The newly elected Pope Leo XIV is preaching the actual teachings of Jesus — and MAGA world is livid.
Why? Because the Pope’s message of mercy, humility, and justice doesn’t align with Donald Trump’s brand of politics. And that’s enough to make right-wing America erupt.
“MAGA hates the woke pope,” Republican strategist Rick Wilson said in a blistering commentary on Friday.
The outrage began as soon as Pope Leo — formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, a Chicago-born American — delivered his first remarks. He spoke of kindness, fairness, and caring for the vulnerable. Nothing controversial. Just the Gospel.
But that message, Wilson said, infuriated the far right.
“And by ‘woke,’ I mean a Bergolian cardinal influenced by Pope Francis whose opening remarks were full of a rich warmth, and an overt emphasis on mercy, humility, justice, and a more pastoral message that was almost universally well received, even by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance,” Wilson explained.
Still, “the rest of MAGA is very, very angry.”
According to Wilson, this fury didn’t come out of nowhere. MAGA operatives had already tried to block cardinals like Leo from ever becoming pope. Their goal? Install a hardline conservative who would turn the Vatican into a political arm of Trumpism.
“Pope Leo — lately Cardinal Robert Prevost — was one of the types of cardinals in the crosshairs of a MAGA opposition research and smear campaign,” Wilson wrote. “They wanted a MAGA Pope, a cardinal in a red baseball cap willing to turn the Church of Rome into one more echo chamber.”
But what really makes them boil, Wilson said, is that Pope Leo is American — and doesn’t back Trump.
“The fact that Leo is an American from Chicago makes them more furious,” he said. “He understands our politics and culture in a way no other candidate for the Papacy would have, and this frightens MAGA TradCath types who wanted a Trump ally in the Vatican.”
The Pope’s advocacy for immigrants and refugees — basic Christian values — has especially enraged Trump supporters, Wilson added.
“Much of their fury has come from Pope Leo’s advocacy for decent treatment for immigrants and refugees, which, of course, is banned in the Book of Homan,” he said, referencing MAGA’s anti-immigration mindset and former Trump aide Stephen Miller.
“God forbid the new Pope follow the teachings of Jesus and not follow the teachings of the MAGA Apocrypha.”
Wilson called out the hypocrisy in plain terms: “The arrogance of MAGA’s predominantly Protestant base demanding a Catholic Pope who fits their ideological bill was remarkable, as was their anger.”
