Trump vs The Pope: Did Donald finally pick the wrong fight?
Donald Trump has gone to war, again, this time with Pope Leo. But will he discover that challenging the 70-year-old Head of the Catholic Church is an even bigger mistake than bombing Iran?
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What’s the story?
Trump threatened Greenland, invaded Venezuela and bombed Iran – but is picking a fight with a mild-mannered pensioner the one he’ll come to regret?
After 70-year-old Pope Leo, an American-born Catholic, criticised the ongoing war in Iran, Donald Trump accused him of being “weak on crime”, “terrible for foreign policy” and “catering to the radical left”.
Pope Leo responded to say he was not intimidated by Trump or his administration, and gave a speech during Mass while on a visit to Cameroon, Africa, saying “the world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants."
And it's a really bad look for Trump.
"America is a very different society to the UK," says Jon Sopel.
"Religion plays a much more important role in the politics of the nation than it does in the UK.
"Here everyone says, ‘we don't do God’. In America, people do a lot of God, and I think that this is going to cost him."
An estimated 19-22% of people in the US identify as Catholic, and that is a sizable chunk of the population to annoy in the same year as the midterm elections.
"So far, it looks like there is only one winner in this battle, and it ain't Donald Trump," Jon adds.
And it's not just Trump taking shots at The Pope...
Trump’s administration has also taken shots at the pope. During an appearance in a near-empty stadium at the University of Georgia, JD Vance said of Pope Leo: “If you're going to opine on matters of theology, you've got to be careful. You've got to make sure it's anchored in the truth.”
Vance has been a catholic since 2019, while Leo became a friar in 1977 and has dedicated his life to the church ever since.
"You have to believe that JD Vance, and possibly Trump, believe that they are on the side of right, that they are fighting a just war," says Emily Maitlis.
"So when Pope Leo says this stuff, he is getting in their way, and that's why he is framing it as a theological fight.
"It is an extraordinary thing. JD Vance thinks he has God on his side."
It's not just Vance. Many MAGA supporters compared Trump to Jesus after he survived an assassination attempt in 2024.
"What you have seen from the Republican Party is that they have tried to recruit God as a representative of MAGA," says Jon.
"It's quite important the intervention that the Pope has made to say politicians have a platform to stand on, but not to pretend that what they're doing is God's work."
What about the Trump photo of Trump as Jesus?
More trivial, but equally relevant, was Donald Trump posting an image of himself on Truth Social, showing him as Jesus.
He later claimed he thought the image showed him as a doctor, but there have been suggestions this was a confusion after being told to say it has been “doctored”.
But even on the platform he owns, which is used almost exclusively by his most hardcore supporters, he faced enormous backlash for it, with thousands of outraged users calling the image “blasphemous”.
"They have so overplayed their hand in the White House, and they're doubling down, but they're dumbing down," says Jon.
"They're making themselves look like idiots in all of this, and he is likely to feel the ramifications of this when America votes in the November midterms.
"It's the clumsiness with which Trump is losing friends and picking fights where there is no political upside. What good is coming of any of it?"