While I appreciate and commend the new Pope Leo for bringing tradition back to the Catholic Church, there is something the church has been lacking for some time now that needs to be restored: consistency. Granted, the Protestant church is no glowing model for this either, but the Catholic Church has 1.4 billion followers worldwide, and the head of that church, the pope, has much influence as a result. What he says carries a lot of weight, which means consistency and clarity in communication are crucial.

Pope John Paul II was an excellent example of consistency in messaging about the church’s stance on various political and social issues. He never wavered in his support for marriage, advocacy against population control, reinforcement of the prohibition against the ordination of women and homosexuals, and defense of the unborn. He was constant and committed to conservative theological doctrine.

He also possessed the moral clarity to know an evil regime or ideology when he saw one. Along with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, John Paul worked tirelessly against communism in all its forms. He was staunchly opposed to the Marxist movement known as “liberation theology,” which swept through Latin American Catholic churches in the 1970s and ‘80s. John Paul reprimanded a cardinal, a priest, and a member of the leftist Sandinista government during a 1983 visit to Nicaragua, and he also suspended five priests involved in the Sandinista government.

At the same time, in Poland, the pope supported the Solidarity movement, an anti-Marxist, pro-democratic movement aimed at dislodging Poland from the Soviet bloc. Our own Mark Alexander explained in 2005, “The Solidarity Movement embodied the concepts of individual liberty, free enterprise, and self-improvement. Liberation theology, on the other hand, embraces collectivization, the subordination of the individual in favor of the group, and the forced redistribution of wealth and property without fair compensation.” With the support of the Catholic Church, the Solidarity movement grew and maintained its opposition to the communist government. In the end, the movement brought down Polish communism and, eventually, the entire Soviet bloc. Lech Walesa, the first elected Polish president, stated, “Without Pope John Paul II there would be no end of Communism, or at least much later, and the end would have been bloody.”

Of course, the Leftmedia at the time called John Paul hypocritical and were furious with his condemnation of liberation theology. Alexander pointed out, “Only in the eyes of the jaded Left could the Pope’s support of an anti-Marxist movement and his condemnation of a pro-Marxist movement be seen as contradictory.” He was the complete opposite of what the Left was labeling him. He was consistent.

It would behoove the current pope to follow John Paul’s example. Pope Leo has generally been careful in his speech. However, I am seeing some discrepancies.

In his inaugural “state of the world” address, Leo declared, “A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies.” What happens when diplomacy has been tried for 50 years and failed? Do you keep dialoguing until your enemy, who has sworn to destroy your country, has a nuke and uses it on you? Shouldn’t he rather be encouraging Iran, the world’s leading terrorist nation, to put down its nukes, and no longer force our hand?

The Washington Post relayed, “Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services USA told CBS News … that the war in Iran would not be justified under the 'just war’ theory applied by the Catholic Church, arguing that while Iran may have posed a threat with nuclear arms, the U.S. is compensating for a threat before the threat is actually realized.” Are we supposed to wait until we’re blown to smithereens before we’re allowed to protect ourselves? The Iran operation is not about force, but about prevention. It is a defense against and protection from a radicalized regime that will stop at nothing to expand its network of terrorists around the world and openly shouts for the death of America.

Leo opposed U.S. strikes in Iran, claiming that “stability and peace are not built with mutual threats nor with weapons that sow destruction, pain, and death.” What about the pain and death that the Iranian regime has meted out on America, Israel, and others for the past 50 years? Iran has killed hundreds of U.S. soldiers over those years. Why does the pope not call out the mullahs for slaughtering as many as 40,000 of their own people in January alone? What was a glaring human rights abuse was welcomed silence from the pope, but when the U.S. takes action to stop the evil regime from its terrorist abuses, we get lectured. Leo ought to be calling out Russia for its violence, war crimes, and unwarranted invasion of Ukraine.

For a pope who came into office proclaiming he would avoid “partisan politics” and not “promote polarization in the Church,” he seems to have taken a side against President Donald Trump and his administration — led in part by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who are both Catholic. Last year, Leo called the enforcement of our immigration laws “inhuman.” Yet he gave no word about the cartels that treated human beings like cattle, trafficking millions of them across our borders illegally. We are not the bad guys for enforcing the Rule of Law in our country. Last time I checked, the Bible endorses following a nation’s laws.

In a private meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Leo reiterated the need for dialogue and focused “on the importance of protecting the civilian population and promoting respect for international and humanitarian law.” He’s preaching to the choir! No countries care more for civilian populations and humanitarian treatment than the U.S. and Israel. He should be preaching to China, Russia, Iran, and their proxies, who do nothing but extort, oppress, and kill — not only their own populations, but others as well.

Pope Leo declared that the post-WWII international order had been “completely undermined.” He’s right that the international order has been undermined, but not in the way that he thinks. It has been undermined by the globalist elites and weak Western leaders who sacrificed their countries on the altars of “green energy” and “democracy.” It has been undermined by the false belief that cultures aren’t different, that there shouldn’t be borders, and that everyone will just get along.

The world needs to wake up and realize that U.S. hegemony is the best thing for the world, not because we are America, but because of what America stands for: Liberty. If the U.S. is not filling that leadership role, another country will, and I don’t think the world will like the alternative, which is communism and Islamism. John Paul II understood that danger, but it seems that Leo has chosen partisan politics over consistency.