Catholic Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez, named Bishop of Palm Beach by Pope Leo XIV in December, has spoken out sharply against U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on the Pope in a statement which was posted as a message to the clergy, religious, and faithful in every parish of the Diocese of Palm Beach on Sunday, April 19:
It read: “The Diocese of Palm Beach stands firm with our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV and strongly rejects the disrespectful and violent attacks that Donald J. Trump has directed against the Holy Father. These attacks also constitute a grave violation of the religious freedom enshrined in the Constitution of the United States, and, as such, harm the rights of the American Catholic faithful. Please pray for the safety of the Holy Father” (emphasis added).
The comments raised the ire of former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, himself a Catholic, who, missing the moral issue at hand, glommed onto the partisan political implications that without the Catholic vote, Trump’s political downfall may be at hand. In a Substack article entitled, “Spiritual Warfare Against MAGA Has Entered the Sanctuary,” Flynn wrote, “There are approximately 1.4B Catholics worldwide. The largest Christian denomination in the world. Fact is, without the Catholic vote, one cannot be President of The United States of America.
“This Pope is consciously choosing political sides. He is emerging as a woke globalist instead of a humble servant of Jesus Christ representing the Church of Peter.”
