How Pope Leo puts 'virtue outside and above politics' to fight Trumpism

Pope Leo XIV leads a prayer vigil, ahead of Pentecost Sunday, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, June 7, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

As President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown elicits stark condemnation from leaders in the Catholic church, which says the administration's policies clash with religious liberty, Pope Leo has emerged, writes David French in The New York Times, as the anti-Trump.

"If you examine the new pope’s pronouncements, there is a consistent through line. He defends human dignity and condemns government brutality. In addition to his defense of the human rights of migrants, he’s decried Russian abuses in Ukraine, and he’s called for a cease-fire, hostage release and compliance with international humanitarian law in Gaza," French writes.

Pope Leo's concerns, French writes, also extends to the tech sector, as seen in a November 7 post on X, in which he wrote, "Technological innovation can be a form of participation in the divine act of creation. It carries an ethical and spiritual weight, for every design choice expresses a vision of humanity. The Church therefore calls all builders of #AI to cultivate moral discernment as a fundamental part of their work—to develop systems that reflect justice, solidarity, and a genuine reverence for life."

That post, French says, drew immediate ire from tech billionaire and Trump supporter Marc Andreessen, "who posted (and then deleted) a meme mocking the pope’s statement," French notes.

Despite the pope's obvious dismay with Trump and his policies, French says that's probably where his own involvement ends.

"When I said that the path past Trumpism is beginning to emerge, I did not and do not mean that the pope will somehow enable the defeat of any particular politician or program at the ballot box," he writes. "American Catholics are true swing voters. A majority voted for Trump in 2024, but a majority disapprove of him now."

That being said, French also notes that there are "many devout Catholics who are deeply embedded in the MAGA movement, including Vice President JD Vance."

Noting the volatile mix between church and state, French writes, "Partisanship is poisonous to the church," adding that "when partisanship becomes part of your identity — much less part of your faith — it has a pernicious effect: It causes you to highlight the deficiencies of the other side while tempting you to rationalize or minimize the injustices on your own. Partisanship makes hypocrites of us all. I know it made a hypocrite of me on my worst partisan days."

Pope Leo, he notes, manages to rise above the fray, putting "virtue outside and above politics. His declarations are the living embodiment of Martin Luther King Jr.’s admonition that the church “is not to be the master or the servant of the state, but the conscience of the state.”

However, French says, it's almost impossible for religious voters today to put politics aside.

"When Democrats win the White House, then evangelicals tend to feel more defensive and fearful, as if their churches are at the edge of extinction," he writes.

French explains how Trumpism became a "thoroughly religious movement," saying that "the result is a relentless one-way cultural ratchet that amplifies Democratic sins and minimizes Republican vices."

"It elevates politics to the place of religion because it is only through politics that many evangelicals can feel confident and secure in the practice of their faith," he adds.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recently issued a rare, near-unanimous rebuke of Trump's immigration policies, specifically condemning the "indiscriminate mass deportation of people" and the associated "dehumanizing rhetoric and violence," but they did not specifically mention Trump by name.

"Since Trumpism is a religious phenomenon, it requires a religious answer. But it can’t be a partisan answer. That’s why it was wise for the bishops not to directly mention Trump in their statement," French notes.

Pope Leo has done the same, French writes, but, he says, "I'm under no illusions that Pope Leo’s example will matter to the evangelical political class. It is so far gone that many of its leading lights advance the absurd claim that Christians cannot vote for Democrats."

Despite that doubt, French says, "a pope’s moral witness can — and should — still matter to Christians of every tradition."

"Unless the values behind Trumpism are defeated, the man himself will be replaced by another like him — Republican or Democrat — and our culture will continue to slide into cruelty and depravity," French says.

The pope's own words, he writes, speak volumes.

"To quote Pope Leo, 'justice, solidarity, and a genuine reverence for life' ought to be the touchstones of our public engagement. There is another spiritual victory to be won — this time over the in these United States."

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