Vatican cardinal sees Trump as sign of ‘secular messianism,’ Syrian political transition as ‘sign of hope’
January 22, 2025
» Continue to this story on L'Osservatore Romano (Italian)
CWN Editor's Note: In an interview devoted principally to the situation of Eastern Catholics, the prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Eastern Churches described the recent Syrian political transition—in which the militant Islamist Abu Mohammad al-Jolani displaced Bashar al-Assad—as a “sign of hope.” The prelate also weighed in on the inauguration of President Donald Trump.
Asked about the “political transition in Syria, the truce in Gaza,” Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti responded, “I certainly believe that these events are precisely the sign of a hope that would seem impossible ... How they will go, it is difficult to know, but the fact that they exist means that there are roots of good that can still grow.”
Asked about the comfort of many Western Christians in comparison the suffering of many Eastern Christians, Cardinal Gugerotti weighed in on the Trump inauguration:
The Pope often speaks of a piecemeal war, and now the pieces risk coming together very easily. Think about what is happening in these hours in the United States: the inauguration of the new president.The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
The whole world is looking there. The messiah is considered this new event that everyone thinks will save us, through the unpredictability of things and of the person. It is as if we were saying: something good could come, since it cannot be worse. The secular messianism that we are experiencing at this moment is curious.
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