pope

'Recipe for division': MAGA Catholic fears new pope will clash with Trump

The election of Robert Prevost as the first American pope is being seen as a significant development, especially given his opposition to some of President Donald Trump's policies.

Last month, Prevost reposted a post on the social platform X sharing a piece by Bishop Menjivar that criticized Trump's policy on immigrants.

Earlier in February, Prevost had posted about Vice President JD Vance that has now gone viral. Sharing an opinion piece from the National Catholic Reporter critical of Vance, he reposted the headline of the op-ed: "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."

In an article published Thursday, Politico quoted Ramesh Ponnuru, a conservative commentator and practicing Catholic, as saying: “The fact that he’s American raises the possibility that the front-and-center issues are going to continue to be sort of first-world issues — and that could be, again, a recipe for division and tension with the administration."

Prevost has enough local credibility to influence Catholic Republicans more effectively than his predecessor and to speak with a stronger impact in the United States, the article notes.

Reacting to the news of his election, the present said in a post on his Truth Social platform: “It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”

While Trump welcomed Prevost's election, analysts believe the pope may continue to speak his mind about the administration, which could lead to conflict.

"Like his predecessor, Leo hails from a more progressive, inclusive wing of Catholicism, preaching peace and the importance of building bridges in his first address from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, though it appears he still holds traditional Catholic views on LGBTQ+ issues," the article said.

"Already, the pope is earning enemies in his homeland as conservative Catholics in Washington, D.C., sent flurries of texts Thursday afternoon sharing posts from a social media account under Leo’s name criticizing Trump and Vice President JD Vance," the article added.

Meanwhile, according to Vatican analyst Katie McGrady, Prevost "has the training to put all of the loud American Catholics in their place."

"He's a canon lawyer. He knows the teachings of the church and the laws of the church very intimately," she said during an appearance on CNN Thursday.

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'Our new woke pope': Newly minted pontiff’s post slamming JD Vance lights up social media

Cardinal Dr. Robert Prevost has officially taken the name Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first American head of the Catholic Church in history. And a tweet Prevost wrote earlier this year about Vice President JD Vance is going viral.

In February, Prevost amplified an op-ed published in the National Catholic Reporter in which author Kat Armas criticized the vice president (who converted to Catholicism in 2019) over his remarks suggesting there was a hierarchy of Christian priorities. Vance told Fox News in late January: "There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that."

Prevost's tweet repeated the headline of the op-ed: "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."

"[The Apostle] Paul reminds them: love starts close. It moves first toward those in front of us, ensuring widows were not abandoned while preserving the church's resources for those truly without support," Armas wrote in the op-ed. "But make no mistake — this isn't about love confined to bloodlines or geographic boundaries. It's about love rooted in responsibility, expanding outward. And it was subversive even then."

Prevost/Leo XIV's tweet lit up social media, with various journalists and commentators like Democratic strategist Matt McDermott celebrating "our new woke pope."

"Well this will be fun," Independent D.C. bureau chief Eric Michael Garcia tweeted.

"Get in loser we're combing through the new pope's old tweets," Business Insider senior politics reporter Bryan Metzger tweeted.

Dan Cluchey, who was a speechwriter for former President Joe Biden, also celebrated the tweet by observing that the "new pope already upholding the only tradition that matters: s----ing on JD Vance."

"STOP STOP IF I START LIKING THE CHICAGO POPE ANY MORE I'LL FORGET THE REFORMATION," tweeted theologian Dr. Laura Robinson.

Tahra Hoops, who is the director of economic analysis at the Progress Chamber, combed into the op-ed Leo XIV tweeted and opined that he was "abundance-pilled," referring to the political theory that public policy should be oriented around making sure all members of society have a high standard of living.

President Donald Trump has not yet commented on Leo XIV's tweet, but delivered a statement on his Truth Social account writing: "Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!"

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'Grow up': Catholics revolt after Trump insists they 'loved' image of him as pope

Not long after Pope Francis' death, President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself in papal garb on both his Truth Social account and on the White House's official X account. Catholics have been speaking out against the image despite Trump's assertions that it wasn't offensive.

Newsweek reported Monday that Trump waved off concerns about the image, which has yet to be taken down on either account. The president insisted that he was simply attempting to be humorous.

"You mean they can't take a joke?" Trump said in response to a question about Catholics being upset about the image. "You don't mean the Catholics, you mean the fake news media. The Catholics loved it. I had nothing to do with it. Maybe it was AI."

However, many prominent Catholics — including conservative ones – have been outspoken in their disdain for the image. Bishop Robert Barron (described as a "neoconservative" by conservative media) said Trump's post was a "bad joke" and "sophomoric," and added: "I wish he hadn't done it." Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is known for his conservative views on abortion and same-sex marriage, also blasted Trump over the image.

"It wasn't good," Dolan told reporters over the weekend, adding that Trump was a "brutta figura" which translates to "making a fool of oneself."

Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele — a never-Trump conservative who trained to be a Catholic priest before entering politics — was also outspoken in his condemnation of the president over the image. He noted that the Catholic Church is still in the period of Novemdiales, which is the time after the death of a pope, and that Trump's "narcissism" was the primary motivator for the image.

"More to the point, this affirms how unserious and incapable he is," Steele tweeted. "At 78 he remains a 10 [year-old] child, emotionally scarred and broken while desperate to prove he could be somebody. His problem: he can’t grow up to prove it."

Click here to read Newsweek's full article.

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