Memo to Trump and the non-Catholic Right: Leo Isn’t Francis

By Peter Wolfgang ( bio - articles - email ) | Apr 14, 2026

President Trump’s post on April 12th attacking Pope Leo, followed by the blasphemous image of himself as Christ, were a tremendous gift to the people who want to kill unborn babies and trans your kids. He should be required to report these posts as an in-kind contribution to the Democratic Party.

Trump says he thought the image portrayed him as a doctor, not Christ. Perhaps the white coat and stethoscope were concealed under the Christ-like robes. At any rate he took down that one, the one that offends both Evangelicals and Catholics. But not the one that offends only Catholics.

Trump, and those on the non-Catholic Right who have rallied to Trump’s attacks on the Pope, have badly miscalculated. They do not understand how Catholicism works. The Pope is not merely a head of state. He is the Vicar of Christ. Attacks on him are received as attacks on Catholicism itself.

Trump and the Right are confused on this point because the Francis era ended less than a year ago. Contra the New York Times, conservative Catholics’ dislike of the previous pontiff was not so much over politics as over theology and over Francis’ obvious dislike of them. With Leo, Catholic affection for the Holy Father has returned to normal. An American Right that thinks it can exploit whatever disagreements conservative Catholics may have with the Pope, to split Catholics off from the authorities within their own Church, is an American Right that is working off an outdated playbook.

I tried to warn the Right of this from the very beginning. Less than two weeks after he became Pope, I published a column for this site titled Eight reasons why I like Leo. Here’s #7:

Seventh, beware of outside agitators. At the very dawn of the Roe v. Wade era, according to the late Bernard Nathanson in “Aborting America,” pro-abortion activists pursued a deliberate strategy of splitting the laity off from their bishops by claiming that they, the pro-abortionists, were the true voice of Catholics on abortion and contraception. From the moment Pope Leo stepped out on that balcony, some Trumpy media influencers tried something similar. Look, I’m pretty Trumpy myself. Leo’s pre-papal comments on gun control, climate change, and that unfortunate retweet of the NCR dig at Vice President Vance, are all to the left of my own politics. I will disagree with him on occasion and only where it is permissible to do so. But make no mistake. I’m Catholic. Leo is my Pope. Trumpy influencers are not.

What I wrote a year ago is what you see reflected in Catholic opposition to Trump’s attack on the Pope. It is why, of all the ink that has been spilled these last 48 hours over it, this New York Times piece is the most important. Attacking Leo is not like attacking Francis because conservative Catholics actually like and respect Leo. What Trump and the Right assumed would play like their long-running disputes with Pope Francis instead misfired. Leo’s moral emphasis on peace, service, and Gospel teaching resonates with a broad range of Catholics, including many on the Right. His appeal is as a spiritual leader, not a partisan figure. His moral authority cuts across traditional partisan lines, which is why attacks on him are a form of political malpractice.

That said, I can understand Trump’s frustration. I say this as someone who agrees with Pope Leo’s opposition to the Iran War and who thinks Trump has made a terrible mistake in launching it. Leo is not the first Pope to oppose a U.S. war in my adult lifetime. But Francis and Leo seem to have escalated the rhetoric compared to past popes. John Paul and Benedict strongly criticized wars and always urged diplomacy too. But they didn’t say or imply that U.S. leaders had blood on their hands or had turned their backs on the living God or had turned themselves and their own power into a mute, blind and deaf idol to which they sacrifice every value or that they were demanding that the whole world bend its knee. That is not on the same level as what John Paul and Benedict said about U.S. leaders in past wars that they opposed too. When a Pope sounds like he is just another politician, he is more likely to be treated by politicians like he is just another politician.

This is true not only of politicians whose policies a Pope may oppose but of politicians and media outlets who may wish to coopt a Pope for their own purposes. Just last week the Pope met with former Obama advisor David Axelrod. Imagine if, during Obama’s first term, Obama saw Pope Benedict criticize him on abortion every day, then saw his poll numbers drop among the Catholics who voted for him, then saw Benedict meet with, say, Karl Rove. How would that have gone over with Obama? And don’t even get me started on the 60 Minutes episode featuring a Cardinal of whom I am not a fan.

But at the end of the day, it was Trump who launched the Iran War and it was the Trump Administration who has, at times, invoked theology to justify the war. Pope Leo is not wrong to call him out for it. Trump and the Right are wrong to think that Leo is Francis.