Baltimore Sun editorial supports Pope Leo's moral authority to disagree with Donald Trump's wrongminded criticism
Echo Baltimore Sun editorial (Maryland): Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo cross a moral line. Pope Leo is not a politician ❗ In a nation built on the freedom of belief, disagreement with religious leaders is not only permissible but inevitable. Nevertheless, there is a difference between disagreement and dismissal, between critique and an attempt to diminish moral authority itself. That distinction is at the center of Donald Trump’s recent challenge to His Holiness Pope Leo. For Marylanders, this is not an abstract debate. Ours is the cradle of American Catholicism. From the founding of the Baltimore Basilica to generations of Catholic schools, hospitals and parishes, the Church has played a defining role in shaping both civic and moral life in this state. Millions of Americans and many here at home look to the pope, not as a political figure, but as a moral compass rooted in centuries of teaching and tradition. No public figure, including a pope, is beyond critici...