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Dear Progressive Reader,

The Catholic Church has a new pope. Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago, Illinois, was chosen ([link removed]) Thursday after four ballots to be the leader of the world’s 1.4 million Catholics. Prevost is the second pope from the Americas (Francis was from Argentina) but the first ever from the United States. He chose the papal name of Leo XIV to honor his vision for the job which aligns with the previous Pope Leo, who died about 120 years ago and who supported ([link removed].) the rights of working people to organize in unions and receive fair wages.

The new pontiff also has spent much of his life working abroad and is known to be critical ([link removed]) of Donald Trump’s policies to deport immigrants. This is particularly notable since earlier this week Trump published ([link removed]) an AI image of himself on his social media platform “Truth Social” wearing papal vestments. The image was later retweeted on the official White House Twitter account and received praise from U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who wrote ([link removed]) on his own Twitter account, “Glad to report there is very positive reception and strong momentum for President Trump to be the next Pope. But I will be first to admit there has been some resistance!” Some of that resistance came from Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, who,
according to ([link removed]) The New York Times, said of the photo, “I hope that he regrets posting it.”

Besides the sheer hubris of Trump’s action, it also shows how much has changed in this country since the time sixty-five years ago when, in order to win election for President in 1960, John F. Kennedy had to assure voters ([link removed].) that he would not accept “instructions on public policy from the Pope.” The late Pope Francis was often at odds with Trump on immigration policy, the environment, and international politics. The new Pope Leo XIV signaled today ([link removed]) that he, too, will be willing to express his serious differences with the U.S. President on these issues.

This week on our website Saurav Sarkar reports on ([link removed]) the drone attack against the ship Conscience, anchored off of Malta, as it was preparing to deliver humanitarian aid to people in Gaza who are suffering under a months long blockade in the current war; Paul Von Blum reviews ([link removed]) a new book by Peter Beinart about being Jewish during the current war in Gaza: and Nyki Duda looks at ([link removed]) the legacy of the struggle against fascism on the eightieth anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe. Plus, epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding pens an op-ed ([link removed]) on the economic cost of Donald Trump’s tariffs on our medicines and our public health.

Finally, The Progressive offers warm congratulations to Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha who was awarded ([link removed]) the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his essays ([link removed]) in The New Yorker about the Palestinian experience in the face of the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on Gaza. In October 2023, two new poems by Abu Toha appeared on our website athttps://progressive.org/latest/bearing-witness-in-gaza-toha-20231020/progressive.org ([link removed]) , followed by a third, which was featured ([link removed]) in the December/January 2023-2024 print magazine. The prize was certainly well-deserved.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

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