As a Christian who has occasionally railed against so-called Christian nationalism, I have developed hope from the Pope. And I’m not even Roman Catholic.
Mike Nellis wrote in Endless Urgency, Pope Leo Terrifies T**** & the Christian Nationalist Right: What happens when faith starts questioning power?
“There’s a deeper conversation here—not just about T****, but about what he represents, how his movement operates, and why Catholicism, at this moment, poses a real threat to the version of Christianity that many in MAGA are trying to promote…
“My [Catholic] faith matters to me. It shapes how I see the world, how I try to show up for my family, and why I believe in the kind of politics I do.
“I can trace most of my values back to that foundation [of faith]—even during the periods when I drifted from it. And that’s what makes this moment feel so stark.
“Because when you compare that to [FOTUS], there’s no real evidence of any grounding in faith beyond himself. There’s no consistency, no humility, no sense of moral framework that extends beyond loyalty and power. That’s not a partisan critique—it’s an observation about how he moves through the world.”
The deal is fraying
Church folks who supported him engaged in a transactional alliance. And now it’s starting to show its limits.
“Because T**** doesn’t recognize any authority higher than himself. Not institutions, not traditions, and certainly not religious leadership challenge him.
“That’s where Pope Leo comes in—and why this moment matters.
“For the first time, we have an American pope. Someone who speaks in our cultural language, who understands this country not as an outsider looking in, but as someone who comes from it…
“And now, that same pope—and other Catholic leaders—are speaking clearly about issues like war, economic inequality, and immigration. Not as politicians, but as moral voices. As people calling for restraint, dignity, and care for others.
“That creates a direct contrast.
“Not just between two individuals, but between two visions of what faith in public life looks like.
“One is rooted in power—using religion as a tool to justify dominance, exclusion, and control.”
Audience of many, and of one
In God and Caesar, Terry Moran noted: “On Easter Sunday, Pope Leo XIV stood before tens of thousands of the faithful in St. Peter’s Square and called on humanity to ‘abandon every desire for conflict, domination and power.’
“He was speaking to the world. But he was also speaking, unmistakably, to one man.
“That man heard him.
That’s why FOTUS called the Pope Leo “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” as though it was going to hurt the pontiff’s feelings.
“Leo has been careful not to name him directly. He doesn’t need to. When the pope warns against the ‘delusion of omnipotence’ fueling wars of choice, when he says that Jesus ‘does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them,’ when he calls threats to annihilate Iranian civilization ‘truly unacceptable’—he is doing what authentic spiritual and moral leaders have always done: naming the sin without excusing the sinner. He is following a tradition that runs from St. Ambrose confronting the Roman Emperor Theodosius, to St. Thomas More facing Henry VIII, to Archbishop St. Oscar Romero of El Salvador preaching against the country’s death squads right up to the moment they killed him—at the altar.”
A doctor?
In response, FOTUS posted that infamous “AI‑generated image depicting himself as a Jesus‑like figure on Sunday, drawing widespread criticism — including from some religious conservatives who typically support him — before removing the post on Monday.“
He told reporters that the image, which he acknowledged posting, was meant to depict himself as a doctor. Suggestions that it portrayed him as Jesus, he dismissed as a fabrication by “fake news.” This suggests he has no cultural understanding of how Christ has been portrayed for centuries. (Or that he’s a liar, which one cannot dismiss out of hand.)
Moran: “The one thing [his] political project cannot survive is a credible, courageous, non-partisan call to basic human decency. Partisans can be mocked. Critics can be dismissed as enemies. But a soft-spoken priest from Chicago who asks only that the words of Jesus be taken seriously—that is a harder enemy to fight.
“The Pope is not a politician. The pope must not be a politician. Pope Leo has said so himself, and he’s right.
“But T**** has changed politics. His politics forces a moral choice on each of us. When politics has become this nakedly immoral—when it has swallowed up the language of faith itself, weaponized it, turned prayers into war cries—then the Gospel itself becomes, whether anyone likes it or not, a political act.”
The regime engages in what this New York Times opinion piece calls Pete Hegseth’s Gospel of Carnage. I would add: “For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-14)
Preaching the gospel
Guess what Jon Stewart talked about last night?
FOTUS is suffering from Pope Derangement Syndrome.
Check out the 60 Minutes interview that aired on April 12. Three American cardinals gave props to the former Father Bob Prevost.
Norah O’Donnell: What do you say to people in the pews who say, “I don’t want to hear politics from my priest”?
Cardinal Blase Cupich: I say fine. I want to preach the gospel. God wants us to promote peace in the world– because his desire is that we be one human family.
So when Vice President JD Vance, the highest-ranking Catholic in the federal government, said in an interview on Fox News on Monday that the pope should stay out of American affairs, he must have missed a few lessons during his recent conversion.
I have looked at Google Trends. Since the week of June 3, there has been a definite upward trend in the number of searches for the term 
As a practicing Christian, I’ve long been simultaneously fascinated, horrified, and mortified by the link between Christian Nationalism and American Democracy.