Republican senator criticizes Trump’s ‘holy war’ with Pope Leo | US politics
A Republican lawmaker has condemned what he calls Donald Trump’s “holy war” against Pope Leo XIV.
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, a longtime supporter of Trump and the ultraconservative Maga movement, condemned the president’s attacks on the pope during an interview on Fox News. SATURDAY.
“I love the president like a taco,” Kennedy said, using an odd turn of phrase. He added: “I don’t always agree with him, but I think he wants a better world. But I don’t agree with him on this new holy war with the pope.” The senator’s criticism and choice of words might not sit well with Trump, given that his detractors use the word “taco” as an acronym for “Trump always chickens out.”
Kennedy is Methodist, not Catholic, a point he emphasized in the interview, perhaps to distinguish himself from the first Catholic president, Democrat John F. Kennedy. The Republican senator and his wife founded their local chapter of the church, according to his government biography.
Kennedy added that he had “great respect for Catholicism” and suggested that the pope should be “entitled to his opinion.” “Why do we want to fight with the Pope? Kennedy continued. “It’s a distraction. And the press sucks it up like a Hoover Deluxe [vacuum cleaner].”
Kennedy’s latest interview comes as Trump and the pope are engaged in a days-long feud over the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.
Two weeks ago, Leo responded to Trump’s threat that “an entire civilization would die” in Iran if the country did not end the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by calling Trump’s remarks “truly unacceptable,” emphasizing that “attacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law” and urging Americans to contact their members of Congress to call for peace.
In a Truth Social article last Sunday, Trump called Pope Leo “WEAK on crime and terrible on foreign policy.”
Trump added: “I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have nuclear weapons. » The Pope indeed spoke out against what he called “the profound horrors caused by nuclear weapons”.
The president has repeatedly praised Pope Leo XIV’s older brother, Louis Prévost, a staunch Trump supporter who lives in Florida.
Last week, Trump also released an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ, which even some of the president’s Christian supporters denounced as blasphemous.
JD Vance, whose upcoming book is about his recent conversion to Catholicism, defended Trump amid anger from Christian voters. “Stick to what’s happening in the Catholic Church,” the vice president told Fox News when asked if he agreed with Trump’s attacks on the pope. “And let the president of the United States stick to American public policy,” Vance added.
Leo told reporters Saturday that he had no plans to have a debate with Trump, but noted that he had “no fear” of the Trump administration.
