![\"Pope](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2252766008.jpg\" "\\"Pope")
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Pope Leo XIV holds an incent burner as he performs the Christmas Eve mass at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Dec. 24, 2025.<\/p>\n
ANDREAS SOLARO<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a Republican. I\u2019m also Catholic. And this weekend, both of parts of my identity were at odds when President Trump attacked Pope Leo, the first American pope in the history of the Roman Catholic Church.<\/p>\n
Trump called Leo, \u201cWEAK on Crime and terrible for Foreign Policy,<\/a>\u201d in a post on Truth Social on Sunday evening. He then boasted it was because he was in the White House that Pope Leo is in the Vatican. But Trump didn\u2019t stop there, in the same post, he made it political saying, \u201cI like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA.\u201d<\/p>\n More troubling was the AI-generated image Trump shared on Truth Social depicting himself as Jesus Christ. When a sitting president borrows sacred religious imagery and attacks the head of the Catholic Church, it\u2019s not just political rhetoric but blasphemy.<\/p>\n The image has since been deleted after backlash<\/a>, but the point remains: Trump\u2019s attacks on Pope Leo are morally wrong.<\/p>\n No American president has ever done this.<\/p>\n Catholics believe the pope is the successor to St. Peter, the spiritual leader of more than a billion worldwide. But here in South Florida, this isn\u2019t some distant theological concept \u2014 it\u2019s personal.<\/p>\n The Archdiocese of Miami is home to roughly 1.3 million Catholics, the single-largest religious group in South Florida. That\u2019s more than a number, it\u2019s families across Miami-Dade County, and 30% of adults<\/a>, according to Pew Research.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to be Catholic to understand that the pope\u2019s role is moral, not political.<\/p>\n Criticizing the pope isn\u2019t new, it\u2019s happened for centuries. Catholics have debated and disagreed with Church leaders before. But this is different from theological differences. Treating the papacy as a political opponent to be mocked crosses a line as red as the pope\u2019s vestment.<\/p>\n When the president ridicules a spiritual leader, it makes the office of the presidency look small, not powerful.<\/p>\n When every institution is treated as political and something to be conquered, nothing is left above politics. Democracy requires shared ground \u2014 institutions that are beyond the reach of one man\u2019s ambition. The Catholic Church is one of them.<\/p>\n For two millennia, the church has outlasted empires, survived wars. And it\u2019s always emerged from centuries of political turmoil with its mission intact. It will outlast Trump\u2019s insolence, too.<\/p>\n Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was \u201cdisheartened<\/a>\u201d by Trump\u2019s comments, saying, \u201cPope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said<\/a>, \u201cI saw a lot of Republicans commenting in it last night. Some saying he\u2019s just trolling, and others saying it\u2019s anti-Christian. When you divide your own party it is self destructive. To me it was a gaudy and juvenile post.\u201d Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, called it<\/a> \u201cinappropriate and embarrassing.\u201d<\/p>\n These are not liberal critics. These are Republicans telling Trump he went too far. And the post\u2019s deletion suggests the White House knew it, too.<\/p>\n