Donald Trump’s Tirade at the Vicar of Christ

Dr Kengor looks at President Trump's tweet berating Pope Leo XIV and how it is requiring Catholics to decide which side they're on. A choice I made years ago. I'm a CATHOLIC!

From Crisis

By Paul Kengor, PhD

This escalating battle between the American president and American pope is prompting many conservative Catholics to choose a side.

It was only a matter of time. 

It was only a matter of time before President Donald J. Trump exploded at Pope Leo XIV. Unfortunately, Trump seems to eventually explode at most people critical of him or his policies. It’s a lamentable character trait. You may have noticed that since Trump entered the political scene in 2015, not many of his advisers have lasted. They tend to run afoul of him and invoke his wrath. I could list names, but it’s obviously unnecessary.

Anyway, as I was doing interviews last week following my piece at Crisis, The American Pope and the American President: A Stark Easter Sunday Contrast, I was asked which individual—the pope or the president—might be the first to publicly call out the other by name. Would Leo name Trump first or would Trump name Leo first? I told my interviewer to bet a million on Trump.

Well, Trump came through, in spades. On Sunday (these things seem to happen on Sundays with Donald Trump), he uncorked a tirade. I would call it a classic Trump temper tantrum, though this one was remarkably aimed at the Vicar of Christ rather than some wayward adviser or despised podcaster. Most Trump Truth Social posts run a few sentences. But this one was lengthy, befitting its anger. Here it is in full:

Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart. I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. 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. Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican. Unfortunately, Leo’s Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. 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! President DONALD J. TRUMP

It goes without saying that this is an unhinged rant—a fact that any Trump supporter ought to candidly acknowledge. And many are, to his detriment. Last week, Trump’s approval numbers among Catholics dipped below 50%. That same group elected him president in November 2024, giving him 55% of the Catholic vote. That number will continue to decline as he goes after their pope with harangues like this. To be sure, he will still have plenty of Catholic supporters. I heard from some last week when I criticized Trump’s obscene Easter Sunday morning post. Less we forget, here’s what he posted:

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” Trump fumed on his Truth Social account at 8:03 a.m. Easter Sunday morning. “There will be nothing like it!!!” He raged at the Iranians: “Open the F–kin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!” Trump did not abbreviate the F-word. He let it rip with full Easter Sunday force. He then sarcastically signed off: “Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP” 

That shocking post had prompted my column for Crisis, which led some emailers to tell me I’m suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. Would I prefer Kamala Harris as president?! Certainly not. But I’ve long felt that it’s worthwhile—and not a sin—to let your guy know that you don’t approve of his worst outbursts. You do him no favors.

That Trump detonation seemed to have prompted Pope Leo to double down on his general calls for peace, and specifically for a prayer vigil on April 11 at St. Peter’s Basilica. 

But then much more proceeded to quickly unravel.

Two days later, on Tuesday morning, Trump fired off a statement for the ages. He ratcheted up the Richter scale, outrageously threatening: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Trump cautioned, “I don’t want that to happen,” before assuring, “but it probably will.”

That threat had all of us on edge. Good Lord, what might happen?

Up until that point, Pope Leo had largely responded to the war between America and Iran with vague calls for peace and laying down weapons. This time, however, he singled out the Trump statement. Diplomatically not naming Donald Trump by name, Pope Leo condemned “this threat against the entire people of Iran.” 

The pope quite reasonably was appalled. He called the Trump threat “truly unacceptable.”

Donald Trump did not appreciate that Leo response. Of course, Trump generally doesn’t respond well to criticism.

As the days moved ahead, the escalation between the Trump administration and the Vatican flared up further. A provocative April 6 report in the Free Press went viral, especially among left-wing media sources that hate Donald Trump’s guts. It claimed that Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, had received “a bitter lecture” in a January meeting with Trump defense officials. The report suggested that the Trump administration had threatened the Vatican. There was even wild talk of the wistful days of the pontiff being exiled from Rome during the Avignon papacy.

I immediately sensed something fishy about that report. I started reaching out to my sources. EWTN News beat me to it, with an excellent piece quoting the Vatican itself, including Matteo Bruni, the Holy See’s spokesman, and U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Brian Burch, noting that the report had no basis. It was a gross distortion.

Nonetheless, the report was out there and did little to stem the rumors.

Then came the peace vigil at the Vatican last Saturday and more papal calls for peace on Sunday, with Leo urging “enough of war.” Worse, Pope Francis’s highly ill-advised pick for cardinal in the Washington diocese, Robert McElroy, a staunch outspoken liberal who should never have been placed in that position, made a statement calling the war immoral. Cardinal McElroy declared: “the initiation of this war and any continuation of it morally illegitimate.

Sadly, that kind of blanket, intemperate statement is expected from McElroy, and would not have been expected of Pope Leo, who is a much more measured man. It’s why officials in the American Church had counseled against the Washington appointment of McElroy in the first place. He tossed gasoline on a fire ready to blow at the White House.

Donald Trump delivered the conflagration with his Truth Social tirade against Pope Leo this Sunday evening.

Alas, Trump’s diatribe finally prompted Leo to use the name “Trump,” though only upon being directly asked by Vatican reporters. On the papal airplane bound for Algeria this Tuesday, journalists asked Leo about the Trump attack on him. “I think people who read it will be able to draw their own conclusions,” said the pope. “I am not a politician, and I have no intention of entering into a debate with him.” After another Vatican reporter pressed him, Leo added: “I have no fear neither of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel. That’s what I believe I am called to do and what the Church is called to do. Weʼre not politicians. Weʼre not looking to make foreign policy, as [Trump] calls it, with the same perspective that he might understand it.” The Holy Father stated: “But I do believe that the message of the Gospel, ‘blessed are the peacemakers,’ is a message that the world needs to hear today.”

It is indeed. That’s hard to argue with.

Regrettably, this escalating battle between the American president and American pope is prompting many conservative Catholics to choose a side, and to oppose their pope. I would advise them not to get as emotional as their president. I would further advise that they not be so defensive when their man (Trump) is criticized. It’s okay to do that now and then; constructive criticism is not bad. They certainly don’t seem to have a problem criticizing their pope.

I would also advise that they follow the lead of their pope and simply pray for peace. It’s a good policy all the time, whether in battles between nations or between presidents and popes.