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.