As a young Christian and a Catholic who values American institutions, few political trends  have alarmed me more than the rise of Christian nationalism.

I also recognize that young  Catholics like me are passionate and active in political advocacy. It is time to recognize what is happening. President Donald Trump’s April attacks against Pope Leo XIV suggest how quickly religious language and loyalty can be deemed inferior to political goals inside the MAGA movement.  

Trump has clashed publicly with Pope Leo over foreign policy and immigration policies. Since becoming pontiff, Pope Leo has repeatedly framed peace as a central Christian duty and warned against the moral costs of war. His public speaking is aligned with the simplest teachings of Christian faith, that peace is to always be the priority among nations. He has also emphasized the dignity and protection of migrants and refugees, continuing a major concern of the modern papacy. 

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Many could have seen a direct confrontation between the pope and the president coming,  but not many could have seen its unusually personal and dismissive tone toward church  authority. In a social media post, Trump called Pope Leo “weak on crime” and claimed that  he thinks it is “OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” These statements alone were an  extraordinary attack on the leader of the Catholic Church. But, to do one better, he  (perhaps jokingly) posted an AI generated picture of himself as Jesus Christ that many Christians found offensive or outright blasphemous.  

Additionally, this is not the first time he has attacked the Catholic church and its traditions.  During the selection process for pontiff, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as  pope, a move widely criticized as disrespectful. Once more, insinuating a significant lack of  respect for Catholic tradition. 

The Catholic church speaks on moral and public issues, but institutionally it does not  endorse political candidates. Hence, the church not been leading the charge on the attack on the secular American republic. 

The Catholic church staying out of the fray creates healthy boundaries in the preservation  of the separation of church and state in our country. But this precedent of nonpartisanship  can be misconceived as having been broken due to the church’s opposition to the Trump  administration’s foreign interventions and immigration policies. This is where Trump has  found the opportunity to undermine the Catholic Church’s influence among Catholics  throughout America; through seemingly depicting MAGA to be the superior guiding identity in their values.

While claiming to be on the side of Christian values, in 2025 the Republicans proposed and championed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” This bill included slashing Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which impacts millions across America.

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This policy is directly contradictory to the  core biblical principle to “Rescue the weak and the needy,” and to “deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:4). This verse explains that it is the duty of Christians to  serve the poor and lift them out of their place of struggle. Cuts to SNAP and Medicaid are two key examples of Republican advocacy that have led directly to the weakening of  support for those most in need, in an act counter to fundamental Christian teachings. 

The Republican party invokes Christian identity while backing policies that, in my view,  burden the poor and vulnerable. This pattern of talking about, but not fighting for, the faith, is not new. In a 2015 Bloomberg interview, Trump declined to name his favorite Bible verses because it was too “personal”.  

Young Catholics are active in civic engagement and political activities. We are mobilized,  passionate, but not yet fully unified. Many still support Trump and the Republican Party that follows behind him. However, it is time to realize the main priority within the MAGA coalition: to serve as a movement that often treats religion less as a discipline of  humility than as a language of power.

The attacks on Pope Leo may be an early sign of  something the church has worried about for a long time. When political identity demands religious obedience, it risks eroding the church’s role as a moral conscience. This election season, I call to all young Catholics to carefully consider the motives of the conservative  coalition that claims to be fighting for them. 

Maxwell Fjeld is a community organizer and student at the University of Minnesota.

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