CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Pope Leo is Building a Theology of Resistance Against DC

Photograph Source: Edgar Beltrán / The Pillar – CC BY-SA 4.0

The images coming out of Luanda and Douala this weekend offer a striking contrast to the rhetoric emanating from Washington. While the White House continues its verbal offensive against Pope Leo XIV, labeling his calls for de-escalation in the Iran conflict as a “delusion” and questioning his legitimacy, the Holy Father is busy building a different kind of coalition. His 11-day journey through Algeria, Cameroon, and Angola is not merely a pastoral visit; it is a sophisticated geopolitical pivot. By moving the center of gravity of the Catholic Church toward the Global South, the Vatican is positioning itself as a moral arbiter that is increasingly independent of—and often in direct opposition to—American strategic interests.

For decades, the standard view of the Vatican’s global role was defined by the Cold War alliance between John Paul II and the West. That era is over. Pope Leo’s visit to Angola, a nation scarred by decades of civil war and now a significant player in the global energy market, underscores a new reality. The Catholic Church is growing fastest in the very regions where U.S. influence is most frequently viewed with skepticism. In Africa alone, the Catholic population has surged to over 288 million. When the Pope speaks in Luanda about the “handful of tyrants” ravaging the earth through war and exploitation, his audience is not the Beltway elite, but a global........

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