By Catholics for Catholics
President Trump’s attack on Pope Leo yesterday, Sunday April 12, was disheartening and merits an apology. His subsequent post depicting himself as Jesus is as dangerous as it is scandalous to all Christians. The speed with which the picture was removed confirms the mistake that it was.
These actions follow the Holy Week Prayer Service at the White House, where the President’s close pastors and “pastoress” dangerously declared that whatever he chooses to do will be “blessed by God.” Putting yourself as the highest moral authority as a leader is a recipe for disaster.
The current situation surrounding some of the recent online attacks from President Trump is alarming. Christians are still reeling from his Easter Morning vulgar rant about attacking Iran. Increasingly, it seems that he is surrounded by an inner circle, one that is heavily influenced by a Zionist “Israel First” cohort, who tell him exactly what he wants to hear. When President Trump boasts on social media that a CNN poll has him at a 100% approval rating, while the base shows a completely different picture, that should be a cause for concern.
The attack on Pope Leo is primarily a reaction to the Holy Father’s courageous calls for peace amidst the Iran War and Israel’s bloody destruction of southern Lebanon. It’s a war that is highly unpopular, especially among Catholics who sense the immorality of the whole conflict, let alone the net loss for America. Israel has pulled us into the war and continues to threaten the peace with their insatiable desire for territorial expansion. Meanwhile, American money and blood pay for this “Greater Israel” project.
President Trump is absolutely wrong to tell the Pope not to speak up on issues like this. That is precisely the role of the Church, to be a voice of morality in the public square. We are grateful to the Holy Father for speaking up bravely on this.
At the same time, we must address a troubling trend. There is a well-organized attempt by the left to sever the Catholic base from the Republican Party, which up until now has been more aligned with Catholic teaching than the Democrat Party. The Democrats still have not recovered from the historic landslide that Catholics delivered to President Trump in the 2024 election. The recent amplifications of a discord between Rome and the White House, oftentimes exaggerated, trace back to left-leaning “Catholics in name only,” who are determined to swing the Catholic vote back in the other direction.
This is a highly coordinated operation from key Obama advisors and prominent liberal Catholic clergy intentionally stoking the flames of discord with the intention of separating the Catholic base from the Republican Party. The recent CBS interview with Cardinals McElroy, Cupich, and Tobin, speaking out against the Iran War while failing to ever address the scandals of “Catholic” President Joe Biden, demonstrates this point. Catholic patriots ought to be prudently aware of who is behind these provocations.
In this sense, President Trump is right to ask the Holy Father about his high-profile meeting with key Obama strategist David Axelrod. Without clarification, this meeting threatens to drag the Pope into the group described above that is not operating out of love for truth, but out of a sinister desire for disunity. The independent voice of the Holy Father as the Vicar of Christ, solely focused on defending the Faith, is what we all desire and pray for.
The role of the Catholic patriot in America is more crucial than ever. Our Faith gives us the freedom never to be sheep that follow blindly a political leader or even a Pope who may at times err in his prudential judgments. We are sheep, but sheep that follow the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, whose teachings, found in the Catholic Church, are what we must live and die for.
In closing, let us pray for President Trump. The demands and pressures of the job of President are unparalleled. He is under intense pressure, and he deserves our unfailing prayers. Let us not fail to remember the tremendous good that President Trump has done for America.
We ask God to bless him, and we ask that our Church may be the support for this Republic that it needs to be to remain one nation under God.
John Yep
President, Catholics for Catholics
