President Donald Trump went off on the leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, through a social media post. The pope has consistently denounced war, placing him in direct opposition to Trump and his supporters.
Pope Leo XIV posted on his X account, “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life.” He was calling for peace amidst the conflict in the Middle East. But a day later, the president of the United States came out with a rant that proves his feathers were ruffled by the pope’s call.
Trump triggered by the pope
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,” the president said, bringing the ordeal up as if the church owes him a favor.
Trump also praised the pope’s brother for being a Trump supporter before attacking the church leader even further. Strangely enough, Trump’s gripe against the pope has to do with Catholic teachings clashing with Trumpism altogether. Calls for peace and respect for the dignity of life are antithetical to Trump’s current campaign.
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a country that was sending massive amounts of drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our country. And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting record low numbers in crime and creating the greatest stock market in history,” Trump said.
The president of the United States also demanded the pope to “get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”
But this isn’t the pope being a politician. Pope Leo XIV is the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church. He’s merely fulfilling his duty by denouncing war and upholding the right to life.
Religious MAGA sides with Trump
And yet, even some religious MAGA supporters have chosen to side with Trump over the pope on the issue.
Alt-right MAGA supporter Jack Posobiec tried to undermine the pope’s moral standing in the Catholic Church. He wrote, “Cardinal Prevost was promoted by Pope Francis and given a prominent Vatican position during his papacy. We found Prevost’s twitter feed last year where he was trashing Trump and Vance, as well as border enforcement. And praising George Floyd.”
So, is it woke to be Catholic now? If Posobiec is a Catholic who denies the authority of the pope, it could be defined as a schism. That is grounds for excommunication in the faith. It’s one thing to disagree with the pope, as many people of the faith would at times, but it’s another to deny the authority of the pope altogether.
Some have even made the excuse that the pope “has gone wildly political and his posts are those of a Chicago Obama acolyte, not a leader of the Church” to justify their disagreement with the pope. This is all due to their worldviews being irreconcilable with the church they’re currently part of.
And yet, this faction would find an excuse to defend Trump’s AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus. It’s indefensible—blasphemous at worst.
Losing moral high ground
What the Catholic Church says shouldn’t be treated as law by politicians. It’s the basics of the separation of church and state, which enable both entities to peacefully co-exist. The pope isn’t obliged to pander to the current political establishment, nor is it a moral failing for him to contradict Trump’s policy.
Instead, it’s a wake-up call for those disgruntled by the pope to re-examine their beliefs. Regardless, Leo has issued a reply to Trump’s statement. The pope is unbothered and promised to continue speaking out against war.
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