I didn’t think I’d ever feel the urge to defend the Catholic Church, but Donald Trump picking a fight with Pope Leo XIV and proceeding to mock Christ has done the trick
Trump is infuriated with Pope Leo’s heinous crimes of… uh, trying to stop wars, save lives, and expressing horror at Trump’s increasingly unhinged threats to plunge the world into nuclear armageddon.
The president has subjected us all to rambling insults against the pope on Truth Social, with Pope Leo doing his best to rise above it. But now it seems that Trump’s crusade against Catholicism is not just limited to insulting the apostolic successor to Saint Peter himself, but actually taking action against Catholic charities.
Since 1960, the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami has been dedicated to sheltering and supporting children whose parents have sent them alone across the Florida straits to America from Cuba. This neatly dovetails with the US government’s long-term plans to weaken Cuba, so a partnership was formed between the Catholic Church and the government to ensure that Cubans could get their children into America safely.
As of writing, the organization runs The Monsignor Bryan Walsh Children’s Village, an 81-bed facility in Cutler Bay, which provides foster care, family reunification, and trauma services. The government supports this with an $11 million contract – essentially pennies compared to the gargantuan sums going up in smoke in the Middle East.
“An unprecedented violation of religious liberty”
BREAKING: In an unprecedented violation of religious liberty, the Trump–Vance White House has cut funding to Catholic Charities in Miami, shutting down a shelter for homeless children — just days after President Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV. https://t.co/SayPVW1M59
— Christopher Hale (@ChristopherHale) April 16, 2026
But now, in what’s been described as “retaliation” as a result of Trump’s spat with the pope, funding has been withdrawn. Archbishop Thomas Wenski has criticized the abrupt decision as destroying “more than 60 years of relationship” and said this was “a program that [the government] would be hard-pressed to replicate at the level of competence.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Trump administration sees the Catholic Church as one of its biggest threats. American Catholics can easily sway local and national elections, so if the pope starts criticizing Donald Trump, they’re terrified that it’ll directly translate to election losses.
They’re not about to change their minds about wreaking havoc around the world and spreading hatred and fear, so their only counterattack is to come after the pope and the church in an attempt to force American Catholics to choose between God and Donald Trump.
That’s even progressed to the surreal level of Border Czar Tom Homan offering to explain Catholic doctrine to the pope, in an effort to convince him Catholicism should be in lockstep with everything Trump does
All this should leave prominent Catholics in the administration – like JD Vance – in a tough spot. He’s a Catholic convert, so he made a conscious decision to abide by the Vatican’s teachings. But, predictably, he’s decided to prioritize Trump over God, ordering the pope to focus on matters of “morality” over politics.
Hey JD, why don’t you take your own advice and do the same, your president really could use a dose of morality right now!
