Trump’s 'pope derangement syndrome' has him flailing in the face of 'God's messenger'

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Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on May 8, 2025 (Marco Iacobucci Epp/Shutterstock.com)

President Donald Trump is suffering from what one expert on Catholicism called "pope derangement syndrome," causing him to lash out against "God's messenger" Pope Leo XIV with bitter, politically charged jabs due to his fundamental misunderstanding of the role.

James V. Grimaldi is the Pulitzer Prize-winning former executive editor of The National Catholic Reporter. On Tuesday, he published a piece in the New York Times calling out Trump's recent feud against the pope and accusing him of "missing the point" when it comes to the pontiff's actual role within the church.

Leo, who ascended to the head of the Catholic Church last year following the passing of Pope Francis, has emerged as something of a thorn in the side of the MAGA movement due to his statements calling for the humane and compassionate treatment of immigrants, among other issues. Most recently, his opposition to armed conflicts has drawn the ire of Trump amid his spiraling with Iran, prompting the president to lash out against him in a Sunday Truth Social post, bafflingly accusing the pope of being "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy."

This latest escalation also came on the heels of a bombshell report revealing that the Pentagon had seemingly threatened military action against the Vatican in response to Leo's comments.

In his piece, Grimaldi stressed, as many have, that Leo's comments are not driven by partisan antipathy for Trump and MAGA, but rather by an accurate interpretation of Catholic teachings. He also noted that the cardinals who elected him last year did so with an eye to "the future in terms of the unity and strength of the Roman Catholic Church," not because they were "designating a foil for Mr. Trump."

"Pope Leo’s statements aren’t partisan barbs; they are expressions of his understanding of the Gospel and Catholic social teaching," Grimaldi explained. "For Mr. Trump to respond to them as potshots or challenges to his authority reflects a misplaced obsession with the pope and a misunderstanding of his role as the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics worldwide — call it pope derangement syndrome."

He continued: "For many Catholics, myself included, Leo’s words make us proud of our faith and thankful to have a pope who isn’t afraid to clearly and powerfully articulate a vision of what we consider morally and scripturally right, even if — or especially if — the church’s teaching clashes with the views of a president. But that’s not necessarily because we are Democrats or disaffected Republicans (I am neither), nor because we’re reflexively anti-Trump. It’s not because we secretly hope Leo was elected to hector the president. It’s because we Catholics believe that the pope is the Vicar of Christ, in essence God’s messenger on earth. It only follows that he would proclaim God’s message, particularly when it matters most, regardless of the political fallout."

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