Growing up in Chicago as a White Sox fan, it’s safe to assume that Robert Francis Prevost was very much part of the baseball culture. It’s also safe to assume that he knows the term “swing and miss.” As Pope Leo, it’s astounding to see him swing and miss, not once but three times, in the context of his brief visit to Lebanon.
Arriving in the war-torn and Hezbollah-dominated country, Pope Leo delivered public remarks ranging on a variety of topics - peace, religious coexistence, the country’s economic crisis, political divisions, and lingering effects of the Israel-Hezbollah war. He even delved into international diplomatic issues that would otherwise be far afield from his theological role as head of the Catholic church, seen by many as a foul ball.
His first strike was not saying anything to ensure the protection and well-being of Christians in Lebanon, long threatened and attacked by Islamists. His best attempt, but definitely a swing and a miss, was to make a passive statement urging native Christians to remain in Lebanon and be part of the country’s pluralistic past.
Leo did not, however, explicitly address the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s requirement to disarm Hezbollah by the end of 2025, or the sectarian threats and violence of Islamists that created the Christian exodus from the country where Christians once represented more than half the population. Rather than doing so, he tepidly waited until his airport departure press conference, boldly stating, “The Church has put forward a proposal urging Hezbollah to lay down arms and prioritize dialogue,” adding, “Armed struggle brings no benefit: renounce violence and engage in constructive talks.”
Leo placed himself in the center of a months-old ceasefire and is weeks away from failure. Had it not been for the roar of his jet, Hezbollah’s leaders' hysterical laughter would have been audible in Rome.
Urging Christians to remain without addressing the threats to them and the obligation to protect the Christian population is analogous to telling an abused wife to remain in her abusive home without ensuring her protection. Essentially, he threw his faithful under the wheels of his own Popemobile.
If the Pope of all people is not going to speak out to truly protect Christians in Lebanon, who will be more righteous than the Pope? The irony is that in the past, Israel has shown more interest in Lebanon’s Christians than many millions of Christians. One vivid example is that my son’s commanding officer in the IDF is a Lebanese-born Christian whose family was among thousands rescued from certain persecution, if not slaughter, by Hezbollah’s Islamists in 2000.
I’m reminded of my friend, Sami, who once cried to me how Hezbollah ruined his life, and begged Israel to eliminate the Islamists.
Pope Leo’s second strike was his comments en route to Lebanon, calling for a “two-state solution” regarding Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. He was mute on protecting Lebanese Christians but put Israel in the crosshairs, suggesting that creating another Islamist Arab state, narrowing Israel’s borders and threatening the Jewish state is the “only path” to peace and justice for Israel and Palestinian Arabs.
Speaking to reporters, Leo opined, “We all know that at present Israel still does not accept this solution, but we see it is the only solution that could offer, let us say, an answer to the conflict they continue to live. We are also friends of Israel, and we are trying to act as a mediating voice for both sides, helping to bring about a solution that is fair for everyone.”
Adding to the swing and miss, Leo shared these comments in the wake of his meeting with Turkey’s Islamist President Erdogan. Pandering to the Islamist who harbors Hamas terrorists and slaughters Kurds, Leo shared that Turkey has an important role in the Middle East, rather than accurately calling out Erdogan’s dangerous threats, in the interest of “coexistence.” One has to wonder why Leo made Turkey the site of his first international trip since being elected, and remained mute on the Islamist’s open threats, converting a former landmark cathedral to a mosque, and striving to revive the Ottoman caliphate.
Strike three was the swing and miss of pandering to Islam rather than standing up boldly in the face of threats that Islamists have wreaked, and suggesting a political or diplomatic solution to a problem that rewards and emboldens Islamic terror (and theology that considers Jews and Christians, including the Pope, as dhimmi, tolerated second-class citizens). Rather than pandering to Islamists in Turkey and Lebanon, and truly offering thoughts and a solution in the theme of his visit, “blessed are the peacemakers,” Leo should have done a deep dive into his own faith, offering an actual Christian solution for peace, rather than balking and threatening Christians and Israelis in the same stroke.
At the risk of someone standing up and asking, “Who died and made you Pope,” if I were Pope, I’d have used my platform to teach Muslims what peace means. I’d build up on what Leo referenced in his own words, that “There is no peace without conversion of hearts.” I’d have offered a Christian solution for peace that involves actually changing hearts as I have proposed for Gaza , rather than simply mumbling pleasant rhetoric that will not bring peace, but will push everyone in the Middle East further from it.
In the face of Islamic threats, talk about reconciliation sounds nice, but it does not make persecuted Christians or anyone else safer. Beating around the bush in the shadow of Hezbollah’s empire makes the Islamists laugh their way back to their bunkers as they plot the spread of their evil tentacles.
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