Pope v. President: There has lately been tension between the American president and the American pope, Leo XIV, who at the moment is traveling in Africa, which along with Asia and the Americas, now represents the Catholic church’s most fertile terrain. It is a church that, since the papacy of John Paul II, has largely turned away from Europe and North America, preferring to address the hundreds of millions of faithful in the developing world. John Paul was a legendary presence who enjoyed mingling with the poor and the dispossessed. He felt at home in African countries and, away from St. Peter’s, argued vigorously for the right to freedom from oppression, from any hindrance to worship freely, and from systems of government disdainful of individual dignity. Leo is doing no more than following in his footsteps, albeit more carefully, which is why his spat with the White House occupant has drawn less mainstream attention in Rome than in Washington. My friends who once covered the Vatican — as did I briefly — all say the same thing. That the Chicago-born Leo is shocked by this president’s gratuitous vulgarity and indifference to basic morality, whether by making war, reveling in deportations, or stripping charities and aid agencies of vital American support. My friend Paolo, who knew Leo as a cardinal, says the pontiff finds the American president shameful, as did his predecessor, Pope Francis, in his final years. The churchman and the billionaire exchange what might be called verbal glares, because, simply put, they dislike each other, and since the American president (who has portrayed himself as Jesus on social media) demands veneration, there is not nor can there be true common ground. One is a disciple of dignity, the other has no notion of what the word means. Adds Paolo, now 85, “Leo believes the president worships but one, himself,” and, absent humility, there can be no respect. Enough said.