Holy War

• Writer - Chuck Austen
• Penciler - Ron Garney
• Inker - Mark Morales
• Inker - Dan Green
• Inker - Nelson Yomtov
• Colorist - J.D. Smith
• Lettering - Chris Eliopoulos
• Cover Art - Philip Tan
• Ass't Editor - Mike Raicht
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Summary

  The team is aghast at the doings in St. Michael's basement. Kurt was studying for the priesthood, so he knows in Genesis 28-30 (of chapter 1) God gave man dominion over beasts, and he wonders what he'd be called. Alex reassures him this atrocity isn't his fault. Whitney is on the floor and calls to Kurt. Kurt thinks the same people who would destroy mutants are anti-abortion and pro war (note: straw man alert). Jean says the rest are dead or dying; Scott has her lift the living.

  Whitney tells Kurt he's sorry, that he was right: a collar doesn't make you closer to God. He had planned for him to become Pope, and when he left the priesthood because of lust (iss. 419), the COH got angry. He tried to find another; he warns Kurt the COH never left Montana; he apologizes again, saying he never expected to like him. He dies, his last word, "mutie."

  Kurt takes charge, telling Scott to get the survivors to a hospital or Warren or Xorn, and then they're going to Montana. In the X-Jet, Alex recaps: "a mutant-hating, gun-wielding, mind-controlling religious sect in the middle of Montana turned you into a priest." Jean scans ahead for a psi, but says that will warn them. Kurt wants them to know they're coming.

  The COH Pope has a pet psi, Mutant 143, in a wheelchair; she had planned to make Kurt the next Catholic Pope, reveal him as a beast (note: 2 Thess. 2:8-9), thus destroying the Catholic church so people would flock to her and kill all mutants as allies of the Antichrist. But Kurt couldn't control his sexual urges, and the Pope sent men to quietly end Whitney's experiment. She kills two of them by crushing their skulls, for crucifying mutants at Xavier's and alerting them.

  She tells Bishop Desmond to prepare the troops and use Mutant 143 to cloud the X-Men's minds; he wants them dead, this time.

  Lorna says they look like ants from the jet; she and Logan jump down to the cathedral while Scott covers them, and Kurt teleports Jean and the others inside. Lorna gets shot and is shocked a bullet could get past her magnetism. Logan smells something odd and realizes this is all illusion. Scott gets shot, by Churchmen on the battlements, while Desmond directs Mutant 143. Lorna puts a magnetic shield around them all, but Logan gets hit by a flame-thrower.

  Inside, Jean senses all this. Alex questions Kurt's decision to split the team; Kurt insists they needed cover but sends Jean (suddenly green-haired) back to help. Luckily, a captive priest calls to them, saying he can help.

  Logan, burning, sees past the illusion and attacks, but Lorna tells him to drop and roll; she's been catching bullets magnetically and now sends them back, killing the Churchmen, over Scott's objections.

  Desmond orders Mutant 143 to cast another illusion to cover their escape, but Jean catches them. Desmond raises a gun and calls on Jesus, but Phoenix answers.

  The priest explains the COH was going to make Kurt the next Catholic Pope and then reveal his true form and call him Antichrist; Kurt guesses they would create a false Rapture, "direct ascension of the 'true Christians' straight to heaven." The priest says he's been fed funny-tasting communion wafers; he vanishes "in the twinkling of an eye," disintegrated by something in the wafers.

  The COH Pope, sword in hand, quotes 1 Corinthians, and the X-Men attack; Kurt quotes scripture back, and Alex joins in while all fight. Kurt quoth, "Love your enemies," and then teleports the Pope's head off. Oh, no, it's only the mitre; the Pope is revealed to be a woman and retreats into a machine which starts overloading; Kurt tries to rescue her, but it explodes.

  "My name is Kurt Wagner. I once believed I was a priest." They later learned the Pope was a nun, raped by a priest and ousted from the church, which she then felt compelled to destroy. Kurt understands but disagrees with this goal. He goes to a small church near the mansion to pray, and thinks everyone might fear religion at times, but God will never truly abandon anyone.