{"id":235381,"date":"2025-06-05T11:04:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T11:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/?p=235381"},"modified":"2025-06-05T11:09:40","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T11:09:40","slug":"geopolitic-papacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/geopolitic-papacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The election of Pope Leo XIV: Geopolitics of the papacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"entry-title\"><span class=\"font-377884\">The election of Pope Leo XIV: Geopolitics of the papacy<\/span><\/h1>\n<h3><span class=\"font-377884\"><em>In a world teetering between authoritarianism and apathy, the new pope has a choice \u2013 challenge injustice or repeat the mistakes of silence and compromise.<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<h3 class=\"toc-only\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"font-377884\">In a nutshell<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span class=\"font-377884\">Recent popes have shaped geopolitics through their worldview<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope Leo XIV inherits a Church with global reach<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"font-377884\">His legacy will hinge on which issues he decides to confront<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_235388\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-235388\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-235388 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Leo-XIV-Robert-Francis-Prevost-Image-by-Edgar-BeltranThe-Pillar-CC-BY-SA-4.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons.png\" alt=\"Pope Leo XIV (Robert Francis Prevost) Image by Edgar Beltr\u00e1n,The Pillar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Leo-XIV-Robert-Francis-Prevost-Image-by-Edgar-BeltranThe-Pillar-CC-BY-SA-4.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons.png 1024w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Leo-XIV-Robert-Francis-Prevost-Image-by-Edgar-BeltranThe-Pillar-CC-BY-SA-4.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Leo-XIV-Robert-Francis-Prevost-Image-by-Edgar-BeltranThe-Pillar-CC-BY-SA-4.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Leo-XIV-Robert-Francis-Prevost-Image-by-Edgar-BeltranThe-Pillar-CC-BY-SA-4.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons-350x233.png 350w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-235388\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope Leo XIV (Robert Francis Prevost) Image by Edgar Beltr\u00e1n,The Pillar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\"><span class=\"font-377884\">On May 8, on the fourth round of ballots, the voting members of the College of Cardinals elected Robert Prevost as the 267th pope, to lead the world\u2019s 1.4 billion Catholics. Many of the faithful who patiently waited in St. Peter\u2019s Square would have been praying for a holy man to renew and deepen the Church\u2019s principal religious mission of evangelization.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">But beyond that role is a societal and political question: How can a pope use his moral authority and office to make a difference in the world? What does Pope Leo XIV\u2019s background and experience suggest about how he will use the papal office to shape his global priorities and engage in geopolitics? What difference does it make that he is the second consecutive pope from the Americas and the first to have been born in the United States?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/substitute-religions\/\">The age of substitute religions<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"font-377884\">The geopolitical influence of a pope<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">It is said that Joseph Stalin sneeringly interrupted a speech by Winston Churchill to ask, \u201cHow many divisions has the pope?\u201d The ruthless Soviet leader, of course, dismissed the idea of moral strength when measured against tanks, divisions and armies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">What Stalin failed to see is that the pope\u2019s divisions are not dependent on physical might but march to a different drumbeat. Pope Pius XII quipped that, \u201cYou can tell my son Joseph that he will meet my divisions in heaven.\u201d But popes have less ethereal resources too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Principal among those at the pope\u2019s disposal is the Holy See, headquartered in the Vatican. It provides him with diplomats and envoys whom he can deploy worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Popes were historically described as \u201cprisoners of the Vatican\u201d but, in reality, the tiny territory provides the papacy with an independence, freedom and universality which would rapidly diminish if it were beholden to a host nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Since John Paul II\u2019s election in 1978, the notion that the pope would always be an Italian or unable to travel the world has truly been consigned to yesteryear. During his 26-year pontificate, the Polish pontiff reshaped the world\u2019s perception of the papacy, setting a very high bar as pilgrim, evangelist, prophet and preeminent defender of religious freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">The dangers and consequences of identifying as a national church are graphically illustrated by the Kremlin\u2019s ownership of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is crudely deployed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to legitimize the illegal and the profane.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">In contrast, although he is a diocesan bishop (he is now the Bishop of Rome), a pope\u2019s authority and influence can spread far beyond the River Tiber \u2013 and even beyond the titular description of Patriarch of the West. It is now surely only a matter of time before we see a pope from Asia or Africa, where Christianity has been growing exponentially.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/vatican-geopolitics\/\">Vatican geopolitics<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"font-377884\">How might Pope Leo XIV use his global reach?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">In his first address from the balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Square, Pope Leo XIV presented himself as a bridge builder and a peacemaker. On the day of his election, President Putin\u2019s war continued to rage in Ukraine, carnage claimed more lives in Sudan, deaths were reported in Gaza, India and Pakistan were attacking one another, and China was renewing its threats to ignite a global war by invading Taiwan. May 8 was also the 80th anniversary of the victory against Hitler\u2019s Nazis. What would have happened to Europe if brave men and women had not taken up arms to defend their liberties? Peace cannot exist alongside rank injustice and cruelty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">The new pope has chosen a name that means lion in Latin. The choice will be associated with other popes who also took that name, principally the writer of the great encyclical, <em>Rerum Novarum<\/em> (\u201cOf New Things\u201d), published in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Papal encyclicals are directed at the whole world, and Pope Leo XIV\u2019s predecessors have used them to speak beyond the Catholic pews; to challenge our preoccupations and priorities and to provide a different vision instead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope Leo XIII\u2019s <em>Rerum Novarum<\/em> is rightly cited as a foundational Catholic teaching. It is subtitled \u201cOn the Condition of Labor\u201d and is sometimes known as \u201cThe Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor.\u201d It confronts the often subhuman conditions in which too many working people are condemned. It examines the relationship between labor and capital from a non-Marxist perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">It champions the dignity of labor and calls for governments to protect the rights of workers. While recognizing the need for social reform, it critiques the dangers inherent in communism and state-imposed socialism, and insists on the right to private ownership.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">In choosing his name, the new pope may have also been looking back to the first Pope Leo. In 452 AD, Pope Leo the Great persuaded the nomadic Huns not to attack Rome and three years later, persuaded the Vandals not to destroy the city \u2013 averting both total disaster while enhancing the prestige and role of the papacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">As Pope Leo XIV considers his own direction and how best to use his authority and to deploy his divisions, it is worth recalling some of his postwar predecessors and what might be his priorities and those of his unobservable divisions in global engagement.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_235393\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-235393\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-235393 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Pius-XII-Eugenio-Maria-Giuseppe-Giovanni-Pacelli-Image-by-Studio-of-Fratelli-Alinari-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-210x300.png\" alt=\"Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli) Image by Studio of Fratelli Alinari, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Pius-XII-Eugenio-Maria-Giuseppe-Giovanni-Pacelli-Image-by-Studio-of-Fratelli-Alinari-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-210x300.png 210w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Pius-XII-Eugenio-Maria-Giuseppe-Giovanni-Pacelli-Image-by-Studio-of-Fratelli-Alinari-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-717x1024.png 717w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Pius-XII-Eugenio-Maria-Giuseppe-Giovanni-Pacelli-Image-by-Studio-of-Fratelli-Alinari-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-768x1097.png 768w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Pius-XII-Eugenio-Maria-Giuseppe-Giovanni-Pacelli-Image-by-Studio-of-Fratelli-Alinari-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-350x500.png 350w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Pius-XII-Eugenio-Maria-Giuseppe-Giovanni-Pacelli-Image-by-Studio-of-Fratelli-Alinari-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-235393\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli) Image by Studio of Fratelli Alinari, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope Pius XII and the rise of fascism<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">I was born during the pontificate of Pius XII. In 1937, his predecessor, Pope Pius XI condemned events in Germany stating: \u201cSeldom has there been a persecution so heavy, so terrifying, so grievous and lamentable in its far-reaching effects. It is a persecution that spares neither force, nor oppression, nor threats, nor even subterfuge of intrigue and the fabrication of false facts.\u201d In 1938, he said that no Christian could be antisemitic because \u201cspiritually, we are all Semites.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">By 1931, there were around 21,000 Catholic priests in Germany and over 8,000 of them, one-third, clashed with the Reich \u2013 several hundred were later eliminated. The Dachau concentration camp was known as \u201cthe priest\u2019s camp\u201d because 2,670 priests from around 20 countries were held there. Catholic politicians were arrested, publications suppressed and property confiscated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Others collaborated and some were silent. The attempts of the papal envoy, Cardinal Pacelli (later Pius XII), to act as a peacemaker with the Reich have left a stain. His <em>Reichskonkordat<\/em> of 1933 was an agreement between the Holy See and the German Reich, wherein the Nazis promised to preserve religious freedom and the rights of the Church as an institution in return for a commitment to withdraw Catholic representatives from politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">It was used by Hitler as the Reich\u2019s first international agreement to gain global respectability while simultaneously asserting control of the Catholic Church and other religious institutions. Although when he died, the Jewish Chronicle recalled that Pius XII had helped \u201cmany hundreds of fugitive Jews find sanctuary in the Vatican,\u201d there is no doubt that the <em>Reichskonkordat<\/em> was a mistake of epic proportions and has contributed to a wrong but widely held view of the Church\u2019s indifference to the Holocaust.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_235397\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-235397\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-235397 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-John-XXIII-Angelo-Roncalli-Image-by-Luigi-Felici-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"Pope John XXIII (Angelo Roncalli) Image by Luigi Felici, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-John-XXIII-Angelo-Roncalli-Image-by-Luigi-Felici-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-John-XXIII-Angelo-Roncalli-Image-by-Luigi-Felici-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-768x573.jpg 768w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-John-XXIII-Angelo-Roncalli-Image-by-Luigi-Felici-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-350x261.jpg 350w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-John-XXIII-Angelo-Roncalli-Image-by-Luigi-Felici-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-235397\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope John XXIII (Angelo Roncalli) Image by Luigi Felici, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope John XXIII and the spiritual renewal of the Church<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">In 1958, Pius was succeeded by Pope John XXIII. A few months before his death in June 1963, I was in Rome as a schoolboy and we raised our voices in St. Peter\u2019s where we sang out the hymns Faith of Our Fathers and God Bless Our Pope.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">A year earlier, he had convened and officially opened the Second Vatican Council, which was called to address the Church\u2019s relationship with the modern world and to foster spiritual renewal. The Council fathers were invited to read the signs of the times and to respond accordingly. Commentators called it a time of metanoia \u2013 meaning a transformative change of heart; a time for spiritual conversion; a time when the windows of the Vatican would be thrown open and the Holy Spirit invited in. Above all, it was to be a time for renewal: \u201ca new Pentecost.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Although Pope John XXIII was a diocesan bishop \u2013 he was the Patriarch of Venice \u2013 he had also been a high-ranking curial diplomat. His experiences as an envoy in Bulgaria and Turkey included helping many Jews escape, encountering Armenians who had experienced genocide and engaging with the ancient churches of the East.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">He had a mischievous sense of humor about the effectiveness of the Curia. He was once asked, \u201cIs it true the Vatican is closed in the afternoons and people don\u2019t work then?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d he replied, \u201cthe offices are closed in the afternoons. People don\u2019t work in the mornings.\u201d But he also knew how to leverage the Church\u2019s influence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">He knew that diplomats take their cue from those on whose behalf they act. In the right hands, hardheaded diplomacy can be a crucial element in championing priorities such as religious liberty. But, in the wrong hands, diplomacy can too often become a pretext for doing nothing or for appeasement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">In 1962, in opening the Great Council he was trying to usher in a new chapter. He called the Council \u201cto diffuse the light of truth; to give right guidance to men both as individuals and as members of a family and a society; to evoke and strengthen their spiritual resources; and to set their minds continually on those higher values which are genuine and unfailing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Underlining his passion for religious freedom and the plight of the persecuted, Pope John singled out those bishops who could not attend the Council because \u201cthey suffer imprisonment and every kind of disability because of their faith in Christ.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_235401\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-235401\" style=\"width: 230px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-235401\" src=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Paul-VI-Giovanni-Battista-Enrico-Antonio-Maria-Montini-Image-by-Unknown-photographer-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-230x300.jpg\" alt=\"Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini) Image by Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"230\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Paul-VI-Giovanni-Battista-Enrico-Antonio-Maria-Montini-Image-by-Unknown-photographer-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-230x300.jpg 230w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Paul-VI-Giovanni-Battista-Enrico-Antonio-Maria-Montini-Image-by-Unknown-photographer-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons-350x456.jpg 350w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Paul-VI-Giovanni-Battista-Enrico-Antonio-Maria-Montini-Image-by-Unknown-photographer-Public-domain-via-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 230px) 100vw, 230px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-235401\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini) Image by Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope Paul VI\u2019s fight for religious freedom<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">After John XXIII\u2019s death in 1963, it was left to Pope Paul VI to continue the work of the Council \u2013 and to produce <em>Gaudium et Spes<\/em> (\u201cJoy and Hope: The Pastoral Constitution on The Church in The Modern World\u201d) and <em>Dignitatis Humanae<\/em> \u2013 which boldly (and controversially at the time) proclaimed the right to religious freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\"><em>Dignitatis Humanae<\/em> insisted that the dignity of the human person should always be the primary consideration and the starting point for understanding religious freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">After three public debates, 126 speeches and some 600 written interventions, Article 2 of the Council\u2019s final text asserted that everyone \u201chas a right to religious freedom. This freedom means that all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of the individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that in matters religious no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">In a world where 80 percent of people have a religious faith, but where 250 million Christians face what a former British foreign secretary described as the \u201cmost shocking abuses of human rights in the modern era,\u201d the new Pope Leo XIV might wish to apply the <em>Dignitatis Humanae<\/em> test in many jurisdictions from China to Saudi Arabia, from North Korea to Nicaragua, from Pakistan to Nigeria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Dictators and despots too often believe they can escape accountability for persecution, atrocities and even genocide because the democratic world thinks no one really cares. Hitler took the world\u2019s indifference as a signal that he could get away with mass murder, famously saying, \u201cWho now remembers the Armenians?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_235405\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-235405\" style=\"width: 240px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-235405\" src=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-John-Paul-II-Karol-Jozef-Wojtyla-Image-by-Gregorini-Demetrio-CC-BY-SA-3.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"Pope John Paul II (Karol J\u00f3zef Wojty\u0142a) Image by Gregorini Demetrio, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-John-Paul-II-Karol-Jozef-Wojtyla-Image-by-Gregorini-Demetrio-CC-BY-SA-3.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-John-Paul-II-Karol-Jozef-Wojtyla-Image-by-Gregorini-Demetrio-CC-BY-SA-3.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons-350x437.jpg 350w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-John-Paul-II-Karol-Jozef-Wojtyla-Image-by-Gregorini-Demetrio-CC-BY-SA-3.0-via-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-235405\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope John Paul II (Karol J\u00f3zef Wojty\u0142a) Image by Gregorini Demetrio, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope John Paul II against totalitarianism<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">One of the young bishops who participated in the Vatican Council \u2013 and who had no intention of either forgetting what had gone before or remaining silent \u2013 was Karol Wojtyla, a Polish bishop who had experienced firsthand both the persecution of the Nazis and the communists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">He was elected in the autumn of 1978, after the 33-day papacy of the first John Paul (whose name he took). The Catholic world, along with many beyond it, wondered aloud about the kind of man who had been chosen to lead them. This was, after all, the first non-Italian pope since 1523. As Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla came from a country occupied by Soviet troops and governed by hardline communist leaders. He was elected as Cold War tensions were reaching new heights, as the nuclear arms race was escalating, and as the world entered uncharted and dangerous waters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">From his first utterance from the balcony at St. Peter\u2019s, where he famously encouraged Christians not to be afraid, it became clear that there was an interplay between Pope John Paul\u2019s religious beliefs and the unfolding political situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope John Paul II made people feel uncomfortable, and also had the ability to touch millions in a profoundly personal way \u2013 both marks of a man who did not compromise his beliefs. He did not make concordats with dictators or opt to live as a neutral in a sort of spiritual Switzerland.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope John Paul II\u2019s view of politics \u2013 whether shaped by the communist tyranny of his native Poland, the rampant materialism of the West or the poverty and lack of human dignity of the favelas and shanty towns of the developing world \u2013 was based on universal transcendent principles that he believed could guide statecraft, diplomacy, politics and economics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">His belief in the value of the human person led him to take an uncompromising stand against all that degrades the human being. This prophetic role is intrinsically different from \u201creligious meddling\u201d in the detail of the political process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope John Paul II\u2019s historic visit to Poland in 1979 inspired the dismantling of communist tyranny in the Soviet Union. In Poland, this was through the bravery of the Solidarity trade union and individuals like the young priest Jerzy Popieluszko, who was jailed and later kidnapped and murdered by the secret police in 1984.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope John Paul II had himself, in 1981, been the subject of an assassination attempt, shot by two bullets fired by Mehmet Ali Agca from within the crowd in St. Peter\u2019s Square. But none of this deterred him from using his authority over and over again; in Ireland, for instance, \u201cbegging the men of violence\u201d to end the killing and telling them that they had no right to imply any religious justification for their terror.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_235409\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-235409\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-235409 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Benedict-XVI-Joseph-Aloisius-Ratzinger-in-Les-Combes-Aosta-Valley-Image-by-Chris-Sche-Bo-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger) in Les Combes, Aosta Valley Image by Chris Sche-Bo\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Benedict-XVI-Joseph-Aloisius-Ratzinger-in-Les-Combes-Aosta-Valley-Image-by-Chris-Sche-Bo-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Benedict-XVI-Joseph-Aloisius-Ratzinger-in-Les-Combes-Aosta-Valley-Image-by-Chris-Sche-Bo-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Benedict-XVI-Joseph-Aloisius-Ratzinger-in-Les-Combes-Aosta-Valley-Image-by-Chris-Sche-Bo-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Benedict-XVI-Joseph-Aloisius-Ratzinger-in-Les-Combes-Aosta-Valley-Image-by-Chris-Sche-Bo-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Benedict-XVI-Joseph-Aloisius-Ratzinger-in-Les-Combes-Aosta-Valley-Image-by-Chris-Sche-Bo-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Benedict-XVI-Joseph-Aloisius-Ratzinger-in-Les-Combes-Aosta-Valley-Image-by-Chris-Sche-Bo-350x263.jpg 350w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Benedict-XVI-Joseph-Aloisius-Ratzinger-in-Les-Combes-Aosta-Valley-Image-by-Chris-Sche-Bo.jpg 2560w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-235409\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger) in Les Combes, Aosta Valley Image by Chris Sche-Bo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Benedict XVI\u2019s repudiation of violence<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI gave his Regensburg Lecture to the faculty at the University of Regensburg in Germany, where he had once taught theology. It was entitled \u201cFaith, Reason and the University \u2013 Memories and Reflections.\u201d It led to protests and denunciations because he had dared to challenge the language of jihad and holy war.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Britain\u2019s <em>Independent<\/em> newspaper carried a letter which appeared under the headline \u201cThe pope\u2019s words reveal virus of bigotry and prejudice.\u201d It was a gross and misleading caricature.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Unlike those who have called for jihad \u2013 \u201choly war\u201d \u2013 and have resorted to the carnage of suicide bombs and the shedding of innocent blood, Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s words were a repudiation of violence, condemning the use of violence by followers of all religions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">In the spirit of <em>Dignitatis Humanae<\/em>, he defended the right of people of all faiths to engage with the sacred in the face of the mockery and hostility of the secular world. It was an appeal for tolerance and Pope Benedict XVI made it clear that he held Muslims in \u201crespect and esteem.\u201d Where is the bigotry, prejudice and Islamophobia in that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">As he navigates through these same disputed waters, Pope Leo XIV must confront the same hard truths.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_235413\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-235413\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-235413\" src=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Francis-Jorge-Mario-Bergoglio-Image-by-Mikdev-from-Pixabay-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) Image by Mikdev from Pixabay\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Francis-Jorge-Mario-Bergoglio-Image-by-Mikdev-from-Pixabay-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Francis-Jorge-Mario-Bergoglio-Image-by-Mikdev-from-Pixabay-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Francis-Jorge-Mario-Bergoglio-Image-by-Mikdev-from-Pixabay-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Francis-Jorge-Mario-Bergoglio-Image-by-Mikdev-from-Pixabay-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Francis-Jorge-Mario-Bergoglio-Image-by-Mikdev-from-Pixabay-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Pope-Francis-Jorge-Mario-Bergoglio-Image-by-Mikdev-from-Pixabay.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-235413\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) Image by Mikdev from Pixabay<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"font-377884\">Lessons from the Francis papacy<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">The British Parliament\u2019s Joint Committee on Human Rights, which I chair, has just published a report examining the role of British jihadists who enlisted in the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) and committed genocide against religious minorities in Syria and Iraq, including Yazidis and Christians. ISIS \u201cothered\u201d minorities as \u201cinfidels.\u201d As they murdered, abducted and enslaved women, few voices were raised. People were thrown from high buildings, beheaded, prisoners burned in metal cages, women raped and homes looted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">In North Korea, an edict from Kim Il-sung once declared that, \u201creligious people should die to cure their habit.\u201d And for 70 years that is exactly what has happened. In 2014, a United Nations Commission of Inquiry, concluded that North Korea is, \u201ca State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world; that Christians have been singled out for especially brutal treatment in \u201cthe horrors of camps that totalitarian States established during the twentieth century.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">During Hearings in the United Kingdom Parliament, we heard from two Christian women, escapees from those camps. Jeon Young-Ok said: \u201cThey tortured the Christians the most.\u201d Hea Woo said: \u201cThe guards told us that we are not human beings \u2026 the dignity of human life counted for nothing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in blatant contravention of the 1951 Convention on Refugees, forcibly repatriates escapees from North Korea, including Christians, to a territory where they will be tortured, imprisoned and often executed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Ignoring the crushing of religious freedom emboldens perpetrators who believe we are too weak or too disinterested to ever bring them to justice or to hold them to account. It is always the canary in the mine. We must not abandon the pursuit of truth to avoid polarization. We cannot be \u201cnice\u201d people and fail to speak out in the face of heinous crimes through fear of offending someone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">This brings me to the secret, never-published agreement \u2013 a concordat \u2013 made with the CCP in 2018 by Pope Francis, who succeeded Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope John Paul II had refused to collaborate with Soviet communism and he ended the Vatican\u2019s discredited Ostpolitik approach to dictatorship. Ostpolitik, favored by Paul VI, was the policy of \u201cengagement\u201d and \u201cdialogue\u201d with the communist regimes of the Soviet Union. While always legitimate to seek lines of communication, this must not become an excuse for silence or worse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope Francis made little secret of his own political inclinations and he hankered after the abandoned Ostpolitik of his youth. An imputed moral equivalence between President Putin\u2019s Russia and Ukraine was a deeply disturbing aspect of this, but it also aligns with his stance on Chinese communism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">His silence about the CCP\u2019s genocide of Uighur Muslims and Buddhist Tibetans (not least the treatment of the Dalai Lama) was shocking. But the shameful treatment of Hong Kong\u2019s revered and venerable Cardinal Joseph Zen (who was refused admission to see the pope personally), his silence about the imprisoned Catholic publisher, Jimmy Lai, and the arrests and imprisonment of nearly 2,000 pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong (including many Catholics like the lawyer Martin Lee) and the abandonment of China\u2019s persecuted Christians, will not sit comfortably in any assessment of a papacy which appeared very selective in its approach to global injustices. Nor will silence about the 23 million beleaguered Taiwanese people whose religious and political freedoms are daily threatened by the CCP.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/pope-leo-xiv\/\">Pope Leo XIV the first US pope<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"font-377884\">The path ahead for Pope Leo XIV<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">How quickly some forget the persecution of the underground Church in China. Show trials, executions and the torture of prisoners are among its hallmarks. Believers and their lawyers have disappeared. Churches and shrines have been destroyed. Last year, Bishop James Su Zhimin celebrated his 92nd birthday while under arrest, having spent half his life in prison or detention, experiencing torture. His crime? Refusing to renounce his Catholic faith and papal authority.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Now Shanghai has a bishop \u2013 Joseph Shen Bin \u2013 approved by Pope Francis, although he had no say in his selection. This CCP-approved \u201cbishop\u201d has openly called for a repudiation of papal authority, for a reinterpretation of the Bible, and for \u201cSinicization\u201d of the Church based on \u201cXi Jinping\u2019s thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era.\u201d Code for more Christian persecution with well-documented Chinese communist characteristics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">There was speculation that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the architect of the 2018 deal with Xi Jinping\u2019s regime, would become Pope Francis\u2019s successor. It was clearly the wish of the CCP. At 93 years of age, Cardinal Zen travelled to Rome to prevent the whiff of red smoke at the Conclave. In 2020, he wrote that Pope Francis was manipulated and deceived about the secret concordat: \u201cParolin knows he is lying, he knows that I know he is a liar. He knows that I will tell everyone that he is a liar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">From the legend of Faust, we learn what consequences flow from making a deal with demons.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Above all else, the Church is supposed to know about the consequences of selling one\u2019s soul. Choosing to stand with those who suffer at the hands of the CCP, or with the perpetrators, will be a defining issue for Pope Leo XIV.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">From the same balcony where Pope Leo XIV was introduced as the new pontiff on May 8, Pope John Paul II exhorted us to be \u201csigns of contradiction,\u201d to be \u201ccounter-cultural,\u201d to \u201cput out into the deep\u201d and, above all, never to be afraid. These are words that still resonate in many ears. In his first homily, Pope Leo XIV echoed this spirit, declaring with conviction that \u201cevil will not prevail.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Pope John Paul II knew better than Comrade Stalin the value of the divisions at his disposal. I hope that Pope Leo XIV will, too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Author: Lord David Alton of Liverpool &#8211;\u00a0Member of the House of Lords.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"font-377884\">Source:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gisreportsonline.com\/r\/pope-geopolitics\/\"> https:\/\/www.gisreportsonline.com\/r\/pope-geopolitics\/\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/k16trade.ch\/seqex-en\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-230950 size-medium aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FullLogo_Transparent_NoBuffer-300x145.png\" alt=\"K16 TRADE &amp; CONSULTING SWITZERLAND\" width=\"300\" height=\"145\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FullLogo_Transparent_NoBuffer-300x145.png 300w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FullLogo_Transparent_NoBuffer-1024x495.png 1024w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FullLogo_Transparent_NoBuffer-768x371.png 768w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FullLogo_Transparent_NoBuffer-350x169.png 350w, https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/FullLogo_Transparent_NoBuffer.png 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a world teetering between authoritarianism and apathy, the new pope has a choice \u2013 challenge injustice or repeat the mistakes of silence and compromise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":235388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2275,2330,271,988,260,302,210,1030],"tags":[663,1297,2533,1792,753,937],"class_list":["post-235381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america-en","category-asia-en","category-europe","category-geopolitics","category-highlights","category-history","category-magazine","category-usa-en","tag-china","tag-gis","tag-global-matters","tag-history","tag-religion","tag-vatican-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235381"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235419,"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235381\/revisions\/235419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swissfederalism.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}