Papal Thoughts and The New Regime! by Alfred N.Muggins

2/5/23
The death of the Pope Francis on Easter Monday morning, one day after he had appeared to bless the crowds on Easter Sunday at the basilica at St Peter’s Square, at the heart of the Vatican City in Rome, appeared to remind the world that not everything had slipped back into barbarism in recent times, and that there were forces for good and positivity, still, to lead and to set an example, and to provide hope. Alfred, and many others, could not have expected that this Easter, of all Easters in History, would have seen such a juxtaposition of authoritarian and liberation forces!
    The Catholic Church, controlling, conservative, and repressive, it had so often been over the centuries, had mellowed much over the years, and surely was a force for good and caring, for the Pope’s flock, and for the world. Whereas America, it seemed, had just gone over to the Dark Side, a new phase, where the words of the Leader were treated with devotion by those who were still his followers, while those who were not impressed by his arrogance could not believe that he the ‘antichrist’ would have the cheek to come here to the heart of Christendom, to pay his respects to the Pope Francis, who represented so much of what he did not approve.
5/5/25
    Trumpenstein liked the idea of having a flock to follow him, but he was not so keen on doing things to help his flock. He would fill them with many vague promises, like defeating inflation, bringing prices down. There was little sign of that so far, in fact it was predicted soon to be very much the opposite, as Trump’s tariffs kicked in! A major idea was that he would restore American industry. He wasn’t such a fan of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association) or sharing production with other countries. He wanted to transfer most production back to the States so that once again (when was it ever?) America could be made great again. This sounded like a good idea, but could it actually be done? Tariffs were placed upon imports to the US, to protect American industries, but many such industries would have parts or material supplies from foreign countries, which would now go up in price, due to high (and higher) import tariffs. Thus final product prices would go up as well. The original 25% or whatever tariffs would be brutal to consumers who bought all these products, but even when he reduced most down to 10% a week later it would not stop prices going up would it, at least not in the anywhere near future.
    The ordinary American consumer, and many businesses would be the ones to suffer from Trump’s trade wars and tariff increases. Soon the population might be crippled by such increases. The flock would be damaged by many of his policies, and indeed life would probably be hard for many in the New America. 
    Perhaps Trumpenstein was closer to some of the older Popes who had sat on the Papal Throne, who had courted and appeased fascists in the last century, and imposed conservatism and family ‘values’ upon Catholics.
8/5/25
    Remember the Spanish Inquisition horror further back in the Church’s history! But that was never meant to be the Church, surely? We are all sure, aren’t we, that Jesus himself would never have meant that! It was an aberration, surely! The Viking Conquistador Crusader rulers of western Europe were not following the practices of the early Church?!
12/5/25
    Corrupticus Trump, ascending to the highest office in the American Constitution may have sounded like a contradiction in terms and personnel. Donald Trumpus, Defender of the Constitution, sounded like a bit of a mouthful to Alfred, but it was presumably no worse than what had happened to the Catholic Church of Rome over the eons and centuries since its creation. Christ himself, and St. Paul, and St. Peter – the first Pope, so to speak, of Rome, all gave themselves in generous death for their flock, but it seemed unlikely that a mere man such as Trumpus Corrupticus would ever have given himself for his people. His mode of operation was always to line his own nest one way or another, and his family, accomplices, and backers, and of course his creditors. But even the noble and almost ‘Spartan’ early Catholic Church had begun to forget its early years and accept the baubles and riches, trinkets, paintings and treasures of its huge ever widening flock over the centuries, until it became a most desirable target for any old aristocratic or royal family who wished to possess its wealth, and dispense its generosity and favours.
    The detailed politics escaped him until he looked into its complex history again, or more deeply than he had ever been, but he remembered the Borgias, and other Popes like them, who wielded such political, economic, and even military power in the 15th and thereabouts centuries, as the major powers of Italy and Europe sought to control or ally with it and to wield, to use and abuse its powers.
    Trumpenstein’s clever insertion into a subversion of the American Republic’s Presidential ‘throne’ was very reminiscent of the more corrupted and greedy Popes of the 15th and 16th Centuries! Anyway the Papacy suffered for its religious laxity and political perversion, by losing the support of many committed Christians, who wished to return to ways closer to what they perceived as the early Church, the real spiritual Church of God. The Popes, Cardinals and Bishops began to sell Indulgences, not Tickets To Ride, but Tickets to Heaven. It was the ultimate corruption, much like Trump’s $500 passports for the rich and mainly white immigrants into US citizenship (no questions asked!). Just like his Bitcoin cryptocurrency investments in which the rich and super-rich were encouraged to bribe him for favours or for citizenship. Anything, or so it seemed like, was for sale. If the price was right!
    Anyway the late medieval/renaissance period Popes ‘shot themselves in the foot’, so to speak, as monk after monk, led by Martin Luther and his ilk, and ruler after ruler, led their people and their principalities, nations, and even bishoprics, out of the Church of Rome and into Protestant Churches of differing persuasions, in rejection of the corruption they had observed in the Church of Rome, thus causing that Church to become even more extreme and driven, in an attempt to force their Churchgoers back into their Cathedrals, and to become even more devoted to the unselfish strictures of their religion! Even Alfred’s erstwhile boss King Henry VIII had been encouraged, for various all too frequently discussed reasons, to divest from Papal obedience and plunder the Catholic Monasteries for his own, and perhaps even for his own nation’s economic, and religious and cultural gains (?).
    Perhaps I do digress from the very modern forms of corruption which appear to be abounding from the current regime of Corrupticus Trumplicon in the White House, but it does somewhat remind me of those late medieval times of corruption in the Papacy, which caused such a reaction of rebellion and Protestantism.
    In Trumpenstein's New America, if the price was right, you could buy some lucrative government contracts, like Elon Musk did, if you could to some degree fulfill them! If you wanted the US military, or ICE to do something, like stand back and let some country or piece of territory get invaded, or be used as a deterrence, you might pay Trump some money or do him some favours in return. Perhaps he might order a missile strike against 'acceptable' targets, whoever they might be. Or if you were a big company you could negotiate tax exemptions, or send Trumpenstein and company some money for having lowered tariffs, or for dismantling some awkward legislation, public oversight or checks and balances. As most lawyers, judges, and honest politicians did not understand Bitcoin and Crypto-currencies well, most kinds of business could go on, without the honest 'cops' etc. understanding it or knowing anything about it.
   In fact, as Trumpenstein was finding the office of President actually held more power than the Papacy ever had, even in the middle ages!
   As Trump had said, he would have liked to have been made Pope, but it would not have been as lucrative as becoming President of the USA in the modern world. Unfortunately at 78 he was running out of time to take on both roles, and he would humbly have to accept that he would just have to be content with the Presidency, which the kind people of America had given him on a plate.

P.S.  A thought did however occur to Trumpenstein, that maybe his greatest benefactor Elon would like a crack at the Papacy? Perhaps he would like to modernise them (the Church!) and inject the Catholic Movement with some (right wing only!)Free Speech (particularly as the Europeans had rejected him so overwhelmingly). Or perhaps his ultra keen Vice President, young JD Vance, might take a stab at reforming and modernising the ancient Church, as he had a lot of conservative thoughts on how to make people behave, and obedience. On reflection Vance would make a far better Pope than Elon, who was far too modern. Vance now appeared to have been made for the middle ages! Trumpenstein could not imagine Elon controlling his urges, and he wasn't really such a great people guy (particularly since they burned all his Teslas!)