Jesuit Priest On CNN Scoffs at Trump’s Defense of Jesus Meme — Denounces ‘Unchristian and Really Unhinged’ Attack on Pope Leo

A Jesuit priest denounced President Donald Trump’s “uncharitable, unchristian, and really unhinged attack” on Pope Leo XIV and scoffed at his claim a meme he posted was meant to show the president as a doctor.

Recently, Trump has been dialing up the aggressiveness of his attacks on Leo, who has been an outspoken advocate against numerous wars, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and more recently the U.S. and Israeli strikes in Iran, as well as criticizing the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

On Sunday, Trump posted a lengthy rant on his Truth Social account lambasting the pope as “terrible” thoughts on foreign policy, “WEAK” on crime and nuclear weapons — plus taking credit for the pope, formerly known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, becoming the first American pope last year.

Monday morning, the president posted and then deleted a meme showing him as Jesus healing a sick man. The meme drew widespread backlash, including from Trump’s MAGA base. Trump claimed he thought it was showing him as a doctor or Red Cross worker — a claim that was met with immediate skepticism.

Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and the editor at large of America magazine, a Catholic publication, was among those who openly disbelieved Trump’s claims about thinking the meme he posted was about a doctor. He discussed the last few days of the president’s feud with the pontiff during an appearance with anchor Erica Hill on CNN News Central Monday.

“Not everyone sees that as a doctor,” Hill deadpanned, asking Martin for his reaction to the meme and the backlash to it.

“I don’t know too many doctors that have glowing hands,” replied Martin. “That’s the most Jesus-looking picture I think I could imagine.”

He continued, saying it was “pretty shocking to me that someone would put themselves in the place of Jesus,” especially right after the president “had just been tweeting out a pretty hateful attack on Pope Leo.”

“Obviously religion was on his mind last night, and that probably came from watching the 60 Minutes special with the three cardinals,” Martin added, “so I guess he was, you know, thinking about religion. And that’s what came out.”

Hill mentioned one of the cardinals who was on that 60 Minutes special who had said he had worked with four different popes and “believes each one was there at that moment for a reason,” and that “Pope Leo is, in fact, the right person to be pope in this moment.”

“Do you agree?” she asked.

Martin readily agreed and said he thought Leo was “doing a great job,” and not just with “political issues,” but how he was “turning our attention to the poor and to the marginalized,” and was “asking the church to become more united.”

“I think he’s doing a wonderful job and he is the right person for the time,” said Martin.

Hill noted Leo’s response to Trump’s post about him, in which the pope said he had “no fear of the Trump administration” but also did not view his role as “being a politician” and did not want to get into a political debate with the president, and asked Martin what he thought about how Leo “is changing the conversation in this moment.”

Martin praised Leo for “focusing us on gospel values, real gospel values, and when it comes to, for example, migrants and refugees, he’s reminding us that Jesus says we have to welcome the stranger,” and “more recently, he’s reminding us that Jesus said, ‘blessed are the peacemakers,’ not blessed are the warmongers,” plus his message to his disciples, after the resurrection, was “peace be with you.”

“So you can’t get away from the message of peace from Jesus, nor can you get away from the message of helping the poor,” Martin continued. “And you know, these are these are gospel topics. They’re not political topics.”

02:08:31 PM

Yet. Um, as I’m sure you’re well aware, religion has also often been turned into politics. It’s interesting too, in this moment when you have the secretary of defense, who is a man of faith, who talks about his faith, often, um, those comments from pope Leo about war and about prayers for war seem to be directly in response to what we’ve heard from secretary hegseth over the last several weeks in terms of his justification for this war. How do you square those remarks?

Hill asked Martin about what reactions he was hearing from American Catholics about the president’s attacks on the pope, and he responded that people “from all sides of the political spectrum, and the theological spectrum as well,” “both Republicans and Democrats are really shocked by President Trump’s attack last night,” calling it “really beyond the pale, and really kind of unique in history for such an uncharitable, unchristian, and really unhinged attack on the Holy Father.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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