Prominent MAGA figures have blasted the appointment of Pope Leo as the Catholic Church’s first North American pontiff. Robert Francis Prevost was named as the new pope on Thursday after a two-day conclave in the Vatican. He was a surprise choice having been a 66/1 outsider to assume the role.
The 69-year-old, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, will assume the papal name Leo XIV. US President Donald Trump congratulated the new Bishop of Rome on his election to the hallowed role on his Truth Social platform, writing that is it “such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope”.
“What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country,” he continued. “I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”
Trump’s Vice President JD Vance wrote: “Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election! I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!”
But big names associated with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement have been less effusive about the news.
Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, who is the host of influential conservative podcast The War Room said: “This is an anti-Trump vote by the globalists that run the Curia — this is the pope Bergoglio and his clique wanted,” referring to the surname of Pope Leo’s progressive predecessor Pope Francis, as per Politico.
Far-right conspiracy theorist, political activist, and MAGA die-hard Laura Loomer, who has met with the President in the Oval Office, wrote: “WOKE MARXIST POPE.” She added in another post that Prevost was “just another Marxist puppet in the Vatican”.
She also claimed that “Catholics don’t have anything good to look forward to.” Loomer was present alongside Trump as he campaigned for a second term, though her outspoken views have reportedly seen even the Republican fireband distancing himself from her at times.
An account listed under Prevost’s name previously reposted social media comments criticising Vance, and Trump’s immigration policies, sharing articles and headlines without actually speaking out on the issues, CNN reports.
They include a post retweeted in 2018 during Trump’s first term that took aim at the White House’s previous policy of separating parents from their children near the US-Mexico border.
The post the account shared 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.”
Another repost on February 3 challenged Vance’s assertion that the far left hates “the citizens of their own country”.
The month before in an interview with Fox News the VP said: “There’s this old school – and I think it’s a very Christian concept by the way – that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world. A lot of the far left has completely inverted that.”
He continued: “They seem to hate the citizens of their own country and care more about people outside their own borders. That is no way to run a society.”
The account shared an article by Kat Armas for the National Catholic Reporter, which challenged Vance’s worldview: “It’s a framework that makes sense in a world governed by scarcity and fear, where protection comes at the expense of others,” Armas writes in the piece.
“But Jesus never speaks of love as something to be rationed. He speaks of love as abundance — a table where there is enough for everyone.”
Outlets haven’t been able to independently verify whether it is Pope Leo’s account or is associated with him. The press office of the Holy See has been approached for comment via email.