On April 12, President Donald Trump wrote on X: “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
Despite his escalating attacks on Pope Leo XIV over the pontiff’s opposition to the Iran war, Trump’s approval rating among Republicans has climbed to 86%. The poll was conducted by The Economist and YouGov on April 15.
This includes high-ranking Republican leaders like Speaker of the House Mike Johnson: “A pontiff or any religious leader can say anything they want, but obviously, if you wade into political waters, I think you should expect some political response, and I think the pope’s received some of that.”
Mike Johnson
And not to be outdone, Vice President JD Vance-–a Catholic convert who often calls himself deeply religious—said: “I think it’s very, very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
So much for the current actions of a Right-wing dictator. Now for those of a past one.
In 2005, Avvenire (“Future”), a daily newspaper which is affiliated with the Catholic Church and based in Milan, Italy, carried a story about Adolf Hitler’s plots to kidnap Pope Pius XII in 1943 and 1944.
The plots were part of a wider plan to “abolish” Christianity and replace it with a religion in which Hitler would be worshipped as the savior of humankind.
But instead of kidnapping the Pope, SS General Karl Wolff, in charge of the SS in Italy, went to the Vatican to warn Pope Pius XII of the danger he faced.
Wolff, who survived World War II, revealed the affair in a March 24, 1972 written statement to Vatican officials weighing the case for setting Pope Pius on the road to sainthood.
Karl Wolff
Jmac66999, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Previously, Wolff testified at the Nuremberg trials that Hitler had talked of seizing the Pope in 1943. With Italy in ruins from Allied bombings and Italian armies defeated or in retreat everywhere, Italians were desperate for peace.
On July 25, Hitler’s fellow Fascist, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini—who had held power since 1922—was overthrown. Summoned to the royal palace by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, he was arrested and taken to a police station in an ambulance.
He was eventually transferred to the Hotel Campo Imperatore, in Italy’s Gran Sasso mountain range.
On September 12, 1943, he was rescued through a daring German airborne operation. German paratroopers and Waffen-SS special forces landed to free him from his imprisonment.
Although he was officially restored to power, he remained strictly a puppet of Hitler. His symbolic reign came to an end on April 28, 1945, when he was executed by Italian partisans.
Benito Mussolini
Hitler exploded in rage at the news of Mussolini’s arrest—and ordered German troops in Italy to take over the country: “Drive into Rome and arrest the whole Italian government! Get the King and the whole bunch right away! Arrest the Crown Prince and the whole gang! Pack them into a plane and off with them!”
Several generals asked what should be done with the Vatican.
Hitler replied: “I’ll go right into the Vatican! Do you think the Vatican embarrasses me? We’ll take that over right away. The entire diplomatic corps are in there. That rabble! We’ll get that bunch of swine out of there! Later we can make apologies!”
In September, 1943, Hitler decided to occupy the Vatican, “secure the archives and the art treasures, which have a unique value, and transfer the pope, together with the curia [the papal bureaucracy], for their protection, so that they cannot fall into the hands of the allies and exert a political influence.”
Hitler feared the Pope would speak out against the Nazis’ deportation of Jews, and wanted to eliminate the Church as a political force in Italy.
Pope Pius XII
The plan allegedly involved 2,000 SS troops blocking all Vatican exits to seize the Pope and cardinals. Proposed destinations for the kidnapped Pope included Liechtenstein or Lichtenstein Castle in Württemberg, Germany.
Wolff talked the Fuhrer out of the scheme, warning that it would prove an international political disaster. But in 1944, Hitler returned to the subject.
By May, 1944, American forces were advancing northwards through Italy, so Wolff had to shed his SS uniform when appearing in public.
On May 10, Wolff, wearing civilian clothes, met with Pope Pius XII in secret and warned him that he was in danger. He also assured the pontiff that he would not carry out the order.
Pius asked Wolf to save the lives of two condemned prisoners, and this was arranged.
Nevertheless, fearing abduction, Pope Pius XII prepared a resignation letter to take effect immediately upon his arrest. The College of Cardinals would flee to neutral Portugal to elect a successor.
The Germans evacuated Rome on the night of June 4-5, 1944.
Eighty-two years after Pope Pius XII faced the threat of terror by Adolf Hitler, an American-born Pope—Leo XIV—faces the threat of terror by Donald Trump.
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POPES AND TYRANTS: PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on April 22, 2026 at 12:10 amOn April 12, President Donald Trump wrote on X: “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
Despite his escalating attacks on Pope Leo XIV over the pontiff’s opposition to the Iran war, Trump’s approval rating among Republicans has climbed to 86%. The poll was conducted by The Economist and YouGov on April 15.
This includes high-ranking Republican leaders like Speaker of the House Mike Johnson: “A pontiff or any religious leader can say anything they want, but obviously, if you wade into political waters, I think you should expect some political response, and I think the pope’s received some of that.”
Mike Johnson
And not to be outdone, Vice President JD Vance-–a Catholic convert who often calls himself deeply religious—said: “I think it’s very, very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
So much for the current actions of a Right-wing dictator. Now for those of a past one.
In 2005, Avvenire (“Future”), a daily newspaper which is affiliated with the Catholic Church and based in Milan, Italy, carried a story about Adolf Hitler’s plots to kidnap Pope Pius XII in 1943 and 1944.
The plots were part of a wider plan to “abolish” Christianity and replace it with a religion in which Hitler would be worshipped as the savior of humankind.
But instead of kidnapping the Pope, SS General Karl Wolff, in charge of the SS in Italy, went to the Vatican to warn Pope Pius XII of the danger he faced.
Wolff, who survived World War II, revealed the affair in a March 24, 1972 written statement to Vatican officials weighing the case for setting Pope Pius on the road to sainthood.
Karl Wolff
Jmac66999, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Previously, Wolff testified at the Nuremberg trials that Hitler had talked of seizing the Pope in 1943. With Italy in ruins from Allied bombings and Italian armies defeated or in retreat everywhere, Italians were desperate for peace.
On July 25, Hitler’s fellow Fascist, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini—who had held power since 1922—was overthrown. Summoned to the royal palace by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, he was arrested and taken to a police station in an ambulance.
He was eventually transferred to the Hotel Campo Imperatore, in Italy’s Gran Sasso mountain range.
On September 12, 1943, he was rescued through a daring German airborne operation. German paratroopers and Waffen-SS special forces landed to free him from his imprisonment.
Although he was officially restored to power, he remained strictly a puppet of Hitler. His symbolic reign came to an end on April 28, 1945, when he was executed by Italian partisans.
Benito Mussolini
Hitler exploded in rage at the news of Mussolini’s arrest—and ordered German troops in Italy to take over the country: “Drive into Rome and arrest the whole Italian government! Get the King and the whole bunch right away! Arrest the Crown Prince and the whole gang! Pack them into a plane and off with them!”
Several generals asked what should be done with the Vatican.
Hitler replied: “I’ll go right into the Vatican! Do you think the Vatican embarrasses me? We’ll take that over right away. The entire diplomatic corps are in there. That rabble! We’ll get that bunch of swine out of there! Later we can make apologies!”
In September, 1943, Hitler decided to occupy the Vatican, “secure the archives and the art treasures, which have a unique value, and transfer the pope, together with the curia [the papal bureaucracy], for their protection, so that they cannot fall into the hands of the allies and exert a political influence.”
Hitler feared the Pope would speak out against the Nazis’ deportation of Jews, and wanted to eliminate the Church as a political force in Italy.
Pope Pius XII
The plan allegedly involved 2,000 SS troops blocking all Vatican exits to seize the Pope and cardinals. Proposed destinations for the kidnapped Pope included Liechtenstein or Lichtenstein Castle in Württemberg, Germany.
Wolff talked the Fuhrer out of the scheme, warning that it would prove an international political disaster. But in 1944, Hitler returned to the subject.
By May, 1944, American forces were advancing northwards through Italy, so Wolff had to shed his SS uniform when appearing in public.
On May 10, Wolff, wearing civilian clothes, met with Pope Pius XII in secret and warned him that he was in danger. He also assured the pontiff that he would not carry out the order.
Pius asked Wolf to save the lives of two condemned prisoners, and this was arranged.
Nevertheless, fearing abduction, Pope Pius XII prepared a resignation letter to take effect immediately upon his arrest. The College of Cardinals would flee to neutral Portugal to elect a successor.
The Germans evacuated Rome on the night of June 4-5, 1944.
Eighty-two years after Pope Pius XII faced the threat of terror by Adolf Hitler, an American-born Pope—Leo XIV—faces the threat of terror by Donald Trump.
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