The two most powerful Americans in 2025 are President Donald Trump and the newly appointed Pope Leo, but the two men will probably never be bosom buddies.
Pope Leo XIV, who was born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago 69 years ago, is the first pope ever elected to lead the Catholic church in 2,000 years of Christianity.
Leo is creating other firsts as he less-than-bluntly expresses his opinions on X, within which he regularly included critiques of Trump before he was elected. Although since deleted, Leo posted highlights of how un-Christian are Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Leo may never name Trump or MAGA, but his social media posts since becoming Pope are always clear that he supports immigrants, is against war with anyone and is for morality.
Days after the Chicago Mass, held simultaneously on June 14 as Trump celebrated his birthday with America‘s first military parade since 1991, House Republicans began a direct assault on the Catholic mission, as reported by Newsweek. An investigation began into more than 200 nongovernmental nonprofit organizations suspected of using federal funds to “facilitate illegal activity,” also known as aiding migrants in the United States. Catholic Charities has for decades housed, fed and served individuals fleeing persecution from other countries. During the mass, Leo appeared in a recorded message to encourage Americans to build community over ego.
For the first time in Christianity, Catholics and Americans of all faiths and nonfaiths can relate to a Pope who understands American life, American politics and American culture because he is American. Amid polarized politics, Newsweek reports that Pope Leo is favored by 44 percent of Americans and only disfavored by 10 percent. He is emerging as a respected moral figure in 2025.
Pope Leo‘s job as the Pope is not to lead an American Resistance, but his growing popularity as a spiritual leader who speaks the truth and nothing but the truth could prove dangerous for an American president who either does not understand what truth is or refuses to share the truth.
After Trump made the decision to bomb nuclear facilities in Iran, the Pope posted on X that “war does not solve problems.”
“Today, more than ever, humanity cries out and calls for peace. This is a cry that requires responsibility and reason, and it must not be drowned out by the din of weapons or the rhetoric that incites conflict,” the Pope said in his weekly address, according to the Vatican News.
On Saturday, Pope Leo seemed to rebuke Trump’s attacks on and lawsuits against American news by posting that “wherever a journalist is silenced, the democratic soul of a country is weakened.”
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Rebecca Barnabi
