An odd couple of two Americans, each powerful in his own way, throws into relief the ambiguous, portentous and often tortuous relationship between the United States and the world. Whose vision will win?
One is President Donald Trump. The other is Pope Leo XIV, born in Chicago as Robert Francis Prevost, the first American citizen in two millennia to be supreme pontiff of Rome. Each seems like a perfect foil for the other.
One reveres and liberally wields lethal force as commander of the world¡¯s mightiest military. The other commands scads of soft power but none of the hard kind, save about 135 Swiss Guards whose halberds, photogenic as they may be, are unlikely to topple regimes in Venezuela, Iran or anywhere.
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