Pope Leo Takes Aim at MAGA’s False Gospel

Being gay and raised Roman Catholic has meant I have a complicated history with the Church which lead to many years of torment and self-hate until I formally left the Church back when the sex abuse scandal exploded back in the early 2000's. Sadly, the official dogma of the Church still clings to a 12th century understanding of human sex and sexuality which means there remains no place for me in the Church.  That said, despite its many flaws, the Church remains more committed to Christ's gospel message of aiding the poor, the sick and the homeless than much of evangelical Christianity in America, especially now that the latter has morphed completely into a form of self-centered white Christian nationalism that bears little resemblance to what Christ's social gospel called on believers to do as it pushes for new forms of white supremacy and treats non-whites horrifically in many instances, particularly undocumented immigrants. Indeed, lies and hypocrisy have become the hallmarks of MAGA Christianity as it rallies to the standard of an individual who is devoid of redeeming characteristics and who is the embodiment of the seven deadly sins. Enter Pope Leo XIV who is actively calling out the false gospel that permeates the MAGA base.  A piece at Salon looks at Leo's statements that are enraging the hate merchants of the MAGA movement.  Here are highlights:

Even though Pope Leo XIV, the first-ever U.S.-born pontiff, was labeled the “woke pope” soon after he was chosen in May by cardinals to succeed the late Pope Francis, conservatives in the U.S. reportedly held out hope the new pope would abandon the progressivism of his outspoken predecessor. Now, five months into his tenure, the Chicago-born leader of the Catholic Church has angered MAGA-aligned conservatives on multiple fronts, including escalating his pointed criticisms of the Trump administration as it ramps up deportation operations.

“The fact that I am American means, among other things, people can’t say, like they did about Francis, ‘he doesn’t understand the United States, he just doesn’t see what’s going on,’” Leo said in a recent interview. Born Robert Francis Prevost on Chicago’s South Side, the pope reportedly voted in several Republican primaries. But an X account under his name, with tweets going as far back as 2015, previously shared links criticizing Trump’s approach to immigration and hinting at other political views, such as stricter gun control laws. “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed?” he apparently posted in 2024, criticizing Trump’s meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele about deportation collaboration. In recent weeks, Leo has started to aim his criticisms directly at Trump’s regime, like the more aggressive posture sought by Secretary Pete Hegseth. “This wording, like going from minister of defense to minister of war — let’s hope it’s just a figure of speech,” he recently said in Italian. 

He named himself after Pope Leo XIII, who led the Catholic Church from 1878 to 1903, and was known as “The Pope of the Workers,” making it his mission to confront the ruthless laissez-faire economics of the era. During an interview with Crux, a Catholic news site, Leo XIV zeroed in on “some things going on in the (United) States that are of concern” in our current era, and suggested that “sometimes decisions are made more based on economics than on human dignity and human support.”

He got more specific in his Oct. 5 homily during the Holy Mass for the Jubilee of the Missions and of Migrants. Leo told a crowd of more than 10,000 people gathered in front of St. Peter’s Basilica that “in the communities of ancient Christian tradition, such as those of the West, the presence of many brothers and sisters from the world’s South should be welcomed as an opportunity, through an exchange that renews the face of the Church and sustains a Christianity that is more open, more alive and more dynamic.” He followed the sermon with a post on X that same day: “No one should be forced to flee, nor exploited or mistreated because of their situation as foreigners or people in need! Human dignity must always come first!” 

Before being named pope, Leo reposted an article headlined, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”  . . . . A Catholic convert, Vance told Fox News that “there is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritise the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.” 

“Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” the future Pope Leo said in response, calling the vice president “wrong.”

Needless to say, MAGA was already unhappy about the elevation of an American pope before he ever spoke out in an official capacity. Calling his selection “shocking,” former White House strategist Steve Bannon said Leo was the “worst pick for MAGA Catholics.” Right-wing agitator Laura Loomer immediately labeled Leo “Anti-Trump, anti-Maga, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis.” The late Charlie Kirk suggested Leo was an “open borders globalist installed to counter Trump.”

In an “Apostolic Exhortation” titled “Dilexi te” — which translates to “I have loved you” — the 40-page text, the pope said, was first started by Francis, but is ultimately his work. With its focus on what he labeled a “dictatorship” of wealth inequality, the document was seen by some on the right as confirmation of Leo’s condemnation of American conservatism.

“God has a special place in his heart for those who are discriminated against and oppressed, and he asks us, his church, to make a decisive and radical choice in favor of the weakest,” Leo wrote. “Thus, in a world where the poor are increasingly numerous, we paradoxically see the growth of a wealthy elite, living in a bubble of comfort and luxury, almost in another world compared to ordinary people.”

One week after Trump claimed that climate change was a “con job” during an address at the United Nations General Assembly, Leo said that he hoped the Vatican conference would get leaders to “listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.”

Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion’ but says ‘I’m in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life. Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in favor of the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States’—I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”

To MAGA’s dismay, now that Leo has begun expressing his views, there is little indication he plans to rein them in. The first American pope “was very clear that what is happening to migrants in the United States right now is an injustice,” Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Texas-based Hope Border Institute, who attended Leo’s meeting with Seitz, told the Post. “He said the church cannot remain silent.”