Pope Francis – Prophet for This Time

“The yearning for a leader who puts the needs and interests of others — including the least powerful — ahead of his own is felt especially among the many Americans today who desperately seek a light inside the darkness of Donald Trump.”

This is the third paragraph in an opinion article for the New York Times on March 13th, 2025  – contrasting Pope Francis’ persistent advocacy for those who suffer most with the harshness of  the right-wing populism and anti-immigrant rhetoric of this era.

“For this pope has emerged as an increasingly lonely moral voice against perilous global trends that have at times left the forces of liberal democracy reeling: nationalism, populism, disinformation, xenophobia, economic inequality and authoritarianism. A world without a pope like Francis will in some ways resemble a Hobbesian dystopia without both a prophet pointing to our better angels and a sensible idealist showing a better way.”

Penned by David Gibson of Fordham University, the article points to the historical irony of a Pope defending democracy at a time when authoritarian populism in the US, the cradle of modern democracy, has become its greatest threat. Gibson argues that this contrast may even ensure that what Pope Francis stands for will be continued by the next papacy, so strong is the growing disillusionment with ‘Trumpian darkness’.

The author finishes by suggesting that in ‘floundering’ in search of a political message to counter that of the Republican party led by Trump, US Democrats ‘could do worse than listening to a pope who has been preaching one for more than a decade.’

For the complete New York Times article click here.