Including Catholics for Catholics President John Yep.
By Catholics for Catholics
President Donald Trump is facing a rare backlash from some religious leaders and Christian conservatives for bashing Pope Leo XIV, and after posting a controversial social media post that appeared to show him as a Christ-like figure, garbed in robes and apparently performing a healing.
According to a story by NPR, the image drew a reaction from both Catholic and evangelical allies, some labelling it as blasphemous. It was a rare split from a base that has mostly supported Trump.
Peter O’Down of Here & Now spoke with John Yep, the founder and president of Catholics for Catholics, about new tensions inside the religious right.
This segment aired on April 14, 2026.
"President Trump has sold America that the war in Iran is something God is blessing, but that may not necessarily be so." @USAYep discusses Pope Leo and Trump on @WBUR @NPR pic.twitter.com/paqr5bToYp
— Catholics for Catholics 🇺🇲 (@CforCatholics) April 14, 2026
In comments posted on the Catholics for Catholics website, Yep said that Trump’s attack on Pope Leo made on Sunday, April 12 was “disheartening and merits an apology.” He added that “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.”
Yep added that the President has been surrounded by an inner circle that is influenced by a “Zionist “Israel First” cohort, who tell him exactly what he wants to hear.” As for Pope Leo, Yep said the Holy Pontiff is right and being courageous in calling 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.”
Still, most of this appears to be the work of a behind-the-scenes creepy group of an Obama-influenced cabal that wants to separate the Republican Party from real practicing Catholics, Yep said. Their goal is simple: divide and conquer.
“In this sense, President Trump is right to ask the Holy Father about his high-profile meeting with key Obama strategist David Axelrod,” Yep said. “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.”
Still, this in no way means a call for Catholics to turn their back on President Trump, Yep said. Quite the contrary: Catholics must pray for him and make a stand against the forces of evil.
“Let us not fail to remember the tremendous good that President Trump has done for America,” Yep said. “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.”
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