Donald Trump has lit the fuse on a new religious resistance - just not the one he hoped for - Ann Widdecombe

Twenty per cent of Americans identify as Catholics, but they will not be the only ones distressed or disgusted by the unedifying comments of Donald Trump about Pope Leo. Some two-thirds of all US citizens identify as Christians, and the picture of Trump as Christ will have upset the Bible Belt as much as it will have been disdainfully dismissed in Rome. It is strange that a man who relied on the Christian Right to take him to power can have been so appallingly insensitive as to have caricatured the Saviour.It has led many to wonder if Trump is not descending into madness as opposed to simply being what JD Vance, struggling to defend him in an interview, described as “unfiltered”. If so, it is an alarming prospect, given that he has two years left to lead the Western world.However, if the conduct of the dispute was unedifying, the situation which provoked it was as old as religion itself: the relationship between church and state and the extent to which the one should intrude on the other. Most people, for example, will accept that it is fine for the churches to preach about the state’s duty to the poor, but when it comes to criticising a particular tax or law, those same people will retort “none of your business” to church leaders.War always provides the sharpest disagreements. Obviously, it is the Church’s duty to preach and promote peace but it is not institutionally pacifist and recognises that war can be just. Indeed, St. Thomas Aquinas laid out criteria for a just war, which I can remember Lord (David) Alton, rehearsing in the Lords in defence of the war in Iraq. Pope John Paul, himself now a Saint, thought otherwise. It is unlikely that World War Two would fail the “just” test and certainly not in retrospect. Obviously, Leo does not think that the war in Iran passes the just test, not only in the way it has been prosecuted but also in its initial conception. As I wrote on my Substack this week, the normal reaction to that from secular leaders would be a dignified “Of course the Church has a duty to promote peace, but we live in an imperfect world, and sometimes war can be necessary”. But Trump doesn’t do dignity. He prefers to lambast the Pope as “weak” and uncaring about crime.Catholics are free to dissent. Leo’s is not a doctrinal pronouncement. What Trump may well have done, however, is to drive them into opposing the war, not because they do so on merit but from indignation on behalf of the Pope. Many were already uneasy anyway, but this could turn uneasiness into certainty. Meanwhile, perhaps I might presume, as a lowly member of his flock, to offer advice to God’s Vicar General on Earth? Do thou also spurn unfiltered speech, Your Holiness, and instead of boasting that you aren’t afraid of Trump, why not urge us all to pray for him that he may receive wisdom? After all, miracles do happen.