Hot Type: 'Your Hands Are Full of Blood' — Pope Leo's Smackdown to the Trump Regime, Today's Column for Byline
In today's Hot Type column in Byline, I interview veteran reporter and religious liberty campaigner Tom Carter about the wildest standoff in the West, Pope Leo vs Donald Trump
***Please take out a membership to support the light of truth.***
I recall the moment when my Catholic school’s second grade teacher received the greenlight to play guitar on the altar. Her debut song was Bob Dylan's Blowin’ In the Wind, and it was some kind of revolution. The organ stayed, but the song never remained the same.
The folk music of that time could now be played with acoustic guitar, and the songs of Peter, Paul & Mary and John Denver were introduced right beside that feary God we were taught to worship. As an adult, I developed my own spiritual path, which includes a loving and king force I call God.
Those who read these pages are aware that I have prayed my way through endless cathedrals in Europe.
And I was inside Notre Dame in Paris the exact moment the new Pope was announced last May. My mother had come to visit me for Mother’s Day, and I had taken her to a service at Notre Dame.
Kismet.
On February 28, 2025, in that post above, I had written that “I prayed for a light to spread through the world that embodies goodness and love, while also neutralizing evil.”
When I learned that the chosen Pope was a good and kind human, an American from Chicago, and not one of the pro-Russian propaganda QAnon superspreader frauds, I hit my knees. I thought that maybe he could be a counterweight to the constant cruelty of the Putin and Trump regimes.
It’s a lot to ask of one man, running a 2,000-year-old organization with a history as blighted as the Catholic Church, but to me, Pope Leo’s arrival was truly wonderful news.
And for today’s Hot Type column in Byline, I wrote about that.
I interviewed veteran reporter Tom Carter, who spent the last 15 years trying to get media outlets to investigate the extremist and powerful sect within the Catholic Church, embodied by the Washington DC lobbyist Leonard Leo, who was the force behind six of the nine SCOTUS judges.
Here is my column:
Truth has a funny way of breaking through the clouds.
And Tom is still at it, investigating DC’s MAGA Catholic web, and where the alliances of the six extremist Catholics on the Supreme Court really lie. Spoiler alert: it’s not with Trump or the Constitution.
Those who joined our most recent Happy Hour, got to hear Tom perform a beautiful version of the Woody Guthrie-penned song Deportee.
I recommend getting reacquainted with folk artists and folk songs. They are, after all, protest songs, and we need protest music to strengthen our resolve for the ongoing fight ahead.
I am posting an excerpt of my column below, and I thank you as always for supporting Byline Supplement and Byline Times. Independent investigative journalism is crucial to the survival of truth.
Hot Type: ‘Your Hands Are Full of Blood’ — Pope Leo’s Smackdown to the Trump Regime
Byline political columnist Heidi Siegmund Cuda talks to veteran reporter and religious liberty campaigner Tom Carter about the wildest standoff in the West, Pope Leo vs Donald Trump
Published on April 4, 2026, Byline Supplement
“This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood’.”
Pope Leo on Palm Sunday, Vatican City
Pope Leo XIV is throwing haymakers at Donald Trump.
On Palm Sunday, one of the two most powerful Americans on the planet told a crowd of thousands the Iran war is “atrocious”.
For the 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, the signal was clear: Jesus should not be used to justify war. This is not the first time the Pope has excoriated the Trump regime. In recent weeks, in multiple official statements and at the pulpit, Pope Leo has condemned the US regime on immigration and its crimes against humanity.
According to Tom Carter, the veteran reporter who blew the whistle on ultra-conservative religious lawyer and Washington DC lobbyist, Leonard Leo , this intensifying standoff between Pope Leo and Donald Trump could fracture his web of MAGA Catholics, a term Carter uses to identify the extremist Catholics within Trump’s regime.
“MAGA Catholics comprise six out of 16 members of Trump’s cabinet, so 37.5% of his cabinet is MAGA Catholic,” Carter told Byline Supplement. “If the Border Czar and Press Secretary were cabinet positions, it would be 44.4%.”
Most notably, Trump officials are using religious rhetoric to sell the US-Israeli war to the masses, including evangelical Christian nationalist US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who leads prayer services at the Pentagon, and who used brutal language on Wednesday when he asked for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy”.
And in an awkward public exchange, Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt strode over to the White House briefing podium on Monday, asking reporters if they could hear “our Amen” in there?’ She said “we just had a little loud prayer as a team”.
But when she was asked about the Pope’s Palm Sunday comments her tone shifted to a defensive posture, blurting something about the US being founded on “Judeo-Christian values”.
In the Beginning Was the Word
Last May, Pope Leo became the first US leader of the global Catholic Church, and those who hoped then he might be a counterweight for good to the awfulness of Trump may get their wish.
At the very least, said Tom Carter, it’s a start.
“Pope Leo and his representatives are speaking out, strongly, against the Trump regime’s inhumane immigration policies and against Trump’s criminal war in Iran. They need to do more,” he said. “Name names. Catholic MAGAs are the backbone of the Trump administration. Without Leonard Leo, the Leonard Leo-backed Supreme Court judges, JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Tom Homan, RFK Jr, Karoline Leavitt, etc, the Trump regime collapses like Jenga. I’d like to see the Pope name these MAGA Catholics, put them on notice. But, speaking out generally is a start. In the beginning was the word.”
Carter, who spent the last 15 years, trying to raise awareness about the outsize influence of the far-right political cult within the Catholic Church, Opus Dei, and the damage being done by the extremist Catholics placed on the Supreme Court by his former boss, Leonard Leo, thinks this Chicago-born Pope may have the courage to take on Opus Dei.
“He weakened Opus Dei in Peru before becoming Pope,”he said. “I think he is extremely well informed, on a personal level, regarding Opus Dei. As Pope, I think he is walking a fine line between reforming Opus Dei and pushing them into leaving the church and schism.
“The church is 2000 years old. It doesn’t change course overnight. Remember, he is one year into his leadership, dealing with a powerful organization, whose leader is an official Catholic saint. He doesn’t want or need another schismatic sect. The Pope is young. He has time. I wish he’d go harder, faster. I think he’ll get there eventually.”
An Easter Miracle
My friend Gareth Gore was in disbelief when he received a message that Pope Leo had requested a meeting.
The London-based business reporter’s deep dive into Opus Dei, resulted in his book, Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church, and he’s been a vocal critic of the church’s whitewashing of Opus Dei’s harms.
But on March 16, he had a 40-minute meeting with Pope Leo in Rome.
And Gore didn’t pull any punches. He said he told Pope Leo in detail about how the group abuses the legitimacy given to it by the Catholic Church. He spoke of the human trafficking case in Argentina, and how similar cases are showing up in Ireland, France, Mexico and Spain, and how Opus Dei is working to cover up its alleged abuses. Gore said he ended the meeting by encouraging the Pope to meet with victims himself.
Tom Carter calls the meeting between Gareth Gore and Pope Leo “an Easter miracle”.
“The Pope was very clear. He explicitly told Gareth to publicize the meeting,” said Carter. “So yes, it is to put Opus Dei on notice.”
He said he found Opus Dei’s response to the meeting remarkable.
“It’s fascinating that Opus Dei’s response was that the Pope was hoodwinked,” he said. “You’d think a powerful organization like Opus Dei could afford better PR managers. I’m not sure ‘the Pope is stupid’ plays well in Rome.”
An important takeaway, he said, is that Pope Leo “is listening and paying very close attention to this group, its criminal trafficking of women and Opus Dei survivors. Not much was said, that we know of, about Opus Dei politics and MAGA Catholics in DC, but a third of Gareth’s book details Opus Dei’s political web in DC, centered on Leonard Leo, so it’s a safe bet that Pope Leo is well informed.”
I asked Carter if this standoff between MAGA Catholic extremists and the Pope is likely to escalate.
“Absolutely. 66% of the US Supreme Court is MAGA Catholic, and nearly half of the Trump cabinet is MAGA Catholic,” he said. “To me, those are astounding numbers. JD Vance, Tom Homan, Karoline Leavitt have all attacked the Pope saying he is wrong on faith and tradition. Steve Bannon even plotted with Jeffery Epstein to undermine and remove Pope Francis. It’s hilarious, even ridiculous, like an episode of South Park. Who Protests the Pope? Protestants do. It’s where they got their name. Not Catholics in good standing.”
Carter said if the Pope continues to use the power of the pulpit to thwart Trump’s extremism, he could actually weaken Trump’s following significantly.
“In 1945, Potsdam, Stalin famously dismissed the Pope, asking how many divisions does the Pope have. He didn’t have to listen to any Pope, because the Pope has no army. Trump is walking that same arrogant road, into the same trap.
“Pope Leo and Trump, who Bishop Barron and other MAGA Catholics have compared to Jesus Christ, are the two most powerful Americans in the world. Trump and MAGA Catholics are enormously powerful right now, but the MAGAs are ridiculed and rejected by the rest of the world. See EU members and Trump’s request for help in Iran. I think Pope Leo will be standing long after Trump and MAGA Catholics have left the scene.”
The Pope, who is known to be very careful with his words, is signaling across oceans and continents that the savior 1.4 billion people call their God is not to be used as the icon for a cruel and racist regime.
“(Jesus) did not arm himself, or defend himself, or fight any war,” Leo said on Palm Sunday. “He revealed the gentle face of God, who always rejects violence. Rather than saving himself, he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross.”
****
As Tom said on RadPod this week, he’s rooting for the Pope.
We also had a blast at the virtual bar livestream last night, showing highlights from Tom’s interview on RadPod & (Not So) Chill.
As those of you who read me know, I am committed to doing at least one beautiful thing a day, so no matter what I’m working on, each day I carve out time to see something beautiful. This week, I made trips to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, where I was surrounded by people of every faith who wanted to witness this 1923 Montmartre marvel.
As luck should have it, I arrived in time to attend an evening service. And when I returned the next day, there was a procession in the street, an Old World tradition linking the past to the present.
As always, I discover other cathedrals when walking in Europe. And I stopped into the Église Saint-Jean du Montmartre. It was late, and I hope to return during daylight hours so I can see this red-brick, art nouveau beauty from 1904 in all its stained glass and mosaics glory. People were lining up to confess in a glass-encased confessional to a very sweet-faced priest, inspiring me to try to do maths.
“Dear Lord, I am heartily sorry, it’s been 48-years since my last confession.
Lol.
Thank you to everyone who reads these pages and supports this work.
Bette members, don’t forget to register for our Easter Sunday Speakeasy with New York Times-bestselling author Craig Unger.
And whatever you celebrate, may it include chocolate.
****
****
Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members.
I expose the corruption of billionaire fascists, while relying on memberships to keep the light on.
Thank you in advance for considering the following:
Share my reporting with allies
Buying my ebooks
A private link to an annual membership discount for older adults, those on fixed incomes or drawing disability, as well as activists and members of the media is available upon request at bettedangerous/gmail. 🥹
More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
🤍
Begin each day with a grateful heart.
🤍
