The leadership of the global Catholic Church is nothing if not political: you do not remain the steward of the largest denomination of the world’s largest faith for more than 1,000 years if you don’t develop a sophisticated understanding of the world.
When, in 1978, the Church elected as pope the first non-Italian in more than four centuries, it was no coincidence that he came from Poland – a once staunchly Catholic country, at the time under an atheistic Communist regime as part of the Soviet bloc, at a time when Italy was being ravaged by Communist political violence.
The election of Karol Wojtyła, who had lived under Soviet communism, to become John Paul II was a powerful statement by the Church, and meant the pontiff understood the politics of the USSR, and that his words on the subject carried extra weight.
Last year, the College of Cardinals elected Robert Prevost – an American archbishop, though one who had spent much of his career outside the USA – to become Pope Leo XIV. This, too, was no coincidence: having looked at the state of the world and the church, it was saying to anyone who knew how to read the signs that America was to be a special focus of the next pope.
Pope Leo has clearly understood the assignment. In recent days, he has been publicly criticised by the top figures of the Trump administration. First, Vice President JD Vance – who converted to Catholicism less than six years ago – warned the Pope, the ultimate authority on Catholic doctrine, that he should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology”.
This was followed by a barrage of Truth Social posts by Donald Trump, in which he first criticised the Pope as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy”, before posting (and later deleting) a bizarre image that seemed to present Trump as Jesus, healing the sick. He then posted a further AI-generated image of himself posing alongside Christ.
The Pope has not clapped back on social media – though Trump and Vance received blowback from foreign leaders, including Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, usually a Maga ally, and from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, another grouping that is often sympathetic to the Trump agenda.
Leo is different. In remarks delivered from Cameroon, a country devastated by a decade-long conflict, he warned: “the world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”.
Other remarks from the speech also seemed pointed, given Trump’s decision to wage war in Iran after drastic cuts to US foreign aid and medical support, which researchers estimate could lead to 14 million deaths across the world by 2030.
“The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild,” Pope Leo said. “They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found.”
Trump and Vance like picking fights with foreign leaders, and they like picking fights with the heads of institutions. Usually, though, they can have those fights on their own terms. When Vance tried to humiliate Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, he knew Zelensky had to play nice to try to keep Trump onside.
When Trump menaces Canada, Mexico or European leaders, they often feel obliged to grin and bear it because they are trying to avoid being the next target of US tariffs, sanctions, or some other threat from the vast worldly powers at the President’s disposal.
Trump can fight with US university leaders, law firms or TV channels because he regulates them. Few of these levers work on the Pope, or on the Catholic Church. The Pope is American, but he is the sovereign leader of the Vatican City state. The Church is not reliant on a US trade deal, nor does it need foreign or military aid from the USA.
Where other world leaders have to worry about politics, economics and the practicalities of running their countries, it is the very essence of the Pope’s job to focus on the morality. Getting into this kind of dispute – and standing up in the way that he is doing – is what he was elected to do, and now he has the job for life.
Pope Leo XIV is an American, born in Chicago. He understands American politics, but he is immune to them by virtue of his office. He has the moral weight of a billion Catholics across the world behind him – and even if Trump doesn’t care about that, those around him know it matters.
In other words, the Pope is just about the worst person the president could choose to pick a fight with. Naturally, he’s done it anyway.
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