Why Did Trump Say the Pope Is Weak on Crime, and How Is MAGA Responding?

While the U.S. and Iran are in a ceasefire, the president is now in a new war with ... the pope? It may sound like the beginning of a joke, but President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV are in a war of words via social media and the press.

One of the shots fired was Trump asserting that the religious leader is weak on crime. Rather than the usual fervor a "gotcha" moment brings, the president's comment was met with confusion. After all, when one thinks of the pope's duties, strict prosecution isn't exactly the first thing that comes to mind. So, why did Trump say that comment? How is MAGA reacting to the religious-political spat?

The president and the pope have been at odds for a while, as the latter disagreed with the U.S. government's way of handling a variety of issues, most notably: immigration, Venezuela, and the war in Iran. Things truly came to a head on Easter Sunday, as Trump spent a decent amount of the holiday threatening Iran.

Many people, including the president's own MAGA supporters, felt offended that Trump was using a holy day to promote violence. So, naturally, as a religious leader, the pope felt compelled to speak out. He called for peace and noted that he found Trump's comments to be "unacceptable."

Perhaps Trump felt truly offended, or maybe he realized that much of his base is religious and would take the pope's judgment seriously. Either way, the president fired back with a Truth Social post. It read: "Pope Leo is weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy. ... Leo should get his act together as Pope, use common sense, stop catering to the radical left, and focus on being a great Pope, not a politician."

Of course, the pope responded. Per CNN, the religious leader answered, "I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do. We are not politicians, we don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective (as) he might understand it. But I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker."

Caught in a very awkward battle between their political and religious leaders, Catholic members of MAGA have been taking sides, and they seem to overwhelmingly favor the pope. Of course, Trump didn't help his case when he posted a now-deleted AI image of himself as Jesus, which is a whole separate issue.

Most notably, Bishop Robert Barron took to X to label the president's statements towards the pope as "inappropriate" and "disrespectful." He then went on to praise Trump for establishing the Religious Liberty Commission, among other agendas. Still, the Bishop ended his post with, "All that said, I think the president owes the pope an apology."