Belief

President Donald Trump and his administration talk a big game about their devotion to and support for religion, but in practice, their "high-octane condescension" exposes their "contempt toward Christianity," according to a new analysis from The Bulwark.

Mona Charen is a veteran writer and journalist who previously worked as a staffer for former President Ronald Reagan and as a speechwriter for First Lady Nancy Reagan. She is now an outspoken critic of Trump and his political agenda, writing for The Bulwark on Wednesday about the ways in which he has "revealed MAGA's anti-Christian nature."

"The past few days have featured the vice president of the United States lecturing the pope on morality and church doctrine; Sean Hannity making it official that he worships at the Church of Trump; Pete Hegseth quoting made-up verses from Pulp Fiction as if they were actual scripture; and Trump styling himself as Jesus Christ," Charen wrote. "A few years ago, one might have wondered how these acts of contempt toward Christianity would go down with the religious right, but after 10 years of cultishness, it would be foolish to expect many defections."

Speaking from her own background in the conservative movement, Charen called it "dizzying" to see "people who used to venerate religious leaders of all stripes" morph under Trump's influence into people who now "smack-talk the pope and commit what some have characterized as blasphemy." She took particular exception to Vance's "swipes at the vicar of Christ," in which he urged Pope Leo XIV "to stick to matters of morality," and "let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy," a set of assertions especially galling considering Vance's much publicized late-in-life conversion to Catholicism.

"You do Mass and baptisms and such and let us handle war and peace. That’s some high-octane condescension, but if he had stopped there, it would only have registered as normal MAGA insolence," Charen continued. "But no, Vance wasn’t finished. Speaking the next day at a Turning Point USA event, Vance rebuked the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Christians (including himself: Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019) for his theology!"

While she herself is Jewish, Charen explained that she had always had an admiration for "serious Christians" and their commitment to doing good. In the face of Trump's contamination of right-wing religiosity, she called it "One of the sad revelations of our time" how MAGA has exposed "the shallowness of many Christians’ professed faith," becoming another in a long line of historical examples of faith being "perverted to enable cruelty and even atrocities."

"But the particular sacrilege that late stage Trumpism has adopted must be tearing at some hearts," Charen concluded. "From Trump’s declaration that unlike Erika Kirk, he doesn’t forgive his enemies, to his crude attacks on the pope as 'weak on crime,' to his insane AI rendering of himself as Jesus, he seems to be deliberately testing Christians’ forbearance. Above all, his threat to commit war crimes by deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran (bridges, power plants) and culminating in the maniacal vow to destroy Iranian civilization in one night ought to have produced a recoil in any nation with a conscience. Time to consider that he might be a false prophet—if people can distinguish truth from falsehood anymore."

President Donald Trump this week read passages from the Bible at a public event, and according to the Religious News Service, the choice of verses revealed a secret message, providing "red meat" to his "Christian nationalist" followers.

Despite the fact that Trump, as the outlet noted, "personally avoids church" and has questionable religious bona fides, he continues to try and sell himself as a leader for evangelical Christians. On Tuesday, he took part in the launch of the weeklong "America Reads the Bible" project at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., reading through "a few verses on... from 2 Chronicles 7."

The selection of this portion from the Bible, Baptist minister Brian Kaylor argued in his piece for RNS, was "not a coincidence," as it contains a verse, number 14, that has long been "a favorite among those pushing to codify Christianity into public life and government."

"If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land," the verse reads, as it appears in the "Easy Reading" edition of the King James version of the Bible, which Trump used at the event.

"So, why 2 Chronicles 7:14 for Trump?" Kaylor asked. "There’s a long tradition of presidents and preachers invoking the verse for 'God and country' vibes."

He continued: "Stripped of its context of a covenantal promise God made to King Solomon and his descendants at the dedication of the Temple, the verse has been applied to the United States by preachers and politicians for decades. In this retelling, the United States became the new Israel, Americans the new chosen people. Yet, that’s not a faithful application of the text. With apologies to Carly Simon, we’re so vain we think this verse is about us. After all, 2 Chronicles was written centuries after Solomon to people returning home from exile after being defeated and enslaved by a foreign power. The verse is a reminder to those on the bottom that God is still with them, and therefore not a wave-the-flag-pep-rally chant for the powerful who control the global empire."

The verse has maintained popularity among those pushing for the U.S. to be designated as a fully Christian nation, as, "If the verse can be applied to this nation, then it justifies efforts to force governmental declarations of the Christian faith." This is also not its first appearance at an event connected to the second Trump administration, as it was also read by House Chaplain Margaret Kibben "in her prayer to open the House on the day of Trump’s second inauguration," to which she added, "God Bless America."

"Framing Trump’s return to the White House as a sign of a coming national revival, this verse for MAGA preachers serves to endorse not just a generic American Christian nationalism but one that centers Trump as the new King Solomon," Kaylor continued. "That’s why Bunni Pounds, the lead organizer of the 'America Reads the Bible' effort, saved this verse for Trump. She told Fox News Digital that she realized 'this is such a critical passage for the body of Christ,' so she wanted the president to read it as a way of highlighting this verse above all others."

“I think he’s sending a message that faith matters in this country, and that it’s important not only personally, but for our nation overall,” Pounds said during her Fox appearance. “I believe the president’s saying that by reading this Scripture specifically.”

"How can 'we the people' be God’s chosen people humbling ourselves and turning from our wicked ways simply by Trump reading a verse?" Kaylor asked. "It’s the logical fallacy of Christian nationalists, especially when centered on a profane politician they view as, in the words of Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, 'almost the second coming' of Jesus. While Trump reads 2 Chronicles 7:14 after starting his feud with the pope and sharing that image of himself as AI Doctor Jesus, I’ll instead recall the words of the old proverb that Jesus even quoted: 'Physician, heal thyself.'"

President Donald Trump's escalating spat with Pope Leo XIV risks alienating Catholic voters without delivering any meaningful political gains for Republicans of faith. At the same time, the Pope's progressive stances on climate, inequality and immigrants are already dividing the faithful along partisan lines.

Reporting on Monday, Puck News explained that while the rhetoric might fire up Trump's evangelical base, it could further erode GOP support, particularly among working-class and suburban Catholics in key swing districts. That will ultimately make downballot prospects more of a challenge at a time when they don't need any more problems.

"Democrats are happy to help twist the knife," said Puck on X about the report.

The feud began after Trump announced he was willing to commit genocide in Iran. Pope Leo began pushing peace, as many popes have before him. Trump took it as a personal slight, and the digital war of words was on. Trump even called the Pope "weak on crime."

Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism, blamed the media, saying they were the ones who made up the feud between the two leaders.

Then Trump posted an AI image of himself as Jesus Christ.

GOP political strategists are scrambling.

“Is there a big coalition that’s been itching for a fight with the Vatican?” asked one Democratic consultant who worked in races in Pennsylvania in the past. “I don’t think that’s the case.”

Meanwhile, a GOP pollster told Puck, "Polling on religion is rare, but... it’s now time to start looking."

Democrats are gearing up: "It is not hard to target likely voters who are... Catholic with ads online," said one Illinois strategist.

Last week, Trump escalated the battle, slashing funding for a Catholic organization, including canceling an $11 million long-standing contract with Miami Catholic Charities, which helps unaccompanied minors and migrant children.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski wrote an op-ed for The Miami Herald saying, "For more than 60 years, the Archdiocese of Miami’s services for unaccompanied minors have been recognized for their excellence and have served as a model for other agencies throughout the country."

Without the funding, the group won't last the rest of 2026.

The escalation hits Latino Catholics and white working-class Reagan Democrats the hardest. GOP strategist Mike Madrid, who has spent decades studying Latino voters, told Puck, "Everything [Trump's] doing violates the sensibility of these voters... There’s going to be a reckoning."

It's been a little over a year since Hispanic Catholics fled from the Democratic Party, but watching Trump target all Latinos, even citizens, has eroded the relationship.

The Democratic consultant from Illinois noted that problems are already popping up in races.

"It’s really bad for Republicans in Catholic areas like the upper Midwest, Long Island, [and] the border," said the strategist.

Pope Leo, the first American Pope, grew up in Chicago's working-class South Side. In many ways, he represents the voters that Democrats lost to MAGA in 2024.

Even Trump diehards can't do anything but shrug.

One former GOP officeholder from a red state said that their neighbors are opposed to Trump's feud with the Pope.

"Nobody likes what he said... but they’re used to him attacking everybody," the Republican said.

The coalition built for 2024 didn't have huge swaths of a population supporting Trump; it was small pieces of traditionally Democratic groups. Losing those is becoming a huge problem for the GOP because they aren't pivoting to Democrats, they're simply dropping out of politics altogether, a new study cited by Jacobin said.

The Catholic bishop from President Donald Trump's own backyard has issued a strong rebuke, according to a report from Metro, decrying his ongoing, one-sided spat with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran war.

Trump and the MAGA movement have taken issue with the American Pope Leo since his ascent to the papacy last spring, fuming over his call for followers to treat immigrants with humanity and compassion, and his opposition to armed conflicts. This disconnect reached new heights after Leo continued to speak out during the onset of the Iran war, with Trump going on lengthy social media tirades attacking the pontiff as "weak." Recent reports also revealed that Trump officials once threatened the Vatican with military action over Leo's comments.

Trump's attacks have drawn widespread condemnation from Catholic leaders and followers alike. This week, the backlash got much closer to home for the president following a new outcry from Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez, the sixth bishop of Palm Beach, where Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence is located. Rodríguez has served in the role since December, after he was appointed by Leo himself.

The bishop's comments came during the most recent Sunday mass at churches in his diocese, where a video message was shown to attendees, in which he called Trump's comments an assault on the Constitution's freedom of religion and American Catholics overall.

"The Diocese of Palm Beach stands firm with our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, and strongly rejects the disrespectful and violent attacks that Donald J. Trump has directed against the Holy Father," Rodríguez said in the video. "These attacks also constitute a grave violation of the religious freedom enshrined in the Constitution of the United States and, as such, harm the rights of the American Catholic faithful. Please pray for the safety of the Holy Father."

On the same day, Leo said that it "wasn’t in his interest" to directly debate Trump, and claimed that his comments from earlier in the week lamenting a world "ravaged by a handful of tyrants" were not directed at him specifically. He claimed that those remarks had been prepared two weeks prior to when he first delivered them publicly.

"There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the president of the United States made some comments about me," the pope explained.

Trump has repeatedly tried to claim, with little evidence, that his own international influence led to the appointment of the first American pope, following the passing of Pope Francis last year. Experts have countered that, to the degree his presidency had any impact on the decision to elect Leo, it would have been to counteract the damage he had done.

Editor’s note: The following remarks were delivered during an emergency press conference in New Haven, Connecticut on Tuesday, April 14, 2026 in response to recent comments and actions by President Donald J. Trump.

“You shall have no other gods before me.” —Exodus 20:3

“All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless.” —Isaiah 44:9

“Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.” —Acts 17:29

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in Spirit and in truth.” —John 4:24

There are times that compel people of faith to speak, servants of Jesus to speak, proclaimers of the gospel to speak and engage in truth-telling and forms public exorcism rooted in deep radical love with the hope of repentance and a commitment to faithful witness—without fear of what any man or woman administration can do to us.

Two weeks ago the Moral Monday movement held Moral Monday gatherings in Washington, DC, 16 states, and Canada to denounce this war and the President’s declaration that if another country didn’t do what he said, he would “reign” down Hell on them and wipe out their entire civilization.

Why has he been talking about “reigning” down hell? Why does he write “reign,” not “rain”? What authority is he claiming to serve?

Why was he so threatened by Easter that he had to try to make it about him?

Why is the Pope teaching what Jesus and the church have always taught getting under his skin? The religious nationalist movement for so long has been saying he is an imperfect instrument being “used by God.” But he’s not satisfied with that. He wants to be God.

The AI image of him as Jesus is so bad that some of his own people have called it blasphemy. So now he’s trying to walk it back and say he thought it was a portrayal of him as a doctor.

This is exposing the madness that we’ve seen in policy. He wants to be some kind of God like messianic figure—to decide who lives and who dies; who gets citizenship and who doesn’t; which parts of the Constitution still matter and whose rights have to be respected.

Just 10 days ago, on the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King, Trump told Russell Vought, the director of the federal Office of Management and Budget, “Don’t send any money for day care, because the United States can’t take care of day care. That has to be up to a state. We can’t take care of day care. We’re a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We’re fighting wars.”

And then during Holy Week, he went to the Supreme Court to seemingly intimidate them to support undoing birthright citizenship for babies.

Not only is war unholy, but when any human or president acts in word and deed as though they can determine who lives and who dies—who has citizenship and who can “reign” down hell and wipe out an entire civilization—assuming God-like authority, represents a war on divinity.

We live in a nation that has declared some things are inalienable, endowed by our Creator. And for people of faith, even if the nation didn’t say it, we believe and know that some things are only God’s authority, and to violate them is sin because the gospel of Jesus says so.

This AI pic represents idolatry—a false image offered for us to bow down to, and it is blasphemy and heresy and an affront to Jesus Christ. To do it represents a kind of demonic madness, no matter who would do it—Democrat or Republican. To equate Jesus with a person, a flag, bombs and war planes—and to say that’s what heals us and saves us: this is sin and attempts to exalt a person above God. It is a dangerous war on divinity that is a turn from the God of the gospels, the truths of the gospel.

This is why Pope Leo said: “I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the gospel.”

And he said this even after the reports of the Trump administration calling the ambassador of the Vatican to the Pentagon earlier this year.

I’m not Catholic, but as a bishop in the Lord’s church, in this moment, Pope Leo is my pope.

As much as Pope Francis was, as I had the opportunity to respond to his encyclical on the environment and address the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences as addressed the moral issue of poverty and people’s movements around the world.

But we must be careful in this moment to act as though this is the first moral and spiritual violation by Trump and religious nationalism. His embrace of a Messianic-type role has been pushed by the delusion of Franklin Graham and others.

When he allows people in his administration to say empathy is the cause of the decline of Western civilization.

These are deep, sinful contradictions of the gospel which says a nation will be judged by how it treats the least of these.

His constant demeaning of other nations and cultures and his constant claim that no one ever did anything as great and wonderful as him before him—the constant self-congratulation and adoration—is idolatry that, when unchecked, has led to where we are now.

Some of the church must repent of far too much silence in the public square confronting these thing public sins and idolatries and other policies with the truths of the gospel and our response to this image and his ridiculous attacks on the Pope cannot be one off.

This must be a moment of entering the public square with the truths of the gospel, with love, the truth of the prophets, and the courage to say we are not afraid of this administration or any, and we won’t be silent any more. We must lift a clear call that this nation and any nation in its words, deeds, and policies must work to have good news for the poor, healing of the broken hearted, deliverance to the captive, recovery of sight to the blind, and a declaration of acceptance to all who have been marginalized if we even hope to be pleasing to God.

“The tendency to claim God as an ally for our partisan value and ends is the source of all religious fanaticism,” Reinhold Niebuhr wrote. This is why when we as people of faith enter into the public space, we do so not with partisan facts and focus, but with the truths of the gospel.

This is why we have been here in New Haven. More than 400 public theologians are returning to their communities later today with a renewed sense that we have a responsibility to help the nation make this choice and build a movement that can take back our government and insist that it serve all the people.

President Donald Trump's recent social media posts, including an AI-generated image depicting him as Jesus Christ, have ignited debate within evangelical Christian circles about his relationship with religious values and his base.

The controversial posts — which included a profanity-laced Easter message and mocking references to Islam — prompted conservative author Rod Dreher to suggest Trump is "radiating the spirit of Antichrist," though he stopped short of calling Trump the Antichrist himself.

Speculation about the Antichrist's identity has long been a feature of Christian thought. Historical candidates have included Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and more recently, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, according to an analysis featured at Religion News Service.

What distinguishes Trump's posts is the division they've caused within his own evangelical support base, notes RNS. Calvin University professor Kristin Kobes Du Mez noted that the image "caused some real division within his religious base," marking a rare moment when Trump's supporters rejected rather than embraced his social media content.

Matthew Sutton, a religious history scholar at Washington State University, traced modern evangelical Antichrist speculation to early 20th-century fundamentalism and end-times theology. While some theological elements of Trump align with evangelical Antichrist expectations — such as his charismatic communication through Truth Social — traditional interpretations suggest the Antichrist will oppose Israel, a position Trump does not hold.

Rev. Franklin Graham defended the image, arguing Trump had no intention of depicting himself as Jesus. Trump later claimed it was meant to show him as a doctor with the Red Cross.

Religious technology scholar Heidi Campbell emphasized how AI-generated images reflect and shape contemporary religious consciousness, particularly on social media platforms.

Sutton suggested this moment may represent a turning point in Trump's relationship with his evangelical base, noting that while previous controversial acts seemed to carry no consequences, this image has struck a different chord.

“I am not a politician; I speak of the Gospel.” Pope Leo XIV’s recent remarks, made during his apostolic journey to Africa, immediately suggest that his clash with Donald Trump operates on a different level to the US president’s usual political spats.

After returning to the White House in 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to defend Christianity and appointed evangelical Pastor Paula White to head the new White House Faith Office. Christianity, Trump claimed, was under attack during former President Joe Biden's four years in office. But in fact, Biden is known for being a devout Catholic and isn't shy about discussing his faith.

Trump's message is aimed primarily at a specific area of Christianity: far-right white fundamentalist evangelicals. And he has plenty of critics among Catholics and Mainline Protestants.

Some of the criticism is coming from 70-year-old Robert Francis Prevost, AKA Pope Leon XIV, a vocal opponent of Trump's war against Iran. Trump is angrily lashing out at the Pope, while Vice President JD Vance — a convert to Catholicism who was raised Protestant — is saying that Leo should stick to theology and stay away from politics.

Trump, in an April 12 post on his Truth Social platform, wrote, "Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy…. 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!"

In an article published by The Bulwark on April 16, Never Trump conservative Bill Kristol lays out some reasons why MAGA Republicans are so resentful of Pope Leo.

"According to (White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen) Miller, in the real world, it's power — not justice — that matters," Kristol explains. "The 'iron laws of the world since the beginning of time' rule, and the essence of those iron laws is that might makes right…. That Trumpist view — that power is to be worshiped, that might makes right —can be dressed up in religious garb, whether through the unctuous sophistry of JD Vance or the grotesque weaponization of faith by Pete Hegseth. But the costume clearly doesn't fit. The claim that we have no choice but to follow 'the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time,' indeed that we should exult in doing so, is fundamentally at odds with a Judeo-Christian world view…. Of course, if the Trumpist claim is right, if those iron laws since the beginning of time are all-powerful, then the Declaration of Independence doesn't matter either."

Kristol adds, "Whatever human rights we may think we should respect don't matter. The strong do what they will and the weak suffer what they must."

The "might is right" mindset, according to Kristol, explains "why the Trump Administration and its surrogates have chosen to pick a fight with Pope Leo XIV."

"They're attacking Pope Leo not simply because he's the Pope, but because he's the first American pope," Kristol argues. "He's a threat to their ambition to change the meaning of America. And he's popular here in America. A poll last month found that 42 percent of Americans had a positive feeling about the Pope, while only 8 percent had a negative view. Half said they were neutral or not sure."

Kristol continues, "If you're Trump, and you see a critic with those numbers, a critic who can command attention and who shows no signs of being afraid of you or of shrinking from a fight, you want to weaken him. You want to try to drive up his negatives and to drag him down into the polarized political mud in which all other American public figures exist. So you try to reduce him to just another political actor — to a radical leftist who's 'WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy'…. The Trumpists fear Pope Leo not simply because he's defending the views, and speaking to the communicants, of his church. They fear him because he's defending the principles, and speaking to the citizens, of his country. Of our country."

President Donald Trump's attack on Pope Leo XIV — while depicting himself as Jesus, and later, as embraced by Jesus — is being met with scorn and derision by some, and even disapproval by some of his most ardent Christian right supporters.

"Donald Trump is no stranger to picking fights," a Financial Times newsletter stated on Thursday. "But his most recent one — with the Pope, of all people — could prove his most consequential misstep."

For his part, the Pope appears unperturbed, and continues to go about his business of preaching the gospel. But he has not deviated, and, some might argue, is publicly using the Bible to protest Trump's war in Iran while calling for peace.

Trump had "issued a flurry of statements Sunday against Pope Leo XIV, saying in part that the U.S.-born pope supports Iran having a nuclear weapon," PolitiFact reported, noting that the Pope has repeatedly denounced nuclear weapons — and war itself.

"I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon," the president wrote in a lengthy broadside. "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."

Pope Leo has continued to promote his pro-peace, anti-war argument.

"Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth," he wrote on social media Thursday morning.

The Guardian reported that the Pope "did not mention Donald Trump by name, but used his speech in Cameroon on Thursday to denounce world leaders that invoke religion to justify violence against other nations."

On Wednesday, Leo wrote: "#Peace is everyone’s responsibility, beginning with civil authorities. To govern means to love one’s own country as well as neighboring countries. The commandment 'love your neighbor as yourself' is equally applicable to international relations!"

Also on Wednesday, the Pope wrote, "Let us reject the logic of violence and war, and embrace peace founded on love and justice—an unarmed peace, not based on fear, threats or weapons...The world thirsts for #Peace! Enough of war and all the pain it causes through death, destruction, and exile!"

"God’s heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies," he wrote on Tuesday.

BREAKING: Pope Leo XVI says the world is being 'ravaged by a handful of tyrants' during a visit to Cameroon.
The remarks come amid his feud with U.S. President Donald Trump over the war in Iran.https://t.co/1wxbrJ2Hxo
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/ckE6V1WYqw
— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 16, 2026

After evangelical Pastor Paula White offended many Mainline Protestants and Catholics by comparing U.S. President Donald Trump to Jesus Christ, Trump doubled down by posting, on his Truth Social platform, an illustration depicting him as Jesus. Plenty of non-Christians were offended as well; Muslims don't consider Jesus the son of God, but they revere him as a prophet and believe that he helped pay the way for the teachings of Prophet Mohammed.

In a scathing article published on April 15, Salon's Amanda Marcotte argues that when Trump compared himself to Jesus in his Truth Social post, he was exposing an uncomfortable truth about far-right white evangelicals.

"On Sunday, (April 12)," Marcotte explains, "the president posted artificial intelligence-generated fan art depicting himself as Jesus Christ healing a sick man while being worshiped by white Americans in modern clothing. When this drew criticism, even from some of his biggest sycophants in the punditry, Trump deleted the post. Then, the conflicting excuses began."

Marcotte adds, "'I think the president was posting a joke,' (Vice President) JD Vance argued on Fox News."

Some right-wing white evangelicals attacked Trump's Truth Social post as blasphemous, but Marcotte contends that most of the president's evangelical supporters weren't genuinely offended.

"One gets the sense that most evangelical influencers weren't really angry so much as they were embarrassed that Trump said the quiet part out loud: He has supplanted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior," the liberal journalist laments. "MAGA leaders love to praise Trump's bluntness when he's attacking their presumed enemies, but they expect him to be a little more circumspect when assessing the character of the people who follow him. That is a huge miscalculation. Trump eventually betrays everyone who shows him loyalty, so it should have come as no surprise that he couldn't help but strip away the pretense that their faith is about following the teachings of Christ."

Marcotte adds, "In the corny AI language so loved by MAGA, Trump told the truth: What the Christian Right worships is power…. Here is what will almost certainly happen next: Since the Trump-as-Jesus picture was deleted from his Truth Social feed, MAGA influencers will promptly return to offering him over-the-top worship.

The Christian Right, according to Marcotte, "is really not about worshipping God — it's about worshipping power."

"In the MAGA movement," Marcotte writes, "Trump serves a similar role, his followers not to the Almighty but to what they really want: control over American government and society. And there is nothing the president could do that would cause the Christian Right to lose their faith in him."

When John F. Kennedy Sr. won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960, many political journalists wondered if U.S. voters would elect a Catholic president. But JFK narrowly defeated the Republican nominee, then-Vice President Richard Nixon, by less than 1 percent but won the electoral vote 303-219.

Sixty years later, in 2020, devout Catholic Joe Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump by roughly 5 percent in the popular vote and 306-232 in the Electoral College. Now, in 2026, Vice President JD Vance, is a convert to Catholicism, and Catholics dominate the U.S. Supreme Court.

Moreover, Protestant candidates actively court Catholic voters. But in a biting opinion column published on Wednesday, April 15, The Guardian's Arwa Mahdawi argues that President Trump's attacks on Pope Leo XIV could alienate Catholic voters and become a political liability for Catholic Vance (who was raised Protestant).

"On Sunday, (April 12), Trump, who identifies as a nondenominational Christian, attacked the Pope on Truth Social, calling him 'WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,'" Mahdawi observes. "Shortly after, the president posted, and later deleted, an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure anointing the forehead of a man who looked vaguely like a skinny Jeffrey Epstein…. 'Blessed are the peacemakers,' Leo said on Monday, when asked about Trump's comments. 'I'm not afraid of the Trump Administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel.'"

Mahdawi notes that the "majority of Catholics," according to polls, "disapprove of Trump's handling of the war on Iran."

"Alienating Catholics is not the smartest move: they are the U.S.' biggest religious swing voters," Mahdawi argues. "They largely voted for Biden in 2020, but, in 2024, Trump won the group by a 10- to 20-point margin. Unless he makes good on his threat to run for an unconstitutional third term, Trump doesn't have to worry about courting the Catholic vote again himself, but he hasn't made life easy for his Catholic vice-president, JD Vance, who is generally seen as Trump's successor. Vance has been very quiet about all this, causing Denise Murphy McGraw, the national co-chair of Catholics Vote Common Good, to call him out and state that silence is complicity."

The liberal Guardian columnist continues, "Vance broke his silence on Fox News on Monday, saying, 'It would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality.… and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.' I know you're desperate for your boss' job, JD, but I think it would be best for American public policy if there were a little less dictating and a little more morality."

Religion News reports the leader of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission said out loud that church and state separation is a falsehood at the group’s final meeting — which immediately drew fire from a pro-Constitution advocacy group.

At a Monday hearing at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican and the chair of the commission, broached his claim, saying: “Would it not be a good recommendation that every school, every university, every business, has to have that one sheet on the bulletin board about protecting people’s religious liberty, and that the separation of church and state is the biggest lie that’s been told in America since our founding?”

Patrick said posts proclaiming the death of church and state could be similar to federal notices from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration promoting safety and preventing hazards. Religion News reports Patrick posed his question to George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School professor Helen Alvaré, who agreed.

“You’re responding to the signs of the times where this has been misunderstood, and like any other thing, where people are unclear about their rights, this might be a way to clarify them,” Religion News reports Alvaré saying.

But Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, had none of it, arguing that the Constitution protects freedom of religion specifically by accepting the separation of church and state as granted.

“Church-state separation ensures we are all free to live as ourselves and believe as we choose, as long as we don’t harm others,” Laser said. “It allows us all to come together as equals to build a stronger democracy. It is an American original, something we should be proud of, fight for, and cherish.”

Laser went on to hammer Trump’s so-called "‘Religious Liberty’" Commission, saying it “once again demonstrated that its mission isn’t about protecting religious liberty for all. Instead, today it rebuked a foundational pillar of religious liberty: the separation of church and state,” Laser said. “Chairman Patrick repeatedly calling the separation of church and state a ‘lie’ is an attack on our democracy.”

Trump created the commission by executive order last year to “bring cases before the Supreme Court” that provide the opportunity “to remake the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which bars the government from endorsing a national religion.” Since it’s formation, the commission has been plagued by infighting as anti-Israel board members were jettisoned from the board and further deepened the Israeli rift among Trump’s MAGA followers.

Speaking to several federal workers, Wired revealed that the Department of Agriculture, Office of Management and Budget, Department of Labor and Department of Health and Human Services have all ramped up references to religion.

According to one person at the Department of Labor, the new focus on religion left a bad taste. “The vibes are bad, and people don’t like it."

“They always spend a lot of time carrying on like, ‘No one's forcing you to pray, these are voluntary,’” the employee told Wired. “But it's happening in the middle of a government workplace.”

They were particularly concerned about Alveda King, niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. She manages faith and community outreach at the USDA.

In January, King made comments about atheists and nonreligious people, saying they were going to Hell.

“We have different denominations, different faiths, and some have no faith — and those are the ones I would be more concerned about. If someone is totally without hope, can’t believe in anything, think the world is just falling apart, then that’s when we want justice to stand. And you bring justice every day you come to work," King told staff.

An employee told Wired, “People are uncomfortable. I know several who are offended and angry. These [worship services] are very Christian in nature.”

“I've thought about complaining, but I would worry about some form of retaliation if I were to do that, to be honest,” an employee at the Department of Labor said.

The Small Business Administration launched a Fellowship Prayer Service in March, something that staff there found "weird" and "uncomfortable."

“Honestly, I don’t know anyone who actually went to them because they are optional but it’s still uncomfortable to know that there’s a Christian prayer service happening in a government building, which is supposed to be religiously neutral," said the SBA employee.

A spokesperson for the DOL made it clear that the events are voluntary and that the service was nondenominational.

However, it has been clear to non-Protestant Christians that they aren't part of the services. On Good Friday, the Pentagon sent an email about a service and specifically called out Catholics, saying there would be no Mass. Catholics don't typically have a Mass on Good Friday.

“I guess so the Catholics know their kind ain’t welcome,” an employee, who requested anonymity, told the Huffington Post. “It’s so ridiculous.”

The Pentagon confirmed to HuffPo that there was no additional service for Catholics.

“The Protestant service is the only service scheduled in the Pentagon chapel today,” they said in a statement.

The report noted that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, "a far-right evangelical Christian, has tried to infuse his religious views into Pentagon activities."

He has openly hailed President Donald Trump as divinely appointed. The report came a week before Trump posted an AI image depicting himself as Jesus Christ. Trump claimed he thought it was a "doctor."

Even Trump's own allies questioned the move, with one far-right pastor questioning if Trump was the anti-Christ.

Meanwhile, Trump has been in his own war of words with Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope. It has played into anti-Catholic sentiment, one historian explained.

Wired cited recent data from 2025 showing that only 22.5 percent of federal workers feel safe reporting wrongdoing without fear of retaliation from superiors. In 2024, that number was 71.9 percent.

“This has never happened before,” said a USDA employee, who, like others who spoke to Wired was too fearful to have their name disclosed publicly. The Ag. Department got an email from Secretary Brooke Rollins celebrating Jesus as "the greatest story ever told."

"I have never gotten a message like this from anyone," the employee said, noting that even military chaplains don't operate like this and it's part of their job.

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."

Catholics are by and large reacting very negatively to President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on Pope Leo XIV.

Despite denying reports that Trump officials tried to bully a Vatican representative several months ago, on Sunday the president posted a lengthy diatribe lambasting the Pope. Denouncing him as “Weak on Crime” and “Weak on Nuclear Weapons,” Trump included an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure healing the sick with patriotic iconography in the background. He later claimed he thought the image showed him as a doctor and promoted the Red Cross before taking down the post entirely.

Trump is criticizing the Pope because Leo XIV, who was born in America as Robert Prevost, has urged him to treat immigrants more humanely and cease his unprovoked wars against Venezuela and Iran. In response to Trump’s recent posts, the Pope noted that the president did so on a social media platform he owns called Truth Social.

"It's ironic, the name of the site itself,” the Pope said. “Say no more.”

Speaking to AlterNet about Trump’s anti-Pope statements, Christendom College associate professor of history Dr. Christopher Shannon explained that he is participating in a larger history of U.S. anti-Catholic sentiment.

“Anti-Catholicism is baked into Anglo-American political culture,” Shannon told AlterNet. “During the Revolution, patriot leaders from [future president] John Adams to Thomas Paine repeatedly denounced British oppression in language drawn directly from earlier denunciations of the Catholic Church. For example, in Common Sense, Paine likened monarchy to ‘popery.’”

Shannon elaborated on how the so-called American Party thrived during the mid-19th Century on a platform of opposing mass immigration, especially from Catholics. Millard Fillmore, then a former president, won the second-highest vote ever accrued for a third-party candidate (22 percent) when he ran in the 1856 presidential election on an explicitly anti-Catholic ticket.

“Even up to 1960, [America’s first Catholic president John] Kennedy had to respond to a fear of a papal takeover of America were he to be elected,” Shannon pointed out. “Popes [e.g., Leo XIII (1878-1903)] sometimes had good things to say about America, yet no pope clearly endorsed modern democracy and religious pluralism, so the papacy was always suspect in the eyes of non-Catholic Americans. In 1965, the Second Vatican Council, under Pope Paul VI, issued a document that finally affirmed the legitimacy of democracy and religious pluralism. After that, tensions greatly decreased.” Yet even then, President Ronald Reagan aroused controversy from anti-Catholic groups when he appointed an ambassador to the Vatican City in 1984 — the first such diplomat in US history.

It is into this fraught context that Trump stepped when he attacked the Pope, a decision Shannon speculated was made because “Trump thinks [it] is about him. He thinks everything is about him.” He disagreed with Trump’s insinuation that Leo XIV owes his papacy to the idea that he would somehow be a pro-Trump pope.

“As far as Leo XIV, I suppose his status as an American had something to do with his election, but it is important to remember that he is as much the second Latin American pope (after Francis) as he is the first United States pope,” Shannon wrote. “Most of his episcopal career has been in Peru. He certainly had no public profile in the Church in the United States. He cannot be pigeon-holed into either of the ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ sides of the internal Catholic culture war. Though American by birth, he is perhaps the least American of bishops because he refuses to take sides in what, considering the global nature of the Catholic Church, is a very petty squabble.”

Given that Pope Leo XIV has a global rather than specifically American outlook to his papacy, American Trump supporters (including, as the president pointed out, the Pope’s big brother and Navy veteran Louis Prevost) now need to choose between their loyalty to basic Catholic principles and their loyalty to the president. Drawing from recent history to understand precedents, Shannon predicted they would do so by ignoring seeming contradictions between their religious and their political beliefs.

“John Paul II and Benedict XVI both spoke out against the second Iraq War [when they were popes], but American Catholics did not, as a unified people, follow their lead,” Shannon told AlterNet. “Conservative Catholics supported the war for conservative reasons, liberal Catholics opposed the war (mostly) for liberal reasons. I do not see the recent dust up between Trump and Leo changing this. Catholic Trump supporters will likely dismiss this as ‘Trump being Trump,’ and anti-Trump Catholics didn’t need any more reasons to oppose Trump.”

Landon Schnabel, an associate professor of sociology at Cornell University, argued that Trump’s attack against the Pope could fray the already-tenuous alliance between Christian evangelicals and Catholics.

“The Catholic-evangelical alliance that anchors the religious right was always more fragile than it appeared,” Schnabel said in a statement. “Catholics and evangelicals were adversaries for most of American history — John F. Kennedy had to reassure voters his pope wouldn't run the country. They eventually built a coalition around shared cultural traditionalism: abortion, family, sexuality, and religious authority in public life. That project held for four decades.”

Schnabel added, “But coalitions forged on one set of issues are vulnerable when new issues expose the theological differences underneath. The Iran war is doing exactly that. Defense Secretary Hegseth prays at the Pentagon for ‘overwhelming violence’ in the name of Jesus Christ and frames the war as divinely ordained. Pope Leo quotes Isaiah in response: God ‘does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.’ Two traditions that agreed on abortion have very different theologies of war. Conservative Catholics who have supported Trump may now feel the need to decide between him and the pope.”

Kim Haines-Eitzen, a Cornell professor of ancient Mediterranean religions and expert on early Christianity, had a scathing assessment of Trump’s AI image of himself as Christ.

“Throughout Christian history, there have been many who claimed to be Christ or claimed Christ’s divine authority,” Haines-Eitzen explained in a statement, citing infamous cult leaders like Sun Myung Moon, Jim Jones, Charles Manson and David Koresh of the Branch Davidians.

“The question now is whether Trump’s so-called Christian base will be willing to speak out against what has long been considered blasphemy throughout Christian history,” Haines-Eitzen added. “It is one thing for Christian preachers and leaders to encourage fellow Christians to live in Christ-like ways — giving to charity, caring for the poor, offering forgiveness. It is another thing for a president to present himself as Christ.”

Speaking to ABC 7 Chicago, a major regional news network from the Pope’s home (the Chicago metropolitan area), a pair of ordinary Catholics expressed dismay at Trump’s statements about the Pope.

“As a Christian and a Catholic, I've had enough,” said one man wearing a Chicago Cubs cap. (The Pope’s favorite baseball team are the Cubs’ crosstown rivals, the Chicago White Sox.) “I've just had enough. I've supported many things he's done. I'm actually in favor of what we're doing in Iran, but this country needs real leadership, and what we're getting now is an absolute disgrace. And Americans need to stand up because it's disgusting.”

Similarly a self-described Catholic parishioner said “I think it's deplorable that the President of the United States would take aim at our first American pope. And instead of working together and having an understanding, to attack is the wrong way to do it.”

Among Catholics in Long Island — which is home to 1.2 million baptized Catholics, one of the largest dioceses in the country, and is near Trump’s childhood home of Queens — there is similar disapproval. Bishop John Barres, head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, said that his diocese joins "Pope Leo XIV in calling for peace, especially in the Middle East and in places where Christians are persecuted for their faith. We pray for and support our Holy Father in the mission of Christ's mercy and the proclamation of the Gospel—Blessed are the peacemakers."

Richard Koubek, a former public policy advocate at Catholic Charities on Long Island, told Newsday that "President Trump, who revels in the support of Christian nationalists, thinks Pope Leo is ‘too liberal.' That is quite ironic since Leo is simply proclaiming ancient Christian values that emphasize peace, care for the poor and marginalized. ... Does he think the Gospels are too liberal?"

A pro-Trump Catholic named Mike Ferrara said that while he agrees with Trump over the Pope on specific policy issues, he is unhappy with Trump’s disrespectful tone.

"I’m a Trump supporter,” Ferrara said. “I like Trump. But the way he talks about the pope, I’m not really thrilled about that. The pope is the leader of our church. As a Catholic, I don’t want to see the pope get attacked."

Regarding the AI image, Ferrara argued that "you don’t emulate Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ."

Trump’s attack on the Pope is also unpopular in Nashville, a Tennessee city with a large Catholic population and influential Catholic voices like right-wing commentators Michael Knowles and Candace Owens.

“I assumed someone has already told him, but it behooves the President both spiritually and politically to delete the picture, no matter the intent,” Knowles said on social media. Meanwhile Owens, reflecting on the rumored 2028 presidential ambitions of Trump’s Catholic vice president, posted on social media that Trump’s war with the Pope “will be consequential for JD Vance.”

Even in Italy, the nation where the Vatican is effectively located, the Italian prime minister disregarded the fact that both she and Trump are right-wingers to slam his attacks on Pope Leo XIV.

“I find President Trump’s remarks about the Holy Father unacceptable,” Meloni said in a statement. “The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and proper that he call for peace and condemn all forms of war.”

Italian politicians across that country’s political spectrum agreed with Meloni’s position.