“I want to get to heaven…”

The horror of war continues to unfold in Ukraine, Gaza, and across forgotten corners of the world. Each day, mothers bury sons, cities are reduced to ash, and the dignity of human life is trampled beneath tanks and drone strikes. In such a time, peace can feel like a distant dream.

And yet, in the quiet behind-the-scenes work of diplomacy, moments of grace emerge.

On a recent phone call with Fox & Friends, President Donald Trump shared a striking and human admission while discussing his ongoing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

“I want to try and get to heaven if possible,” he said with a self-deprecating chuckle. “I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”

There is a weight to those words. Whether one agrees with every policy or pronouncement, the intention behind them—an end to bloodshed, a negotiated peace, the sparing of innocent life—is worthy of reflection, and perhaps even of hope.

Consider the record:

• The Abraham Accords normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.
• Serbia and Kosovo entered into an economic cooperation agreement after, as President Trump said, “a violent and tragic history.”
• The U.S. has played a key role in managing tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
• The administration was instrumental in brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
• The Washington Accord resolved decades of conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Firm diplomacy and strategic military intervention brought a ceasefire to the conflict between Israel and Iran.
• Leveraging U.S. trade relationships achieved a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia.

These are not mere headlines. They are real moments of mercy in a violent world—fragile, yes, but meaningful.

Credit is due not only to President Trump but also to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the diplomatic corps whose tireless work often goes unnoticed.

Of course, no one earns heaven through geopolitics. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But as the Catechism teaches, our actions matter. We are called to be instruments of peace in our own time and vocation. And God, in His providence, sometimes grants unlikely shepherds for that peace.

In President Trump’s quip, there may be more than humor. There may be a longing: to be right with God. To make something of this world before facing the next.

Let’s pray for that.

But today, another shepherd made his own impassioned plea for peace. Pope Leo XIV tweeted: “I invite all the faithful to take part in a day of fasting and prayer on August 22, imploring the Lord to grant us peace and justice, and to wipe away the tears of those who suffer because of ongoing armed conflicts. May Mary, Queen of Peace, intercede so that peoples may find the path of peace.”

I encourage everyone in our CatholicVote community to join in this most worthy spiritual effort on behalf of our world and on behalf of peace.

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