Trump posts image of himself with Jesus as administration’s pope criticism continues

MORE MUTED RESPONSE

The online response to Trump’s Wednesday post has been more muted than the outrage that accompanied his earlier Jesus post.

Yet high-profile individuals with ties to politics and Catholicism continued to weigh in on the administration’s feud with the pope.

On Wednesday morning, the US-based Knights of Columbus, the largest Catholic men’s fraternity in the world, posted on X a statement from its Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly defending the pope.

“Pope Leo XIV has consistently called for peace, dialogue, and restraint in a world marked by war and suffering,” the statement said. “The Holy Father’s words are not political talking points – they are reflections of the Gospel itself.”

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told attendees at a news conference that criticism of the pope was expected, however, after the religious leader waded into “political waters”.

Johnson said that he was “taken a little bit aback” by the pope’s remarks about “‘those who engage in war, that Jesus doesn’t hear their prayers’ or something”.

“It is a very well-settled matter of Christian theology,” Johnson said. “There’s something called the ‘just war’ doctrine.”

Johnson appeared to be referencing an address given by Pope Leo on Mar 29 in St Peter’s Square, when the pontiff said: “(Jesus) does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood’,” citing a Bible passage.