Woke pope versus Maga: Leo’s culture war clashes have only just begun

Hours after Leo XIV became pope in May, Trump confidant and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer posted a brief message on social media. It said: “WOKE MARXIST POPE.”

She was not the only member of the American right to immediately cast Leo as a culture war villain. Steve Bannon, a Catholic and former altar boy, called him the “worst pick for Maga Catholics” and described his election as a victory for “the globalists that run the Curia”.

You might expect Donald Trump’s Maga base to embrace the first American pope. His administration is stacked with officials who speak proudly of their faith, including vice-president JD Vance. But the criticism of Leo only intensified as he took up the mantle of his predecessor, Pope Francis, on the climate crisis, inequality and migration.

Benjamin Harnwell, Rome correspondent for Bannon’s War Room podcast, told The Observer that Leo is “investing his energy in a radical, secularist, fundamentally globalist, leftwing agenda”. Most grievous, in Harnwell’s telling, is the pope’s defence of migrants. “The third-world invasion of the west is an existential crisis for the Judaeo-Christian west,” he said.

Leo is hardly the first pontiff to clash with American conservatives. Francis was critical of Trump’s border wall and offered support to caravans of migrants “seeking freedom and wellbeing” in the US. But Leo, who is from Chicago and follows baseball, is a more immediate lightning rod. He cannot easily be dismissed as a distant, culturally foreign figure ensconced in Rome.

There were a few early signs that Leo might return the Catholic church to a more conservative footing. When he greeted the faithful for the first time from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, he wore richly embroidered vestments, a marked contrast to Francis, who eschewed papal pageantry and favoured a plain white cassock. Leo has also permitted a rare Latin mass – beloved of traditionalists – to be celebrated at St Peter’s.

But it quickly became clear this was a one-off. “It was a gesture of tolerance, not a change of direction,” said a Vatican official, who added that Leo’s priorities are caring for the planet and migrants and the ethical development of AI. This cuts directly against the instincts of the Maga Catholic right, which tends to preach deregulation, closed borders and scepticism toward climate science.

Over the summer, Leo began to speak more pointedly about current events, developing a habit of spontaneously talking to reporters outside his papal retreat. In October, he blessed a slab of ice from Greenland that signified melting glaciers, and criticised climate denial as a failure of consciousness. This was read as an indirect rebuke of Trump, who has claimed climate change is a “con”.

A few days later, Leo released his first major text, which framed care for the planet, the welcome of migrants and the pursuit of economic justice as sacred duties, rather than policy preferences. When he then described Trump’s mass deportation campaign as “inhuman” and urged US bishops to speak out, it seemed his papacy had truly begun.

“This was his first real confrontation,” said Christopher White, author of Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, another Catholic, responded by saying that the bishops were “wrong” and should “spend time fixing the Catholic Church” instead.

Leo’s first trip abroad, in November, was not to a Christian country but to Turkey, where he said Christians and Muslims can be friends – a small gesture that nevertheless landed sharply with critics, who accused him of ignoring the plight of persecuted Christians in Muslim countries. More recently, he urged Trump to avoid a military confrontation with Venezuela and instead “seek dialogue”.

Like Francis, Leo has also signalled an openness on issues of sex and gender. He has allowed an LGBTQ+ pilgrimage to St Peter’s and met a prominent Catholic LGBTQ+ activist, prompting a letter from conservative academics requesting doctrinal clarity. But while the tone of Leo’s papacy reflects that of Francis, his style is very different.

“Francis sometimes played to the camera,” said White. “Leo is more shy and will look to find ways to bring the temperature down. He’s not looking for a fight, while Francis sometimes enjoyed a fight.”

The Vatican official said that Leo “wants to defuse polarisation in the church, not by appeasing everyone, but by dialling down the heat”.

This approach has failed to win over the Maga movement. “Do not be deceived: he’s not going to be a voice to restore a notion of conservatism or traditionalism to the Catholic church,” said Harnwell. “He’s more subtle than Francis. He’s more intelligent than Francis. Therefore, he’s more dangerous.”

Despite breaking the unwritten taboo of being an American pope, Leo is seen by some as more Latin than American. More than two decades in Peru made a profound mark on his moral compass, particularly on issues such as migration and climate change, bringing him culturally closer to the global south than to Washington.

“I question the extent to which Leo can be considered an American pope,” said Harnwell.

Vatican officials claim Leo is not seeking to become Trump’s foil, although one cardinal said the fact he is American is an “added bonus”. Instead, the pope wants to frame himself as a defender of the weak, said a diplomatic source.

Nonetheless, said White, his support of “multilateralism and cooperation makes him attractive to [liberal] Americans at a time when America is turning towards isolationism, as he represents ideals that they feel are being lost”.

And Leo isn’t afraid of antagonising Trump’s base. December this month he accused the president of trying to “break apart” the transatlantic alliance after Trump strongly criticised Europe. Last week he replaced the retiring archbishop of New York, whom Trump endorsed to become pontiff, with a liberal.

Next month Leo will convene an extraordinary consistory of cardinals, the first since 2022. The summit is expected to reveal Leo’s vision for the church.

If he continues on his current trajectory, Leo is likely to remain a convenient punching bag for Maga-aligned commentators. But so far Trump, who won the Catholic vote last year, has refrained from direct criticism of the pope, saying: “I’m sure he’s a lovely man.” Leo, meanwhile, will want to avoid ruffling Maga feathers too much. The Holy See has an annual deficit of roughly €60m and needs to increase donations, particularly from the US..

“He’ll state church teaching and his own positions,” said the Vatican official, “but he’ll avoid personalising it. He is not a populist.”

Photographs by Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images; Drew Angerer/Getty Images