It is Time for Pope Francis to Repair American Conservative Relations

Pope Francis has long been seen as a liberal figure who seeks to change the Church and fight against its conservative institutions, while also fighting conservatives across the Anglophone world, especially in the United States.

Whether true or not, this perception has plagued the Catholic Church in its abilities to move towards a more global episcopate.

This has to stop with the rise of President Trump following Election Night 2024 as the world's leading nation re-chose their former 45th President that gave Pope Francis the most trouble in keeping neutrality to put it very nicely.

The world is too fragile for Pope Francis to play into prideful endeavors and he must seek forgiveness and reproach as he often advises to others to place the Catholic Church as a leading negotiator in the peace talks and defense alliances that will resume under the Trump Administration.

Pope Francis's brilliance in foreign diplomacy has allowed the Catholic Church to be in the most unique of positions where they are tied into the Russian Federation and Ukraine political circles, the Iranian and Arab Gulf elite, the Israeli and Palestinian leadership, and in plenty of other conflicting sides that will hope to use this new momentum to bring peace across the world.

This is vital to the security of Catholics, other Christians, and people across many conflict zones where the Church's inclusion is a necessity for our global members.

Take the Middle East for example.

Right now, the Holy Land Christians are bombed and attacked everyday while their futures are constantly taken from them given the status quo of the people that govern them. The Trump Administration has stated that they would bring about peace, but have hinted at giving Israel more of a green light to do so.

Yet, at the same time, we also know that President Trump has placed a premium on the protection of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa. A great example of this happened on Monday night when President Trump gave compliments at his rally in Michigan to the Chaldean Catholics and when Vice President-elect J.D. Vance attended a Maronite Catholic mass the morning of election day displaying how much the two value these historic and important Catholic groups.

These two Eastern Catholics are at the forefront of the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the Maronite Catholics largely live where missiles are being dropped in Lebanon and the Chaldean Catholics largely live in Iraq where militias are launching attacks from. This leads to these two Catholic groups being in target range of any attack if the conflict becomes more hot.

Therefore, since we know that President Trump and his vice president-elect are pro-Catholic in the region, Pope Francis can leverage this by using his vast diplomatic network to deliver information to President Trump and his team, and to work on peace processes that satisfy all parties involved so we can protect all Catholics in the region.

Next, we can look to Ukraine where both Pope Francis and President Trump have secured close relationships with both Ukraine and Russia. Yet, while Pope Francis is well-aware of how Christian and Catholic the Ukrainian side is, many in the President Trump team appear unaware in this difficult history of Ukrainian and Ruthenian Catholics under Russian-leadership. For many in the conservative circles of the USA, they see Ukraine as anti-Christian and Russia as pro-Christian in the war and thus have created a potential danger for the millions of Catholics in Ukraine if they give Russia too many resources and land in a peace deal. Thus, it would behoove Pope Francis and his diplomatic corps of the Holy See to engage with the new Trump Administration right away such as his Catholic Vice President-elect, J.D. Vance, to fight for the interests of the Ukrainian Catholics.

Another vital example is in Nigeria where President Trump has made clear allies with Igbo-diaspora leaders from the states of the former Biafra-nation. The Igbo people and their homeland in southeast Nigeria called Igboland are terrified for their futures with encroaching often violent and looting activities from other ethnic groups of other religions, most notably those that are members of radical Islamic terrorists groups.

The people here live in a reality where immigration is not a strength and is rather believed to be used as a political and socio-religious weapon to change the internal demographics of what is projected to become a top four populous nation by the turn of the century. Furthermore, this migration also has another alleged goal which is to create large scale wealth distribution. The Igbos and the Southern Nigerian Christians have long ruled over a more prosperous and free part of Nigeria, especially the Igbos who dominate a very resourcefully rich environment full of fossil fuels like coal and oil. This wealth is desired by the northerners and the leaders of Nigeria so much so that stolen wealth through corruption and illegal land acquisitions are common.

While Pope Francis often preaches tolerance and tries to distant his Church from the military and hospitaller tradition of protecting our members, the Catholics in this region have sought self-defense to protect against mass-killings, church-burnings, and the stolen wealth that have made Nigeria one of the worst places to live as a Christian. So naturally, Igbos will seek a plan for their survival against extremism similar to the Christian Assyrians (Chaldeans are Assyrians) who formed the Nineveh Plain Protection Units in Iraq to fight with an alliance that under the first President Trump-led USA, was able to defeat ISIS and take back key traditionally Christian regions of arguably the world's oldest living civilization.

Thus, Pope Francis would be very intelligent to co-ordinate with President Trump and the Catholics on the ground in Nigeria on a plan to defend our fellow Church-members there like President Trump did with the Assyrians and other Iraqis when they fought Islamic extremism in their nation.

There are countless other examples of a Pope Francis closer relationship with President Trump benefitting various regions in securities that help Catholics from India to Guam, but it would extend this article too long and make it a book.

So, the last example of where Pope Francis should work with President Trump is in building a culture of life.

President Trump's first four year term saw the selection of three conservative justices including two Catholics that helped overturn Roe v. Wade and set in the motion of eliminating legal abortion in many states of the USA.

While President Trump has become more pro-choice in abortion policies in his candidacy for 2024, especially in his support for IVF, he has maintained a position of religious exemptions which would help keep Catholic hospitals open across the USA.

This is a vital policy for the Holy See to support as many countries are either fighting against religious exemptions or do not include them, but if Pope Francis can energize the Catholic Church in the USA to become a leading voice in exemptions, it is likely exemptions will continue to be the norm in the USA and will likely set a standard to follow around the world on new issues like IVF.

The Catholic Church must continue to exert neutrality and Pope Francis cannot lead the Holy See to be seen as one sided in nearly every conflict. However, this neutrality does not override the purpose of the Holy See's diplomatic corps which is to create better conditions for Catholics around the world. With a President-elect who strongly applauds the Church and many Catholic issues in his country and around the world, Pope Francis has a very good opportunity to reproach President Trump and get the ball rolling on very important projects to help accomplish very important policies of the Church.