Originally a comment by Rev David Brindley on Trump plans to buy the pope.

It didn’t take long for right-wing media figures and MAGA provocateurs to cry out in rage over the election of Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV after it was revealed that he’d publicly criticized Vice President JD Vance and expressed sympathy for immigrants and George Floyd.

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I think we all knew that just about any Pope would be antipathetic to MAGA and all it stands for. After all, the Pope holds sway over a far bigger crowd, a more beautiful crowd, the greatest crowd anyone has ever seen.

Now, data shows American Catholics are split unlike any other major religion.

Because for decades, the architects of the so-called religious right in the United States have been building a coalition of church-going voters.

These Americans can be relied upon to show up on election day and to vote for the candidate who promises to uphold the idea of traditional Christian family values.

Their politics and their faith are fused.

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Of course, when asked to define “traditional Christian family values”, they usually fall back on the same old misogyny, anti-abortion, anti-contraception, and an aversion to social justice. Of all those, it is only the latter that Jesus spoke of, and he was very much in favour of social justice. Assuming, for the sake of argument, there was a bloke called Jesus and he said those things attributed to him.

Laura Loomer, the “proud Islamphobe” and far-right extremist who appears to have the president’s ear lately, spent much of Thursday afternoon raging on social media about the newly elected pontiff’s views on immigration and social justice.

“The new Pope once retweeted a post about how we need to keep praying for career criminal & drug addict George Floyd,” she raged. “The tweet said, ‘May all hatred, violence and prejudice be eradicated.’ What prejudice? Is that another way to spell FENTANYL OVERDOSE? MARXIST POPE!”

In additional tweets, Loomer lamented about the “WOKE MARXIST POPE” and claimed he “is anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis,” adding that it’s “GROSS” that he is now in charge of the Vatican.

While other right-wing activists and media personalities cried on social media that “they chose a globalist and woke Pope from the West ON PURPOSE” to criticize the president, the anti-pope narrative began leaking onto MAGA broadcasts.

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Because, Dog forbid, there should be a Pope who refuses to kiss Trump’s ring.

1. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/maga-woke-american-pope-leo-xiv-b2747600.html

2. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-02/trump-maga-want-conservative-pope-to-replace-francis/105210268