The See of Rome is well accustomed to quarrels with worldly princes. Perhaps the most famous of those battles was the bitter conflict between the medieval papacy and the holy Roman emperor over who had primacy over whom. The ongoing spat between Pope Leo XIV and U.S. President Donald Trump, the closest thing the modern West has to a secular emperor, is weirdly reminiscent of those ancient controversies. Like in the struggle between Guelphs (pro-pope) and Ghibellines (pro-emperor), the West is—once again—divided.
Like other popes before him, Leo has taken a principled, unflinching stance against war. Pope Saint John Paul II rejected then-President George W. Bush’s attempts to have him endorse the invasion of Iraq—his famous “No to war!” address to the diplomatic corps marked the height of the Vatican’s efforts to prevent the ensuing debacle. Benedict XVI, quoting Benedict XV, called war “a useless slaughter” and “a failure of humanity.” Pope Francis said, “Never again war! With war, everything is lost! War is always a defeat!”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “all citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war” (CCC 2308); affirms that war is only an acceptable tool for states to use in cases of self-defense; and imposes stringent limitations on the use of arms even when war, being defensive in nature, is deemed just. According to Catholic doctrine, for war to be just, the damage inflicted by the aggressor must be “lasting, grave, and certain”; “all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective”; “there must be serious prospects of success”; and “the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated” (CCC 2309). Whatever one’s personal views on the events that recently unfolded in the Middle East, it would be difficult to argue that these conditions were met in any convincing way.
The conflict between the Church and Trump escalated after repeated remarks by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in which he claimed divine sanction for the war in the Middle East. On March 25th, during a religious service at the Pentagon, Hegseth prayed for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy” and that “every round finds its mark against the enemies of righteousness.” On March 31st, however, the pope called on President Trump to “find an off-ramp” and end the war. On April 10th, Leo added that “God does not bless any conflict.” On April 12th, Trump hit back with a ludicrous, deeply insulting AI-generated image in which he portrayed himself as Christ. On Monday the 13th, Trump also absurdly claimed that the Roman pontiff is “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.” It remains elusive why the president of the United States is referring to the bishop of Rome and vicar of Christ as if he were a Democratic governor.
Regardless of political ideology, Roman Catholics are expected to show due respect, obedience, and reverence to their pope. It is therefore no surprise that so many American Catholic pundits have now denounced the president for his remarks. Similarly, it will come as no surprise that much of the European Right, though long aligned with Trump, is now overtly turning on him.
There is no more powerful example of this dynamic than the deepening rift between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the U.S. president. Like the overwhelming majority of her people, Meloni has been critical of the war in the Middle East. On March 31st, Rome blocked the United States Air Force from using an air base in Sicily for supporting the war effort. And, faced with Trump’s bizarre tirades against the Holy Father, she, too, defended the honor of the pope, calling Trump’s attacks against Leo “unacceptable.” It didn’t take long for Trump to make his fury at Meloni known, with the U.S. president accusing the Italian leader of lacking in courage and threatening reprisals against her country.
Others on the European populist Right have since expressed their solidarity with Meloni: her coalition partner and Trump ally, Matteo Salvini, said, “Attacking the Pope is not a useful or intelligent thing to do.” And, in Spain, the strongly pro-Trump nationalists at VOX agreed that the U.S. president’s stances are “hard to understand.”
As is the case among American Catholics, most of their European coreligionists have similarly been startled, indeed disappointed, by the Catholic Vice President JD Vance’s regrettable failure to defend the honor of the Roman pontiff. As explained by Saint Thomas Aquinas in De Regno, the heavy burdens of political leadership do not exempt Catholics from their duties as Christians; instead, for Catholics, God is the ultimate end of statecraft. Catholics have an obligation of loyalty to their pope: while Vance is certainly entitled to disagree with Leo on temporal matters when they do not explicitly offend Catholic doctrine, it is not right that the vice president will not condemn his boss’s insults against the bishop of Rome. Vance’s contention that Leo should be “more careful” when debating theology or that the vicar of Christ should be schooled on just war theory by the vice president of the United States is, unfortunately, disgraceful and indefensible.
While the American president has accused the pope of being “terrible on foreign policy,” it is Trump’s missteps in handling Europe, from the Greenland crisis to this latest controversy, that are alienating him from a great many old friends. In the clash of wills between the White House and the Vatican, it is already clear that the vast majority of Catholics will rather side with their pope than with the president of the United States. The Guelph party of the Catholic Right will prevail. If Donald Trump wishes to prevent the further erosion of his stature—and, therefore, that of the U.S.—among European Catholics, he would be well advised to change course. If he doesn’t, the consequences will likely not just be cultural—they will be geopolitical, too.
Europe’s Conservative Catholics Won’t Put Up With Trump’s Attacks on the Pope
TIZIANA FABI / AFP
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The See of Rome is well accustomed to quarrels with worldly princes. Perhaps the most famous of those battles was the bitter conflict between the medieval papacy and the holy Roman emperor over who had primacy over whom. The ongoing spat between Pope Leo XIV and U.S. President Donald Trump, the closest thing the modern West has to a secular emperor, is weirdly reminiscent of those ancient controversies. Like in the struggle between Guelphs (pro-pope) and Ghibellines (pro-emperor), the West is—once again—divided.
Like other popes before him, Leo has taken a principled, unflinching stance against war. Pope Saint John Paul II rejected then-President George W. Bush’s attempts to have him endorse the invasion of Iraq—his famous “No to war!” address to the diplomatic corps marked the height of the Vatican’s efforts to prevent the ensuing debacle. Benedict XVI, quoting Benedict XV, called war “a useless slaughter” and “a failure of humanity.” Pope Francis said, “Never again war! With war, everything is lost! War is always a defeat!”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “all citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war” (CCC 2308); affirms that war is only an acceptable tool for states to use in cases of self-defense; and imposes stringent limitations on the use of arms even when war, being defensive in nature, is deemed just. According to Catholic doctrine, for war to be just, the damage inflicted by the aggressor must be “lasting, grave, and certain”; “all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective”; “there must be serious prospects of success”; and “the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated” (CCC 2309). Whatever one’s personal views on the events that recently unfolded in the Middle East, it would be difficult to argue that these conditions were met in any convincing way.
The conflict between the Church and Trump escalated after repeated remarks by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in which he claimed divine sanction for the war in the Middle East. On March 25th, during a religious service at the Pentagon, Hegseth prayed for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy” and that “every round finds its mark against the enemies of righteousness.” On March 31st, however, the pope called on President Trump to “find an off-ramp” and end the war. On April 10th, Leo added that “God does not bless any conflict.” On April 12th, Trump hit back with a ludicrous, deeply insulting AI-generated image in which he portrayed himself as Christ. On Monday the 13th, Trump also absurdly claimed that the Roman pontiff is “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.” It remains elusive why the president of the United States is referring to the bishop of Rome and vicar of Christ as if he were a Democratic governor.
Regardless of political ideology, Roman Catholics are expected to show due respect, obedience, and reverence to their pope. It is therefore no surprise that so many American Catholic pundits have now denounced the president for his remarks. Similarly, it will come as no surprise that much of the European Right, though long aligned with Trump, is now overtly turning on him.
There is no more powerful example of this dynamic than the deepening rift between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the U.S. president. Like the overwhelming majority of her people, Meloni has been critical of the war in the Middle East. On March 31st, Rome blocked the United States Air Force from using an air base in Sicily for supporting the war effort. And, faced with Trump’s bizarre tirades against the Holy Father, she, too, defended the honor of the pope, calling Trump’s attacks against Leo “unacceptable.” It didn’t take long for Trump to make his fury at Meloni known, with the U.S. president accusing the Italian leader of lacking in courage and threatening reprisals against her country.
Others on the European populist Right have since expressed their solidarity with Meloni: her coalition partner and Trump ally, Matteo Salvini, said, “Attacking the Pope is not a useful or intelligent thing to do.” And, in Spain, the strongly pro-Trump nationalists at VOX agreed that the U.S. president’s stances are “hard to understand.”
As is the case among American Catholics, most of their European coreligionists have similarly been startled, indeed disappointed, by the Catholic Vice President JD Vance’s regrettable failure to defend the honor of the Roman pontiff. As explained by Saint Thomas Aquinas in De Regno, the heavy burdens of political leadership do not exempt Catholics from their duties as Christians; instead, for Catholics, God is the ultimate end of statecraft. Catholics have an obligation of loyalty to their pope: while Vance is certainly entitled to disagree with Leo on temporal matters when they do not explicitly offend Catholic doctrine, it is not right that the vice president will not condemn his boss’s insults against the bishop of Rome. Vance’s contention that Leo should be “more careful” when debating theology or that the vicar of Christ should be schooled on just war theory by the vice president of the United States is, unfortunately, disgraceful and indefensible.
While the American president has accused the pope of being “terrible on foreign policy,” it is Trump’s missteps in handling Europe, from the Greenland crisis to this latest controversy, that are alienating him from a great many old friends. In the clash of wills between the White House and the Vatican, it is already clear that the vast majority of Catholics will rather side with their pope than with the president of the United States. The Guelph party of the Catholic Right will prevail. If Donald Trump wishes to prevent the further erosion of his stature—and, therefore, that of the U.S.—among European Catholics, he would be well advised to change course. If he doesn’t, the consequences will likely not just be cultural—they will be geopolitical, too.
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