He may not be Jesus, agreed. But I must confess that yesterday, scrolling through the slew of declarations of devotion to the pontiff of Rome by the prime minister, ministers, parliamentarians, and simple sovereignist commentators, I was struck by the suspicion that even the President of the United States, as was said of the Italian head of government just a century ago, was sent by providence to give us the satisfaction of such a spectacle. For those who had other things to do yesterday, I summarize the facts as neutrally as possible.
In short, Donald Trump first launched into a long tirade against the Pope via social networks, seasoned with rather incongruous accusations, considering the target, such as being “soft on crime,” as if he were a left-wing mayor seeking re-election. Then he posted an image created with Artificial Intelligence in which he seemed to be dressed as Jesus healing a sick person, only behind him, instead of the angelic choir, there were fighter jets and American soldiers.
A choice that sparked widespread disapproval in America, especially among the most prominent figures of the religious right, and even an official statement published on the X profile of the Order of the Knights Templar calling for the immediate removal of the “offensive and blasphemous image.” The post was then actually deleted, although Trump claimed on TV that he was simply portraying himself as a doctor, not Jesus, and that as usual it was all a setup by hostile media: “It was supposed to be an image of me as a doctor, making people feel better. And indeed I make people feel better, much better.” Having thus shed the mantle of the Messiah to don those of the healing king, Trump returned to attack the Pope, explaining that he had no intention of apologizing because “Pope Leo said wrong things, because he is very opposed to what I am doing in Iran and you cannot have a nuclear-armed Iran.”
Meanwhile, in Italy, after an initial statement in the morning in which she merely expressed to the pontiff “thanks and the sincerest wishes for the successful outcome of the apostolic journey that will lead him to Africa for the first time,” by the end of the day Meloni dictated to the agencies a sharp change of course, made even more evident by the clumsy attempt to pass it off as a simple clarification: “I thought the meaning of my statement this morning was clear, but I reiterate it more clearly. I find President Trump’s words towards the Holy Father unacceptable” (here is the full text of the first and second statements reported on the government website, which evidently differ by several million details: can you spot them all?). Matteo Salvini had been more timely, defending the Pope immediately on Telelombardia, saying that attacking him did not seem “either intelligent or useful to do.”
In short, after fighting to get on Trump’s bandwagon, Italian sovereignists are now competing to get off it, also considering the effects of his open support in all elections held since he has been president, most recently in Hungary.
