Trump against the Pope - because now the Church, too, is expected to be silent

Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV on social media on Sunday. The first American Pope should “stop pandering to the radical left.” Shortly afterward, after Air Force One landed outside Washington, Trump said to reporters: “We don’t like a Pope who says it’s okay to have a nuclear weapon.” And: “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.”

Journalist: “Why did you attack Pope Leo?”

Donald Trump: “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. I guess he likes crime. We don’t like a Pope who says it’s okay to have nuclear weapons. We don’t want a Pope who says crime is okay. I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.”

“We don’t like a Pope who says it’s okay to have nuclear weapons … I’m not a fan of Pope Leo. He is a very liberal person.”

What had Leo done? Over the weekend, he had condemned the “delusion of omnipotence” driving the American-Israeli war against Iran and called on political leaders to pause and negotiate peace. He did not name the United States or Trump. But the tone was unmistakable - and Trump understood it.

What followed was not a presidential comment. It was a long post on Truth Social that one has to read to believe it exists.

Trump wrote that Leo is “weak on crime” and “terrible at foreign policy.” He accused him of being afraid of the Trump administration, without mentioning the fear the Church had during COVID, when priests and clergy were arrested for holding services. He wrote that Leo’s brother Louis is “full MAGA” and that he therefore likes him better. He claimed Leo was not a serious candidate for the papacy and was only elected because he is American - so the Church could deal with Trump more easily. And then came the sentence that sums it all up:

“If I were not in the White House, Leo would not be in the Vatican.”

Trump also accuses the Pope of criticizing the attack on Venezuela - a country that “sent massive amounts of drugs into the United States” and emptied its prisons, “including murderers, drug dealers and killers.” And he criticizes that Leo meets with David Axelrod, whom he calls a “loser from the left,” one of those who wanted to have churchgoers and clergy arrested.

At the end of the post, Trump told Leo to “get his head together,” use common sense, and become a “great Pope, not a politician.”

One sits with this text and asks at what point a society stops accepting such sentences as normal. The Pope called for peace. He criticized the arrogance of power without naming names. That was enough to be publicly dismissed by the President of the United States - with the addition that he only has his job because Trump exists.

A man who threatens a civilization with the Stone Age explains to the head of the Catholic Church how to be a good Pope. And he has no problem with that.