"like telling Albert Einstein he doesn’t know physics", "Hillbilly" JD Vance a former Marine Corps corporal is saying whaaaaa?

Donald "Dump" Trump, "Hillbilly" JD Vance, His Holiness Pope Leo and the midterm elections.  Published in the Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, California.

Echo opinion letter to the editor: Donald Trump presides over a U.S. population of 348 million people. Pope Leo has a world following of more than 1.4 billion people. 

Trump’s approval rating is under 40%. Leo’s approval rating is around 84%.  Obviously, Donald Trump is jealous, so what does he do❓ He goes after the pope and tells him he’s “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.” (Maine Writer,🙄 laughable if it were not also pathetic, spoken by a man who thinks he is like god. Lucifer had 👿this same problem. (Book of Revelation 12:7-9 -war in heaven.)

In reality, it would be an understatement to say Trump is not only a convicted criminal, but he’s also terrible for foreign policy. 

Then "Hillbilly" JD Vance, who was also a Marine Corps corporal,  tells the pope that he doesn’t know the gospel❓ That’s like telling Albert Einstein he doesn’t know physics. 

And the "do nothing" Republicans, like Maine's Senator Susan Collins,  in Congress are saying and doing nothing about this Trump incoherence. We’re doomed if the Democrats can’t take over the House and Senate in November.

From Bill Krumbein, in Santa Rosa, California

Donald Trump and maga Republicans cannot win peace when they spew hate and launch weapons of war

Echo opinion letter to the editor: Such conflicting visions featured on the front page of the Los Angeles Times regarding Pope Leo XIV about peace versus Donald Trump’s manic threat (“Pope Leo issues antiwar message in his first Easter Mass,” “After daring rescue inside Iran, bellowing threats from Trump,” April 5).

As Leo blessed the world at Easter Mass with his prayer — “Let those who have weapons lay them down!” — Trump issued his threat of destruction, blaspheming Allah (❗on Easter Sunday😔) . 

Meanwhile, the Pope prayed, “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace❗ Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue❗”

It is tragic that Trump’s strategy is to win with the illegal use of force, ignoring the viability of dialogue. Evil Trump's threats do not pave the way to peace; he knows only brutal force and killing the perceived enemy. He paves the way to war crimes and deaths of innocent victims.

This is more abuse of power. Absent the skills of dialogue and limited to winning by massive deadly weapons, Trump fails to promote peace as he wields the weapons of war.

From Lenore Navarro Dowling, in Los Angeles

Donald Trump and maga Evangelicals never quote Scripture when making excuses for Trumpzism: Try Matthew 19:24

Pope Leo celebrated a God of peace, not war. 

Trump should listen to him.
Pope Leo XIV’s Palm Sunday sermon warned against invoking God to justify violence.  Opinion echo published in the Boston Globe by Joan Vennochi. 

If Donald Trump really hopes to be “knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door,” in Bob Dylan’s famous words, he should pay more attention to Pope Leo XIV — and less to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25

In his first Palm Sunday sermon, Pope Leo XIV had a message for those who wage war in God’s name. Don’t do it❗

To the tens of thousands who gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the pope said: “This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” Quoting scripture, Pope Leo added, “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood.”

While Pope Leo didn’t name names, his words seemed aimed at Pete Hegseth, who recently prayed for US troops to inflict “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy. … We ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ.”

Perhaps coincidentally, on Palm Sunday, Trump posted a letter on Truth Social from Franklin Graham, the son of the late legendary televangelist Billy Graham, which assured him that his “soul is secure” and he is “bound for heaven.” (Maine Writer- Franklin Graham did not bother to quote Scripture.....he was clearly being politically solicitous. Surely Mr. Graham knows this Scripture passage: Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25, states: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." This uses extreme hyperbole to highlight that human salvation is impossible through wealth alone.)

Trump spends a considerable amount of time musing about his soul’s final destination, and it’s not for me to say where that might be. While Pope Leo certainly didn’t address it, reading between the lines of his sermon, it does seem that the leader of the Catholic Church has concerns about an administration that casts the cruelty and violence of war as some higher calling for this country and its military.

Good for Pope Leo. As contributing Globe Opinion columnist Alex Beam recently wrote about the role of the Catholic Church in debating the Iran war, “I admire anyone willing to speak for moral authority in a time of rampant dissembling and ‘relative’ truths.” So do I.

Some see Pope Leo, the first American-born pope, as too cautious and diplomatic. He is certainly choosing his words carefully and avoiding direct attacks that call out Trump by name. 

Still, Pope Leo's Palm Sunday message comes across. He has spoken out against Trump’s immigration policies, and suggested that Trump’s treatment of migrants should not be considered pro-life. He now seems to be speaking out more strongly against the war with Iran, moving from a “heartfelt” wish that “diplomacy” would prevail to Palm Sunday’s more overt rhetoric.

Certainly, there’s dissension within the church regarding Trump’s policies, just as there is in the country. The sharpest example is Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, and who backs Trump policies on immigration and war.

But, to revel in the suffering of others and to call for more of it in the name of religion, as Hegseth has done, is chilling, especially as it applies to war.  As an Army civilian who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Washington Post, if troops are trained to believe that “God is on our side, what precludes us from doing anything we want to win?” To that I would add, what stops the other side from doing the same❓

Hegseth has injected religion into the Pentagon by holding monthly evangelical worship services, the Post reported. Under his leadership, is the United States now fighting a holy war with a Muslim country or one based on goals that have nothing to do with Hegseth’s personal religious beliefs and everything to do with America’s tactical interests❓

Those are questions that Trump should be asking himself, both as commander-in-chief and hopeful candidate for heaven.

Pick your muse, Donald❗ (Assuming Trump knows how to "muse", a big emotional leap, where he cannot create the outcome.)

Is it the blood-thirsty Hegseth, who at a recent prayer service read a passage from the Book of Psalms that said, “I pursued my enemies and overtook them. I did not turn back [till] they were consumed. I thrust them through so that they were not able to rise. They fell under my feet.”

Or is it the pope, who in his sermon on Sunday reminded Christians that when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, “He revealed the gentle face of God, who always rejects violence. Rather than saving himself, he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross, embracing every cross borne in every time and place throughout human history.”

In making his choice, Trump should reread the letter from Graham that he posted on social media. Dated Oct. 15, 2025, Graham praised Trump not for waging war but for overseeing a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, and for the return of hostages. “This is an answer to much prayer,” Graham wrote. “Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Matthew 5:9) — and Mr. President, that is what you are.”

Agree with that assessment of Trump or not — when you’re knockin’ on heaven’s door, the key of peacemaker is the one I would choose to try to open it.

Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist.

Can somebody who knows JD Vance please read this essay to him? Vance is a Roman Catholic convert who needs a spiritual refresh

You can tell a lot about someone by what they leave behind.
Echo essay published by Katy McGrady in Substack.

Underlining the Parable of the Good Samaritan
The Ulma Family of Poland are saints for our time.

What family photos were framed on the wall❓

What items were left on a nightstand❓ What stories do people tell about them❓ What passages are highlighted in their Bible❓ 

Wictoria and Jozef Ulman had a single word written in the margins of their family Bible, in the Gospel of Luke, right beside the parable of the Good Samaritan, which they had underlined: Yes❗

That tells us almost everything we need to know about the Ulmas, and what legacy they left behind: the Gospel was real to them.

This Polish farm family, with six children and one on the way, knew the Gospel mandate to care for the tossed down, cast aside, and hurt was not just an abstract idea for preachers at the pulpit. They knew they were called to care for the marginalized themselves, in their real life circumstances, and so when the Szali and Goldman families came to find shelter as the Nazis were rounding up the Jews in 1942, the Ulmas opened their home. 

Their farm became a shelter, and for nearly two years, this Polish Catholic family and these Eastern European Jews lived and worked together, living the parable of the Good Samaritan.

It would’ve been very easy for the Ulmas to say, “we have little kids, we can’t hide you here.” It would’ve been entirely understandable for the Ulmas to say, “we can’t afford to feed you” or “we don’t want to die too.” I’m not sure anyone would’ve blamed Jozef or Wictoria for being fearful or cautious in the face of the evils of the day.

But,  they did not cower. They did not hesitate.

In an interview with Paulina Guzic for OSV, (Our Sunday Visitor) the postulator of the Ulma canonization cause said this:

“It is sometimes said that they behaved downright irresponsibly by taking in all these Jews. After all, they risked their lives, the lives of their children. And Wiktoria was soon expecting the birth of this next, seventh child. Well, it’s precisely the opposite. In their lives you can see a deep desire to live. They very much wanted to live … constantly discovering the Lord God, the beauty of everyday life, the beauty of life.”

They were eventually sold out by a policeman who knew their whereabouts, bringing the German police to their front door, leading to their brutal execution in the front yard. 17 people total, including the six Ulma children, were shot and killed in a matter of minutes, all so the Nazis could make an example of them. 

Eyewitness accounts include the horrific details that as the adults were shot and killed, the children stood by screaming and crying. 

Not knowing what to do with these children in the aftermath, the police decided to shoot and kill them too. When asked about it later, Eilert Dieken, the German commander, responded: So that you would not have any problems with them.

The Ulmas, in the face of unspeakable evil, believed the mandate of the Gospel: they were moved with compassion, they attended to their neighbor, they treated others with mercy, and were killed for it.

The Ulma family was beatified together in 2023. This is the first time an entire family, including a child who was being born at the time of his mother’s martyrdom, were all raised to the altars together.

A monument to their heroism and sanctity stands in Markowa with these words:

Saving the lives of others they laid down their own lives. Hiding eight elder brothers in faith, they were killed with them. May their sacrifice be a call for respect and love to every human being! They were the sons and daughters of this land; they will remain in our hearts.

In light of everything happening in our country and world, in the face of remarkable injustice, visible violence, horrific destruction, and deep division, I can’t help but ask the Ulma family for their intercession.
Can I too say “Yes❗” to the command of the parable of the Good Samaritan? Am I willing to help those who have been tossed down, cast aside, and rounded up?

At the heart of the Good Samaritan parable is someone beaten down, and someone passing by sees the injustice, hurt, pain, and suffering, and decides to help.

As videos of the shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, January 24, 2026, circulated, what happened mere moments before his death is notable: he was trying to help a woman tossed down on the ice.

Political commentary and vastly varied opinions about what’s happening with immigration enforcement and protesting aside, it’s evident that a man was killed — after a confusing scrum and in the midst of a tense situation — after his last earthly act was to try and help someone stand back up.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s statement after yet another tragedy in his Archdiocese is poignant:

“Following January 24, 2026, Saturday’s tragic shooting in Minneapolis, I ask all people of good will to join me today in prayer for Alex Jeffrey Pretti, for his parents, and for his loved ones.

The loss of another life amidst the tensions that have gripped Minnesota should prompt all of us to ask what we can do to restore the Lord’s peace. While we rightly thirst for God’s justice and hunger for his peace, this will be not be achieved until we are able to rid our hearts of the hatreds and prejudices that prevent us from seeing each other as brothers and sisters created in the image and likeness of God. That is as true for our undocumented neighbors as it is for our elected officials and for the men and women who have the unenviable responsibility of enforcing our laws. They all need our humble prayers.”

Perhaps the only way to see the image and likeness of God in another is to first and foremost remember we’re all called to be a good samaritan: to help others up when they’ve been pushed down, to offer shelter when we have room, and to see the goodness of God in even the most heartbreaking moments.

As Archbishop Coakley, president of the USCCB said in his statement:

“As a nation we must come together in dialogue, turning away from dehumanizing rhetoric and acts which threaten human life. In this spirit, in unity with Pope Leo, it is important to proclaim, ‘Peace is built on respect for people!’”

A priest I know and respect in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, who is also a chaplain in the Minnesota National Guard, gave a very short and powerful homily yesterday. It’s worth watching in full.

Yesterday, at the Angelus address at noon above St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo spoke about the timing and place of Jesus’s mission. When John the Baptist was arrested, he could’ve perhaps been tempted to think “not the right time.” As his cousin is imprisoned, he could’ve perhaps assumed “not the right place.”

And yet… “it was precisely in this dark situation that Jesus began to bring the light of the Good News: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near’.”

If these moments seems like they are heavy, or dark, or hopeless, or terrifying, the courage of the Ulmas can remind us that the Gospel is real, and the Gospel, proclaimed by you, is needed most, right now.

“In our lives, both individually and as a Church, interior struggles or circumstances we deem unfavorable can lead us to believe that it is not the right time to proclaim the Gospel, to make a decision, to make a choice, or to change a situation. 

In this way, however, we risk becoming paralyzed by indecision or imprisoned by excessive prudence, whereas the Gospel calls us to dare to trust. God is at work at all times; every moment is “God’s time,” even when we do not feel ready or when the situation seems unfavorable.”

We must dare to trust. In justice and healing, in mercy and forgiveness. We must dare to hope, that God is not (nor will he ever be) finished. We must dare to believe, that God is working, even still, even when it’d be far easier to close the door, ignore the news, or try and pretend it’s all just going to be fine.

 

And as Pope Leo said, our God is one who “…enters fully into the complexity of human situations and relationships.”

This is not a moment for ceaseless news commentary. It’s not just a moment for video analysis or hand wringing. It’s a moment for Gospel proclamation, because only then can the Gospel serve “…as a leaven of fraternity and peace among all individuals, cultures, religions and peoples.”

And what does the Gospel proclaim❓ What should we write Yes❗ to in the margins of our Bible❓

He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. -Luke 10:34