Love thy neighbor is a sentiment thrown around quite a bit within Christian circles. But what does it mean? And how does it relate to our present day?
I was raised catholic in a progressive way, well as progressive as Catholicism can get. The best way to explain the type of Catholic I was raised, is that my mother is extremely pro-choice. Which sounds like it would go against everything Catholicism stands for. But, simply, Mary was given the choice and consented to bearing Jesus. Mary was not forced into giving birth to the son of God as seen in Luke 1:38, where she clearly gives consent. This may be different to the teachings that I was preached in church, but it felt right to me. God called on me to be view scripture through my own personal lens and that is what I’ve always done.
To me, love thy neighbor means to love everyone. To not cast hate but rather treat respectfully those who are different, those who dislike you, and those who go against what you believe. Do I follow this every day? Of course not! But it is why I feel so strongly about equal rights and social justice. God called on us to treat each other as brothers and sisters, to love your neighbor even if you don’t know them. Why would I go out of my way to have hate in my heart just because? Recently, I had the choice to make something for a person who said hurtful things about me or leave her out in the gift I was making for the group. I chose to make a gift for her anyway. Not because I was “being the bigger person” but because I didn’t want her to feel left out. My want to treat her with respect and avoid making her feel bad, outweighed my need to be petty. I understand greatly the need for loving thy neighbor.
The situation between the Pope and Trump feels like it falls under the same umbrella. The Pope called out Trump for treating immigrants disrespectfully, by tearing up families and inhumanly rounding them up and forcing them into horrific living conditions. The Pope follows the Bible, as most Catholics do which contains love thy neighbor. Loving thy neighbor is not something Trump is setting out to do and the Pope called this out.
Truly, mass deportations go against everything the Bible stands for, which is unity and love for thy neighbor. I think it is disgusting to see such carelessness in the actions of our government and a total disregard of the Christian values that the President and his followers preach so adamantly.
In addition, Trump posted an ai image of himself as a healer, bearing resemblance to Jesus healing the sick. For Trump to make an Ai image of himself imitating Jesus is blasphemous and goes against the commandment of having no false idols. As a result, it furthered the tension between Pope Leo and Trump.
Pope Leo has also spoken out against the war with Iran. Pope Leo believes that the dehumanizing language used to describe Iranians is not acceptable. Trump responded with, “Pope Leo is WEAK on crime” and he says that Pope Leo believes nuclear weapons should be in the hands of Iran. Honestly, that is idiotic to say about the Pope. Pope Leo does not think that Iran should have nuclear weapons, because Pope Leo does not believe in war and mass destruction. It is not shocking that the Pope disagrees with the deliberate murder of others and the devastation of the environment- Both God’s creations. Leviticus 19:18 literally states, “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” So, it makes sense that Trump would not be a favorite of Pope Leo, Trump is summed up by that list- he lies and supports a war which will end in the death of potentially hundreds of thousands.
I asked my Grandma about the current division between the Pope and Trump. My Grandma, who is a devout Catholic that attends church twice a week, simply answered with, “I don’t like Trump, he is everything Christianity is against.” I tried to pry more, but she seemed too irritated with the mention of Trump’s name to continue the conversation and went back to watching her game show. Later, when watching CNN, the Ai image of Trump as Jesus was flashed onto the screen. My Grandma was appalled by this and changed the channel. My Grandma, famously dislikes Trump, so it was not a surprise. But she is usually outspoken about her dislike for him. Following his insults of Pope Leo she avoids the conversation surrounding him entirely, which goes to show the level of offense he has shown to Catholics in America. Those who used to love to chat about him, even negatively, now refuse to hear his name in conversation.
Loving thy neighbor is the most important thing a Christian can do. It protects your peace of mind, and it follows Christ who loves all unconditionally. As someone who was raised Catholic it’s disheartening to see such blatant disrespect towards immigrants, Iranians, and Palestinians in our country, state, and county. It’s weird to see that the same people who preach theology constantly goes against what the Bible stands for and disregards human life so publicly. I encourage everyone, Christian or not, to focus more on loving your neighbor and having basic respect towards others.
