MAGA Hates the New Pope - MAGAReport 5/8/25

Pope Leo XIV has been critical of Trump's immigration policies. MAGA is unhappy.

(Note: This post was corrected to reflect the fact that Pope Leo XIV is apparently a White Sox Fan and, sadly, not a Cubs fan.)

We have a new Pope, Leo XIV, née Robert Prevost from Chicago. He’s the first American pope. He’s a Cubs fan 🎉. He also has some feelings about Trump’s policies. The last thing on his Twitter feed is this retweet:

He’s been openly critical of the administration’s immigration policies and of JD Vance’s attempt at finding a Catholic justification for those policies.

The MAGA community is not happy about this. “I just read that 103 out of the 133 Cardinals were appointed by Francis. He is Francis 2.0, who will continue the LIBERAL downfall of the Church. Great,” wrote one user. “Why is anyone surprised? Every institution has been taken over by commies. Conservatives let this happen,” said another.

The discussion is extensive and angry. I am a lapsed Catholic, but just like there’s no such thing as a Former Marine, there’s no such thing as a Former Catholic. I’d like to bring a little of that lens to this along with my understanding of the MAGA community, as we break down the discussion.

Here’s one comment that stood out, with comments inline.

Ugh, great - it's another Never Trumper

When is society going to learn? We have been suffering for years because people continue to preach this endless tolerance and acceptance BS.

This is an interestingly blunt statement. On one hand, MAGA positions are very much against “tolerance and acceptance”. On the other, they usually aren’t so forthright about that. It’s sort of refreshing to hear one of the MAGA posters say that acceptance is BS.

Also, you know who quite famously preached endless tolerance and acceptance?

Jesus.

This was not what the Church had been about when I was growing up. You needed to earn what you got and shouldn't expect handouts.

I had to read this like five times and then show it to someone else to make sure it really said what it said. This guy speaks of “the Church” like he is a Catholic, but if he is, he really missed the point.

It is astonishing as a Catholic to see someone say you “earn” what you get in the Church, suggesting you earn your way into heaven?

One of the most fundamental parts of Catholic theology is that we are saved through God’s grace alone. Salvation is a gift from God made possible through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. You are supposed to live a good life and do good acts, but those are responses to God’s grace, not transactions or self-salvation.

Catholic doctrine teaches that no matter what you do, you can’t make yourself worthy of heaven. It’s explicit that you can only get there because God is giving it to you as a gift. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9). The Church says works are important, but only as fruits of faith and grace, not as a currency by which entry to heaven is bought.

This transactional view of salvation—where heaven is earned—really shows the capitalistic MAGA worldview rather than authentic Catholic soteriology. It reduces divine love to a merit system and disregards the radical generosity of God's grace.

tl;dr You don’t earn your way into heaven. You get there, even though you’re not worthy of it, because Jesus died for your sins.

The guy who made this comment needs another few years of CCD.

Trump has helped the US get back to the mentality that you win by being individually strong. He is a self made man with limited assistance from family. He rose from relative obscurity to the highest position on the face of the earth. He leads the free world.

Here’s a profile of how Trump got his start in business from The Week, which reads, “’How did he start out? With a big leg up from his father. Fred Trump made an estimated $300 million building rental apartment villages in New York City's outer boroughs. Donald joined the family business after graduating from business school in 1968, but almost immediately set his sights on more glamorous real estate in Manhattan. In 1971, at the age of 25, he embarked on an ambitious project to replace a crumbling hotel near Grand Central Terminal with a Grand Hyatt. His father was instrumental in the deal: He lent Trump $1 million [$7.9 million today], guaranteed $70 million [$553 million today] in bank loans, and used his political contacts to help his son get the project built”

If anyone would like to give me the “limited assistance” of like $8 million and half a billion in guaranteed bank loans, feel free to email me at jengolbeck@proton.me.

Yet the church keeps trodding [sic] out these false idols as Pope to try and get us to fall in line.

Speaking of false idols, did you see that AI-generated video of Trump’s vision for Gaza that he posted on Truth Social?

There's a reason America is doing so well lately. We need to get back to the Church and restore the values from the 20th century rather than the new ones that are more progressive.

Where do we get when we spend our time and effort giving aid to those who cannot support themselves? You enable people and engender a sense of stability that makes them depend on you.

Jesus had a few things to say about spending time and effort giving aid to those who cannot support themselves:

• “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:12–14

• "Give to everyone who asks you... Do to others as you would have them do to you... Lend to them without expecting to get anything back." Luke 6:30–36

• "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat... whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:31–46

• “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Mark 10:17–27

America needs to cut off the rest of the world from this relationship. It has only caused us to become far too engrained in the workings of other countries. It's time for that to end. Let someone else carry the weight. Trump knows this. It is why we are pulling back and pulling out. No more treaties and entanglements. Only good deals.

This last part is more of a political statement than a religious one, and it clearly summarizes the MAGA desire for the U.S. to stop helping the rest of the world. But if you look at it through the lens of Catholic theology, it falls flat.

Pacem in Terris from Pope John XXIII specifically teaches that nations should cooperate to promote peace and justice around the world. The Church teaches “Solidarity", the idea that we are one human family. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has a whole page dedicated to the theological underpinnings solidarity - of loving and supporting people across racial, national, economic, and ideological boundaries.

Of course, no one needs to give any deference to Catholic teachings in their political opinions. But MAGA has this inclination to claim religious support for their positions; some go so far as to say God put Trump in office. Throughout their discussion about the new Pope, they create uninformed arguments that say if the Church teaches something that is out of line with Trump’s priorities, it is because the Church misunderstands Jesus’s teachings.