MAGAs Do Not Think Like God or Pope Leo

Letter to Romans: Pope Leo & I grew up on Chicago’s Southside, so we likely have that classic Catholic guilt complex. I still say 3 Our Fathers & 3 Hail Mary’s daily after confessing Davd Soul is Darryl Van Duch’s pen name. What if Leo’s “politics” were tried in a Windy City court of Law?

Well, what if Jesus had gotten a fair trial before Pilate in wind swept Jerusalem? The misunderstood Christ, after all, was often frustrated in even his Apostles not always “seeing with their eyes, hearing with their ears.” Likewise, today’s Pope has been widely criticized, including by MAGA conservatives & independents like me, over his statements on such controversial topics as mass migration. Yet, truth is, few have read & absorbed the full transcripts. What if consigliere me were to cross-examine Pope Leo now, as if a hypocritical Pharisee using a “gotcha” trap?

Davd: Your Holiness, does Catholic compassion require open borders & unlimited foreign & domestic aid?

Leo: My overriding message has simply been to recite the Gospel’s teaching about welcoming the stranger as if a brother or sister. I’ve especially encouraged all to consider Christ’s Commandment that we love others as ourselves. In that “Good Samaritan” spirit, I have urged Catholics to reject indifference & discrimination. And, yes, in late 2025 I called for deep reflection on how some migrants were being treated, particularly when a federal immigration facility near Chicago denied pastoral access to detainees. But I have also carefully tried to balance the Second Vatican Council’s Gaudium et Spes recognizing the legitimate AUTONOMY of political communities & the responsibilities of governments to provide public order, enforce their just laws & ensure the common good.

Davd: Have you publicly stated that migrants have an obligation to adapt to their new society rather than demanding that the receiving society adapt to them?

Leo: Have you never heard of Christ’s admonition to “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”? Did I not say in Tenerife, Spain last year that integration is a reciprocal journey, that migrants & their cultures not only deserve to live on with respect, but are morally obligated to respect their host’s laws, to learn its language, to get to know its customs, & to gratefully participate in communal life?

Davd: We both know Boss Daley couldn’t have said it better. So, Cubs & White Sox fans must get along?

Davd Soul