I am not a Catholic but as a Christian this bothers me

https://newrepublic.com/post/208820/pentagon-threatened-pope-criticized-donald-trump

I’m not Catholic, and I disagree with parts of Catholic teaching. But that’s not really the point here.

One U.S. official present at the meeting brought up the Avignon papacy, a period in the 14th century in which the French monarchy bent the Catholic Church into submission, ordering an attack on Pope Boniface VIII that led to his downfall and subsequent death and forcing the papacy to relocate from Rome to Avignon, a region inside France.

What is concerning to me is this:

There are reports that after Pope Leo criticized war rhetoric and called for peace, Pentagon officials held a closed-door meeting with a Vatican representative and strongly pushed back on his comments. Some reports even claim language implying the Church should “take America’s side”, though to be fair, those specific claims aren’t independently verified and are disputed by officials.

At the same time, the Pope publicly condemned threats like the idea of wiping out an entire civilization, calling that kind of rhetoric “truly unacceptable” and raising moral concerns about civilians and war.

So stepping back from politics for a second:

• A Christian leader speaks against mass violence and threats toward civilians
• A government responds (at a minimum) with unusual, high-level pressure and criticism
• And many Christians seem more interested in defending political power than wrestling with the moral issue

That’s what doesn’t sit right with me.

You don’t have to agree with the Pope on everything. I don’t.
But when someone calls out potential harm to innocent people, our first instinct probably shouldn’t be to circle the wagons around a politician.

As Christians, we’re called to be consistent:

• We don’t celebrate or excuse threats against civilians
• We don’t baptize political rhetoric just because it’s “our side.”
• And we don’t ignore moral warnings just because they come from a tradition we differ with

If anything, this seems like one of those moments where we should slow down, test everything, and ask:

Are we being shaped more by Christ or by politics?