Republican Brian Fitzpatrick condemns Trump’s attack on Pope Leo XIV as ‘offensive to Catholics in every corner of the world’
The Bucks County Republican offered a harsh rebuke after the president suggested the pope owed his position to him.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, the Bucks County Republican who sometimes breaks with his party but often refrains from harshly condemning President Donald Trump, on Monday strongly rebuked the president’s tirade against Pope Leo XIV.
The Catholic lawmaker said Trump’s missive was “disgraceful, beneath the dignity of the presidency, and offensive to Catholics in every corner of the world.”
He called on the president to apologize for claiming, in a social media post Sunday night, that Leo was selected last year only to “deal with” him in the White House.
“To suggest that a Pope somehow owes his place to a politician is absurd. As a lifelong Catholic, these comments [are] an insult to the Church, an affront to the faithful, and to many Catholics, plainly sacrilegious,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “Demeaning the Holy Father while elevating oneself is not strength. It is arrogance.”
Trump criticized Leo after the pope became more vocal in calling out violence in Iran. In a prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, he said a “delusion of omnipotence” was fueling the American and Israeli attacks in Iran.
“Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!” Leo said.
In a lengthy response on his social media website, Trump said Leo was “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
Trump also posted an image of himself dressed as Jesus healing the sick, which he deleted Monday, following a widespread backlash.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Phila.), who is Catholic, said the president and his comments about the pope were “an abomination.”
“He constantly finds new ways to sink to new lows — even by his standards,” Boyle said on social media. “But I will greatly enjoy his future irate and unhinged tweet when Pope Leo wins the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Fitzpatrick, a moderate facing a competitive reelection this year, has often supported Trump’s agenda while breaking with the party in some high-profile moments — like in the debate last year around extending the Affordable Care Act credits and in the ongoing negotiations to include reforms to ICE in a new funding agreement.
After Trump’s threat last week to destroy the “whole civilization” of Iran — leading to calls from impeachment from many Democrats — Fitzpatrick issued a statement that did not call out Trump by name but referred to the comments as “blatantly irresponsible.”
His reaction to the attack on Leo was more direct, condemning Trump by name and “in the strongest possible terms.” The pope is “not a partisan figure, and the papacy is not an institution to be mocked, politicized, or diminished,” Fitzpatrick said.
“Pope Leo has every right — and indeed the solemn responsibility — to speak clearly on matters of faith, conscience, war and peace, and human dignity,” Fitzpatrick said. “That is his role. And no one — president, politician, or public figure — can intimidate, demean, or bully the Church for carrying out its mission.”
About 29% of members of the U.S. House and 24% of the U.S. Senate were Catholic at the beginning of the current session of Congress, according to the Pew Research Center.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.