I’ve been sitting with this statement for a while, trying to find the most charitable way to respond. That’s where I try to start. Grace first. Generosity of interpretation. Assume the best.

But sometimes a statement is so theologically backwards that silence feels like complicity.

The sitting President of the United States just told the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics to be grateful because, in his telling, the Pope only has his job because of Trump. He called the Pope weak. He said he prefers the Pope’s brother because the brother is “all MAGA.” He instructed the Vicar of Christ to “get his act together.”

That’s not how any of this works.

The church does not belong to any president. The papacy is not a cabinet appointment. The Gospel is not a MAGA platform nor a democratic one. The Gospel has a way of making everyone uncomfortable, which is usually a sign it’s working.

What struck me most, though, wasn’t the bluster. It was the talk about fear. The President invoked fear. Who had it, who caused it, who deserves to feel it as if fear is the proper currency of Christian witness. 

But Scripture says “do not be afraid”. Not because danger isn’t real. But because perfect love overcomes.

A Pope who speaks about the vulnerable, who asks hard questions about nuclear weapons and the dignity of migrants, who refuses to baptize the agenda of any world power is not a weak Pope. It’s a faithful one.

The church’s job has never been to make presidents and world leaders comfortable. It has always been to make disciples. And disciples follow one who said the first would be last, who blessed the peacemakers, who told Pilate directly: my kingdom is not of this world.

The Pope’s faithfulness will be measured by his posture toward the poor and the Gospel. Not by his relationship with President Trump.

The church doesn’t need a great political ally in the White House. The world needs a church brave enough to say so.

written in response to a post by the President on April 13, 2026