Last year, Pope Leo XIV questioned whether the “inhuman treatment of immigrants” is consistent with being pro-life. This year, on Easter, he said, “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!” On Friday, he posted a message that anyone who is a disciple of Jesus Christ “is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
By Sunday, President Trump apparently had heard enough. He unleashed a lengthy post accusing the pope of being “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” Mr. Trump also posted a picture of himself as a Christ-like figure, though that was taken down after it generated a backlash. (An image of Mr. Trump in papal garb that the White House shared just days before Pope Leo’s election is still up.) Mr. Trump said Leo was elected only “because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”
The president is missing the point.
Nearly a year ago, right after Leo was elected, seven cardinals — six Americans and Cardinal Christophe Pierre, then the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio, or ambassador, to the United States — were asked if he had been selected to serve as “a counterweight” to Mr. Trump. While Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark noted that Leo “is not one to back down if the cause is just,” the group said no: In choosing the new pope, their conclave was thinking about the future in terms of the unity and strength of the Roman Catholic Church, not 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. For Mr. Trump to respond to them as potshots or challenges to his authority reflect 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.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone that Leo, like Pope Francis before him, would denounce the harsh treatment of immigrants. It is an outlook rooted in Matthew 25:35. In November, Leo made his position on this issue clear when he said, “I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter,” but at the same time, “we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have.”
When it comes to the war with Iran, the pope would not have been doing his job if he didn’t remind Catholics and the rest of the world of the church’s teaching on armed conflicts. As Cardinal Robert McElroy, of the Washington archdiocese, has explained, this conflict fails the church’s theory of just war: When the United States chose to strike Iran six weeks ago, our country wasn’t responding to “an existing or imminent and objectively verifiable attack by Iran.” The just war theory traces to Augustine of Hippo, a saint close to Pope Leo’s heart.
I can see how some American Catholics would object to the pope taking public positions that contrast with the president’s. After all, Mr. Trump won the Catholic vote in 2024. His administration is filled with Catholics who are executing some of his policies, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the administration’s border czar, Tom Homan. But the approximately 50 million Americans who identify as Catholic should know by now that the views of the church do not fit neatly under the broad political labels of liberal and conservative.
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.
Leo is thought to have been surprised at being selected, but as his election became more likely, he resigned himself to it, saying, “Here we go, Lord; you’re in charge and you lead the way.” He may be surprised to be spending so much time reminding us about the moral pitfalls of unjust wars. He may be surprised to have been dragged into this kind of exchange with Mr. Trump.
But you never know what God has planned for you. On Monday, the pope said he has “no fear of the Trump administration.” Perhaps Robert Prevost of Chicago was in fact chosen for this very moment.
James V. Grimaldi is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a former executive editor of The National Catholic Reporter.
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