2026年4月22日 / 美国东部时间下午4:13 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者：扎克·胡达克
宾夕法尼亚州巴克斯县——这个宾夕法尼亚州东南部的县随处可见天主教堂——确切地说有33个教区——这并非没有缘由。根据私营机构2020年美国宗教人口普查数据，巴克斯县超过三分之一的居民是天主教徒。
2024年，天主教选民助力巴克斯县转向特朗普总统，这是36年来共和党总统候选人首次拿下该县，也帮助特朗普赢得了全州选举。
但如今伊朗战争、利奥十四世教皇对战争的尖锐批评，以及特朗普对教皇的反击，让巴克斯县的许多天主教徒在这个中期选举年密切关注局势。
就连负责监管巴克斯县的费城大主教纳尔逊·佩雷斯也发表了看法。他为教皇辩护，驳斥特朗普的攻击，在一份声明中表示，教皇呼吁和平“有力地反映了福音的真理”。
这种立场在费城圣使徒马太大教堂的布道坛，到布里斯托尔区圣马可教区的长椅上都得到了呼应。
威廉·沃特金斯是来自布里斯托尔的民主党人，曾在过往选举中投票支持共和党众议员布莱恩·菲茨帕特里克。他在周五早弥撒后告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，如果选举日美国仍与伊朗处于战争状态，他可能会在秋季投票反对这位温和派共和党人。
“我这么做是为了抗议，”他说，“不是因为我认为他不是合格的候选人。只是我觉得共和党当下的政策太过偏颇。”
自2019年以来，巴克斯县构成了宾夕法尼亚州第一国会选区的主体，此前则属于该州第八国会选区。该县南部人口比北部更偏向工薪阶层，且以强烈的独立倾向著称。
2024年，菲茨帕特里克以近13个百分点的优势连任，比他2016年首次参选时不到9个百分点的优势有所扩大，这表明这个历来摇摆不定的地区局势趋于稳定，这得益于他一贯温和的投票记录。
但巴克斯县的地方选举则呈现出不同的趋势。菲茨帕特里克首次当选议员时，共和党在县民选官员中占据绝对多数，控制了该县12个席位中的11个。如今，民主党人占据了12个席位中的11个。
“如果特朗普出现在选票上，人们就会出来投票。但如果他不在，人们就不会，”巴克斯县委员会副主席、该选区民主党众议院提名的领跑者鲍勃·哈维说。哈维也是天主教徒。
战争爆发后不久，教皇就对美国与伊朗的战争表示担忧，随着冲突持续，批评愈发强烈，称特朗普威胁要摧毁伊朗文明“不可接受”。特朗普随即反击，称这位美国出生的首位教皇“对犯罪软弱”且“非常自由派”，还说他“干得不太好”。
特朗普攻击教皇后，菲茨帕特里克迅速为教皇辩护，称总统的言论“可耻”且“明显亵渎神明”。
“我从来都不支持任何分裂性言论，尤其是针对任何宗教领袖的，”菲茨帕特里克告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，“教皇是众多致力于实现世界和平、解决世界饥饿问题、承认每个人的人性与尊严的宗教领袖之一。我们应当对他致以崇高敬意。”
对于来自布里斯托尔镇的天主教共和党人帕特·巴尔瑟而言，这正是他尽管脱离本党、从未支持过特朗普，却仍投票给菲茨帕特里克的原因。
“让教皇畅所欲言。教皇主张世界和平，而……这正是他所宣扬的，”他在弥撒后告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，“我喜欢菲茨帕特里克时不时打破常规，不随波逐流。”
尽管如此，对菲茨帕特里克而言，伊朗战争可能比总统与教皇的争执更关乎政治前途。民调显示，大多数美国人反对这场战争——包括大多数天主教徒。
“布莱恩·菲茨帕特里克可以尽情表达他对唐纳德·特朗普的不满，但我还没见过他在阻止特朗普议程方面投下任何有意义的一票，”挑战菲茨帕特里克的民主党候选人哈维说。
今年3月，菲茨帕特里克投票反对一项要求美国军方未经国会许可不得停止与伊朗敌对行动的决议，称该决议“鲁莽且范围过宽”，尽管仅有两名共和党议员投了赞成票。不过，菲茨帕特里克确实在4月提出了自己的决议，要求遵守1973年《战争权力法》，但该议案尚未提交议会表决。
菲茨帕特里克过去也曾在其他重大投票中与本党立场相悖，包括去年夏天投票反对特朗普的《一项宏大美丽法案》。
“你谴责了相关言论，我也这么做了。你提出了战争权力决议，我也提出了，”菲茨帕特里克说，“那[哈维]到底在说什么？”
中东战争在巴克斯县历来都是政治上的敏感议题。
特朗普2024年获胜之前，上一位拿下该县的共和党总统是乔治·H·W·布什。1991年沙漠风暴行动结束后的次年，民主党候选人、时任阿肯色州州长比尔·克林顿在1992年赢得了宾夕法尼亚州。
这种模式也延伸到了国会选举。巴克斯县上一次选举民主党人进入美国众议院是在2006年，当时共和党众议员迈克·菲茨帕特里克——布莱恩·菲茨帕特里克已故的兄长——因投票支持美国在伊拉克和阿富汗的军事行动而落选。迈克·菲茨帕特里克在2010年重新夺回了席位。
“我不喜欢[共和党]与战争相关的政策，”来自布里斯托尔的沃特金斯说，“我认为他们不该以那种方式开战，也不认为他们能如他们所想的那样结束战争。这是一场两败俱伤的局面。”
尽管如此，该地区一些最初因“让美国再次伟大”运动而被共和党吸引的选民，找到了调和信仰与支持特朗普的方式。
本月早些时候，在教皇与特朗普的争执升级之前进行的一项哥伦比亚广播公司新闻民调发现，46%的天主教徒认可特朗普的工作表现，44%的人认可美国对伊朗的军事行动。但每周至少参加一次宗教仪式的天主教徒更有可能认可总统（58%）和对伊朗的军事行动（50%）。
丹尼斯·麦基 Jr.是布里斯托尔镇的市场研究员和播客主持人，他说自己终身都是无党派人士，2016年加入了共和党。他现在是当地共和党委员会成员。
“2016年我登记成为共和党人，因为特朗普的许多立场激励了我，”他说。
每周都参加弥撒的麦基拒绝接受利奥教皇对伊朗战争的批评。
“教皇拥有永无谬误的权力，也就是说，只要他开口，我们天主教徒就必须服从他的教导。但利奥教皇这次发表的并非永无谬误的声明，只是一般性言论，”他说，同时承认这种情况实属罕见。
巴克斯县通常被视为政治晴雨表地区。菲茨帕特里克和哈维都在该县南部长大——他们童年所在的教区相距仅6英里——这里的人口经济更多元化，政治局势也更容易快速变化。
伊朗战争以及教皇对此的评价，可能会对整个宾夕法尼亚州产生更广泛的影响，该州在最近几次总统选举中都是必争之地。
近二十年前，知名宾夕法尼亚州民调专家G·特里·麦当娜告诉《纽约时报》：“通常来说，谁赢得天主教选民的支持，谁就能拿下我们州，大多数时候也能拿下全国。”
根据皮尤研究中心2023-2024年宗教景观研究，近年来，宾夕法尼亚州近四分之一的人口仍自称天主教徒，超过60%的人口自称基督徒。
该州近期的政治历史也反映了这种影响力。最近两位当选宾夕法尼亚州州长的共和党人都是天主教徒，该州现任17名众议院议员中有10名是天主教徒。过去七任宾夕法尼亚州联邦参议员中有四位是天主教徒。
“对共和党人来说，天主教选民是关键，”总部位于哈里斯堡的共和党战略家查理·杰罗说，“很多天主教选民仍是老牌民主党人，他们会在全州和全国选举中投票给共和党。因此，争取天主教选民的支持非常、非常重要。”
“Let the pope have his say”: Pennsylvania Catholics caught between Trump and Pope Leo
April 22, 2026 / 4:13 PM EDT / CBS News
By Zak Hudak
Bucks County, Penn. — Catholic churches seem to be everywhere in this southeastern Pennsylvania county — 33 parishes, to be exact — and for good reason. More than a third of Bucks County residents are Catholic, according to the privately run 2020 U.S. Religion Census.
In 2024, Catholic voters helped deliver Bucks County to President Trump, marking the first time in 36 years that a Republican presidential candidate carried the county and helping him win statewide.
But the Iran war, Pope Leo XIV’s biting criticisms of it and, in turn, Mr. Trump’s attacks on the pope have many Catholics in Bucks County watching closely in a midterm year.
Even Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez, who oversees Bucks County, weighed in. He defended the pope from Mr. Trump’s attacks, saying in a statement that the pope’s call for peace “powerfully reflects the truth of the gospel.”
That sentiment was echoed from the pulpit at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Philadelphia into the pews at St. Mark’s parish in Bristol borough.
William Watkins, a Democrat from Bristol who has voted for GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in past elections, told CBS News after a Friday morning Mass that he would likely vote against the moderate Republican in the fall if the U.S. is still at war with Iran on Election Day.
“I would do it as a protest,” he said. “Not that I think he’s not a good candidate. I just think that the policy of the Republican Party right now is too one-sided.”
Bucks County has comprised the majority of Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District since 2019, and was part of the state’s Eighth District before that. The southern population of the county is more working class than its northern counterpart, and it is fiercely independent.
In 2024, Fitzpatrick won reelection by nearly 13 percentage points, up from less than nine in his first election in 2016, signifying security in a historically swing-happy region, built through a meticulously moderate voting history.
But local elections in Bucks County tell a different story. When Fitzpatrick first won his seat, Republicans held a supermajority among county elected officials, controlling all but one of the county’s 12 seats. Today, Democrats hold 11 of those 12 seats.
“People will come out and vote if Trump is on the ballot. But they won’t come out and vote if he’s not,” said Bob Harvie, vice chair of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners and the frontrunner for the Democratic House nomination in the district. Harvie is also Catholic.
The pope raised concerns about the U.S.’s war with Iran shortly after it began and grew more critical as the conflict went on, calling Mr. Trump’s threats to destroy Iranian civilization “unacceptable.” Mr. Trump has lashed out in response, calling the first U.S.-born pope “weak on crime” and “very liberal,” and saying he isn’t “doing a very good job.”
Fitzpatrick was swift in his defense of the pope after Mr. Trump’s attacks on the pontiff, calling the president’s words “disgraceful” and “plainly sacrilegious” last week.
“I am not a fan of any divisive rhetoric ever, particularly when it’s targeted at any religious leader,” Fitzpatrick told CBS News. “The pope is one of many religious leaders who’s trying to bring world peace and solve world hunger and see the humanity and dignity of every human being. That’s somebody we should hold in high esteem.”
Archbishop Nelson Perez leads Mass and gives communion to members of the community outside the former site of St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Philadelphia on June 19, 2021. Tyger Williams / AP
For Pat Balcer, a Catholic Republican from Bristol Township, that’s precisely why he has voted for Fitzpatrick despite breaking from his party and never supporting Mr. Trump.
“Let the pope have his say. The pope is for world peace, and … that’s what he was proclaiming,” he told CBS News after Mass. “I like that [Fitzpatrick] crosses the line every once in a while and doesn’t stay with the rest of the lemmings.”
Still, the war with Iran may be a bigger political issue for Fitzpatrick than the president’s spats with the pope. Polling suggests most Americans oppose the war — including most Catholics.
“Brian Fitzpatrick can talk all he wants about how upset he is with Donald Trump, but I haven’t yet seen him cast a vote that matters when it comes to stopping Trump’s agenda,” said Harvie, the Democrat running for the chance to challenge Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick in March voted against a resolution to force the U.S. military to stop hostilities with Iran without permission from Congress, calling it “recklessly over-broad,” although only two Republican members voted for it. Fitzpatrick did, however, introduce his own resolution in April to force compliance with the War Powers Act of 1973, but the measure has not reached the floor.
Fitzpatrick has also broken ranks on other significant votes in the past, including voting against Mr. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer.
“You condemn the statement, which I did. And you introduce a War Powers Resolution, which I did,” Fitzpatrick said. “So what in the world is [Harvie] talking about?”
War in the Middle East has historically been politically precarious in Bucks County.
Before Mr. Trump’s victory in 2024, the last Republican to carry the county was President George H.W. Bush. The year after Operation Desert Storm, the Democratic candidate, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton won Pennsylvania in 1992.
That pattern has extended to congressional races. Bucks County last elected a Democrat to the U.S. House in 2006, unseating GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, Brian Fitzpatrick’s late brother, after he voted to fund U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mike Fitzpatrick reclaimed the seat in 2010.
“I don’t like [the GOP’s] policies connected to the war,” Watkins, the Democrat from Bristol, said. “I don’t think they should have gone in the way they did, and I don’t think they’re going to be able to finish it the way they think they will. It’s a lose-lose situation.”
Still, some of those in the district for whom the MAGA movement initially made the GOP attractive have found ways to square their faith with their support for Mr. Trump.
One CBS News poll conducted earlier this month — before the feud between the pope and Mr. Trump escalated — found 46% of Catholics approve of Mr. Trump’s job performance and 44% approve of U.S. military action against Iran. But Catholics who attend religious services at least once a week are more likely to approve of the president (58%) and action against Iran (50%).
Dennis McGee Jr., a market researcher and podcaster from Bristol Township, said he was a lifelong independent and joined the Republican Party in 2016. He’s now a local GOP committee member.
“I became a registered Republican in 2016 because I was motivated by President Trump in many of his positions,” he said.
McGee, who attends Mass seven days a week, rejected Leo’s criticism of the Iran war.
“Popes have an infallible ability, meaning they speak, and we as Catholics have to be obedient to what they say. This is not an infallible statement that Pope Leo made. It was a general statement,” he said, acknowledging the rarity of such a case.
Dennis McGee Jr. in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania. Zak Hudak
Bucks County is often considered a bellwether area politically. Fitzpatrick and Harvie grew up in the southern part of it — their childhood parishes are a six-mile drive apart — where the population is more economically diverse and political fortunes can turn more quickly.
The Iran war, and the pope’s assessment of it, could have broader impacts across Pennsylvania, which has enjoyed must-win status in the last few presidential races.
Nearly two decades ago, the prominent Pennsylvania pollster G. Terry Madonna told The New York Times: “Whoever wins the Catholic vote will generally win our state and, most of the time, the nation.”
In recent years, nearly a quarter of the total population of Pennsylvania still identified as Catholic and more than 60 percent as Christian, according to Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study.
The state’s recent political history reflects that influence. The last two Republicans elected governor of Pennsylvania were Catholic, as are 10 of the state’s 17 current House members. Four of the last seven U.S. senators from Pennsylvania were Catholic.
“For Republicans, the Catholic vote is pivotal,” said Charlie Gerow, a GOP strategist based in Harrisburg. “A lot of Catholic voters are still old-line Democrats, who will vote Republican, particularly in statewide and national elections. So capturing the Catholic vote is very, very important.”