Johnson Aligns with Trump in Critique of Pope: ‘Political Repercussions Are Expected’
House Speaker Mike Johnson openly supported President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in their recent criticisms of Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope. This alignment comes amid escalating tensions between the political and religious spheres.
Responding to inquiries from The Independent regarding Trump's assertion that Pope Leo is “WEAK” on crime and “terrible” on foreign policy, Johnson articulated his views on the matter. On Tuesday evening, Trump intensified his critique of the pontiff, further igniting the debate.
Pope Leo has not shied away from voicing his disapproval of the Iran war and the president's handling of it. Johnson remarked, “I’m not one to criticize clerics and religious leaders. A pontiff or religious leader can say anything they want, but obviously if you wade into political waters, you should expect some political response and I think the pope has received some of that.”
Trump faced backlash from various quarters, including members of his own party, for his comments about the pope. The situation escalated when he shared an AI-generated image portraying himself as Jesus Christ healing a sick individual, a post he later deleted, claiming it was meant to depict him as a doctor.
Johnson reiterated Trump's justification for military action against Iran, citing the regime's history of violence against its own citizens. He invoked the “just war doctrine,” a principle articulated by St. Augustine regarding the moral justification for war. Interestingly, Leo, as the first Augustinian pope, recently stated that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”
According to Johnson, the actions taken by Trump and Vance to dismantle a regime represent a significant positive shift. “That means that potentially millions of innocent people will be able to keep their lives and not be killed by terrorists,” he declared, receiving applause from Republican supporters. “I don’t want to engage in a theological debate with the pope. I certainly respect the pope. I would just say that these are matters that people of good faith and good sense can think through and debate.”
Johnson's remarks reflect a broader trend among Republicans navigating Trump's controversial rhetoric regarding the pope, who leads a church with over 53 million adherents in the United States. Vance, a recent convert to Catholicism with an upcoming book detailing his journey, also weighed in on the dispute during a Turning Point USA event in Georgia.
“In the same way it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance stated.
Echoing Johnson's sentiments, Vance also referenced the concept of “just war.” He posed thought-provoking questions: “How can you say that God was never on the side of those who wield the sword? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps?”
