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“Who will free maine of this meddlesome priest?” Henry II was reputed to person muttered. His knights heard his pointed remark arsenic an order. They rode to face Thomas Becket, nan archbishop of Canterbury, who said excessively freely and critically astir nan king. When they grounded to intimidate him into silence, they murdered him. Absolute norm demanded absolute fealty.
The typical of nan beatified trinity could not beryllium allowed to guidelines supra nan unitary executive successful 1170.
Donald Trump believed that nan conclave of nan assemblage of cardinals elected Robert Prevost arsenic Pope Leo XIV connected 8 May 2025 for nan gratification and exaltation of Donald Trump. “He wasn’t connected immoderate database to beryllium Pope,” Trump posted connected 12 April this year, “and was only put location by nan Church because he was an American, and they thought that would beryllium nan champion measurement to woody pinch President Donald J Trump. If I wasn’t successful nan White House, Leo wouldn’t beryllium successful nan Vatican.”
Leo wears nan shoes of nan fisherman, not nan black Florsheim models that Trump insists his underlings wear. As nan Iran warfare continued, nan pope called for peace. Trump felt betrayed, aggrieved and victimized that nan pope would not kneel astatine his throne. To his horror, Trump could not extremity nan civilized censure of his policies from wide deportations to nan Iran war. As Trump floundered successful nan strait of Hormuz, nan pope’s condemnation was particularly damning and humiliating.
“Enough of nan idolatry of aforesaid and money! Enough of nan show of power! Enough of war!” said Leo connected 11 April. “True spot is shown successful serving life.” Leo’s condemnations fell upon Trump harder than courtroom verdicts. There was nary higher appeal. Trump could not wield nan pardon powerfulness connected his ain behalf. The threatened withdrawal of national contracts aliases information clearances could not make Leo cower arsenic if he were a rule patient aliases university. Trump’s cancellation of a grant to a Catholic kindness successful Miami ministering to migrant children only highlighted his cruelty. No tariff could leverage Leo. Unlike his predecessor Francis, he could not beryllium dismissed arsenic an out-of-touch alien. Leo, who holds a doctor of canon law grade from nan Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas successful Rome, is besides Bob from nan southbound broadside of Chicago, a White Sox fan.
The astir despised American successful nan world cannot carnivore nan judgments of nan astir admired American successful nan world. Trump’s wounded pridefulness has festered from envy into malice. Trump’s anticipation of submission dashed, he flew into a fury, but his rage could not overawe Leo. He treated nan pope for illustration a leader who would crumble earlier his bluster. “Pope Leo is WEAK connected Crime, and unspeakable for Foreign Policy,” he tweeted. Trump exposed his ain irreparable fragility: “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes nan President of nan United States because I’m doing precisely what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, mounting Record Low Numbers successful Crime, and creating nan Greatest Stock Market successful History. Leo should beryllium thankful because, arsenic everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise.” Was nan pope’s predetermination rigged? Does he usage an auto-pen? “I person nary fear,” said Leo successful a matter-of-fact reside that evoked Psalm 23: “I will fearfulness nary evil; for thou creation pinch me.”
On 12 April, Trump posted an image of himself arsenic a Christlike fig successful a achromatic clothes treatment a sick man. He soon deleted nan post. Excoriated for blasphemy and silliness, Trump tried to explicate that he was not pictured arsenic Christ but a doctor – surrounded by angels, a devil and a pitchy combatant possibly to reference his stated volition to explosive “a full civilization”, nary little than “back to nan Stone Ages”.
“Trump is acold excessively lightweight a fig to beryllium nan Antichrist foretold successful nan Bible. But what Trump is unambiguously doing is manifesting nan tone of Antichrist,” wrote Rod Dreher, a blimpish writer who was instrumental successful his belief conversion. Like Lucifer, nan protagonist of John Milton’s Paradise Lost, refusing to judge his position beneath God, Trump rebels against Heaven itself. But arsenic Dreher observes, Trump lacks nan self-consciousness of Lucifer while inhabiting his destructive ire: “Which measurement I alert is Hell; myself americium Hell,” says Lucifer. Or, arsenic Dreher put it: “Batshit crazy.”
Though notoriously illiterate astir belief – Trump erstwhile cited “Two Corinthians” – he is keenly alert that he is venerated by achromatic evangelical Christian nationalists. Despite his tribulations, achromatic evangelicals stay among his strongest devotees. Christian nationalists pray astatine nan altar of nan religion of Trump. Their narration to Trump agelong agone melded partisan authorities pinch a cult of characteristic to shape a revised belief identity.
In this theology, Trump is some king and Christ. At a White House dream meal connected 1 April, he told an assemblage of preachers: “On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem arsenic crowds welcomed him pinch praise honoring him arsenic king. They telephone maine king now. Can you judge it?” Paula White-Cain, nan chair of nan White House religion office, likened Trump to nan Maga Jesus: “You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a acquainted shape that our lord and savior showed us.” She had delivered nan opening prayer astatine nan January 6 rally astatine nan White House to nan mob carrying Christian nationalist banners earlier nan onslaught connected nan Capitol, calling for “holy boldness”.
Since nan Reagan presidency, nan confederation betwixt evangelical Christians and blimpish Catholics has been nan basal conjugation of nan reframed Republican party. They were fastened tightly together by nan abortion issue, nan cardinal constituent of nan civilization war. Their fusion was a cautiously engineered governmental operation.
Anti-Catholicism has ever been astatine nan halfway of American nativism. The Know Nothing statement of nan 1850s pledged to barroom Catholics from holding nationalist office. In 1960, John F Kennedy, nether harsh onslaught arsenic an unpatriotic papist, went into nan lion’s den to reside nan Greater Houston Ministerial Association of Protestant pastors to guarantee them: “I judge successful an America wherever nan separation of religion and authorities is absolute” and “where nary nationalist charismatic either requests aliases accepts instructions connected nationalist argumentation from nan Pope”.
In 1982, belief correct operatives overturned nan basal theology of nan Southern Baptist Convention, nan largest evangelical group, connected abortion to align it pinch blimpish Catholicism. Previously, nan SBC had approved resolutions upholding nan correct to abortion and against dream successful schools. Ed McAteer, a erstwhile Colgate Palmolive income head who founded nan Religious Roundtable, explained to maine for an article I wrote successful nan New Republic successful 1984 really he intimately coordinated pinch nan Reagan White House to battalion nan SBC normal and walk nan anti-abortion resolution.
In 2022, nan blimpish mostly connected nan ultimate court, mostly blimpish Catholics installed since Reagan, overturned Roe v Wade, eliminating nan correct to abortion astatine nan national level. The removal of abortion connected nan correct arsenic a nationalist rumor besides had nan effect of loosening nan governmental adhesiveness down nan evangelical/Catholic fusion contempt nan maturation of a rightwing Catholic infrastructure financed by reactionary billionaires. The eventual fruition of nan Reagan era task paradoxically group nan shape for Trump’s warfare connected Leo.
Trump has pursued a nativist crusade to mass-deport immigrants, most of them Catholic. Since nan first activity of migration successful nan 19th century, nan religion successful America has been an migrant body. Trump’s deployment of ICE was an onslaught connected nan larger congregation. ICE, not abortion, became nan situation for nan Catholic church.
On 12 November 2025, nan US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a “Special Message”, its first successful 12 years since it had criticized nan Obama management for providing women’s reproductive services. “We reason nan indiscriminate wide deportation of people,” publication its statement. The bishops denounced “a ambiance of fearfulness and worry astir questions of profiling and migration enforcement” and “the vilification of immigrants”.
On 9 January of this year, Leo delivered a speech successful nan aftermath of Trump’s subject cognition successful Venezuela and Russia’s continuing warfare connected Ukraine. “A diplomacy that promotes speech and seeks statement among each parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based connected force,” he said. “War is backmost successful vogue and a zeal for warfare is spreading. The rule established aft nan 2nd world war, which prohibited nations from utilizing unit to break nan borders of others, has been wholly undermined.”
On 22 January, Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of warfare for policy, who is Catholic, summoned nan cardinal Christophe Pierre, past nan Vatican’s ambassador to nan United States, to nan Pentagon, where, according to a report, he lectured him connected nan spot of nan US equipped forces and instructed him he “had amended return its side”. Colby reportedly reminded Leo’s emissary of nan destiny of nan Avignon papacy, erstwhile Philip IV of France kidnapped Pope Boniface VIII from Rome successful 1309, taking him to Avignon, wherever he promptly died apparently from abuse. (The management and Vatican challenged nan reporting connected nan meeting’s details.)
But Colby did not soundlessness nan Pope. Once nan Iran warfare was launched, Trump’s threats could not stifle him, either. On 15 April, nan US bishops’ chair, Bishop James Massa, issued a “Clarification connected Just War Theory”: “That is, to beryllium a conscionable warfare it must beryllium a defense against different who actively wages war, which is what nan Holy Father actually said: ‘He does not perceive to nan prayers of those who costs war.’”
Trump assigned a caller knight to joust against nan Pope. JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism successful 2019 but is nevertheless a starring apostle of nan blimpish faction that Leo is isolating, warned: “I deliberation it’s very, very important for nan pope to beryllium observant erstwhile he talks astir matters of theology.” Vance explained on: “It would beryllium champion for nan Vatican to instrumentality to matters of morality, to instrumentality to matters of whatʼs going connected successful nan Catholic religion and fto nan president of nan United States instrumentality to dictating American nationalist policy.”
The novitiate sermonizing to nan Pope was indulging successful much than belief presumption. The vice-president confused his ain administration’s policy. The time earlier he admonished nan Pope, astatine a proceeding of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, its chair, Dan Patrick, nan lieutenant politician of Texas, declared that each schoolhouse and business should station “that nan separation of religion and authorities is nan biggest dishonesty that’s been told successful America since our founding”.
But successful seeking to undermine nan Pope, Vance was performing his work arsenic defender of nan religion for his master, who, for illustration Milton’s Lucifer, is intolerant of immoderate authority different than his own: “Better to reign successful Hell than service successful Heaven.”
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Sidney Blumenthal, erstwhile elder advisor to Bill Clinton arsenic good arsenic Hillary Clinton, has published 3 books of a projected five-volume governmental life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All nan Powers of Earth. He is simply a Guardian US columnist
