“I am with my brother in Christ.” Message of support from the head of the Anglican Church for Pope Leo XIV, criticized by Trump and Vance
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, said on Thursday that she joins Pope Leo XIV in his “courageous call for a kingdom of peace”, urging the 85 million Anglican faithful around the world to stand with the sovereign pontiff in support of peace and justice, reports Reuters, taken by Agerpres.
The statement made by Sarah Mullally, the first woman to lead the Anglican Church, came after repeated attacks on the pope by the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
“Courageous Call for a Kingdom of Peace”
“I stand with my brother in Christ, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, in his courageous call for a kingdom of peace,” said Sarah Mullally, who is also the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, in a press release.
“It is the call of every Christian and all people of faith and goodwill to work and pray for peace. We must also urge all those entrusted with political authority to use all possible peaceful and just means of conflict resolution,” she added.
On Thursday morning, Pope Leo XIV, who is in Cameroon as part of a four-country tour of Africa, harshly criticized political leaders who spend billions of dollars on wars and said “the world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”.
The Pope, in conflict with the Trump administration
The US president began criticizing Leon on social media on Sunday, when he wrote of the pope as “WEAK in the face of criminality and disastrous in foreign policy.”
The US president attacked him again on social media late Tuesday, and on Wednesday Trump posted an image of Jesus embracing him, after an earlier image of himself as a Jesus-like figure drew widespread criticism.
Also, Vice President JD Vance, the most senior Catholic representative in the federal government, said in an interview on Fox News on Monday that the Pope should not interfere in American affairs.
The pope “should limit himself to matters of, you know, what's going on in the Catholic Church,” Vance said on Fox News' “Special Report with Bret Baier” when asked if he agreed with the US leader's attacks on the pope. “And let the President of the United States be in charge of setting American public policy.”
Regarding the differences between the two, Vance added, “When I'm at odds, I'm at odds. I don't worry too much about it.” He went on to explain that he sees this situation as something inevitable: “I think it's a natural thing. I'm sure it will happen in the future and it's not a big deal that it happened in the past.”
