{"id":602844,"date":"2026-04-14T06:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602844\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T06:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:20:08","slug":"in-feud-with-the-pope-trump-crosses-red-lines-for-some-faithful-supporters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602844\/","title":{"rendered":"In feud with the Pope, Trump crosses red lines for some faithful supporters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters outside the Oval Office of the White House on Monday.Alex Brandon\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

As best Francis Rooney can recall, the last time a world leader openly sparred with the leader of the Catholic Church, it was Joseph Stalin asking how many military divisions the Pope had at his beck and call. <\/p>\n

Nearly a century later, Donald Trump has found new language to taunt the bishop of Rome, calling Pope Leo XIV \u2013 the first American to hold that title, and a critic of the U.S. war in Iran \u2013 \u201cWEAK on crime\u201d and \u201cterrible for Foreign Policy.\u201d <\/p>\n

After posting those remarks on Truth Social, the U.S. President then posted an artificial-intelligence-generated image that depicts him in a beatific pose, light emanating from his hands as he touches the head of a man in a hospital gown. <\/p>\n

Mr. Trump, who deleted the image Monday, said he merely saw himself appearing as a doctor. Churchgoers around the world, however, saw a presidential attempt to take on the image of Christ, accusing the White House of blasphemy. Some of his own voters accused him of heresy. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A post on U.S. President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account depicts an AI-generated image of himself apparently as Jesus posted on Sunday.@realDonaldTrump\/Reuters<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really bad for Trump,\u201d said Mr. Rooney, who served as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican under George W. Bush and has known Leo for many years. <\/p>\n

Mr. Trump has \u201ccrossed some serious red lines here,\u201d he said. Nearly two-thirds of Americans call themselves Christian and many, even those outside of Catholicism, hold the Pope in high regard. \u201cI think he\u2019s going to find that out,\u201d Mr. Rooney said.<\/p>\n

Analysis: Trump opens a new front in his war on everyone: the Vatican<\/a><\/p>\n

On Monday, the Pope told reporters he had \u201cno fear of the Trump administration,\u201d adding that \u201cspeaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel\u201d is \u201cwhat I believe I am here to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump, too, refused to apologize, once again pointing a finger at the Vatican. \u201cPope Leo said things that are wrong,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

The U.S. President owes some measure of his political success to Christians. In 2024, some 81 per cent of white evangelicals and six in 10 white Catholics voted for him. In his second term in office, he has blurred lines between church and state. At the memorial service for conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, members of his cabinet delivered church-like homilies. On Easter, a spiritual adviser compared Mr. Trump to \u201cour Lord and Saviour\u201d; days later, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth likened the rescue of a U.S. airman from Iran to the Christian resurrection story.<\/p>\n

Parts of the church remain dedicated to the administration and the military campaigns it has directed. <\/p>\n

Paul Van Noy, a pastor at Candlelight Christian Fellowship in Coeur d\u2019Alene, Idaho, called Iranian leadership \u201cthugs\u201d who \u201cneed a spanking,\u201d and said the Pope is wrong to decry war in all its forms.<\/p>\n

He cited comments from Jesus in the Book of Matthew: \u201dI have not come to bring peace, but a sword.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re saying the gospel is simply the message of \u2018Let\u2019s all get along\u2019 \u2013 which it isn\u2019t \u2013 then I think the Pope is theologically weak,\u201d Mr. Van Noy said. <\/p>\n

But he expressed discomfort with Mr. Trump\u2019s willingness to release a messianic image of himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what his intention was\u201d in posting the image, Mr. Van Noy said. \u201cBut it didn\u2019t make me feel good. I didn\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, churchgoers have found themselves losing faith in the President. Caleb Collier, who hosts the podcast Church and State, voted for Mr. Trump in 2024. \u201dTo be honest, I regret that,\u201d Mr. Collier said. He previously served as senior regional manager for the western United States at TPUSA Faith, part of the Turning Point organization that has been a powerful force for Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n

A recent convert to Lutheranism, Mr. Collier said he is \u201cnot necessarily the biggest fan of the Pope.\u201d But he is also troubled by American attacks on Venezuela and Iran that he calls \u201cjust awful.\u201d It is, he said, heartbreaking to see \u201cso many American Christians celebrate the death and destruction that\u2019s occurring out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that vein, he said, the Pope is giving voice to things that need to be said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really tired of so many within the United States on the MAGA side of things not pushing back, not questioning anything that Trump has done or is doing.\u201d The image Mr. Trump posted, he said, is \u201coutright heresy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt blew my mind that he would go that far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scholars, meanwhile, suggested Mr. Trump\u2019s posts indicated deeper issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cA messiah complex is a serious mental disorder,\u201d said David Lawton, an emeritus professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., who has studied blasphemy.<\/p>\n

The image the President posted \u201cis certainly offensive, and it conforms to the standard definition of blasphemy: an intentionally hurtful form of expression.\u201d He added, \u201cI would think for most viewers of whatever persuasion, not only Catholics, it defaces the image of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Catholics, meanwhile, Mr. Trump\u2019s quarrels with the Pope have prompted reconsideration of old loyalties. Brother Andr\u00e9 Marie voted for Mr. Trump three times, and said the Pope erred by implying that no war could ever be just. The Catholic Church has maintained a lengthy tradition of a \u201cjust war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, he said, nothing about the attacks on Iran fits the definition of a just war.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo go into a war literally unprovoked and then to target schools, hospitals, universities, civilian infrastructure \u2013 this is simply unethical,\u201d said Brother Andr\u00e9, the prior of St. Benedict Center, a traditionalist Catholic monastery in Richmond, N.H. <\/p>\n

The Catholic Pope, he said, has a long-standing role in speaking on matters of conscience, one that has placed the church in conflict with American Democrats over abortion. But with American Republicans, \u201cwar is the problem,\u201d he said, calling Mr. Trump\u2019s conduct toward the Pope \u201cabhorrent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brother Andr\u00e9\u2019s own faith in Mr. Trump has been deeply shaken.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve realized what he really is, and that is somebody who doesn\u2019t have a remotely Christian ethic when it comes to politics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: President Donald Trump speaks with reporters outside the Oval Office of the White…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-602844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-headlines","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-news","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-top-news","53":"tag-top-stories","54":"tag-topnews","55":"tag-topstories","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}