
President Donald Trump and Pope Leo are now Earth's most powerful Americans. They lead in different roles and realms
The motto of one newly elected American world leader: ' Fight! ' The other introduced himself to the world with his first public word as pope: 'Peace.'
The contrast between President Donald Trump and Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV couldn't be more stark — politically, personally or in their world views. They lead in different roles and realms.
But Leo's historic election last week to lead the world's 1.4 billion Catholics as the first U.S.-born pope means that the two most powerful people on the planet are Americans. That raises questions about American influence at a time when Trump's tariff wars and 'one way or the other' threats have upended eight decades of global order and sparked distrust among allies toward the United States.
The prospect of too much American power in geopolitics is widely considered one reason that the Catholic Church had not elected an American to the papacy across the country's nearly 250-year history. Until, that is, the former Cardinal Robert F. Prevost of Chicago — Pope Leo XIV — was chosen last week to be the 267th pontiff.
'The irony of Leo's election is that many in the rest of the world will view it as a sign of hope — as an American who can speak for them rather than act against them,' said David Gibson, director of Fordham University's Center on Religion and Culture.
The shock and delight of the not-well-known cardinal's election soon shifted into robust discussion about how the top of the global pecking order could be populated by two Americans.
Trump is known to not enjoy sharing attention or primacy, as his 'America first' foreign policy approach makes clear. American Catholics chose Trump over his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris.
In one apparent appeal to them, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself dressed as a pope during the days of mourning for Pope Francis, who died April 21. The move was not appreciated by some Catholics and Italians. Trump denied posting the image himself and said anyone who was offended 'can't take a joke.' He insisted that 'the Catholics loved it.'
Even so, Trump wished Leo well and called it a 'great honor' that the new pope was American.
Pope Leo, meanwhile, is in some senses a politician as well, with a calm manner and the approach of talking to his fellow cardinals in small groups before the conclave, they said. Though he was born in Chicago, Leo — then Prevost — spent two decades as a missionary in Peru before being appointed by Pope Francis in 2023 to lead the Vatican's powerful office that vets bishops around the world.
He wouldn't be the first pope to wade into world politics. Pope John Paul II, for example, is rightly credited with helping bring down communism. But Leo enters the papacy having already criticized Vice President JD Vance, the highest-profile Catholic in American politics, on social media. Leo is at odds with the administration on such policy issues as immigration — Trump's signature issue — and the environment.
Like Trump, Leo has turned his attention to the media. On Monday in Vatican City, he called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the calling for 'all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press.' In contrast, Trump's approach to journalists has been combative, from the White House to the courts.
In early February, Leo — then still Prevost — shared an article from a Catholic publication with the headline, 'JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others.'
It came days after Vance — a convert to Catholicism — discussed immigration in a Fox News interview by referencing a Christian tenet '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.'
Leo, speaking Italian to thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square, described a different vision for the Church and human relations: 'We have to be a church that works together to build bridges and to keep our arms open, like this very piazza, welcoming.'
Vance suggested the papacy is 'bigger' than politics and social media. 'It's very hard to fit a 2,000-year-old institution into the politics of 2025 America,' he said during an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, adding that 'it's better for all of us if we allow the church to be about the saving of souls.'
In the rise of Trump at the same time as Leo, 'the gospel meets the culture,' said Steven Millies, director of The Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Religion and politics, he added, are misaligned because they are 'oriented toward different purposes.'
'What both Francis and then Cardinal Prevost were doing was being bishops — teaching the Gospel, and reminding us the Gospel always is on the side of the poor, the afflicted, the suffering,' Millies said in an email. 'That's not Trump's lane as a president, a reality TV star or a businessman.'
Leo's decades in Peru — he is a citizen of both countries — can give him a broader view of humanity and power, and religion and politics, scholars say.
Beyond the obvious personality differences with Trump, Leo is expected to wield power differently — to the neediest people first, for example, whereas Trump cut off American aid. Leo did not mention his American roots during his first speech, nor did he speak in English — a sign, some Vatican watchers said, of his global priorities.
'Even though it is factually true that Leo is the first U.S.-born pope, it makes more sense to think about him as the second pope of the Americas. This challenges 'America first' approaches and imagines the region more holistically, as Pope Francis did first, with its center of gravity in the global south,' said Raul Zegarra, assistant professor of Roman Catholic theological studies at Harvard Divinity School.
'All of this points to a pope that understands global leadership through dialogue instead of isolation; who understands power through service, instead of domination,' he said. 'It is hard to imagine a sharper contrast with the current administration in the U.S.'
To hear some of the American cardinals tell it, Leo actually is not all that American in style or outlook, and his U.S. heritage played little if any part in his selection as pope. But Trump hovered over the proceedings.
Six American cardinals who had participated in the conclave took the stage at a press conference as 'Born in the USA' and 'American Pie' blared from speakers. Then, one after another downplayed Leo's American roots. One quoted a phrase that was going around, that Leo is 'the least American of the American' cardinals. Several said they expected Leo to be a 'bridge-builder' with the Trump administration — the meaning of the Latin word 'pontiff.'
Asked whether the cardinals elected Leo to offset Trump, several said no.
'I don't think at all my brother cardinals would have thought of him as a counterweight to any one person,' said Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York.
'Obviously the cardinals were quite aware of things that have occurred in the United States, statements that have been made, political actions that have been taken,' said Wilton Gregory, archbishop emeritus of Washington. But the conclave's goal, he said, was choosing 'who among us' could strengthen the faith.
Said Millies: 'It's not that the world should fear a U.S.-born pope. Quite the reverse: As 'the least American of the Americans,' he is untainted by our recent politics and may seem safer even as, still, he is an American intimately familiar with this nation's better angels.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Business Insider
32 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Trump's former Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, says the US-China deal is still far from comprehensive
President Donald Trump's former Secretary of Commerce doesn't think the trade deal between the US and China is close to being "done." "It looks as though they made a fairly modest deal, mostly focusing on export controls on both the US side and the China side," Wilbur Ross, who was part of the first Trump administration, told Business Insider. "So it's far from a comprehensive deal." On Wednesday morning, Trump said on Truth Social that the deal with China is now "done." "It seems more or less to be reiterating the deal they thought they had set a few weeks ago," Ross said of the deal. China and the US reached a trade framework agreement on Tuesday, after their respective negotiation teams held two-day talks in London. The current Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, is part of the US trade talk team. "Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China," Trump added in all caps in the post. "Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me!)." Ross said that the deal has not addressed many important issues, including intellectual property, so it may be too soon to call this a victory. "The Chinese side has been very careful to say it still needs to be approved by President Xi," said Ross. "When we negotiated with the China side last time, it wasn't unusual for the trade negotiators to agree to something, and then they would go back to Xi, and he would not go along with it." This year in duties on imports from China reached up to 245% on some goods. On May 14, many of the tariffs on China were reduced to 30% for 90 days, with a deadline of August 12. A 10% baseline tariff is still in place on the rest of the world, while additional higher tariffs on 75 countries have been paused until July 9. Ross said that it would be important to complete at least a few deals with key trading partners before the tariff pause on 75 countries expires. "I think that will help clear the air for the stock market because it'll start to show a direction and that there is a way to get all these things resolved," he said. "It's very important from a bond market point of view and from an equity market point of view."
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Treasury Secretary Suddenly Backtracks on Major Tariff Deadline
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that Donald Trump is again intending to move the goalposts for his global tariff policy. The United States is fast approaching the end of the president's 90-day pause on his sweeping global tariffs on July 9, but while testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, Bessent said that 'Liberation Day' Part 2 may not come to pass so soon. 'I would say, as I have repeatedly said, that there are 18 important trading partners. We are working toward deals on those. And it is highly likely that those countries that are negoti—or trading blocs, in the case of the EU—who are negotiating in good faith, we will roll the date forward to continue good-faith negotiations,' Bessent said. 'If someone is not negotiating, then we will not,' he added. The Trump administration has not even vaguely approached its initial promise to crack 90 deals in 90 days, only announcing two unfinished deals, with the U.K. and China. Crucially, Trump's paltry set of terms with China isn't even a deal. China referred to it as merely a 'framework,' while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it was a 'handshake for a framework' that both Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping need to approve. Trump seems intent on running the country's economic policy in 90-day increments, prolonging economic uncertainty that has roiled the markets and sent prices rising. But the president's failure should hardly come as a surprise, as the stated purpose of his tariffs—not to ensure economic prosperity but to bring U.S. trading partners to their knees—defies all logic and reason. With only two half-deals made, and a suddenly unclear horizon, it's not clear how TACO Trump will ever reach the goal of 200 trade deals he'd claimed to have made in April. Especially considering that there aren't even that many countries.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
When is Flag Day 2025? Is it a federal holiday? What to know
As the country prepares to salute the Army's 250th year with President Donald Trump's grand military parade in downtown Washington, D.C. on June 14, the day will also celebrate America's symbol of freedom: the American flag. A flag resolution was adopted 248 years ago, on June 14, 1777, according to the Smithsonian, that said, "Resolved: that the flag of the United States be made of 13 stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." However, it would be more than 100 years after the Continental Congress approved the flag, that Flag Day would be observed. The event was first observed in the late 1800s by schoolteachers around the U.S., according to the National Constitution Center, and in May 1916, President Woodrow Wilson declared June 14 Flag Day. Since then, the U.S. has honored the adoption of the stars and stripes in a number of ways, including carrying the flag in parades, displaying it outside homes and holding other patriotic events. Before 1916, a number of states and cities had started to observe the day. Flag Day, meanwhile, was declared a national holiday in 1949 by congressional legislation signed into law by President Harry Truman, who in a proclamation directed the U.S. flag to be displayed on all government buildings on that day. Here's what to know about Flag Day and its evolution over the years. Army's 250th birthday parade: How to celebrate Army's 250th year – and (unofficially) Trump's birthday parade Flag Day is on Saturday, June 14, 2025. The June 14 date for Flag Day remains the same, no matter which day of the week it falls. Though it's observed nationally, Flag Day is not a federal holiday. However, the president traditionally proclaims its observance every year. Pennsylvania, meanwhile, recognizes it as a state holiday. June 2025 holiday schedule: Summer solstice, Pride Month, Father's Day, Juneteenth, more The American flag, characterized by 50 stars and 13 stripes, will celebrate its 65th birthday on July 4. After Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959, on July 4, 1960, the flag's new design was officially adopted. Contributing: Janet Loehrke, USA TODAY / Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@ and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Flag Day 2025 date: When is it? Is it a federal holiday?