After mass on Sunday at the historic St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, CNN correspondent Gloria Pazmino did some Catholic-on-the-street interviews to gauge reactions to MAGA Republican President Donald Trump's one-sided feud with Pope Leo XIV.
A 2025 Pew Research Center report revealed 55% of Catholics voted for Trump in 2024 and Catholics made up 22% of Trump voters overall. Losing the Catholic vote would destroy Trump's margin of victory going into the midterms.
But Pazmino found that even those who self-identified as MAGA were fed up with the POTUS's attacks on the first Pope from the United States.
When asked for her thoughts on Trump's criticism of the Pontiff, Anita Bauman told Pazmino:
"I don’t think it helps the President at all. I think it’s colossally stupid."
You can see a clip of her comments here:
Not mincing her words, Bauman added:
"And I say that as a Catholic and as a person who voted for Trump. But I think that it’s just not the battle to pick."
Bauman wasn't opposed to some form of interference with the government of Iran, seemingly ignoring the deaths of innocents like at the girls school bombed by the Trump administration.
But Bauman concluded:
"I don’t think picking a fight with the Pope or trying to school the Pope on theology is a good idea at all."
You can see CNN's report here:
- YouTube youtu.be
People concurred with Bauman's assessment, although many pointed out she got what she voted for.
@RFK1966/X
A March poll by NBC News, released just before Trump's Truth Social rant about the Pontiff and the POTUS's infamous AI Trump as Jesus post, found Pope Leo XIV enjoys a +34 favorability rating among voters in the United States while Trump has a –12 favorability.
A Pew Research poll found Pope Leo has an 84% approval rating amongst American Catholics while a variety of recent polls reported Trump's approval rating with American voters overall hovering around just 40%.
Whoever thought now was the time to try to pick a fight with the Pontiff seems, as Anita Bauman put it, "colossally stupid."
@alisonhutchens/Threads
@davidalapham/Threads
@smokeeater129/X
@mbpeanut67; @deecreative/Threads
@viperamy/Threads
@luvsmusik76/Threads
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social