Question about Trump and the pope for Catholics

[Anonymous]

It is more nuanced - the pope is infallible when defining doctrine. Otherwise, he is human, and therefore not perfect.

practicing catholics will have a spectrum of beliefs about all sorts of things...the ones who do not want to open their heart to pope Leo's words about Iran won't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, many practicing Catholics have been against Trump since forever. He doesn’t represent faith or morality at all.

Not many that I know. My Catholic in laws and all their church friends are super maga. In Northern Va too, not some small town.

Lots that I know. You just know the wrong Catholics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, many practicing Catholics have been against Trump since forever. He doesn’t represent faith or morality at all.

Not many that I know. My Catholic in laws and all their church friends are super maga. In Northern Va too, not some small town.

Lots that I know. You just know the wrong Catholics.

That is a weirdly defensive response. I myself am a Catholic who despises Trump. I dont see or hear much of the same in our Parish. And in some like my inlaws who are a little more suburban of nova its all MAGA. Im not assigning wrong or right, just stating northern va has ALOT of MAGA Catholics. Its strange and i dont like it, but would think you're more likelu to find maga in mass than not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catholics pick and choose what they want to follow. Jesus would not have been for racism or deporting people, but people can rationalize anything.

Indeed. Jesus would not have been in favor of abortion or lawlessness, but the Pope remained silent when those things were condoned.

Why would the pope have been meeting with David Axelrod, a Jew, if not for political reasons?

Can you provide some evidence that Jesus wouldn't have been pro-choice? The Bible certainly doesn't say that.

I'm a Catholic who talks with and meets with people of other religions. I'm not sure why meeting with someone who is Jewish would be suspicious.

The Catholic Church is 100% unequivocally anti abortion.

No offense, but you're not on the same level as the Pope. Therefore, it's reasonable to question why a Jewish Democratic operative would be consulting with the Pope for any reason other than politics. They weren't chilling at a backyard BBQ sharing pics of their recent vacations.

You didn't say that the Catholic Church is anti abortion. i would, obviously, have agreed with you on that. You said that Jesus would have been.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, many practicing Catholics have been against Trump since forever. He doesn’t represent faith or morality at all.

Not many that I know. My Catholic in laws and all their church friends are super maga. In Northern Va too, not some small town.

Lots that I know. You just know the wrong Catholics.

That is a weirdly defensive response. I myself am a Catholic who despises Trump. I dont see or hear much of the same in our Parish. And in some like my inlaws who are a little more suburban of nova its all MAGA. Im not assigning wrong or right, just stating northern va has ALOT of MAGA Catholics. Its strange and i dont like it, but would think you're more likelu to find maga in mass than not.

Also just stating what I know. Lots of Catholics oppose Trump. Like you and me.

[Anonymous]

All of the Catholics I know hate Trump and always have. But I curious whether his dispute with the pope is changing the mind of any of the about 50% of Catholics who did vote for him. Very curious about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catholics pick and choose what they want to follow. Jesus would not have been for racism or deporting people, but people can rationalize anything.

Indeed. Jesus would not have been in favor of abortion or lawlessness, but the Pope remained silent when those things were condoned.

Why would the pope have been meeting with David Axelrod, a Jew, if not for political reasons?

Can you provide some evidence that Jesus wouldn't have been pro-choice? The Bible certainly doesn't say that.

I'm a Catholic who talks with and meets with people of other religions. I'm not sure why meeting with someone who is Jewish would be suspicious.

The Catholic Church is 100% unequivocally anti abortion.

No offense, but you're not on the same level as the Pope. Therefore, it's reasonable to question why a Jewish Democratic operative would be consulting with the Pope for any reason other than politics. They weren't chilling at a backyard BBQ sharing pics of their recent vacations.

You didn't say that the Catholic Church is anti abortion. i would, obviously, have agreed with you on that. You said that Jesus would have been.

You think the Catholic Church is against abortion despite the Bible saying it's good?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catholics pick and choose what they want to follow. Jesus would not have been for racism or deporting people, but people can rationalize anything.

Indeed. Jesus would not have been in favor of abortion or lawlessness, but the Pope remained silent when those things were condoned.

Why would the pope have been meeting with David Axelrod, a Jew, if not for political reasons?

Can you provide some evidence that Jesus wouldn't have been pro-choice? The Bible certainly doesn't say that.

I'm a Catholic who talks with and meets with people of other religions. I'm not sure why meeting with someone who is Jewish would be suspicious.

The Catholic Church is 100% unequivocally anti abortion.

No offense, but you're not on the same level as the Pope. Therefore, it's reasonable to question why a Jewish Democratic operative would be consulting with the Pope for any reason other than politics. They weren't chilling at a backyard BBQ sharing pics of their recent vacations.

He meets with a wide range of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catholics pick and choose what they want to follow. Jesus would not have been for racism or deporting people, but people can rationalize anything.

Like all people.

Exactly. I'm tired of this trope that only Catholics pick and choose what they believe from the doctrine of their religion. This is what everyone does. The people who follow every rule to the letter are usually viewed as the extremists sects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of the Catholics I know hate Trump and always have. But I curious whether his dispute with the pope is changing the mind of any of the about 50% of Catholics who did vote for him. Very curious about that.

Me, too. But I am surrounded by pretty liberal Catholics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of the Catholics I know hate Trump and always have. But I curious whether his dispute with the pope is changing the mind of any of the about 50% of Catholics who did vote for him. Very curious about that.

Did he only get 50% of the catholic vote in 2024? I thought it was higher than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of the Catholics I know hate Trump and always have. But I curious whether his dispute with the pope is changing the mind of any of the about 50% of Catholics who did vote for him. Very curious about that.

Did he only get 50% of the catholic vote in 2024? I thought it was higher than that.

2020 - 49%
2024 - 55%

[Anonymous]

Are Catholic churches less MAGA than Evangelical congregations? I live in a heavily Baptist area in the South and the kids are asking to explore church. I can't stand spending Sundays listening to MAGA sermons and Christian "rock"

[Anonymous]

As a few others have said, the Pope is only believed to be infalible when he is speaking "ex cathedra" - literally "from the chair" referring to the Chair of Peter.
To be ex cathedra, a statement must be:
- concerning matters of faith
- applicable to the whole universal church
- spoken with the intent to be binding

So just because the Pope says that the place down the street has the best pizza in Italy doesn't make it so.

Oddly, there is some disagreement over how many times a Pope has spoken ex cathedra. At least twice - about the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary. There are some other times when a Pope has said that something is definitive, but didn't specifically say "hey y'all! This is ex cathedra!" so there's some disagreement about that. Women as priests falls into that category.

So Trump blathering on about the Pope is classless and offensive, and one could argue that the picture was blasphemous, but a Catholic saying they disagreed with the Pope in support of Trump isn't necessarily going against fundamental church doctrine (even if it means they have really crappy morals and theology)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are Catholic churches less MAGA than Evangelical congregations? I live in a heavily Baptist area in the South and the kids are asking to explore church. I can't stand spending Sundays listening to MAGA sermons and Christian "rock"

Historically, yes, but it depends on the diocese, parish and even the priest sometimes. My experience has been little talk from the pulpit about politics except for abortion and that has not been harped on. Mainstream Protestant sects like Episcopal and Methodist churches tend to be the same or more liberal. But I don’t know about the south.