On a serious note, I must say that an American pope concerns me, particularly at a time when the United States itself is run by such a globally unpopular figure. There are so many in this world who are fearful of, or convinced of, American arrogance, American influence and American power, that I wonder if an American pope will simply increase anti-American sentiment worldwide.

For centuries, of course, the pope was Italian. That seemed to be the way it was – the Vatican being in the heart of, even if apart from, the city of Rome. It was something that you didn’t have to think about.

Recently, there have been two non-Italian popes. The first was Polish and the second from Argentina, both majority Catholic countries, one a Communist country, and the other a country with a history of instability, both with large numbers of impoverished Catholics. And now we have an American (albeit one who has spent a lot of time in Latin America). I am just not sure how this will play out.

At 69, Leo could be in charge for another 20 years or more, and – maybe for reasons I really don’t understand – it makes me nervous.

I must also say that, to me, he does not yet look like a pope. He looks like a nice guy for sure, his politics seem good, but he has not yet developed a look of authority, or a look of an elder statesman. He looks more like the guy who got on the Metro just before you and is standing up on the crowded train right next to you.

He also is not very experienced with the ways of the Vatican, is he? After all, he was appointed a cardinal only 19 months ago, in the fall of 2023. Is it surprising that a new pope has such a short tenure as a cardinal? And such a short tenure living in the Vatican? Is this unusual? I don’t know.

So, knowing that I know knothing (as the don’t say), why was he chosen so quickly? Was he Pope Francis’ choice and was this the most influential factor? Was it his theological positions? His politics? His personal relations? Does he show an ability to lead that is not yet apparent to me from his personality? Does he get along with everyone? Does his American ethnicity have something to do with it? We will probably never know.

And, to be truthful, I don’t know what a pope really does. He has a church to lead, he has a state to run, he has finances to grapple with, he has scandals to tamp down, he has personnel to hire and fire, he has officiating to do at religious events (sometimes with pomp and circumstance), he has masses of people he must both please and challenge, he has diplomacy to conduct, he has a pulpit more bully than Teddy Roosevelt ever had. And, while he has tenure, he is always somewhat at risk.

I wish him luck.

In the meantime, here we are grappling with a number of things, most important of which is the June 14 “Happy Birthday to You, Emperor Donald” military parade, complete with 6000 marchers and 150 military vehicles that will grace (and crack) our streets next month. I am sure that Trump today is watching carefully the Putin parade in Moscow so that he makes sure that his outdoes the Russian’s.

Some things are stupid. Some things are unnecessary. This particular parade is both stupid and unnecessary. And you have to wonder who is going to line the parade route to watch it go by. Locals, I am sure, will stay away. Maybe it will attract people from Mississippi, who will flock to the DC and go away in disbelief that none of the restaurants they went to serve catfish.

In the meantime, Trump and his buddy Howard Lutnick are moving ahead with major trade deals at last. The first arrangement, with the UK, is mammoth, to be sure. The US has been importing about 8 million autos a year, and they will all be subject to at 25% tariff (more or less, presumably more), but 100,000 British cars can come in with just a 10% tariff. The reason given is that the Brits don’t compete with American cars – apparently a Rolls Royce, a Bentley, a McLaren and even a Jaguar or a Range Rover are all in a class by itself.

And there’s more. We are going to be able to bring in British steel without a tariff? I can’t wait – I am sure we will bring in a lot of British steel. And Rolls Royce is going to sell engines to Boeing. Ok, to that, I think. And we are going to be able to send $5 billion of agricultural products to Britain (if they want them, I guess), which is pretty much a drop in the bucket.

And details need to be worked out. It seems to me that this is pretty much a non-deal, easy to make with the UK, especially since we already have a trade surplus with them.

What about China? Now we have 145% tariffs on China, right? But – hold on – last night Trump said that maybe he’d drop them to 80%. Nothing like consistency to make everyone feel at ease.

Which brings me to the last point of the day. One of the many negative characteristics of our great leader is that he doesn’t pay his bills. We know that from all of the writings about his lurid business career. But no one talks about that here.

Why does anyone think that Trump will stick to any deal he makes on trade? If he can decide overnight to drop tariffs on China from 145% to 80% (how many different tariff levels on China has he already set forth?), why can’t he do that on and on, including after a deal was made. Remember, that he modified NAFTA during his first term with a deal to end all deals, only to ignore it completely the day he started term #2. As long as Trump is in charge of the country, chaos will continue.

I heard a small part of the C-Span call-in show this morning. The guest (whose name I did not get) was an economics professor at Harvard, a self-defined conservative, who said: The one thing we know from studying tariffs, is that tariffs always hurt the country imposing them more than they hurt the country against whom they are imposed.

Is this correct? I guess we shall see.

And our Vatican tariff policy? 10% per homily may be what Trump suggests. After all, Trump thinks that homily is a byproduct of corn.