MAGA politicos unleashed a barrage of blistering attacks against the new American pope after he overcame startling odds to be selected as pontiff yesterday.
Pope Leo XIV sparked the ire of Right-wing commentators after he was revealed to have taken aim at JD Vance and a number of key Trump policies online.
Having weighed in on issues from gun control to migration and the death of George Floyd in the United States, Prevost was bound to be controversial in MAGA America.
But vocal figures immediately rejected him as head of the Catholic Church, branding Prevost a ‘liberal piece of s**t’ and a ‘Marxist’ amid a deepening schism on the Right.
Steve Bannon, the former White House Chief Strategist, derided the Chicagoan as the ‘worst pick for MAGA Catholics’ and deemed him the ‘anti-Trump pope’.
Days before, he told Piers Morgan he thought the ‘dark horse’ candidate was ‘one of the ones closest to Francis ideologically’.
Megyn Kelly had been pleased with the election of a pope from North America – the first in the history of the Church, representing some 53mn Catholics in the U.S.
But she later cringed and asked on X whether it was ‘too much to hope that some 20-year-old ran the new pope’s X account and he never looked at it?’
Earlier this year, the new pope hit out at JD Vance, calling him outright ‘wrong’ as viral social media spat about his faith went viral.
Prevost did reportedly vote in the Illinois Republican primaries in 2012, 2014 and 2016. But his papacy may yet lead the church away from Trump Republicanism.
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost from the main central loggia balcony of the St Peter’s Basilica for the first time on Thursday, is seen as a significant figure in the Catholic Church.
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost from the main central loggia balcony of the St Peter’s Basilica for the first time on Thursday
JD Vance and Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday, before the new pope was elected, had been expecting a different outcome.
JD Vance and Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday, before the new pope was elected
The Conclave elected North American cardinal Robert Francis Prevost who has taken the name Leo XIV as the 267th pope.
The Conclave elected North American cardinal Robert Francis Prevost who has taken the name Leo XIV as the 267th pope
Podcaster Joey Mannarino told 600,000 followers the new pope was a ‘liberal piece of s**t’, sharing Prevost’s rebuttal of the Vice President’s reading of ‘ordo amoris’ – a Christian concept of ‘rightly ordered love’ that made waves earlier this year.
Vance had said in an interview with Fox News in January: ‘There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then, after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.’
Critics judged that Vance, a Catholic, had misread Thomas Aquinas’ idea of the ‘order of love’, accusing him of using the concept to support political ideology.
Prevost joined in the backlash, writing on X in early February: ‘JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.’
While Vance, a Catholic, was careful to congratulate the new pontiff, Trump-aligned commentators were less choice with their words.
Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist who has maintained close ties with the president, lamented online: ‘The new Pope once retweeted a post about how we need to keep praying for career criminal & drug addict George Floyd.
‘The tweet said, “May all hatred, violence and prejudice be eradicated.” What prejudice? Is that another way to spell FENTANYL OVERDOSE? MARXIST POPE!’
‘He is anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis,’ she went on, later. ‘Catholics don’t have anything good to look forward to.’
Steve Bannon spoke to Piers Morgan about the pope, then just a candidate, before selection.
Steve Bannon spoke to Piers Morgan about the pope, then just a candidate, before selection
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost from the main central loggia balcony of the St Peter’s Basilica for the first time, after the cardinals ended the conclave.
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost from the main central loggia balcony of the St Peter’s Basilica for the first time, after the cardinals ended the conclave
Mike Cernovich, a right-wing commentator and conspiracy theorist, deemed Prevost an ‘open borders globalist’ who would ‘be pushing for abortion soon’.
He shared posts from the new pope about gun control and deportations to El Salvador as apparent evidence of Leo’s dialectical opposition to MAGA America.
Prevost had shared a post from a Catholic commentator who took aim at Trump and the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, for making light of the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
‘Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?’ the shared post read.
In March 2022, he shared an article from Catholic News
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