White House officials echo rebukes to Pope as Leo rejects ‘debate’ with Trump

The Pope warned that ‘a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects’ had developed ‘because of the political situation created’ by Donald Trump’s comments.

A handful of leading Republicans and Trump administration officials rallied around President Donald Trump in the days following his social media attack on Pope Leo XIV.

“I love the Catholic Church. I just wish they’d stick to fixing the Church because there’s issues – I know because I’m a member – instead of politics,” White House border czar Tom Homan told reporters on 14 April.

On the topic of immigration, an issue that the Pope and US bishops have been outspoken in recent months, Homan said Church leaders “don’t know what they’re talking about”.

Vice President J.D. Vance, who is also Catholic and has written a memoir on his conversion, downplayed the social media comments in which Trump lambasted Leo as “terrible for foreign policy” and “weak on crime”.

Speaking to a conservative audience in Georgia on 14 April, Vance took the opportunity to admonish the Pope, saying that if Leo was “going to opine on matters of theology” his comments needed to be “anchored in the truth”.

“In the same way that it’s important for the Vice President of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance said.

He also said that “it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on in the Catholic Church and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy”.

On 15 April, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, told reporters at the US Capitol that he “was taken a little bit aback” when Leo said the previous week that Jesus does not listen to the prayers of “those who wage war” and that their “hands are full of blood”.

“There’s something called the just war doctrine,” said Johnson, an evangelical Christian, who added that the Pope should “expect some political response” if he shares his opinions on politics.

Pope Leo had told reporters he had “no fear of the Trump administration” following the original social media post, but during his flight from Cameroon to Angola on Saturday said he was not interested in pursuing the debate.

He said he had “come to Africa as a pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church, to be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all of the Catholics throughout Africa”.

However, he warned that “a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects” had developed “because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the President of the United States made some comments about myself”.

“Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary trying to interpret what has been said,” the Pope continued.

“Just one little example: the talk that I gave at the prayer meeting for peace a couple of days ago was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting.

“And yet, as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate again the president, which is not in my interest at all.”

Leo defends Gospel message of peace after Trump attacks

The priorities of J.D.Vance

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