Palm Beach Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez, following his appointment by Pope Leo XIV, December 19, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via CBS 12 News - WPEC)
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.
