To the Journal editor:

The Grimms Brothers’ fairy “Tale of the Fisherman and his Wife” came to mind when I recently reflected on the war in Iran. I loved that story as a child and years later, dutifully read it to my children at bedtime.

In this classic tale, a poor fisherman lives in a hovel near the sea and catches a magic fish. His wife pesters him to ask the magic fish for a bigger house, then a mansion, then to be a king, then emperor, then pope. The fish grants all these wishes. But when the greedy wife asked the fish to make her “equal to God,” the fish cast them back into their hovel.

It is dangerous to play god–unless you are God. President Trump was playing God a few weeks ago by casting himself as an AI Jesus-like meme in response to Pope Leo’s criticism of the unethical way the president has waged war against Iran. Pope Leo called Donald Trump’s threats to destroy “a whole civilization” in Iran as “truly unacceptable” and a violation of international law.

The pontiff emphasized that targeting civilian infrastructure and entire populations is a moral question that cannot be justified, urging world leaders to prioritize peace and diplomacy over military escalation. Following these remarks, the first American-born pope faced criticism from the president, who labeled him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” on social media.

Despite the backlash, the Vatican maintained its stance, with the pope stating he has “no fear of the administration” while continuing to advocate for the message of the gospel.

As a practicing Catholic, I was deeply offended by Mr. Trump’s remarks and his attempt to portray himself as Jesus-like. Our local Bishop John Doerfler of the Marquette Catholic Diocese took offense from Mr. Trump in stating in the U.P. Catholic when he said: “Greetings in Jesus Christ. Recently, President Donald Trump made disparaging remarks about our Holy Father, Pope Leo. Such comments are completely unacceptable, and the Holy Father deserves an apology. In the face of multiple wars spanning the globe, Pope Leo has rightly called for peace.”

The Pope’s voice resonates the true Christian values against the barbaric genocidal threats of the president to annihilate an entire civilization. It can be said that the church led by the Bishop of Rome has a 2,000-year mandate from God to preach against barbaric militarism, common to undemocratic authoritarian regimes. We are better than this.