell, the Crusaders lost their last major stronghold of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
This is a…pardon the pun…come to Jesus moment for American Catholics. Trump won the vote in two of the three elections in which he was a candidate. Despite Trump’s blatant immoral indiscretions. Now there’s a line in the sand. Hope the Vatican wins out.
Thank you for this post, Marjorie.
It was with some shock that the world realised that there is at least somebody in the current US administration who has read about the Avignon Papacy and who threatened the current Pope with it.
The Avignon Papacy occurred in the Middle Ages when the French king managed to get a French cardinal elected as Pope. That Pope, French in origin, then moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon in southern France and he and the subsequent popes were then, for a while, mostly French puppets. Towards the end, rival popes were elected in both Rome and Avignon. That Papacy ended in a threeway schism in the church, with multiple councils held to try to resolve the situation.
Perhaps Trump/his acolytes is threatening to hold the Pope hostage in the US if he ever visits the US.
In a rebuke to Trump, I believe that Pope Leo IV has announced that on July 4th 2026, the US’s 250th birthday, he, the American Pope, will be on the Italian island of Lampedusa (there must be some mirth in the last three letters of that island’s name) with refugees from Africa.
It is interesting to see the overtly religious conflicts between various sides of Trump’s circle. Apparently, Catholic members of the US armed forces were expressly disinvited from religious events organised by the armed forces for Good Friday. Conversely, of course, the Vice-President of the United States talks about his Catholic faith and conversion.
And that is before we even factor in Trump’s remarkable message on Easter day that ended with praise to the deity of another Abrahamic faith altogether.
A very interesting religious mixture, very fitting of the late medieval/early modern period.
I should have added that apparently Catholic members of the US armed forces were disinvited from religious events organised by the armed forces for Good Friday, on Pete Hegseth’s express instructions.
Thanks, Marjorie. Can you also add JD Vance who was baptized Catholic reportedly on August 11, 2019? He recently wrote a book about his conversion, which is being released in June – rather awkward time given the current news about Trump’s threats to the Pope and the Vatican (although by then who knows what the latest outrage will be). I recall Pope Francis correcting Vance’s interpretation of who Catholics should care about in order of rank! Anyway, Pope Leo is said to have decided not to visit the US this year and will be elsewhere on the July 4th 250th Independence anniversary.