So, Republicans now seem to think religion should be kept firmly out of politics. This position – a complete 180 from their usual stances – comes as Donald Trump squares up against Pope Leo XIV and the Catholic Church.
Pope Leo took exception to Trump threatening to erase a civilization, probably because genocide and mass murder don’t exactly square with Jesus “the Prince of Peace” Christ’s whole deal. An infuriated Trump has been spiraling over this for over a week, to the point he’s now trying to convince everyone that the pope is actively in favor of a nuclear-armed Iran.
Reporter: "Why are you fighting with the pope?"
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) April 16, 2026
Trump: "I have to do what's right…I have nothing against the pope, his brother is MAGA all the way. I like his brother…The pope made a statement, he says Iran can have a nuclear weapon."
Reporter: "He didn't say that." pic.twitter.com/AnvKd6lfyA
Meanwhile, the overall MAGA position is that Pope Leo should stick to religion and stay out of politics. Given that the Trump administration is riddled with some of the most insane Christian nationalists spouting bloodthirsty visions of apocalypse, combined with repeated insistences that God would definitely approve of them bombing a girl’s elementary school, this is quite a claim!
As you might expect, Trump picking a fight with the pope isn’t exactly winning the hearts of Catholics, and may well be a factor in multiple midterm races come November. But, as a measure of how this is going down around the world, please see this clip from a church in Belfast, Northern Ireland:
Irish priest #Belfast 🇮🇪
— lyndsey (@lyndsey02857009) April 16, 2026
"We pray for peace in the World "
"We pray for Donald Trump, the lord will take him" 🤣🙏😇 pic.twitter.com/v8MpzhcNId
Appropriately, the priest says, “We pray for peace in the World”. Then, magnanimously given the last few weeks, adds “we pray for Donald Trump”. Ahh, that’s nice. Then, to giggles from the congregation, he adds “the lord will take him.”
The Lord probably doesn’t want him either
This may have been a slip of the tongue and the priest was trying to say “take away his pain”, but either way, the message is very clear what regular Catholics think of Trump’ antics.
Humorous moment aside, it seems the Trump administration is seriously about waging war against Catholicism. Just yesterday, it was revealed that federal funding is being snatched away from Catholic charities dealing with refugee children, a situation that’s been described as “retaliation” for the pope’s comments.
That Trump is so rattled by the pope makes a lot of sense. After all, Pope Leo is one of the few world leaders he can’t bully, manipulate, or drop a bomb on, joining a very small club including Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. I also have to imagine that Trump is extremely jealous of papal infallibility!
There are also no signs this beef is going to end anytime soon. The pope is hardly likely to suddenly pull a U-turn on Christ’s teachings, and Trump certainly isn’t about to stop spreading death and chaos across the world.
Trump and his ilk know this is endangering support from American Catholics, but as always, they choose aggression. After all, if they come after the pope and the church, they force American Catholics to choose between God and Donald Trump. And, as always, Trump’s confident he’ll be number one.
Published: Apr 17, 2026 06:06 am