2026-04-13T19:14:12.513Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
亚伦·布莱克 撰稿
16分钟前发布
发布于 2026年4月13日，美国东部时间下午3:14
唐纳德·特朗普 宗教 教皇
教皇利奥十四世周一在阿尔及利亚首都阿尔及尔的总统府，此行使他将访问四个非洲国家。
卢卡·曾纳罗/ pooled / 路透社
几乎没有哪个选民群体对唐纳德·特朗普总统2024年的胜选起到比天主教徒更关键的作用。尽管天主教选民通常会呈现近50对50的分裂格局，但数据显示特朗普赢得了55%以上的天主教选民支持——这显然是数十年来所有总统候选人中的最高比例。
仅仅17个月后，特朗普再次与教皇爆发冲突……
而这一次，冲突可能会产生更持久的影响。
特朗普曾在2016年与教皇方济各发生短暂争执后赢得大选，但他此次与教皇利奥十四世的争端却有所不同。
事件经过
上周日晚，特朗普在一篇长篇社交媒体帖文中猛烈抨击利奥教皇对伊朗战争的批评，该帖文：
- 称教皇“在打击犯罪方面软弱无力，外交政策一塌糊涂”
- 声称利奥当选教皇“仅仅因为他是美国人，他们认为这将是对付唐纳德·J·特朗普总统的最佳方式”
- 表示利奥“应该振作起来，做个教皇，运用常识，不再迎合激进左翼，专注于成为一位伟大的教皇，而非政客”
- 称利奥正在损害天主教会
特朗普宗教自由委员会成员、主教罗伯特·巴伦称该帖文“完全不当且失礼”，并表示“总统应当向教皇道歉”。
随后特朗普又发布了一张疑似人工智能生成的虚假图片，将自己描绘成类似基督的形象，正在治愈一名病患，此举将冲突升级到了全新高度。
包括支持特朗普的圣殿骑士团国际组织在内的众多批评者都认为这张图片亵渎神明。特朗普后来删除了该帖文，并于周一声称他以为图片里的自己是一名医生，但图片内容显然并非如此。
2016年与教皇的另一次冲突
教皇方济各2016年2月在得克萨斯州埃尔帕索边境，为那些试图越境而丧生者的十字架祈祷。
马克·拉尔尔斯顿/法新社/盖蒂图片社/资料图
此番局势让人回想起十多年前的一幕。
2016年初，特朗普在共和党总统提名竞选中一路领先，他曾与教皇方济各就教皇关于移民问题的言论发生短暂争执。
方济各计划访问美墨边境之际，特朗普称他“非常热衷于政治”，并暗示墨西哥在利用他。几天后，方济各似乎批评了特朗普修建边境墙的计划，称专注于建墙而非搭桥“不符合基督教精神”。
特朗普回应称方济各的言论“可耻”。他甚至断言，如果伊斯兰国袭击梵蒂冈，教皇会希望特朗普担任总统。
即便在那场充斥着惊人事件的竞选活动中，这一幕也格外引人注目。这位共和党总统提名的新领跑者——这一进程高度依赖宗教选民——公开与全球最知名的宗教领袖发生争执。
当时有大量评论文章探讨特朗普是否在搬起石头砸自己的脚，不过特朗普显然从那次争端中全身而退，并于当年晚些时候成功当选总统。
如今的冲突有何不同
唐纳德·特朗普总统周一在椭圆形办公室外向媒体发表讲话。
布伦丹·斯米亚洛夫斯基/法新社/盖蒂图片社
2016年的冲突并未酿成大问题，因为争端很快就平息了。就在特朗普对方济各提出最严厉批评的一天后，他突然试图缓和事态。
他称赞方济各是“了不起的人”，坚称他们实际上并未发生争执，甚至暗示教皇关于墙与桥的言论被过度解读，其实并未对特朗普构成严厉批评。
对于极少服软的特朗普而言，这堪称一次令人震惊的让步。
但此次最新摩擦可能会持续发酵。
特朗普已经删除了引发争议的社交媒体图片，但除此之外，双方领导人都没有任何让步的迹象。
利奥教皇比亚历山大·方济各更积极地卷入这场争端。方济各只是隐晦地批评了特朗普的移民政策，而利奥则直接多次就移民和战争问题批评特朗普。
他甚至在周一乘坐教皇专机时对记者表示，他“不怕特朗普政府”，并将继续宣讲福音。
而特朗普周一在其他批评利奥的言论上也态度强硬，并表示不会道歉。
“不会，因为利奥教皇说了错误的话。他强烈反对我在伊朗问题上的做法，”特朗普说道，并补充道：“我认为他在打击犯罪和其他方面非常软弱。他先公开表态的。我只是在回应利奥教皇。”
另一个关键因素是特朗普那张疑似亵渎神明的帖子。
尽管他删除了帖子，并否认该内容明显影射耶稣基督，但这种对比对于许多虔诚的天主教徒和其他基督徒而言已经越过了红线。该帖子发布一周前，特朗普的精神顾问宝拉·怀特-凯恩在白宫活动中公开将特朗普与耶稣基督相提并论。（特朗普的盟友塔克·卡尔森甚至援引这一场景，批评特朗普处理信仰问题的方式。）
“媒体真正应该关注的，是那些在伊朗问题上始终支持他的基督教特朗普支持者，他们正在逐渐认清他的亵渎行为，”保守派评论员埃里克·埃里克森在X平台上说道。
还有一个事实是，这是第一位美国籍教皇。
尽管每位教皇都拥有国际追随者，但可以合理推断，利奥不仅对美国天主教徒，而且对普通美国人都可能更具影响力。这位来自芝加哥白袜队球迷、不带口音地讲英语的教皇，其批评言论听起来会有所不同。
事实上，民调显示教皇在美国民众中极受欢迎。
去年夏天，盖洛普的一项民调显示，他是14位受访公众人物中最受欢迎的。上个月美国全国广播公司新闻的一项民调显示，美国人以5比1的压倒性比例对他持正面看法。与此同时，特朗普的政治支持率处于低位，近期多项民调显示其支持率跌至30%出头。
当然，大多数特朗普支持者未必会因为与教皇的长期争执而疏远他。事实上，考虑到过去十年特朗普的支持者群体表现出的忠诚度，我们或许可以预见这种情况。
但特朗普目前实在经不起再疏远更多支持者了。
天主教徒不仅在2024年大选中对特朗普至关重要；根据皮尤研究中心今年1月的数据，他们实际上比其他群体更坚定地支持特朗普。
皮尤研究中心的调查显示，白人天主教徒和西班牙裔天主教徒对特朗普执政议程的支持率下降幅度，小于包括福音派基督徒、其他新教徒以及无宗教信仰者在内的其他群体。
总而言之：我们可能正在见证一场真正具有影响力的特朗普与教皇之间的冲突。
Trump is feuding with a pope — again. Why it’s different this time
2026-04-13T19:14:12.513Z / CNN
Analysis by
Aaron Blake
16 min ago
PUBLISHED Apr 13, 2026, 3:14 PM ET
Donald Trump Religion The Pope
Pope Leo XIV arrives at the Presidential Palace in Algiers, Algeria, on Monday, during a trip in which he will visit four African countries.
Luca Zennaro/Pool/Reuters
Few demographics were more important to President Donald Trump’s 2024 win than Catholics. While Catholics usually split close to 50-50, the data shows Trump won 55% or more of them — apparently the most of any presidential candidate in decades.
Just 17 months later, Trump is clashing with a pope … again.
This time, it might have a more lasting impact.
Trump went on to win the 2016 election after a brief spat with Pope Francis. But his new dispute with Pope Leo XIV is different.
What happened
Late Sunday, Trump lashed out at Pope Leo’s criticisms of the Iran war in a lengthy social media post, which:
- Called the pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
- Claimed Leo was only elected pope “because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”
- Said Leo should “get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”
- Said Leo was hurting the Catholic Church.
A member of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, Bishop Robert Barron, called the post “entirely inappropriate and disrespectful” and said “the President owes the Pope an apology.”
Trump then took things to a whole new level by posting an apparently AI-generated fake image depicting himself as a Christ-like figure healing a sick person.
It’s an image that many critics, including some who supported Trump, like the Knights Templar International, labeled blasphemous. Trump later deleted the post and on Monday claimed he thought it depicted him as a doctor, which it did not.
Another clash with a pope in 2016
Pope Francis prays beside crosses representing those who died trying to cross the border at El Paso, Texas, in February 2016.
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images/File
The situation harks back to one that played out just more than a decade ago.
In early 2016, as Trump was pulling ahead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, he briefly tangled with Pope Francis over the pontiff’s comments on immigration.
When Francis was set to visit the Mexican border, Trump called him “a very political person” and suggested Mexico was using him. Days later, Francis seemed to criticize Trump’s plans to build a border wall, saying it was “not Christian” to focus on building walls rather than bridges.
Trump responded by calling Francis’ comments “disgraceful.” He even asserted that, if ISIS attacked the Vatican, the pope would have wished Trump were president.
It stood out, even in a campaign full of shocking moments. Here was the new frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination — a process that heavily involves religious voters — openly feuding with the most well-known faith leader in the world.
Plenty of think pieces were written about whether Trump was shooting himself in the foot, though Trump obviously emerged just fine from that dispute and won the presidency later that year.
What’s different about today
President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office on Monday.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
The 2016 clash didn’t become a big deal because it was over about as quickly as it began. Just a day after his harshest criticisms of Francis, Trump suddenly sought to smooth things over.
He praised Francis as a “wonderful guy” and insisted they hadn’t actually been fighting. He even suggested the pope’s comment about walls and bridges had been overanalyzed and weren’t so critical of Trump.
It was a pretty shocking climbdown from Trump, a man who rarely backs down from a fight.
But the latest friction could drag out.
Trump has deleted his controversial social media image. But, otherwise, neither leader is signaling they have any intention of backing down.
Pope Leo is leaning into the dispute more than Francis did. While Francis obliquely criticized Trump’s immigration policies, Leo has been more direct about his criticisms about Trump, raising them repeatedly on both immigration and the war.
He even told reporters Monday aboard the papal airplane that he had “no fear of the Trump administration” and would continue preaching the Gospel.
And Trump doubled down Monday on his other criticisms of Leo and said he wouldn’t apologize.
“No, because Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran,” Trump said, adding: “I think he’s very weak on crime and other things. He went public. I’m just responding to Pope Leo.”
Another key element is Trump’s apparently blasphemous post.
While he deleted it (and denied that it was clearly a reference to Jesus Christ), the comparison crosses a line for many faithful Catholics and other Christians. The post also came a week after Trump’s spiritual adviser, Paula White-Cain, openly compared him to Jesus Christ at a White House event. (Trump ally Tucker Carlson even cited the scene while attacking Trump for how he deals with faith.)
“What [the media] really should be paying attention to are the Christian Trump supporters who have stood with him through Iran, who are waking up to his blasphemy,” conservative commentator Erick Erickson said on X.
Then there’s the fact that this is the first American pope.
While every pope has an international following, it’s logical to assume that Leo might matter more not just to American Catholics, but to Americans in general. The criticisms might sound different coming from the Chicago White Sox fan who speaks in unaccented English.
And indeed, polling has suggested the pope is overwhelmingly popular with Americans.
He was the most popular national figure of 14 people tested by Gallup last summer. And Americans viewed him positively by a 5-to-1 margin in an NBC News poll last month. Trump, meanwhile, is at a low point politically, with approval ratings that are down in the 30s in some recent polls.
It’s certainly possible that most Trump supporters wouldn’t be alienated by a prolonged feud with the pope. In fact, we should probably expect that, given how devoted Trump’s base has proved over the last decade.
But Trump can’t really afford to alienate many more supporters right now.
Catholics weren’t just hugely important to Trump in the 2024 election; they’ve actually stuck by Trump more than most groups, according to January data from the Pew Research Center.
Pew showed support for Trump’s agenda among White and Hispanic Catholics dropped less than it did with other groups, including evangelicals, other Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated.
All that to say: We could be seeing a clash between Trump and a pope that actually matters.