Madonna has called on Pope Leo to travel to Gaza amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis, asking him to "bring your light to the children before it's too late."

“As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering. The children of the world belong to everyone. You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry,” Madonna wrote in an Instagram post on Monday.

“Politics Cannot affect Change. Only consciousness Can. Therefore I am Reaching out to a Man of God,” Madonna wrote in the caption of her post.

  • athairmor@lemmy.world
    0·
    5 days ago

    The pope has more ‘fans’ than Madonna. Do you seriously think that Madonna has as much political influence as the head of the Catholic Church?

    • ClanOfTheOcho@lemmy.world
      0·
      5 days ago

      No, but she probably has as many fans in Gaza or Israel. But that’s not really the point I was hoping to make.

      My original comment is not because I think she has more pull, but because I resent celebrities pulling the “Oh, me and my wealth cannot change anything because the problem is too big! Instead of investing my time and money, I’ll just kick the can up to governments so I don’t have to commit any serious effort myself.” My attitude goes back to an interview I heard with Bono of U2. He was traveling Africa at the time with U.S. diplomats to encourage spending of U.S. taxpayer money to solve problems there, and it was/is a worthy cause. However, when asked by an interviewer, “You’re very influential and your concert tours make millions. Couldn’t you put on a charity tour to raise money for this cause?” " Oh, no," he responded. “This problem is much too big for any single person. It requires the kinds of investments only governments are capable of.”

      So yeah, got it. My taxpayer money can fund a very wealthy Irishman’s dreams of how to improve the world (again, they were good dreams), and all he wants to do about it is travel the world doing publicity with diplomats, spending other people’s money. Couldn’t be arsed to put any actual work time in. Only believed in the dream enough to make others pay for it.

      I see Madonna making a similar play here. “Hey, look at me, guys! Now go tell the Pope to tell Israel to stop!” I mean, I don’t know what sway she thinks the Pope has in Israel, or why the Pope should care what a former Catholic thinks he should do, and I’m not going to complain if he makes a plea for the end to this Palestinian Holocaust, but she’s wealthy and has her own influence. I’d like to see more effort on her part before she starts telling world leaders what to do in public forums. Based on her long history of courting controversy for publicity, her message to the Pope is just pandering to her dwindling fans until she invests more effort than a social media post. If the wealthy lady wants that kind of power to call on world leaders, then I need to see her making big donations publicly, marching with protestors, making public rally speeches. Not this “I was a big deal 30-40 years ago” vibe.

      • 9bananas@feddit.org
        0·
        5 days ago

        so first of all: fair points.

        but also to consider:

        • the Vatican is the only not-country with a permanent seat at the UN (this in itself is somewhat insane)
        • the Pope’s direct influence might be limited, but the cultural influence the catholic church holds should not be underestimated. if the pope gets killed or injured or simply stubs his toe in gaza, europe will, absolutely, go berserk. it’s pretty dumb, as you’ve pointed out, but it will happen.
        • beyond religious influence, the cultural influence of the catholic church is actually incredible! (consider: every settlement, from village with population 5, all the way to metropolitan cities has at least one church in all of europe! every single one!)
        • the pope is held in high esteem, even among other religions and their leadership. killing a pope is, effectively, a declaration of war to the entire world. that’s the kind of shit that makes north korea go “wait, that’s insanity, wtf?!” (and this isn’t pure admiration, it’s simple survival instinct: the leadership of all major religions is smart enough to realize “if it can happen to the pope, it can definitely happen to us”, and that includes jewish leadership)
        • even most people that feel contemptuous about the church as an institution (which i definitely am one of) would be extremely upset by such a blatantly hostile action against a major foreign dignitary. even just harming a pope is unthinkable to most europeans raised in christian households. even if we’ve become firmly atheist later…
        • imagine the president of germany, france, italy, poland, spain, or really any other european country being assassinated in gaza. all of europe would revolt. it would cause absolute mayhem in geopolitics and most likely result in immediate International intervention, i.e. severe sanctions. (because israel has nukes, although they would most likely be forced to relinquish or severely reduce their capabilities and they would definitely be subjected to international oversight.)
        • the US cannot, i repeat, can not ignore hostilities against the church. there will be riots, and it will unite people like basically nothing else could, because even conservatives would get severe whiplash from those news. trump claims to be christian, and even the nutty american christians would be upset enough to force a reaction out of the white house. yes, even this white house. because, as someone else has pointed out, not ever in history was a pope killed in a military conflict. never.

        or to some it up:

        ✅: fuck the catholic church and fuck the pope!

        🚫: but never, EVER, fuck with the pope!

        Madonna really, truly, has a point here: the pope could probably end this genocide!

        because as you’ve pointed out; having fans in gaza isn’t really important!

        …but the leader of THE most influential religion in the entire world?

        hell yeah, that guy has influence! and hell yeah they could definitely throw their weight behind this cause!

        and Madonna drawing attention to that fact is actually solid strategy to get the church to respond:

        no response means complicity, but virtually any response other than a resounding renunciation will be seen as weakness.

        she is putting them on the spot, forcing a reaction. that’s how politics works, and this is a political move, and an honestly pretty great one at that!

        edit; forgot this bit:

        this is why Madonna pointing at the pope is more than just a rich person that could do more being cheap; nobody in the world has the sheer support of the pope and the catholic church. she’s acting as a force amplifier. that’s something that goes beyond mere monetary influence, although you are absolutely right that she could do more.