Pontiff challenge

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In Pope Leo XIV, Donald Trump has met his match.

The mild-mannered Midwestern, known affectionately as Father Bob in his native Chicago, was an unlikely foe and, possibly, a reluctant one.

Unlike his combative predecessor Francis, who was overtly political in discussing climate change and migration in a way that was relished by progressives, this was not a pontiff itching for a fight. Indeed, he was dubbed the “silent pope” in Rome.

That’s changed.

On Saturday evening, as peace talks between the US and Iran were headed to an impasse, Leo denounced the “delusion of omnipotence.”

Photographer: Vatican Media/Corbis/Getty Images

“Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” he said at a prayer service. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!” He wasn’t yet naming names, but in denouncing Trump’s intervention in the Middle East, Leo found his voice.

This is not a match of equals.

Iran’s asymmetric warfare, which military supremacy cannot vanquish, has frustrated Trump.

Leo’s moral pedigree is equally vexing. Trump’s Truth Social putdowns aren’t effective against the spiritual leader of more than 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide — even when the pope occupies a mere 49 hectares of admittedly prime land.

Indeed, they might be counterproductive. For Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, it provided the pretext she needed to break with Trump. His increasingly erratic behavior has prompted more foreign leaders to distance themselves from a president they once rushed to appease.

In the US, there are upcoming midterms to consider. The first American pope is respected by many conservative voters whom Trump can’t afford to alienate. Further outrage at Trump’s post depicting himself as Jesus Christ prompted a rare retreat as he took it down.

Both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are Catholics and in the line of Republican succession.

In a Fox News interview, Vance sided with his boss. Time will tell if that hurts him. — Flavia Krause-Jackson

Photographer: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images

Global Must Reads

The US and Iran are looking to arrange a second round of peace talks before a ceasefire expires next week, as a standoff in the Strait of Hormuz worsens a global energy crisis and complicates diplomatic prospects for peace. The UK and France plan to hold a summit on Friday although European allies don’t want to deploy assets until there’s a permanent truce. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meanwhile spoke with Trump to discuss the situation.

Washington will allow a waiver temporarily authorizing the purchase of certain Iranian oil to expire this weekend after a similar concession on Russian crude ended. Israel’s spy chief pledged more covert efforts to topple Iran’s government, a tacit acknowledgment the countries’ conflict will continue even as the US pursues a new round of negotiations.

Israel and Lebanon met for their first high-level talks since 1993 in what the Israeli ambassador to the US called a “victory for sanity,” even as officials played down hopes for an end to the war with Hezbollah. The Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington met under US mediation, but any hopes of Israel easing its military campaign against its neighbor were low given that Hezbollah — a political party that’s also one of the world’s most powerful militant groups — wasn’t involved.

Trump’s tariffs may be restored by July to the levels in place before the Supreme Court struck down many of his levies, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a Wall Street Journal event in Washington. Trump is seeking to restore his tariff wall using different authorities after the court ruled that the use of emergency powers to impose the duties was unconstitutional.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said a €90 billion ($106 billion) European Union loan for Ukraine must be disbursed rapidly after an electoral defeat for Hungary’s Viktor Orban eliminated a major roadblock. Merz spoke after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Berlin yesterday, with the two leaders bolstering cooperation on air defense and drone production, and the chancellor reinforcing his support for Ukraine’s EU membership.

Photographer: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo

Greenland’s former prime minister, Múte B. Egede, will take over as foreign minister, placing an experienced operator in charge of managing diplomatic relations with the US as Trump maintains his desire to annex the Arctic territory.

Somali lawmakers failed to elect a new president as the parliament’s current term came to an end yesterday, creating fresh uncertainty in the Horn of Africa nation that’s suffered years of political instability.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed veteran political negotiator Roelf Meyer, a White Afrikaner regarded as an architect of the transition from apartheid, as the country’s next envoy to the US, with Pretoria seeking to steady relations with Washington after a turbulent year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping touted the stability of ties with Moscow and pledged deeper bilateral coordination when he met with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today.

Photographer: Iori Sagisawa/Getty Images

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Chart of the Day

Russia is struggling to capitalize on soaring oil prices, with exports from its key Black Sea port at Novorossiysk halted by Ukrainian drone strikes just as flows from the Baltic recover after earlier raids. That sent the country’s total four-week average shipments in the period to April 12 down to 3.22 million barrels a day, 200,000 less than the previous week and the lowest since August.

And Finally

More than 50 years after the last human set foot on the moon, the US and China are competing to repeat the achievement. A handful of other countries have their own lunar programs, as does the EU. Governments and private entities have planned more than 400 missions in the next two decades to fly past or circle the moon or to land crewed or uncrewed spacecraft there, according to a count by the European Space Agency.

Photographer: Jin Liwang

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