The Trump administration and its MAGA disciples are at war with the Pope.
Add him to their growing list of enemies consisting of clergy, politicians, military personnel, journalists, athletes, musicians and actors who dare not bow the knee to their beloved leader; Those who have the courage to oppose the unjustified violence of this regime.
In his Palm Sunday address in St. Peter’s Square just a week before Easter, Pope Leo harshly criticized the war in Iran, saying, “(Jesus) does not hear the prayers of those who fight, but rejects them… though you pray much, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.”
And in response, instead of choosing introspection, reflection, prayer or repentance, they chose violent opposition; Criticizing, censuring and denouncing his call to people of faith to be people of peace.
But it’s important to be clear about what’s going on here: these conservative Christians don’t hate Pope Leo, at least not initially. They don’t hate him as much as they hate his Jesus.
They are sick of the “love your neighbor as yourself” Jesus, who made him a champion of the poor and sick.
They spat in the face of Jesus, the “blessed peacemaker,” who forced him to call for the abolition of the death penalty.
They were furious with Jesus for “caring for the least of these,” which had inspired him to confront J.D. Vance’s earlier ridiculous position that in the New Testament, love is classified based on geography.
Like Bishop Marian Edgar Budd, Reverend William Barber and Pope Francis before Leo, when it comes to spiritual leaders, there is nothing that triggers MAGA Christians like the teachings of Jesus. Their warped theology of exclusion dictates that they will reject anyone who represents an impediment to the theocratic fever of their dreams for this nation.
Jesus’ grace, His grace, His mercy and His selflessness all fly in the face of the predatory bully pulpits they have built in the Capitol. A Jesus who feeds the hungry, stops bleeding, calls forth predatory powers, condemns wealth, and welcomes the stranger all actively counter the compulsive religion found in Project 2025, which has proven to be their true holy grail in Trump’s second term.
Professional traitor, serial grifter and loyal Trump henchman Steve Bannon has called Leo the “worst choice for Maga Catholics,” declaring him the “anti-Trump pope.”
If he Anti-Trump Pope, that means he is a Jesus Christ Pope-and that This Christian cosplay ensemble is the last thing needed right now.
In their brutal congregation there is no room for empathy that seeks to walk in another’s shoes, no room for tender hearts for those afflicted by poverty and sickness, no zero-tolerance policy towards outsiders or asylum-seeking foreigners.
When the Pope declared, “This is our God: Jesus, the King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war” – that itself was a declaration of war in the hearts of those who needed a Jesus-less Christianity.
So, Trump’s surrogates, disciples, and sycophants are now spewing all kinds of vitriol toward Pope Leo, but that’s not the big story. The big story is that MAGA Christianity has no desire to acknowledge, embody, or align with the teachings of Jesus. Unless anyone professing the Christian faith, whether clergy or lay leader or pew-sitter, tries to embody the glorious love of Jesus of Nazareth, they will be enemies of the religious right.
And the irony of it all is that Christ’s teaching in the Gospels: loving neighbor, not returning violence for violence, sharing abundance so that all are fed, caring for the weak and vulnerable, is not met with such violent opposition from any other group on the planet.
Agnostics, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Buddhists, Humanists, Wiccans, Hindus, Unitarians, and any other worldview can find room to share some of those aspirations. They may be atheists or non-theists, or they may have a completely different religious tradition as their path, and still feel some kinship with the mountain’s call to love their neighbor.
The only people who completely reject Jesus’ wall-destroying compassion, his hatred of war, his sacrificial love, and his open-handed generosity are Maga Christians. They are the only population on the planet violently allergic to its life and work.
So, when you see the right openly weeping, gnashing their teeth, and tearing their robes at Pope Leo, remember that they don’t hate the messengers half as much as they hate the One who sent them.
Merciful, generous, evangelical Jesus They are working so hard to eradicate.
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