Pope Leo calls for media to 'show the suffering' of war after Trump FCC threatens networks

Brendan Carr, the Donald Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is threatening retaliation against broadcasters who offer negative coverage of U.S. war operations against Iran. After Carr threatened to take away their broadcast licenses, President Trump applauded him on his Truth Social platform — writing that he was "thrilled" that Carr was "looking at the licenses" of some "Highly Unpatriotic 'News' Organizations."

But Robert Francis Prevost, AKA Pope Leo the 14th, has very different viewpoint.

In a Monday, March 16 post on X, formerly Twitter, the Catholic Church's first American pope urged journalists to cover the Iran war honestly and not sugar-coat its harsh realities.

Pope Leo tweeted, "In the dramatic circumstances of war, information must guard against the risk of turning into propaganda. It is every journalist's duty to verify the news, so as not to become a megaphone for power. They must show the suffering that war always brings to populations, which entails showing the face of war and recounting it through the eyes of victims."

Journalist John Harwood noted the Pope's candor, tweeting, "The Pope calling out Trump's authoritarianism."

Patrick Strother, CEO of Strothers Communications Group, posted, "This is the 33rd conflict the US has started or participated in during my life. Propaganda played a vital role in selling these wars, but they didn't even bother with the Iran invasion, so journalists have a golden opportunity to change some minds about the ever increasing futility of murdering 'enemies.'"