Benny Johnson: “This pope was woke by every measure that I could see”
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From the April 20, 2025, edition of The Benny Show, streamed on YouTube
BENNY JOHNSON (HOST): Ladies and gentlemen, Pope Francis is dead. I know this is a tough situation for a lot of people. This is a tough one to cover because Pope Francis has a rep, let's just say. Very controversial pope.
I wanna, like, dispatch the number one trending topic on earth right now, which is that JD Vance killed Pope Francis. So we're gonna cover all that here in our first block. Did JD Vance kill Pope Francis? And we're gonna talk about, like, the legacy of the pope and so on.
Let me begin by saying that I am not a Catholic. I have a deep appreciation for the Catholic tradition. However, that's not the tradition that I was raised in. And so I'm gonna do my very level-headed best to try and steer clear of church politics. OK? Stay clear and just say that I deeply respect the fact that the pope's a super powerful person and is the spiritual leader for 2 billion people around the world and, obviously, that there is a deep iconography and tie-in with the seat of Saint Peter to all Christian tradition. So, major respect.
And, also, the pope is the longest-serving head of state of any country or or principality anywhere. Dictators come and go. Kings come and go. Presidents come and go. The office of the pope is 2,000 years old. The office of the presidency is 200 years old. See what I mean?
So, who the pope is matters, and it sets the tone for global politics. It sets the tone for what billions of people believe in their, you know -- in, sort of the, you know, the strength and the messaging of the church. Right? And a lot of people don't like this pope. Now I'll tell you, and the one place that I'll go politically here is that listen, man. While I don't follow the ins and outs of Catholic politics, internal church politics, dude, this pope was woke by every measure that I could see.
And, you know, I'm not trying to offend anyone. There's a lot of people, you know, obviously mourning this, and we wanna let the the dead rest in peace. But if you look at the legacy, this pope was big time open borders, big time climate change, and quite liberal, I think, as popes go.