David Crary, Peter Smith and Steve Peoples
Washington: Most American Catholic voters supported Donald Trump in his 2024 presidential victory. Yet across the broad Catholic political spectrum – even among conservative-leaning bishops – there is dismay over Trump’s unprecedented verbal assault on Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead their church.
Leo says he is sharing a gospel message and not directly attacking Trump or anyone else with his appeals for peace and criticism of attitudes fuelling the war.
Criticism of Trump came from Archbishop Paul Coakley, head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and from Minnesota-based Bishop Robert Barron, who only a few days ago was applauding Trump as an Easter guest at the White House. Barron called the president’s remarks “entirely inappropriate and disrespectful” and urged him to apologise.
The dismay extended into an even more solid base of Trump support – conservative Christian evangelicals. Many were appalled that Trump followed his Truth Social attack on Leo by posting an image depicting himself as a Christ-like saviour.
“TAKE THIS DOWN, MR. PRESIDENT,” posted David Brody, a prominent Trump-supporting commentator with the Christian Broadcasting Network. “You’re not God. None of us are. This goes too far. It crosses the line.”
By midday Monday, the image had been removed from Truth Social. And speaking at the White House, the president claimed that he never intended to liken himself to Jesus when he posted the picture.
“How did they come up with that?” he asked. “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
No apology needed, says Trump
On his clash with the Pope, Trump was equally defiant: “There’s nothing to apologise for. He’s wrong.”
The president’s feud with American religious communities comes just six months before voting begins in the northern hemisphere autumn’s midterms, as Trump grapples with low approval ratings and dissension from his MAGA base over the war with Iran. But few groups of voters have been more loyal to Trump – and important to his political success – than those on the religious right.
For now, some Trump allies are optimistic that the dispute will soon be forgotten.
“There is a deep reservoir of appreciation for the president and his faith-based policies that transcends and eclipses any disagreement over a social media post,” Ralph Reed, who sits on the president’s faith advisory board, told the Associated Press.
Throughout American history, numerous presidents have had policy differences with various popes. But experts on the Vatican and religious history could recall no exchange comparable to the back-and-forth between Trump and Leo over the Pope’s condemnation of America’s role in the Iran war.
“This is unprecedented criticism of a Pope from a US president,” David Campbell, a political science professor at the University of Notre Dame, said via email.
“As to whether it will have a big effect on how Catholic voters regard Trump, that is an open question,” Campbell added. “Given that attitudes toward the president are driven largely by people’s party preference – which is hard to move – it probably will not have a huge impact on Catholics’ attitudes toward Trump.”
David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Centre on Religion and Culture, noted that many lay Catholics have been standing by Trump in recent weeks and have been critical of their bishops who critique the president.
“If this attack on the Pope does not shift that dynamic in a marked way, it will truly be a watershed moment … with American Catholics choosing a Catholic-baiting president over their own Pope,” Gibson said.
Looking far back into world history, Trump’s attempt to “strong-arm Pope Leo” isn’t anything new, said Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a professor of American Studies and History at Notre Dame.
“Emperors, monarchs and despots have long threatened popes in an effort to force them to bend to their will,” she said via email. “In an American context, however, Trump’s invective does represent a historic reversal.
“For most of this country’s history, Americans viewed the pope as a warmongering, money-grubbing, anti-democratic menace who had designs on the White House,” she added. “Today, the menace is in the White House, and the Pope is the one defending the ideals of liberty and human dignity.”
At a prayer service on Saturday, the pontiff denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” that he said was fuelling the war with Iran. Without citing Trump or the US specifically, the Pope said: “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”
On Monday, he was specific in responding to the president’s criticisms, saying, “I have no fear of the Trump administration.”
Vance suggests Vatican should stay out of politics in some cases
Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert who occasionally has sparred with church leaders over their criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, said in an interview on Fox News Channel on Monday night that the president’s social media post with the Jesus-like image was “a joke”.
“Of course, he took it down because he realised a lot of people weren’t understanding his humour,” Vance said.
He repeatedly dismissed the focus on the president’s fight with the Pope, saying it “isn’t particularly newsworthy” and that there will be disagreements from time to time with the Vatican.
But Vance also suggested the Pope should stay in his lane.
“I certainly think that in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on with the Catholic Church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy,” Vance said.
Catholics Vote Common Good, a nonprofit group that generally supports progressive causes, urged Vance to speak out on the rift.
“At a moment when the Holy Father is being attacked, and the dignity of the church is being undermined, silence is not neutrality. It is complicity,” said Denise Murphy McGraw, the organisation’s national co-chair.
Some vocal evangelical supporters of Trump criticised the meme depicting him as a healer, apparently resembling Jesus, even while maintaining support for Trump himself.
“It isn’t hard to condemn this outright,” said Willy Rice, a candidate for president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida.
“Many Christians appreciate the President’s administration and have supported him in meaningful ways, but this is wrong,” Rice posted on X.
Also weighing in was Doug Wilson, co-founder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a staunchly conservative Calvinist denomination with an outsized influence in the current administration. Its church members include Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“I was very grateful to see how many conservative Christians immediately denounced the blasphemous Jesus/Trump image,” Wilson posted on X.
Megan Basham, a conservative evangelical commentator, posted that she agreed with Trump’s criticisms of Leo as “Weak on crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy”. But she assailed his meme as “OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy” and urged Trump to “ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God”.
Trump’s religious coalition
Such public dissent by evangelical leaders against Trump is rare.
In 2024, white evangelical Protestants were a significant component of Trump’s winning coalition, according to AP VoteCast. About one-third of Trump voters, 34 per cent, identified as white evangelical or born-again Christians, compared with only 8 per cent of Harris voters. White evangelicals made up about two in 10 voters that year, and the vast majority – 79 per cent – voted for Trump.
A February AP-NORC poll found that about two-thirds of white born-again Protestants approved of how Trump was handling his job as president, while about one-third disapproved.
Catholics were much unhappier with Trump’s performance in that poll. Only about four in 10 approved of his handling of the presidency, similar to Americans overall.
William Barbieri, a Catholic University ethics professor, said Trump’s remarks seemed aimed more at his political base than at Leo himself.
“Pope Leo’s response has been calm and measured, in a way that creates a contrast unflattering to the president,” Barbieri said via email.
“He is opposing resorts to lethal force … and expressing solidarity with suffering people in many countries,” said Barbieri, contrasting the start of Leo’s pastoral journey to Africa this week with Trump’s appearance at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the weekend.
