- Friday, May 09, 2025
The first US-born pope has a handful of disapproving posts about the Republican leaders’ policies on the X account of Robert Prevost, his name before starting the pontificate
By: India Weekly
BEFORE becoming pontiff, Pope Leo XIV was not shy about criticizing US president Donald Trump and vice president JD Vance – as per his old social media posts that surfaced after he took over leadership of the global Catholic Church on Thursday (8).
The first US-born pope has a handful of disapproving posts about the Republican leaders’ policies on the X account of Robert Prevost, his name before starting the pontificate.
Those posts invited criticism from Trump’s most die-hard conservative supporters, including activist Laura Loomer, even as the president himself expressed pride at having an American in charge at the Vatican.
“To have the pope from the United States of America, that’s a great honor,” Trump said at the White House. Asked if he would meet with Leo, Trump said “they’ve already called.”
White House officials did not comment about the criticisms on Prevost’s account.
In February, Prevost reposted an article headlined, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
In April, when Trump had a meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele to discuss using a prison where alleged human rights abuses took place to jail suspected gang members flown from the US, Prevost reposted a comment that included: “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed?”
Reuters could not immediately verify who operated the account, which made its first post in 2011.
Reuters reached out to the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, where Prevost was based for years, and the Peruvian Embassy to the Holy See to confirm the authenticity of the account, which has the handle @drprevost and includes posts calling for prayers for the late Pope Francis in his final months.
Pope Leo is expected to follow in the footsteps of Francis, a champion of the poor and of immigrants, who also had his differences with the Trump administration.
Vance played down those differences after meeting with Francis at the Vatican the day before he died, but they were substantial.
Francis had called Trump’s immigration policies a disgrace.
Supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement reacted with disdain to Leo’s appointment.
“He is anti-Trump, anti-MAGA, pro-open Borders, and a total Marxist like Pope Francis,” Loomer wrote on X.
“Pope Leo XIV: Registered Chicago Republican and pro-life warrior OR Open borders globalist installed to counter Trump?” wrote right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Vance, a Catholic, said he was sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians would pray for Leo’s success.
“May God bless him!” Vance wrote on X.
Political differences
The new pope shares some policy similarities with the Trump team. He opposes abortion, as do Trump and Vance.
But he supports work to combat climate change, according to a post urging followers to sign a Catholic climate petition.
Trump removed the US from the Paris climate accord which fights global warming.
He has also spoken out against racism.
At the height of protests after the police killing of George Floyd, a black man, in 2020, Prevost retweeted a series of posts on his then Twitter account, urging the eradication of prejudice and hatred.
Trump has done away with diversity, equity and inclusion policies within the federal government and among its contractors, tools that supporters say were used to fight back against a US history of racial discrimination and bias.
‘A White Sox fan’
The pope has been a keen follower of baseball, and a longtime fan of White Sox – one of his two hometown franchises.
Initially it appeared that both Chicago teams were claiming Leo as their own, fueling a cross-town beef – until the pope’s brother weighed in.
Speaking to local television station WGN, John Prevost made it clear where Leo’s sports allegiances lie.
“Yeah he was never, ever a Cubs fan, so I don’t know where that came from,” John Prevost told the station, referring to the other Chicago team in Major League Baseball.
“He was always a Sox fan.”
Prevost also revealed some members of the family have been divided in their support.
“Our mother was a Cubs fan… and our dad was a (St. Louis) Cardinals fan,” he said.
“And all the aunts, our mom’s family, was from north side, so that’s why they were fans” of the Cubs, which are headquartered in that part of town.
His brother? “He rooted for the White Sox.”
The Sox swiftly took to X to capitalize on how the worldwide news touched their team, posting a photograph of a sign at their home stadium Rate Field, the former Comiskey Park, that reads: “HEY CHICAGO, HE’S A SOX FAN!”
The team added in its post: “Well, would you look at that… Congratulations to Chicago’s own Pope Leo XIV.”
Leo is following in the footsteps of his predecessor Francis, the first Argentine pope, who was a lifelong fan of his beloved local San Lorenzo football club in Buenos Aires.
The White Sox won the World Series in 2005, ending an 88-year drought between their latest two Major League Baseball championship titles.
