Why We Should Give to God What Is God’s, and to Caesar What Is Caesar’s
A needless feud and a tasteless image underscore the fine line between boldness and blunder.
by Itxu Díaz
April 14, 2026, 10:07 PM
President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order creating an anti-fraud task force to be led by Vice President JD Vance, Mar. 16, 2026, in the Oval Office (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
In life, you need someone by your side to tell you you’re wrong. In fact, if you’re married to a biological woman, that issue should already be taken care of. Nor am I going to contribute to the media uproar that’s suddenly accusing Donald Trump of being satanic. Mainly because he would be the first satanist in history to reaffirm the consecration of his country as “one nation under God” in the midst of his “America Prays” initiative, to publicly and institutionally thank the Virgin Mary for her role in promoting peace and love, and to invite Americans to pray to the Blessed Virgin for “the end of war and for a new era of peace in Europe and throughout the world.”
I’d offer them a golden rule: almost nothing is offensive if it’s funny enough. The photo wasn’t funny.
That said, I can’t imagine two more stupid moves in the same week: picking a fight with the pope and publishing the infamous photo that was later deleted. As for the latter, if any of Trump’s current advisers are kind enough to read this, I’d offer them a golden rule: almost nothing is offensive if it’s funny enough. The photo wasn’t funny. It was stupid. And, to top it off, it was blasphemous (though we Catholics aren’t as hysterical as Muslims when faced with representations of God). (RELATED: When Politics Becomes a Faith, Faith Is Put to the Test)
There’s a book published in the 1970s called God Is Joyful that I treasure, an anthology of post-Vatican II Spanish humor. It brings together a host of jokes and cartoons from the satirical press published at the height of the controversy following the Second Vatican Council, making fun of the doctrinal chaos of the time. Sometimes the jokes seem irreverent, but they’re so funny that they end up harmless.
https://spectator.org/why-we-should-give-to-god-what-is-gods-and-to-caesar-what-is-caesars/
