MAGA politicos unleashed a barrage of blistering attacks against the new American pope after he overcame startling odds to be selected as pontiff yesterday.
Pope Leo XIV sparked the ire of Right-wing commentators after he was revealed to have taken aim at JD Vance and a number of key Trump policies online.
Having weighed in on issues from gun control to migration and the death of George Floyd in the United States, Prevost was bound to be controversial in MAGA America.
But vocal figures immediately rejected him as head of the Catholic Church, branding Prevost a ‘liberal piece of s**t’ and a ‘Marxist’ amid a deepening schism on the Right.
Steve Bannon, the former White House Chief Strategist, derided the Chicagoan as the ‘worst pick for MAGA Catholics’ and deemed him the ‘anti-Trump pope’.
Days before, he told Piers Morgan he thought the ‘dark horse’ candidate was ‘one of the ones closest to Francis ideologically’.
Megyn Kelly had been pleased with the election of a pope from North America – the first in the history of the Church, representing some 53mn Catholics in the U.S.
But she later cringed and asked on X whether it was ‘too much to hope that some 20-year-old ran the new pope’s X account and he never looked at it?’
Earlier this year, the new pope hit out at JD Vance, calling him outright ‘wrong’ as viral social media spat about his faith went viral.
Prevost did reportedly vote in the Illinois Republican primaries in 2012, 2014 and 2016. But his papacy may yet lead the church away from Trump Republicanism.
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost from the main central loggia balcony of the St Peter’s Basilica for the first time on Thursday
JD Vance and Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday, before the new pope was elected
The Conclave elected North American cardinal Robert Francis Prevost who has taken the name Leo XIV as the 267th pope
Podcaster Joey Mannarino told 600,000 followers the new pope was a ‘liberal piece of s**t’, sharing Prevost’s rebuttal of the Vice President’s reading of ‘ordo amoris’ – a Christian concept of ‘rightly ordered love’ that made waves earlier this year.
Vance had said in an interview with Fox News in January: ‘There is a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then, after that, prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.’
Critics judged that Vance, a Catholic, had misread Thomas Aquinas’ idea of the ‘order of love’, accusing him of using the concept to support political ideology.
Prevost joined in the backlash, writing on X in early February: ‘JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.’
While Vance, a Catholic, was careful to congratulate the new pontiff, Trump-aligned commentators were less choice with their words.
Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist who has maintained close ties with the president, lamented online: ‘The new Pope once retweeted a post about how we need to keep praying for career criminal & drug addict George Floyd.
‘The tweet said, “May all hatred, violence and prejudice be eradicated.” What prejudice? Is that another way to spell FENTANYL OVERDOSE? MARXIST POPE!’
‘He is anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis,’ she went on, later. ‘Catholics don’t have anything good to look forward to.’
Steve Bannon spoke to Piers Morgan about the pope, then just a candidate, before selection
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost from the main central loggia balcony of the St Peter’s Basilica for the first time, after the cardinals ended the conclave
People watch newly elected Pope Leone XIV as he appears at the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica
Mike Cernovich, a right-wing commentator and conspiracy theorist, deemed Prevost an ‘open borders globalist’ who would ‘be pushing for abortion soon’.
He shared posts from the new pope about gun control and deportations to El Salvador as apparent evidence of Leo’s dialectical opposition to MAGA America.
Undated picture of Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV
Prevost had shared a post from a Catholic commentator who took aim at Trump and the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, for making light of the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
‘Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?’ the shared post read.
In March 2022, he shared an article from Catholic News, in which the Vatican expressed its willingness to help as a humanitarian crisis emerged with the war in Ukraine.
He had also reposted a tweet in 2018 that read: ‘There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all.’
And he shared several messages directly opposing Trump’s immigration orders – including a 2018 letter from Peru’s Catholic leaders thanking the Trump administration for ‘stopping the separation of migrant children from their parents.’
From his posts on X, the new pontiff is expected to carry on as a counterbalance to Trump, representing 1.4bn Catholics worldwide, including around 53mn in the U.S.
Newly elected American Pope Robert Francis Prevost came from humble beginnings in southern Chicago suburbs (pictured: then-newly ordained Rev. Robert Prevost and Pope John Paul II)
A nun reacts as white smoke (unseen) signals that cardinals elected a new pope during their conclave in the Vatican on May 8
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV appears on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican
Pope Leo spent the majority of his career in Latin America, even becoming a naturalized citizen of Peru.
Cardinal Prevost emerged only in recent days as a contender for the papacy.
The tennis loving cardinal – who is also known as Father Bob – is seen as the ‘least American of the Americans’ and a silent reformer who would carry on the work of Pope Francis.
He was a popular choice with the Latin American and North American cardinals, although he has kept his views on topics such as women clergy and same sex unions quiet.
Prevost is a registered Republican. He has voted in GOP primaries and general elections when he is in the country, according to his voting record.
Turning Point Action published his history showing that as recently as August 2023, Prevost was registered as a Republican and voted in the 2024 presidential election. It is unclear who he voted for.
The new pope, who chose the name Pope Leo XIV, has a ‘strong Republican’ record, and according to conservative nonprofit’s data, he is staunchly pro-life – not an unusual stance for the Catholic Church.
But he has taken a more progressive line on a number of social issues in the United States.
A 2014 tweet where Prevost called Jesus a migrant re-emerged and went viral after his selection.
Prevost entered the church’s school – which had recently moved to a modernized location to accommodate a growing Catholic population – where his peers soon realized he stood out among the rest (pictured: Prevost with his second grade class)
He and his siblings had a religious upbringing in a quaint 1,200-square-foot brick home in Dolton, Illinois (pictured)
Robert Prevost overcame 66/1 odds to be selected as Pope Leo XIV on Thursday, becoming the first North American pontiff to hold the role.
In his first words as Pope Francis’ successor, uttered from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo said, ‘Peace be with you,’ and emphasized a message of peace, dialogue and missionary evangelization.
He wore the traditional red cape of the papacy — a cape that Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013.
The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers when white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel on the second day of the conclave. Priests made the sign of the cross and nuns wept as the crowd shouted ‘Viva il papa!’
Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people waited to learn who had won and were shocked when an hour later, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the loggia and said ‘Habemus Papam!’ and announced the winner was Prevost.
He spoke to the crowd in Italian and Spanish, but not English.
