On May 12, Pope Leo XIV awarded Iran’s ambassador to the Holy See, Mohammad Hossein Mokhtari, the Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX — one of the Vatican’s highest diplomatic honors.
The move sparked significant backlash and outrage, especially on social media and among Iranian exiles, conservatives, and critics of Iran’s regime, with widespread claims that the Vatican was legitimizing a repressive government.
BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler, who describes herself as a devout Catholic, had a similar reaction.
“This is the Iranian regime — a fanatical, Islamist, theocratic regime,” she says. “Why on earth would the leader of the universal Christian church be awarding any kind of diplomatic honor to these killers, these anti-Christian killers?”
But some research revealed the answer, leading Liz to argue that Pope Leo isn’t the villain he’s being made out to be.
“This award is not something that is handed out based on individual merit. It is a recognition that is essentially standard practice for ambassadors who have been in residence at the Vatican for two years or more to receive this award,” she explains, noting that several other qualifying individuals also received the award at the same time as Mokhtari.
Liz equates the Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX to a “participation trophy.”
“The only qualification for this participation trophy trophy is, oh, you’ve been here as an envoy to the Vatican for two years, therefore you get this ribbon, you get this trophy,” she says, concluding that the incident “is not as bad as it originally sounded.”
Liz acknowledges, however, that “perception on the outside matters” and that the optics of this situation are less than ideal.
“To many people, perception is reality, and … it looks like Pope Leo just gave the ambassador from the fanatical, Islamist, theocratic regime in Iran an approving pat on the back,” she says, highlighting Iran’s slaughtering of thousands of its own protesters and brutal persecution of Christians.
To hear more of Liz’s analysis and commentary, watch the video above.
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