President Donald Trump’s deepening rift with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran war is splintering his support among conservative U.S. Catholics, a group that propelled his 2024 victory.
Seven weeks into the conflict, triggered by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, the death toll has surpassed 12,000 civilians according to UN figures reported by Reuters, prompting rare unity across Catholic divides that typically fracture along abortion and immigration lines.
The flashpoint arrived with Trump’s 13 April Truth Social post of an AI image showing him in a glowing, Christ-like aura amid flames, swiftly deleted after online derision as “AI Jesus.” He insisted it portrayed a doctor aiding the wounded, but paired with his online barrage branding the first American pope too liberal and weak on crime, it provoked outrage from erstwhile allies.
Bishop Joseph Strickland, removed from Tyler, Texas, in 2024 after clashing with Pope Francis and once a fixture at Trump events like CPAC, has broken ranks. “I pray that all of this will clarify for people that we don’t look to a national leader, we don’t look to those who have the most money or the most weapons. We look to Christ,” he said.
Telling the BBC, “I do not believe this conflict meets the criteria of a just war. I stand with the Holy Father and his call for peace. This is not about politics. It’s about moral truth.” He added, “It becomes very dark when religion is used to justify immoral behaviour, using religion to justify especially dropping bombs is contradicting what the faith is about,” and warned Trump via Matthew’s Gospel, “When world leaders forget this truth, all are in peril.”
Peter Wolfgang of Connecticut’s Family Institute, a backer of Trump’s deportations, echoed this. “President Trump does not understand how Catholicism works. The Pope is not merely a head of state, he is the Vicar of Christ,” he told the BBC, predicting voter losses.
Pew polls show Trump’s 2024 gains, 62 per cent among white Catholics, now at risk as Leo’s approval soars to 78 per cent. No senior U.S. cleric endorses the war, even allies like Bishop Robert Barron demanding an apology.
With midterms approaching, this Catholic backlash could prove costly.