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This past weekend, a prominent pro-Trump megachurch pastor said he believes the president has a better understanding of the Bible than Pope Leo XIV.
In comments to Fox News, Pastor Robert Jeffress, who heads the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, reacted to news of a meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Leo, which happened earlier this month after weeks of Trump attacking Leo over his antiwar stance. In a statement, the Vatican explained that Rubio and Leo had “an exchange of views on the regional and international situation,” referring to the joint U.S.-Israel war on Iran and in Lebanon.
Jeffress, who has openly supported Trump since 2016, having previously served on his evangelical advisory board after he was first elected president, condemned the pope’s antiwar stance.
“The Pope is a good man, he is sincere in his faith, but he is sincerely wrong when it comes to Iran,” Jeffress said, repeating a false line parroted by many of Trump’s defenders— that Iran was just “weeks” away from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and that he had “no choice but to act.”
According to U.S. military intelligence, Iran posed no real threat before the war began, and several experts say it likely would have taken years (not weeks) for the country to develop a nuclear weapon. Some commentators have noted that the decision to launch the joint U.S.-Israel war against Iran further incentivizes the country to pursue nuclear weapons down the road, as a deterrent against future attacks.
“It looks like President Trump has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches about the role of government than the pope has,” Jeffress went on.
Jeffress’s staunch defense of Trump has often taken on a darker tone. He once called evangelical Christians who didn’t support the president “spineless morons.” He’s also attacked Catholicism in general, claiming the sect of Christianity was influenced by Satan.
In April, Leo condemned “imperialist occupation” of countries in general, and in more direct comments, called for a quick end to the war in Iran.
“Hopefully, [Trump is] looking for an off-ramp. Hopefully, he’s looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that’s being created and that’s increasing constantly in the Middle East and elsewhere,” Leo said last month.
On social media, Trump appeared enraged over Leo’s comments.
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” he said in a Truth Social post on April 12.
“I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do,” Trump added, incorrectly claiming that his electoral victory in 2024 was by a larger margin than it really was.
Responding to reporters’ questions shortly after that post, Trump claimed he wasn’t actually fighting with the pope, but mischaracterized Leo’s stance on nuclear arsenal.
“The pope made a statement. He says Iran can have a nuclear weapon. I say Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump stated.
In fact, Leo has consistently stated that he opposes nuclear armaments for all countries, including Iran, and has advocated the disarmament of nuclear weapons in general.
Trump has promoted himself as a pro-Christian politician, and has courted many far right Christian figures to support his MAGA movement. However, Trump has struggled over the years to adequately explain his Christian views.
During the 2016 race, for example, Trump was asked his favorite passage in the Bible. Then a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, he referred to a line in the Old Testament, which states “an eye for an eye” as a punishment. However, that philosophy was renounced by Jesus Christ within the New Testament, who promoted “turning the other cheek” instead.
The flubs have continued over the years, with Trump more recently sharing an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ healing a person, an action that many critics at the time noted was sacrilegious. (Jeffress refused to comment about the post.) After receiving backlash for the image, Trump refused to apologize, instead claiming that the image of him draped in robes depicted him as a doctor.
And just last week, Trump celebrated a newly erected golden statue of himself at a golf course he owns in Miami. The statue quickly drew comparisons to the “golden calf,” a false idol in the Bible whose followers later suffered God’s wrath.
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