‘We’re Catholic first’: Sunday mass attendees weigh in on Trump’s feud with Pope Leo | Georgia

Alex Sullivan tended to her five children on the lawn after a traditional Latin mass at Saint Monica Catholic Church in Duluth, Georgia, and reflected on her faith in God’s light and Donald Trump’s shadow.

Sullivan, who describes himself as a conservative and once ran a libertarian state representative in the Georgia capital, has described his faith as almost medieval.

Trump was “a little over the top” in his criticism of Pope Leo XIV, but Sullivan said he rejected the idea that the US president’s comments in response to papal criticism of the war in Iran could undermine the Catholic church’s view of its leader.

“No, I will not support the pope any less,” he said. “There have been times in the past when this pope or the previous pope has done things that I have struggled with. Usually I have to pray about it, and sometimes I have to accept it. Negative accepting what he said and just living in that tension.

This tension between faith and politics is typical of the American Catholic experience; Perhaps it has never been more so than in the last few weeks. Pope Leo advocated for peace in the Iranian conflict from the moment the United States began bombing on February 28. declaring On Palm Sunday: “My brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, the King of Peace, who rejects war and whom no one can use to justify war.”

“He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them and says: ‘Even if you pray a lot, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood,'” the Pope added, quoting a holy verse.

On Easter Sunday, Trump threatened to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran if the regime did not open the Strait of Hormuz. Two days later, the US president made extraordinary threats again. “An entire civilization will die tonight,” he wrote in Truth Social. Leo XIV called this threat “unacceptable” and asked the public to “contact the authorities, the political leaders, the congressmen.” Three American cardinals on April 12 Appeared on 60 MinutesIt calls into question the morality and ethics of US attacks on Iran. Trump exploded on social media later that night with a lengthy post on Truth Social, calling the pope “Weak on Crime and Terrible on Foreign Policy” and claiming that Leo’s elevation as the first American-born pope should be seen as the church’s response to Trump’s election.

The president later posted an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus. Trump later removed the image and claimed that he thought he was depicted “as a doctor” in a red and white gown in front of a celestial host.

Catholics around Atlanta on Sunday responded to the president’s comments toward the pope with a dismissive resignation.

“I think there’s a long history of the Roman emperor fighting the Holy Father,” said Alex Aboutanos, a software engineer from Duluth. “There’s nothing new here. There may be legitimate political disagreements about what the right move is.”

Aboutnas said the president’s tone is a problem. “I may not agree with my own father, but I don’t talk to him that way. I don’t call him names. I’m not supposed to listen to what he says and then disagree. That’s not right. And as far as the image… that move was wrong, and I think he realized that, and it was a rare move where he actually removed it. That tells me… I’m not going to say he realized his mistake, but the PR guy did realize the mistake.”

The AI ​​image also crossed the line for Nick Dicarlo, an operations manager in Duluth and a self-described conservative.

“In terms of him portraying himself as our Lord, you know… that’s a pretty big problem. I don’t know what he was thinking there,” Dicarlo said. “What he really needs to do is publicly recant, because this is something that needs some compensation.”

After the service at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta, Kate Stroth said the AI ​​meme image was a bad idea. She and her husband, Dave, describe themselves as political conservatives and Trump voters.

“I don’t like it, and it’s one of the first things he’s ever done that I’m vehemently opposed to,” he said. “And some harsh words may be contradictory, but that’s typical. Nobody is going to be perfect. Not even the Pope. Not even Donald J Trump. He’s not a Catholic, so it hasn’t changed my opinion of him. It actually shows a lot of blind spots that he may have around faith and awareness of his own faith, but it doesn’t necessarily change the way I view him as a president.”

Stroth spoke carefully about his views on the pope. “My initial inclination has always been that the Pope doesn’t fully understand the political landscape and that he has a certain point of view and chooses to see that landscape from within,” he said. “He’s absolutely entitled to his opinion, and there’s nothing wrong with that… I support what President Trump has done and the action he’s taken regarding the military, because I look at it that way and I think it’s a protective measure.”

Dave Stroth defined their voting behavior by issues, not individuals, and said that this dispute changed nothing about their core political interests: “Peace through force, limited crime on the streets, affordable immigration – we achieved all that,” he said. “We’re not voting for the president for personal reasons. We’re voting for business executive action.”

But “he probably didn’t need to go there to attack the Pope as weak,” he said. “This is back to the Art of the Deal, classic Donald Trump. If he’s a world leader, he’s fair game, but I’m going to protect my pope, so that was probably rude.”

Many expressed admiration for Leo’s uncompromising stance against war as a fundamental expression of Catholic doctrine and said they found attacks on the pope’s call for peace absurd.

“The president was saying the pope wanted Iran to have nuclear weapons, and I don’t think the pope said that. The president is just saying things that people aren’t saying,” James Echols said after the service at St. Patrick’s Catholic church in Norcross. Asked if he saw the president’s comments as an attack on his religion, Echols said, “I don’t think he really cares about religion. I think he’s just saying it to get people on his side.”

Echols voted for Kamala Harris in 2024. His wife, Maribic Echols, voted for Trump. He said the president’s comments caused him to reconsider his support.

“I changed because it wasn’t what I expected when I voted for him; it was about war and arresting people who shouldn’t have been arrested,” he said.

About 55% of American Catholics Vote for Trump in 2024. Polls show Catholic support for president wear As the war, high gas prices, revelations in the Epstein files, and a series of scandals within the administration take their toll.

“We are Catholics first. The Republican party does not fully align with my views,” Dicarlo said. “They’re closer than the Democratic party. And they almost always fail to live up to even the principles they say they hold. But on some of the core issues that affect our culture… they’re going to do harm at least more slowly than the alternative. So it has nothing to do with loyalty to Trump. I’m voting for him, not because I see him as a savior. At least there’s some good there that I think I can vote for, and there’s less harm than the other.”