In a shocking display of audacity, world leaders managed to turn the Pope’s funeral into what resembled a war cabinet meeting. Figures like Trump and Zelensky, with photographs of the encounter being paraded across unified networks as if to provoke a visceral reaction of manipulated awe. Such acts were nothing short of propaganda stunts that reeked of insincerity.
A picture truly is worth a thousand words.
At Pope Francis’ funeral, Zelensky is making one last desperate attempt to convince Trump to fund his war, and Trump is once again telling him that that the jig is up.
Historic scenes at the Vatican.
These leaders, blessed with countless opportunities for private meetings, chose this sacred occasion to flaunt their agendas, obliterating any notion of sobriety and respect in favor of a Hollywood-style spectacle. During the very funeral of a religious figure who had vociferously condemned wars in Ukraine, exorbitant military expenditures, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, these leaders opted for sensationalism over sincerity.
Their presence was a testament to the shallow nature of diplomacy today—where appearance trumps substance. Assembled were the advocates of global conflict: Meloni, Macron, Starmer, Ursula von der Leyen, Metsola, alongside their warmongering cohort, with Biden at the helm, a president whose term has seen various regions of the world set ablaze.
In a bid to twist the narrative of the day, which should have been enveloped in contemplative silence, these leaders engaged in finger-pointing at Russia for its reluctance towards peace—a hypocritical move given their own belligerent stances. A few fleeting moments in the Vatican were portrayed as monumental shifts, disregarding decades of entrenched discord that the Pope himself had decried, denouncing NATO’s antagonism at Russia’s doorstep as hazardous folly.
Yet, disregard they did, failing to seize the moment to confront one of history’s most notorious architects of war, Benjamin Netanyahu. Instead, they chose verbosity over silence—a silence that might have acknowledged their complicity in ongoing genocides. Instead, they spoke loudly and decisively, cloaking their roles in these humanitarian crises under the guise of shallow soundbites and calculated public relations maneuvers.
