6 hours ago
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The question "Trump Pope?" isn't ironic. Trump is building a parallel Church. He attacks the Pope. He creates government religious offices. He's testing how far he can go before someone stops him.
If Catholics stop voting for him, he'll declare a schism. Period.
The Attack
Saturday night Trump posted on Truth Social: "Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible on Foreign Policy. I'm not a fan of Pope Leo".
Then he added: "If it weren't for me being President, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican."
According to Trump, the Pope exists only to confront him. And if the Pope displeases him, he changes the Pope.
He prefers Leo's brother, Louis Prevost, who lives in Florida and calls himself "MAGA." "Louis is all MAGA" .
Avignon
In January the Vatican's cardinal ambassador was summoned to the Pentagon. American officials reminded him that the US "has the military power to do what it wants."
They cited "Avignon" — when popes were prisoners of the French.
The threat is clear: obey or this time the it is not a question of imprisoning the Pope in Paris. It's about replacing him with a "MAGA" pope in Washington.
Trump's Church
Trump has already created:
- White House Faith Office — a religious office in the West Wing, never seen before
- Religious Liberty Commission — to "protect" Christians
- Task Force anti-Christian bias — to persecute those who criticize Christians
At the National Prayer Breakfast he said: "Separation of Church and State? Let's forget about it" Defense Secretary Hegseth publicly prayed for military victory "in the name of Jesus Christ".
This is no longer secular America. It's militant theocracy.
Why Now
Polls show Catholics are abandoning Trump: from 59% to 52% among whites, from 31% to 23% among Hispanics .Catholics are 20% of the electorate. They decide elections in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin.
Trump cannot afford to lose them. So either he wins them back — or he splits them.
The Schism
Here's the plan:
- Attack the Pope — delegitimize him as a "left-wing politician"
- Promote the alternative — the "MAGA" brother, conservative bishops, pro-Trump priests
- Create parallel structures — the Personal Ordinariate already exists for Anglicans (3,800 members), just expand it
- Declare autonomy — the American Church chooses its own head, not Rome
In 1789 Americans created the Episcopal Church to stop depending on Canterbury. Now they can do it again with Rome.
The Response
Archbishop Coakley, president of American bishops, responded: "Pope Leo is not a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ".
But words don't stop tanks. And at the Pentagon they already invoked Avignon.
Trump wants to be Pope. Not in the theological sense — in the political sense. He wants to control who speaks for God in America.
The Avignon reference was a warning. Next time it won't be a historical citation.
History repeats itself. But this time, England is not the first enemy. It's the Vatican.
