Pope Leo vents about failure to end Iran war: 'Many innocent people have died'
Leo has drawn President Trump’s ire by forcefully advocating for an end to the war with Iran.
Friday, April 24, 2026
The problem with Social Media might be different than you think?
As I see the problem as someone who grew up in the 1950s is that people always needed to be very bored as children to grow up normal. why?
Because you have to look up at the sky and be bored and see all sorts of things in the clouds. You have to be bored enough to watch the birds and animals around you cavorting around in their world that we share with them. You have to be bored enough to go walking on the beach and walking in the mountains or wherever you are to explore What is there.
Without all these things you just do not grow up normal like we were for thousands of years before now, instead you become a product sort of like Dial Soap that is manufactured by whatever pictures and thoughts get shoved down your throat that are NOT your own thoughts and dreams but come from either people trying to make money on you or from people trying to harm you in some way.
So, you never grow up understanding what is good and real really at all in your life and you become vulnerable to all the awful things in the world that we all try to avoid when we grow up bored and listen to our elders of their experiences so we don't have to repeat their mistakes over and over again.
In my generation of Baby Boomers we were taught NOT to create another World war II or Great Depression.
Well. Look around you! it now looks like the Great Depression worldwide and World War II all over again doesn't it?
And where are the young people? Watching Tic Tok from China being programmed to think like "I don't know what?"
There are really only two ways to think and one is as a slave thinks and one is as a free person thinks.
And Video Games and Social Media for children doesn't tend to create people who are not Slaves. Why?
Because you have to be very observant what is going on around you and inside of you not to wind up a slave like most people are on earth.
For Free people they would rather be Dead than Be a Slave!
As in "Give me Liberty or Give me Death!" one of the mottos of the founding fathers of America!
Pope Leo vents about failure to end Iran war: Full Article
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Pope Leo vents about failure to end Iran war
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ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Leo expressed frustration Thursday that U.S. and Iranian leaders have not been able to get the diplomatic efforts to end the war back on track.
“One day Iran says 'yes,' the United States says 'no,' and vice versa,” Leo told reporters on the flight back to the Vatican after an 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. “We don’t know where this is going to lead, which has created again this chaotic situation, critical for the world economy.”
Leo spoke out as the fragile ceasefire that has been in place since April 8 was being tested anew by the standoff over the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, through which up to 20% of the world’s oil supply is shipped, was effectively shut down in early March after Iran imposed a blockade on the waterway, and then the U.S. imposed its own by barring ships from entering or exiting Iranian ports.
President Donald Trump declared Thursday on Truth Social that “Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is” and insisted that the U.S. has “total control over the Strait of Hormuz.”
But Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later posted on X that the country's leadership is unified. "Iran's state institutions continue to act with unity, purpose, and discipline," he wrote.
In the meantime, Leo told reporters on the papal plane, “there is also the entire population of Iran, of innocent people who are suffering because of this war.”
Asked about reports that the hard-line Iranian regime was executing political opponents, Leo said he condemns capital punishment and “the taking of people’s lives.”
“So when a regime, when a country, takes decisions which takes away the lives of other people unjustly then obviously that is something that should be condemned,” the pope said.
Leo has drawn Trump’s ire by forcefully advocating for an end to the war with Iran. That public spat has overshadowed his pontifical tour of four African countries, which ended Thursday with a Mass for thousands of people in Malabo, the former capital of Equatorial Guinea.
The Chicago-born pontiff has appeared to be trying to dial down the tension with Trump, saying last week that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate the U.S. president.
And when asked by reporters Thursday about the contentious issue of immigration, Leo made a statement that Trump would likely agree with.
“I personally think a state has the right to implement rules for their borders and I do not say that everyone should enter without order, creating situations which can sometimes be even more unjust in the places they are arriving to then from where they just left,” the pope said.
Leo, however, laid the responsibility for easing the immigration crisis on wealthy countries rather than on desperate migrants trying to escape poverty in their home countries.
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“I ask what do we do in the richer countries to change the situation in the poorer countries,” Leo said. “Why can we not find help from states for investments also in large, rich, multinational companies, to change the situations in countries like those we have traveled to during this trip?”
Migrants, the pope added, “are human beings and we must treat human beings in a humanitarian way and not treat oftentimes them worse than pets or animals.”
Leo began his tour of Africa on April 13 with a stop in Algeria, making him the first leader of the Roman Catholic church to visit the mostly Muslim country.
There, Leo walked in the footsteps St. Augustine, one of Christianity's greatest thinkers and the inspiration for the religious order to which he belongs, by making a pilgrimage to the ruins of the ancient Roman city where Augustine lived and worked in the fifth century A.D.
From there, Leo flew to Cameroon, a country in central Africa where he presided over a Mass attended by more than 100,000 people.
There, Leo openly criticized corruption in the presence of Cameroon's President Paul Biya. The 93-year-old president has clung to power since 1982, in a country where 43% of the population lives in poverty.
The next stop for Leo was Angola, where he criticized the unequal distribution of wealth in the mineral-rich country.
Leo declared that many people in the world were being “exploited by authoritarians and defrauded by the rich."
Throughout his African journey, Leo made several trips from his seat at the front of the papal plane to the back of the jet to speak with reporters — and make news. Like on the flight from the Vatican to Algeria, when the pope hit back at Trump's broadside that Leo was “WEAK on crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy.”
"I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do," the pope said.
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It's quite likely Trump's (UNNECESSARY WAR) in Iran is causing the 2nd WorldWide Great Depression to begin now!
If you just read the previous article you can see the writing on the wall with so many things we import from other nations just going away one by one now. This then creates a chain reaction among nations because nations since World War II have all become "INTERDEPENDENT" on each other in many different ways.
Of course, there are countries like China and the U.S. (few others) that can be entirely self sufficient. But, China is not Self Sufficient in Oil or Gas or Diesel so unless they move quickly to alternative sources of energy they too are in trouble with Trump doing this.
However, I can see China fighting back against Trump and Netanyahu in various passive aggressive ways that people like Trump might not fully understand or want to accept. They are a 6000 year old civilization after all and not born yesterday. It is also True that Iran and the Persian Empire also goes back 4000 years at least too so they weren't born yesterday either much to Trump's dismay!
So, is another Great Depression starting now because of Trump?
I would have to say: "Yes. This is what is happening right now!"
Why?
Because Trump is an oil profiteer and he might see this as a way of Collapsing the Chinese Economy too.which I think is a terrible idea on many fronts. IN the process he is collapsing ALL economies on earth including our own because of U.S. interdependence with ALL countries now since World war II on many different levels.
So, what Trump is actually doing is DESTROYING THE ENTIRE WORLD ECONOMY nation by nation around the world by ALL his Actions.
Does he have a game plan to fix things?
NO!
Trump never fixes things he ONLY DESTROYS things!
Trump is only loyal to himself and his finances and no other thing!
So, don't ever expect him to fix this at all!
It isn't who Trump is or ever Was!
Asia’s spiraling supply shock is coming for America
Gas stations are rationing fuel. Hospitals are running out of medical supplies. People are hoarding plastic bags, and factories face packaging shortages.
That’s all happening in Asia now.
That could become a problem for the United States: About half the stuff Americans buy comes from Asia.
If Asian factories are dealing with a lack of supplies, should Americans expect shortages, too?
Possibly – but not just yet. At least not in any widespread or severe manner. But the longer the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the harder it will become for the United States to avoid the problems piling up elsewhere.
US is ‘more exposed than we realize’
Certainly, the red flags are waving.
War with Iran has threatened the world’s supplies of aluminum, plastics and rubber in particular. The Middle East ships about 25% of the world’s polypropylene and 20% of polyethylene, two of the most-used plastics. It also accounts for a quarter of the world’s sulphur and 15% of its fertilizer.
“You hear a lot about crude oil and the impacts to diesel and gasoline – but feedstocks and petrochemicals are in short supply, too,” said Angie Gildea, KPMG global head of oil and gas.
Several major petrochemical producers, including South Korea’s Yeochun and PCS in Singapore, have declared “force majeure,” noted Stephen Brown, chief North American economist at Capital Economics. That means they’re unable to fulfil their commitments to customers.
Other companies say they’re running out of plastic packaging for their products. A condom maker said Tuesday that prices would surge because it can’t access manufacturing materials.
The S&P 500’s global supply shortages indicator, a key measure of major companies’ reports of supply constraints, has shot higher in recent weeks, creeping above its long-term average for the first time in three years.
“We’re [the United States] more exposed than we realize,” said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategist at Baird.
Unlike tariffs, which Trump telegraphed months in advance, the war surprised many companies and gave them little time to prepare – particularly businesses heavily reliant on Asian goods.
“Tariffs were levied by the administration and could be pulled back by the administration,” noted Mayfield. “It’s much harder to extricate America from this cleanly.”
Repeated fits and starts with negotiations between the United States and Iran suggest no end in sight to the closure of the strait. Kpler forecasts oil supply losses from the strait closure will total 700 million barrels by the end of April.
Those oil shortages could lead to US goods shortages down the road, Gildea said.
For example, fuel shortages in Asia could hinder factory employees from getting to work, Gildea said, potentially slowing export production.
Supply shortages probably won’t approach pandemic levels, Brown said. But time is not our friend. The oil and gas industry expects widespread shortages across multiple categories of goods if the strait remains closed heading into the summer, Gildea said.
“The length of this is everything now,” said Mayfield.
Why it hasn’t happened yet
The US economy is feeling pressure from the war in the Middle East – mainly through higher oil and gas prices. But only a tiny fraction (roughly 7%) of US energy imports ship through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The US produces the bulk of its energy at home.
“Thus the story for the US is mainly about prices rather than availability,” noted Nathan Sheets, global chief economist at Citigroup.
The last shipments of energy products from the Middle East from before the war just arrived in Asia, so it will take time for shortages to grow severe enough that factories need to make major adjustments to their production.
It’s hard to put a precise timeframe on how long the disruption in the strait would need to last to trigger supply shortages in the United States, Brown noted. Plastics and especially aluminum aren’t warehoused in large supplies.
Still, Brown predicted it could take three months for plastic shortages to spread around the world and four months until automakers need to cut production because of aluminum shortages.
Companies hardened and diversified their supply chains following the pandemic and during Trump’s recent tariff campaign, insulating US importers from some of the disruptions they’d otherwise have faced sooner.
And world trade was in good shape just ahead of the war: US tariffs fell after the Supreme Court knocked down the bulk of Trump’s import taxes. Global exports gained a bit in February, and early March data seems solid so far – even out of Asia, although that could be because demand for Chinese electric vehicles grew.
That could change.
“Clearly a lot that could go wrong if the strait isn’t properly re-opened,” Brown noted.
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts yet again, lava fountains 1,000 feet high above ground level
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Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts yet again, with lava fountains 1,000 feet above ground
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupted again on Thursday, marking the 45th episode of its kind over the last year and a half.
Lava began to burst from the volcano in the early morning, around 1:30 a.m. local time, according to the United States Geological Survey. A livestream of Kilauea, which is operated by USGS, showed bright-orange molten streams shooting up from the ground more than 18 hours later.
The fountains from Kilauea's northern vents reached 1,000 feet high at their peak, said the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in one of multiple updates issued since the current eruption started. They hovered at around 500 feet, and, later, 700 feet, for several hours shortly after the episode initially got underway.
Kilauea's overall plume — which refers to the lava, gas, steam and ash expelled from within the volcano — climbed to at least 16,500 feet above ground level about an hour into the eruption, according to the observatory. That was its highest point this time.
Located inside the Big Island of Hawaii's sprawling Volcanoes National Park, Kilauea is among the most active volcanoes on Earth. It has been erupting periodically since December 2024, drawing tourists to the massive protected area to see its lava flows soar overhead in real life.
Because the eruptions have been confined to the Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Kilauea, they have not posed threats to homes, buildings or people on the island, officials have said. Most episodes since December 2024 have lasted no longer than one day, according to USGS.
The agency has issued a volcano watch and "orange" aviation alert for this episode, meaning the eruption "poses limited hazards" and either has no ash emissions associated with it, or minor ones. The National Weather Service also issued an ashfall advisory overnight for communities downwind of the volcano.
Officials noted that the volcanic gas produced in each eruption can cause respiratory problems once it enters the atmosphere. The interaction pollutes air downwind, in a process known as "vog." They also warned that fragments of volcanic ash, pumice and other glassy materials created by Kilauea's lava fountains may fall far from the site of the volcano, depending on their size.
"Residents and visitors should minimize exposure to these fragments, which can cause skin, eye, and respiratory irritation," USGS said. The fragments are called "tephra."
An eruption in March at Kilauea prompted temporary closures at the national park and along a nearby highway, as Hawaii officials opened a shelter for residents and tourists who may have been affected by the closures or the tephra falling from the sky. Officials said the shelter was only necessary for a short period of time, but significant ash fell during some previous fountaining episodes.
List of known countries on earth who already have nuclear Weapons
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As of early 2026, nine countries are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons: Russia, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea.
Russia and the U.S. hold nearly 90% of the global total, with combined
inventories exceeding 10,000 warheads, while other nations maintain
smaller, growing arsenals.
Known Nuclear Armed States (2026):
- Russia: Holds the largest stockpile, estimated over 5,500 warheads.
- United States: Second largest, with over 5,000 warheads, also storing weapons in five NATO countries.
- China: Actively expanding its arsenal.
- France: Maintains a stable, independent arsenal.
- United Kingdom: Maintains a sea-based deterrent.
- Pakistan: Maintains an arsenal aimed at regional balance.
- India: Maintains a "no first use" policy with a growing arsenal.
- Israel: Widely believed to possess nuclear weapons but maintains a policy of ambiguity.
- North Korea: Continuously developing its nuclear and missile capabilities.
Key Details:
- Total Inventory: Approximately 12,100 total nuclear warheads exist globally.
- Nuclear Sharing: The U.S. hosts nuclear weapons in NATO countries, including Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Turkey.
- Dismantled Program: South Africa is the only country to have fully dismantled its nuclear weapons, doing so in the 1990s.
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