Many US Catholics are dismayed by Trump’s unprecedented broadside at the first American pope
WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of U.S. Catholic voters backed Donald Trump in his 2024 presidential victory. But there is concern about Trump’s stance across the broad Catholic political spectrum – even among conservative-leaning bishops. unprecedented verbal attack It’s about Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead his churches.
Leo said he was sharing a Gospel message and was not directly attacking Trump or anyone else with his calls for peace and criticism of attitudes that fuel war.
Trump received criticism Archbishop Paul Coakleypresident of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and based in Minnesota Bishop Robert Barron Just a few days ago, he was applauding Trump as an Easter guest at the White House. Barron called the president’s remarks “completely inappropriate and disrespectful” and demanded he apologize.
The fear extended to an even more solid base of Trump’s support: conservative Christian evangelicals. Many people were appalled that Trump posted an image depicting him as a Christ-like savior following the Truth Social attack on Leo.
“REMOVE THIS, DEAR PRESIDENT” Posted by David BrodyHe is a well-known commentator supporting Trump on the Christian Broadcasting Network. “You’re not God. None of us are. This is going too far. It’s out of line.”
By midday Monday, the image had been removed from Truth Social. Speaking at the White House, the president claimed that he never intended to liken himself to Jesus when he posted the photo.
“How did they come up with this?” he asked. “As a doctor, I have to be the one who makes people better. And I make people better. I make people so much better.”
Trump: No need to apologize
Trump was equally bold in his confrontation with the Pope: “There’s nothing to apologize for. He’s wrong.”
The president’s fight with American religious communities comes just six months before voting begins in this fall’s midterm elections, as Trump grapples with dissent and low approval ratings among his MAGA base over the war with Iran. But few groups of voters are more loyal to Trump and as important to his political success as those on the religious right.
For now, some of Trump’s 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 US presidents have had policy differences with various popes. But the Vatican and religious history experts do not remember an exchange comparable to the back-and-forth between Trump and Leo. Pope condemns America’s role In the Iran war.
“This is an unprecedented criticism of the Pope by a U.S. president,” David Campbell, a political science professor at the University of Notre Dame, said via email.
“There have been signs in recent weeks that many lay Catholics have sided with Trump and criticized their bishops for criticizing the president,” Campbell added. “If this attack on the Pope doesn’t significantly change that dynamic, it will truly be a turning point, with American Catholics electing a president who angers Catholics over their own pope.”
Kathleen Sprows Cummings, professor of American Studies and History at Notre Dame, said that when we look at world history, Trump’s “attempt to pressure Pope Leo is nothing new.”
“Emperors, monarchs, and despots had long threatened popes in an attempt to force them to bend to their will,” he said via email. “But in the American context, Trump’s insult represents a historic reversal.”
“For most of this country’s history, Americans have viewed the Pope as a warmongering, money-grubbing, anti-democratic threat with designs on the White House,” he added. “Today, the threat is in the White House, and it is the Pope who defends the ideals of freedom and human dignity.”
Questions arise about Catholic convert J.D. Vance
Vice President J.D. Vance, a Catholic convert who has occasionally sparred with Catholic leaders over his criticism of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, had no immediate comment on the pope-Trump rift.
Catholics Vote for the Common Good, a nonprofit group that generally supports progressive causes, called on Vance to speak out about the dispute.
“At a moment when the Holy Father is under attack and the Church is discredited, silence is not neutrality but complicity,” said Denise Murphy McGraw, the organization’s national co-chair.
Some vocal evangelical supporters of Trump criticized the meme, which clearly depicted him as a Jesus-like healer, even as he maintained his support for Trump.
“It’s not hard to condemn this publicly,” said Willy Rice, a Southern Baptist Convention presidential candidate and pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida.
“Many Christians appreciate the President’s administration and support him in meaningful ways, but this is wrong,” Rice wrote in X.
Also weighing in was Doug Wilson, co-founder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a deeply conservative Calvinist denomination. a huge impact in the current administration. Members of their church include the Minister of Defense Pete Hegseth.
“I was delighted to see so many conservative Christians immediately condemn the blasphemous Jesus/Trump image,” Wilson shared on X.
Conservative evangelical commentator Megan Basham agreed with Trump’s criticism of Leo as “weak on crime and terrible on foreign policy.” But she attacked his meme as “SO MUCH blasphemous” and called on Trump to “beg forgiveness from the American people and then God.”
A look at the figures of religious blocs as the election approaches
This kind of public opposition to Trump from evangelical leaders is rare.
In 2024, white evangelical Protestants were a key component of Trump’s winning coalition, according to AP VoteCast. About a third of Trump voters, 34 percent, identified as white evangelical or born-again Christians, compared with just 8 percent of Harris voters. That year, white evangelicals made up nearly 2 in 10 voters, and the vast majority, 79%, voted for Trump.
A February AP-NORC poll found that nearly two-thirds of born-again white Protestants approved of how Trump was handling the presidency, while one-third disapproved.
Catholics were much more unhappy with Trump’s performance in that poll. Similar to Americans overall, only 4 in 10 approved of his presidential administration.
Among those calling on Trump to apologize to Leo was the Catholic Association, a national advocacy organization whose mission is “to be a faithful Catholic voice in the public sphere.”
“Insulting the Pope, and by extension all Catholics, in the hope of bending the church to American political agendas is discouraging and counterproductive,” said Ashley McGuire, a senior member of the group.
Catholic author and Marine Corps veteran Phil Klay suggested Leo would take the long view of the conflict.
“The role of the church is not to win a news cycle or a social media slap fight, but to calmly state timeless truths,” he told a Georgetown University panel on Monday. he said. “I think that’s what Pope Leo is doing, and I think we should listen and pray.”
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Crary reported from New York and Smith reported from Pittsburgh. Associated Press writer Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed.
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Associated Press religious coverage gets support through APs partnership With The Conversation US, funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content.
