President Donald Trump’s war of words with Pope Leo XIV has earned a strong rebuke from leading Catholic Church figures at home, and has threatened to splinter a voting bloc he dominated in 2024.
Catholic bishops and leaders from across the country have spent the week reacting to Trump’s repeated attacks directed at the pope, who last week criticized the president’s plans to target Iranian civil infrastructure as “truly unacceptable.” Earlier in April, during Easter Mass, Pope Leo had made an explicit call for “those who have weapons” to cease hostilities and seek peace.
