Trump feud overshadows Pope Leo XIV’s 1st year as pontiff

Pope Leo XIV has spent his first year as pontiff emphasizing a pastoral mission, portraying himself primarily as a shepherd walking alongside his flock.

Yet repeated criticisms from President Donald Trump, paired with increasingly pointed responses from Leo, have complicated that message and cast a shadow over the first anniversary of his election.

On the eve of the milestone, Leo met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Vatican in what was widely seen as a diplomatic effort to ease tensions. Trump’s persistent attacks on the first U.S.-born pope have fueled an unusual public exchange, particularly over the Iran conflict and broader questions of war and peace, straining ties between Washington and the Holy See.

-This combination file photos show President Donald Trump (L) listening during a meeting with North Korean defectors where he talked with reporters about allowing the release of a secret memo on the F.B.I.'s role in the Russia inquiry, in the Oval Office of the White House, on Feb. 2, 2018, in Washington, Pope Leo XIV arriving for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Aug. 6, 2025. (AP Photos) — -This combination file photos show President Donald Trump (L) listening during a meeting with North Korean defectors where he talked with reporters about allowing the release of a secret memo on the F.B.I.’s role in the Russia inquiry, in the Oval Office of the White House, on Feb. 2, 2018, in Washington, Pope Leo XIV arriving for his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Aug. 6, 2025. (AP Photos)

By the end of the visit, both sides moved to reaffirm the strength of U.S.-Vatican relations. Still, the episode highlighted how global politics have pulled Leo into a more visible and confrontational role than he appears to prefer. After Trump recently misrepresented his remarks, Leo responded: “If someone wants to criticize me for announcing the Gospel, let him do it with the truth.”

Those moments stand in contrast to his usual demeanor. Leo is described as a soft-spoken 70-year-old former Midwestern missionary priest who prefers a low profile. He plays solitary tennis, can recite St. Augustine from memory and often frames his calls for peace as simple reflections of biblical teaching rather than political statements.

The Trump-Leo feud aside, the former Robert Prevost seems driven not by dramatic gestures or headline-grabbing tensions that often marked the papacy of Pope Francis. Rather, Leo appears inspired by a calm, persistent zeal to preach the Gospel and, through his Augustinian spirituality, emphasize community and harmony.

Leo began his improbable papacy promising to work for unity in a polarized world and church, and at the one-year mark, he appears to be delivering.

After Francis’ revolutionary and sometimes divisive 12-year papacy, Leo has brought a calming presence to the Vatican and the church at large. He appears intent on healing divisions, even as new threats of schism emerge.

That has been especially evident as he navigates some of the thorniest challenges facing the Catholic Church: tensions between traditionalists and progressives, financial problems facing the Holy See and geopolitical crises at the heart of the Trump-Leo dissonance.

“I think the challenge that the Holy Father has is to strengthen the unity of the church,” said Cardinal Wilton Gregory, a Chicago native like Leo and the retired archbishop of Washington. While there have always been divisions, Gregory said social media has amplified them, and Leo appears intent on tamping them down.

“Social communication makes it possible for people to take sides, and sometimes taking sides adds to the divisiveness that we have to deal with and that the Holy Father, as the Bishop of Rome, has to respond to,” Gregory said in an interview.

“He has to call us to our better angels,” he added.

That seemed to be Leo’s modus operandi when, days into his recent Africa trip, he temporarily quelled Trump’s broadsides by essentially declaring he was above the president’s social media posts. While insisting he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace, Leo said it “is not in my interest at all” to debate Trump.

“I primarily come to Africa as a pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church, to be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all the Catholics throughout Africa,” he said.

He repeated that message at the trip’s conclusion, saying the political role that comes with being pope, a head of state and global moral authority, was simply not his priority.

For many, the shock of an American pope who defied the longstanding assumption against a Rome-based moral counterweight to the White House still has not worn off.

“It’s been the first year of an American pope who has been critical of what America is doing for the most part,” said Anthea Butler, senior fellow at the Koch Institute at Oxford University.

She stressed that Leo is doing so “not coming full on like Francis would,” but approaching issues from the side. He is not naming names, she said, but simply preaching the Gospel.

That approach has helped some U.S. Catholic institutions after the American church developed a strained relationship with Francis. His criticism of American-style capitalism was often amplified by U.S.-based conservative Catholic media during his papacy.

For many Vatican watchers, the Argentine pope simply did not understand the United States, and vice versa. Some U.S. Catholics eventually grew reluctant to donate to the Holy See under Francis after years of unrelenting stories of mismanagement, corruption and scandal.

But with a Chicago math major now pope, “he cannot be dismissed as being ignorant of the realities in the United States,” said Kerry Alys Robinson, chief executive of Catholic Charities USA, a national network of Catholic agencies.

Robinson said she has never seen U.S. Catholic bishops so united, particularly in speaking about the dignity of migrants and poor people. She credits several factors, including the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and funding cuts that have created a common purpose. But she does not discount Leo’s unifying message in English.

“It’s very different when you are hearing the message without it being mediated through translation,” she said.

Ward Fitzgerald, president of The Papal Foundation, which funds the pope’s charitable projects in the developing world, said an English-speaking pope has been a boon, especially in the United States and Europe, where there is anecdotal evidence of a “Leo effect” spurring new converts.

“I think there are lots of reasons for it, but I certainly think that having a pope who speaks English helps young people understand the messages of the Holy Father,” Fitzgerald said in an interview. That also extends to donors.

“When you tell a donor, ‘I really appreciate what you do’ in English and they are English speakers, I think it resonates,” Fitzgerald said. “And so they give a little more.”

The Papal Foundation recently announced that 25 new families had joined since Leo’s election, a notable increase given that membership requires a minimum $1.25 million pledge.

Fitzgerald and members of the foundation met with Leo last week and attended a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a towering figure in the U.S. Catholic hierarchy and a key voice in the 2025 conclave that elected Leo.

Dolan, who is also close to Trump and serves on his Religious Liberty Commission, used his homily to reflect on St. Joseph, the father of Christ and one of the church’s most revered figures.

St. Joseph was a man of silence, Dolan said, calm and secure in his place.

“A man who exuded a sense of depth and substance. A man who is shy, all right, a man who is focused on his mission,” he said. “A man always attentive to God’s plan.”

Dolan then asked those seated in the pews if they could think of anyone else who fit St. Joseph’s description.

“I can,” Dolan said. “Pope Leo reminds me of Joseph.”

DAILYSABAH