The White House’s top ranks are filled with Catholics, and President Donald Trump has courted the Catholic vote. But repeated, pointed criticisms from the first American to lead the Catholic Church have done little to move the administration on policy.
In recent months, Pope Leo XIV has criticized the administration’s treatment of migrants, its antipathy toward Europe and global institutions like the United Nations and the use of what he characterized as “diplomacy based on force” in the wake of the U.S.’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Yet even as the Republican Party continues to hew closely to the Christian tradition — and the president himself promises to eradicate anti-Christian bias — his administration has appeared less responsive than ever to moral authority at odds with his agenda. The White House has typically responded to the pope's criticisms with silence — but also, at times, open rebuke — and no changes in policy.
When Leo suggested last fall that people who support the “inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” may not be “pro-life,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, herself Catholic, said she “would reject there was inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States under this administration” and that the Trump administration “is trying to enforce our nation’s laws in the most humane way possible.” Vice President JD Vance has also raised doubts about the Catholic bishops’ humanitarian concerns over migrants, questioning whether their outrage is about “their bottom line.”
This approach to the Vatican represents a sharp departure from that of past presidents, who responded to sometimes stark and insurmountable policy impasses with a scramble to publicly show respect.
“The White House doesn’t care what France thinks. They don’t care what Europe thinks,” said the Rev. Tom Reese, a Jesuit and longtime Vatican analyst. “Why should they care what the pope thinks?”
Trump, who used to be Presbyterian but is now nondenominational, frequently speaks warmly about Catholics — and their growing support for him. He won 59 percent of the Catholic vote in 2024, up from 50 percent in 2016. Former President Joe Biden, the second Catholic president, won the voting bloc by 52 percent in 2020, according to CNN exit polling. White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers pointed to Trump’s support from Catholics in 2024 when asked about the criticism from Leo in recent months.
“In just ten short months, the President has delivered unprecedented victories for Catholic Americans, and he will continue to protect and expand our sacred right to religious freedom,” she said.
Trump, asked about the pope’s criticisms of his immigration agenda in an interview with POLITICO last month, said he hadn’t seen “any statements from the pope” but that “I’m sure he’s a lovely man.” He also noted that he has met with the pope’s brother Louis, who lives in Florida, describing him as “serious MAGA.”
The two most important Americans in geopolitics have yet to meet, but the administration has maintained an open line of communication with Catholic leaders. Vance, a recent Catholic convert, was one of the last people to meet with Pope Francis before he died last spring, with Trump attending Francis’s funeral in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City shortly after. More recently, Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, on Monday met with Trump in the Oval Office, a visit that was also attended by Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also Catholic. Rubio last week spoke with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin about the U.S. actions in Venezuela.
Vatican observers acknowledge that Leo’s criticisms of U.S. policy carry more weight than Francis’s did simply because he is the first American pope, holding dual citizenship in the U.S. and Peru. He understands American politics and can’t be dismissed as the anti-American Argentinian leftist like Francis was, they argue. Leo even offered measured support last fall for the Chicago archdiocese’s plan to honor Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) with a “lifetime achievement award” for his work on immigration policy, despite his past support for abortion rights.
“Unlike with Francis, no one in the U.S. can say he doesn't understand America,” said the Rev. James Martin, a priest who met with Leo in September. “It also makes it harder for bishops to set aside what he said, which sometimes was the case under Francis. Like, ‘Well, he's from Argentina. He doesn't understand the United States.’ You can't say that about someone who's born in Chicago.”
While it’s commonplace for popes to speak about Catholic values like helping low-income people and migrants, endorse multilateralism and denounce war, Vatican observers say Leo has been unique in the specificity with which he has done all three.
Leo has, for instance, called on senior clergy to speak out about protecting migrants, leading to bishops around the country protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions. While Leo has long been vocal about supporting vulnerable migrants, an issue he was passionate about before he was elevated to the leader of the Catholic Church, his statements have particularly riled the president’s Catholic supporters.
MAGA Catholics were enthusiastic about the church turning a page from Francis, who they have long derided as too progressive. But now, many are finding Leo to be too much in his predecessor’s mold.
“Leo has been critical of Trump on immigration, but he's just wrong. He has no clue what's going on in America,” said a person close to the White House, who is Catholic, granted anonymity to share a candid assessment of the pope. “I think Americans have been abused with illegal immigration. And frankly, I think the illegal immigrants have been abused with the illegal immigrant situation. This is not a good situation for anyone.”
Months before becoming pope, a social media account under Leo’s given name shared opinion articles that called out Vance’s stance on migration and actions the administration had taken so far on deportations. POLITICO has not been able to independently confirm the authenticity of the account.
Ramesh Ponnuru, a prominent conservative Catholic and senior fellow at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute think tank, said the Trump administration has been uniquely willing to throw punches at the church, citing Vance’s comments on the bishops’ bottom line.
“I don't think the administration is listening to critics of any stripe on it, whether it's from the Catholic Church, or anywhere else,” Ponnuru said.
Leo hasn’t backed away from voicing concerns about Trump’s foreign policy actions, either, as he endorses an explicitly globalist worldview and strong support for Ukraine. As part of his annual address to the Vatican this month, he condemned global violence, without calling out any leaders specifically, saying “War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading … this gravely threatens the rule of law, which is the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence.”
The pope said he had “deep concern” about Venezuela after Maduro’s capture and called for an outcome that can include “guaranteeing the sovereignty of the country.”
And he’s also explicitly defended NATO — saying it had “not started any war” with Russia — and endorsed the United Nations, two organizations that have drawn Trump’s ire. Leo told reporters in December that the United States was trying to “break apart” what he described as a “true” and “very important” alliance with Europe, appearing to refer both to Trump’s recently released National Security Strategy and the president’s December interview with POLITICO.
“We knew that he was pretty critical of Trump on immigration, but now to even criticize Trump on the National Security Strategy document and to claim that he’s breaking up an alliance with Europe,” said one former senior Trump adviser, also granted anonymity to speak freely about the dynamic between the White House and pope. “Why does the pope seem to want to just direct his criticism only at the American side? Is he perhaps overcompensating for being the first American pope and thinks he needs to make these kinds of statements?”
The pope is aligned with traditional Republican positions against abortion, in vitro fertilization and surrogacy. In remarks Friday, Leo said that surrogacy “violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a ‘product,’ and of the mother, exploiting her body and the generative process” and “distorting the original relational calling of the family.”
Conservative Catholics bemoan that these areas of alignment with the administration have flown under the radar, though even Trump has an uneven record on them. While Trump appointed the justices responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade and pardoned anti-abortion protesters, he’s also somewhat embraced in vitro fertilization, on the campaign trail promising to make the procedure free, although he hasn’t done so.
Meanwhile, anti-abortion advocates have chafed at some of the administration’s policies, such as approving a generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone. Trump also has encouraged the return of Capital punishment, while the Catholic Church is against the use of the death penalty, after Biden sought to end the practice.
While Trump and Leo both assumed their roles last year, months apart, they have yet to meet, and no visit is on the calendar. Trump traveled to the Vatican to meet with then-Pope Francis, alongside first lady Melania Trump, months after his first inauguration. U.S. presidents often make a point to meet the leader of the Catholic Church — Biden met with Francis in 2021, and did so again multiple times, and former President Barack Obama first met Francis a year after the pontiff assumed his role in March 2013 and Francis came to Washington two years later.
That’s left Vatican observers speculating about when the two Americans will meet, including whether Leo will come to the country of his birth or if Trump will visit the Vatican.
Leo’s first foreign trip last year was to Turkey and Lebanon, fulfilling a trip Francis had planned to make. Now, he will set his own foreign travel agenda, with visits to Spain and a multi-country tour through Africa already announced.
Any arrangements around a visit to the U.S. would likely be delicate — particularly with the midterm elections looming in November. Some Vatican observers, however, have speculated that the U.N. General Assembly in New York City in September might offer more neutral ground for Leo to make his first U.S. visit.
“I think Leo doesn't want to give the impression that America is the most important thing that he's doing,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor at Trinity College Dublin and Vatican expert.
Still, a second person close to the White House, granted anonymity to speak candidly, noted that Trump doesn’t shy away from meeting with any world leaders, even those his administration has had disagreements with.
“The president's always fascinated to meet worldly leaders. There’s a fascination in it, for sure, and there's a respect for it. The president's not Catholic, but I think he understands when he's advocated for Catholic support and he understands the value in showing up in that way,” the person said. “Of course, I think he would want to have a good relationship with the pope, and there are ways that they can find common ground.”
Trump is hardly the first U.S. president to provoke backlash from Catholic leaders. Conservative Catholic bishops called for the church to not offer Biden communion when he first entered the White House because of his support for abortion rights, although Biden later said Francis personally told him he can keep receiving communion.
Still, his White House — like many before it — put enormous significance on its relationship with the pope.
“It was always important to us in part because the Vatican’s voice is so important. Not just on a religious level — but even in the smallest villages in Africa people hear the voice of the pope and know the voice of the pope,” Donnelly said. “Where the president's voice is critical in so many places the pope’s voice is heard everywhere and thought of everywhere.”
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