The new pope has never hidden his opposition to Donald Trump’s policy. Two years before his first mandate, the one who was still Bishop Robert Prevost already criticized the positions of the current American president.
“The least American of the Americans”, as the Repubblica nicknamed it. Pope Leo XIV is the first pope from the United States in history, but that does not make him a fervent supporter of Donald Trump and his administration. On the contrary, it has been ten years that he has displayed his opposition to his policy on social networks. More recently, it was the American vice-president, JD Vance, who was targeted by the new sovereign pontiff.
This did not prevent Donald Trump from being one of the first to congratulate the election of Leon XIV, via a message published on his social network. The American president described his arrival at the head of the Holy See as an “honor for our country” and assured that he “can’t wait to meet him”.
A strong disagreement on migration policy, but not only
Pope Leo XIV posted very little on X, irregularly and it was rarely messages from him, but rather sharing. However, it is easy to know your position on the policy currently carried out in the United States. In his latest post, which dates from April 14, he referred to an article published by an auxiliary bishop of Washington, criticizing the massive expulsions of the United States government.
He also measured the vice-president, referring to a titled article “JD vance wrongly: Jesus does not ask us to prioritize our love for others”, on February 3. He republished this article in response to an assertion of the vice-president, converted in 2019 to Catholicism. He then assured that the charity of a Christian had to benefit in priority to his relatives and his fellow citizens and not to foreigners, in order to justify his policy of expulsion of foreign people. He quoted here Saint Augustine, but Pope Leon XIV, who was then only cardinal, pointed out an error of interpretation. A criticism also made by Pope Francis.
Léon XIV shows his opposition to Donald Trump since his first mandate, and even before. In 2017, he shared a post criticizing the use by the new president of the term “bad men” to designate immigrants. This encouraged “racism and nativism”, according to him. A position by the American president deemed “problematic” by the new pope since 2015.
Robert Prévost also positioned himself in opposition to Donald Trump and his administration on environmental issues, but also on the death penalty, still in force in certain American states.
