It was only a matter of time.
It was only a matter of time before President Donald J. Trump exploded at Pope Leo XIV. Unfortunately, Trump seems to eventually explode at most people critical of him or his policies. It’s a lamentable character trait. You may have noticed that since Trump entered the political scene in 2015, not many of his advisers have lasted. They tend to run afoul of him and invoke his wrath. I could list names, but it’s obviously unnecessary.
Anyway, as I was doing interviews last week following my piece at Crisis, The American Pope and the American President: A Stark Easter Sunday Contrast, I was asked which individual—the pope or the president—might be the first to publicly call out the other by name. Would Leo name Trump first or would Trump name Leo first? I told my interviewer to bet a million on Trump.
Well, Trump came through, in spades. On Sunday (these things seem to happen on Sundays with Donald Trump), he uncorked a tirade. I would call it a classic Trump temper tantrum, though this one was remarkably aimed at the Vicar of Christ rather than some wayward adviser or despised podcaster. Most Trump Truth Social posts run a few sentences. But this one was lengthy, befitting its anger. Here it is in full:
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. I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. 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. Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican. Unfortunately, Leo’s Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. Leo should 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. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church! President DONALD J. TRUMP
It goes without saying that this is an unhinged rant—a fact that any Trump supporter ought to candidly acknowledge. And many are, to his detriment. Last week, Trump’s approval numbers among Catholics dipped below 50%. That same group elected him president in November 2024, giving him 55% of the Catholic vote. That number will continue to decline as he goes after their pope with harangues like this. To be sure, he will still have plenty of Catholic supporters. I heard from some last week when I criticized Trump’s obscene Easter Sunday morning post. Less we forget, here’s what he posted:
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” Trump fumed on his Truth Social account at 8:03 a.m. Easter Sunday morning. “There will be nothing like it!!!” He raged at the Iranians: “Open the F–kin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!” Trump did not abbreviate the F-word. He let it rip with full Easter Sunday force. He then sarcastically signed off: “Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
That shocking post had prompted my column for Crisis, which led some emailers to tell me I’m suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. Would I prefer Kamala Harris as president?! Certainly not. But I’ve long felt that it’s worthwhile—and not a sin—to let your guy know that you don’t approve of his worst outbursts. You do him no favors.
I’ve long felt that it’s worthwhile—and not a sin—to let your guy know that you don’t approve of his worst outbursts. You do him no favors.Tweet ThisThat Trump detonation seemed to have prompted Pope Leo to double down on his general calls for peace, and specifically for a prayer vigil on April 11 at St. Peter’s Basilica.
But then much more proceeded to quickly unravel.
Two days later, on Tuesday morning, Trump fired off a statement for the ages. He ratcheted up the Richter scale, outrageously threatening: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Trump cautioned, “I don’t want that to happen,” before assuring, “but it probably will.”
That threat had all of us on edge. Good Lord, what might happen?
Up until that point, Pope Leo had largely responded to the war between America and Iran with vague calls for peace and laying down weapons. This time, however, he singled out the Trump statement. Diplomatically not naming Donald Trump by name, Pope Leo condemned “this threat against the entire people of Iran.”
The pope quite reasonably was appalled. He called the Trump threat “truly unacceptable.”
Donald Trump did not appreciate that Leo response. Of course, Trump generally doesn’t respond well to criticism.
As the days moved ahead, the escalation between the Trump administration and the Vatican flared up further. A provocative April 6 report in the Free Press went viral, especially among left-wing media sources that hate Donald Trump’s guts. It claimed that Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, had received “a bitter lecture” in a January meeting with Trump defense officials. The report suggested that the Trump administration had threatened the Vatican. There was even wild talk of the wistful days of the pontiff being exiled from Rome during the Avignon papacy.
I immediately sensed something fishy about that report. I started reaching out to my sources. EWTN News beat me to it, with an excellent piece quoting the Vatican itself, including Matteo Bruni, the Holy See’s spokesman, and U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Brian Burch, noting that the report had no basis. It was a gross distortion.
Nonetheless, the report was out there and did little to stem the rumors.
Then came the peace vigil at the Vatican last Saturday and more papal calls for peace on Sunday, with Leo urging “enough of war.” Worse, Pope Francis’s highly ill-advised pick for cardinal in the Washington diocese, Robert McElroy, a staunch outspoken liberal who should never have been placed in that position, made a statement calling the war immoral. Cardinal McElroy declared: “the initiation of this war and any continuation of it morally illegitimate.”
Pope Francis’s highly ill-advised pick for cardinal in the Washington diocese, Robert McElroy, a staunch outspoken liberal who should never have been placed in that position, made a statement calling the war immoral. Tweet ThisSadly, that kind of blanket, intemperate statement is expected from McElroy, and would not have been expected of Pope Leo, who is a much more measured man. It’s why officials in the American Church had counseled against the Washington appointment of McElroy in the first place. He tossed gasoline on a fire ready to blow at the White House.
Donald Trump delivered the conflagration with his Truth Social tirade against Pope Leo this Sunday evening.
Alas, Trump’s diatribe finally prompted Leo to use the name “Trump,” though only upon being directly asked by Vatican reporters. On the papal airplane bound for Algeria this Tuesday, journalists asked Leo about the Trump attack on him. “I think people who read it will be able to draw their own conclusions,” said the pope. “I am not a politician, and I have no intention of entering into a debate with him.” After another Vatican reporter pressed him, Leo added: “I have no fear neither of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel. That’s what I believe I am called to do and what the Church is called to do. Weʼre not politicians. Weʼre not looking to make foreign policy, as [Trump] calls it, with the same perspective that he might understand it.” The Holy Father stated: “But I do believe that the message of the Gospel, ‘blessed are the peacemakers,’ is a message that the world needs to hear today.”
It is indeed. That’s hard to argue with.
Regrettably, this escalating battle between the American president and American pope is prompting many conservative Catholics to choose a side, and to oppose their pope. I would advise them not to get as emotional as their president. I would further advise that they not be so defensive when their man (Trump) is criticized. It’s okay to do that now and then; constructive criticism is not bad. They certainly don’t seem to have a problem criticizing their pope.
I would also advise that they follow the lead of their pope and simply pray for peace. It’s a good policy all the time, whether in battles between nations or between presidents and popes.
A False Choice: Peace, Prudence, and the Duty to Confront Aggression
What course of action best protects innocent people and restrains evil?
That is the real question Catholics should be asking in the debate over President Trump and Pope Leo—not the false equivalency being presented. The issue is not whether one chooses loyalty to the President or loyalty to the Pope. Catholics are not called to choose personalities. We are called to pursue what is true and just.
Framing the matter as “Trump versus the Pope” diverts attention from the deeper moral question we as Catholics should be contemplating. The Church rightly calls for peace, and every Catholic should desire it. But the Catholic tradition has never taught that peace is preserved merely by wishing for it or calling for it publicly. The Church’s own Just War tradition recognizes that peace sometimes requires confronting aggression.
St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas both understood that the purpose of legitimate force is not conquest or vengeance but the defense of the innocent and the restoration of order. As Augustine observed, “Peace is not the absence of war but the tranquility of order.” The goal of war, paradoxically, is peace—but a peace grounded in justice rather than submission to violence.
This is why Catholic moral teaching does not demand pacifism. It demands prudence. Force, when morally justified, is not ordered toward destruction but toward the restoration of justice and peace.
When a regime consistently sponsors terrorism, destabilizes regions through proxy wars, threatens international commerce, and pursues weapons capable of catastrophic destruction, the moral question becomes more complex than simply urging restraint. In such cases, refusing to confront aggression may actually prolong suffering and increase the likelihood of greater war later.
Iran’s long record of sponsoring terrorist organizations and threatening vital global infrastructure like the Strait of Hormuz illustrates precisely this dilemma. When a regime uses proxies and coercion to hold entire regions—and much of the world’s economy—hostage, calls for peace alone cannot resolve the problem.
Peace requires justice. Justice sometimes requires strength.
None of this means that diplomacy should be abandoned. Diplomacy is always preferable when it is effective. But diplomacy that ignores persistent aggression or refuses to impose consequences can become a form of moral evasion rather than moral leadership.
Catholics should also remember that disagreement with a pope on matters of political prudence is not disloyalty to the Church. The pope speaks with authority on faith and morals, but questions of military strategy and international statecraft involve prudential judgments that faithful Catholics may debate.
The Church’s call for peace remains essential. But peace must be more than the absence of immediate conflict. It must also mean the protection of the innocent and the restraint of those who threaten them.
That is the real question Catholics must wrestle with—not whether to side with one man or another, but how best to pursue a peace grounded in justice rather than the illusion of peace purchased through inaction.
The timing of the Holy Father’s criticism of Trump was curiously following a visit by a Democrat operative [i.e., David Axelrod]. Thus, the Holy Father looks like he has alignment with a liberal bent – and the criticism of his pontificate seems to have some merit [homosexuality in the clergy, financial scandal, pedophile priests still operating, &c.]. Further, albeit excessively bombastic and disrespectful, Mr. Trump does have valid points. Where is the hue and cry over slaughtered Christians in Nigeria? Or the oppression of the underground Church in China? Or the slaughtered Iranian citizens? Crickets. And that smells of hypocrisy. The institutional Church spends a great deal of time navigating toward the shoals instead of cleaning up the act.
Trump is my president, and he is doing precisely what he was ‘hired’ to do. I pray for the him and for the Holy Father – daily. I must confess that the timing of this kerfuffle provides ample opportunity to disenchant Catholic voters toward the Trump agenda – it just smells of Chicago politics.
The Holy Father has poked the bear, and the bear has retaliated.
What would be so wrong about focusing on the salvation of souls and the “Great Commission?”
Very well stated, Charles. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
Yes, I wish Trump were more restrained in his speech too. But I much prefer a blustering, loud-mouth, honest Trump to smooth, devious politicians and prelates.
I would also add that I would have much more credibility in Pope Leo’s words if he got our Church house in order before he started chastising Trump.
As long as Leo continues Pope Francis’ tendency to protect and promote clergy credibly accused of sex abuse crimes and/or promoting teachings contrary to established Catholic doctrine, I will have little regard for anything he says about matters of politics and prudential judgment.
As a conservative Catholic I feel no compulsion to choose sides. After all, the separation of church and state is a long hallowed though often misunderstood precept of our republic. I also subscribe to Christ’s admonishment to “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”
Governing our republic to include waging war when needed is rendered to Trump. Advocating for the peacemakers belongs to Pope Leo. I see no inherent conflict between the two based on their very distinct roles in my life.
I have voted for Trump 3 times and continue to support his policies overall. That does not mean I support or endorse his personality and how he reacts to criticism. I wish he was more diplomatic and restrained. Nevertheless less, as a citizen of nearly 77 years duration, I much prefer a rude and crude President who loves his country and gets things done than the host of Presidents who are suave and oh so diplomatic who love themselves as much or more than they love their country and leave a legacy of unfulfilled promises and a list of excuses.
Criticism of Donald Trump’s tone toward the papacy is fair—there should be real respect for the office of the successor of Saint Peter. But the analysis feels incomplete. When Pope Leo XIV calls for peace mainly toward the U.S. while speaking more generally about regimes like Iran, it can come across as one-sided. Catholic teaching doesn’t require passivity—Just War doctrine recognizes that defending innocent life and confronting real evil can be necessary.
A better approach is holding both truths at once: push for peace, but also clearly name injustice. Without that balance, the message can feel disconnected from reality. The Church is strongest when it speaks with both mercy and clarity—calling for restraint, yes, but also for justice.
To this point I’m not a big fan of Leo XVI, but I’m becoming more and more disillusioned with Trump (who I think has serious mental issues). I voted for him twice because there was no real alternative. However I think the time is rapidly approaching when good politicians of both parties (asking too much?) have to start looking at the 25th Amendment. Also might help if Catholics acquaint themselves with the warnings of Our Lady of Akita while there’s still time. =
The author compares the comments and actions of the Vicar of Christ with a nominal Christian. Not reasonable. I wish Trump was better than this. Like you I voted twice for him but I’ve no regrets, take the good with the bad and pray for his conversion.
Trump says lots of things that are outrageous yet his final decisions are sound. Our country and world are better now because he takes the responsibility and risks no one else was willing or interested in taking responsibility for. Your concerns regarding his mental state are as outrageous as his behavior and comments. Could any human function admirably under the hatred he has endured (deserved and undeserved) plus the pressures he has faced by doing what no one else would do for the past decade?
Read between the lines and he sincerely believes that he is working for peace. He is flawed like the rest of us and way smarter than the bad guys. The problem is he has to behave perfect in the public (he’s not even close) or his detractors will pounce immediately. Hope you’ll reconsider your stance.
Our Lady of Atika was warning us about what would happen if Islamic religious fanatics developed nuclear weapons.
Trump is addressing the problem.
The game is afoot.
Who wins? The Liberal cleric with lofty but inane proclamations or the Bombastic Brooklyn Dodger.
The result will tell.
Just like Obama, the Pope’s muse and messiah, words versus action.
It’s Queens actually. That would make Trump the Yankee Clipper.
But it’s true, the proof is in the pudding. We are privileged to witness a political leader who has closed a bleeding border, is dismantling the federal levithian, defanging drug lords, brought peace to eight different countries and is on the cusp of, God willing, bringing a peace to the Middle East that would be historic in a Biblical sense.
Meanwhile, let the pearl clutching continue.
Timothy,
This is your one warning. We allow a free discussion of ideas in our comments section, but we expect them to be respectful, and your comments often are not. Saying that Obama is the “pope’s messiah” is far over the line and will not be tolerated. If we feel you cross the line again, you’ll be removed permanently as a commenter.
Eric Sammons