The historian, on the CNN Portugal programme “O Princípio da Incerteza”, addressed the dispute between the Pope and the US President. A dispute that began in Iran, but quickly ceased to be only about war: Leo XIV condemned as “unacceptable” Trump's threat against “the entire people of Iran” and asked citizens to tell political leaders that “we do not want war, we want peace”. Donald Trump responded like Donald Trump. He called the Pope “weak on crime” and “terrible at foreign policy”. The Pope, however, refused to enter the duel: “I am not afraid” of the Trump administration, he stated.
Pacheco Pereira considers Trump to be "truly demented". "But be aware that in Chega there are those who use the image of Christ just as he did"

Context & Explainers

Chega ("Enough") is a Portuguese far-right populist party founded in 2019 by André Ventura. It positions itself as an anti-establishment movement against what it calls a "rotten and corrupt system" of PS-PSD dominance. The party surged from 1.3% in 2019 to 22.8% in May 2025, becoming parliament's second-largest force with 60 seats. Chega's core platform emphasizes strict immigration control—ending automatic CPLP residency, deporting non-independent immigrants, implementing job-market quotas, and requiring five-year social security contributions before benefit access. It advocates radical constitutional reform, including reducing parliament to 100 members, abolishing the prime minister position for a presidential system, and dismantling public healthcare. Law-and-order policies include life imprisonment and chemical castration proposals.
The party is defined by inflammatory anti-Romani rhetoric, with Ventura convicted multiple times for discrimination. Chega maintains international alignments with European far-right figures including Marine Le Pen, Santiago Abascal, and Matteo Salvini. Mainstream Portuguese parties, including Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's government, have imposed a cordon sanitaire, refusing coalition with Chega despite its parliamentary strength.








