ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- And that, my fellow Americans, is why we can't have nice things. Because there is always going to be some vandal who tries to desecrate them.

I keep thinking that a lot of what drives the friction between Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump is the fact that they're both Americans. This is a glorified family feud. Americans can be an ornery bunch. When we get pushed, we push back even harder. It might be that our country isn't big enough to be home to two world leaders.

Yet, I have to say, the soft-spoken friar from Chicago isn't the least bit intimidated by the blowhard from New York.

CNN's chief data analyst, Harry Enten, thinks Trump could just be "jealous" of Leo's approval rating. Enten cites an NBC News poll last month -- before the dustup -- that found Trump was nearly 50 points less popular than the pope. "It is a blowout!" Enten exclaimed.

In May 2025, when Robert Francis Provost -- a follower of St. Augustine who was born on the South Side of Chicago -- became the head of the Catholic Church, many Americans were filled with pride.

And not just Catholics. I myself defected from the Church of Rome about a decade ago because I was disgusted by how it conducted itself like a criminal syndicate as it covered up the sexual abuse of children by priests. But, as an American, I'm still proud that the person wearing the papal ring is one of ours.

The Vicar of Christ is the world's spiritual leader. The pope's moral example reaches far beyond the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, about 55 million of whom reside in the United States. That figure represents about 20% of U.S. adults.

There are many Catholics in the Trump administration. Besides Vice President JD Vance -- who recently wrote a book about his mid-life conversion to Catholicism -- other Catholics on Team Trump include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Education Secretary Linda McMahon and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Also, six of the nine Supreme Court justices are Catholic, along with about 30% of the members of Congress.

So what does it mean in this largely Catholic country, with a heavily Catholic government, that the first U.S.-born pope would suddenly find himself under attack by a U.S. president? Nothing good.

My wife noted that normal leaders who are at war might go to the Holy Father for a blessing or for advice. And yet, as even MAGA supporters who oppose the Iran war have finally begun to acknowledge, nothing about Trump is normal. Still, my wife thinks the president's verbal shoving match with the pope is a "bad omen." It's like Trump is trying to anger the Gods.

Like me, my wife is also a disaffected Catholic -- and for the exact same reason. And yet, in this ruckus, she is all in on Team Leo.

"It's just sad," she said of the friction between the two men.

My wife also thinks that Trump is forcing us to redefine the term "narcissist" because he takes the concept to a whole new level.

Leo is conducting himself with dignity, restraint and class. Yet Trump doesn't seem to have any idea what those words mean.

The pope is not attacking Trump personally or even mentioning his name. He is making broad and general statements about how peace is preferable to war, as we would expect from a religious leader.

For his part, after mocking the Muslim religion in a Truth Social post on Easter Sunday, Trump appears to be trying to open up a new holy war -- with the pope.

It was a subsequent post by Trump -- the one where the Leader of the Free World threatens to destroy "an entire civilization" in Iran -- that ratcheted up this war of words.

The pope called Trump's threat "truly unacceptable." The president responded: "I don't want a pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon."

Leo responded by calling for world peace and demanding an end to "neocolonial tendencies." Trump slapped back by claiming that he got Leo his job, insisting that the Cardinals were looking for an American pope to counter Trump's influence in the world.

"If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican," Trump wrote in a post on Monday.

Oh boy. As usual, my wife may be onto something. With this president, a word like "narcissist" barely scratches the surface.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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