The Wild Reed: April 2025

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

April Vignettes

NEXT:
May Vignettes

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Last Days in Guruk
• Sydney
• Photo of the Day – April 17, 2025
• Silent Saturday
• At the Whistle Stop
• April Vignettes (2023)
• The Landscape Is a Mirror

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Albert Mwangi Is Living His Dream of “Telling Stories Authentically and Consistently”

I first became aware of Kenyan-born stage and screen actor Albert Mwangi when I recently watched (on DVD) the short-lived 2022 U.S. television series Tom Swift.

Above: Albert Mwangi as Rowan and Tian Richards as Tom in Tom Swift (2022).

To be honest, despite its decidely queer-friendly vibe and content, I wasn’t particularly taken in by Tom Swift. I did, however, find myself taking notice of Albert Mwangi. And not just because of his looks.

The man is a phenomenal actor, one who clearly knows how to find and convey multiple dimensions of a character. Indeed, I found Mwangi’s character of Rowan (right) to be the most intriguing and compelling in the show. Sure, a big part of this was no doubt due to the writing of the character, but Mwangi added to it by giving the mysterious Rowan a depth that only a great actor can accomplish.

There’s not much online about Albert Mwangi, which I think is by design – and it’s another reason I admire him. He is clearly more focused on cultivating his art than on maintaining a celebrity status. One thing I did find was the following interview by Andrew F. Peirce for his podcast The Curb. Here’s how Peirce introduces his January 19, 2025 interview with Mwangi, followed by the audio of the hour-long interview itself. Enjoy!

Let’s take a moment to look ahead in 2025 to a few of the Australian films that will get people talking. Two particular films had their world premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2024, where their lead actor and performer, Albert Mwangi, was in attendance.

Kate Blackmore’s Make It Look Real [left] is a hybrid-documentary experience that explores the role of intimacy coordination on film sets. Albert features in the documentary as himself, and in the film-within-a-film as a character in Kieran Darcy-Smith’s romantic thriller Tightrope. Make It Look Real is a captivating and conversation-starting film about how intimacy has been presented on screen and how it can safely be depicted for all actors involved.

Albert’s other film that premiered the Adelaide Film Festival was Kelly Schilling’s With or Without You, where he plays Dalu, a migrant worker swept into the lives of Melina Vidler’s Chloe and her alcoholic mother, Sharon, played with effortless abandon by Marta Dusseldorp [pictured with Albert at right].

With both of these films, Albert holds the audiences focus keenly, asking us to lean in to find out more about his performances. This level of captivation is partly the reason why he was nominated for the Casting Guild of Australia’s Rising Star list of 2021.

In the following interview, Albert talks about the balance of working on stage and screen, how he manages his creative journey as a storyteller and a vessel for others stories, and where he would like to see his career progress from here.

– Andrew F. Peirce
The Curb
January 19, 2025

Following is the official trailer for Kelly Schilling’s With or Without You, starring Albert Mwangi, Melina Vidler, and Marta Dusseldorp.

As well as starring in the soon-to-be-released films With or Without You and Make It Look Real, Albert Mwangi also featured in the award-winning 2020 short film Hollow Hands, directed by Sean Hall. For an interview with the cast of this film, click here.

Mwangi also has a (seemingly supporting) role in the upcoming Primitive War. Set in Vietnam in 1968, director Luke Sparke’s adaptation of Ethan Pettus’s novel of the same name, Primitive War tells the tale of a recon unit known as Vulture Squad that is sent to an isolated jungle valley to uncover the fate of a missing Green Beret platoon.

Writing about the film for Collider, Rachael Blair Severino notes the following.

[Primitive War follows] an elite extraction team ordered to find and recover a platoon that’s gone MIA somewhere in the jungle. [The film] looks like it will be launching into tense action from the get-go. The crew investigates the shadowy jungle, searching for the missing men and what took them. Unfortunately for them, the answer is far toothier than anticipated.

A famously fraught time in American history, it will be interesting to see if the film toys with any psychological horror through existential questions of fairness. The Vietnam War was the first televised war, and it served as a real-life horror for a lot of Americans. The men of Primitive War were likely drafted, and now, not only are they trying to survive a war, but they’re also being hunted by dinosaurs. There are lots of opportunities for subtle horror indicators before ever getting to the dinosaurs, like addressing how young the majority of drafted personnel were, the terrifying implications of a missing platoon, or any of the other grim realities of war.

Above: Albert Mwangi in Primitive War (2025). Hopefully his character survives! To view the official trailer for this “dinosaur horror” movie, click here.

On a brighter note, in his interview with Andrew F. Peirce, Mwangi mentioned that he lived for a time in Brisbane, Australia.

Interestingly, a series of photos on Mwangi’s Facebook page reminds me of King Island, a small island one can walk out to from Brisbane’s Wellington Point at low tide.

It’s a very beautiful place, and one that I visited just a month ago during my most recent sojourn in my homeland. I can’t say for sure that the following photos were taken on King Island, but like I said, they remind me of it.

Monday, April 28, 2025

James Greenberg on Trumpism: “The Tactics Are Unmistakable”

James B. Greenberg is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, the Founding Editor of the Journal of Political Ecology, and the past president of the Political Ecology Society.

Earlier today Greenberg published the following commentary on his substack. It’s a timely and insightful piece, given that tomorrow is the 100th day of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

______________

Trump doesn’t fit the traditional mold of a fascist. But that offers little comfort. He is treading a path that echoes some of the darkest chapters in history. Authoritarianism doesn’t start with tanks. It starts with whom we stop protecting.

The tactics are unmistakable.

He scapegoats and demonizes, casting immigrants, minorities, and dissenters not just as adversaries, but as existential threats. He glorifies violence, encouraging assaults on opponents, offering pardons to the loyal, normalizing brutality in the service of power.

He demands personal loyalty – not to laws, not to institutions, but to himself – positioning his survival as synonymous with the nation’s. He delegitimizes elections, rejecting any result that denies him victory, corroding trust in the peaceful transfer of power.

He weaponizes the state, turning law enforcement against critics while dismantling the independence of courts, health agencies, and watchdogs. He floods the public square with lies and conspiracies, not to convince but to confuse – to exhaust resistance itself.

He demonizes the press, branding it “the enemy of the people,” while elevating loyalists into organs of propaganda.

He encourages the militarization of civilian life, praising vigilantes and blurring the line between protest and paramilitary action. He normalizes corruption, redefining public office as an instrument of personal gain and vendetta.

He wraps it all in apocalyptic nationalism, warning of collapse unless loyalty to him is absolute, and dressing it in the mythology of a lost, purified past.

Anthropologists have long seen the pattern: when societies reel from dislocation, loss, and fear, they often respond not with solidarity, but with division. People search for scapegoats to blame and strongmen to punish them. Belonging becomes defined not by shared hope, but by shared enemies. Cruelty becomes a form of identity. And slowly, societies forget how to see those outside the shrinking circle of “us” as human at all.

Trumpism is not classical fascism. Fascism built vast machinery of control, fusing state, army, and ideology into a single force. Trump’s movement is messier, more opportunistic. It doesn’t aim to fully mobilize the state – it seeks to hollow it out, turning government into a personal weapon while outsourcing violence and intimidation to private actors.

It replaces ideological rigor with grievance, spectacle, and conspiracy.

But if the form has changed, the function – the normalization of cruelty, the erosion of law, the cult of loyalty – remains eerily the same. The echoes are too loud to ignore.

And now, the crackdown on undocumented immigrants sharpens the warning.

Stripping their names from Social Security rolls – erasing them administratively, as if already dead. Denying them access to the most basic due process protections. Threatening to criminalize acts of compassion. Proposing to exile them to brutal foreign prisons beyond the reach of American law. Turning human beings into legal phantoms – visible only as threats, invisible as persons.

Throughout history, the first move of rising authoritarian regimes has been to redraw the boundaries of who is protected by law – and who is not. Citizenship, rights, even the presumption of humanity are redefined as privileges to be granted or denied. And once a group falls outside that circle, cruelty no longer shocks the conscience. It becomes routine.

This isn’t just cruelty. It’s the methodical dismantling of legal personhood – the very first step toward far darker outcomes.

The Nazis did not start with death camps. They started with paperwork. They started with redefining who mattered – and who could be forgotten. We are not living in 1941 Germany. But the logic that made 1941 possible is taking root here and now.

This is how it happens: Not with a single catastrophe, but with a slow normalization of cruelty. Not with mass arrests overnight, but with a thousand quiet erasures no one stops.

Trump is not a fascist. But he is normalizing the tactics of fascism. And if we fail to recognize the road while we still have time, we may find ourselves powerless to turn back.

The architecture of dehumanization is already rising around us. The question is whether we have the courage to dismantle it before it is too late.

– James B. Greenberg
“The Road Trump Is Treading”
James’s Substack
April 28, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
Marks of the Fascist, Tacky, Insatiable Beast – Abby Zimet (Common Dreams, April 27, 2025).
Democracy Is Dying in Broad Daylight: How Trump Is Leading a Totalitarian Coup – Marianne Williamson (Rising, April 8, 2025).
Expert on Fascism Explains Why He’s Getting Out of America; Offers Chilling Warning – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, March 28, 2025).
“How Fascism Works”: An Interview With Author Jason Stanley – Amanpour and Company (March 26, 2025).
How the Media Walked Us Into Autocracy: An Interview with Ralph Nader – The Chris Hedges Report (March 6, 2025).

UPDATES: What If It Is Fascism? – Fred Glass (Jacobin, April 29, 2025).
In First 100 Days, Trump Waged “Relentless Assault on Working People” – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, April 29, 2025).
“Taking Our Power Back”: Immigrants and Workers Plan for May Day Protests as Trump Marks 100 Days – Democracy Now! (April 30, 2025).
“Literal Fascism”: MAGA Rally Crowd Goes Wild as Trump Airs Migrant Arrest Propaganda – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, April 30, 2025).
Horrifying New Trump Executive Order Turns America Into a Full-Blown Police State – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, April 30, 2025).
People Who Fled Authoritarian Regimes Say Trump’s Tactics Remind Them of Home – Frank Langfitt (NPR News, May 1, 2025).
Is Trump’s America Still a Democracy?: An Interview With Autocracy Scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat – Prospect (May 1, 2025).
“Democracy Is on Life Support”: Trump Orders Defunding of NPR and PBS – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, May 2, 2025).
Maria Ressa Warns of Authoritarianism in the U.S.: “This Is a Pivotal Moment” – GBH News (May 2, 2025).
“We Are in the Midst of the Creation of a Police State”: Rep. Ilhan Omar on Trump’s Authoritarianism – Democracy Now! (June 13, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”
• Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”
• “This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”
• “An Extremely Clever Ruse” by and for the Rich: Owen Jones on Elon Musk’s Coup
• “To Be a Rib in This Body of Our Country”
• Quote of the Day – February 21, 2025
• Ralph Nader: “We’re Heading Into the Most Serious Crisis in American History. There’s No Comparison”
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• “This Is How Democracy Unravels”
• Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works

Sunday, April 27, 2025

At the Whistle Stop

Related Off-site Link:
• Whistle Stop Diner, Benson, MN

Related Off-site Links
• Halloween Hijinks in Benson, MN (2009)
• Out and About – October 2011
• Pelican Lake (2016)
• Out and About – Winter 2016-2017
• Photo of the Day – January 26, 2017
• Weekend at Pelican Lake (2021)

Image: Angie Hanson.

Saturday, April 26, 2025

Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works

Last month author, philosopher and Yale professor Jason Stanley was interviewed by Chris Hedges on what fascism means and how the Trump administration’s second term could lead to the completion of the American fascist state.

Related Off-site Links:
Expert on Fascism Explains Why He’s Getting Out of America; Offers Chilling Warning – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, March 28, 2025).
“How Fascism Works”: An Interview With Author Jason Stanley – Amanpour and Company (March 26, 2025).
How the Media Walked Us Into Autocracy: An Interview with Ralph Nader – The Chris Hedges Report (March 6, 2025).

UPDATES: Marks of the Fascist, Tacky, Insatiable Beast – Abby Zimet (Common Dreams, April 27, 2025).
What If It Is Fascism? – Fred Glass (Jacobin, April 29, 2025).
In First 100 Days, Trump Waged “Relentless Assault on Working People” – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, April 29, 2025).
“Taking Our Power Back”: Immigrants and Workers Plan for May Day Protests as Trump Marks 100 Days – Democracy Now! (April 30, 2025).
“Literal Fascism”: MAGA Rally Crowd Goes Wild as Trump Airs Migrant Arrest Propaganda – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, April 30, 2025).
Horrifying New Trump Executive Order Turns America Into a Full-Blown Police State – Mike Figueredo (The Humanist Report, April 30, 2025).
People Who Fled Authoritarian Regimes Say Trump’s Tactics Remind Them of Home – Frank Langfitt (NPR News, May 1, 2025).
Is Trump’s America Still a Democracy?: An Interview With Autocracy Scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat – Prospect (May 1, 2025).
“Democracy Is on Life Support”: Trump Orders Defunding of NPR and PBS – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, May 2, 2025).
Maria Ressa Warns of Authoritarianism in the U.S.: “This Is a Pivotal Moment” – GBH News (May 2, 2025).
“We Are in the Midst of the Creation of a Police State”: Rep. Ilhan Omar on Trump’s Authoritarianism – Democracy Now! (June 13, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”
• Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”
• “This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”
• “An Extremely Clever Ruse” by and for the Rich: Owen Jones on Elon Musk’s Coup
• “To Be a Rib in This Body of Our Country”
• Quote of the Day – February 21, 2025
• Ralph Nader: “We’re Heading Into the Most Serious Crisis in American History. There’s No Comparison”
• Why the Democratic Party Is Not Going to Save Us From Fascism
• “This Is How Democracy Unravels”

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Albert Mwangi as Hamlet

Today is Shakespeare Day, sometimes referred to as Talk Like Shakespeare Day. It’s celebrated every year on April 23 to commemorate both the birth and death of William Shakespeare, considered by many as the greatest playwright in the English language.

To mark Shakespeare Day at The Wild Reed, I share this evening something very special: Stage and screen actor Albert Mwangi as Prince Hamlet, reciting the Danish prince’s “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy (and then some) from Hamlet, one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays.

Notes Wikipedia:

[Hamlet’s] speech is named for the opening phrase, itself among the most widely known and quoted lines in modern English literature, and has been referenced in many works of theatre, literature and music. In the speech, Hamlet contemplates death and suicide, weighing the pain and unfairness of life against the alternative, which might be worse. It is not clear that Hamlet is thinking of his own situation since the speech is entirely in an abstract, somewhat academic register that accords with Hamlet’s status as a (recent) student at Wittenberg University. Furthermore, Hamlet is not alone as he speaks because Ophelia is on stage waiting for him to see her, and Claudius and Polonius have concealed themselves to hear him. Even so, Hamlet seems to consider himself alone and there is no definite indication that the others hear him before he addresses Ophelia, so the speech is almost universally regarded as a sincere soliloquy.

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die – to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there’s the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause – there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th’oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of dispriz’d love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th’unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovere’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.

Images: Albert Mwangi as Hamlet at the Parade Theatre, National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Sydney, Australia – August 2020.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Andor Season One Recap

Well, the wait is almost over!

Later today Disney+ will premiere the first three episodes of season two of the Star Wars series Andor. Then, every Tuesday for the next three weeks, the streaming platform will release three more episodes for a total of twelve.

I’ve previously noted that for many people Andor is one of the best TV shows out there. It’s also been observed that given recent events here in the U.S., Andor remains extremely relevant in its highlighting of the need for resistance to rising auhoritarianism.

As Ben Travers writes in his IndieWire review:

Andor’s blunt disdain for tyrants and colonialists makes it all the easier to see the series as modern metaphor. Emperor Palpatine is still, technically, held in check by the Galactic Senate, but his executive overreach seems almost timid compared to President Trump’s daily decrees. There are scenes of state media framing peaceful protests as unlawful attacks and dialogue that bravely describes genocide as exactly that, in defiance of a cacophony of boos. All the while, disconnected rebel groups strain to overcome disinformation campaigns, mass detainment, and general complacency to form a resistance that can effect change – not just in the long-run, but here and now.

For those who need a reminder of the events leading up to season two, here’s the official (and artfully put together) season one recap video.

Following is an excerpt from Nicholas Quah’s April 21 Vulture review of Andor season two.

Sometimes you don’t realize how low you’ve set expectations until something comes along that reminds you to look up. That was certainly the case with Andor. When the Star Wars series debuted in September 2022, little about its logline suggested a clear pathway to greatness. A prequel series to Rogue One, a widely admired but uneven spinoff film shrouded in lore and whispers of postproduction salvaging? Sure, I suppose, but arriving mere months after Obi-Wan Kenobi, which marked a creative low point for the anemic franchise, there wasn’t much space to dream. That its showrunner was Tony Gilroy, the venerable writer-director behind thinky films like Michael Clayton, who was responsible for Rogue One’s rewrites and reshoots, wasn’t necessarily evidence for greatness, either; many distinguished filmmakers have had their visions ground down by the Star Wars machine before. (See Ron Howard’s Solo, Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte, etc.)

But Andor didn’t just turn out to be excellent television. It ended up being the best Star Wars has ever been, a fiercely intelligent spy thriller that rendered a galaxy far, far away in terms you could legibly graft onto the world right outside your door. In between blaster shoot-outs and ships jumping into hyperdrive, the series toyed with sophisticated ideas. What draws an individual to fascism? What turns a drifter into a revolutionary? What does middle-class housing in Coruscant look like? Andor’s characters felt like flesh-and-blood beings whose lives extended beyond their service to the story; you can tell they think about their laundry. Gilroy’s take on the universe felt so rich and alive that you couldn’t help but wonder: How the hell did this thing ever get made?

The question returns, quadruple-fold, with the show’s second season, which debuts its first three-episode “chapter” this week and completes the series’ bridge into Rogue One and, by extension, A New Hope. To cut to the chase: Andor remains a banger to the very end. The premiere picks up some time after where the first season left off, with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) now a key player in Luthen Rael’s (Stellan Skarsgård) spy ring, carrying out missions to disrupt the Empire and lay the foundation for what will become the Rebel Alliance.

. . . This second season doesn’t just cement the show’s standing as the best Star Wars project ever made. It’s also the rare spinoff that deepens the best parts of the franchise around it. A New Hope will never feel so simple again. But its merit extends far beyond that. So much of Star Wars today feels like it’s in service to its own fantasy, its fandom, its escapism. Andor reorients that fantasy in the service of something greater than itself. Its tale of political awakening, rebellion, and the struggle against fascism is so vibrant that it wills you to gaze back up at the stars – and at your own world – with wonder. Andor is a miracle, and we’d be so lucky if we see something like it ever again.

– Nicholas Quah
Excerpted from “Star Wars Needed This:
A Review of Andor Season 2”
Vulture
April 21, 2025

NEXT:
The Reckoning Is Here

For more about Andor at The Wild Reed, see:
• The Revolution Will Be Televised
• Andor: The Star Wars Franchise’s “First Piece of Universally Excellent Television”
• The Brilliance of Andor
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• How Empires Are Built and Rebellions Are Born

Related Off-site Links:
Why Andor Is the Star Wars Show for Grownups – Tracey Minkin (AARP, April 23, 2025).
Andor Season 2 Becomes the Most Critically Acclaimed Live-action Star Wars Project on Rotten Tomatoes Ever – Molly Edwards (Games Radar, April 23, 2025).
Review: Andor Season 2 Completes the Best Star Wars Story of the Disney Era – Alison Herman (Variety, April 21, 2025).
Andor Season 2 Review: A Star Wars Miracle, an Ode to Rebellion – Devindra Hardawar (Engadget, April 21, 2025).
Andor Season 2 Review: A Masterpiece, Some of the Best Star Wars Ever Made – Erik Kain (Forbes, April 21, 2025).
A Powerful Denouement: A Review of Andor Season 2 – Brynna Arens (Den of Geeks, April 21, 2025).
Andor Review: Season 2 Is a Thrilling, Urgent Tribute to the Rebellion’s Unsung Heroes – Ben Travers (IndieWire, April 21, 2025).
How Andor Adapts History Into Star Wars – Film Can’t Die (April 16, 2025).
Evil in Andor: The Banality of Evil – The Canvas (November 27, 2024).
Andor Season 2 Is About to Break Records – Nyft (November 23, 2024).
Andor’s Luthen Rael Is Basically the Rebellion’s Emperor Palpatine – Allen Xies (Generation Tech, November 22, 2024).
Andor Is a Message for the Future – Spaceman (November 21, 2024).
Diego Luna Says Andor Season 2 Turns Rogue One Into a “Different Film” – Dalton Ross (Entertainment Weekly, August 15, 2024).
The Poetry, Power, and Philosophy of Andor’s Monologues – Master Samwise (February 21, 2023).
Why Is Andor’s Dialogue So Much Better? – The Writer’s Block (January 14, 2023).
Andor Is Star Wars Perfection – Caprisanh (January 6, 2023).
How Andor Became My Favorite Star Wars Show – A Short Ginger (January 2, 2023).
Just Go Watch Andor – CameroN xM (December 28, 2022).
Andor: A Marxist Allegory Brought to You by Disney – Damien Walter (Science Fiction with Damien Walter, December 8, 2022).
Is Andor Actually THAT Good? (Yes, and Here’s Why) – Ben Arndt (A.M. Cinematics, November 28, 2022).
Why Andor Boldly Goes the Distance While Most High Profile Star Wars Adaptations Fell Short – Melanie McFarland (Salon, November 25, 2022).
Why Andor Is So Important for Star Wars – Kirk Mihelakos (Designed by Kirk, November 23, 2022).
Andor Is the Best Star Wars Has Been in 40 Years – Cleaver Rebooted (November 23, 2022).
Why Andor Feels So Real – Thomas Flight (November 23, 2022).

Monday, April 21, 2025

Remembering Pope Francis, “the Shepherd Who Walked With Us”

I was saddened to hear this morning the news of Pope Francis’s death.

Throughout the day, many have shared tributes to his life and legacy. Following is a sampling of these tributes.

__________________

In an age of thunderous rhetoric and moral cowardice, Pope Francis stood apart – not as a titan of dogma, but as a humble servant who dared to see the divine in the marginalized, the broken, the poor.

When Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Jesuit, first Latin American, and first non-European pope in over a thousand years, many hoped for reform. Few expected revolution. But from the moment he chose the name Francis – in honor of the saint who renounced wealth to serve the destitute – the signal was clear: this papacy would not be about golden thrones or rigid tradition. It would be about people.

And it was.

He washed the feet of Muslim refugees. He embraced a man covered in tumors. He kissed a disfigured child. His actions – small, quiet, powerful – spoke of a radical empathy that shattered the cold glass walls between the Church and the people it was meant to serve.

Pope Francis rejected palace life for a modest suite in the Casa Santa Marta. He traded the papal limousine for a Ford Focus. He sold the opulence of his predecessors for the clarity of mission: mercy, justice, and love in action.

But his humility was not weakness – it was strength harnessed. He took on the Goliaths of our age without blinking. He condemned the “economy that kills,” warned of the “tyranny of unfettered capitalism,” and insisted that climate change was not just science – it was a moral imperative. His 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ was a stunning rebuke to the global elite, calling on the world to care for “our common home” before it was too late.

He challenged the Church to evolve. Under his leadership, the Vatican softened its language on LGBTQ+ individuals, expanded conversations around divorce and remarriage, and re-centered Catholic social teaching around the dignity of the human person rather than the rigidity of doctrine. Critics called it heresy. Millions called it hope.

Francis wasn’t perfect. He struggled to confront the entrenched rot of clerical abuse. He wavered when firmness was needed. But he never stopped walking toward the wounded. He never stopped believing that faith meant feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger.

When he died on Easter Monday, the symbolism could not have been louder. On the day Christians mark resurrection, the world lost a man who tried, with all his might, to resurrect the moral conscience of an institution and a planet gasping for direction.

And it was impossible not to contrast his final days with the man who now leads the United States. While Pope Francis spent his last moments praying for peace, President Donald Trump’s second term has been defined by vengeance, cruelty, and unchecked ambition. As Trump purges institutions, jails dissenters, and hoards power under the guise of “order,” Francis gave his power away – choosing simplicity over spectacle, service over ego, humility over control.

In a world where leaders increasingly resemble emperors, Francis showed us what it means to be a shepherd.

His death leaves a void not just in Rome, but in every slum, prison, and refugee camp where his presence once brought comfort. But he also leaves a challenge: to carry forward a faith not of condemnation, but of compassion. Not of wealth, but of worth. Not of fear, but of fearless love.

Pope Francis reminded us that the truest power lies not in crowns or titles – but in service. That faith, untethered from justice, is just noise. And that in the end, the only church worth building is the one where everyone has a place.

He was the People’s Pope. And he walked among us.

Now it’s our turn to walk forward.

– Tony Pentimalli
“The Shepherd Who Walked With Us:
The Legacy of Pope Francis”
via Facebook
April 21, 2025

The moral witness of Pope Francis will be profoundly missed in our turbulent times. He was a remarkable spiritual force who inspired millions, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, with a unique sense of compassion and humility – definitively transforming dynamics within Catholicism and how the church was perceived in a little over a decade.

When I struggled to remain Catholic, especially as American prelates deepened institutional ties with the MAGA right, the pope consistently embodied what it means to follow Christ – unconditionally advancing love, justice, and peace; recognizing that living the Gospel demands courageously embracing its political implications.

While I am no longer a member of the Catholic Church due to its oppressive theological stances on women, LGBTQ+ people, reproductive rights, and archaic views on sexuality, many aspects of Catholic spirituality will always define my life. I pray for friends and family who remain in the church and for the College of Cardinals who will elect Francis’s successor.

The pope’s prophetic voice will be sorely absent, on issues of climate change, capitalism, war, migration, conflict, and the ongoing genocide in Palestine, especially during an era of growing political darkness, as movements towards fascism and white supremacy are fomented around the globe. May the incredible witness of Francis continue to resound and inspire reformation within the Catholic Church and encourage us all to remain committed to building a better world. Requiescat in pace.

– Phillip Clark
via Facebook
April 21, 2025

The Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER) offers condolences to Pope Francis’ family, friends, and his community, the Society of Jesus. He was first and foremost a person who will be missed by many.

Francis championed the dignity and rights of the marginalized, especially immigrants, refugees, prisoners, those in war-torn regions, and notably Earth itself, all of which reflect the ravages of human indifference. He condemned nuclear weapons, urged peace on those who wage war, and rejected the capitalist greed that consigns many to grinding poverty. He lived simply, modeling his values from the car he used to the trappings of power he refused to embrace.

Francis initiated a Synodal project to begin the thus far elusive process of dismantling a hierachical church and creating communities of equality in dialogue. That work, as well as his efforts to eradicate clergy sexual abuse, remain far from finished.

Also unfinished is the inclusion of people of all genders and sexual orientations in full membership, ministry, and decision-making in the Church. Women’s moral agency remains unrecognized. These remain goals for those who survive him to accomplish.

We will achieve them with thanks to Francis for his efforts to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.”

May Francis’ memory inspire generations of justice-seekers.

– Mary E. Hunt, et al
WATER
April 23, 2025

This morning, Pope Francis passed away. The leader of the Roman Catholic Church was someone who was unafraid to oppose war, neoliberalism and stood with the oppressed of the world. In the obituaries written about this wonderful man, here is what they won’t tell you . . .

1. His Holiness stood with those who were victims of injustice. That is why Pope Francis met with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s wife, Stella when he was imprisoned and psychologically tortured by the British government. It was an endorsement of Assange’s plea for freedom.

2. The Pope saw our neoliberal system as one that exploits the poor and working class for the gains of the oligarchy. He called unfettered capitalism “the dung of the devil.” When the pandemic ravaged the world, he criticized capitalism harshly, “The fragility of world systems in the face of the pandemic has demonstrated that not everything can be resolved by market freedom,” he wrote. “It is imperative to have a proactive economic policy directed at ‘promoting an economy that favours productive diversity and business creativity’ and makes it possible for jobs to be created, and not cut.”

3. As Israel committed a genocide in Gaza, the Pope didn’t hold his tongue. When a Catholic parish in Gaza was attacked by Israel, he labeled the action terrorism. “Some say, ‘This is terrorism. This is war.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” he said. “That is why the Scripture affirms that ‘God stops wars . . . breaks the bow, splinters the spear’ (Psalm 46:10). Let us pray to the Lord for peace.” Before his death, he called Israel’s actions genocide and called for further investigations, “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.” In his final speech, he called for a ceasefire, “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace.”

4. After several trips to the hospital, the Pope told the world he should not be the only one allowed to receive healthcare. It should be a right of all people. “A world that rejects the sick, that does not assist those who cannot afford care, is a cynical world with no future. Let us always remember this: health care is not a luxury, it is for everyone,” the Pope said.

5. The holy leader’s condemnation of the military-industrial complex was so vociferous and strong, he suggested those who participated in it could not enter heaven. There are many examples of the Pope expressing anger at arms manufacturers. “Why so many powerful people do not want peace? Because they live off wars!” he said, explaining to these children that some people make money by producing and selling weapons. “And this is why so many people do not want peace,” he said. “They make more money with the war!” In a separate Christmas address, he called weapons makers, “merchants of death.” He explained to the crowd, “It should be talked about and written about, so as to bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet strings of war,” he said. “And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?”

6. The Pope was unafraid to stand against American hegemony and push peace. Early in his papacy, he used his diplomatic efforts to demand the United States lift the embargo against the Cuban government. For a brief time, the efforts of Francis worked. President Obama met with Cuban leader Raul Castro to begin a new chapter in economic/diplomatic relations. This progress was overturned by the incoming Trump administration. When the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began, the Pope offered to have the Vatican host peace talks, but he condemned NATO for provoking Russia.

7. His Holiness was the first leader of the Church to demand care of the environment be an official part of Catholic doctrine. His condemnations of the fossil fuel industry terrified them. In 2018, executives from the industry flew to the Vatican to plead their case to the Pope and ask for leniency. It didn’t work. Pope Francis would use his words and encyclicals to call for an end to climate destruction and demand a healthy planet be handed over to future generations.

Today, I with millions of Roman Catholics, mourn the loss of this beautiful soul. As he lived humbly and well below his means, he continued to do what he said he would do: transform the church into a field hospital. An institution that didn’t pontificate from far away. Instead, an institution that went to the victims of war, capitalism and neoliberalism and saw them as wounded children of God.

He lived and personified the words we find in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Let us all try to find the strength and courage within us to be peacemakers and create the Beloved Community many dedicated their lives to building. Today, I say to a noble peacemaker such as Pope Francis, “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

– Dorothy Lennon
via Facebook
April 21, 2025

Palestinian, and Palestinian Christians in particular, have lost a dear friend today. Pope Francis was beloved in Palestine. He conveyed true compassion to Palestinians, most notably to those in Gaza during this genocide. His pastoral heart was evident in his insistence on calling the Christian community besieged in Gaza on a constant basis, even from his hospital.

Some years ago, Pope Francis visited Bethlehem. We all remember the iconic image of him praying at the Wall. This is what I wrote about this incident in my book The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope.

When Pope Francis stopped, touched the wall, and said a prayer, it was truly a monumental moment that made waves in world news. Pope Francis couldn’t help but notice the ugliness of this concrete structure at the heart of Bethlehem. This wall should make us all uncomfortable. To this discomfort, the Pope couldn’t help but react and reach out. By responding in this manner, the Pope touched more than the wall. He touched the ugliness of the occupation and war. He touched the depth of our suffering. With humility and weakness, he looked injustice in the eyes, and challenged it.

What did he say in his prayer? The truth is, I don’t want to know. Some words are better left unspoken. The image of him standing next to the wall and praying will forever be engraved in our memories. For me, this image went everywhere. On my office wall, Facebook page, desktop wallpaper. For us as Palestinian Christians, this image was stored deep into our memory. And when this wall falls one day (not if, when), we might go back to this moment and this prayer as one of the key moments that led to its fall.

At the end of the day, the Pope left, and the occupation and the wall remained. But we were left with a renewed sense of hope – knowing that we are not forgotten. We were left with a mandate to continue lamenting the current situation, to fight against injustice . . . and to pray. (The Other Side of the Wall, pp. 182-183)

The Pope left our world today, and the occupation and the wall remained. Even worse, he left our world while a genocide continues to unfold. Back in November he wrote: “I am thinking above all of those who leave Gaza in the midst of the famine that has struck their Palestinian brothers and sisters given the difficulty of getting food and aid into their territory. . . . According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”

Today I wonder: Will the millions who will mourn his death these coming days respect this wish of his? Will they care for Gazans and Palestinians the way he did?

May his soul rest in glory with his Savior. Humanity lost a special soul today.

– Munther Isaac
via Facebook
April 21, 2025

Like many, I was moved by Pope Francis’s moral authority. At a time when moral leadership has been in short supply in the world – when authoritarians and neofascists are pushing us into darkness – Pope Francis pointed toward the light.

He urged the world to protect and defend migrants.

In what turned out to be his final public remarks, he wrote in a papal address delivered Easter Sunday at the Vatican “How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants! On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas!”

In February, Francis decried Trump’s deportations of people fleeing hardship as a violation of the “dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.” In an open letter to American bishops, Francis wrote that he had “followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations,” adding that any policy built on force “begins badly and will end badly.”

During the first Trump administration, Francis criticized the separation of migrant families.

He also focused on Gaza.

As recently as in Francis’s Easter Sunday remarks, he condemned violent conflict and called for a cease-fire and release of hostages in Gaza. “The light of Easter impels us to break down the barriers that create division and are fraught with grave political and economic consequences,” he wrote. “It impels us to care for one another, to increase our mutual solidarity, and to work for the integral development of each human person. Call a cease-fire.”

And he pushed for action on the climate.

Pope Francis helped spur nearly 200 nations to adopt the landmark 2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change. That year, Francis issued the first of two papal encyclicals exhorting world leaders to take action to slow down atmospheric pollution.

His 2023 encyclical called out global leaders for not acting quickly enough to address rising temperatures and protect nature. In it, he said “the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point. In addition to this possibility, it is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons.”

Migrants, Gaza, the climate. He was much more than these three issues, of course, but his moral authority demanded caring attention to them, at a time when so-called leaders – such as the person who now inhabits the White House – would rather deploy brutality.

Pope Francis, RIP.

– Robert Reich
“The Conscience of the World”
April 21, 2025

Pope Francis, who died Monday at age 88, used his dozen years as the head of the Catholic Church, and arguably the most prominent religious leader in the world, to advocate for peace (especially in the Middle East), for bold responses to the climate crisis, for humane treatment of refugees, for responsible uses of increasingly out-of-control technologies and, with a consistency that distinguished him from the corporate and political elites of his time, for economic justice.

That final commitment extended from a spiritual and practical concern for the poor on the part of the first Latin American and the first Jesuit to be chosen to serve as the pope in the church’s 2,000-year history. It was central to Francis’s mission over the course of his remarkable pontificate. Indeed, in the announcement of Francis’s death on the morning after Easter Sunday, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said, “He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized.”

That teaching was bold and instructive. It began early and never stopped. . . . Pope Francis understood from the beginning of his tenure that there was a need for a debate about “the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose.” That debate is far from finished. But, as powerful and aggressive as the billionaire class and its political servants may have been, and may continue to be, there was a pope who taught that “money must serve, not rule!”

– John Nichols
Excerpted from “The Pope Who Decried the
Savage Inequalities of Billionaire-Class Capitalism”
The Nation
April 21, 2025

With simple words and gentle gestures, Pope Francis powerfully moved the Catholic Church to become a more welcoming home for LGBTQ+ people. New Ways Ministry mourns his passing, while at the same time we give thanks for his witness and ministry.

Francis was not only the first pope to use the word “gay” when speaking about LGBTQ+ people, he was the first pope to speak lovingly and tenderly to them. His kind words of welcome to this community, traditionally marginalized in the church, rang loudly around the globe. His recommendation to pastoral ministers and church leaders to accompany, listen, and dialogue with LGBTQ+ people has opened doors that had been sealed shut by the homophobia and transphobia of previous pontiffs.

From the early months of his papacy when he uttered the now-iconic “Who am I to judge?” in response to a question about accepting gay priests, through numerous affirming pastoral messages to individual LGBTQ+ people, to his support for civil unions, and his condemnation of criminalization laws, Pope Francis has changed the church irreversibly by allowing people to see how their Catholic faith requires acceptance and equality.

Even with his many groundbreaking milestones, Pope Francis did have areas where his welcome was not as wide as it could have been. In the area of gender identity and transgender issues, the pontiff adhered closely to the male-female gender binary, referring to any newer understandings of gender identity as “gender ideology” or “ideological colonization.” His misunderstanding and mischaracterization of gender identity did not, however, prevent Pope Francis from reaching out with compassion to transgender people, continually calling for people to respect the inherent human dignity of these minorities.

Pope Francis has opened the discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in the church, and through calling the global synod, he has institutionalized a process for Catholics to continue discussing these issues, as well as so many other topics. He has moved the church from an imperial model to a servant model.

New Ways Ministry has been blessed to have corresponded with Pope Francis since 2021. His responses were always warm, affirming, and encouraging. He even congratulated our ministry’s co-founder, Sister Jeannine Gramick, on the occasion of her 50 years of pastoral service and advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community, calling her “a valiant woman.” His messages have been a blessing to New Ways Ministry and all of its supporters, while less enlightened church leaders have labeled as heretics those who have worked tirelessly for LGBTQ+ equality.

Even greater blessings were the two opportunities that New Ways Ministry personnel had to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican to dialogue on LGBTQ+ issues. In October 2023, four New Ways Ministry staff members – Sister Jeannine Gramick, Francis DeBernardo, Matthew Myers, Robert Shine – sat down for 50 minutes with the pontiff who encouraged them to continue their ministry of welcome, encounter and hope.

The second visit occurred in October 2024 when the same group were accompanied by an intersex woman, a transgender man, a doctor who works in gender medicine, a theologian, and a Catholic deacon who is the father of a transgender daughter. For 90 minutes, the pope listened to their stories of pain, exclusion, and also the joy that living authentically has brought them.

Pope Francis has been a gift to the church and to the LGBTQ+ community. For many years, we have prayed to God for such a leader to continue the work of Vatican II. We have not been disappointed, but have been blessed by the message of his words and deeds.

We trust that our loving God, who is a God of justice and equality, will continue to bless us by extending Francis’ welcoming and inclusive message in the next papacy. Whoever the next pope will be, New Ways Ministry pledges to continue spreading the Catholic message of welcome, listening, accompaniment, and justice which Pope Francis has ignited.

– Francis DeBernardo
“Pope Francis Was a Gift to LGBTQ+ People”
New Ways Ministry
April 21, 2025

I never expected I’d have a chance to represent DignityUSA and the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics in a meeting with a pontiff. I had the chance [in 2023] to thank Pope Francis for his statement that the criminalization of our identities and relationships had to stop and to urge him to press for its implementation globally. I shared stories of LGBTQ+ people who had been harmed by church teachings or when pastoral care was refused. I told him how being part of a worldwide community of LGBTQ+ Catholics gave me a better sense of how faith is lived out in many cultures. He said our work was important and that we must keep moving forward. It as a moment that meant so much to people around the United States and in many other countries.

[Yet] even with the recognition of so many positive words and actions, church teachings and even some recent Vatican documents remain problematic. Many LGBTQ+ people and families welcomed the pronouncement that same-sex couples can be blessed by priests and allowing transgender people to be baptized and to serve as godparents. However, Dignitas Infinita’s equating transgender peoples’ need to embrace their gender with evils like poverty and sexual abuse and failing to change catechetical teachings that say being gay is inconsistent with God’s plan for humanity continue to lead to discrimination and even violence.

– Marianne Duddy-Burke
Excerpted from “LGBTQ+ Catholics Mourn Passing
of Pope Francis: A Ground-breaking and
Complicated Church Leader”
DignityUSA
April 21, 2025

Pope Francis was a transformative leader for the Catholic Church. His steadfast moral clarity and unshakable fidelity to the dignity of all, especially the most vulnerable, was an inspiration to the world. Pope Francis’s decision to declare the death penalty “inadmissible” under Catholic teaching was a righteous step forward, and the culmination of many years of hard work by so many.

What a joy it was for me to meet Pope Francis some years ago in Rome, and to know how aware he was of our struggle to end capital punishment in the United States and around the world! An execution had been carried out the night before I met him, and he asked me about it in a somber voice.

Thank you, Pope Francis, for all your years of service, and may you rest in peace now.

– Sister Helen Prejean
via Facebook
April 21, 2025

Pope Francis passed away today. 10 years ago, I was invited to speak alongside him on a visit he made to New York City. My work has brought me to interact with various known personalities, heads of state, celebrities, religious figures and more – I can say this meeting was something that I will carry with me for years to come.

This was a man who chose to be with the homeless rather than to dine with politicians during his trip to Washington on the same visit that brought us to share a stage together. This is a man who the night before our event went off-script and opened his remarks at the renowned St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC with prayers for the 700 Muslims who died and 900 who were injured while on pilgrimage in Mecca earlier that day. This was a man who told his global community to take in Syrian refugees at a time when much of the world was looking for a reason to cast them out. This was a man who recognized the statehood of Palestine and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Religion and faith are vehicles for good. Our issues with religion today stem not from critics and skeptics deconstructing and disproving religious belief, but the way we approach it ourselves. Religion has become too mechanical, and the mechanics are all that we know. For many of those who practice a faith, the rituals become legalistic and habitual, held not in our hearts but expressed in rote gestures through our limbs.

We find ritual to be an end in itself, rather than a means to something bigger. When our faith loses lived compassion, love and hope, the potential of religion to be transformative, a catalyst for positive change, diminishes.

That potential weakens even more when religion is used as a tool to push people down. We see that today when leaders use religion to tell people only what they cannot do or have. A love for power takes precedence over the power of love. We justify our ill treatment of society’s underserved and underprivileged, those of different racial, ethnic and social classes, those who simply are different from us, by claiming that is what God wants us to do. We say this without embodying God’s unconditional love, compassion, or mercy in our actions.

– Khalid Latif
via Facebook
April 21, 2025

More than a half century ago, I chose “Francis” as my confirmation name in the Catholic Church. Today, while I confirm my rejection of the institutional church, I pause to honor a man who so often reminded us that Christianity was never about institutions or churches. By example Pope Francis taught us that our individual and collective acts of grace, kindness and forgiveness are our true purpose. Humility and service. To be a neighbor among neighbors.

Pope Francis never missed a chance to stop whatever he was doing, no matter how official, to truly see and hear those most needing to be seen and heard. He may not be leaving a radically revolutionized church or papacy behind, but those countless moments of grace will be his legacy. That he might awaken the inner “Francis” in each of us will be legacy enough.

– David Graham Fuller
via Facebook
April 21, 2025

Pope Francis truly was a People’s Pope, a profoundly beneficent presence on the world stage. His compassion for the poor, for victims of war in Gaza and elsewhere, for rights of immigrants, and for responsibility to the planet during an era of climate change, were spiritual swords of Truth.

Those of us who embraced his words were uplifted by them. His spirit of radical truth telling, including a devastating critique of the inequities of unfettered capitalism, will live on as searing reminders of our moral responsibilities to each other and to God.

The Pope is obviously the leader of the world’s Catholics, but when his spiritual power is genuine it is a blessing on the world. So it was with him. You did not have to be Catholic to sense his holiness or to be grateful for his wisdom. He did not shy away from the political or economic realities of this world. He bravely demonstrated moral leadership, always focusing the world’s attention on the suffering of human beings despite the willingness of the world’s most powerful to dismiss it.

In a world of too few heroes, he was one.

– Marianne Williamson
Excerpted from “The Legacy of Pope Francis”
Transform
April 21, 2025

On Easter Sunday 2025, two men addressed the world. One had trouble breathing, the other had trouble shutting up. One clung to life long enough to offer a final blessing. The other clung to grievance like a toddler with a toy he’d already broken. And in the space between their words – between grace and bile, between resurrection and resentment – we found the chasm that defines this era.

Pope Francis, just days before his death, emerged onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica with the breath of a dying man and the spirit of a giant. Unable to read his own Urbi et Orbi address, he still insisted on standing before the faithful, waving to the crowd, blessing children, offering joy.

“Brothers and sisters, Happy Easter!” he said. “All of us are children of God.”

His message, read aloud on his behalf, pleaded for peace in Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar, and Congo. He called for aid instead of arms, compassion instead of cruelty. He asked the world not to close its doors to migrants and those in need.

He died the next day.

This is what courage looks like. This is what faith sounds like. And this is what a final sermon should be: selfless, human, hopeful.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic and deep inside his own echo chamber, President Donald Trump spent Easter Sunday spraying venom on Truth Social like a skunk with a grudge.

His opening post tried for warmth: “Melania and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!”

But the illusion didn’t last. Soon came the bile: “Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and . . .”

And, of course, he couldn't resist revisiting the 2020 election, accusing his opponents of fraud and wishing them a sarcastic “Happy Easter.”

No mention of resurrection. No nod to Christ. No humility, no mercy, no grace. Just recycled lies, tired blame, and a Hallmark card dipped in acid.

He didn’t stop there. He attacked Biden. He attacked judges. He called immigrants criminals. He declared himself “the greatest friend that American capitalism has ever had.”

And then, as if it were all normal, he went golfing.

It would almost be funny if it weren’t so blasphemous. But the contrast doesn’t stop there – it gets louder the closer you listen.

If we grade them on compassion, Francis passes while Trump tantrums.

If we grade them on truth, Francis pleads for it while Trump buries it.

If we grade them on the spirit of Easter – hope, forgiveness, love – Francis embodied it with his final breath. Trump mocked it with his thumbs.

One man spent his last day calling for peace. The other spent his yelling into the void he created.

What Francis gave away – blessing, kindness, dignity – Trump has only ever tried to sell. Every Easter post is a sales pitch in a tinfoil halo. Every “God bless” is a dog whistle to the paranoid. And every “Happy Easter” is followed by another tantrum against a judge, a migrant, or a ghost from the 2020 ballot box. This isn’t faith. It’s performance art for the spiritually bankrupt. You can’t preach resurrection while fantasizing about revenge. You can’t invoke Christ while mocking the crucified. And you sure as hell can’t call yourself a servant of God while suing the prophets and golfing through plagues.

Francis’s final appearance was a moment history will remember – a weak body held upright by moral strength. Trump’s Easter outburst was one more smear on an already stained record.

The Pope asked the world to imagine peace. Trump asked the world to imagine him on the throne again. One gave his last breath. The other won’t stop breathing threats.

We do not confuse noise with meaning. We do not mistake a megaphone for a message. One gave a blessing. The other gave a middle finger.

And one of them had the decency to die with dignity.

To the Catholics who still worship Trump: You don’t get to hide behind “God uses imperfect people.” That line is for those who repent. That’s for sinners who kneel, not tyrants who tweet. You think Jesus would’ve stormed the Capitol in a red hat? You think the man who flipped tables in the temple would pose for a Bible photo op after gassing a crowd?

You call yourself pro-life while cheering on mass deportations. You take communion while swallowing conspiracy theories whole. You ignored every single Gospel passage about humility, compassion, and the dangers of wealth – and replaced them with Trump’s golden toilet.

Pope Francis begged us to remember the poor. Trump called them criminals. And you still chose the guy with the spray tan and a grudge. Pick a side. Because one of them followed Christ.

And the other thinks he is Christ – minus the love, the sacrifice, or the spine.

– “Resurrection Vs. Resentment:
Easter According to Francis and the Fraud”
Closer to the Edge
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Remembering Pope Francis, “the Shepherd Who Walked With Us”

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