Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
A Pope, A President and A One-Sided Fight

A Pope, A President and A One-Sided Fight

Last updated on: May 1, 2026 at 10:15 pm by Ginny Baxter

0 Comments

A Pope, A President and A One-Sided Fight 2026-05-01T22:15:24-04:00 Ginny Baxter

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Popes have a duty to speak out against actions that fly in the face of Christ’s teachings. | AI image created for Patheos in Gemini.

Another Poor Decision by Donald Trump

Verbally attacking the spiritual leader of roughly 1.4 billion people is not a good idea, especially if you’re a morally bankrupt felon and alleged pedophile. But Donald Trump cannot seem to help himself. Thus, we come to the story of a pope, a president and a one-sided fight.

Trump destroys everything he touches, has alienated nearly every ally the U.S. once had and is rapidly running the U.S. economy into the ground. Then, he decides to alienate American Catholics, who were already upset by his blasphemous AI post depicting himself as Christ and an earlier a post of himself as pope.

Trump’s AI post of himself as a pope was ill-conceived. He also made an error in judgment when he challenged Pope Leo to a one-sided fight. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

A Likely Motive

Soon after Trump began his verbal assault against the pope, CNN posted a story about a possible motive for Trump’s one-sided fight, and it’s a good theory.

In a poll conducted by Hart Research Associates/Public Opinion Strategies in late February-early March, American voters were surveyed to determine how they feel about various public figures such as Trump, Pope Leo, Vice President JD Vance, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert and others. The survey also looked at people’s opinions about organizations such as the Democratic and Republican parties and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Pope Leo XIV received the highest percentage of positive responses at 42 percent. Trump’s TV nemesis, late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert, had the second highest rating. Trump had the third highest negative rating at 53 percent. Only ICE (56 percent) and Iran (61 percent) had lower ratings. In comparison, the pope had an extremely low negative response at 8 percent, according to the poll.

The survey was conducted before Trump attacked Iran, posted the AI image of himself as Christ, and raged at the pope when the pope criticized American immigration and foreign policies. Even without those factors, the pope trounced Trump.

Popes have a duty to speak out against actions that fly in the face of Christ’s teachings. War and mistreating immigrants fall into that category.

The Pope…

Pope Leo XVI waves to the crowd gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica following his selection as pope in 2025. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Pope Leo XIV responded to Trump’s one-sided fight with a statement worthy of a pope. “I don’t want to get into a debate with him. I don’t believe the message of the gospel is meant to be abused in the way some people are doing, and I will continue to speak out….”

Vance and House speaker Mike Johnson then jumped to Trump’s defense, but it was clear that none of these three men could match Pope Leo’s intelligence or class.

Many posts on Facebook praised Pope Leo. “Well… the Pope has standards! He knows not to debate fools,” one person wrote on Facebook. “As an American, can the Pope run for President of the United States under the Democratic party in 2028?” another asked. One person had this to say: “Leo is My Pope! Having an American Pope is a game-changer! I’m enjoying & btw, I’m Jewish!”

Yet another said, “He is so intelligent and knowledgeable and very sincere, if we all opened our eyes and hearts we would pray for peace. Just imagine if there was no hate, the world would be a much better place. Just try it for one day.”

The President…

Within the past month, Trump has been busy with issues other than his one-sided fight with the pope…

Damaging America’s economy as much as he can and causing gas prices to skyrocket
Conducting an illegal war against Iran
Threatening to commit genocide by obliterating Iran’s civilian infrastructure, specifically its power plants and bridges
Committing blasphemy by posting an AI image of himself as Jesus Christ
Targeting large numbers of immigrants for deportation.

Some Trump supporters have said their hero crossed the line when he threatened to commit genocide, while others cited his blasphemous AI post of himself as Christ as the final straw. But quite a few cited rising gas prices rather than any number of truly terrible things Trump has done to hurt people.

For me, Trump crossed the line prior to the 2016 presidential election when he ridiculed a disabled reporter. It was cruel, deeming and totally inappropriate. That one incident told me all I needed to know about Donald Trump.

A Reason to Hope

“The more Trump and these forces reveal themselves for what they are, the more that decent people – whether they call themselves Republican or Democrat, conservative or progressive, right or left, American or non-American – are recoiling from them,” according to former U.S. secretary of labor Robert Reich. Like the pope, Reich, a professor of public policy at Berkeley, has been highly critical of Trump’s illegal war.

Yet, the former labor secretary is hopeful. “We are starting to win because Trump and the forces he unleashed are so deeply repulsive to the consciences of most Americans and much of the rest of humanity,” Reich said in an article on AlterNet, a progressive online news magazine.

Trump’s God Complex

Pope Leo’s reminders about morality are desperately needed. Some Americans have not been able tell the difference between right and wrong despite claiming to be Christians. It apparently didn’t bother many of them that Trump said he could “do anything” to women because he was a “star.” “Grab ‘em by the p***y. You can do anything,” he said on an infamous tape. (He’s completely wrong on that point.)

And a number of Trump supporters have compared Trump to God. The White House faith leader Paula White-Cain committed blasphemy when she said that saying “no” to Trump was like saying “no” to God. A right-wing lawyer who represented several of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists once tweeted, “As Christ was crucified, and then rose again on the 3rd day, so too will Donald Trump.”

Trump also compared himself to Christ on April 1, when he said, “On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem as crowds welcomed him with praise honoring him as king. They call me king now. Can you believe it?” (No, I can’t. I have never heard anyone call Donald Trump a king. – GB)

A Better Comparison

Fellow Patheos contributor Rebecca Hamilton made a more appropriate comparison when she likened Trump to an angry copperhead snake.. She also assessed American society quite well when she said, “We may go to church, but our values are essentially Anti-Christ” in her Patheos article, You Cannot Follow Both Jesus Christ and Donald Trump.

Hamilton is a Catholic who contributes to Patheos. I’m a lifelong Protestant, and I think her articles are spot on.

Religion News

Politics and Religion

Previous Post

March 15, 2026

Does Easter Have Pagan Roots? Exploring the Debate

Next Post

June 18, 2026 This Is My Song: How Black Artists Changed American Music

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I'm not here to defend President Trump, but the Pope has said some stupid things ..."

Rev. Dr. Gary Shahinian

A Pope, A President and A ..."

"Hilarious. https://uploads.disquscdn.c..."

Digger

A Pope, A President and A ..."

"Of course it's partisan. It's a blog in which Patheos writers give their opinions. In ..."

Ginny Baxter

A Pope, A President and A ..."

"It's not that I don't like your article. I don't like your article because it ..."

Digger

A Pope, A President and A ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 8 points of Progressive Christianity Advent All dogs go to heaven Alvin York Amazing Grace heart health American violence Angels anti-semitism Beloved hymns Bible Trivia Quiz Biblical family conflicts Biblical family conflicts Bill Moyers death Black churches in America Black Music Month Buddhism Calming Bible verses Carter and Christian faith Carter and faith Carter Center Changes in Christianity Changing Christianity in U.S. Christ Christian aid to Ukraine Christian belief Christian beliefs Christian extremism Christian flag Christian help Christian martyrs Christian media campaign Christian nationalism Christian nationalism Christian Olympians Christian outreach Christian pastors Christian prayer room Christianity Christians and Donald Trump Christians and U.S. immigration Christians behaving badly Christmas Christmas holidays and depression church and state church attendance church membership church tax exemption Classical Christian music conservatives Creation Creationism and Science Crisis in the Clergy Early Christian women Easter lamb Easter preparations Easter worldwide Education and Religion evangelicals Faith and families Faith and Mental Health Faith and miracles Faith and Super Bowl Faith and winter blues faith healers faith leaders false leaders False Prophets family Father's Day feeding 5000 flags in churches Football and Christianity freedom of religion friends Genesis Ghosts God Golden Rule Good Friday Good Samaritan Gospel of Thomas grief grieving Halloween hate hatred hatred of Jews He Gets Us He Gets Us campaign Hinduism Holocaust how are Abrahamic religions similar How to read the Bible Hubble Islam James Webb Telescope Jesse Jackson's legacy Jesus Jesus' brothers and sisters Jewish holy days and hate Jews Judaism judging others July 4th & Religion Kamala Harris's faith Lent Liberal Christianity liberal Christians Liberal Theology liberals Lindsey Graham's legacy Lord's prayer losing church members loss loss of church members loss of husband loss of spouse love love thy neighbor marketing Christ Mary Magdalene Methodist's split National Day of Prayer National Day of Prayer New United Methodist leader Pat Robertson Pope and President Pope Francis compassion Portals for demons post-evangelicals pray prayer prayer survey praying Preserving religious freedom President Jimmy Carter Presidents' Day Project 2025 Putin's faith Racism and radicalized Christianity racism in America religion Religion and Entertainment Religion and football Religious coercion religious tyranny in U.S. Remembering Jimmy Carter resurrection Revelation Rewriting black history Riley Leonard's faith risen lord Rosalynn Carter Rusty Golden death science Scientology Sen. Joe Leiberman dies Sex abuse and Christianity Sex abuse in churches South Africa Southern Baptist Convention spirituality St. Paddy's Day St. Patrick St. Patrick myths St. Patrick's Day St. Paul suicide and religion Susanna Wesley taxes and religion Televangelists television evangelists the Philippines The Trinity Trump's faith adviser U.S. Ukraine Uncategorized Underground churches universe women and happiness Women church leaders women in the pulpit Yoga and Christianity Yule Zimbabwe

Select a Month July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who interpreted Pharaoh's dreams in Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joseph Daniel Aaron Moses